Twenty - Five
Andromeda: Rainy Day Visitors
Her precious grandson was growing right before her eyes. Every morning was a new discovery, a new way in which he reminded her of Dora’s infancy or an expression in his dark eyes that was pure Remus. The bittersweet memories threatened to engulf her, but Andromeda gave Teddy a watery smile nonetheless. She was rewarded when soon Teddy learned to smile back.
It didn’t take her long to decipher the meanings of his changes in hair color. He was much less indecisive than baby Dora who’d made such abrupt changes that her hair seemed to sport multi-colored stripes. True to his accepting nature, Teddy mostly stayed with his trademark turquoise hue. His mood changes each had their corresponding shade, Andromeda quickly learned. Lime green if he was peckish and needed a bottle. A deeper green if he was still hungry and needed something more to satisfy his tummy. Pink meant that his nappy needed changing and if he was frustrated, his downy mop assumed a bright geranium red. Only when he slept did his locks revert to the light brown so reminiscent of her son-in-law.
Andromeda regaled Harry with all the details when she owled him in Greece, never failing to end with an invitation to come stay with them for as long as he liked. When he wrote to say he’d been offered a post with the Auror Office, she relayed one of Dora’s favorite expressions: London flats don’t charge rent, they charge ransom. Then she’d tactfully mentioned that she had two extra bedrooms that would serve him well.
She understood he probably preferred to seek out a place of his own where Ginny could come and go as she pleased. Andromeda wouldn’t have made a fuss about that; after all, they were both of age. But her friendship with Molly would likely make everyone feel awkward. Too bad, really, as Teddy had taken an instant liking to Ginny from the start.
The dreary rain splashed again the windowsill, tracing imaginary rivers and roadways in a translucent map. That had been one of Dora’s games as a child, something to redirect her exasperation at being kept indoors.
“Yo, Mum, it’s not like my hair will run in the rain!” she’d complained when she was old enough to play outside on her own.
“Watch your manners, young lady,” Andromeda scolded lightly. “Just because your dad allows you to watch the telly, don’t think that privilege can’t be curtailed.”
“Ah, Mum, you wouldn’t,” Dora implored.
“Don’t let me catch you speaking like a Hollywood gangster, then.”
Other days, Dora had pleaded with her mother to allow her to create tsunamis with her bicycle tires. “I promise I won’t splash any of the neighbors.”
She’d returned drenched to the skin when a trio of motorcyclists had been less chivalrous. Undaunted, she’d stood stoically dripping on the front stoop as she demanded when she’d be old enough to borrow her cousin Sirius’ flying motorbike.
“Never, if I have my way. Ride a broom like a proper young witch.”
“Muggle neighborhood,” Dora grumbled.
“Dad will Disillusion you in the backyard after supper if you ask nicely.”
Surely Dora had been almost old enough to go to Hogwarts then, but that meant all hope of Sirius being released had faded….
Andromeda sighed wearily as the disjointed images of the past threatened to overwhelm her. There was Ted on their first date, calmly waiting for her on the park bench. He’d said that her beauty outshone the spring daffodils lining the timbered paths.
She’d given his a coquettish pout. “Yellow makes me look sickly. Are those the flowery sorts of things you say to your Hufflepuff girls?”
He’d chuckled at her dismal pun before assuring her that he wasn’t seeing anyone else. “What about you?” he issued breathlessly.
That caught her short. What was she to say? That she detested the galas where her mother dragged her at the weekend? Or the stultifying house parties that stretched tedium to its limits for days on end?
“You know how traditional my parents are,” she hedged. “They introduce me to all sorts of thoroughly abominable men whose families they admire.”
“Not their bank account balances?” Ted shot back with a saucy grin.
“How would I know? I tune it out as much as possible.”
“What about your sisters? I know how close the three of you are.”
“I once thought so, but destiny seems to be pulling us in different directions.”
“That makes you sad, I can tell.”
Leave it to Ted to be so intuitive. “A part of me doesn’t want to leave the security of Hogwarts. September the first has been a red-letter day for so long that it’s going to seem strange waving Narcissa off while the train leaves me behind.”
“Come with me on a different train then,” he suggested out of the blue. “To the seashore with a hamper full of sandwiches. We can stroll along the boardwalk at sunset. Dance to the octogenarian band at the pier while the stars twinkle through the skylight.”
It was not as scandalous a getaway as one would suppose, Andromeda reminded herself. Ted’s grandmother maintained a seaside cottage in Blackpool. His family had been summering there since he was in knee britches.
