2 January

"Cissy, are you ready?" Andromeda called as she stepped through her sister's floo.

"Up here, Meda," Narcissa called from her bedroom. "Climb the stairs and I'm in the first room on the right. The bedroom was as large as a small flat with a sitting area with easy chairs and a desk near the window across from the door. A king-sized bed was centered on the wall and flanked by night stands to her right as she entered. She didn't see her sister immediately but headed to the left toward the sound of soft thunks as something was being tossed aside. Stepping through the door of a massive dressing room/closet she was met by the sight of a round bottom leaning over a lower shelf and a satin mule flying past her head. "Cissy stop!" she commanded. A black patent T-strap whizzed past. "CISSY," she shouted, "YOU NEARLY BEANED ME!"

"Oh, you're here," Narcissa stated as she turned around and straightened her robe. "I'm looking for the comfortable shoes you told me to wear. I don't seem to have any that do not require a cushioning spell."

Andromeda moved a red pump and a purple peep-toe off the chaise and sat down amid the chaos. "Don't you have some ballerina flats or brogans? I assume you haven't a pair of trainers."

"Why would I need those?" she naively asked. "I'm a Malfoy. We don't walk around like a half-blood or a Muggleborn. We have portkeys, apparation and floos for that. Lucius liked to fantasize when he saw my shoes peeping from beneath my robes."

"Please, don't give me mental pictures of things that stroked your husband's libido." Andromeda reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of tailored slacks, button down shirt, knit waistcoat and a pair of ballerina flats and put them down on the chaise next to her. "Do you have tights?" she muttered, digging into the bag again. "It's cold outside, but I think you have a black or gray cloak with a warming charm build in that will look sufficiently like a winter coat that people will not notice, as long as it is not too ornate.

Sitting on the ottoman, Narcissa reached over ant took a pair tights from the things to be packed into the bag Andromeda brought. She made a face and began scrunching them to pull over her feet. She stood straightening the gathers as she pulled them over her still-flat stomach. Andromeda smirked. Narcissa grabbed the slacks and sat back down. "What?"

"You still look like you did when you were 14 and at Hogwarts," Andromeda complemented. "Nobody looked as fit as the Black sisters back then. Even Bella was a fox."

"Draco and I would escape to his rooms and drink Lucius' best elven wine when we couldn't handle the craziness downstairs any longer. We were looking through old photo album one evening and he said that Bella at Hogwarts was B.C." Narcissa reminisced, "that means before crazy. The more she hung out with the Dark Lord the crazier she became. By the time she was sent to Azkaban, it was too late to salvage her. Azkaban did her no favors. Sometimes I wish we were BAN (the sister's name for their trio made of the first letters of their names) and sitting with the tutor before Hogwarts."

"I know what you mean," Andromeda added. "but I think that she always had a mean streak and it continued being fed until her the breaking point. Muggles would have gotten her counselling the first time she removed the fur from Mother's Kneazle. They say that when a child starts harming animals it is a sign of problems that will only grow as the child grows, especially in puberty."

"That explains a lot. By the time she left Hogwarts, she was crazy beyond help." Narcissa pull the waistcoat down over her hips and straightened the collar of the shirt. She slipped a dainty foot into one of the shoes. Reaching for the other she said, "Cushioning charm. I appreciate you doing it as I'm not allowed to use."

"You are not allowed to PERFORM magic," Andromeda stated. "They are my clothes and I am just lending them to you. That's why I brought the bag, undetectable extension charm included. Thank you. Let's get your underthings and lingerie shrunk and into the bag."

"How did the Ministry agree—"

"Don't ask, I won't have to lie to you and you won't have to lie to them. I did what I had to do to meet the LETTER of your probation. That's what we need." She went on, "The Wizengamot is good on letters and short on subtlety."

Narcissa pulled a black wool cloak with a hood and fur around the hems from the racks of clothing. "How's this?" she asked as she pulled it on and picked up a pair of black leather gloves also rimmed in black fur. She looked every inch a stylish, wealthy Lady, muggle or witch. Andromeda was always impressed with how her sister carried herself.

"Here's a thousand pounds for your cloak and another five hundred for you gloves." Andromeda smirked. "I'm lending them to you since you don't have anything to wear outside in the cold and I was unable to bring you one." She shrunk the bag full of undies and dropped it into her bag. "Let's get downstairs before one of the Aurors gets antsy and comes to see what is taking us so long."

