Author's Note:

A few reviewers have been asking me for my playlist for this story. I listen to whatever I feel like when I'm writing or a just at random tend to write in silence, but I sometimes imagine songs that fit in certain scenes. As I love every single one of these songs personally I also recommend listening to this playlist just to listen to it (preferably in the car lol) as it's fantastic! The playlist is available on YouTube and you can find the link in my pinned ASC post on my tumblr — breaniebree

I have a few ideas here and interesting plots that are building or will be unfolding eventually. And again no, this doesn't mean that he's been redeemed.

Reviews and Comments: To Queen Helen: Thank you! I can't wait for him to tell her either! It is coming soon. To geekymom: Thank you! To turnthepage21: Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Yes, how will Remus break the news to her? I have a plan! To The Goode Ravenclaw: Thank you! I thought Ted and Remus needed a good talk. To Sleepyhawk502: Ted is definitely going to tell him, that's his daughter! He doesn't want her to get her heart broken. Thank you! To Undead Gothic Princess: Thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words. To Guest: Ted is the best, isn't he? He really did kind of tell Remus off and put him in his place at the same time. Now it's Remus' turn. To alix33: Thank you!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER NINETY-TWO:

The One Where Draco Comes to Christmas

Sirius smiled at Zee as she stood on her toes to kiss him quickly. He hadn't seen her in four days and he had missed her terribly, but she had insisted on giving him time to spend alone with Harry and he was grateful to her for that.

"Hi, I've missed you."

Zee smiled and kissed him again. "Hi, I've missed you, too." She leaned in to kiss him a third time as Harry stepped into the kitchen. "Hi, Harry."

"Hi, Zee," Harry said, moving around them to open the ice box. He tugged out some of the leftover ham from the night before and began to make himself a sandwich.

"We just ate lunch an hour ago," Sirius said with amusement.

Harry grinned at him as he spread mustard on his bread. "Uh-huh, I'm a growing boy, remember?"

Sirius smirked at him. "Brat."

Zee chuckled, tucking a dark curl behind her ear. "You two are adorable. Listen, I just popped in to say hi. I have some paperwork to finish up at the office and then I'm going to my Uncle Brian's for dinner. But I'll see you on Thursday for Christmas Eve."

Sirius pouted and tugged her back into his arms. "But that's still two whole days away!"

She pat his cheek and smirked at him. "You'll survive." She kissed his lips quickly and smiled at Harry. "Take care of him for me, Harry."

Harry smiled at her as he watched his father watch her go. She really did make him happy and he liked her even more for it. He finished eating his sandwich and stabbed an extra piece of ham from the container.

"What time is she coming over on Thursday?"

"Don't know, whenever she gets here," Sirius said with a smile. He walked over to steal a piece of ham for himself as Andromeda came into the kitchen. "Hi, Andy, what a surprise!"

Andy kissed his cheek, then kissed Harry's. "Hi, boys, eating standing up I see. Harry, doesn't your father ever feed you?"

Harry laughed. "Nope, lets me starve. See, I have to eat it cold and everything."

Andromeda chuckled and immediately opened the ice box to search its contents. A few minutes later, her hands were full as she was quickly preparing a meatloaf.

"Andy, are you honestly making us dinner? What are you doing here?" Sirius asked her, putting the ham away and glancing at Harry who looked just as bewildered as he was.

"I just… Ted and I had a minor disagreement and I needed to get out for a bit; figured I'd come see what trouble you two were causing." She cracked an egg over her bowl of ingredients. "Dora and Remus are dating."

Sirius' eyebrow rose. "Does it bother you?"

She shook her head. "No, he makes her so very happy, it's rather lovely I just… I'm just surprised by it, is all. And I feel like I knew on some level… she's fancied him a long time so, I don't really know why I'm so surprised."

Sirius nodded. "She has and so has he."

Andromeda continued to mix the ingredients in the bowl, her fingers working through the raw hamburger with clarity and ease. "She always did tell me everything that girl. We never kept secrets from each other. I knew when she first kissed a boy and when she was ready to have sex and… she always told me everything and when she told me about the man who… I guess finding out it was Remus was a bit more of a shock than I thought."

"Andy, nothing is really changing."

