Interstellar Communication

Disclaimer: Except for OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling.

A famous witch and wizard stood on Andromeda's doorstep about a week after the war ended. They rang the bell and waited, sure of their entry. When a classmate of theirs opened the door, they made faces.

"You're the last person I expected to see here," said Hermione.

"This is my aunt's house, Granger. It's been in my mother's family since it was built. I don't see the point of your being here." Hermione drew back to her full height. Why should Malfoy act like this when his mother had been so supportive?

"I wanted to find out how Professor Snape was doing, since I helped him during the battle."

"Oh, I guess I see why you came to Aunt Andie's house. But no, I meant I don't see the point of you existing."

"Careful," growled Harry. "Without her we might still have to deal with Voldemort."

Draco drew back at the sound of the name. "Yeah, whatever. I guess you came to visit the half-breed pup?" He was talking to Harry, now.

Harry's back stiffened, and he checked for his wand. "Is Andromeda here?"

The witch in question had overheard enough of the conversation to come to the door. She felt busy enough without the addition of a teenage spat in her front hallway. "Ah, Harry, if you'll go into the sitting room here, you'll find Birdie with Teddy. Draco, I could use your help in Severus's room."

"Mrs. Tonks?"

Andromeda turned to look at the younger witch. Hermione was a bit put off by her resemblance to the witch who had recently tortured her, but this one just looked a bit hurried, not unkind. "Hermione, is it? What would you like, dear?"

"I just wanted to know how Professor Snape is doing."

"He's still quite ill, but we have every confidence of his full recovery."

She was confused. "Why is he still sick? Mr. Weasley was fine after a dose or two of the antivenin potion."

Andromeda shook her head. "The snake, Nagini, was much stronger toward the end. The Dark Lord fed her witches and wizards he had killed, and she absorbed their magic. Therefore the potion that was used on Arthur is working more slowly on Severus. Professor Slughorn is working with some other Potions masters to develop a better one. Severus is improving, but it will take some time."

"May I see him?"

Andromeda gestured her permission, and Hermione followed the witch and her nephew down the hall. As they got to the door, Hermione heard a rasping voice calling, "Anna, Anna..."

Hermione stood in the door and watched as the older woman hurried to the bed and took his hand with one of hers and patted his head with her other. "I'm here, Severus."

"I thought I'd dreamed you."

"No, I'm here to take care of you, and Draco is here, too."

"You were gone."

"I had something to take care of, but now I'm back."

"It hurts to move."

"I know. I have a potion for that, but you need to wait another hour before you take it."

"Will you stay here until then?" His hands clutched at hers.

"Of course."

Hermione was assailed by a great many thoughts at once. Professor Snape was looking a great deal better than he did on the floor of the Shrieking Shack. His color was better and he wasn't at death's door. He was so weak though, and his dependence upon Mrs. Tonks was so un-Snapeish, that she recoiled at it.

On the other hand, Mrs. Tonks was a wonder. She seemed to have a way to soothe his aches just by touching his forehead and softly speaking to him. Hermione watched as the older witch coaxed some soup into her patient without him seeming to be much aware of it. The younger witch slipped away, thinking to herself that if she were ever sick or injured, she wanted Andromeda Tonks to take care of her.

Severus was in and out of consciousness for days. Poppy stopped by and made pleased noises, and his hostess-turned-nurse seemed to be by his side whenever he wanted her. When she wasn't there, Draco was. He couldn't remember a time when he felt so safe and cared for. Slowly, his moments of coherence grew as did the number of words he could say at a time.

She was as much an angel as his first impression of her. Her hands were gentle even when she caused him pain. She cared for his wounds, fed him, washed him and dressed him. When he was irritable because he was tired of sleeping, she quietly hummed or whispered lullabies recognized from his childhood, and he drifted off. As he recovered, he enjoyed watching her face come into focus. Her own grief was plain to see, but still she was kind to him. He found himself staring at her, wondering how he could ever have thought she looked so much like Bellatrix or that she was a homelier version of Narcissa. The better he could see Andromeda, the more it seemed to him that Narcissa was a washed-out version of her older sister.

