Bonus

To be perfectly honest, Harry didn't know much about relationships. About love.

His childhood had been a mess of biblical proportions. He had no doubts about that. The memory of his parents was fleeting, only experiencing them through flashes of warmth in his dreams. Petunia and Vernon Dursley hadn't exactly been role models for healthy marriages and proper parenting. The affection the two showed each other was different, and Harry wasn't sure it was in a good way. Many times he'd caught himself staring longingly after families and couples in the park, pictures of perfection and happiness.

He'd started to wonder.

He never had much luck in school either. It came with the territory, being the Boy-Who-Lived and all. So few people could look past that part of him. That was probably why he really only had just the two friends. Hermione and Ron were so dear to him and they had taught him about loyalty, about friendship.

But still he wondered.

Couples in Hogwarts weren't much help, as Harry quickly came to terms with the fact that trivial teenage relationships and quick trysts in broom cupboards, from what he'd seen on his map, lacked what he was looking for...something deeper.

Harry wondered if he would ever find out what it meant to love unconditionally.

"You must be Harry Potter."

Harry was glad for the unknown interruption, as the scene before him was quickly spiraling downhill. Clearly, Mr. Weasley originally had never planned on mentioning the whole tongue-enlarging fiasco to his wife, but there was no escaping her wrath now that she'd caught wind of the problem. He didn't envy the twins. Mrs. Weasley's anger was a force to be reckoned with. If he'd known that accepting the Weasleys' offer to join them for the Quidditch World Cup would come with witnessing the twins' early demise at the hands of their mother, he just might have reconsidered. The air was getting to be quite hostile and the Weasley matriarch's face was turning an alarming shade of red, so he seized on the opportunity to get away that came in the form of a cool voice behind him.

He spun around to see who had spoken and came face to face with an incredibly attractive woman with proud, aristocratic features. She had grey eyes and silver hair swept over one shoulder—briefly, Harry was reminded of Draco Malfoy, much to his horror, but this woman obviously had nothing to do with his school rival if she was here at the Burrow. He was perplexed. Surely she wasn't a Weasley, not with that shade of hair.

He took her outstretched hand, nodding and replying eloquently, "Uh, yeah."

Her lips curved up in an amused smirk and Harry cursed himself for being about as graceful as a flobberworm. The woman was wearing a grey sweater a little too large for her that curiously had a red 'C' emblazoned on the front—a sweater that Harry recognized to be in the knitting style of Mrs. Weasley—and a pair of tight-fitting blue jeans.

"Er...and you are?"

One eyebrow rose in bemusement. "You've never heard of me?"

It was only then that Harry realized the entire kitchen had fallen silent and that everyone else was staring at the two. He wasn't sure what to say. Ron had never mentioned anything about someone else joining them for the Quidditch World Cup. Fred elbowed his way towards them—most likely just glad to find an excuse to get away from his seething mother—and threw his arm around the woman, nearly knocking her over. Impressively, she remained standing, even with one of the twins hanging off her like an over-sized leech.

"This here, Harry, is our very own, our personal...Malfoy!" He placed a very wet, very sloppy kiss on her cheek and Harry's jaw fell open. Surely the Weasley twin was pulling his leg, though it was a strange joke that made no sense. Fred added as an afterthought, "We snatched up the one good one."

"Oi, oi." Charlie stepped forward and peeled the clinging twin off the woman. Harry gawked at the familiar way with which the older Weasley brother he'd just met tucked his arm around her. "Stop using my girlfriend to try and get out of your punishment."

Fred made a face. "Traitor."

Harry's head was ringing and he held up a hand. "Hold on...girlfriend?"

An amused expression crossed the woman's face. "Still not ringing a bell?"

Harry winced, shaking his head.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley." Mrs. Weasley's voice was sharp and clear, her eyes staring accusingly at her youngest son, who shrunk down into his seat and grimaced as he muttered, "I knew I'd forgotten something."

"What, you embarrassed of me or something, squirt?" The silver-haired woman darted forward and wrapped an arm around Ron's neck, pulling him lightly into a chokehold and ignoring the indignant shout of 'squirt?' that came from beneath her arm.

Charlie chuckled. Harry noted the fond look that crossed over the second eldest Weasley brother's face as they all watched Ron try to escape the woman's surprisingly strong grip. "Don't worry about it, Harry. Ron still hasn't quite come to terms with the fact that I'm dating a Malfoy."

Under his breath, however, the dragonologist murmured resentfully, "Even though it's been five years."