She smiled at him. "No, of course not, she's just… she's all grown up now is all. I miss my baby girl sometimes."

Sirius nodded at Harry who was leaning against the kitchen counter. "You can say that again."

Andromeda smiled at Harry. "Someone else is really growing up over there. Any requests for Christmas dinner other than treacle tart?"

Harry grinned widely at her. "Strawberry pie."

"Apple pie," Sirius said with a grin.

"Just pie," Harry said on a laugh.

Andromeda nodded, smiling at them. "I can do that. Harry, Sirius has told me about the Chamber of Secrets scare, I bet that you're glad to get away from the school for a while; to be home with your family."

"Yeah, it was nice to leave," he told her honestly. "Everyone thinks that I'm guilty of hurting people because I keep finding the victims."

She frowned. "A second year student could never… Sirius, you still have no idea who the attacker could be?"

"None," Sirius told her. "Dumbledore is working on it in his own way but, we have no clue."

Harry shrugged. "Ron and I thought that it was Draco Malfoy. Mostly because he's a git, but also because he's staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. He's good at being suspicious, but he has no clue who opened it either." He scratched Marauder's ears when the dog came to greet him. "Uncle Siri, I'm going to take Marauder for a walk."

Sirius nodded. "Sure, don't go too far. Keep the mirror on you! And dress warm!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I will. Bye Andy."

Sirius smiled at his cousin as he watched Harry head to the front door to bundle up. "It's been getting to him, the accusations and the stares. I hope once he goes back to school it will die down a bit."

She nodded. "Did he say that Draco is staying at school for the holidays?"

"Yeah, sounds like. I thought it was strange, too. Cissa always throws an elaborate over the top Christmas party and invites everyone. I can't imagine why he's not going home."

Andromeda nodded. "No one should be at school over the holidays."

"Well, I agree, but if he wants to stay — hey, where are you going?"

But Andromeda was already stepping into the fireplace and disappearing from the cottage.

Sirius merely stared down at the half formed meatloaf and shrugged. He might as well make meatloaf for dinner then, he thought, and he washed his hands before digging into the bowl of ingredients to finish the job.

~ ASC ~

Andromeda greeted Hagrid at the gate to Hogwarts a few minutes later. She smiled as he led her through the grounds and over the bridge to the castle. She rubbed her hands together, still chilled despite her gloves, and smiled kindly at McGonagall when she came to meet her in the entrance hall.

"Andromeda, this is a surprise. Whatever can we do for you?"

Andromeda smiled warmly at her. "I would like to speak to Draco Malfoy."

If McGonagall thought that this was a strange request, she gave no sign. Instead, she only nodded. "Of course. I'll take you to my office and have his head of house fetch him."

"Thank you."

Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting in McGonagall's small sitting room, a hot cup of tea in her hands as Draco entered the room. He only glanced curiously at McGonagall when she left them alone.

"Hi," he said, shortly, his grey-blue eyes staring at her in confusion. "Professor Snape said that I had a visitor."

Andromeda smiled warmly at him. "You do. Draco, how lovely to see you again. Please, have a seat." He hesitated a moment, but then he walked over to sit in the chair across from her. "Will you have a cup of tea with me?"

Draco carefully made himself a cup of tea as she watched him. Only after he had taken his first sip, did she speak.

"I'm sure that you're wondering why I've come today," she began as Draco merely stared at her with indifference. "I've been thinking about you since we spoke at my father's funeral. You are my nephew and despite the troubles that your mother and grandmother and I have, you will always be my nephew."

Draco looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he clamped his mouth shut.

"Harry mentioned to me that you are staying here for the holidays, which is how I knew that you would be at school."

"Potter should mind his own damn business," he muttered.

Andromeda smiled. "Christmas was always Cissa's favourite time of year. She loved the parties and the dancing and the decorating of the tree, I can't imagine that's changed much."

"No, she still loves it."

"Do you like Christmas?"

"Of course I do, what's not to like?" he asked, his voice sharp and annoyed.

Andromeda nodded, watching him carefully. He was doing his best to hide his emotions which she found interesting, but she could see the wariness and the curiosity in his grey-blue eyes. "Of course. Hogwarts puts on a great Christmas feast, I'm sure, but with the scare happening, Minerva tells me that only ten students have stayed which makes it a small and probably a bit of a strange holiday feast. And you all alone in Slytherin House on top of it."

