a/n1: Hello there! I know I promised this chapter for last week, but I fell ill and wasn't able to write :( Sadly I can't say whether we will have regular updates in the next few weeks since my exams are aproaching. viv-heart is my beta as always. Have fun! :)

Narcissa watched Luciusthoughtfully all through breakfast. Something didn't sit right with her about this. She knew that her husband was able to be thoughtful and kind, but remembering the fuss he had made after learning that a werewolf had taught his son for a year (and had been admittedly the best teacher in DADA Draco had ever had), she couldn't imagine him supporting a half-werewolf. He had just started to change his views on muggleborns, still sometimes slipping up and saying something thoughtlessly derogatory.

The witch decided that she would ask him that evening after she had massaged the lotion for his muscles in, as he would be relaxed and unguarded then. Narcissa really hoped that he was genuine about wanting to develop infant formula. The wizarding world definitely needed it and Malfoy Industries had the finances to achieve it.

For now Narcissa resumed dusting the living room magically. One really could think generations of house-witches would have developed a charm that removed all dust with one swish, but no, one had to go over every inch of the surface manually. The only advantage to using a cloth was that you didn't need to shake the dust from your wand afterwards. Narcissa wondered idly whether she should breach the topic with Hermione, the young witch was brilliant and had already shown the capability to invent new spells if she needed them.

Suddenly, Narcissa heard a crash and a yell from the kitchen. Years of living in a house full of Death Eaters kicked in and she gripped her wand more tightly before walking towards the kitchen. When she opened the door Narcissa didn't know how to react. She stood in the doorway gaping until she heard Andromeda heading inside through the back door.

"What happened here?" Narcissa asked sternly, crossing her arms, tapping her foot and raising her eyebrow. She knew full well that Andromeda assumed a similar stance next to her. After all they had been raised by the same mother.

"Just a little accident, two charms colliding," Lucius explained picking himself up from the floor.

"Sorry for startling you, mother, Andromeda," Draco said in a rather timid voice, looking just as guilty as his father.

Andromeda sighed. "It's alright. Accidents happen. Just be more careful and clean this mess up. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," they chorused and Narcissa had to hide a grin behind her hand. Her sister had the talent to reduce the proudest men to meek little boys if she wanted to. Only Ted had been able to stand up to her, which was probably the reason she married him.

Satisfied that the men were starting to clean Andromeda turned on her heel and left for the garden. A few days ago she had confided to Narcissa that working in the garden was the only way of shutting her thoughts up. Clutching her wand to her chest Narcissa returned to the living room and sat down on one of the couches. She hadn't dusted the whole room yet, but somehow all energy had left her and she just wanted to remain where she was.

Scolding herself for giving in to such a foolish impulse Narcissa stood back up and continued her cleaning.

Granger,

Thank you for accepting my apology. Coffee sounds good. Maybe in Muggle London? I don't know a café there but I think I wouldn't be very welcome in the wizarding world anyway. Next Wednesday I will be in London. Maybe you know something close to Diagon Alley? I don't think I trust muggle transportation just yet.
Well, my father is a complicated man. Just watch him at Draco's trial and you will see that you have his approval.
I hope you have a nice weekend.

Pansy

Hermione read the short letter again and smiled. She had planned to support the Slytherin in her choice to embrace this new world, but she had never expected that the other would want to meet in Muggle London. Hermione completely understood Parkinson's qualms about muggle transportation. If she only knew the Knight Bus and wizarding cars she would be wary as well. But would she be able to find something nice and not too swamped with tourists near Charing Cross Road? Maybe she should ask her parents…

Hermione caught herself. No, she couldn't ask them just yet. She had to go to Australia first. Heaving a sigh Hermione took a sip from her tea and thought about who else she might ask when the floo flared up and someone stumbled through.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were up and with wands trained on the newcomer before the green flames died down.

"Who are you and how did you get the address of this place?" Harry asked with a tight voice, his wand calmly pointed at the other person's heart.

"Wai', wai'…Jus' have 'o find my wand," the man slurred while frantically searching his robes. "Ah, there we have y'." And with a swish of it George Weasley was more or less standing in front of them.

"Huh, why have your wands ou'? 'S no war anymore, is't?" he swayed where he stood and laughed hysterically. "Nothing 'errible 'o happen anymore, righ'?" he asked bitterly before answering his own question: "Then why will the damn demons no' leave?"

"Tinna? Prepare the first room on the next floor and put a bucket next to the bed." Hermione said. The elf-lady nodded and popped away.

"Kreacher, there is a sobering potion in my potions cupboard. Could you bring it to me?" Seconds later the old elf was back and gave Hermione the bottle, which she had brewed and labelled neatly in the first days after the war ended. She had had a feeling that someone would get severely drunk.

"George, please sit down," Hermione approached him and gently pressed him into a chair at the table. "How long have you been drinking?"

"Don' know, wha' day 's 't?" he slurred.

"Saturday. About eight o' clock"

"Thursday," he replied after thinking for a bit.

"Well, bottoms up," Hermione said with false cheer when she gave him the uncorked potion.

"Awful stuff. Seriously Granger, don't you know Firewhis-," George looked up and seemed much clearer suddenly. "Granger? Why are you here? Thought you were hunting Horcruxes?"

"George, the war is over for three weeks now," Hermione answered as gently as possible and looked up to Harry and Ron for help.

"Nah, I was just on a mission and got smashed with Lee and Angie and Fred, where is Fred?" George said looking around in confusion.

"Don't you remember?" Ron asked, horror evident in his voice.

"Remember what?" George looked suspiciously from one to the other.

"We won the war, and I defeated Voldemort," Harry said his voice nearly as gentle as Hermione's. "But Fred died."

"No, that can't be! He was just behind me, when I flooed over," George exclaimed and turned around as if to look for him.

