A/N: The details of how and when students learned to Apparate and where they took their test also wasn't know when this story was originally written, hence, at the time, I made it up :)

~*~

Getting to London was not as easy as it could have been. They couldn't Floo because it was impossible to put both of them in the fireplace at the same time. Being separated by any distance was not something either of them wanted to try just at the moment and that was what the Floo network would do to them.

Apparating was not an option, because illegally Apparating into the Ministry of Magic just before your test was likely to achieve a fail even if they couldn't prosecute you. Hence the fastest alternative was a Portkey which Dumbledore had presented to them as soon as Draco had agreed to the trip.

The Portkey destination point was 12 Grimmauld Place for safety, but the meeting with the Order was not set until the afternoon. Hence only Tonks and Remus Lupin were waiting for them in the living room of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Today Tonks' hair was green and silver, a colour scheme that was not lost on Draco.

"Harry," the Auror greeted brightly, "it's so lovely to see you again."

She bounced on the spot scarily like Hilde often did and refrained from coming any closer.

"And this must be the famous Draco Malfoy," Tonks continued cheerfully, "funny he doesn't look much like the spawn of a Dementor and a demon to me, Moody must have been exaggerating."

A spike of amusement ran through Draco, transferring to Harry and causing him to smile: Tonks was almost as good at breaking the ice as she was at breaking everything else.

"Pleased to meet you," Draco greeted politely and offered his hand to the young woman, "I must say I'm impressed with the hair."

Tonks stepped forward to take the offer of friendship and almost fell over the edge of the rug.

"There's nothing like solidarity," she said with a smile and steadied herself before shaking the offered limb, "and it pisses off several of my colleagues which is an added bonus."

Draco grinned at her, moving back to Harry's side.

"Harry, Draco," Remus greeted with his usual understated smile.

"Hello, Remus," both young men greeted simultaneously which drew a wider grin from the older man.

They had corresponded by owl several times with the werewolf, but this was the first time they had met face to face since Harry's life altering change. The Order had been very busy over the last few months and, although Remus had expressed his desire to visit, there had been no time.

"Although it would be lovely to chat," Remus said politely, "I'm afraid we have to hurry."

"We borrowed a car from the Ministry," Tonks explained with a conspiratorial grin, "and there is only so long before it will be missed."

Remus appeared rather embarrassed by the whole situation, but Harry found it fairly amusing and Draco was impressed.

[This day becomes more and more interesting,] Draco commented as their hosts indicated they should leave the room.

* * *

At first the Apparating examiner; a small bespectacled woman who did not look as if she ever left the building, had tried to make Harry wait outside the test centre, but Remus had taken the oblivious bureaucrat aside and when the two had returned there had been no objection to both young men entering. Harry remembered the long panelled room well, although taking his test had been strangely anticlimactic. Draco felt completely calm as they walked in and Harry remembered being the same way; in their world this was such a little thing that it was almost funny.

The test was actually very simple: the examiner would ask some detailed questions about the spell to make sure the candidate knew what they were about to do, after which the candidate had to give a practical demonstration twice to prove that the first time wasn't a fluke.

Ron had failed the verbal part of the test the first time he took it so the examiner hadn't let him take the practical; the second time he had learned the book definition by heart. Draco had probably known the book definition by heart since he was five and Harry had no doubts about his lover's practical ability so this was all just a formality.

Hovering by the doorway Harry watched as the examiner asked Draco several questions from her clipboard. Draco had chosen some figure hugging black jeans and a green silk shirt for their outing to London and Harry had no problem entertaining himself by ogling his soulmate.

[If you want me to splinch myself you're going the right way about it,] Draco's mental voice chided him lightly after a few seconds. [Do you think you could keep your mind off sex for five minutes?]

[I warned you about the jeans,] Harry replied without any sign of remorse, [and don't try and fool me, you could perform any spell even if I was shagging you senseless.]

[Hmm, I'm not sure whether to be insulted or take that as a compliment,] Draco replied and then turned back to answering the examiner.

Harry leant against the wall and continued to admire his lover. It did not take more than a few minutes before the examiner led Draco towards the far end of the room where she stood him on a cross on the floor. Then the woman started to give Draco a small talk on the safety procedures, at which point Draco looked up with a pained expression.

[I wish she would just let me Apparate and then we can get out of here,] Draco said pointedly.

Harry smiled at his soulmate and continued to lean on the wall.

"When you're ready, Mr Malfoy," the woman eventually said, quite loudly.

"Thank you," Draco said aloud and [About time,] he grumbled silently.

