The Tonks household was interesting. The house itself was a nice, a cottage surrounded by woodland with a large garden. Andromeda hurried out of the house when Aurora and Nymphadora arrived, followed by a short, cheerful looking man with light brown hair. "Nymphadora, there you are! And Aurora!"

Andromeda was smiling as she greeted her daughter, who muttered, "It's Dora," but grinned anyway.

"Dumbledore told me about what you got up to at the end of term," Andromeda said, and there was an interested gleam in her dark eyes. Aurora smiled awkwardly.

"Oh, right."

"I must say it all sounded very impressive." Aurora flushed.

"Mum, you're embarrassing her," Nymphadora said.

"You two come inside now," said Nymphadora's father. "I'm Ted."

Aurora nodded as she followed him inside, while Andromeda and Nymphadora carried the trunk between them. Their house was a lot more homely than any of the others Aurora had stayed in. She might have said it was small, but it was more cozy than anything else. Sunlight came in through the wide windows and illuminated armchairs and sofas covered with brightly coloured cushions. "You have the old guest room," Andromeda told her, "next to Nymphadora's. It's a bit small, but I hope it'll be alright."

"Oh, of course," Aurora said, smiling politely. "I really don't want to be a bother, it was so kind of you to take me in."

"You're family," said Andromeda, though her smile was a little strained.

"Come on," Nymphadora said, grinning. "I'll levitate your trunk up the stairs for you."

"Dora, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I can do it, Dad! I'm an Auror now."

"A training Auror," Andromeda reminded her, and Nymphadora huffed loudly.

"I got an O in my Charms N.E.W.T.! Aurora, I promise I won't break anything."

Aurora grinned despite herself. This household was very different to grandmother's or Arcturus' or Lucretia's, but part of her liked their casual familiarity. She grinned, watching carefully as Nymphadora screwed up her face in concentration and levitated her trunk up the narrow staircase onto the first floor, and along the hall into a room with a large round window, a single bed and a wardrobe and desk. It smelled of fresh paint.

"Mum wanted to put up snake decorations in this place," Nymphadora said. "Since you're a Slytherin like her, but Dad and I said that might just freak you out if you woke up in the night with a snake staring at you."

Aurora laughed. "Yeah, I think it might." She was quiet for a second before asking, "What house were you in then? You must have been at Hogwarts not long ago?"

"I left the year before you started," Nymphadora said. "Me and Dad are both Hufflepuffs, and proud of it." She grinned, setting Aurora's trunk down gently in the carpet. "Do you want a hand unpacking?"

"I'll be fine," Aurora said.

Nymphadora lingered in the doorway for a minute, looking at Aurora appraisingly. Then she shrugged. "Alright. Well, come down once you're ready and you can give us a hand with dinner."

Aurora unpacked efficiently, because she had packed the same way. Her wardrobe was organised perfectly by colour and season, her books alphabetically by subject and then author, and everything else placed strategically so that nothing in the room felt off balance. The photos she'd taken from Grimmauld Place last year went in a bottom drawer hidden inside her thick Slytherin scarf. She wondered for a moment if Andromeda or Ted might be able to point out which of the women was her mother, but pushed the thought aside. She didn't want to show anyone else those pictures; she'd only given Potter the picture of his parents because he had no way to know she had given it to him and she'd felt bad. Not that he'd even gotten so much as a house point taken off him.

Rolling her eyes, Aurora ran her hands over her Slytherin scarf and shut the drawer, tucked her wand into the pocket of her robe, and pushed the closed trunk against a wall before going downstairs to help with dinner as Nymphadora had asked. She'd never made a dinner before - the house elves did that usually, or Ignatius Prewett, who didn't trust anyone else in the kitchen - but she supposed just helping couldn't be too difficult, and she was good at Potions, too.

It turned out she didn't have to do much. Andromeda and Ted did the majority of the work, while Nymphadora was dismissed after almost tipping over a bubbling cauldron and proceeded to give Aurora a tour of the house and garden instead.

"I crashed a broom into that tree a couple of years ago," she pointed out, gesturing to one that looked rather gnarled and dented. "Mum went mental at me but I got onto the Quidditch team anyway. Do you play?"

"Yeah, I did, but girls aren't allowed on the Slytherin team."

"Really? Why?"

She shrugged. "Cause the captain's an idiot and doesn't understand how to make proper use of his resources."

Nymphadora laughed, beaming at her. "Sounds about right. You got a broom?"

"Sort of. I normally used Ignatius', but..." She looked down. "Not much point getting my own if I'm not going to play at school anyway, is there?"