Tinna appeared at the door and announced that the room was ready for Mister Weasley. Hermione tried to lift him up but she had no chance against the man who was much bigger than her and had been a Beater all through his school years.

"Bu' Freddie 's always there!" he said in a wail and looked up to Hermione with tear-filled eyes, gripping her hands.

"I know, darling. And he will always be here, but for now you just can't see him," she reassured him calmly while he clung to her hands almost painfully. "Now, why don't you take a nap? You look like you have been awake all night and could use some sleep."

"I miss him, you know?" George said calmly while standing up. His brother and Harry came around the table to support him upstairs.

"Of course you do. Let Harry and Ron show you were you can sleep. Will you do that for me?" Hermione asked and smiled up at him. Suddenly she was enveloped in a strong hug.

"You are so kind, 'Mione. Always thinking of others. Don't forget yourself, alright?" George asked with tears evident in his voice and Hermione hugged him back.

"I won't, I promise. Now, go with Harry and Ron."

When the men had left the kitchen Hermione fell onto a chair and put her head in her hands. He had made himself forget his twin's death, drunk so much that he forgot where and, most importantly, when he was. This was bad, really bad. Being an only child Hermione couldn't imagine his pain, but she had an inkling that the pain inflicted upon her by Bellatrix didn't even come close.

Rubbing her face she got up and walked over to the fire to floo Molly and tell her that George was extremly drunk and at Grimmauld Place. Hopefully the witch could come over and help them, because they only had so much time before they had to get ready for lunch at Andromeda's.

Having called the Burrow and informed Molly Hermione sat down and made a list of things they would need to do in the next weeks to renovate the ancient house. She really hoped they could manage without professionals because they tended to be costly and she would need all her money for the flight to Australia.

Suddenly she remembered that the next date for Draco's case was in the next week. She would need to go through all the statements that had been made again to make sure nothing had changed in a bad way. Groaning she let her head fall on the table.

"Oi, everything alright with you, 'Mione?" Ron called as he entered the kitchen followed by Harry.

"Yes, just so much to do. How is George?" she asked sitting up.

"Sleeping. He vomited once and looked a lot better afterwards," Ron answered. "Tinna decided to keep an eye on him while inspecting the rooms on that floor. She wants to find out what she can do on her own and where she would need help from either us or Kreacher."

Hermione nodded and looked over to Harry who was chuckling.

"Care to share?" she asked amused.

"No, I don't think so," Harry answered crisply folding a letter and putting it in his pocket. "I wanted to sort through Sirius' room today before we head over to Andromeda. I think I will start now."

"Alright, Ron, did you have a plan?"

"Yup, I will go through Regulus' things and sort them. I think maybe Kreacher would like to keep a few things to remind him of his former master," he said with a smile to the old elf who was currently levitating their dishes into the sink where they were washing themselves.

"Kreacher would appreciate that. Thank you Mister Weasley," he answered with a small bow to Ron.

"Good. I think I will start on the study next to the library. I don't think Mrs Weasley did more than clean the doxies out of it," Hermione stated satisfied with the boys' independence. "But remember we have to be at Andromeda's half past twelve!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the boys answered in unison and left the kitchen.

Draco looked at the mashed potatoes in the pot. There was a lot of them. To be honest one probably could feed an army with that amount of mashed potatoes.

"How is the meat proceeding?" he asked his father gingerly.

"Good. I think," Lucius answered and glanced at his son a bit unsure. "The beans?"

"They are ready and taste good," Draco said and popped one in his mouth.

"Well, that's at least something," his father replied and looked at the meat that was cooking in the pan.

They exchanged a look and started to laugh until the famous Malfoy self-control caught up and they calmed down again. But a keen observer could see the corners of their mouths twitching.

Draco cast a heating charm over the food, so it would be as warm as it had been when it was finished when they served it and turned to their next problem: dessert. They had thought to make an easy chocolate cake but soon Lucius had found out that he had no talent what so ever for baking charms and Draco had never tried them before.
"Do you think I could ask mother to help us?" he asked his father cheerfully.

Lucius looked up from the meat and saw what his son meant. "I actually think you should if you want that cake to be edible."

Draco sighed. "She won't let us hear the last of it," he announced in a grave voice and his father nodded with a sombre face.

Nevertheless Draco dusted his hands of and went to the living room in search of his mother. She had settled down on the couch and was reading a book. When he came in she marked the page and looked up with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Father and I need your help," Draco admitted grudgingly.

"What kind of help?" Narcissa asked with a smile tugging at her lips.

"We know that we said that we would prepare the whole meal on our own. But neither of us is able to manage the baking spells and we don't want to waste more ingredients. Would you please prepare the chocolate cake?" he asked with his best pleading look, and even though the war had changed him he was sure that he still was very good at it.
"Alright," Narcissa said now smiling openly. "But I will teach you two the spells for the next time, because I won't always be around to help you."

"Thank you, mother!" Draco beamed at her and she chuckled.

"I see a huge burden has been lifted from your shoulders," Narcissa said teasingly. She stood up, put the book back on the shelf and followed him into the kitchen. "Let's do this!"

Around noon Andromeda came in from the garden and got Teddy his lunch. She fed him in Ted's office where no Malfoy tried to finish the last things for the meal or to set the table. When she returned with a sleepy but happy baby that was put into the crib in the living room, the table had been set and the steaming dishes were arranged on it.

"Seems to me that we are ready for our guests," Andromeda said and smiled proudly at the two Malfoy men.

a/n2: What did you think of my atempt on drunken speech? I hope it wasn't too bad, I only ever heard German drunks^^" What do you think how good the food prepared by Draco and Lucius will be? Tell me in the reviews! ;) Cya (hopefully) soon! :)