"Fred, is that you?" He asked, whispering and looking quickly around him to check for any prying eyes or ears.
"Freddie?" Harry asked again, a little louder and closer to the fire this time.
"Yeah, I'm here." His voice was warm and something in the words made Harry smile. He'd been thinking of Fred strictly as a rebound, a way of moving on, but maybe he'd been wrong.
"Before you say anything-" Fred stopped him, shutting Harry up before he'd had a chance to start discussing plans "I just wanted to tell you that I had a really good time last weekend, and I'm in town again this weekend, if you- well if you'd want to-" Fred was biting his lip and Harry had a subconscious urge to kiss him quiet.
"I'd love to." He whispered instead, deciding that diving head first into the fire wasn't a good idea.
"Good, okay. Yeah, good!" Fred breathed a sigh of relief
"But there's a few pressing matters-" Harry interrupted the gloating ginger.
"Yeah, Mum sent me a letter explaining the situation." There was a note of disappointment in his voice.
"Do you think she'll agree?" Harry urged, needing an answer
"I don't know, Harry. Is it really a good idea to bring-" Fred was cut off by a loud voice, with a particularly strong Scottish accent.

"That better not be Harry Potter having a conversation through the Floo network." She warned stepping through the portrait hole into the common room.
"Just go-" Fred whispered quickly "I'll see you later." And with that, he was gone and Harry turned to see his house mistress rounding the corner.
"I was just sitting in front of the fire-" Harry began his excused when Minerva rolled her eyes.
"You've been out of bed almost every night for seven years, Potter, I'm not going to believe you 'just couldn't sleep' this time." Harry sighed, she was right, of course.
"I'm sorry Professor, I'll go up-" Harry rose from the carpet, ready to head up to bed when she caught his sleeve.
"I've actually needed to talk to you, Harry." She sat down opposite him on the sofa's, her face eerily lit from the fire between them "It's about Professor Dumbledore."
She sighed deeply, her head in her hands and her shoulders dropped. Harry felt helpless, McGonagall was such a strong character in his life, always serving good advice and trying to keep Harry out of trouble. But it was as if the tables were turned.
"Professor?" Harry asked leaning forward try and look at her/
"I'm sorry," She looked up at him, a stray hair from her usually immaculate up-do was falling in her eyes and the visible dark circles beneath them were prominent.
"It's just since the attack last spring, things haven't been the same. We've barely heard from the man, cryptic messaged telling us the bare bones of what we should know. Parents asking about his whereabouts, threatening to pull their children out of Hogwarts-" Her voice trembled a little and she bowed her head to her hands again, clearly overwhelmed with the situation.
"I had no idea." Harry breathed his mouth agape in shock. How had he managed to miss this?
"Harry, I need your help." The acting headmistress looked stern again for a minute, turning back to the Gryffindor "You were there. You saved him. Is there anything he said, any clue he gave you that could help us determine his whereabouts?" She grasped Harry's hands in desperation
"Professor, I'm sorry but as soon as I...as soon as I stopped Draco-" Harry coughed, still uncomfortable about his actions "Dumbledore apparated, he didn't say a word."
McGonagall dropped his hands and stared at the carpet for a while, only raising her eyes to look at the fire.
"He's a clever man, I'm sure if he sees the need for such secrecy, there must be a good reason." Harry chirped up, trying to alleviate the tension and sadness in the dark common room.
"Yes, he is." The mistress said curtly, wanting answers instead of pep talks.
There was another uncomfortable silence, Harry sat there wishing he could help the woman that had helped him so much as a young wizard, McGonagall sitting opposite wishing she could find her mentor.

It was the next morning when Harry woke up to a light pecking at his dorm window, looking to find Hedwig outside, a light dusting of snow covering the turrets behind her.
"Good owl." Harry patted her head as he took the letter, letting her warm up in her cage and throwing her a mouse for breakfast.
He could see who it was from with the short curly handwriting, he'd been awaiting this letter all week.

Harry,
So lovely to hear from you during term time. Even nicer to hear you'll be staying with us over Christmas, it's always a pleasure and of course, you are always welcome.

Now about your other request, I've spoken to Arthur and I do believe we've come to a decision. Of course, the boy would have been welcome as you're boyfriend but since the tables have turned and that is no longer the case, it took a while for us to decide.
However, we understand the fear that he has and I am never one to leave a young wizard homeless over the holidays.
Draco can stay with us, we will cast a secret keeping spell and protect him any way we know how. His last name has no meaning here and I believe if he needs our help then we shall give it to him.
I'm glad you're well and be sure to stay atop your homework and tell Ron the same! I've noticed he and Hermione seem to be getting close and I don't want him failing his NEWT's over a girl, no matter how wonderful and beautiful she is!

Send my love to them all, we shall see you soon

Love

Molly W

xxx

A huge weight seemed to be lifted off Harry's shoulders. Draco would be staying at the Burrow. He would be safe and out of Voldemort's reach.

He was going to be safe.

//Authors Notes\\ 

I wanted to name this chapter Minerva? More like Mi-nervous.
Thats all for today.