"Suppose not when the school brooms are alright. I've still got my old spare Cleansweep in the back if you ever fancy a fly with me at some point."

"Thanks, Nymphadora."

"Dora," she corrected. "Mum says it's weird if you call me Tonks, so you can call me Dora. I hate Nymphadora, it's just Mum always insists on using it." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Nymphadora - Dora - shrugged. "S'alright. Here, I'll show the flower patch. Mum's dead proud of it."

The Tonkses cooked very well, and though at first Aurora felt terribly out of place, she could tell they were all going to an effort to make her feel welcome in their home over the course of the Summer. Andromeda had called her family. It was strange to have family she didn't even know, who had been written out of their records. But she supposed her parents had been, too. Her mother had never even been in the records.

She still didn't like living there. But she had to admit that she liked them, Dora's loudness and Ted's bad jokes and Andromeda's despairing, humorous smiles.

She kept up a regular correspondence with her friends, too, even though she hadn't seen them. From Gwen she had found out that Hermione Granger had come top of their year in almost every class, even beating Aurora in Transfiguration, which she was furious. Pansy and Draco both agreed it was favouritism on McGonagall's part - Draco's father had reportedly been furious that a Muggleborn girl had beaten his son in every subject - which only made Aurora want to work harder. They were both excited for Pansy's family's gala, as it would be Draco's first time attending. Pansy promised Aurora would receive an invitation the next year, along with Lucille Travers and Millicent Bulstrode, but it didn't bother Aurora too much. She wasn't really sure how the Tonkses would take to her attending a pureblood gala, anyway. It really didn't seem like their scene. Draco did promise they'd meet sometime in August, though his parents were very busy, and Aurora was greatly looking forward to being reunited with her friends.

She realised, as this was the first time in ten months that she'd been separated entirely from them all, that she missed her friends painfully. She'd slept in the same room as Gwen every night, and spent most of her evenings with Draco and Pansy, and seen them every day. It took days of being on her own - with only the Tonkses, who she barely knew - to think on the fact that even in their last few months at Hogwarts, she had drifted from them rather. After losing Lucretia and Ignatius and becoming the only 'true Black' left, she had been tightly wound up for months, annoyed by many small things, and she realised she'd taken it out on Draco, the one person who had stood by her the most.

There had been few moments where Aurora had had to think about how kind or unkind she'd treated people; her main concern had always been the way they treated and thought of her. There weren't many people left whose opinions she truly cared about: Draco, Pansy, perhaps Daphne and Gwendolyn, and Neville Longbottom, though that was mainly because she felt guilty at how he always seemed to be scared of her. But whether Draco and Pansy had taken real issue with how she'd been acting, she decided that she was almost a teenager now and she ought to grow up and put the time behind her.

She was grateful when, three weeks into July, she convinced Andromeda to take her to Malfoy Manor to see Draco and Pansy. At first she hadn't though Andromeda would agree, given her frosty bordering on non-existent relationship with Narcissa, but she seemed to realise how badly Aurora wanted to visit her friends, and grudgingly agreed.

The meeting between the two sisters was cold and stilted. Aurora wanted to get out of there as fast as she could, and Andromeda left very quickly ; but Narcissa completely changed personality when she spoke to Aurora, beaming at her. "You've gotten so tall, Aurora. You both have, I could hardly believe it when Draco came home for the holidays. Pansy hasn't arrived yet, but Draco assures me he and his room are in a condition to receive guests."

She smiled warmly and Aurora took that as her cue to leave, grinning back at Narcissa. She knew her way around Malfoy Manor like it were her own home, and she liked the familiarity of the place that had formed so much of her childhood. Draco was her best and oldest friend, and he and his family, while unable to take her in as Andromeda had, had truly done a lot for her. It was with that in mind that she knocked politely on Draco's door, stepped back nervously, and shrieked lightly when she was confronted by Draco sweeping her into a hug.

"Merlin!" she cried, laughing. "What's gotten you so affectionate?"

"I haven't seen you in forever!" he complained. "I can't believe it, Mother wanted so desperately to have you come here to live with us, you wouldn't believe the argument she and Father had over it." He drew Aurora quickly inside his room. "What's her sister like, she never speaks about Andromeda?"

His voice was hushed but Aurora could tell he was reluctantly curious. "She isn't too bad. She's very nice, and her daughter's loud and rather inelegant, but she's quite funny too. I like them, to be honest." She smiled weakly. "I've missed you, though. It's so strange living with them!"

"Oh, I can't imagine! Mother says Andromeda married a Muggleborn."

