Andy smiled as she stepped off the train, a confused and distressed Draco trailing behind her. All the unanswered questions were almost tangible, etched into his pale face. She opted not to answer them. After all, he was supposed to feel puzzled and out-of-place; that was the entire point of their excursion. So when she spotted Stan and her mother across the crowded platform, she ran towards them without any warning, challenging him to keep up. When she looked over her shoulder, she was a bit impressed to see him still close behind.

Draco weaved through the crowd, following the black bun that danced around on the back of her head until he heard her cry out, "Mom!" He hung back as she threw her arms around a tall woman in a blue dress. "Oh my gosh, I've missed you! How are things at the shop?"

"Oh, that shop's the same as it's always been: nothing but rushing back and forth. How was school this year? Is your wand holding up?" The woman broke their embrace and beamed down at her daughter.

"Of course. Nobody would doubt your skills, Mom."

A muscular boy who appeared to be in his mid-twenties nudged in. "What about me, Anthill? I've missed you too, you know." He extended his arms for a hug, but was rejected.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Stan. How was your year of sitting on the couch and doing nothing?" She crossed her arms, but her expression was playful.

Stan smirked at her. "It was great, actually. I finally beat Battle Toads." Andy rolled her brown eyes.

Draco watched their banter in silence for a moment, yet again confused. Though their exchanges made it clear they were family, something just wasn't right. These two were tall and blonde, with bright blue eyes and milky-white skin, a glaring contrast to Andrea's dark features. To be honest, they looked more like his family than hers. He assumed that she had somehow been adopted. He wondered briefly whether, if such were the case, magic had been given to her instead of her having stolen it. He pushed the thought from his mind: it didn't matter. Regardless of how she had acquired it, she was altogether unworthy of her magic.

"There you are, my darling boy." He turned to see his own mother, who placed a pale hand on his shoulder. The gesture was reserved but loving, and Draco's stony countenance faded for a moment to allow a slight smile. After a moment, Narcissa pulled away. "Andrea," she called. "How nice to see you again. And you must be her mother. I'm Narcissa Malfoy." She extended the hand she had just removed from her son.

"Coral Dennington." Andy's mother accepted the handshake. "It's nice to meet you. Draco seems like a very nice boy. Reminds me very much of my Stanley when he was younger."

"Please see that you take care of him. I've never left him in the care of anyone other than a family friend…" Mrs. Malfoy's brow furrowed worriedly.

"I understand," Coral said with a knowing smile. "You don't have anything to worry about. Would it settle your nerves a bit to have dinner with us?"

The older woman relaxed slightly. "Yes, I think it would."

"Then we'd be happy to have you over. I'll apparate you and Draco; Andy, you'll be going with your brother."

"Ughhhhhhhhhh…" Andy groaned, slumping her shoulders in displeasure. "I don't want to go with Stan. I question his skills. What if I get splinched?"

"Don't argue with me, young lady. You know Stan can't take two people at once, and it's only polite to let our guests go together."

The short brunette sighed. "Whatever. But if I get splinched, I'm blaming both of you."

After a few seconds of situating and more than a few protests from Andy, the five of them arrived in a large, brightly-lit living room. Stan immediately bounded onto a blue sofa in the corner.

"What did I tell you about jumping on the furniture?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, Mom." He grinned up at her sheepishly.

"Goodness, Stanley. I thought I was almost finished raising you." Coral smiled, shaking her head in mock exasperation. "Andy, get over here so I can take your charm off."

Andy pumped her fist in the air. "Oh, thank God. I was starting to get scared you were gonna leave me like this."

Once again, Draco didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. His mother cast him a quick, almost imperceptible glance signifying that she didn't know, either. He composed himself for a moment so as not to seem too uncomfortable before asking, "What charm? What are you talking about?"

Coral smiled that strange, warm smile again but didn't answer his question. Instead, she waved her wand and muttered a spell that he wasn't familiar with –which was saying something since he was from a very powerful pureblood family and no slouch in his classes besides- and stepped back. He held his breath, waiting to see what would happen.

Andrea underwent several changes before his very eyes, stretching and pulling, some of her features smoothing out and others sinking in, until she had become utterly unrecognizable: tall and slender, with sparkling blue eyes shaded by long yellow lashes and full, dainty pink lips. Her face was no longer angular, but soft and delicate, her milky-white skin and silver-blonde hair resembling that of a porcelain doll. She was beautiful, but unsettlingly so: it was as though with a wave of her wand, Mrs. Dennington had disintegrated her daughter and replaced her with someone else, someone who would fit into her picturesque blonde family. This strange new creature smiled, relieved to be free of whatever strange prison she had seemingly been trapped in.

Draco realized that he must have been staring for quite some time because both Coral and her new daughter were looking at him with slight unease. He cleared his throat. "Glamour Charm?" he guessed, not even bothering to apologize for his lack of manners. He was well-aware that staring was rude, but what other reaction could they have possibly expected?

Coral nodded. "You're exactly right, Draco. It's an extremely complex Glamour Charm. I didn't want to do this to her every year, but her father insisted. He didn't want boys to distract her from her studies or, ahem, get her into trouble."

"Yeah, and his absolute best solution was to have me run around as a midget eight months a year," Andrea said, rolling her eyes. Draco was oddly pleased in realizing that her voice –and her terrible accent- had remained intact. While the crass drawl was still grating as ever, there was a tiny bit of comfort in it since aside from his soon-to-be-leaving mother, it was the only familiar thing that remained in this bizarre new world.

"I can understand. It would be frightening to send a daughter off to school, especially one as beautiful as yours." Narcissa folded her hands and smiled almost warmly at Mrs. Dennington. "If she were left to roam Hogwarts like that, the young men would scarcely have eyes for anyone else!"

Andy blushed a bit and murmured a polite, transparently modest "thank you" before following her mother down a spiral staircase to the dining room with Stan and their two guests trailing behind.

Dinner went about as well as could be expected: the food was delicious and there was plenty of it, but it was painful for everyone to watch Narcissa making strained conversion and actively struggling to seem interested in what the others had to say. Andy and Stan couldn't seem to go a minute without snarking at each other and poor Coral was caught in the middle of the entire mess. Draco simply occupied himself with his roast turkey and took in the scene passively, as one watching the stage at a dinner theatre.

The meal felt like it had been dragging on for hours when finally Stan piped up through a mouthful of mashed potatoes, "Hey, Drago. Do you play quidditch? 'Cuz me and some of my friends usually go out and have a match right about…" –he checked his watch- "right now."

Draco's head snapped up. "Yeah, I play. Sounds great." If nothing else, this would be a good excuse to get up from the increasingly uncomfortable dinner table. He stood. "I'll go get my… Wait a second," he muttered, sinking back down into his chair. His broom. He had left it behind assuming that he wouldn't need it. As it turned out, things were very different from what he had assumed.

"If you forgot your broom, I've got an old Firebolt that you can borrow. It's not the greatest or anything, but it's in good condition and it'll fly. Mom, can I be excused? Gonna go get Drago a broom so we can play quidditch." Upon noticing his sister's raised eyebrow, he added, "And I guess Anthill can come too."

Mrs. Dennington nodded. "Be careful out there. And watch out for your sister." That last comment earned an eye roll from both of them.

Narcissa also stood, dusting herself off as if she'd spent the last hour in someone's musty attic. "Well, I'd best be going. It was very nice to meet all of you, and I'll be sure to owl regularly. Can you show me to the fireplace, Mrs. Dennington?"

The three teenagers only stuck around long enough to see her nod before rushing out of the room.