Harry was exhausted. It was early morning, and he hadn't slept much the night before. "Hey Andromeda, I was thinking . . ."
"Don't strain yourself, Potter." It wasn't Andromeda's voice that answered him. Harry looked up in shock to see Draco Malfoy standing in Andromeda's cozy living room, smirking at him. Behind him stood his mother and two of the Aurors assigned to the Malfoy family while they were waiting for trial. There weren't enough places to hold all the wizards and witches awaiting trial, especially since much of Azkaban was unusable because it was taking a while to remove the Dementors, since they couldn't simply be set loose to go where they wished. The most dangerous were being held prisoner, but the Malfoys, because of their last-minute abandonment of the fight, had been allowed to move about freely, albeit with an Auror guard. But the idea of Auror guards also posed a problem, because the Auror ranks had been decimated during the War, and so many of the Aurors guarding people suspected of supporting Voldemort were foreign, borrowed from countries offering services to the war-torn British Wizarding community. Harry suspected the two Aurors in Andromeda's house were British, though, considering their awestruck look as they saw him.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked Malfoy.
"I could ask you the same question. I'm visiting my aunt. I didn't know you associated with people I'm related to."
"Well, I would avoid everyone related to you if I could, but that would be a bit of a problem, wouldn't it? Considering all the inbreeding in the Wizarding World? I mean, I wouldn't be able to associate with Ron . . ." Malfoy's face contorted in disgust at the reminder he was related to the Weasleys. ". . . or Neville . . ."
Malfoy looked even more disgusted. "All right, I get it, Potter."
Andromeda came into the room, looking amused and strained at the same time. "I take it you two know each other, then?"
Harry made a face. "We were in the same year at Hogwarts." Unfortunately.
"Ah. Well, why don't we all sit down?" Andromeda took her own advice and sat down next to Harry on the couch. Harry was still holding a sleepy Teddy, who Andromeda had dumped in his arms when she went to answer the door. Draco and Narcissa perched uncomfortably on another couch, while the two Aurors stood at the door. "Now, to what to I owe this pleasant surprise?"
Harry could sense the slight sarcasm in Andromeda's voice, and it seemed Narcissa could, too, because she flinched slightly before answering. "Do I need a reason to visit my own sister?"
"You do if you kicked that sister out of your family and vowed never to acknowledge her again, and instead sided with your other sister, the one that ended up murdering the banished sister's daughter," Andromeda said sharply. Narcissa flinched again. Andromeda once again reminded Harry of Bellatrix, an observation that Malfoy seemed to share, as he was staring at Andromeda with something akin to fear.
"Our trials are tomorrow," Narcissa answered eventually. "It is possible that Lucius and I will go to Azkaban, and also possible that Draco will not. I would like to ensure that Draco is taken care of if that is the case. I know it is presumptuous of me to ask this of you, but please, Andy. Please promise me you will watch out for Draco." Narcissa was begging, her eyes watery. Malfoy was staring at the floor stonily.
Andromeda was silent, watching Narcissa. Harry jumped in, "Why would you go to Azkaban, and not Malf- Draco? It's more likely that the opposite will happen, as you saved my life, and he . . ." Harry didn't finish the sentence. There were too many things Malfoy had done, and Harry had noticed that Malfoy had flinched at his words. He felt a flash of pity for Malfoy. He couldn't imagine worrying about going to Azkaban for the rest of his life.
No, all he had ever had to worry about was a psychopathic Dark Lord hunting him down.
But Harry suspected neither Malfoy nor his mother would end up going to Azkaban for long. It wasn't common knowledge, but Harry was planning to testify in their defense. He had told Ron and Hermione, of course, and Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys, but nobody else. He almost told Malfoy, now, but found he was rather pleased that Malfoy was worried. He had hurt too many people. Had almost killed Ron. Had brought Greyback into the school, where he had attacked Bill. No, Harry decided, he would testify on behalf of the Malfoys, but for now, he would let Malfoy worry about what would happen to him.
Narcissa seemed to be considering whether to answer Harry's question. "Draco is young. The Wizengamot will take into account that he was underage when he joined the Dark Lord. Lucius and I are trying to ensure that he stays free, even if it means that we won't." Draco didn't look too happy with that statement, but he stayed silent.
Harry nodded, but then realized the time. "I have to go, Andromeda. I'll just put Teddy to bed." Teddy had finally fallen asleep, now that it was morning.
"Yes, of course." Andromeda looked to be deep in thought.
Harry stood up, shifting Teddy to a more comfortable position as he did so, attempting to remove Teddy's hand from Harry's moleskin pouch. How his grip was so tight while he was sleeping, Harry would never know. But the moleskin pouch reminded him of something else. "Are you allowed to have a wand, Malfoy?"
Malfoy looked up in confusion. "Yes," he answered hesitantly. "They didn't bother telling us we weren't allowed any, because none of us have ours anymore, and they figured Ollivander wouldn't . . ." Ollivander wouldn't be willing to sell wands to the family that had imprisoned him in their cellar for a year.
"Well, I still have yours." He held Teddy in one arm and pulled out Malfoy's wand with the other. He laid it on the table between the two couches and turned to head upstairs, but not before he noticed the expressions of shock on all five other occupants of the room.
