Chapter 20

Draco stepped out of the fireplace of his Aunt's house. Brushing the dust off his outfit, he looked around the sitting room. It was no Malfoy Manor, but Draco could tell that this home was filled with far more love than his house ever had.

The house was two stories tall, and to the right of the room was the kitchen. The entire house had an antique style to it. From what he could see, the house was decorated with warm colours. In the chair across from where he apparated was a man, whom Draco perceived to be his Uncle Ted Tonks.

Ted was tall and his fair coloured hair was combed nicely off to the side. He was dressed in moderate robes and his features seemed to reflect those of his cousin. At this moment, his right leg was crossed over his left and he was reading the Daily Prophet. Draco glanced to the cover of the paper and saw that the Daily Prophet was running a feature on the Life of Dumbledore and felt that he would be seeing a lot of that at the moment. As soon as Ted noticed Draco's appearance into the room, Ted dropped the newspaper he was reading off to the side and stood up to greet him.

"You must be Draco Malfoy, I've heard so much about you recentl,y" Ted said with a warm smile. He extended out his right hand and when Draco took it, he noticed that his uncle had a nice firm shake. It was the sort of handshake that Draco's father often told him was the best to use when making a first impression.

Draco returned the smile, "It's nice to meet you sir. I wish I could say that I have heard nothing but good things about you, but unfortunately I cannot," Draco said truthfully; however it was filled with a slight sadness. "However, recently I have been able to paint over all the impressions I was bestowed with, with ones of my own. So I do hope that you will allow me to get to know you," Draco added.

Ted chuckled as his aunt appeared in the fireplace. "Andromeda, your nephew is certainly the charmer. I do look forward to being able to make his acquaintance," he said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

His aunt appeared to be taking in the situation hesitantly and Draco did not blame her. It was the first time that his pureblood self was meeting her husband, a muggleborn, and after receiving years of knowledge over the impurity of muggleborns, it was only natural to be hesitant. After deciding for herself that Draco truly intended to make amends on his behalf and get to know her family, Andromeda smiled.

"I'm glad to see the two of you getting along," she said kind-hearted. "Draco, I don't know how long you are going to be staying here for, but I want you to feel at home."

Draco smiled at her, "Thank you. The fact that you are extending hospitality to me after everything my family has done means a lot," he said genuinely.

Andromeda replied, "That's what family is for Draco," she said softly. After a moment she added, "How about I show you to your room to you can settle in?"

Draco nodded, "That would be wonderful."

She led him up a flight of stairs and the two of them walked in silence. After the had reached the top, she turned to him.

"Draco, there's something I wanted to ask you but didn't want to do so in front of Ted," she said after a moment.

Draco wondered what she possibly could want to ask him without her husband's presence.

"Ted hates it when I worry about the past, but I still have to know. Draco have either of my sisters ever mentioned me?" she asked as the two of them resumed walking down the hall.

Draco knew that this was a delicate subject and thought carefully before replying. "My aunt Bella only mentioned you once. She was warning me about the importance of marrying a pureblood and how if I failed to I would end up like you or Sirius Black. I wish I had gotten to know you sooner though. It's a shame that Sirius is dead, I think I would have liked to have met him," Draco said. He knew it was still rather harsh, but it was the truth.

Andromeda seemed to take this in. She had a sadness in her eyes but it vanished once Draco added the next part.

"My mother never said much about it. I always felt that she had more to say, but she rarely ever spoke her mind in company. But I remember once when I was young she told me that she missed you and how she looked up to you when she was younger. She also said how she hated that she couldn't talk to you and wished she was brave enough to try."

His aunt smiled at this. "I hope that after all of this is over, I can get to know her again."

"I know that she'll like that."

Finally, she stopped in front of an unmarked door and turned the handle. "This will be your room during your time here," she said as she stepped aside to allow him entry.

"Thank you," he said as he walked into the room. He supposed it was modern size for what a room should be. It was smaller than his room at the manor, but it was spacious enough for him not to feel confined to a small area. The room was undecorated, so Draco guessed that he was in a guest room in the house.

As he placed his bag on the bed and began to unpack, his mind began to wander. What he had told his aunt about Bellatrix's remarks was an understatement. Her aunt would often go out of her way to show him that there is nothing her family wasn't capable of. She would scoff every time anyone said Sirius Black was a Death Eater, for she had known the truth all along. It was only a year after his uncle's escape, that he had learned the horrid truth behind his imprisonment.

He wished he could say that his family couldn't be capable of such horrible things, but he knew that it would be a lie. Her own aunt had killed her cousin after all, and he knew that she probably would kill Andromeda if it came down to that.