As Harry watched, his lover pulled out his wand and firmly cast the spell. With a crack, Draco disappeared and reappeared at the near end of the room almost instantly. Harry knew he had gone white and Draco looked at him anxiously.

[What's wrong?] his soulmate asked urgently.

[Finish the test,] Harry replied quickly without answering the question, [I'll be fine.]

[Harry ...] Draco replied knowing that Harry was not telling him something.

[Please, just finish it so we can leave,] Harry told him and attempted to stop his stomach lurching.

Not looking very happy Draco did as he was told and shortly there was another crack and he disappeared and reappeared back on the cross. Harry was reaching for the door handle before the examiner handed his soulmate his pass certificate and Draco almost didn't wait for it as he made a beeline for Harry's side.

[Okay, now you tell me what's wrong,] Draco insisted as he took hold of Harry's elbow and helped him through the doorway.

Remus and Tonks both climbed to their feet when their eyes fell on Harry: he knew he probably looked awful.

"What on earth happened to you?" Lupin asked anxiously.

"That's what I want to know," Draco said pointedly.

"I'm fine," Harry promised faithfully, "but I don't think Apparating is ever going to be one of my favourite things."

"Harry, you look like a Dementor just walked up to you," Tonks pointed out unhelpfully.

Draco also felt as though he was not about to take an 'I'm fine' as an answer.

"You know that loud crack," Harry said as he realised he had to explain.

The other three nodded, looking concerned. Draco's hand on his back was a great comfort and Harry was beginning to feel an idiot for being the centre of attention again.

"That's the universe going ouch," he explained it in the only way he could think of. "I'm sure I'll get used to it."

[This isn't in any of the books,] Draco said worriedly.

[Maybe it's part of the training I missed,] Harry suggested reasonably, [it's nothing to worry about.]

[Where you're concerned I'll decide what to worry about,] his soulmate replied firmly. [Are you sure you're okay?]

"I'm fine," Harry insisted aloud so everyone could hear him.

No one appeared convinced.

"Plan B," Remus said with a worried look in Harry's direction.

Tonks nodded and, before either Harry or Draco could enquire as to what the pair were on about, the Auror turned and strode off down the corridor.

"Care to explain?" Draco asked in a less than happy tone.

Draco did not like it when he did not know what was going on and he liked it less when he didn't know and it involved Harry, and the fact Harry was not well was not helping matters. Harry could tell that his soulmate was only just holding himself in check.

"Plan A was that Draco passes the test and we all Apparate back to base," Remus said openly. "Plan B involves borrowing the car from where we put it back."

This made Draco appear and feel a whole lot happier, and Harry decided that he really didn't care what was going on as long as he could have a nice sit down very soon.

* * *

The journey back to Grimmauld Place was blessedly uneventful and thankfully by the time they reached the safety of the Order headquarters, Harry no longer appeared as if he was about to die. It took another half an hour to convince Draco that he was okay, but Harry did finally manage to talk his lover into going ahead with the meeting that had been previously arranged. This meant that tea time found the couple ushered into the dining room to find it full of people all looking at them expectantly.

Harry felt suddenly as if he was living in a goldfish bowl and perversely found himself placing his body between Draco and everyone else in the room. It was not that any of the Order were looking at his soulmate with open hostility, well except Moody, but the man appeared that way all the time, it was just the overall atmosphere of tension in the room. Draco usually protected Harry from the rest of the world, but in this room he was the one ready to shield Draco.

"Welcome everyone," Dumbledore greeted brightly as if this was simply a little Christmas drinks gathering, "thank you all so much for coming."

Letting his gaze wander around the room, Harry was glad to see that he knew, at least in passing, everyone the headmaster had chosen to invite. He had by no means met all of the Order, although he knew most of them by sight, but all those in the room were members with whom he had had, at minimum, one conversation.

Those in attendance were: Mad-eye, looking as paranoid as ever; Tonks, who was still sporting the green and silver hair; Remus quietly standing in the corner; Mudungus Fletcher lounging in the background as if waiting for some illicit deal; Molly, Arthur and Bill Weasley standing in a family group; Kingsley Shacklebolt hovering calmly with Emeline Vance; and finally Daedelus Diggle watching the whole proceedings with interest.

"As you all know there have been some interesting developments in the last half of the year," Dumbledore continued cheerfully, "and we are here to welcome our newest member. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Draco Malfoy."

