Draco bolted awake. He sat there, breathing heavily.

His mother soon walked in. She sat down beside him, and wrapped her arms around him.

Astra soon walked in.

"Astra, go away," Draco snapped. It came out as harsher than he had meant it to. Normally his mother would scold him for talking to his sister like that, but tonight he she did not.

Draco saw his little sister vulnerable all the time, but she never saw him that way. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea and think that he had somehow become weak like her (or like he considered her to be). He considered himself much stronger then her, and he wanted his sister to see him that way and continue to see him that way.

At the same time, he knew that there was a lot of crap that she had to deal with that he never had. Also, she never picked on other people, something Draco did to help with his own feelings of vulnerability.

Draco leaned into his Mother, and cried into her chest. She was the only person to whom it seemed remotely alright to show vulnerability. He soon told her about his nightmare, in which Voldemort found out that Astra had lycanthrophy.

Astra had gone to bed a bit late, and then it had taken her a long time to get to sleep. Partway through the night, Starbeam woke her up from a nightmare, and her mother had come in. Astra managed to fall asleep again, but then she was woken up by Draco's scream.

Astra thought that Draco was too confident to have nightmares, but apparently not. She felt bad that Draco had to experience a nightmare, and without a special pet. At the same time, there was something satisfying to know that she was not the only one, but she felt really bad that even a part of her thought that way.

Astra and Starbeam got up later than usual. They left their bedchamber, and soon ran into Draco.

"Hi, Astra. So far, Scropius is the only one who's come back. I'll give him your letter to Harry in a bit. I just wanted to make sure he got some food and water first."

"Thanks, Draco. Did Scropius bring back a letter?"

"No, but that probably means that the Weasley's were too busy going to get Harry to respond to it."

"That makes sense. Where's Mum?"

She and Dad went to talk privately. Dad's mad because she wrote a letter to someone I've never heard of, but Dad knew who it was."

Astra went into the functional dining room, and stared at the remaining letters. There were the two that she wrote, and the other one.

Astra heard something at the window, and saw Pigwigen. She opened it, and Pigwigeon flew in and perched himself on a chair. Astra retrieved the letter.

"Is this a Weasley owl?" Draco asked.

"Yes," Astra said.

Draco grabbed the letter to Harry and sent it off with Pigwigen.

"Good thinking," Astra said.

She opened the letter. It explained that they picked up Harry, and he's very upset, but at least he's safe at the Burrow now. It also explained that they sent Errol with a letter to Snuffles.

"Who's Snuffles?" Draco asked.

She paused. "Harry's godfather," she answered, realizing that Draco would not know who that was.

"He has a godfather? Wait, did his godfather even come to the tournament?"

"No. He was sick."

Her mother entered the room.

"Who is Andromeda Tonks?" Draco asked.

"My estranged older sister. My parents cut her off when she eloped with a muggle-born, so I did too. I haven't had any contact with her for many years, but I feel the need to warn her and her husband that Voldemort is back."

"Are you still mad at her for marrying a muggle-born?" Astra asked.

"No."

Eventually, Astra heard back from everyone. She was happy to read that Sirius/Snuffles had moved back to his childhood home and Harry, the Weasley, Hermione, and Remus Lupin had all come to stay for the rest of the summer.

Narcissa got a reply to the letter she sent out too.

At Malfoy manor, when it was just the family, they would eat in the functional dining room. When they had guests over, they would eat in the formal dining room.

When guests at the Tonk's house, they sat down at the table in what appeared to be a functional dining room. There was enough room for the three Malfoy's on one side of the table, and the three Tonk's on the other, but Astra wondered if they even had a formal dining room. She'd only seen part of the inside of the house, but it seemed small, at least by Malfoy standards.

Astra had not felt up to meeting new people, but she had wanted to meet them. Also, the idea of being home with her father and not her mother scared her, although she was not sure why, and she hated herself for feeling that way because she felt that it was ridiculous. Anyway, she had come, so here she was. It was weird to even think of people she just met as her aunt, uncle, and cousin, but that's what they were.

The Tonk's all kept eyeing her. She was not sure if it was because her cat was on her lap at the diner table, or if it was because she was very anxious.

"So, what's everyone's Hogwarts house?" Uncle Ted asked.

"Slytherin," Draco said.

"Slytherin," Narcissa said.

"Gryffindor," Astra said, nervously.

There was a moment of silence, as the Tonk's all looked surprised.

"Hufflepuff," Uncle Ted said.

"Hufflepuff," Dora said.

"Slytherin," Aunt Andromeda said.

"Are any of you a Metamorphmagus?" Nyphadora asked.

Astra cringed.

Nyphadora's nose turned to a pig nose and back again.

"I am," Narcissia said. Her own nose turned into a duck beak and back again. "Astra is too, but she's probably too shy to use her powers right now."

Astra was glad that her mother had said that. This summer she had been learning how to control her Metamorphmagus powers again, and she was getting somewhere, but she had not been able to do it since Voldemort came back.

There was a moment of silence. "Alright," Aunt Andromeda said. "I've got to ask. Narcissa, what happened that made you not be a pure-blood supremacist anymore?"

"I don't know. Over time it just kind of happened."

"Narcissa, could you help me clear the table and bring out dessert?" Andromeda asked.

She paused. "Sure," she said, even though she considered that to be a task that was beneath her. At Malfoy Manor, the house elf did the cooking and waiting the table.

Narcissa and Andromeda got up, and so did Nyphadora. Andromeda looked at Nyphadora. "Sit," she whispered, so she did.

Narcissa carried a dirty pan into the kitchen, while Andromeda took a stack of dirty plates. Once they set the stuff down, Andromeda grabbed Narcissa's hand and gently pulled her farther away from the door.

"I get the feeling you're hiding something," Andromeda said, quietly. "I'm not going to trust you again if you won't trust me."

"You're right," Narcissa said, "but I can't just announce the Malfoy family secret."

Andromeda stared at her, shocked.

Narcissia took a deep breath, and then whispered in Andromeda's ear. "My daughter has lycanthrophy."

Astra had told her that her friends figured it out, so they knew. Severus had told her that Astra's head of house had walked into his office one day and asked if Astra was a werewolf, and he had answered honestly.

Andromeda gasped, looking even more shocked now. Seconds passed. "Your secret's safe with me," she said.