"What do you want, Aunt — Mrs Tonks?"

She smiled and let out a slow breath. "Auntie Dromeda, please, Draco. And well, frankly, I would love it if you came and spent Christmas Day with me and my family."

Draco simply stared at her. "You're joking."

"No," she said sternly. "I'm not. Ted and I always make way too much food. My daughter Dora would love to finally meet you. Sirius always comes with Harry and Remus; it's just the six of us usually. I'm quite a good cook, you know. It won't be anything like what you're used to, I'm sure, but you'd be with family."

"If I wanted to be with family, I'd go home for Christmas."

"And, you don't want to be with your family, is that it?" she asked him, her eyes on his.

Draco was quiet for a moment, sipping his tea carefully. "Grandfather and Grandmother are visiting from France and Mother thinks that it would be better if I stayed here for the holidays."

"Having met Abraxas and Isla Malfoy I happen to agree with your mother's sentiment, but they are also your grandparents, and I'd imagine that they'd like to see you nevertheless."

Draco simply shrugged.

"I would really love it if you came and spent Christmas with us, Draco."

Draco took another sip of his tea, watching her carefully and then he shrugged. "All right, sure."

Andromeda beamed at him. "Wonderful! You can Floo over straight after breakfast! I'll see you on Friday morning."

Draco simply nodded as she gathered up her things to go. "Auntie Dromeda?" When she turned to smile at him, he merely shook his head. "Friday then."

She kept smiling the entire walk back to the Apparition point.

~ ASC ~

Christmas Eve started off much the same as usual. The snowball fight was even bigger this year and Harry cheered when Zee snuck up behind Sirius from her house and shoved his face down into the snow. Sirius declared immediate war and went after her, pelting snowballs at her left and right. But to Harry's surprise, Zee waved her wand and snowballs formed around her, protecting her and pummelling Sirius, who was laughing.

"Harry! Come help defend my status as champion!" Sirius called out, ducking his head behind his arm to avoid a snowball to the face.

Harry grinned at Remus who tossed a snowball at Sirius from behind. "Nah, I think it's time you were dethroned!"

He and Remus smirked at each other and then the two of them joined Zee in pummelling Sirius with snowballs until he was collapsed on the ground, hands over his head, laughing.

"All right, all right, I give!" he cried out.

Remus chuckled and extended his hand out to help his friend to his feet. "Beaten. Finally."

Then he gave him a little shove and Sirius fell back into a snow pile, swearing.

It had been extremely entertaining.

After the snowball fight, they went in for hot chocolate and Zee opened a tin of freshly made chocolate chip biscuits.

"Thanks for helping me defeat Sirius," she said with a grin as she passed the biscuits around.

Remus grinned at her. "He deserved it, don't you think so, Harry?"

"Definitely." Harry said, taking a biscuit and smiling at her.

Harry had only seen her the one day briefly in the kitchen since Sirius had admitted to being in love with her. But he was watching her slowly now, trying to gauge what he really thought about her.

He knew that she was nice. And she made the best biscuits he had ever had in his entire life. She did have a pretty cool job and the fact that she had a pet panther was pretty brilliant. She liked to have fun as was evident by her joining the snowball fight and she was competitive. Harry could see why Sirius was attracted to her. She was rather on the short side, but curvy and he had to admit very beautiful. She had a loud, rich laugh.

But the part that he decided that he liked best about her was that she always made Sirius smile.

And to his surprise, he was all right with her being around. She was fun.

They decided to build the gingerbread village next as Remus took all of the gingerbread that they had baked that morning out and spread it across the kitchen. Tonks came over to help and Harry was quite pleased with their work. They had an entire village surrounding a three story cottage (that was straight for once thanks to Zee) and when they finished it was a success. The five of them built it together with big smiles.

Sirius checked on the pot roast that they were having for dinner as Zee moved to sit next to Harry in the living room.

"Hi, Harry," she said brightly.

Harry smiled back at her. "Hi, Zee."

