Draco and Astra's father order them into the living room, claiming he had something very important to discuss. Draco and Astra sat on the couch, huddled close together, beside each other, holding hands. Starbeam sat in Astra's lap.
Before his father could speak, Draco spoke. "What did Mummy want to speak to us about?" he asked.
"We had received an anonymous letter, claiming that you were copying Astra's homework. Your mother had gone to tell you two that you will learn nothing and then fail your exams if you keep on doing that. For some reason she decided to leave early so she could buy you two some sweets from honeydukes before hand, an idiotic idea that got her stepped on by a troll."
Draco didn't think his mother was in any way responsible for her own death. There was no way that she could have predicted that a troll would be wandering through Hogsmead.
"Anyway, there's a spell I can do on Astra that will make it so that it's not as big a problem that she's no longer a pureblood, and then maybe I'll be able to love her again. I just need you to get a little farther away from her so I can do it."
Draco was suspicious. "How does it work?"
Draco, Astra, and Starbeam went into Draco's bedroom, and Draco locked the door. They stayed there for the rest of the day, and allowed Dobby to come in a few times with trays of food.
Eventually, they heard a knock on the door. "Can I come in," Professor Snape asked.
"What are you doing here?" Draco asked.
"Your father owled me and asked me to come over. I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said.
"What?" he asked.
"May I come in?"
Draco got up, went and unlocked the door, and then went and sat back on the bed with Astra.
They looked at Professor Snape, who walked in and stood in front of them. For some reason, he was limping.
"Your father has just killed himself."
When introduced to two complete strangers, who claimed to be their aunt and uncle, Draco stood protectively in front of Astra and Starbeam. He was certainly not pleased they ended up being left with them, although the adults might have had a point about them being too traumatized to go back to school already.
Astra and Draco were giving school stuff to do at home. Draco did his own schoolwork now. Sometimes he would ask Astra a question, like how to spell a big word, and Astra would write it down on another sheet of paper.
One day, Mrs. Tonks approached Draco. "Draco, you can ask me or my husband, if you have a question. You don't have to ask your sister all the time."
Draco glared at her.
Astra and Draco climbed into bed, at night. Starbeam just jumped onto the bed.
Astra held Starbeam in her lap, and snuggled up close to Draco. Astra and Draco didn't used to sleep in the same bed, but they had been since their mother died. Mr. and Mrs. Tonks had said that they were going to allow it, for now.
Astra struggled for words, as she had been doing every night for awhile. She didn't expect anything to come out, but something did this time. "Draco," she said.
Draco looked at her, in shock. He then smiled, big. This was the first time Astra had spoken since their mother died, three weeks ago.
Astra tried to get something else out, but nothing would come.
Draco waited for several seconds, and then hugged her. "I love you," he said.
The next morning, Astra tried to speak again. "Good morning," she said.
Minutes later, they walked out of the room and went and met Mr. and Mrs. Tonks.
Draco had a big grin on his face.
"What are you so happy about?" Mr. Tonks asked.
"Astra spoke to me last night, and again this morning," Draco said.
Mr. and Mrs. Tonks both smiled, but Astra hid behind Draco.
Draco glanced behind him, and then looked at Mr. and Mrs. Tonks, with his nose turned up. "She's probably not going to talk to you guys though."
Over a week later, Astra woke up and didn't feel good. When she went to the bathroom and she saw the blood, she realized why, and she really wanted her Mother. Starbeam rubbed against her, but she still started to sob.
"Astar, what's wrong?" Draco asked, from the other side of the door.
Astra couldn't answer. Starbeam hopped into her lap, and Astra held her but she still couldn't stop crying.
Draco opened the door, which Astra hadn't bothered to lock. Normally Draco's presence made her feel safer, but today it just made her feel even more upset, and made her sobs get even more hysterical.
Mrs. Tonks rushed into the room. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"I don't know," Draco said. "She just started sobbing."
"Why are you even in the bathroom with your sister?"
"Because she got upset."
She grabbed Draco, led him out, while he protested, closed the door and locked it, and then turned back to Astra.
Astra unclenched her fist, revealing the wade of bloody toilet paper that she had been hiding from Draco.
"Do you understand what's going on right now?" Mrs. Tonks asked.
Astra nodded, and looked over to the door. She was worried. She could hear Draco freaking out, on the other side, and Mr. Tonks telling him that Andromeda would take care of it.
Mrs. Tonks walked over to the door. "It's just girl problems. It's not a big deal."
She crouched down, in front of Astra. "I'm sorry you can't have your Mummy, but I'm here and I'm not so bad."
Minutes later, Mrs. Tonks was crouched down beside Astra, and had shown her what to do.
Astra picked her cat back up. "Thank you for helping me," she said, sadly. Astra had spoken quite a bit, over the past several days, when alone with Draco and Starbeam. This was the first time she ever spoken to her aunt.
"You're welcome."
"Am I the reason my father killed himself?" Astra suddenly blurted out. She had been worried about that for a while, but she had been afraid to bring it up with Draco. Draco worried about her a lot. Mrs. Tonks probably did too, but she was an adult.
Mrs. Tonks gasped. "Why do you think that?"
"He got mad when Draco protectively stood in front of me, and then complained about how me, Draco, and Mummy all stopped liking him a long time ago. The reason why we didn't like him anymore was because he stopped loving me after I got bit."
"Astra," she said, sternly, "it was your father's job to love you no matter what, and he didn't do that. His family no longer liking him was something he brought on himself. Do you understand?"
Astra nodded.
Mrs. Tonks paused. "Why was your brother protectively standing in front of you?"
"Because he loves me, and I had started to cry after our father said he was going to do a spell on me that would make it so that when I grew up I wouldn't be able to have children."
Mrs. Tonks gasped. "But, why?"
"Because, Aunt Meda, I'm not a pure-blood anymore."
There was a moment of silence, and then Mrs. Tonks spoke. "Sweetie, blood status doesn't really matter. It's interesting that your father wanted to do that immediately after your mother died. I suspect that she wouldn't allow it."
"Draco asked if that had been the case. Our father wouldn't answer."
"That probably means that that was the case."
"I don't care what father wants, but I do care what Mummy wants."
"I can see why." She paused. "Would you like a hug?"
Astra nodded.
Ted held his wand out.
"Expelliarmus," Astra cried. Nothing happened.
Draco, who excelled at wandwork and had already done this spell successfully, gently grabbed Astra's hand and corrected her wand movement.
Seconds later, she did it.
Afterwards, Mrs. Tonks withdrew a memory of witnessing their wandwork, put it in a vial, and labeled it. She sent it, along with some vials of potions they'd brewed earlier that day, and some paper's they'd worked on.
Mr. and Mrs. Tonks sat Astra and Draco down.
"We think you two should try sleeping in separate rooms," Mrs. Tonks said.
"Why?" Draco asked, clearly annoyed.
"Because you two can never go back to Hogwarts unless you break that habit," Mr. Tonks said.
They were able to do it, and it wasn't too bad, but they did prefer being in the same room.