The strangest thing.

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Harry's POV

I'd owled ahead to Andromeda and let her know I was bringing Malfoy, though it turned out that I'd not needed to; she was thrilled to finally have the chance to meet her nephew, having been alienated from her sisters since marrying a muggle. She welcomed the chance to haul him into her family and never let him go again – as was her nature.

We'd decided to meet in the courtyard at 6:30, but when I arrived early – wanting to avoid a scolding for being simply on-time – the blonde was already waiting, perched delicately on the edge of the fountain. I fought the almost overwhelming desire to push him in and laugh as he flailed, but I managed to contain the urge. He must have read my mind because before I could even get close, he stood and moved away from the gushing water.

He looked dashing as ever in a navy blue pea-coat that reached his knees and a scarf that perfectly matched his eyes. My mind chastised me: Come on, Harry, could you get any more pathetic? I looked the man in front of me up and down, thinking things I shouldn't be and thought that yes, I absolutely could.

"Well?" Malfoy raised his eyebrows, "shall we go?" and we did. We took my car.

After the war when I decided to wrestle some sort of normalcy into my life, I invested in one and as it turned out driving was something I enjoyed very much. When I was with the Dursleys all I could think about was one day getting in a car and driving away, further and further until they couldn't reach me, but now I had one, I never ventured very far from my home at Hogwarts. Either way, I loved being in the road.

Malfoy didn't seem to share my opinion; his curled lip and the downward turn of the corners of his mouth were the give-away.

"It's so loud," he expressed his distaste unabashedly, "and it's bumpy, why does it keep bouncing around?"

"I don't know, it just does, Malfoy, I'm not a mechanic," I replied, slightly revelling in his discomfort, "we're almost there, can you stick it out for a little bit longer?" I teased.

"Shut up, Potter," was his reply.

As we pulled up the driveway to Andromeda's house, I heard Malfoy heave a nervous and shaking sigh.

"What's the matter?" I asked with more concern than I had intended.

"Teddy's parents are dead because of me," he whispered, voice breaking just a little, he said it like it had hit home suddenly and all at once, "or, at least I helped," shame bled through his voice and reached the slump of his shoulders. I put my hand on his back in an attempt to comfort him.

"You had nothing to do with it," I said firmly, "Bellatrix killed Tonks and Dolohov killed Remus. It's not your fault."

"I got them into Hogwarts in Sixth, I was on their side, Bellatrix was my aunt–"

"Circumstance," I defended, "You were being blackmailed and pressured and psychologically tortured, and blood means nothing, Andy of all people, would understand that."

I could tell he was still miserable but the tension in his shoulders subsided. His expression told me that he still carried the guilt... so when we got out of the car, I hugged him. It was sort of weird and uncomfortable because I was supposed to hate him, I had hated him, and I had blamed him but right now, all I wanted to do was make him feel better.

"Harry, my dear," Andromeda Tonks had appeared in the doorway to her tall and Gothic house, worthy of Tim Burton, "I have places to be!" Her good natured smile and small laugh assured me that she wasn't really being impatient, she was trying to save me from a situation she thought I didn't want to be in.

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