Chapter One
Draco watched, slightly perplexed, as his girlfriend buzzed around the living room. He liked the living room; Astoria had designed it. It was painted maroon, with cream siding. There were no windows, and artificial light was supplied through antique fixtures on the walls. It was very old-fashioned, which he appreciated. There was a plush burgundy couch in the middle of the room, facing a stone fireplace on the back wall. In front of the couch was a heavy oak coffee table, tactfully painted a darker brown. To the left of it was a grand piano, to the right was a wall covered in photos. Some were old, of family members Draco barely remembered, some were as recent as last week, when he and Astoria had gone to the beach.
Draco was sitting on the couch, watching as Astoria pushed the coffee table behind the couch. She turned on some music in a CD player which she set on the piano, and moved a vase of yellow flowers onto the coffee table. Finally, she collapsed next to Draco, sighing and closing her eyes whilst leaning against the couch and facing the ceiling. "What are you doing?" he asked, bewilderment written across his face. She smiled. "I was planning on a dance, but I'm much too exhausted." She said cheerily, not opening her eyes. He shook his head.
"Well, you can't go to all this effort and not bring anything of it!" he teased, interlacing his fingers with hers and pulling her off the couch. Her eyes flew open and her smile widened, revealing one of her dimples. Bringing her to his chest, he wrapped his arms around her waist. He leaned down a bit, her head tilting up to watch his face. Giggling as he spun her slowly around, she moved back to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Promptly and disruptively, the doorbell rang. Astoria giggled at the expression of dislike on his face and kissed his cheek before running off to answer it. A moment later he heard a slightly unhappy/angry voice calling "Draco! Get in here! NOW!" A sense of dread ran through his body, and he reluctantly strode to the foyer.
Upon entering, he saw Harry Potter ~ Harry bloody POTTER ~ in his foyer, along with Granger who was holding Ron Weasley's hand, and Ginny Weasley. Ginny was holding something; someone, he realized as he got closer. "Draco Malfoy, why did you refrain from mentioning your cousin? Hmmm? Anything less than several homicides and a kidnapping will not be good enough, so you'd better think your answer over carefully." She growled. Ginny Weasley laughed aloud at the expression of worry on his face. "Perhaps the reason would be that I didn't know I had one… at least one who you haven't yet met. And why the hell are they here?" He asked, to be rewarded by a sharp pain in the back of his head as she slapped him. "Ow!" she cried, rubbing her hand. "What the hell was that for?" he asked. "They are our guests, and Harry is the godfather of your cousin. I can only guess that Ginny is here because they're dating, or she's curious, and the other two are here for protection. What exactly did you do to warrant their needing protection? And don't cuss in front of the child." She told him, apparently having cooled down some.
"Okaaay… uh, good to see you all, I guess." He shifted uncomfortably. Astoria rolled her eyes. "Put your wands away. Do you really think Draco would shoot at you? Don't answer that, he wouldn't. It might damage my house, if nothing else, and I'd half to kill him." She said, much to their apparent amusement. "Your house?" Draco asked, but Astoria ignored him, having moved on to bigger and more important matters. "May I hold Draco's cousin? What exactly is his name, how are they related, and how old is he?" she asked fondly. Draco resisted rolling his eyes. Astoria loved children, and they loved her. Ginny smiled and transferred the baby into her arms. "His name is Teddy, he's Nymphadora Tonks' son, and he's thirteen months old." She said with equal affection in her tone. What was it with women? "He's Andromeda's grandchild? Well, that explains why I haven't heard of him. Narcissa hasn't talked to her in years… how is she?" he asked, and Harry blinked. "You… you want to know how she is?" Draco rolled his eyes. "Basic health will do, if you don't mind Potter." He snapped.
He yelped as Astoria slapped him upside the head. "And that's how you get your cousin to behave, Teddy." She said in her sing-song voice, smiling at the child as if no violent act had been committed. Ginny burst into laughter, and the others didn't look far behind.