Sirius Black was the uncle he never had known and never would know. He knew that he was Potter's godfather and was a friend to his parent's family. But other than that, that was all he knew. He had no idea how he would get along with a man who had completely different ideals than the ones Draco had been taught. In a way the two of them had that in common. They both turned their backs against what their family taught them to fight on the other side of the war. It would have been nice to know his uncle, so he could tell Draco about his experiences.

But at least he had the opportunity to get to know his aunt and her family. Aunt Andromeda looked so much like her sister Bellatrix, that it was a wonder that people didn't often confuse the two of them. However his aunt's features were definitely softer, while Bellatrix's features were wild and dangerous.

Everything that he had seen so far screamed that the family was welcoming and generous. He hated to impose on them, and worried what they would think from meeting him. It was an incredibly generous offer for them to take him in.

As he put away the last of his belongings, he took out a piece of parchment and some ink. He wanted to write to Hermione and let her know of his safe arrival, as per request. Before he had set off to go meet his aunt, Hermione had cornered him and told him to write to her as he arrived and any time he wanted to talk.

He was still confused over the fact that Potter had informed him of Hermione's feelings. Draco knew that the Weasel still had feelings for her, so shouldn't Potter be encouraging that relationship?

He dipped the quill into the ink and began to write. He knew better than to use real names or locations in the odd chance that his letter had been seen by anyone it wasn't supposed to.

Dear H

"Writing a letter to your girlfriend?" a voice called out from the door. He turned quickly to see Tonks leaning against the door frame.

"Not that it's any of your business but no I'm not, Nymphadora," Draco said, using extra emphasis upon her name.

"Don't call me that," she said, with a growl. She made her way into his room and sat down on the bed.

Her hair was currently a simple blonde. He guessed that it must have been her natural colour, but wasn't quite sure. After everything between her and Lupin in the hospital wing, Draco supposed that she was attempting to seem slightly more sophisticated to show her maturity to him.

"Fine," he smirked.

"So how are you settling in?" she said after a pause.

"Pretty good. Your parents have been kind to me upon my arrival," he said.

"Did you expect something different?" she questioned.

"I wasn't sure what to expect," he said quietly.

"Don't go getting all depressed on me Little Cuz. Trust me, by the time you leave, you'll be begging to come back," she said confidently.

"I'm sure," Draco scoffed at the suggestion. But he knew deep down that he was going to enjoy staying here.

"So how's it going with Lupin?" Draco asked her after a moment. After the debatable in the hospital he was curious to know if he would soon welcome the werewolf into his family.

He noticed his cousin blush, which was something he had never seen her do in the time he had known her.

"How much do you know about that?" she asked him curiously.

"Not much," he admitted. "Just what I saw that day."

"Would you like to know about our relationship, or are you just making small talk?" she asked him hesitantly.

"Honestly? I'm curious about it. It's not every day you find out your cousin is with your ex-professor," Draco replied.

"I've been seeing him for a little while now. I've known him for a while; it's hard not to know people who are in the Order together. The two of us were on patrol in Hogsmeade one night when there was a disturbance. I'm not sure who was there exactly, but the attack was bad. I remember being cornered by three Death Eaters and having to fight them all off. It was fine at first, but a few more joined them. I remember being so sure that it was going to be the end and that one of them would kill me for sure. But then Remus came; and you know how they say there's strength in numbers. We were able to get the village secured and got the Death Eaters to leave.

"Remus was injured and he needed help urgently. I had to run up to the Castle and ask Madam Pomfery to come take a look at him. That night, we rented a room at the Three Broomsticks because he needed someone to watch him to make sure none of his injuries got worse. He was in pain and couldn't sleep and I was too worried to try; so the two of us stayed up that night talking about everything and anything. I had already known his secret, but he told me himself. I knew it bothered him to have to say it allowed, and the moment he said it, I could see his eyes search mine for any sense that I wouldn't want to be around him anymore. But I had no insincerities towards him. That was the first time we met up with each other.

"Since then we've slowly built up a relationship. And I've grown to care for him deeply. I told him I loved him the other day, and he completely freaked out. I think it finally hit him that there was a chance the two of us could grow into something serious. Remus doesn't open up to many people, and I don't blame him. He's faced discrimination for years and he's lost the four people in the world who accepted him no matter what. He lost James and Lily, and then Peter, and Sirius. I think the only thing that keeps him going in knowing that he still has Harry to care for. But it worried him that I would be ruining my life to be with him.

