Nymphadora Tonks had always been close with her mum. Growing up she had always struggled with her talent. Being one of the few magicals with a metamorphmagus ability, it had taken her a while to stay in one form. Her mum had always encouraged her to change into whatever felt right in the moment and she was very grateful. So when Harry had introduced her to her little cousin Draco, she was ecstatic! Her mum didn't like talking about her Black side of the family. From the bits and pieces she could gather, it seemed Draco's mum had never forgiven her mum for leaving and her mum couldn't forgive Draco's mum for not defending her when the family disowned her. Tonks was getting a headache just thinking about it. So when she heard about the Incident, she immediately wrote to her mum. The reply she got back was her mum asking to meet with her during her next Hogsmead weekend.
So that's how she found herself at the Hog's Head watching old Aberforth scrub the counter.
"There you are, Dora!" Her mum said as she came through the door. Her mum was a classy lady with pretty long brown hair and dark eyes. Tonks felt her form shift until she was a carbon copy of her mum.
"Hiya mum!" She reached forward and hugged her tightly. She loved Hogwarts but she always missed her mum's hugs. "How's da?" She had gotten her clumsiness from her Da. They were both always tripping around the house and her mum would be there to heal them.
"He fell out of bed and broke one of his toes but besides that, he's fine." Her mum said, her voice full of exasperation. Tonks winced. She had done that plenty of times and broken toes were the worst. They grabbed a table and sat down.
"So why'd you want to meet, mum?" Tonks had been antsy all week. She hoped her mum hadn't heard about the Troll she got on her last History paper.
"I want you to stop hanging around the Potter boy."
"Wait, Harry?" Tonks couldn't help her tone. Harry was the sweetest boy she ever met. He was like the little brother she never had! "But why?"
"I don't like the people he hangs around with." She said with distaste.
"You mean you don't like cousin Draco!" Tonks said accusingly. "Just because you and Aunt Narcissa don't get along doesn't mean Draco and I have to hate each other!"
"I will not budge on this, Nymphadora!" Her mum's voice had gotten sharp in a way she never heard before.
"Neither will I!"

Draco was in the library when Cousin Tonks found him. Her hair was a mousy brown color and she seemed to have shrunk a couple of inches.
"Are you alright, Cousin?" Like most Hufflepuffs, she was a bundle of joy. He had never seen her so down before.
"Me and my mum got in a fight." She said, her voice wavering.
"What? Why?" He knew that Cousin Tonks and her Mother had a wonderful relationship.
"She said she didn't want me hanging out with you and Harry anymore." Draco was floored. Aunt Andromeda didn't like them? He knew his Mother and Aunt had their differences but he didn't think it would come this far.
"Well that won't do."
"But what can we do about it?" Tonks said.
"We're going to have to force them to make up! This is what we're going to do" he said. They put their heads together and started plotting. Harry had come to ask Draco if he wanted to play exploding snap and saw the two Black cousins conspiring together and turned right back around. He was not getting involved.

"I can't believe she won't answer my letters! I'm this close to marching down to Hogwarts! I'm just looking out for her!" Andromeda knew she was ranting to her husband but she couldn't help it. It had been a week since she saw her daughter and she was refusing to reply to her letters.
"Dear, Dora is old enough to choose who she wants to associate with," Ted gently reminded her. She blew a piece of hair out of her face before sprawling out in her chair.
"I just don't want her to get hurt." She said. Ted leaned forward and put his hand on top of hers.
"That's her choice, Andy." When she had chosen Ted over her family, she knew there would be consequences. The only time her father had offered to allow her back in the family had been when her sweet Dora was born. Her father was shocked she had produced the first metamorphmagus in the Black family for centuries. His condition was that she forsake her husband. She had refused and that was the last time she heard from him. He had died shortly after and all could think was good riddance. She and her sisters had been raised with a firm hand. Her parents fully believed in children being seen, not heard. It didn't help that the Black Madness was in full swing for Bellatrix. She had always been a little too cruel growing up. Of course, before she had run away and before the Dark Lord, the Black sister had been extremely close. They relied on each other. Maybe too much. Once everything had fallen apart, there was no way to fix it. Bella had fallen deeper into her Madness and Cissy was a statue. Her eyes had grown cold and distant. And that's the way it stayed until two cousins decided enough was enough.