"Ted is nice," Aurora said defensively. "They're just... Different. They've no interest in pureblood society and gossip, I feel like I've no idea of anything that's happened apart from what I found out from your and Pansy's letters."

Draco winced. "That sounds horrid. You're here now, though. That's what matters."

"How have your parents been?" Aurora asked him. "About your exams?"

He pulled a face. "Mother doesn't mind awfully, she says it's clear I've done the best I can and she's always proud of me, but Father isn't too pleased. I ought to have been top - or at least not lost to Granger in every class." His eyes flashed with frustration. "Even Potions! She beat me! It's ridiculous!"

Aurora nodded. She, too, had been upset at her placement in Potions: fifth. It wasn't a bad position, but she couldn't help feeling like she'd deserved better, considering how she'd observed the rest of her class. She didn't understand how she hadn't done the best when she had the best understanding and some of the best Potions. Granger was no better than her in class, and it was infuriating watching the teacher's pet win every time. "The teachers all just like her, that's the only reason she does so well." Well, the only reason she did better than Aurora, she thought. To deny that Granger was intelligent would simply be a lie, and she wouldn't have been surprised if she was the smartest in Gryffindor House - but not in the whole year group. It was initiating beyond belief. "Even Snape likes her better than he likes me!"

"I know, I've complained to Father about it, he's an old friend of Snape and I think it's shameful how you are treated in that class. He treats you like he treats Potter." Draco scoffed. "Now, there's a story for you."

"What?"

"Word is, he's been sent back home."

"And?" Aurora wasn't sure where this was going.

"To live with Muggles. Can you imagine - the boy who lived, staying with Muggles!" He sneered. "I'd run away."

"Well, I'd much rather he stayed there," Aurora said, pulling a face. "I'm still furious about the House Cup!"

"Again," Draco said. "Favouritism."

A second later the door flew open and Pansy came in, grinning. "There you are," she said to Aurora, a smile splitting her face. "Oh, I've missed you so much!"

Aurora giggled. "I've never seen you so cheerful."

"Oh, be quiet." She hugged Aurora tightly, once, and then Draco. "Now, sit, I want to hear all about this new family you've been made to stay with."

Aurora and Draco exchanged amused looks as Pansy bossed them onto the cluster of chairs in the corner of Draco's room. It felt rather like old times, sitting together in these familiar surroundings, gossiping about everyone and everything around them. Aurora had missed it. Even despite living with them all year, she had missed her friends. It was curious but it was true.

-*

Gwen's letters tended to be a lot less regular than Draco's or Pansy's, and her handwriting was worse than Aurora remembered it being during school time. She also didn't write with normal ink, for her letters curved and flowed differently, and Aurora didn't quite understand how. Around the end of the month when Pansy and Draco were both caught up in gala preparations, Gwen wrote to say that her mother would like to meet Aurora and the Tonkses - whom she referred to as 'normal wizards' even though Aurora wasn't sure they were - and would Aurora like to stay a couple of nights? She thought on it for ages. The idea of living in a Muggle house was a strange one - Aurora had been surrounded by magic her whole life and didn't think she knew how not to be. Even living with the Tonkses was weird enough.

Still. Andromeda wasn't so bad. Aurora even liked her, though she was about as different from Lucretia and Walburga as she could be. She didn't think they'd mind if she visited Gwen for a little while.

"Andromeda?" she asked, somewhat nervously, as the four of them sat in the lounge at night - Dora filling in coursework, Andromeda humming to the radio as she read the paper, Ted fiddling with some contraption for work, and Aurora reading up on constellations for her Astronomy homework. "I was wondering, I received a letter from one of my friends earlier today?"

"Yes?" Andromeda looked relieved that Aurora had mentioned a friend.

"My roommate, Gwendolyn. She invited me to stay with her for a couple of days at the start of August, I wondered if I might go?"

"What's her surname?"

"Er, Tearston. You won't know her family, they're - well, she doesn't know if she's muggleborn or not - but she was adopted by Muggles."

"Well, I suppose you can go if you'd like, provided we meet her parents first."

Aurora nodded eagerly, relieved that she'd get to see a familiar face soon. "Brilliant! I'll write back to her tonight!"

With something to look forward to and the promise of finally seeing someone she knew, Aurora's mood improved considerably. She flew through her summer homework, especially with the useful input from Dora, who seemed keen to help her out. Dora took out flying a couple of times too, around the nearby hills where the Muggles wouldn't see them. The old Cleansweep performed well, but Aurora still wanted a broom of her own, even if it would likely make no difference to whether or not she got on the Slytherin school team. She supposed she could afford it; more than afford it, really. Even so, she didn't see the point of buying something so expensive when she wouldn't get to properly show it off.

