chaos everywhere
After several days of chaos, where Harry, Draco, and the others tried to balance Animagus training, Occlumency, dueling practice, and actual relaxation, Narcissa decided enough was enough.
"This is a disaster," she announced at breakfast. "You need structure. You need a schedule. And since none of you seem to be capable of making one, I shall do it myself."*
Everyone groaned—except Hermione and Draco, who perked up immediately.
"A schedule sounds like a wonderful idea," Hermione said, already pulling out a quill.
"Yes," Draco agreed smugly. "Finally, some order."*
Harry muttered, "I knew dating you was a mistake."*
Draco ignored him.
After hours of bickering, a timetable was created.
Mornings
- 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM → Breakfast (Sirius and Lucius must sit apart)
- 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM → Physical training (flying, dueling reflexes, endurance training)
- 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM → Spellwork (Defensive & Offensive magic, including advanced hexes & counter-curses)
Afternoons
- 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM → Lunch (mandatory, no skipping for studying, Narcissa ordered)
- 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM → Animagus training (led by Sirius and McGonagall when she visits)
- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM → Occlumency & Legilimency training (Snape, much to everyone’s horror)
Evenings
- 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM → Free time (Sirius calls this ‘Mischief Hour’; Snape calls it ‘Disaster Hour’)
- 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM → Dinner (Lucius and Sirius must still sit apart)
- 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM → Study session (Hermione and Draco’s favorite part of the day)
- 10:00 PM onwards → Freedom (or as Harry put it, ‘Finally, time to snog Draco’)
Harry:"This is ridiculous. I want a refund."
Draco:"It’s perfect. Finally, some order in our lives."
Sirius:"Why am I not allowed to hex Snape during training?"
Lucius:"Why am I being forced to stay civil to Black?"
Snape:"If any of you fail Occlumency, I will hex you into next week."
Remus:"I am simply here to enjoy the chaos."
Despite the complaints, the schedule stayed.
And, surprisingly, it worked.
…For about a week, until Harry found ways to break the rules, Sirius encouraged rebellion, and Draco tried to hex them all back into order.
A typical summer at Malfoy Manor.
---
The morning the Hogwarts letters arrived, Harry, Draco, and the rest of the group were eating breakfast at Malfoy Manor when an excited house-elf popped into existence, clutching a tray full of letters.
"Post from Hogwarts!" the elf squeaked, placing the envelopes down before disappearing again.
Draco, always composed, elegantly picked up his letter and opened it with a flourish. The moment he pulled out the contents, a gleaming silver badge slid onto the table.
"Prefect?" Harry blinked, watching as Hermione also pulled out her own Prefect badge.
"Of course, I'm a Prefect," Draco said smugly. "It was only logical."
Harry felt a twinge of disappointment as he quickly checked his own letter. Nothing extra.
Not that he wanted to be a Prefect, really. It just would’ve been nice—
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said softly, noticing his empty envelope.
Before he could brush it off, Sirius leaned over and snatched the Prefect badge from Draco’s hand.
"Look at you," Sirius smirked. "A Malfoy Prefect. How predictable."
"Give that back," Draco demanded, swiping for it.
Sirius held it just out of reach, smirking as Draco glared up at him.
"Oh, come on, Harry," Sirius threw an arm around him. "Did you really want to spend your time enforcing rules?"
Harry, still slightly annoyed, huffed, "Not really."
"Exactly! We Potters don’t do rules!" Sirius declared proudly.
"Potters also don’t get Prefect badges," Draco muttered, finally snatching his badge back.
Harry kicked him under the table.
Later that day, after much packing (and Draco complaining about Grimmauld Place’s ‘lack of taste’), the group Flooed to the Black family home.
"Ugh," Draco wrinkled his nose the moment he stepped into the dusty, dark hallway. "I’m already regretting this."
"It’s not that bad," Harry said, trying to be optimistic.
"Yes, it is," Sirius agreed.
"Finally, someone with sense," Draco muttered, brushing imaginary dust off his robes.
Narcissa elbowed her cousin. "It’s our family home, Sirius."
"And it’s awful," Sirius shot back.
"It just needs some cleaning up," Remus tried to mediate.
"It needs a fire," Draco whispered to Harry.
"Don’t let Sirius hear you," Harry snorted.
Sirius, thankfully distracted, led them through the house while Kreacher mumbled insults under his breath.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, the house was soon full of life.
- Hermione and Narcissa began organizing the library.
- Draco and Lucius dramatically complained about their living conditions.
- Harry and Sirius plotted how to make Grimmauld Place more ‘livable.’
- Snape looked like he regretted ever stepping foot in the house.
By the end of the night, Grimmauld Place was still old, dark, and dusty—but it was full of laughter, bickering, and family.
---
It had started as an accident.
Draco had been wandering through Grimmauld Place, muttering about its lack of aesthetic appeal, when he made the mistake of slamming a door a little too hard.
Immediately, a loud shriek filled the entire house.
"FILTH! BLOOD TRAITORS! HALF-BREEDS! HOW DARE YOU—"
"Merlin’s bloody—" Draco flinched, covering his ears.
Sirius, from another room, groaned loudly. "Oh, brilliant! You woke her up!"
"Shut UP, you ugly, outdated waste of canvas!" Draco hissed back at the portrait, furious.
