As soon as they left the pensieve, Draco rounded on Potter. "What were you thinking?! First, you tell him the only person who visits him is dead, then you breach the subject of his also dead wife, and then you tell him that a children's story tale is real and that you can bring his wife back from the dead- Potter, do you have no subtlety? Are all Gryffindors so brash and careless?"

Snape, watching on from the side, said, "Yes, Draco, they all are. Every single one. Absolutely insufferable, the lot of them."

"How do you even plan to get the resurrection stone?! Wait, scrap that. How do you know it even works?"

"Well, because I've used it, obviously."

Draco blanched. "You've used it?! You have used one of the Deathly Hallows-"

"Two," Potter said, holding up his cloak.

"-two of the Deathly Hallows-"

"Three," said Dumbledore, behind the two. Draco whirled around to face him.

"Three?! But- but there are only three Hallows!"

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, Draco, there are. The Cloak, the Stone, and the Elder Wand."

Draco threw his hands in the air, turning back to face Potter. "And just how, Potter, did you get your hands on the Elder Wand?!"

"Er- Malfoy, it was actually from you."

Draco's mouth dropped open. "Wh-"

"Y'know- sixth year, the astronomy tower," Potter begun. Draco glanced aside, folding his arms defensively, but Potter blustered on. "Dumbledore had possession of the Elder Wand at that moment in time. To own the Elder Wand, you have to defeat its previous owner."

"But- Snape killed Dumbledore- I haven't defeated Snape-"

"No, but you disarmed Dumbledore. That counted as defeating him. You, from that moment, had control of the Elder Wand."

Draco's mind was whirling. He'd- he'd held such power, and not even known?

"Then, at Malfoy Manor- when we got caught by the Snatchers, and Hermione disfigured my face, I took your wand from you. Then I gained control of the Elder Wand."

"Oh Merlin," Draco murmured, lowering himself to the ground so he wouldn't fall over from the shock of it all.

"Actually, it was instrumental in killing Voldemort. In that final battle between us, he had the physical Elder Wand, but I had its allegiance. He tried to kill me with it, but couldn't, because the wand didn't obey him, it obeyed me, and it refused to kill me. Hey, Malfoy, if you hadn't disarmed Dumbledore that night on the Astronomy tower, I might've died and Voldemort would've won."

"Oh dear Merlin," Draco breathed.

"Potter, shut your obnoxious mouth. You're going to give Draco a heart attack. Now, what's this about needing the resurrection stone?"

"Wait!" Draco shouted, scrambling to his feet and pointing a finger at Potter. "If you- if you had control of all the Hallows- that means- that means you would've been the- the Master of Death!"

Potter blinked. "Er, yeah, I suppose so."

"What the- Harry Potter, how in Merlin's name are you so calm about knowing you were, at one point, the literal master of Death?!"

"Well, I've died twice. Doesn't get much more shocking than that."

"TWICE?!"

"Alright, boys, settle down," Dumbledore said. "So, what are you doing next? Something to do with the Deathly Hallows, I assume?"

"Yeah," Potter replied calmly as Draco proceeded to have a mental meltdown. "Flamel wasn't all that into giving us the stone's recipe for nothing. He wanted something in return, so we ended up offering the Resurrection stone so he could resurrect his wife."

"Ah, I feared he would be like that. I hope he didn't cause too much trouble. Well, how are you two going to get the stone?"

"Well, when I walked into the Forbidden Forest in the Battle of Hogwarts, I used it to summon my parents and Sirius. Then, when I got close, I just- sorta- threw it aside, I suppose."

Draco, who had been calming down with murmured Occlumency tips from Severus, immediately lost any regained composure as he screeched, "You had the Resurrection Stone and you just threw it aside?!"

Potter blinked again. "Um- yeah. So- we'll have to look through the Forest, I suppose."

McGonagall, sat at her desk again, spoke up. Why was there a bright orange feather in her hat? "I'm going to pretend not to have heard any of this conversation. I am also going to pretend not to have told you that Filch won't be roaming the castle tonight, and neither will Mrs. Norris."

Potter grinned. "Thanks, Professor. C'mon Malfoy, let's go."