Narcissa had gotten a letter from her son. He said he had set up a meeting with a stylist to design Harry's wedding robes. He was at school so he obviously couldn't make it so he asked her to go in his place. She couldn't help but coo over how cute her boy was before agreeing. She had always loved fashion and would love to help create their special day. The lawyers were getting ready to push Sirius's case forward and she knew it was about to get hectic. This was a little treat to herself before she flipped the Wizarding World on its head. Entering the Leaky Caldron, she went to the designated room. She opened the door and someone shouted "don't close the door!" but it was too late. She turned and froze when she saw who was sitting at the table.
"Hello Narcissa," her older sister Andromeda said.
She turned her back and started yanking on the door. It wouldn't budge.
"It's no use. It sealed once I came inside and I've been trying to open it for twenty minutes."
"Just because you couldn't get it open doesn't mean I can't," she spat back. Fifteen minutes later, she had thrown her hair into a bun on top of her head and had lost her outer robe. She still couldn't get the damn door open and Andy was just watching her.
"You know this might go quicker if you did something." She said. Andy glowered at her before saying "I thought you were capable of doing it on your own." Before they could start arguing, a paper appeared on the door. She picked it up and read it out loud "Dear Mother and Aunt Andromeda, Cousin Tonks and I are tired of your ridiculous fighting. Grow up and figure it out. Harry and I already invited Cousin Tonks to our wedding and I won't have you two ruining it," flipping it over she continued "Hi mum and Auntie! I agree with everything Draco said! Don't worry about da or uncle Luc! Harry has uncle making a bunch of cookies for the next Hufflepuff Quidditch match and I told da that I needed shoes! You know it takes him ages to go shopping! Once you two can get along, the room will let you out. Have fun!" She could not believe those children had been responsible for this! Turning to join her sister at the table she said "this is all your fault!" She watched in satisfaction as her sister's mouth fell open.
"My fault?" She hissed out.
"Yes, it's your fault! Harry told Lucius that Tonks wasn't allowed to be friends with them anymore because her mum didn't like them! The poor boy looked like he was going to cry, so well done!"
"I'm just trying to protect my daughter!" Andy shouted back, her chest heaving with emotion.
"From what? You're the one who left!" She screamed in her face.
"There it is! You're still so angry about it! Well you never stopped me!"
"How in Merlin's name was I going to stop you? I was fifteen! What did you want me to do? Duel Father?"
"You could've written to me." Andy said slowly. Narcissa had wanted to but she had been so hurt. Andy had been the only person able to keep Bella in line and when she left, Narcissa had no one to turn to. Bella was falling in deeper with the Dark Lord and her sister had abandoned her to deal with everything on her own! She was fortunate to have Lucius by her side but it wasn't the same.
"You know, after you left, Bella got worse. She started having fits. She would destroy rooms in the manor and curse the elves. Then she would come to my room. She made me swear to never leave her. She said she would find you and torture you if I did." Narcissa finally said. She watched Andy stare at her, her face blank.
" I was fifteen", she repeated "Lucius and I couldn't get married for two more years. I was so alone and you left me there. So yes, I could've written to you but I felt so betrayed."
"You know when Ted asked me to marry him, I almost said no. I knew what would happen if I said yes and I was terrified." Andy said, her voice soft. "Father would never allow a mudblood polluting the family line so I knew I would have to choose. I had hoped if I put him in the position he would see reason but he didn't. I suppose I should've seen it coming but when I realized he disowned me, I was furious. I had been a dutiful daughter but the second I do something for myself, I'm thrown away?" She said and her fury made her the spitting image of Bella. She looked at the table and noticed her sister's hands. For as long as Narcissa could remember, Andy's nails were always short. She had a nasty habit of biting them due to all the pressure she felt and seeing her nails long and healthy made her realize that maybe leaving the family had been good for her.
"It seems we've been rather stubborn for too long, Sister," Narcissa said shyly. Andy gave a wild grin and replied "I think you're right, Sister."

Sirius felt a shiver go down his spine as he awaited his trial. He didn't know what caused it but he knew it wasn't anything good. Black's always had an intuition for when things were going south. His mother called it a blessing from Magic but most people called it paranoia. He tried not to fidget but he was rather nervous. Thankfully he didn't have to be at the trial. The fancy lawyer Cissy brought in convinced the judge it would be detrimental to his health if he had to relive the Potter's deaths again. He didn't tell them that he relived it every time he closed his eyes. The Wizengamot had accepted his memories of that night. He didn't want to think of Dumbledore being part of the deciding factor if he was guilty or not. He didn't know how to feel about his old Headmaster. He knew the man was slippery. After everything he had done, the Headmaster should have at least gotten his side of the story. He could forgive Remus for his actions only because Sirius thought he was the traitor. In his defense, Remus had been acting so suspicious. He stopped coming over and he was hanging out with other werewolves known to be loyal to the Dark Lord. It had broken his heart to tell James not to tell Remus about the switch in secret keepers but he didn't trust him. How could he when the other man wouldn't share anything with him? Perhaps if he didn't get kissed by a dementor later today, he could meet up with Remus and they could talk. He knew they would never go back to the way it was. There was too much baggage to think they could be lovers again but maybe they could be friends. He sat on the cot in the Ministry cell and dug around in his pockets. He was grateful they had given him new clothes and allowed him to shower. He felt like a new man. He pulled out two letter and read them for what felt like the 100th time. The first one was from baby Prongs.
"Dear Mr. Black. Mrs. Malfoy said you were wrongly accused and didn't murder my parents. Thanks for that. She also said you were my godfather. I hope we can get to know each other in the future. My favorite color is Draco's eyes and I like peacocks. From Harry."
It was rather short but he treasured it. The second one was from Cissy's boy and it was different. He sort of reminded Sirius of his younger brother, Regulus. Both of them were posh and proper, pureblood through and through.
"Dear Lord Black. Mother said Harry was going to write to you so I decided to as well. I'm sure you'll understand that you need to prove to me that Azkaban hasn't made you a nutter. Especially if you're going to be anywhere near my lovely Harry. If you are cleared by a medical professional, then I will consider letting you have a more active role in Harry's life. He is very important to me and I will not let some washed up old man upset him. That goes for you and the Headmaster," here he had underlined the word Headmaster multiple times "Harry and I are trying to decide what season we should get married in. Harry decided to allow Granger and Weasley to stand up for him and I think I will have Dobby and Cousin Tonks on my side. Of course pretty boy Diggory keeps trying to butt in but I'm sure I can convince Harry he would be more useful taking guests coats." The boy went on for five more pages about their wedding and waxing poetry about his godson. Sirius took back his earlier thought. Draco wasn't like Regulus, he was like James! James used to write poems in his diary about Lily Evans long before he gained the courage to ask her out. He couldn't help but laugh at thinking of James's reaction to someone courting Harry. He probably would've fainted. Footsteps echoed down the hall as the guard stopped outside his cell.
"Lord Black, the Wizengamot has reached a verdict."