Tonks paused for a second and allowed Draco to absorb all of it in before she started again.

"He says that it's because he's a lot older than I am, but I know that it's a lie. The ministry has begun to talk about Anti-Werewolf Legislations. He's worried about what it would do to me to be involved with him after that. Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous. They are only making these laws because werewolves tend to side with Voldemort. But they only do that because Voldemort makes them promises of a better life. And it might be an empty promise, but it's a lot more than the Ministry is bothering with."

Draco was stunned. He honestly had no idea that all of this was happening with the Ministry. He had heard of Anti-Werewolf campaigns in the past, but never had been concerned with them. It had never had affected him before.

"He'll come around," Draco assured her. "Just give him a bit of time."

Tonks snorted. "Let me guess, you're one of those kids who is real smooth with the ladies aren't you?"

Draco grinned, "I guess you could say that."

"So that letter you were writing before I interrupted you. Was it for your girlfriend?" Tonk asked him questioningly.

"No," Draco said a bit too quickly.

"So it's a girl who you really fancy? Tonks pestered teasingly.

"No!" Draco exclaimed. "I mean, I like her, but well, uh"

"She doesn't know that you fancy her, does she?" Tonks asked him curiously.

"No," Draco said with a sigh.

"And you're not planning on telling her? Look kid, we're in the middle of a war. If you want something, then you shouldn't wait. What if something happens to either of you, and you're left wondering about what could have happened if you acted on your feelings. Isn't it better to know?" his elder cousin said wisely.

"When did you get so smart? Weren't you a Hufflepuff?" Draco asked her with a huff. However he couldn't help but wonder if he should tell Hermione.

"When did you get so selfless? Aren't you a Slytherin?" she retorted back.

"Hmph."

"So, who is she?" Tonks asked him as she gave him a slight nudge.

"What makes you think I'd tell you?" Draco asked her, with a bit of his former self edging into his voice.

"I don't know, maybe because I just bore my soul out to you?" She snipped sarcastically.

Draco sighed. "I suppose you're right." And with that, Draco launched straight into his story.

At the end of it, her eyes had widened in shock. "But isn't Hermione with Ron?" she exclaimed.

"She said she doesn't think of him that way," Draco said silently.

"Interesting…" she said, without letting her thoughts in on her words. "Well little cousin, why haven't you done anything yet? Honestly, if you were half as smooth as you're supposed to be, then you should have made a move by now."

"Well, I was attempting to write her a letter," Draco said pointedly,

"Ah, gotcha; fine Little Cousin, I'll leave you to it then," she said with wink as she exited the room.

Draco shook his head, but couldn't help but smile.

Hermione sat on the Hogwarts Express with one sad Ginny Weasley sitting across from her.

"I know he has to fight Voldemort, but I just wish he hadn't broken up with me," Ginny said as she stared out of the window.

Her friend had found her a few moments ago and told her what had occurred between her and her former boyfriend. Hermione had seen it coming; Harry always had to play the hero. But she couldn't help but side with him

"Hermione, I think that owl on the window is for you," Ginny said suddenly, interrupting Hermione from her thoughts.

Feeling confused, she opened the window and let the owl in. As she did, she took the letter that it was holding and opened it up.

Dear H,

I have safely arrived at my Aunt's house, so you can stop worrying about that. And yes, I do know that you were probably fretting over the matter.

To be honest, I really like it here. I had a chat with my cousin earlier, and it got me wondering how my life would have been like if I had known her as I grew up. Honestly, I probably would have ended up in Hufflepuff. I know you're laughing as you read that and are now imagining me in their robes. You are rather predictable like that.

There was also something I was meaning to ask you. How long am I supposed to stay here for? I know that it's for my own protection, but I can't help but feel useless. There's very little I can do to help the OoTP (A/N: Order of The Phoenix) from here.

Hope to hear from you soon,

D

Ginny peered over her shoulder as she read the contents of the letter, "Him and Tonks probably got along rather well didn't they," Ginny said with a laugh. "How much do you want to bet that she spent the entire time making fun of him for one thing or another?"

Hermione laughed. She caught herself smiling throughout reading the letter as Draco successfully predicted her reactions, but also felt a pang as she realised how much she missed him.

She took out a quill and a piece of parchment and began to write a letter back (which Ginny attempted to contribute many suggestions to).

A/N: When reading the books, I always wished that J.K. Rowling would extend on Remus and Tonk's story a bit more. It was hinted and we received a bit of knowledge, but I thought I should extend on it. Now that Draco is staying with his Aunt and her family, I'm going to write a bit more about the pairing :D