a/n1: Hello everyone! I hope the last chapter wasn't too boring? Anyway here is the next one! Also I took part in a Drabble Challenge and drabbled a nice, little Dark!Dramione, you'll find the story on my profile. As always viv-heart is my amazing beta. Enjoy! :)
Draco and Andromeda reheated the tea after the questions died down and they settled back around the table to eat the cake. Frank was very curious about his great-nephew and Draco loved talking about Teddy.
They were sitting on the couches once again when the doorbell chimed an hour later.
"That's probably Lucinda and Haley," Frank said and stood up to open the door.
Draco got nervous. He sat up straighter and clasped his hands to hide the shaking. They were only kids, why would he be afraid?
Two girls entered right behind their father. One seemed to be about eleven and the other fourteen or fifteen. The younger one had the blonde hair of her mother and the laughing brown eyes of her father, the older looked sterner with blue eyes and her brown hair in a ponytail.
Draco stood up together with his aunt and tried to gauge the right way to behave in this situation from her. If the girls had been witches from his family he would have greeted them with a small bow and a charming smile. But what did muggles do?
"Lucinda, Haley, it's good to see you again. It has been a while," Andromeda said with a bright smile taking each girl's hand. "Do you remember me?"
Haley, the younger girl, grinned broadly. "Of course Aunt Dromeda! Where is Uncle Ted and who is the blond boy?"
Andromeda's smile dropped a little and Draco decided to step in. "I'm Draco Malfoy, Andy's nephew from her side of the family. Ted couldn't come today I'm afraid," he said with a look to the girls' parents. He shook their hands and they settled back down on the couch.
"By the way, Andy, did you want to stay for dinner? Thomas said he wouldn't make it before half past six," Mary said changing the topic rather obviously.
"Then we are staying of course," Andromeda answered with a still rather shaky smile.
Lucinda looked at her aunt sharply. "Something happened to Ted, didn't it?"
Andromeda only nodded.
"What happened?" Lucinda whispered. The adults exchanged a look and finally Mary shrugged.
"We never told you because you were too young at first, but when Andromeda and Ted met their world was at war," Frank said quietly the two girls listening with rapt attention. "We thought the war was over once and for all, but four years ago the leader of the war party rose again. They targeted muggleborns and their families. Ted was killed by them, Nymphadora and her husband Remus as well."
Lucinda sat there with wide eyes and Haley looked as if she was about to cry.
"Is it over now?" Lucinda asked, her voice barely audible and her eyes shining with tears.
Draco nodded. "It is. The leader of the bad guys was killed three weeks ago. Most of his followers are either locked up or dead."
Haley stood up and went to hug Andromeda tightly. "I'm so sorry for your loss," the little girl whispered and Draco wished that they could have spared them the burden.
Lucinda wiped away her tears and went to hug Andromeda as well. Draco raised an eyebrow, he wasn't exactly used to so public displays of affection. Then Lucinda turned and scrutinised him. The last time he had felt so much like a little cockroach was when Granger had stared him down in their third year right before slapping him.
"What was your role in all of that? Why would Dromeda bring you?" Lucinda asked sharply and Draco couldn't help but admire her. She was extremely observant. She would have done well in Slytherin if not for her heritage.
"My family was on the side of the Dark Lord during most of the conflict. I was forced to join him at the age of sixteen," Draco said calmly not blinking under Lucinda's scrutiny. "I defected shortly before the last battle in which Remus and Dora were killed."
"What was the point of conflict?" the brunette asked still staring him down.
"Blood purity. I was raised to believe that muggles are lowly creatures that are dangerous and uncivilised. I was taught that muggleborns didn't deserve their magic because of their heritage," Draco said starting to sweat.
"But you changed your beliefs?" she asked calmly.
"I did, way too late, but I did," Draco said quietly, breaking the eye contact to look down on his hands. "I wish I could say it was because I saw the fault in my ways, but it was mostly self-preservation at the beginning. But with the first seed of doubt sown I was finally able to see it."
Lucinda hummed and cocked her head. After a few silent minutes of scrutiny she nodded and stretched her hand out to him. "I'm Lucinda Tonks and I'm glad you were honest."
Draco looked up at her in confusion and took her hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy and thank you for letting me be honest."
"I guess they don't forgive you as easily in your world?" Lucinda asked with a sly smile.
"Not really. They prefer throwing hexes at me," Draco joked. The trip to the Ministry for his repeat trial had been awful, especially since the aurors hadn't been too interested in protecting him.
"She would be an amazing Slytherin, don't you think?" Andromeda asked with a wink while Lucinda settled down next to her grandparents.
"She isn't very subtle about it so I'd actually say Ravenclaw. Smart, observant and interested in the details," Draco said smiling at Lucinda who blushed.