"What?" Malfoy's voice was hoarse, almost a whisper.
Harry ignored him and continued walking towards the stairs.
"Wait. Potter!" Malfoy sounded incredulous.
Harry turned and raised his eyebrows at Malfoy.
"What . . . ? Why?"
Harry shrugged. "I like my wand much better than yours."
"But . . . but . . ." Malfoy shook his head in confusion, then looked up. "Isn't that the wand you used to . . .?"
"Yes."
Malfoy looked stunned. "Do you know how much you could sell that for?"
"I don't need money, Malfoy. You can go sell it if you want."
Malfoy just stared at him in bewilderment.
"It's not mine," Harry said. "I took it from you by force, remember?"
Malfoy didn't respond, so Harry headed upstairs, leaving the room in silence. He quickly cast a charm that he learned from Ginny (who had learned it from Fred and George) that allowed him to hear what was said in the room. It was the same charm used for Extendable Ears, only it allowed everybody a certain distance from the room to hear what was being said in the room, rather than just the person with the other end of the ear. So anybody else in the house would also be able to hear what was being said in the living room, but there was nobody else in the house, so Harry didn't have to worry about that.
He had reached Teddy's room and was in the process of putting him in his crib when the silence in the living room was broken by Andromeda's voice. "That boy never ceases to amaze me."
Harry pulled the blanket over Teddy. Teddy's hair was black, as it usually was when Harry was present. He had even once changed his eyes to look like Harry's green ones. Andromeda had said it was harder to change eye color than hair color, which is why Teddy didn't do it much yet. Changing facial features was the next step, but it would be a while before that happened.
"You know him well?" Narcissa's voice asked as Harry left Teddy's room.
"He's Teddy's godfather."
"And Teddy's father is . . .?"
"Dead, yes. Remus Lupin. He was a werewolf. Are you sure you want someone with such unacceptable acquaintances as I have to watch over your son?"
Harry paused at the top of the stairs for a second, listening.
"I . . . Andy, I will do anything for my son. Anything. He can be surrounded by blood-traitors and Mudbloods and werewolves and . . . I don't care, Andy, as long as he is safe. Please, Andy."
Harry started walking down the stairs.
"I . . . will consider it."
He cancelled the spell as he walked into the living room (he had once forgotten to do that, giving Ron and Hermione a bit of a nasty shock when they arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place and found they could hear everything happening in a room Harry and Ginny thought was private).
Andromeda looked up, and when she saw him, she continued speaking. "I would like to discuss your request with Harry first, I believe." Malfoy blanched, and Narcissa's face tightened.
Sometimes Harry found it very difficult to forget that Andromeda was a Slytherin.
"Of course, Andromeda," Harry answered. "I have a meeting with Kingsley now, though. I should be back this evening."
"It's no problem. Is this the meeting where you're discussing what to do with Azkaban?" Malfoy became even whiter, and Narcissa started looking strained.
"Yes." Malfoy looked like he was going to vomit. "We're also going to talk about how to get more Aurors and probably a bit about how to reorganize the Ministry. I might be back late."
"I'll be up, probably, since Teddy's usually awake then," Andromeda said wryly as she moved forward to hug Harry goodbye. The two Malfoys still looked sick to their stomachs.
"You're terrible," Harry whispered in her ear as they hugged. She pulled away and smirked.
Harry turned to leave, but Malfoy stopped him. "Wait, Potter. Keep the wand. I'd rather you have it than that it gets broken."
Malfoy's wand was still on the table where Harry had put it. He was surprised at first at Malfoy's request, but Harry would also rather know his wand was whole and in someone else's possession than know it was broken. So Harry nodded in assent and put the wand back in his moleskin pouch. Malfoy watched it longingly. "You can have it if tomorrow . . . goes well for you," Harry told him.
Malfoy nodded in thanks, but didn't say anything. He was clearly worried about his trial.
Harry turned to go, but was stopped again, this time by Andromeda. "What were you thinking, before? When I came back from answering the door?"
"Oh. It was just . . . Teddy sleeps during the day and is awake at night, and I know you said it was normal for babies to sleep odd hours, but I was wondering if maybe Teddy's like that because of Remus . . . maybe he does have a bit of werewolf . . . something . . . in him and it makes him like being awake at night, when it's dark."
"That's a possibility. I wish there was another child of a werewolf somewhere we could talk to."
"I could talk to Bill and Lavender—Lavender Brown. She was also attacked by Greyback like Bill. But their situations are completely different, so they may not be able to help."
"I don't know, Harry. See what they say. We probably have to just wait it out, see what happens."
"Okay," Harry shrugged. "I should leave now. See you this evening." He nodded to Malfoy and Narcissa, shared a tired smile with Andromeda, smiled at the Aurors, walked through the front door, and Apparated to the Ministry, leaving Andromeda to deal with the Malfoys herself. However, he had a feeling Andromeda was more than capable of handling herself. He rather wished he could have stayed and enjoyed the show.
Author's Note: If anyone wants a follow-up to this, I've written a story called The Trial of the Malfoys, which works as a sequel to this story, even though it's not specifically meant as one.