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Draco's teeth flashed in a smile that was just the tiniest bit vindictive. "Perils of a surprise party, Harry. You don't get a chance to write out a speech in advance. But one will be expected, from each of us. It's traditional."

"Dad might have warned me," muttered Harry as Draco headed off. He didn't walk straight to Shacklebolt, Harry noticed, but stopped to talk with several people on the way, making it seem as though his progress across the lawn was random and unhurried, when really, he was making a beeline straight to the Auror.

A Slytherin sort of beeline, though.

"He's probably right," said Harry with a slight smile at his cousin. "I should start thanking people for coming. And, uh, figure out some sort of speech, I guess."

"Glad I'm not a wizard." Dudley coloured. "Oh. Um, I don't mean that in a bad way. I'd just hate to have to stand in front of all these people and get nervous and wait for my tongue to trip me up, and--"

"Trying to make me feel better?"

Instead of answering that, Dudley started backing up. "Er, speaking of my tongue, aren't those two the ones who . . . see you later on, Harry!"

Dudley scurried away.

Harry turned a mock glare on Fred and George, though it was only about half in jest. "No testing anything on him tonight."

"Harry!"

"As if we would--"

"I mean it." Harry narrowed his gaze. "He actually likes magic, now. And the two of you aren't going to scare him out of it."

Fred and George nodded in unison, looking about as sincere as they ever did. Which wasn't saying much, but Harry took it for what it was worth.

"Come on," said Fred. "Charlie's here, and he wants to hear first-hand about the First Task."

Harry didn't want to talk about it, but he couldn't really refuse. It was the sort of thing a dragon-tamer would be interested in, and besides, he hadn't seen Charlie in a long time.

Sighing a little, Harry let himself be dragged into the crowd.

------------------------------------------------------

"Wotcher, Tonks," said Harry a while later. Circulating, he was soon finding out, was a tiring business, even if Draco made it look easy. But then, it was second-nature to Draco, after all the Ministry functions he'd attended. And it wasn't as though all the people here were already his friends. A lot of them had brought dates, people Harry didn't know well. Or at all.

Harry was glad to take a breather from it, though he did have to wonder why Tonks had been out here all by herself, at the very edge of the Weasleys' property.

"Patrol," she said, shrugging a little when Harry asked. "Kingsley's doing the other side."

"Patrol? What for?"

Another shrug, but that one looked a little bit forced, to Harry's eye. His instincts instantly went on alert. "Tonks, you can tell me. I'm in the Order now, remember?"

"The Order's run on a need-to-know basis, as I'm sure you've already needed to know," she retorted, popping her gum.

Oh. Harry lowered his voice. "I also already know about what happened earlier today, with everybody being called, and what we found out about that. But they were all sent out of the country, I thought, so what's this about a patrol?"

Tonks stared at him for a moment, her eyes shifting from brown to purple to green to orange, and then she gave a much more relaxed shrug, and leaned on a rotting crate. "I guess I shouldn't forget who you live with, eh? Well, our best information is that they were all sent abroad, yes. But Albus still thought it wouldn't hurt to have a couple of Aurors keeping watch over the wards, here. We lowered them to let everybody in, earlier, but now I'm supposed to make sure they stay strong and tight during the party."

Harry hopped up on the crate, swinging his legs a little. "Thanks. Shame, though, that you have to miss the party."

"Well, at least I'm not stuck at work doing the month-end reports." Tonks swept her wand in an arc, then nodded as if satisfied. "Those are the pits. We all have to stay late until every last spell cast is accounted for, and that's not even counting the financials we have to make sure are tallied . . . let's just say, Harry, that being an Auror isn't all about field work. Unfortunately."

Harry thought that did sound unfortunate. "The Aurors have more important things to be going on with."

"So we do." Tonks popped her gum again. "But it's not just MLE stuck working late tonight, Harry. The Minister requires month-end report marathons from every department."

"Yeah, well . . . Fudge is an idiot."

"No argument there." Tonks shot him a look. "You might want to watch who you say that to, though."

"I will," promised Harry as he hopped down from the crate. "Good to talk with you, Tonks. And thanks for coming. Er, can I bring you out some punch or something?"

"That punch?" Tonks threw her head back and laughed. "No, because it throws quite a punch, considering that you and Draco are both of age, now. I can't drink while on duty."

Huh. She talked like she didn't know that Draco wasn't supposed to be seventeen quite yet. Well, there was no reason why she should know it, right? She might be Draco's cousin, but growing up, she'd never once met him.

"See you later, Tonks."

She gave a merry little wave. "Enjoy your party."

Harry did, even if a little while later he had to put up with Draco rolling his eyes. "Honestly. What did you do, find some hay and dive in?"

Harry didn't know what he was talking about, not until Draco cast a quick cleaning and unwrinkling spell on his robes. Oh, from sitting on the crate, probably.

"Come with me. I've been looking for you."

Harry hung back. "Not speech time, already?"

"No, and when it is, all you really have to do is thank people for their help during the last seventeen years," said Draco shortly. "For now, I need you to help me talk with Hermione."

"Why?"

Draco clenched his jaw, drew Harry away from the crowd, and cast a series of privacy charms before he answered. "Rhiannon asked me to attend her opera tonight. It's the premiere of the new one they've been rehearsing. And I knew I couldn't go, because I needed to attend your birthday dinner, but I promised to drop by the theatre by eleven, when the opera ends, and take her out for a little celebration of our own. And like a fool, I mentioned this to Hermione."

Harry didn't follow. "So?"

"So, when she began commiserating about what a shame it was that Rhiannon couldn't be at my celebration, I told her that Rhiannon couldn't have come here anyway, since I'm going to have to keep her a secret after all, and . . ." Draco actually winced. "She's not taking that very well. She's accusing me of being ashamed of Rhiannon."

"You care so much what Hermione thinks?"

"No." Draco lifted his chin. "But the way she was going on, it wouldn't surprise me if she started announcing all 'round Hogwarts that I'm in love with a Muggle. To make me face the truth, as she put it," he finished, sneering.

Harry almost said that Hermione wouldn't do a thing like that, but then he remembered her letter to Wizard Family Services. Not to mention, the way she'd had his Firebolt impounded when it had first come.

Yeah, when Hermione thought she knew best, she didn't hesitate to do as she thought best. "All right." Harry looked about, but didn't spot her. "Where is she?"

"We'd found a place to talk alone." Draco shrugged. "I had a couple of Rhiannon-related questions for her, and I didn't want anybody overhearing. Maybe that's what set her off. But anyway, follow me."

Draco led Harry around the back of the house, through the garden, and out towards an old shed. Hermione was on the far side of it, tapping her foot impatiently. She said something the moment they came into view, but her voice emerged silently until Harry had crossed the wards Draco had obviously cast here, too.

" . . . and if you think that Harry's going to support you on this, then--"