Harry's eyes were still bulging out of his head. He wasn't sure he'd be able to come to terms with it anytime soon. Not once had Ron ever mentioned that one of his brothers was dating a Malfoy. Suddenly, Draco Malfoy's unwavering hatred of Ron and the entire Weasley clan was becoming all too clear. The instant their school rival had laid eyes on Ron, his entire face had twisted up in disgust. And Harry understood now, why Ron was all too eager to stick it to the Malfoy name but how there was always a strange, almost hesitant glint in his eyes that followed.

The female Malfoy in question must have registered the expression on his face because she finally released Ron and nodded, adding, "Don't worry about it, Potter. My dear parents and loving little brother probably also haven't mentioned me since I was blasted off the family tree for falling for this tosser."

She jabbed her elbow into Charlie's side but he just laughed, dodging the blow and wrapping his arm around her shoulders again so he could pull her closer to press a kiss to the side of her head.

Harry was about to look away, feeling rather awkward about witnessing the subtle yet sweet display of affection, when a small piece of wrapped candy—alarmingly similar to the one Dudley had opened—hit the side of Charlie's head.

"Get a room." George mimed a vomiting gesture.

"How's the little prat doing?" Malfoy asked casually, ignoring George and slinging an arm around Charlie's waist as she leaned into him.

Harry hesitated before attempting to clarify, "You mean..."

"Draco, my younger brother." She smirked and there was no mistaking Malfoy family resemblance now. Harry was briefly distracted by a strange lilt he picked up in her voice, almost out of place with the way she talked. A flash of recognition came to mind. It was muted, but the way she talked was just so similar to her younger brother's. And yet...so different. Draco Malfoy simply screamed pureblood, from the way he walked to his very punchable face. In her case though, her tone and words were much less...arrogant, but there was still an air about her that whispered of a pureblood upbringing. Harry found that it wasn't unpleasant though. It suited her. "He still an absolute monster?"

"Er..."

She nodded in satisfaction at his response. "I gather he is then. They always did spoil him rotten."

Harry was at a loss for words for the umpteenth time that day, but she took pity on him and flashed him a quick smile before turning her eyes onto Mrs. Weasley, who was now staring at three of her sons angrily.

By the time things started to settle down, if that's what one could call the yelling match that quickly started between the twins and their mother, Harry had finally managed to get over his initial shock of the new discovery standing next to Charlie, tucked under the man's arm. But more than once, he found his own gaze wandering over to Malfoy with a mixture of fascination and confusion.

"Harry dear?"

His attention snapped back to Mrs. Weasley, who was attempting her best smile but it wasn't really working, since any lightness she was going for was heavily overshadowed by the angry red dashing her cheeks. "Why don't you settle in? Dinner will be ready in a jiffy. Hermione can show you where you'll be staying."

Harry nodded, relieved, despite the obvious fact that Mrs. Weasley was trying to get rid of anyone who wasn't familiar with the way she ran her household. Fred and George clearly understood this because they began to inch away behind her, only to be blocked by Bill who wore an all too amused look on his face. Harry seized the end of his trunk but before he could even begin to drag it, the weight disappeared from his hand and the trunk floated up into the air. Turning his head, he found Malfoy standing right next to him, a wand in hand. She just raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Harry blushed. "Er...thanks."

"Come on, Harry." Hermione smiled and Harry felt almost guilty that he'd neglected to greet his friend in all the commotion that had sprung up around his arrival to the Burrow.

They didn't speak as they followed Hermione's bushy hair towards the stairs leading up to the second floor, but as his trunk began to drift further ahead of them, Malfoy opened her mouth again.

"Hey, Potter."

A cool hand settled on his wrist and Harry turned to face her again. They stopped just at the bottom of the stairs. "Yeah?"

The light-hearted expression on her face had somewhat faded and she looked rather serious now. "Listen...I watched Draco grow up into a sweet child. I did my best to protect him from my father's clutches, but unfortunately, he is the male heir and with that comes...a mountain of expectations."

Harry wasn't sure where Malfoy was going with this.

"It's my fault for leaving, and I do regret it every day...that I had to leave him behind, but just..."

Harry was surprised that she seemed to be struggling for words, for she seemed like the type who knew exactly what to say and do. But this clearly seemed like a touchy matter with her and Harry felt somewhat thankful that Malfoy was choosing to share something with him. "I know you're not likely to be best mates with him anytime soon from what I've heard, but please...just consider what he is going through before you judge him. Don't take what he says about you to heart. I truly believe that...that's just our father speaking. I think deep down, Draco understands things in a way not unlike how I did when I was younger. Right now, he's...well, he's just a boy."

"Yeah...I'll uh...I'll try." Harry quickly replied. "Really, I will. I guess I...never thought about it that way."

Malfoy looked at him, and Harry swore that she was staring right into his soul. But she seemed to find what she was looking for and gave him a short nod, flicking her wand. Harry realized his trunk was no longer in sight. "You should be all set. I'll leave you to it with Hermione then."