"DISGRACE TO THE HOUSE OF BLACK! HALF-BLOOD FILTH!—"
Draco, never one to back down from a fight, glared at the portrait with a look of pure disgust.
"Right. That’s it," he said, rolling up his sleeves.
Sirius perked up immediately. "You think you can get rid of her? Many have tried, Malfoy, many have failed."
Attempt #1: Magic
- Draco tried a Banishing Charm. Nothing.
- He tried Incendio. The flames fizzled out instantly.
- "Oh, come on!" Draco scowled.
Attempt #2: Logic
- "It’s just a painting," Draco muttered. "It has to have a weak point."
- "She’s cursed to the wall," Hermione explained. "If she wasn’t, Sirius would have burned her years ago."
- Draco ignored her and continued plotting.
Attempt #3: The Malfoy Method™
- "Everything has a price," Draco reasoned. "Even magic."
- He pulled out an old, extremely expensive Malfoy family dagger.
- Sirius and Harry exchanged alarmed looks.
"Draco—" Harry started.
"Shh," Draco waved him off, inspecting the frame carefully.
He muttered a few words in Old Latin—probably some ancient spell only the Malfoys knew—and then, with precise, practiced elegance, he cut through the edge of the frame.
There was a sudden, ear-piercing shriek—but this time, it wasn’t from the portrait.
Instead, the magic binding the painting cracked, like glass shattering.
The frame rattled violently, sparks flying—
And then—
With one final, agonizing wail—
Walburga Black’s portrait fell from the wall.
The silence was stunning.
Sirius blinked. Then blinked again. Then—
"DRACO MALFOY, YOU BLOODY LEGEND!"
Draco brushed imaginary dust off his robes. "Obviously."
Harry stared at him, completely impressed. "You—How—?"
"Magic has rules," Draco smirked. "You just need to know them."
Sirius, delighted beyond reason, grabbed the portrait and threw it straight into the fireplace.
Walburga let out one last, dying shriek before being engulfed in flames.
As the fire crackled, Sirius turned to Draco with something close to respect.
"I take back everything bad I ever said about you," he said solemnly.
"You said bad things about me?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "How dare you."
Harry, snorting, pulled Draco in for a quick kiss. "You’re actually amazing, you know that?"
"Obviously," Draco repeated smugly, letting himself be kissed.
And with that, Walburga Black was gone forever.
--
With Walburga Black’s screeching portrait finally gone, Grimmauld Place felt… lighter. For the first time, it actually seemed livable rather than a cursed relic of the past.
Sirius, in an unusually good mood, had immediately declared a celebration.
"House-elves, cursed furniture, an infestation of spiders—and now my mother is finally gone! I say we throw a party!"
Lucius arched a skeptical eyebrow. "In this house?"
Sirius grinned. "Oh, trust me, Malfoy. We’re about to make Grimmauld Place fabulous."
---
With the Order of the Phoenix officially moving in, it was time for a massive cleanup.
Everyone was given assignments—though not everyone agreed with them.
- Draco:Organizing the library. ("You expect me to clean? I’ll have you know, Malfoys don’t clean.")
- Harry:Removing dark artifacts. ("Draco, don’t touch that! It could be cursed!")
- Sirius & Lucius:Redecorating & arguing. ("We are NOT keeping the snake wallpaper, Malfoy!")
- Remus & Snape:Potion inventory. ("If you break a single bottle, Lupin—")
- Narcissa:Turning the house into something aesthetically pleasing. ("*Honestly, this place is offensive to my eyes.")
Draco, however, had other priorities.
"Harry, sit down."
"What?" Harry blinked, confused as Draco dragged him to an armchair.
"We are not doing manual labor," Draco said with finality, climbing into Harry’s lap.
Harry laughed. "So your big plan is to hide while everyone else works?"
"Correction," Draco smirked. "My big plan is to stay right here while you hold me and look pretty."
Sirius, passing by, choked on his drink. "Draco—!"
After hours of cleaning, arguing, and more cleaning, the house finally looked… decent.
The adults had gathered in the sitting room, relaxing with drinks, while the younger group took over the drawing room.
Draco had claimed his usual spot—Harry’s lap—while the rest lounged on various sofas and cushions.
Ron sighed dramatically. "I can’t believe we’re stuck here all summer."
Hermione, already reading a book, hummed. "At least it’s safe."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes, what fun. Trapped in this dark, dusty house with Gryffindors and no escape."
Harry squeezed his waist playfully. "You love us."
"I love you," Draco corrected smoothly, before leaning down to kiss him.
There were loud groans from their friends.
"*Oh, come on!" Ron gagged. "Do you have to do that here?"
Sirius, walking in with Lucius, smirked. "Let them be, Weasley. It’s entertaining."
Lucius sighed dramatically. "My son was raised better than this."
"Lucius," Narcissa cut in smoothly, "we all saw you sitting on Sirius’s lap earlier."
Lucius looked scandalized. "That is entirely—!"
Sirius just grinned. "You like me, Malfoy. Admit it."
Snape, from the corner, looked deeply regretful that he was still here.
"*Why am I surrounded by this?" he muttered.
Remus, sipping his tea, smirked. "Because you love me?"
Snape’s only response was to take a very long sip of his drink.
And just like that, life at Grimmauld Place had officially begun.