From the expressions on at least a couple of faces Harry was not sure everyone was happy about the headmaster's pronouncement, but it didn't look as if anyone would openly argue. No one not of age was allowed to enter the Order of the Phoenix, but Harry had been officially recognised as a member when he turned seventeen, and Dumbledore had informed Draco that, should he wish it, he would also be accepted within the ranks when he bonded with Harry. Draco had chosen to accept as soon as he reached seventeen just to make a statement.

[I'm getting just the slightest sense of hostility,] Draco commented dryly from slightly behind Harry.

[Not hostile,] Harry replied evenly and took a quick look with his other senses just to make sure he was not reading the situation incorrectly, [just wary. Turn on the charm and they'll be eating out of your hand in minutes.]

The tension in the room caused his heart to flutter a little, but he was not about to give in to an attack of nerves when Draco needed him.

"Molly has provided us with some lovely refreshments," Dumbledore continued in his carefree tone, "please do dig in."

That was it, the cue for the inquisition to begin. It was not that everyone moved in en masse, everyone was very polite about it, but Harry was in no doubt that the whole room was lining up to quiz him and Draco about everything.

Draco rose to the occasion like the practiced charmer he was and Harry used his position as the Boy Who Lived with far more directness than he usually did. They moved around the room talking politely and answering what, at times, could have been considered rather personal questions.

Diggle was the first to make the mistake of trying to separate the pair. Harry had the suspicion that the man was working with Moody on a strategy to place Draco on his own so the retired Auror could question the Slytherin, but Diggle was the diversion and hence the noticeable bit.

When the man tried to reach between the couple to the table in an effort to unglue them from each other's side, Draco was between Harry and Daedelus like a shot. Draco no longer found himself with his wand in his hand for no reason, but it was very easy to make him angry to the point where he made his displeasure known. Harry could feel the anger that coursed through his lover.

"Don't try that again," Draco warned in a very menacing tone.

Diggle was so taken aback by the venom in Draco's tone that the man didn't even try and pretend that he had not made the move deliberately.

"Now, Boy," Moody chose that moment to make himself known, "no need to be so defensive."

That was precisely the wrong thing to say to Draco in his current mood, and it was especially bad since Harry was at the centre of his soulmate's current reasoning.

"I am not a boy," Draco said very precisely. "You may call me by my last name if you wish, but do not assume because you are on the far side of your prime you may refer to me as a child."

It never ceased to impress Harry quite what a grasp of language as a weapon his lover possessed.

"You claim to be an adult," Moody replied in kind, "and yet you throw a temper tantrum when one person steps between you and your lover."

The hot anger Draco had been feeling had morphed in a much colder fury as he faced the old Auror, and Harry stood close to his soulmate in case the rage turn hot and dangerous again. As it was Draco turned a glare which could have caused the next ice age on Moody.

"An interesting choice of words," Draco said, knowing that he had the whole room focused on him. "You should have seen me when we first bonded, Diggle would have been on the other side of the room trying to figure out which way was up if he had tried that then. I will not allow anyone in this room to come close to Harry; he's had enough stress for one day and no one gets a chance to hurt him, deliberately or by accident. That is how things are and it is how things are going to stay. Is that clear?"

From the expression on his face, Moody was not impressed.

"If I had my way, Boy," the Auror replied with a tone which matched Draco's, "I'd have you dosed with Veritaserum and singing your life story before I let you near this Order. With your father..."

Harry did not wait to find out what his lover's reaction would be to that one; that was a step over the line.

"Draco is not his father," he and found that he was as capable of anger on behalf of his soulmate as Draco was, although his was neither icily calm nor collected. "The next person who suggests that he is, learns the meaning of the words 'foot in mouth', literally."

The headache Harry had managed to shift after the Apparating incident was suddenly back full force as he let his temper get the better of him. Draco's presence intensified in his mind as his soulmate sensed his distress, but Harry let none of this show on the outside. It was almost impossible to win a battle of wills with Mad-eye Moody, but he was game to try.

There may well have been an all out argument but for one thing: Harry's body chose that moment to decide enough was enough and everything was suddenly very surreal. Exposure to Draco Apparating had been a very bad shock to his system and it was obviously not yet recovered. Harry did not faint, but he came very close, and when the world made sense again he was sitting in a chair with Draco looking anxiously into his face.

[Back with me, Love?] his soulmate asked silently.

[Just about,] Harry replied honestly.

[I'm taking you home,] was Draco's deliberate affirmation, and thus ended the now rather tense meeting.

With a glare that challenged anyone to try and stop him Draco went about arranging transport back to Hogwarts.