And with that, she disappeared back around the corner. Harry stared for a moment at her abrupt departure before shaking his head and taking the steps two at a time to find Hermione.

"What did she say to you?" asked Hermione curiously as the two settled onto Harry's temporary bed.

Harry shook his head. "Not much, just some stuff about Malfoy."

"You know, I think she really does love her brother. Makes me wonder though, what he might be like if he had gotten the chance to grow up with her." Hermione said thoughtfully, one hand resting on her chin. When Harry didn't reply, as he was wondering the exact same thing, she switched subjects. "You took it pretty well, though. I froze up terribly when I first met her...and then I realized she was actually nice."

Harry began to laugh, just imagining the expression that would have been on Hermione's face in an encounter with Draco Malfoy's older sibling.

"Oh, shut up!" Despite her scowl, she began to join in as well.

Eventually, when the laughter died down, Harry leaned forward and flipped open the clasps on his trunk, intent on unpacking some of his necessities. "So what have you all been up to before today?"

Hermione leaned forward eagerly, and Harry had a feeling that the new Malfoy and finally meeting all of Ron's brothers had a lot to do with the shine in her eye.

"I've got a lot to catch you up on."

Dinner preparations were a lively affair. A long table had already been set outside in the garden by a few of the Weasley brothers, since the house would hardly fit all the Weasleys plus guests in the cramped dining room. Everyone seemed to have a task set out for them, all except for him of course. When Harry had tried to offer his assistance, Mrs. Weasley had almost looked offended and had quickly ushered him out of the way as she levitated a set of of plates out the door.

So instead, Harry found himself wandering around the Burrow, trying to help out where he could. He stepped outside to see if he could help the twins finish up setting out all the chairs but quickly darted back inside when he realized Fred and George were lobbing garden gnomes at each other. That was a disaster waiting to happen and he did not want to get caught up in it. He didn't get very far in asking Ginny if she needed any help with table decorations because she'd quickly turned red and anything she might have sputtered was incoherent.

Having no luck anywhere else, Harry headed towards the one place that he could probably be useful in: the kitchen. As he neared, he heard a distant screech from outside and gathered that Mrs. Weasley had ventured into the garden and found out what her twin sons were up to. Harry winced and instead turned his focus on the voices drifting out of the kitchen that were arguing about something.

"Are you sure you're doing it right?"

"What, you think you can do this better than me? Do you even know to cook? I feel like your diet in Romania would have consisted of to-go boxes if not for the fact that we had a mess hall."

"Ooh, low blow! Now that you remind me, Dobby did make the most wonderful butterbeer cupcakes though, bless his heart. Oh, how I miss him. But, I'll have you know that I have read all six hundred pages of Charm Your Own Cheese by Gerda Catchlove."

"Do we look like we're making cheese right now, love?"

"Is that a challenge?"

Harry ducked his head into the kitchen, which was surprisingly empty. He supposed he'd been expecting Mrs. Weasley to be dominating the scene, if anything from his past experiences were true. But clearly the Weasley matriarch was busy elsewhere so instead of her, he found Charlie and his girlfriend.

The dragon trainer was flicking his wand in practiced motions at an assortment of vegetables on the cutting board in front of him, while Malfoy sat on the counter a small distance away, twirling her wand in lazy circle over a bowl of what seemed to be melted chocolate. Occasionally, she would snark about Charlie's wand form but from the easygoing grin on the Weasley's face, Harry could tell that he didn't mind her comments. Seeing that they didn't seem to be swamped and not wanting to interrupt the couple's time together, he turned to leave.

"What did you think of Harry?"

Harry whipped back around and nearly fell into the room, but fortunately managed to catch himself and was infinitely glad that the two wouldn't be able to see him from where he was located.

"Hm, the Potter boy?" Malfoy's voice was thoughtful and her moving hand came to a stop. With a flick of her hand, her sleeve rolled up and her wand was sheathed into something Harry recognized as a wand holster. It seemed harsh and so out of place on her arm, contrasting her casual outfit. "Seems like a nice boy. Cute."

Harry's cheeks flushed red and he fought the heat of embarrassment that crept up his spine. Cute? That was a first, he supposed. He'd gotten 'far too skinny' and 'his mother's eyes' and an endless assortment of other descriptions, but cute was not a word he expected many others to refer to him as.

"Cute?" It seemed that Charlie echoed his sentiments as well. Charlie raised his wand and all the sliced vegetables began to dance single file into the bubbling pot in front of him. The redhead turned and propped up a hand on his hip, the other resting lightly on top of his wand on the counter as he gave his girlfriend an exasperated but amused look. "You're referring to Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, as cute?"