He didn't like being tucked up in a bed and having all of his needs cared for. One morning he tried to get out of bed and only succeeded in knocking the blankets and the glass on the nightstand onto the floor again.

"Severus?" She came to look in on him.

"I should be up and about," he muttered.

Her hands were soft as she tucked him back into bed. He felt a little achy and willingly submitted. "Poppy says we need to wait until you're truly ready."

"How will we know when that's happened? How do you know I'm not well, yet?"

"She did say that it would be after you started agitating to get up."

"So, then, get my robe and help me."

"You're still weak as a Pygmy Puff. You haven't even had a proper dinner yet. Poppy said that the poison is probably still lingering in your system at this point. There's no rush, Severus, truly. You have nothing to do but relax and heal."

He held her hand close to his face. "I don't like being this way."

"It will only be worse if you get up too soon."

He frowned and lay back. "Then for the love of anything good, if I have to stay in this bed, find some way for me to entertain myself!"

She tugged on her hand and finally freed it. "I'll see what can be done."

"See that you do."

Draco came after lunch and set up the Wizard's chess set. "Aunt Andie says it's been in the family for four generations."

Finally some mental stimulation. The wizards selected their sides and played for several minutes. "What do you think of your aunt?"

The young wizard shrugged. "I don't know. I'd never met her before."

"You've heard about her all your life."

"Mother always said that she turned her back on the family when it needed her the most."

"That's the sort of thing Narcissa would worry about."

"When I brought it up, Aunt Andie said that the family had already turned its back on her by handing her over to Uncle Rodolphus's brother."

"I've never heard about that."

"Grandfather signed a contract on her and promised her to him without even asking her. So she ran away and ended up married to the Mudblood."

"I stayed in this house once before. She and Ted Tonks seemed very much in love."

"She told me that she was lucky because they came to know love afterwards."

"There you have it, then."

"So did she desert the family or did they desert her?"

"It sounds as though it depends on who tells the story."

Draco fingered a pawn. "Aunt Bella used to say that Aunt Andie was a blood traitor whore who betrayed the family."

"What exactly did your Aunt Bella do for your family, again?"

Draco couldn't answer that question.

The next day Andromeda came into the bedroom with a stack of newspapers. "Poppy says your eyes are strong enough to read, now. I've been..." She drifted off but then handed them to him. "I would have read these to you, but they're about the battle, and there's discussion of the casualties."

He took them from her, noticing that she gazed upon the top one. It showed a picture of her husband. "How did it happen?" he asked.

She let go of the paper and sat down. "Kingsley Shacklebolt...I should call him the Minister, but on that day he was just a tired, muddy man...came and told me. They had been caught by Snatchers, and Ted knew it was all up with him, so he sent me his Patronus." Here her voice cracked. "He sent me his Patronus and put himself between the Snatchers and the others. A Goblin was killed, but the others got away, including Kingsley himself. They came to tell me a couple of days later, and I honestly don't know anything else from that day."

"I'm...I'm sorry."

She looked thoughtful. "I've never considered it until this minute, but I hope someone gave Kingsley a bed and something to eat..."

"Having known the hospitality of this house, Andromeda, I'm sure the right things were done."

They spent several days going over the stories in the paper together. He was saddened to see the list of students who were killed. "Those poor kids. They followed Potter to the very end."

They discussed people with whom Andromeda had grown up and Severus had known as Death Eaters. There was some sadness in realizing how many lives were wasted. Andromeda remembered boys and girls who were still sweet and innocent. Severus had known them as hopeful young wizards and witches who were looking forward to their adult lives.

The most distressing stories, from Severus's standpoint, were those about himself. He read of his activities during both parts of the war and his teaching record in between. The description of his friendship with Lily Potter angered him. "They make her sound too good for me and at the same time like some sort of seductress," he growled. "They don't know her...no one is alive that knew her as I did."

Still, there was some good that came from reading the stories and learning to accept that it all had happened. They knew, from reading the papers, that they were not alone in suffering. Seeing it all in print made it seem more real and more complete.