She let out a slow sigh. "I know that we haven't really talked since the summer, but Sirius told you that we're together now, for real?" At Harry's nod, she smiled. "Sirius means a lot to me, Harry, and I promise that I will take good care of him when you're at school."

Harry smiled at her. "You make him really happy."

"He makes me really happy, too," she told him. She reached next to the chesterfield and pulled out the gift she had wrapped there. "I have my own Christmas tidings to attend to tonight and tomorrow, but I wanted to give you your present before I left."

"My present?"

Zee smiled at him. "You're the most important person in Sirius' life which means that I'd really like it if we could be friends. Sirius told me that I didn't have to, but I wanted to get you a little something for Christmas. Just from me."

Harry nodded, accepting the gift from her. "Thank you."

She nodded, grinning at him. "Open it."

Harry quickly made work of the wrappings as he looked curiously on to what was inside.

"I know that Hogwarts doesn't offer Care of Magical Creatures until third year and I don't even know if you would be interested in attending the class, but I thought that this was something that you would find interesting anyway," she said carefully as he lifted the red magnifying glass from the box. "This magnifying glass allows you to see through to a creature's true form. I thought about it after Sirius told me that he was an Animagus."

"Does it only work on those who are an Animagus?"

Zee shook her head with a smile. "No. It shows you every magical creature and it also warns you if there's a danger level from that creature as in that they might be about to attack you. It monitors their adrenaline levels. Watch, hold it up to Marauder and look through the glass."

Harry did as she instructed. He could see Marauder yawning through the red glass and then the glass turned clear. "The glass changed colour. It's clear."

She smiled. "That means, Marauder means you no harm, but is friendly and as he is just a normal dog and not a magical creature per say, there's nothing special there. Now, go look at Sirius."

Harry's brow crinkled in curiosity as he stood up and headed to the kitchen doorway where he could see Sirius was talking to Remus and Tonks. He held up the glass to his eye and to his surprise the form of Sirius in the glass kept shifting between Sirius and the German Shepherd that he could transform into.

"Wow," he said in amazement.

In curiosity, he looked at Tonks, she looked the same just tinted red from the glass, but when he turned it on Remus, he watched in horrid fascination as his father's face elongated into that of the wolf before changing back into himself.

He went back over to the couch with a smile. "That's awesome. Thanks Zee!"

And to Zee's surprise, he hugged her.

She hugged him back tightly and smiled. "You're welcome! I'm glad you like it. It's an old tool that witches and wizards used to use in Eastern Europe. It kind of fell out of fashion a century or so ago, but after what happened with Sirius' old friend, stalking him in his Animagus form, I thought maybe you'd like to have the ability to see people's true forms."

"I would. Thank you very much."

"You're very welcome." She stood up, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "I'm going to say goodbye to Sirius and head out. You have a very happy Christmas, Harry."

"Happy Christmas, Zee."

He watched her head into the kitchen and he grinned widely.

Yeah, she was pretty cool, he thought.

After Zee left, Tonks, Remus, Sirius, and Harry ate dinner and then curled up in the living room for desert as Remus pulled out Dickens. They listened to him tell the familiar tale, finishing just before midnight.

Tonks hugged him goodnight, promising to see them at her parents house for dinner the next day and Harry grinned as he watched her kiss Remus rather passionately, leaving him flushed.

He grinned at his uncle when she left. "Snogging looks okay, I guess."

Remus laughed and ruffled Harry's hair. "Bed, little Prongs. Or Father Christmas won't come."

Harry only rolled his eyes, hugged them both goodnight and went upstairs to get ready for bed. He had just slipped under the covers when there was a knock on his bedroom door.

Sirius poked his head inside. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Harry nodded, sitting up in his bed as Sirius moved to take a seat on the end of it. "What's going on?"

Sirius smiled. "Nothing is going on," he said with a grin. "I'm a little sad that you don't need me to tuck you in anymore."

Harry smirked at him. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Uncle Siri."

"I know," he said with a smile. "I wanted to see if you were okay with… with Zee being here earlier?"

"I like her," Harry told him. "She makes you happy."

Sirius grinned at him. "She does, yeah. It surprised me, too, but she really does. What did Zee give you for Christmas?"

Harry explained about the magnifying glass and Sirius grinned.

"That's incredible."