"Ravenclaw is the studious house, right?" Nan asked putting an arm around Lucinda. "That would be very fitting for our girl. She has the best grades in her year."
Draco was reminded of Hermione and smiled. "I was always bested by a muggleborn witch called Hermione Granger. She was in Gryffindor, the courageous house, but she could have easily been in Ravenclaw."
"And where would I be?" Haley asked jumping up from her parents arms to sit down next to Draco and Andromeda.
The latter petted her hair with a loving smile. "Well, five years ago I would have said Hufflepuff, but you probably changed a lot since then!"
"Uncle Ted was in Hufflepuff, right?" Haley asked with bright eyes.
"Yes, just like your cousin Nymphadora," Andromeda said proudly.
"Hufflepuffs are very fair, work hard and are extremely loyal to their friends," Draco explained. "Never offend someone who is friends with a Hufflepuff or you'll have the whole house against you!"
"They are even worse than Slytherins," Andromeda chuckled. "No matter our difficulties in our house, if one of us is being attacked every Slytherin will help him."
"Probably hoping for a favour though," Draco remarked cynically and was swatted on his arm by Andromeda. "Ow, what was that for?!"
"Don't you dare disclose our secrets to the uninitiated!" she stage whispered making Haley giggle and Draco rolled his eyes good naturedly.
They continued to banter and if the girls fell silent and seemed to tune out they would do their best to include them.
oOo
Just when they started preparing dinner the doorbell rang once again. Draco sat down the plates he had been carrying and watched as Frank went to open the door. For some reason Draco was more nervous about meeting Frank's oldest than he had been about the rest of the family. Maybe because they were the same age?
Draco crept closer to the door to hear what Frank and his son were talking about.
"Hello, dad," Thomas said. "I hope it's alright that I brought Rose? I know Grandma and Grandpa wanted to meet her."
Frank made a strangled sound. "Well, your aunt Andy is visiting with her nephew, but I'm sure we can accommodate one more person."
"Aunt Andy?" Thomas asked exhilaration palpable in his voice. "Is Uncle Ted here as well?"
"No, Tom, about that…Rose, it's good to see you, would you go in and greet the others? I have to talk to Tom for a moment."
Draco stepped away from the door. He saw Andromeda raise a questioning eyebrow but before he could answer a pretty blonde stepped into the kitchen.
"Hi everyone," she said waving shyly.
Mary came in from the living room. "Oh, Rose, I didn't know you were coming!"
"I didn't know either. Tom asked me on a whim," the girl answered blushing while she hugged Mary.
Now Nan and Ted entered the kitchen as well and Draco started to feel uncomfortable. He decided to go into the living room and continue setting the table. If he was honest with himself his problem hadn't been being surrounded by so many muggles but more being surrounded by people in general.
Suddenly Andromeda was helping him with the table. They set it the muggle way and with a short look over her shoulder Andromeda enlarged it a bit so Rose would have a place as well.
They were just done with the table when the whole extended Tonks family filtered in through the kitchen doors.
"Oh, there you are!" Nan exclaimed. "I was starting to wonder whether you had decided to leave."
"We wouldn't leave without saying goodbye," Draco assured her with a charming wink while pulling out a chair for her. His mother would approve.
"You're a good boy, you just took a few wrong choices," Nan whispered to him as she sat down.
Draco smiled, but he feared it looked a bit like a grimace. "I'm afraid I didn't really have any choice," he said and Nan nodded with a sad smile.
Draco stepped away to greet Thomas. When he turned to look at the young man Draco was stunned how innocent he looked. Wasn't he supposed to be his age?
And right there and then Draco realised that Thomas was the one of them who was actually looking like a seventeen year old boy. Draco very nearly refrained from either bolting or lashing out, taking a calming breath.
"You look like you have seen a ghost, everything alright man?" Thomas asked with a laugh and Draco forced himself to chuckle.
"Yeah, sorry, you just look a lot like you could be my brother," he said. And it was true. Thomas had inherited the light blond hair from his mother and the grey-ish blue eyes could have been found on an old Malfoy family portray.
"For real! Now that you say it!" Thomas looked really surprised. "You're basically an older version of me!"
Andromeda made a startled sound. "Thomas, Draco is seventeen."
The teen looked at his aunt with confusion. "No way! He looks like he is at least twenty-one!"
"She is right. I will turn eighteen in a few weeks," Draco said quietly watching Thomas' head swivel around.
"What the hell," Thomas said and then suddenly he walked up to Draco and grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the room and up the stairs.
"You can't just grab a guy like this!" Draco tried to protest but Thomas was having none of it.