The sisters descended the curved staircase looking every inch the ladies they had been brought up to be. Andromeda paused at the landing and said, "We are leaving now. I assume you will put sufficient wards to protect the house until Draco returns in June. If not, I WILL inform the Minister."

"Yes, Mrs. Tonks," the Auror with Davis embroidered over his left breast replied. "The Minister will be along shortly to perform the final protection wards. We are to remain in the parlor by the open floo until he arrives."

"Very well," she dismissed him and swept past, her cloak swirling with every bit the aplomb that would have made Severus Snape proud. Close on her heels, the second lady made an equally dramatic exit.

"Damn Slytherins," Davis whispered to Thomas, his partner, "they know how to make you feel lesser, even when they are under arrest."

"Don't let the fact that Mrs. Tonks married a muggle-born and had an Auror daughter who was in Hufflepuff fool you. She's as crafty and cunning as the rest of her house," Thomas whispered back.

"Which house, Black or Slytherin?"

"Both." They continued up to check the room the witches had vacated, warded it, and returned to the parlor.

The witches exited through the floo into the front parlor of Andromeda's townhouse. The floo was closed to deny entry without invitation. "We will be having breakfast in the Morning room after I show you to your rooms. Then I will answer all your questions while we have tea," Andromeda explained and lead the way up a staircase off the entry hall. The ladies ascended the staircase to the third floor and stopped on the landing. "My rooms are to the right, normally the Master's quarters, and Teddy's nursery is next to it in what would have been the adjoining Mistress' rooms. Harry's rooms are on the left across the hall and you will have the next rooms on the left. There are two other suites on this floor and the rest of the guest rooms are above us."

They walked down the hall and entered a large sunny room whose centerpiece was a queen-sized bed with pale blue bedding and white and blue pillows near the headboard. The walls were ivory and gold and the drapes a dark blue that would close out all light if one chose to nap during the day. "You have a dressing room with sitting area and a private en suite."

"Too bad I can't stay and enjoy it," Narcissa shrugged off her cloak and took the bag Andromeda offered her.

"You can hang your cloak here or down in the cloak closet by the door, but don't unpack your knickers. We'll just have to pack them again day after tomorrow. I'm going to my room for a moment and will meet you in the Morning room on the first floor at the end of the hall."

"I think I can find it, thanks."

Fifteen minutes later, Narcissa entered the Morning room and crossed to the small table that was set up in the sun. The sheer curtains filtered the brightest rays and fluttered as a gentle breeze flitted through the open window. "Tea or coffee, Cissy?" Andromeda asked.

"Tea, please, with one sugar and a splash of milk."

"We have toast and muffins, or we can get you whatever you would like," Andromeda told her sister as she placed a delicate china cup of tea on the table in front of her.

"Is this the royal we that will be fixing breakfast, or do you have help?" Cissy asked.

"I could fix breakfast, could you? I do have help today-the same help you had for the last year." She rang a bell and a small house elf in a black maid's uniform popped into the room. Andromeda smirked and said, "You didn't think I would have left you stuck in that Mansion with no housekeeping or cooking skills all last year, did you?" Then she addressed the elf, "My sister would like her usual breakfast, please."

The elf returned a moment later to place a plate with a soft cooked egg, a single rasher of bacon, and a slice of toasted multigrain bread with butter and a pot of marmalade in front of Narcissa. "Thank you, Hobby."

The elf popped out of the room. "You said you had some explaining to do. I think there is much more going on than meets the eye," Narcissa said as she picked up her fork. "Start with the elf."

"When you were sentenced to six months house arrest, six months community service, and one year probation, I knew you would be in trouble with no cooking or housekeeping skills. Since Harry didn't want to take the Black seat in the Wizengamot, he assigned his proxy to me. We have been working together. Your sentence includes no use of magic BY YOU for two years. There is no specified order of your second and third parts of your sentence. Therefore, you can do your community service after your probation. The probation must be served in the muggle world. There is no prescription of who can help you, only that YOU don't do magic."

"Remember how I said your sentence says that there is to be no magic done by you. It says nothing about magic for you. That is why I sent Hobby and Bobby to take care of you after the Aurors dropped you off. That's why Hobby insisted you learn to make tea and serve cakes when you were being inspected."