"Uncle Sirius, are you okay?"

Sirius smiled, standing up. He leaned down and kissed Harry's forehead. "I'm more than okay. Now, let's get some sleep and then we can see what Father Christmas brought you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Uncle Sirius."

"Goodnight, Prongslet."

Sirius closed Harry's bedroom door behind him and he leaned back against the wall in the hallway for a moment. His little boy was really growing up and he couldn't explain the pride and love pouring out of him at the thought of it while feeling immensely sad at the same time.

He sighed and headed into his own room to get ready for bed. He was glad that Harry and Zee seemed to be getting along as well. Thoughts of Zee were the last thing on his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

~ ASC ~

Christmas morning started off pretty much the same. Music blared, presents were opened, and a big breakfast was eaten.

Harry had flushed in embarrassment when he had opened the book from Sirius and Remus titled Pleasing Your Witch or Wizard, A Step by Step Guide. When he had opened the book and saw the first chapter was on safe sex, he had thought it was a just a handy guideline, but then he had kept flipping and his eyes had practically bugged out of his head when he saw an outline of a man and a woman moving in tandem on the page and he quickly shut the book again, his cheeks flaming red.

Sirius had merely grinned widely and told Harry the last chapter was a detailed description of two hundred and forty five known sex positions and how to perform them. He told Harry that he and Remus wouldn't bring it up again unless Harry asked, but the book should answer any other questions he may have on the subject.

Harry tried not to think about it.

He got some more new clothes, new cleaning tools for his broomstick servicing kit, and new gloves for Quidditch.

After breakfast, they all showered and dressed for the day before McGonagall came over for eggnog and gifts and then they headed to the Tonks household for Christmas dinner.

The last person that Harry expected to see sitting on the sofa in the living room was Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Andromeda hurried into the living room at his outburst and kissed his cheek. "Happy Christmas, Harry! I invited my nephew to spend Christmas with us today. After you told me that he was staying at school by himself, I thought, we can't have that."

Harry only nodded in surprise.

Sirius draped an arm across his shoulders. "I know that you usually head out into the garden with Marauder now and start building the snow walls for the after dinner snowball fight, why don't you take Draco out with you?" At Harry's eye roll, Sirius only grinned at him. "He doesn't want to stay in here with us anymore than you do, Prongslet."

Harry sighed and nodded as he put on his gloves and toque. "Draco, you're coming outside with me."

Draco only stared at him a moment and then nodded. Once they were bundled up, they headed outside into the lovely winter wonderland and Marauder bounded through the snow happily making Harry laugh. He didn't turn back to see if Draco was following him or not he just kept walking until he reached the back of the garden where the first little snow wall always went up.

"What are we doing out here, Potter?"

Harry turned to him. "After dinner, we always have a massive snowball fight. It's kind of become a tradition. The last few years, I've taken on the task of compiling the snow walls for each team before dinner. You can help." He reached down to grab the container he used to make the bricks of snow, pleased that it packed so easily. "Only make it ten bricks high, it's just a ducking point."

Draco stared at him for a moment and at first Harry thought that he wasn't going to help out, but then he reached down for the second container and began to pack it with snow.

They worked in silence for almost ten minutes before Draco spoke up.

"Why did you tell her that I was staying at school for Christmas?"

Harry shrugged. "She was asking me about school and if I was doing all right with the scare of the Chamber of Secrets and all that. I told her that I was fine, but glad to be home and it kind of slipped out."

"How does that accidentally slip out?"

"I might have mentioned that I thought you were the one to open the Chamber of Secrets and staying on at Hogwarts over the holidays only made you seem more suspicious."

Draco snorted. "I didn't open the Chamber of Secrets."

"I know."

Draco's eyebrow rose. "But you just said —"

" — that was before," Harry interrupted. "But you told Ron and I that you didn't and alluded to not wanting to go home for Christmas because your grandparents were there."

"I did not say that to you or to the Weasel."

Harry smirked at him. "Well, we were disguised as Crabbe and Goyle at the time."

Draco stared at him for a minute and then he laughed. "You're more clever than I give you credit for. Unless of course Granger orchestrated it all, then it makes more sense."

"Thanks, I think."

