Draco yawned and stretched. Wiggling his toes, he rolled over in his bed and found Prosper cuddling up to him. Smiling, he tickled the tiger cat under the chin, watching with amusement as the cat slowly woke up. After spending a good five minutes glaring at the Slytherin boy who DARED to wake the ALMIGHTY PROSPER, the kitten sat up. He gave a tiny little yawn, exposing his pink tongue and sharp white teeth, before laying down and cuddling up to Draco once more.

The moment of peace, sweetness, and adorable-ness was broken as the dorm door was thrown open. Draco found himself and Prosper being gathered into slim, pale arms, with gossamer strands of silky blond hair blowing in their faces.

"Oh, my baby, I couldn't spend Christmas without you, so I simply had to come here – your father was in absolute FITS when I told him, but I was firm – I couldn't spend a Christmas without my little baby boy…"

"Hi to you too, Mum," Draco managed to choke out.

Narcissa pulled away, positively beaming at her son. Prosper let out a discontented mew as Narcissa accidentally squeezed him. She gasped.

"Oh, sweetie, you didn't tell us you got a PET! And such a pretty kitty, yes he is," she said, gently scratching Prosper under the chin. He mewed, rubbed his head once or twice against Nacissa's arm, and leaped onto Draco's lap. He curled up there and watched Narcissa, his green eyes intent.

"So Dad didn't come?"

"No, no, he's having a busy time – visiting the Minister, working on his Occlumency – and that trip to France didn't exactly help."

"Oh, so Father's building up his skills again?"

"Well, he hasn't used them in quite a few years, and Voldemort trusts him – he can't have the Dark Lord figuring out he's a spy, now can he? Anyway…Draco?"

"Yes, Mum?"

"The cat…he looks positively shocked. Do you think he saw something?"

Draco looked down at Harry and bit back a laugh. The kitten was blinking, apparently still in shock as he slowly came to the realization that Draco's father wasn't the "all-around-bad-guy". He gently cuddled him, almost subconsciously, closer to him.

"I dunno. Maybe he's afraid of mice?"

Prosper twisted around to glare at him as Narcissa chuckled. "I don't know…anyway, he was so busy he was barely at home, and I didn't want to spend Christmas alone…so I came here!"

"Okay. Anyone else?"

Narcissa pursed her lips in annoyance. "Yes, that dreadful woman who I'm ashamed to call my sister – Andromeda – showed up with her daughter, Nymphadora. I can't believe she let the girl color her hair pink! Of all colors! And those earrings…" Narcissa shook her head. Draco noticed Prosper taking offense and quickly said,

"But maybe they're different now. I mean, you haven't spoken to her in what – twenty years?"

"Eighteen, Draco. And yes, I suppose she might have changed…but she's married to that Muggle…"

Draco shrugged. "She's your sister. Talk to her."

"Well…alright…see you at breakfast, honey…"

Narcissa gave Prosper a scratch, Draco one last hug, and she stood. She left the room, waving goodbye.

"Yeah…sorry about that…my mum doesn't know…"

Prosper rolled his eyes and flipped onto his back. Absentmindedly, Draco rubbed Prosper's belly, deep in thought.

Prosper brought him out of his reverie with a gentle lick on the base of Draco's neck. Draco blinked once or twice before smiling down at the cat.

"Shower time?"

'Yes' flashed in Draco's mind as Prosper stood up, arched his back, and leaped to the door. He jumped up again and batted the door handle, ramming the door open with his body. Draco shook his head.

"You could just wait for me, but nooo…you're too good for that, aren't you?"

Prosper flashed him the word 'Damn' and a sign with a right arrow on it before turning and trotting into the shower stall to wait for the other.

Remus heard a knocking on his study door. "Come in!" he called, turning an essay over. He really needed to get these finished before the holidays were over…

"Remus, you are no fun at all."

Remus looked up, glasses sliding to the tip of his nose. He smiled widely and leapt up, striding around the desk to give a big hug to Andromeda and Tonks.

"Hey, you two! I didn't know you'd be here! Why the surprise?"

Andromeda grimaced. "Well, you see, Ted and I had something of a…disagreement."

Tonks snorted. "Yeah…disagreement. Call it that all you like, Mum, but that was a full-out fist fight, complete with pokers from the fireplace." She turned to Remus. "Okay, there are two versions to this story: long or short. Pick."

"Long. More details. Oh, you'd better sit."

Andromeda, Tonks, and Remus all took seats around the fireplace. Just as Andromeda opened her mouth, light, playful barks came from Remus's bedroom.

"Oh, a puppy!" cried Tonks. "And you're keeping it locked up in your room?"

"It's punishment," Remus grinned, amber eyes sparkling. "He dragged a plate of greasy sausages into my bed this morning – for the third time."

"Hmmm. When did you get this puppy, Re?" asked Andromeda, chuckling.