On the second of August, Andromeda Apparated Aurora and her overnight bag to the town of Bearbrooks just outside of Newcastle. "I do wish we had been able to connect to their Floo," Andromeda said with a frown. "But I suppose it can't be helped when it comes to Muggle households. We always had to Apparate Nymphadora to her grandparents, until she finally got her license. They found it greatly amusing, so she was quite happy."

Andromeda smiled at Aurora. "You said it was number thirty two?" She nodded. "I think it must be that way then. Let's see if we're in the right place."

Gwen's town was a very nice but very Muggle sort of place, where all of the houses looked the same - clean, large, white walled with well-flowered lawns - and dark, long wires hung over the street. A couple of boys kicked a worn black and white ball between them at the bottom of the road, and a cluster of women sat in a patio at the front of a house, chattering loudly with glasses of white wine. They looked at Aurora and Andromeda strangely as they passed - Andromeda was much better with Muggle fashion than Aurora, who until recently hadn't the faintest idea what 'jeans' were - laughed and went back to gossiping.

Aurora counted the metal numbers on the houses as they passed by. Twenty-six, twenty-eight, thirty. There was thirty two; red curtains hung in the window and there was a light from the middle of the room. Andromeda knocked crisply on the door, Aurora standing nervously behind her. It seemed to take ages for anyone to open the door, but then a tall, dark-haired woman appeared, smiling. "Oh, are you Aurora?"

She nodded. "That's me. This is Andromeda, my..."

"I'm looking after Aurora at the minute," Andromeda said, and the woman nodded.

"Yes, Gwendolyn told us about what happened last year." She smiled warmly at Aurora. "I'm Lucy, Gwen's mother. I think she's still arguing with Yasmine upstairs. Gwen!"

"Coming, Mum!" Gwen's voice rang out, and a second later she was running down the stairs, followed by a slightly older looking girl with brown skin and long black hair. She looked at Aurora curiously, as Gwen ran to the door. "Ugh, how are you?" she asked, all but launching herself at Aurora in a hug. She stumbled back, laughing.

"Gwendolyn," Lucy scolded. "Careful. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea, Andromeda?"

"That would be lovely," Andromeda said, following Lucy inside. Gwen looped her arm through Aurora's.

"Come on, I'll show my room. You're staying in with me, Yas is sharing with Jessica instead."

Aurora looked at Andromeda, who nodded permission for her to go on upstairs with Gwen. Yasmine who had come down with her earlier was scowling on the landing. "So this is your witchy friend?"

"Obviously," Gwen said, pulling a face. "Aurora, this is my sister Yasmine. She's thirteen and thinks it means she's in charge."

"Well, it does," Yasmine said. "Seeing as I'm the oldest." She rolled her eyes. "Jess is in her room if you want to say hello in a bit." Then she went downstairs, presumably to speak to Lucy and Andromeda.

"She's so annoying," Gwen said, pushing open the nearest door into her bedroom - painted a pale, cool blue, with little pale green stars dotting one of the walls. "Well, this is it anyway. Most of my school stuff's in the cupboard - my wand and everything I can actually use that I don't need for essays - because Mum took that note way too seriously."

"She should," Aurora said, placing her own wand on the windowsill. "It's illegal for us to use magic outside of Hogwarts while under seventeen unless in exceptional circumstances where our safety is threatened."

"Actually illegal?" Gwen groaned. "I was hoping you'd tell her it was wrong!"

"Sorry," Aurora laughed. "We'll be back in a month anyway."

"Oh, yeah, have you heard anything on the new Defense teacher? I thought you might've."

"Nothing," Aurora said grimly. "Still, can't be any worse than last year, can they?"

"I'd certainly hope not," Gwen said. "Mum freaked when I told her. She doesn't really get all of it - well, neither do I - but she said it didn't sound very safe. She seemed a bit on the fence about sending me back, except I said it'd do more harm than good for me not to learn. I think it's part of why she wanted to meet you and Andromeda. She wants to make sure everything's, you know. Safe."

Aurora hummed. "It is. But I suppose it is worrying. No one ever thought You-Know-Who could, you know, come back at all."

"Oh, don't say that," Gwen said with a shudder. "Just dump your bag there and we can unpack later, I want to make sure Mum doesn't embarrass me downstairs."

Lucy and Andromeda, much to Aurora's surprise, were getting on incredibly well, and laughing along with Yasmine when Aurora and Gwen went into the lounge. It was odd to see Andromeda in Muggle clothing in a Muggle house, and even weirder for Aurora to come to the realisation that she was also in Muggle clothing in a Muggle house. She wondered what her grandmother would have thought of that.

