Running Away

3

Grimmauld Place was the first and most logical step for the boys and their knew journey. A house hidden from anyone who didn't have permission to enter and a house filled with rooms yet to be explored. Junk was still piled up, cursed and covered in various unrecognisable plant life, and there was a single room where this junk was the perfect spot to hide. Creating a secret entrance and a vast space beneath the junk Draco and Harry worked together to build a junk fort, and it was only a few seconds in when the fighting started.

"Fuck off Potter just let me do this on my own!"
"No! This is my house!"

"Well we can't stay here forever!"
"I know that!" Harry threw the first thing he could find directly at Draco's head, causing him to glare angrily at Harry.

"That was so mature Potter." Draco said through gritted teeth. Harry was really beginning to get on his nerves. "You are completely useless. Without that mudblood you and the ginger would have died first year!"

"If that's what you truly believe then why are you here?" He rolled his eyes.

"Because I have no other option. Speaking of, why would you bring me here?" Draco mimicked Harry's early expression but he was more serious.

"It doesn't matter."
"Exactly Potter. What matters is we get comfortable for a few nights. Do you have a plan yet?"
"It's a good thing I do then." Harry rolled his eyes and let Draco pile up the fort on his own, watching and getting the occasional glare from the blonde boy whenever Draco swore at himself for making a mistake, and Harry would chuckle.

___

"So, what is your plan Malfoy?" Harry and Malfoy sat within their new fort. A hidden home made with junk beyond repair, their wands snapped and thrown away so no one can track them, it was tighter than the closet, but they were beginning to become used to the tight quarters.

"This house."

"What"

"We get a house just like this house, only I am your secret keeper and no one else knows."
"I, I guess, but how would I get a house like this without anyone knowing where I am?"
"Granger."
"Hermione?"

"Yes."

"But?"

"When you buy these houses even the seller can't access it, even Hermione won't see it. Just us."
"Okay." At least Harry could say goodbye, and it is a better idea than how the trio avoided Voldemort. ­­

___

"Harry! Oh Harry!" Hermione Granger ran swiftly into the arms of her best friend. The past two days had been awful, Harry had died, come back to life, killed Voldemort and POOF! She didn't deserve the stress that weighed on her, just thinking about what could have happened to him, on top of the missing death eaters, those who have died and those who want to find the amazing Boy-Who-Lived-Twice just so they can get their 15 minutes of fame. He could've died, or worse knowing Harry. Seeing him here, in Grimmauld Place, made her kick herself for not thinking of it sooner. "I missed you so much! Don't ever do this again, you hear me? Oh, you gave me such a fright you stupid boy." Tears spiked in the edges of her eyes as she buried her face into the younger boy's chest. Harry was filled with guilt, it was Hermione, his best friend, his sister, how could he keep something so important a secret.

"Hermione. I have to go away." He tried to keep emotion out of his voice.

"What? Oh, you idiot. Tell me next time! I could've sent you somewhere safe! Safer than this place anyway!!"
"That's why I've called you here. It is more than just a goodbye. I want you to find me a home like Grimmauld Place. Somewhere hidden, like my parent's old home. Even though I want you to be, you cannot be my secret keeper either, I have someone else in mind who is leaving with me."
"You are not taking Ginny from her family, Fred died."
"I know, it is not Ginny, it is someone else, someone you won't understand, but please, help us."
"Fine, be all secretive. But don't expect me to bail you out when you are found."

"Okay. Just somewhere small and cheap, I will need to save my money."
"Fine. I will be back with the deed." ­

They waited, expecting it to be a week, maybe two. As it turns out, after the war there were a lot of places like these for sale, a lot of people had assumed there would be those wanting to escape, so Hermione returned within the day with the deed to Deleec Nook.