Draco carefully slid his gloves hands along the edge of the row they finished, smoothing out the snow. "Have any other suspicions on who opened it now that you know it's not me?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I wish I knew though. I mean, I know you don't seem to care that people are getting attacked, but I do."

Draco opened his mouth to protest this and then promptly closed it.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, you were going to say something."

Draco sighed and let out a long breath. "My grandfather was at school when the Chamber of Secrets was opened the last time."

"Uncle Sirius told me that your dad mentioned it to the Hogwarts Board of Governors. I also know that someone was accused and expelled for the crime, but they were innocent. No one ever found the real culprit or discovered the monster. But all of the attacks on Muggleborns did stop after that girl died."

Draco nodded, glancing back towards the house. "I've never really talked to a Muggleborn before today… Grandfather always made them out to be villains. Like just being in the same room as one will contaminate you in some way, but Ted, Uncle Ted… he's… he's nice and he's funny. When I arrived here, his daughter came downstairs and he levitated the carpet as she stepped onto it and sent her on a ride around the living room before he flipped her onto the sofa. She was laughing… and I could tell it wasn't the first time he's done that… I can't imagine my father ever doing… he's just different than I expected."

"Ted is great! He's so funny and smart. He works at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He's an officer in the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. He really likes his work and he loves that Tonks is in the Auror Office too because she's close by. She's studying to be an A2 and can take her exam at the end of January," Harry told him as they finished the first wall and Harry led him across the garden to start building the second one.

"Why does she go by Tonks?"

Harry grinned. "She hates the name Nymphadora; says its too old-fashioned and pretentious sounding. Her mum and dad call her Dora though and she's okay with that, but only Uncle Remus gets away with calling her Nymphadora. Everyone else calls her Tonks. She's kind of like my big sister. Andy is the best. She's a brilliant cook and always makes me the best birthday cakes every year."

Draco nodded. "I don't really know them… she… she says that I should call them Auntie Dromeda and Uncle Ted but… it seems strange. And if my parents find out that I'm here… or my grandmother… it is well known that Andromeda Black was disowned from the family and to be honest, until a few years ago, I thought that she was dead. That's how much we don't talk about it."

Harry shrugged. "They won't find out that you're here from me."

Draco stared. "Potter… Harry, I don't feel like being close to the — to — Uncle Ted will contaminate me."

"Because it won't. In fact, it might just make you a better person."

Draco only rolled his eyes. "Please."

Harry chuckled as he smoothed out another row of snow. Marauder yipped, propping his two front paws up on Harry to lick his face, making him laugh. Then to Harry's surprise, Marauder hurried over, tackling Draco to the ground and licking his face as well.

The laugh that erupted from the boy surprised Harry as he watched him wrestle with the dog.

"BOYS!" Andromeda called out from the back door. "TIME FOR DINNER!"

Harry grinned at Draco, holding his hand out to help him to his feet. "Marauder is usually an excellent judge of character," Harry told him, scratching his dog behind his ears.

Draco grinned back at him. "He's a pretty cool dog."

Harry smirked. "Come on; let's go wash up."

Dinner was a noisy affair as per usual, but Harry found himself incredibly entertained by how surprised Draco seemed to be by it all. When Sirius and Andromeda started telling stories from their youth, he listened attentively intrigued. When Sirius asked his cousin if she remembered when they had stolen all of Cissa's hair combs and products and watched her chase them around the house, Draco had even smiled.

"My — " everyone turned to look at him when he spoke and Draco swallowed before continuing. "Mother once told me that Aunt Bella beheaded all of her dolls and hung them from the ceiling fan in her bedroom and then went on to hang the limbs from the ceiling in her sister's room. Is — is that true?"

Andromeda nodded, a sad smile on her face. "Cissa and I were always close as kids but Bella was… there was always something off about her, something… truly evil. She enjoyed inflicting pain on others. She enjoyed watching people suffer. The day I married Ted, she sent me a cursed necklace. Ted summoned it away from me before I could put it on — he still has the scar on his hand."

Ted held up his hand to show the beaded white scar across his palm. "It burned right through my skin to the bone and I barely touched it."

"How did you know that it was cursed?"