As they left, Draco kept up a running stream of muttered insults to the Gryffindor house and their reckless, rule-breaking idiocy, to the Deathly Hallows, to the Forbidden Forest, to Dumbledore and Flamel and, mostly, to moronic, messy-haired boys with no sense of self-preservation and an endless resource of bravery who have mastered Death and died twice and killed a mass-murderer and lived life from one fatal adventure to the next.

. . .

That night, Draco met Potter by the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They exchanged a glance and a nod, and then walked in together, side by side, illuminated wands held high.

Draco was on-edge; every crack of a branch or rustle of leaves or pad of feet that weren't his own made him tense up and glance around. Potter led the way, mostly, seeming to know exactly where he was going although they had long ago strayed from the path, but made sure Draco stayed right by his side.

Eventually they reached a small clearing; the leafy canopy still hung heavy overhead, letting only little bits of moonlight shine through. A ring of trees surrounded the area. When Potter confirmed that the stone would be somewhere here, Draco let him start looking while he cast spells.

Firstly, he went around the clearing, casting protective and silencing and disillusionment charms. Then, he pointed his wand at the sky and said, "Manere, Lumos Maxima"; a large orb of light, brighter than a normal Lumos and larger, rose into the air. It hovered above the clearing, illuminating the ground. Draco squinted against the bright light, then turned to where Potter was still searching, having now tucked his wand into his back pocket.

Draco tucked his wand into the inside pocket of his furry grey coat, bent over and joined him, rustling through the leaves with his hands.

It was going to be a long night.

. . .

"I give up," Potter announced after about half an hour of searching.

"Pathetic," Draco replied, although he had been about to suggest a break; his arms ached, his fingers felt like they were about to fall off from the cold- his nose, too- and his back, from being bent over for so long.

"Shut up, Malfoy, I could still best you in a duel right now and we both know it. Anyway, don't you think we should ask for help? It would go faster doing this with more people."

"See, that sounds good, except I don't want to tell more people about my potion. And, besides, who do you think would actually come and join us if we told them we were looking for the Resurrection Stone? Or even just any old stone? They'd think we'd gone mad."

"Well, I guess, but what if we told people who already knew about the Stone? And who knew about what you were doing?"

"What? Potter, who are you thinking of? Spit it out."

"Ron and Hermione."

"No."

"Malfoy, look-"

"Alright, so, perhaps Granger, but Weasley? Absolutely not."

"Malfoy-"

"Granger or nothing, Potter."

Potter gave Draco the most exasperated look, then sighed. "Fine, Malfoy. Let's go get Hermione."

. . .

The two stepped into Gryffindor common room. The lights were out, the windows shut against the cold air. The fireplace was empty, and without it, the place looked almost unwelcoming; barren, devoid of life. Cold. Empty.

Harry walked over to the staircases. He gestured to the one on the left, indicating that Granger was up there. He stepped back to let Malfoy go first. He remembered the fact that the staircases turned into slides if a boy tried to go up them; he smirked to himself as Malfoy passed him. This would be brilliant.

He watched as Malfoy set foot on the stairs.

And kept going.

Of bloody course the staircases don't send prim, proper, rule-abiding Malfoy tumbling down them.

Malfoy made his way up the stairs, oblivious to Harry's unbelieving expression. When he was nearly at the top, he turned back to see Harry, gaping up at him. "Nice view, Potter?" he whispered. Potter's mouth snapped shut and he started whisper-shouting something at Malfoy, stepping up onto the staircase-

. . .

Draco, still half-turned around, fell, as the staircase flattened out and turned into a ramp. He scrambled for purchase, clawing at the walls, as Potter slipped back slightly. For the second time, Draco fell onto Potter.

"Ow!" He hissed. "Potter, what in the name of Merlin was that?!"

"I don't know! At some point a rule was made that boys can't go into the girl's dormitories, and the stairs transform into a slide whenever you try to go up." He paused. "Say, Malfoy, are you actually a girl?"

Draco remembered the one time he'd tried on one of Pansy's dresses in Fourth year, before the Ball. "No, Potter, don't be ridiculous. Why don't they let you up?"

"I guess 'cause I'm a Gryffindor boy? Maybe it only works on Gryffindors?"

"Maybe. Well, I'll go get Granger. Wait down here."

. . .

Granger proved far too easy to wake up.