"Well, you see…Sirius did it again."

Andromeda laughed. "Figures. Only puppy instead of squirrel. But why?"

"Harry accidentally turned himself into a kitten for two months."

This time both Tonks and Andromeda burst out laughing.

"That's rich!" cried Andromeda, wiping tears from her eyes. "Who's the caretaker, then?"

"Draco Malfoy."

Tonks blinked. "No, seriously, who's the caretaker?"

"No, seriously, it's Draco Malfoy."

"But…but…but…WHY?"

"I have…no clue. Anyway, moving on, what was this about a fist-fight with pokers?"

"Oh, it was NOT that bad…"

"NOT THAT BAD! YOU THREW A BLOODY HOT COAL AT HIM, MUM!"

Andromeda chuckled to herself as she thought of the puppy Sirius. She took a deep breath and winced – she had forgotten about where Ted had hit her with the poker last night. Stupid Muggle, hitting her with a poker than kicking her and her daughter out.

After the ache settled down once more, she continued her journey to the Slytherin common room to visit Harry and…her nephew. Strange that she had never seen the boy since his first birthday party…she wondered what he looked like.

She rounded the corner and felt her mouth drop open. Remus hadn't exaggerated: the boy was a carbon-copy of a teenage Sirius, although his paler skin, fair hair, and silver eyes added something that Sirius had not had.

"Erm…who are you?" he asked, looking at her. Andromeda heard a loud mew. Looking down, she saw a black and white striped cat on the floor beside Draco, tail twitching. She smiled.

"Looks like Harry's done a right job on himself, hasn't he?" She smiled and held out her hand to Draco. "I'm your Aunt Andromeda – but please don't call me Aunt, it makes me feel old."

Draco smiled. "Alright."

"Oh, you've not met Tonks, have you?"

Draco blinked confusedly.

"Well, her birth name is Nymphadora, but she hates it."

"Oooh…."

"Yeah. Well, she'll be in to breakfast in a bit…I s'pose you'll see her there. Well, it was nice to meet you, Draco – oh, Harry, Tonks says wotcher."

Harry mewed contentedly, rubbed Andromeda's legs with his head, and pranced back to Draco looking happy. Draco smiled down at him, scooped him up, and hugged him close to his chest.

Andromeda, unnoticed now, smiled softly at the sudden display of affection between the two. She slipped away to the great hall, a plan forming in her devious mind…

Draco idly toyed with Prosper's ears. "I suppose we should be getting to lunch?"

Prosper mewed. As if in response, both of their stomachs rumbled at the same time. Chuckling, Draco scooped up Prosper and stood up off the couch. He headed towards the Great Hall, the cat in his arms batting away at a feather from a couch pillow.

He grinned at the antics. "Once again, I have to ask: How did YOU ever beat ME!"

Prosper gave Draco the Death Glare of Doom™ before leaping out of his arms and dashing the next ten feet to the table set up by Dumbledore in the Great Hall.

Draco glanced at the table's occupants. Dumbledore and Flitwick were deep in conversation. McGonagall was watching Trelawney with distaste, as the batty Divination teacher sipped her tea, her bug-eyes closed for the moment. Remus was talking with a young, happy-looking woman with pale skin and bright pink hair, Sirius adding a bark now and then. And there, at the very end of the table, sat his newly-met Aunt Andromeda, talking quietly with his mother.

Prosper sat in the seat next to them, head cocked ever so slightly in their direction. Draco picked him up gently and sat. He went unnoticed by the two women, who continued their discussion.

"…and then he kicked us out," finished Andromeda.

"Oh, Andii, I had no idea – he hit you? With things?"

Andromeda nodded miserably.

"I am so sorry…why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I didn't want to split up the family because of Nymphadora…but when she told me she knew that he was hurting me, I stood up to him when he tried…she was there too…he hit me with the poker. I panicked and threw the coals at him, and he kicked us out. Oh, Cissy, I just don't know what I'm going to do!" Andromeda looked to be on the verge of a breakdown.

Draco hid a smile as his mother and his aunt hugged. He looked down at Prosper, who seemed to be smiling with his eyes at the two women. If such a thing were possible.

Narcissa suddenly took notice of her son. She whirled around to face him. "Why didn't you tell me your cat was Harry Potter?" she hissed.

Draco paused and cracked up. Narcissa blinked.

"Think…think over that sentence…one more time…" he panted between fits of laughter. Narcissa smiled.

"Okay, okay…but why didn't you tell me?"

Draco calmed down. "I don't know…I just…whatever."

"You never were very good with words."

Draco stuck his tongue out and instantly regretted it as his mother whacked him between the eyes with a spoon.

A/N Okay, okay, I know that Andromeda and Tonks are probably horribly OOC...FORGIVE ME, J.K.! (trembles under table, waiting for bolt of lightning to hit her)