"Dromeda was reaching for it and it seemed to have her under some sort of trance. I called her name a few times, but to no avail so, I summoned it away from her. The Aurors took it and Moody told me that if Andromeda had succeeded in placing it around her neck it would have burned her alive," Ted said, reaching for his wine to drink deeply. "I didn't let her open another package without my approval after that for almost two years."

"I didn't know that," Sirius told her, his eyes on his cousin. "You never told me that she did that."

Andromeda shrugged. "You were still at Hogwarts. I didn't want to worry you. You were barely older than Harry at the time." She smiled at Draco. "Does Cissa talk about Bella a lot?"

Draco shook his head. "She tries not to. Whenever she does, she gets upset. But Grandfather does. He's always telling my father that Aunt Bella would have made a better wife for him, more suitable in every way, but he had let Lestrange steal her hand away from him because he had made a stupid mistake, but I don't know what his mistake was. Father always changes the subject."

Andromeda smiled at her nephew. "Draco, your grandfather is an arse and he always has been. As for Cissa… I haven't seen Cissa outside of our father's funeral a few weeks ago in over twenty-two years, but I can tell you that she and Lucius… they were so in love with each other. She was head over heels for him and he with her. At every ball, I used to look for your father just to watch him, watch her. His eyes would follow her around the ball and whenever she'd look over at him, he'd get this smirk on his face. One time, this man asked your mother to dance at the Christmas Ball at Black Manor… she was about fifteen years old at the time, your father was eighteen. This man asked her to dance and he was… well, drunk and inappropriate. Your father was doing his duty and dancing with Bellatrix and when he saw Cissa trying to politely get this man away from her without making a scene, he literally spun Bella away from him, marched over, and turned Cissa into a dance so seamlessly that you'd never have known he'd saved her if you hadn't been watching them."

"Father was supposed to marry Aunt Bellatrix?" Draco asked in surprise.

Andromeda nodded. "Oh, yes, it was all arranged and a contract was drawn up and everything. He was the proud Malfoy heir and Bella was the oldest Black daughter, it made sense that they would be promised together. But Lucius kept insisting that the marriage date be pushed back until he finished the construction on the manor in Wiltshire, but looking back now, he knew exactly what he was doing; he was biding his time. Your parents dated for almost a year in secret, without my parents' knowledge and Bella didn't know either or I'm sure she would have done something about it. I was the only person Cissa had told. The day Cissa turned sixteen, he showed up at our house. I'll never forget it. He flew his broom up to our bedroom window, knocked on the glass. I let him in. He got down on one knee and asked Cissa to run away with him. She didn't even hesitate. She climbed behind him on the broom and they flew off into the night. I swore to my parents that I knew nothing of where Cissa went, but the next morning, the Black Tapestry updated itself to show that Narcissa Black had wed Lucius Malfoy. My parents were furious."

Draco grinned. "They never told me that."

Andromeda smiled. "They were very much in love and from what I saw at the funeral, they are still very much in love. Your father's parents never really approved of Cissa, but your father didn't care. Remember that, as much as your father respects his own father, he doesn't always do what he says. And well, after they eloped, a new marriage contract was drawn up between Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy and a huge wedding was planned with hundreds of guests invited. Very few people knew that they had been married three months prior. I was her Maid of Honour and it was the most beautiful wedding that I could ever imagine."

Ted linked his fingers with hers. "I know that you wish you could have had a big wedding like Cissa, love, I'm sorry that I never gave that to you."

"No, you gave me so much more," she said, leaning over to kiss his cheek. She smiled at Draco. "A week after your parents wedding, I told my father that Edward Tonks proposed to me and that we were going to be married and that was it, I was never invited to anything from the family again. Cissa and I wrote letters, long letters full of our lives for a few years. When I told her that I was pregnant she was thrilled for me, but then our father found out and he threatened to disown Narcissa if she didn't cut me out from her life. So, the letters stopped and only Sirius stuck by me."

"Always," Sirius said with a smile. "White Sheep of the Black Family, Andy."

She chuckled and smiled at Draco. "But I'm tired of these old prejudices and of family fighting against family. You are always welcome in my home as would your parents be if they were so to choose. Remember that."

Draco nodded and reached for another helping of roast turkey and he couldn't help but smile back at his aunt.