"There you are," Lucy said. "Gwen, I was just showing Andromeda your old primary school photos."

"You did what!" Gwen looked mortified. "Oh my God, Mum!"

Andromeda laughed. "My Nymphadora would have said the exact same. She's training to be an Auror now, and she says she has a reputation to uphold."

"Auror?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Yes. Oh, it's a - a - oh, what's the word?" She looked at Aurora expectantly, but she didn't know. The Muggles didn't have Aurors? Aurora looked at Gwendolyn, who shrugged.

"I don't know what an Auror is."

"Oh, It's... Magical Law Enforcement, but very highly trained."

"The police."

"Yes!" Andromeda clicked her fingers. "The police. Oh, I can never remember all those strange Muggle terms, Ted tries his best, bless him. My husband's from a Muggle family, the Tonkses from Suffolk, I don't know if you might know them."

Lucy frowned. "No, sorry, I don't know anyone from Suffolk."

"Ah." Andromeda smiled.

"Mum," a new voice whined, as footsteps came down the hall. "Daniel's-"

A little girl with blonde hair stared in the doorway, eyes wide. "Is it the witches?"

Aurora stared at her. "Jessie," Gwen said, "don't be rude. I'm a witch too."

"Yeah, but they're - witchy witches. You don't have the hats though."

"Um," Aurora said. "I do have a hat. I'm just not wearing it at the moment."

Jessie pouted. "What's Daniel doing, sweetie?"

"He kicked the ball over the fence again and now he's crying about it!"

"Tell him to go through next door, apologise, and get it back."

"I did!"

"Then you do it yourself!"

Jessie made a frustrated sound and stomped outside. Gwen laughed. "The two of them are so annoying. All they do is play football and fight. Very Gryffindor of them."

Aurora laughed, as did Andromeda. Lucy and Yasmine looked politely perplexed, listening intently as the three witches described together the house dynamics at Hogwarts. It was beginning to grow dark when Andromeda was satisfied enough to leave Aurora for the weekend, with the instruction to be ready for eleven on Sunday morning. Aurora waved after her and grinned when she turned to Gwen.

"This is going to be so fun," Gwen said, grinning. "I bet there's so many foods you haven't even eaten, and I'm going to show you every TV show. East Enders is on tonight."

"I don't think Aurora will really want to watch Eastenders, Gwen," Lucy said, laughing.

"What's Eastenders?"

Gwen grinned. "Wild."

Eastenders was indeed wild, not least because Aurora had no idea who any of the characters were. They spent Saturday playing football - well, Gwen and her siblings played, Aurora tried to understand the rules. Quidditch was much more civilised, she thought. Daniel, Gwen's Little brother, had tackled Jessie to the ground more than once, and both of them wound up absolutely covered in mud. "Does this happen often?" Aurora asked Gwen, who laughed.

"Unfortunately, yes. We tend to leave the two of them to it when they started fighting. I don't like getting a faceful of mud."

For dinner, Gwen's parents made pizza and ice cream, and Aurora was sure that even with the Tonkses she had never had such a wild, energetic and funny day. The siblings all spoke over each other, Gwen and Yasmine teasing Jessie relentlessly, then Jessie and Daniel teaming up to interrogate Aurora about being a 'witchy witch' and Gwen and Yasmine breaking into an argument about where Yasmine's red shoes had gone. Aurora thought not for the first time what it would have been like if she had grown up with brothers and sisters. Of course, that possibility was a million worlds away. The closest thing she'd had to a brother was Draco. But looking around now, she found herself feeling what she'd felt a couple of times at the Tonkses - a longing for a steady, stable family. One to rely on, a father to tease and a mother to bicker with and siblings to squabble over clothes.

It was a silly thought.

Come Sunday morning, she was sad to leave, but went with the promise that she and Gwen would see each other again soon. "We'll have to meet you when we collect Gwendolyn's school supplies," Lucy said anxiously to Andromeda. "For none of us could find the pub last time, and we only got about because that Professor McGonagall was with us."

"Oh, well, we do have a telephone in the house," Andromeda said. "I'm not much good with it, but Ted and Nymphadora can operate it alright. Give us a phone when the letters come, that way you know everything to get and can buy it all at once."

Gwen whispered, "Do you know your way around the alley? McGonagall kept us to a very strict tour, but I wanted to get a better look at everything."

"Don't worry," Aurora whispered, "I've been there loads of times. Mr Fortescue does excellent ice cream."

Gwen beamed at her.