She also slept with her wand clutched in her hand, hidden under her pillow.

She was also far more threatening than Weasley with her wand pointed at one's throat.

Draco found all of this out in less than five seconds straight.

Granger blinked. "Malfoy?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you doing?"

Draco moved her wand aside slowly. "Potter's in the common room. We need you."

. . .

The trio didn't start talking until they were out of the castle, headed towards the forest. Through the trees, Draco could see his Lumos Maxima glowing faintly.

"Hey, 'mione. Sorry to wake you up."

"It's- it's fine, Harry. But- why Malfoy? Why now? Why do you need me?"

"Well- the stairs let Malfoy up but not me, so he had to go wake you. Now, because now is when we decided we needed you. We need you because you know what Malfoy's doing and somewhat trust him, also trust me, and know about the Resurrection stone."

"Oh, no. Harry, what do mean, the Resurrection stone? I thought you threw that away in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Er- yeah, I did. But, well, we need it as a bargaining chip against Flamel for the Philosopher's Stone, and we need help to find it. So... Help?"

"I- What? No, wait- I'm not even going to ask. You can tell me when I'm actually able to comprehend what you're saying. 'Till then- I'll see what I can do."

. . .

When they reached the clearing, Granger went around and checked Draco's spells. When she'd made a full circle of the clearing, she turned to Potter. "Harry, these are really good. Have you been practicing them?"

"The- what?"

"The shields and wards around here."

"Huh?"

"I did that, Granger," Draco interrupted. She turned to him.

"You did?"

"Well, I didn't want to be defenceless while digging through leaves. And, I suppose, it wouldn't look very good if I came out of the Forest with Potter dead. Again," he added, throwing Potter a glare.

She looked skeptical, but nonetheless impressed. "Well, well done. And is that a Lumos Maxima?"

Draco beamed. So there were intelligent Gryffindors! "Yeah, it is. Took me ages to master it."

"I tried for months. Got it eventually, but I can't make it stay for long. How is yours-"

"Guys," Potter said. "Sorry to interrupt your bonding, but we have a Hallow to look for. 'Mione, why don't you try spells? Malfoy and I can talk you through what happened as you try them."

They spent about another hour telling Granger what had happened, and digging through the leaves nearer the edge of the clearing, working their way inwards.

. . .

Another half hour later, Draco could've sworn his fingers were going blue.

Granger threw down her wand. "I don't know what it is! It just won't work. Maybe 'cause it's a Hallow? I don't know. Sorry, Harry. We're going to have to do this the hard way."

Potter sighed and turned to Draco. "Please can we get Ron? It would go faster, and I'm sure you're tired of searching like this..."

Draco hesitated, looked at the frozen ground and his frozen hands, then sighed. "Oh, all right then. Let's go get the Weasel."

. . .

Potter went up to fetch Weasley. They came down together talking quietly; when Weasley saw Draco, he stiffened, but his hand only clenched into a fist, not moving even an inch towards his wand. Granger gave Weasley a proud look from behind Draco, and he gave her a tentative smile in return.

Potter and Granger took turns explaining the story to Weasley as they made their way down to the forest again. Draco's Fortissima Lux was fading; it wouldn't stay for another half hour, at best, and Draco doubted he could cast another one successfully. He was so tired and cold and just plain miserable.

When they arrived at the clearing, Weasley glanced around at the floor, then pointed at a random spot in the clearing and shouted, "Accio Resurrection Stone!"

A small grey blur flew out of a pile of leaves and into the side of Weasley's head.

"Oh my God," Hermione breathed.

Draco wasn't sure whether to start laughing or screaming in frustration. He walked over to the nearest tree and began hitting his head against it repeatedly.

Potter burst into laughter; loud, bellowing laughter that bounced of the trees and ricocheted further into the woods.

Weasley just stood there, holding the Stone.

Draco turned to him. "Weasley, we spent over three hours digging through the leaves for that-" he hit his head back against the tree again and groaned, "And you found with an Accio."

"Well, what can I say," he said, starting to smile. "Common sense. Beats talent and skill and pure dumb luck every time."

Granger walked over to the nearest tree to her and started hitting her head against its trunk.

Draco sunk down to the floor in despair as Weasley joined Potter in laughing his head off.