"If I had been left in that horrid place alone, I would have gone quite bonkers," Narcissa said. "It was bad enough being there, but a Mansion with access to four rooms, five if you count the downstairs loo was just creepy. The Aurors were always in and out looking for, finding, and taking away dark objects. The never talked to me. It was like I was part of the woodwork."

"At least you had your bed chambers. Pricilla Parkinson must sleep in the front parlor. She has to use the downstairs loo which has no shower or bath. The other room she can go into is the kitchen. It's harder to hide elves for her."

"Elves? I thought all were confiscated and wondered why I still had two. I didn't ask for fear they would be taken away, too." Narcissa said.

Andromeda chuckled.

"What are you doing? Running an illegal black market for elves?" the blonde witch quirked an eyebrow and asked. "How have you gotten so may elves that you are 'lending' out to the elite who are supposed to be in rehabilitation?"

"They aren't my elves. They were all freed from Death Eater families at the end of the war and have been bound S.P.E.W. They are then hired out to help those who need help. Didn't you notice the uniforms?"

Narcissa asked, "What's spew?"

Andromeda laughed, "Not spew, S.P.E.W. It is the Society for Promotion of Elvish Welfare. It is a corporation that stems from a misguided school project of Herminie's."

At the mention of the young witch who had been tortured on the Mansion's Drawing Room floor by their third sister, Narcissa shuddered. "I thought Draco said she was back at Hogwarts to finish her schooling. I don't remember anything in his letters mentioning her running a corporation."

"She is at school." Andromeda answered. "The story of how Harry is the head of House is more complicated. Harry Potter was named as Sirius Black's heir. When Regulus' died before officially being named the heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Sirius remained the heir though Wallburga had blasted him from the tapestry. (Hermione says it has something to do with being named heir to Alphard and though he was blasted from the tapestry it wasn't done until after Alphard's death.) The inheritance and lack of naming another heir left Sirius as heir and was proven when he had access to 12 Grimmauld Place and Kreacher. When Harry was able to summon the Black family elf after Sirius' death it showed that he was not the Head. You know how it is with elves that are bound to families. When there is a new heir that is who they obey. If Harry wasn't the heir, it probably would have been Draco or Teddy, again just guessing on Hermione's part."

"So, Harry is the head of both the Houses of Black and Potter?" Narcissa asked. She was still thinking about the fact that Draco had almost become the Black heir.

"Yes," Andromeda answered, "but he didn't want that much responsibility. He consulted with the Ministry's legal office and found that he needs to retain a majority share of the Black property and he can assign a proxy to sit in the Wizengamot and vote on the Black family's behalf. He assigned the proxy to me and retains the Potter seat. Harry wishes to divide the Black holdings, but he will be doing that after you and Draco have completed your community service in eighteen months. This will insure the monies don't go the way of the Malfoy money. He has given me, and by extension you, access to the Black vaults for our trip."

"Is that where you got the pounds to purchase my cloak, gloves and unmentionables? From Harry?"

"No, the Black vaults. You need some pocket money for incidentals. He told the Goblins that since I was his proxy, I needed to live in a manner befitting a 'Lady Black' and access to the vaults. They agreed. I have transferred a good many Galleons to pounds and into the Barclays Bank so that they are accessible to both of us during our shopping and trip since we will be travelling as muggles."

"Good many Galleons, dear sister?" Narcissa asked, raising a well plucked eyebrow. "How is it that Harry was not sorted into Slytherin? Deviousness and cleverness, I expect from you, but he seems to be equally sly."

"Oh, but he almost was sorted there, but argued for Gryffindor since that was his parents' house. And yes, the good many Galleons, let's just say that we won't run out of money. We will be flying first class and staying in the best hotels. We will hire a nanny from time to time. You know better than to ask. He restored this house mainly so Teddy would have a nice place to stay since the Death Eaters destroyed my home and 12 Grimmauld Place is not a safe place to raise any child. It is one of the Black properties."

"That was never a safe place to raise children. I always hated to have to go over to visit Aunt Wallburga. No wonder Sirius revolted and Regulus ran away."

Andromeda nodded, "You know that you can go visit her if you wish. Aunt Wallburga is on the wall in the entry and yells at everyone, especially me."

"Always the same, even in death." Narcissa was quiet a minute. "On that depressing note, let's talk shopping. It's been ages."