When Draco came to play chess with him, Severus said, "Your aunt brought me the newspapers. I'm sorry to hear about your father."

"It's what you get for being a Death Eater, I guess: Time in Azkaban." was the reply. "I guess I'm lucky to have gotten off and only sent away to an aunt."

"What about the others?"

The boy shrugged. "Aunt Andie wouldn't go to Aunt Bella's funeral, and Mother said she wouldn't speak to her because of it. Of course she has already. Mother can't seen to resist trying to run things over here. Uncle Rodolphus was also killed in the battle, so he was buried with Aunt Bella. His brother is missing and presumed dead."

"You sound very much like the newspaper report. Is there no further word on them than that?"

"No, no one cares. Mother doesn't really care, either. She took care of Aunt Bella and her husband because they were family. Mostly now she's trying to get Father out of Azkaban."

"And trying to run things here?"

"Mother manages to get a lot of things the way she wants them, but when Aunt Andie puts her foot down, it's down."

"What did Narcissa want that Andromeda wouldn't do?"

"Well, there was the time Mother wanted Aunt Andie to come to the funeral, but she said, 'I mourned the loss of my older sister decades ago. I'm not going to do it again.' Mother was pretty upset about that. She told Aunt Andie that she had no family feeling. She answered that what little she had left was going to be used for her son and grandson.

"Then Mother wanted to send over some house-elves. She said they would help, but Aunt Andie knew Mother just wanted them to spy for her. She told mother that she was out of the habit of being a pampered baby and that any house-elf Mother sent over would get clothes. Mother fussed a lot and asked what about Birdie, but Aunt Andie said that was entirely different. She mentioned Aunt Walburga and an elf named Bennie, but they were both talking so loudly at the same time that I lost track. Somehow Aunt Andie said something about Uncle Alphard, and Mother suddenly stopped talking. She said, 'I don't agree, but we'll do it your way.' Then she left."

"I wish I could have seen that."

Draco shook his head. "It was awful. Aunt Andie looked really tall and fierce when Mother was here, but after the fire died down in the Floo, she flopped down in a chair and started crying. It wasn't the pretty crying Mother does when she wants Father to buy something, either. Aunt Andie scared me. It was like how I felt when the Dark Lord threatened to kill Mother. I wanted to leave the room, but I was afraid that if I did, she'd notice. When she stopped, she looked up and saw me and then she said, 'I'm sorry Draco. When I see your mother, sometimes I remember things from years ago and I still feel the hurt and the rage.' I mumbled something and left."

"What have you heard from your House-mates?"

Draco was in the process of capturing a knight. He held it tightly for a bit and then said, "You heard about Vince, didn't you?"

Severus nodded his head. "Yes. I warned the Carrows about their curriculum, but they claimed the Dark Lord wanted it taught."

"He never quite had that spell, but he loved to play with it. I don't think his mother will ever be the same. Greg is pretty lost these days without him. I try to do things at the Goyles', but I'm supposed to spend most of my time here. Out of Slytherin House, a few of the kids were injured, but McGonagall told the younger kids to leave the castle. Pansy made sure they were kept safe at Honeydukes. There was one underclassman who saw her parents on High Street and ran out. She was killed by a passing giant who wasn't watching where he was going."

Snape winced. He'd read of the child's death in the paper, but there hadn't been details. He would need to write the parents a letter. He looked again at the boy in front of him. "Will you go back to finish your education?"

Draco shook his head. "Right now I never want to leave here. I didn't think I would like it, but it's quiet and peaceful. Aunt Andie knows when to let a guy alone. I can think here, and if I don't want to think, there's plenty of work to do."

"You'll want to leave sooner or later. You'll get past this."

Draco sighed. "I suppose I will. There will be special N.E.W.T.s during the month before the regular N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s. I suppose I'll study and get ready for them."

"When you're ready to start studying, why don't you bring your books here and I'll tutor you." When the boy looked up in horror, he added. "I can at least tell you what to study, if you don't appreciate my help."

As Draco sighed, his professor moved a bishop and won the game.

A/N: Thank you for the warm response to Chapter 1! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. This has been beta read by Trickie Woo.