"Quite." Malfoy leaned her head back on the cupboards behind her. Her eyes closed as she picked up a spoon, twirling it around on her slender fingers. "You know, I don't know what I expected. But the first thing I thought was...thank Salazar his head isn't as big as Draco's. Not that it would be possible. That brat's ego is far too large. As for Potter, well he seems humble and down-to-earth in ways I wasn't expecting. It was...refreshing. Also, have you seen his hair? How has Molly not gotten her hands on that yet? So indeed, I think he's adorable."

This really wasn't helping the awkward and self-conscious feelings Harry was already deeply submerged in. He looked down uncomfortably and raised a hand almost unconsciously to flatten his hair.

"And I think he has a good heart. A kind one. The world needs that."

Harry's hand dropped down to his side and he looked up in surprise, warmth filling his chest from her kind words. She had spoken them with simple honesty in her voice, and he could find nothing to indicate that she hadn't meant them.

"Yeah," Charlie agreed, grinning. "He's a good lad. He has to be, to be able to put up with Ron."

"Good point."

Charlie picked up the cutting board he'd used and reached around Malfoy's legs to dump it in the sink next to her. Before he could turn back to the soup he was preparing though, Malfoy's legs hooked around both of his in a flash, locking him in place in front of her. It didn't seem to be a great position on his part though, and Charlie had to shoot out a hand to grip the counter for stability.

Brushing aside the fact that he'd nearly fallen head first into the melted chocolate she had made, Malfoy held out a spoon covered in the chocolate to Charlie. "Here, taste this. I swear to Merlin, if I got her recipe wrong, Molly may never trust me with anything ever again."

"Mum loves you," Charlie grumbled, pushing himself up and shuffling closer so he could stand without falling over. "In her eyes, you can do no wrong."

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Malfoy smirked and jabbed the spoon in Charlie's direction. "Taste it. Please."

Charlie plucked the spoon from her and stuck it in his mouth, humming in thought. Harry noticed that Malfoy actually looked concerned. She must have really cared about how dessert would turn out, despite the seemingly bored way she had been stirring the chocolate earlier.

"Well?"

"Tastes just like Mum's. It's perfect." Charlie tossed the spoon into the sink, where it fell with a clatter on top of the cutting board. "But..."

The redhead swooped in suddenly for a kiss, his hand tucking a strand of silver hair behind her ear as their lips met. Harry immediately felt uncomfortable, cursing his decision to eavesdrop on Malfoy's opinion of him. He drew back and began to leave, but the kiss was a brief and sweet one, and at that moment, the two separated and something caught his attention.

Malfoy's eyes were grey, as he'd noticed when they had first met. Intense and scrutinizing, her eyes had been what made Harry straighten immediately and give her his full attention. But now, as she gazed at Charlie with parted lips, they were impossibly soft. She looked at him...Malfoy looked at Charlie Weasley like he was her world, like she'd been lost for the longest time and he was the one who had found her.

She looked at him like someone finally realizing they were home.

"...not as perfect as you." The words were so quiet Harry almost missed them while absorbed in the revelation that had come to him.

There was a brief pause that, to Harry, seemed to stretch on forever.

"You are so cheesy!"

"Good thing you read that cheese book then, huh?"

"Ugh, get away from me, you numpty."

"Can't. I'm trapped between your legs, love. Although..."

"Harry? What are you doing?"

Harry jerked back around the corner and flattened himself against the wall, heart leaping into his throat. Was he busted?

Ron stood behind him on the last step of the staircase, a mop in hand.

"Nothing." Harry replied too quickly, and Ron eyed him. For a second, he was afraid that Ron would head into the kitchen and find exactly what he'd been eavesdropping on, but his friend just leaned forward instead and whispered, "Great. D'you think you could help me clean the rooms upstairs? Mum's furious that I forgot to do it before you arrived and I could use some help. Hermione won't help because she thinks I deserve it."

Harry grinned at Ron's annoyed tone. "Yeah, of course."

"Thank Merlin. My arms were about to fall off. Don't tell my mum though, because she'll have my head for making you do anything resembling a chore."

Harry followed Ron up the stairs, only turning midway to give the kitchen doorway one last glance.

To be perfectly honest, Harry didn't know much about relationships and love.

But as he sat at the dinner table, a swelling feeling of content settling over him, he looked over near the end of the table. He saw Charlie, deep in conversation with Bill about something. He saw Malfoy, her full lips arranged in an amused smirk as she watched George try to force feed Ron a suspiciously green candy behind Mrs. Weasley's back. He saw Charlie's hand resting lightly over Malfoy's palm, their fingers loosely entwined in a casual gesture that probably meant little to anyone else at the table.

And he started to understand.