"Come in, I'll get you something to drink, or eat, if you're hungry. Nothing's poisoned." She said absently, walking back into the kitchen. Ginny followed first, Harry close behind her as if he thought Draco might hurt her. Hermione and Ron followed, staying close together, and eyeing Malfoy suspiciously. Astoria passed Teddy back to Ginny as she poured iced tea into several glasses and passed them around.
"So why now? Why didn't you come over and introduce us to Draco's darling cousin earlier?" Astoria asked curiously. Ron frowned. "Well, we've been busy, rounding up the death eaters and such. Plus, you're not that easy to find, hiding out over here." He said defensively, glancing pointedly at Draco as he mentioned death eaters. Astoria met Draco's eyes and nodded at him.
He left the room scowling. "Where's Malfoy going?" Harry asked, and Astoria glared at him. "Draco is going to the library, probably. He tends to dislike mention of death eaters." She said pointedly. Ron erupted. "Doesn't like to be reminded of his defeat does he?" Hermione gasped. "Ron! You promised to behave!" cried Ginny. Harry said nothing. Astoria pressed her lips together. "Draco fought on your side during the battle, ingrate. If your family was being held hostage by the dark lord, wouldn't you fight for him?" she growled, before striding gracefully from the room.
Ginny groaned before leaning her head on the table. "Why, why? Everything was going so nicely!" she moaned. Hermione sighed. "Hopefully she doesn't hold a grudge. I thought it was working!" she muttered. Ron had a downcast look about him. "Sorry guys." He said. "Not your fault Ron." Said Harry.
Draco entered the room glaring at them. "What did you do to my girlfriend? She's acting like you stabbed her." He said, taking his glass of iced tea. "You're just dating? You live together." Said Hermione. "You live with Weasley, from what I hear, and I don't see a ring." He muttered. It dawned on them that they were having mostly civil conversation. "Well, yeah, but aren't your… group supposed to have really strict rules about that stuff?" she asked, tentative at mentioning his relations. He grinned, but there wasn't an ounce of happiness in it. "My 'group' is much smaller than it used to be, and they don't care. My Mum's thrilled I found someone willing to overlook it all. Thrilled further by the fact that she approves." He chuckled, and Harry stiffened at the sound in surprise. "What do you mean… she approves?" asked Ginny, shifting Teddy's weight.
"Mum was never really pro-Voldemorte. She supported Dad and all, but she wasn't really happy. She really loved Andromeda; she was torn up that she couldn't contact her anymore. Astoria fought on your side, you know, the good one. She fought hard, too. Narcissa was thrilled that I found what she refers to as 'a decent girl'. She thought I'd end up with Parkinson." He sneered the girl's name. Harry was staring, and Ron gladly joined him. "So you're happy? And nice? Wow… big change… good to hear though… why haven't I met your girlfriend before? Astoria's her name, right, I don't think I caught it right when we came in…" Draco promptly raised his eyebrows at Ginny's continual speech pattern. "Wow, somebody overdosed on sugar. Do you talk like that all the time?" he asked right as Astoria re-entered. Astoria took a piece of paper from her pocket and cried "I found it!" with such enthusiasm, Draco walked over to her. "What did you find of such great importance?" Instead of answering him, Astoria climbed onto the counter, and used her wand to hang one corner of the paper on the ceiling. The paper magically grew in dimension when she pulled the other corner to the other side of the kitchen, and again when she allowed it to fall onto the floor. "Your family tree!" She cried happily. She jumped off the counter, tracing the lines with her finger until she found Andromeda. She used her wand to write Nymphadora Tonks – Remus Lupin and wrote beneath them Teddy Lupin.
"Good. Now that's settled." She climbed back onto the counter and began removing the paper and folding it back to its original size. Draco sighed. "Was that really necessary Astoria?" she glared. "Yes. Be glad that you can trace your roots, you're too spoiled." She told him curtly, frowning as she tried to fold the still enormous paper in half again.
