"So, you two are to be married next week, and you haven't even thought to go house shopping yet?" The couple found themselves sat on the opposite side of an oak-colored desk, staring down awkwardly as their blonde real-estate agent scolded them.

"We've just been so distracted with plans for the wedding, and just-"

"I have a week to get you two comfortable." Fleur Delacour interrupted Draco. "A week."

Her accent was thick and French, and she appeared very frustrated by the pair. Harry glanced at his fiancé nervously, and he just shrugged, blushing. They refused to meet her eyes in fear of her turning them to stone. If looks could kill...

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, ma'am. Really, I am." Harry muttered, meeting her gaze. She jutted her lip, staring at the two through slitted eyes and then nodded.

"I will see what I can do. You will come to me when I call, agreed?"

"Agreed."

The two left Fleur's office soon afterwards and decided to go for a walk in downtown London. As they toed across the pavement, Draco took Harry's hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing his knuckles briefly, causing a small smile to erupt on Harry's face.

"Can you believe we're about to be husbands?" The blond asked, swinging their arms back and forth, smiling down at the simple silver rings they both sported.

"If I'm honest, I feel like we already are. We've had years together, anyways." Harry claimed, eyeing his fiancé happily. He loved when the blond smiled, as cheesy as it sounded. Really, everything was cheesy between them.

"Yeah, years of shit. We were so shitty." Draco stopped walking, frowning and casting his eyes downwards towards the pavement.

"Key word: were. We're better now. We've changed. We're happy. We're okay."

"We've been engaged for a month, Harry."

"But we've known each other a lifetime. We've been engaged technically for eighteen years, and it's only just now a legal engagement." Harry explained, wishing his fiancé wouldn't pout.

"That's so weird to think about. We've been engaged since before either of us could even talk, even before our births." The blond chuckled then, and the pair began walking again.

"That's true. You up for visiting my mum?"

"I could handle that." And so the two turned down a side street, cutting through an alley, avoiding the eyes of the few bums they passed, and set off for Lily and Alice Evans.

~~~

The two approached the white gate that led up to Lily and Alice's cute, single-storied house. Harry opened the gate, allowing his fiancé to enter through first, and they took in the beautiful front gardens that the women had obviously been very busy with creating.

Then, they heard a car revving up and speeding off down the street. Harry frowned, eyeing the burgundy, old-fashioned vehicle hurrying away. He could've sworn nobody was in it when he'd passed by it moments earlier. Weird.

Slowly, he made his way up the steps and onto his birth-mother's porch. He rung the doorbell, and a few moments later, heard the soft click of a lock coming undone. The door opened a crack, and a middle-aged woman with graying black hair peered at the two of them.

"Can I help you?" She asked, and Harry frowned before clearing his throat.

"Alice? It's me, Harry." He claimed, and that's when the woman seemed to recognize him. She gave a quick smile, and then undid another lock, and moved aside for the two to step inside. Once they had, Alice quickly peered behind them and then hurried the door closed and locked it.

Draco looked to Harry questioningly, who just shrugged.

"Lily, your son's here!" The woman shouted, and from somewhere within the house, an equal-aged woman wearing a dark green blouse making her eyes pop, denim jeans, and red hair walked towards them.

"Harry, you're really here! Please, come sit!" The woman smiled, wrapping her son in a hug, before pecking his cheek and leading him and Draco into the living room. "You must be Draco, my son's intended."

It was so weird hearing this woman call him her son. Harry nodded, placing a hand on his fiancé's shoulder.

"This is Draco."

"Pleasure, ma'am." The blond smiled, kneeling down to kiss the back of Lily's hand.

"Oh, what a gentleman. I'm sorry I didn't know you were coming, or I would've prepared something. Would you like tea?" She asked, and then Alice came into the room, hovering near the window, peering through the closed blinds.

"Oh, no, we're quite alright. Thank you, though. We just wanted to stop over and make sure you got our invitation." Draco stated, dismissing the drink politely.

"Are you alright, Alice?" Harry asked, focused more on the dark-haired woman than his mother. She did resemble Neville, and he found comfort in that somehow. Harry had always been told he looked like his father, apart from his mother's eyes. Neville was fully Alice.

"They're gone." The woman murmured, meeting Lily's eyes cautiously.

"Who?" Harry and Draco asked in unison.

"They'll be back."

"Lily, we've got to call the police. They're loitering, stalking..."

"Who is stalking you?" Harry asked, thinking back to the burgundy car he'd seen earlier.

"The men. I always knew they'd come back." Alice spat, holding her arms close to her chest. She ran a hand through her hair slowly before peering outside again.

"Who are they?" Harry asked his mother quietly while Draco went to stand beside Alice.

"Tom Riddle." Lily whispered, and not a moment later, a large brick crashed through the window, causing Alice to scream, running somewhere within the house.

Harry's eyes widened, remembering what he'd been told of Tom Riddle and his partner, Peter Pettigrew. He saw white then, falling into a fit of rage as he turned towards the broken window, staring at the hooded man standing on the other side of the white fence.

"Draco, take Lily and Alice and hide them. Call the police. I've got this." His voice was strangely calm and Draco looked at him cautiously.

"Harry, I can't let you do this." The blond stated, though the dark-haired boy rose a hand dismissively.

"Go! We haven't got much time." And with that, the blond ran off with Lily in search of Alice just as the lights turned out. Harry stumbled to the kitchen, opening every drawer until he stumbled across a steak knife and a flashlight. He heard the gate creak open, and knew it was only a matter of time before they were in the house. He needed to find the power switches.

One thud, another thud. Two more. They were on the porch. Harry felt a chill run down his spine and he prayed Draco had gotten the women somewhere safe. A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder, followed by Draco's voice. He jumped and almost dug the blade into the blond.

"You can't do that now! Where's my mum?"

"She's safe." Draco murmured, and that was when Harry realized he was gripping a baseball bat.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked, confused.

"Alice had it for protection." The blond said simply, and they heard a rather loud crash, followed by another. They were at the windows in the living room, breaking them.

Quietly, Harry made a signal for Draco to follow him further into the house.

"They were just in here a moment ago." The two heard a rather creepy voice, and Harry signaled for Draco to quiet his breathing.

"You probably scared them off with the brick, sir." Another voice.

"They're pansies. They should've seen this coming: trying to expose me. I went into hiding for years, but I'm done now. I'll kill 'er this time." The first voice hissed.

"Are you sure this is a wise choice, sir?" A new voice: a recognizable one that had Harry's eyes widening. He turned to face Draco who appeared as though he'd pass out.

"Papa." He mouthed.