"What happened to you in the war?" he whispered urgently. "I know we can't talk about it in front of Rose, so what the hell happened?"
Draco sighed and sat down on the bed. By the looks of it they were in Thomas' room. "How much do you know?"
"I know about the war parties. The Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters," Thomas answered taking a seat in front of Draco on the floor. "That Uncle Ted wasn't in either and that Dora and Remus fought for the Order."
"Alright, please don't freak out," Draco said while he rolled his sleeve up. It revealed the scars the Mark had left behind, still easily recognisable as skull and snake.
"I guess that isn't the sign of the Order of the Phoenix," Thomas whispered leaning closer to get a better look.
"It's the Dark Mark, the sign and communication system used by the Dark Lord, Voldemort," Draco said in equally hushed tones. "I was forced to join shortly after my sixteenth birthday, as my parents lives and sanity was at stake. I barely slept for two years. I was forced to plot the murder of my own headmaster. I was forced to participate in awful activities at school."
Thomas looked at him with big eyes. "Oh bloody hell, that's terrible! But it's over now? Voldemort is dead?"
"Yes, finally, but former Death Eaters or Slytherins in general to be honest, aren't exactly welcome in this new society," Draco said looking out of the window. "Andromeda said you may know more about tattoo artists. Maybe one of them could cover the Mark?"
"Probably," Thomas said cocking his head in thought. "I actually think about getting one for my birthday. I turned eighteen two weeks ago. Maybe you'd like to come along and ask yourself?"
Draco looked at the teen in front of him in wonder. He hadn't anticipated a complete stranger asking about what happened and not judging. Even less had he thought it possible that he would help him. "I- yeah, that sounds good, thank you."
"No problem!" Thomas smiled. "I want to go tomorrow, since school 'll be out earlier, does that work for you?"
"I've nothing else going on, so, yes," Draco said while rolling down his sleeve.
"Great, now let's go back downstairs before they send a search party," Thomas said jumping up from his place on the floor.
Draco stood up as well but caught the other teen at the elbow before he could open the door. "Thank you for not judging me," Draco whispered not looking at Thomas but at the floor.
"Of course, mate, it didn't sound like you had much of a choice after all," he said turning around and grabbing Draco's forearm. "Just make sure not to repeat your mistakes."
"I'm working on it," Draco said and Thomas let him go with a nod.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving," Thomas said and they went back downstairs.
"Wen, can you explain to me why we have piano scores in this box?" Monica called down to her husband. She was going through the things on their attic having decided that it should be cleaned at least once a year . And she had nothing to do but to wait for her ankle to heal anyway.
"They're Mione's, why do you ask?" Wendell replied and they both froze as they realised what he had just said.
"'Mione? Like in Hermione?" Monica whispered looking shocked and scared at the same time.
"I guess so," Wendell said and motioned to the books in her hands. "Why don't we take a look and find out?"
They sat down in between the boxes and leaved through the first book without finding anything. But when they opened the second one they found a name: 'Hermione Granger' and a year '1984'. They exchanged a look and kept thumbing through the books. In the last one they found a note.
Dear Mrs Balley,
neither I nor my husband, Richard, understand what happened today in English class. We do hope that Bob Hitchell will get well soon. We will punish our daughter accordingly. Rest assured that Hermione is very sorry.
Sincerely,
Helen and Richard Granger
Monica gasped. "Wen, that's my handwriting!"
"I know, love, I know," Wendell whispered and they sat there among the boxes of their former life in Great Britain and wondered what else they had left behind.
"We have to find out what all this means," Monica said straightening. "I will call the British Embassy in Sydney and see what they can find out."
"We should look through the other things and find out whether there is more," Wendell suggested and they stood up ready to look through the other boxes more attentively.
They found a few more children's books with the name Hermione in them, some read so often that they barely held together. There were no toys or children's clothes and Monica started to doubt that this was really everything. But they hadn't left anything behind in Great Britain!
"Monica?" Wendell called from across the attic.
"Yes, love?" she answered slowly walking over to him. That broken ankle was really annoying.
"I found another letter, this time to your parents it seems," Wendell said waving the yellowed paper.
"What does it say?" Monica asked curiously.
"It talks about Hermione and how she is doing in school. For some reason you're asking about your great-grandparents, those who were from Hungary," Wendell says.
"So the Grangers, that's really us?" Monica asks after reading the letter, dated in the summer of 1991.
"Seems so," Wendell said shrugging. "But why don't we remember a thing about Hermione or us being Helen and Richard Granger?"
a/n2: What do you think Draco should get as a tattoo? And Hermione really needs to hurry if she doesn't want her parents to find out on their own! Tell me your thoughts in the reviews, they give me life ;)