Draco rolled his eyes at her antics. "So. What's up with you?" he asked the group before him, taking a sip of his tea. They were staring. "Well, George and Fred got their joke shop running again, Harry and Ginny are engaged, Ron and I are engaged, Fleur had a little girl two months ago, Harry's in training to become an auror, and I'm getting better conditions for house-elves." Hermione said, quickly, counting them off on her fingers. Draco snorted at the last part. "Still on that, are you?" Hermione glared. "Says the boys who tortured Dobby." She growled. He rolled his eyes. "I'm afraid the culprit of that is dead at the hands of your future Mother-in-law. Dear Aunt bitch-a-trix was never one for good-will, now that I think of it." He said. "Draco! Watch your language in front of Teddy!" Astoria called from beneath a mass of paper. "Do you need some help with that?" asked Harry. Astoria poked her head out from underneath the parchment. "I'm fine. Thank you though. At least there's one gentleman present." She said with a pointed glare at Draco. "I never dated you under the pretense of being a gentleman, dear." Draco said and Ron muttered "Ew." Draco glared. "Mind out of the gutter, Weasley, that's not what I meant."
He looked at Harry. "Auror's training, huh? Wasn't Andromeda's daughter an auror?" he asked and Harry nodded. "Tonks." He said and Draco looked at him. "I know their surname." He said. Harry shook his head. "That's what Nymphadora liked to be called. She disliked her first name." he said. Draco smirked. "Wouldn't you? Of course, Andromeda was probably worried about outshining her." He said with a grin. Harry, unsure of himself, tested his boundaries. "Says the guy with 'Narcissa' for a mother." To his utter and intense surprise, along with everybody else's, Draco laughed. Really laughed. "Finally! I got it!" cried Astoria with a huge smile stretched across her face. Turning to Draco she said "Why'd you have to have such a big family?" Draco shook his head. "Why's it always my fault?" he asked. "You're the one dating me, and you're the one who had to get that awful thing out." She grinned. "I didn't say it was your fault! I just said I'd blame you, silly." She said grabbing her iced tea. Teddy was asking for attention, which Ginny was giving him, but his hair turned bright pink, drawing the attention of Astoria. "He's a metamorphagus?" she asked and Ginny nodded, struggling with the child.
"Here." Said Astoria, picking him up and holding him. He immediately calmed.
"How do you do that?" asked Ginny in awe. "Oh. When we were little, my sister, Daphne, and I got babysitting duty a lot." Draco shuddered and it was up to Hermione to notice. "What's so horrific about that?" Astoria smiled sadly. "Mostly it was during a raid, or a death eater's meeting, when they didn't want the little kids to be involved. It was our job to keep them quiet." She said quietly. The others were silent until Ron said "We didn't intent to take up this much of your time. We just wanted to introduce you, and invite you to come and visit Teddy sometimes. He's staying with Andromeda, so you know the residence." Draco nodded. "Of course. Here's Teddy. Feel free to stop by… unless it's like, 2:30 in the morning, then I'd appreciate a little thought beforehand…" said Astoria. Ginny laughed as she took Teddy. "Kay. See ya!"
2 Hours Later
Harry and his group had left with Teddy hours ago, but Draco was still perturbed by their visit. He curled up under the covers, shirtless. Astoria snuggled up next to him and he rolled over to hold her in his arms. "You know I love you, right?" he whispered. She nodded against his bare chest and leaned up to kiss his collarbone. "I love you too, sweetheart. I'm sorry I yelled at you today. And slapped you." She whispered back. He chuckled. "You wouldn't be my Astoria if you didn't do those things." He said. "I'd slap you, but I'd only be proving your point." She said irritably. He laughed. "I love you." He whispered into her ear. "I love you, I love you, I love you." He continued as she drifted off to sleep, gripping him in his arms.