She shook her head dejectedly. “My parents would never understand.”
“How is it different from your other house parties?”
“It isn’t,” she insisted tenderly. “But they won’t see it that way.”
“Then where do they think you are now?”
“Shopping with some girlfriends from school.”
“Won’t they wonder why you return empty-handed?”
“Who says I will?” she teased. “Didn’t you say there were rows and rows of stalls set up along the main thoroughfares?”
“Not in this part of the city.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Yuletide?”
“They’d be scandalized if they knew you were buying from itinerant Muggles. Gypsies even.”
“So much the better. I convinced the Gringotts’ money-changers to give me some pound notes. I want to be as rash as Bella today.”
“Really?” Ted waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Andromeda blushed at the insinuation. “Those are only rumors. Bella just likes to flaunt and flirt.”
“Who cares about her?” he’d whispered seductively in her ear. “Just as long as I don’t have to duel one of your other admirers.”
“Hardly!” she huffed. “Besides, think what I’d be doing to thin out self-absorbed bluebloods who think the world owes them everything.”
“Merlin knows what you think of me!” he’d laughed as he wound her arm through his.
“That you’re nothing like them,” she replied without having to think.
“Am I just a forbidden toy, something to toss about and then leave discarded in the gutter?” His tone was playful but his eyes burned with intensity.
“You didn’t tell me that you’d been out with Bella!” she flirted in return. “I’m scandalized. Will you seek to date Cissy next so you’ll have a whole set?”
Ted clutched his heart in mock distress. “Only if you ditch me.”
“Don’t make me re --” He’d kissed her then, pushing all rational thought from her mind for the time being.
Of course it had been years later when she’d finally confessed to her husband that Bella had known all along. But the secret was safe since Andromeda knew that Bella’s afternoon jaunts usually culminated in someone’s bedroom. Lots of someones. Who hopefully would never find out about one another. Who were all the sorts their mother would revile, including Muggles. If Bella wanted to think Andie was stringing gullible Ted Tonks in the same fashion, what did it matter? Just as long as she kept her mouth shut...
Like her father, Dora could conjure happiness of out thin air. Now that was a kind of magic they failed to teach at school. How could Andromeda ever forget when her daughter had tumbled out of the Floo with a rumbled and worn Sirius in tow? Right here in this very room.
“Quick draw the blinds,” Dora breathed as she struggled to regain her balance.
Three quick slashes of Andromeda’s wand and the surroundings were a cool grey.
“Don’t light any lamps, our eyes will grow accustomed in a few moments,” Dora whispered.
“Thank Merlin it’s not one of those glum, rainy days or I’d be trading the inside of one tomb for another,” Sirius rasped.
It was his voice more than anything that convinced Andromeda of his identity. “Sirius, you old dog!” she cried with delight. The man whom she hugged tightly was much bonier than she remembered; but his wavy, dark hair was just as silky as ever against her cheek. “Aren’t you a wanted criminal, though? Your likeness is everywhere!”
“Notoriety is such a burden,” he’d crooned. “They were too quick to tie everything up with lies. The guilty rat scampered off scot-free.”
“Literally,” Dora emphasized each syllable.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Andromeda stammered.
Wherein Sirius narrated a truncated tale of assumptions and deliberate misdirection that made her brain ache. Truth be told, she’d had to ask quite a few follow-up questions before she truly understood how her rakish cousin had been victimized.
Sirius apologized for not having come sooner, but it took a bit of juggling to carve out some visiting hours from his guarded existence. “My roommate’s a stickler for rules now that he’s become an adult. The self-anointed Prefect of number twelve,” he chuckled affectionately.
“Sirius is supposed to stay inside,” Dora stressed. “For his own good. With Pettigrew on the loose, there’s no one to clear his name.”
“What’s the difference? Peter wouldn’t’ve admitted to the truth,” Sirius cried. “A man willing to hide in a rat pelt for over a decade is determined to avoid looking at his true face in the mirror, wouldn’t you say?”
Andromeda’s curiosity got the better of her. “If you’re under house arrest, how did you manage to Floo here? Not that you aren’t welcome to come back anytime, mind you.”
“Thanks, old hat.” Sirius smiled in reply. “I just took Moony at his word: don’t go outside. Poor choice of words really. If he’d said don’t leave the house, or don’t leave the premises…”
“Why the word games? Did this Moony have you make an Unbreakable Vow?”
“Nothing like that,” Sirius admitted sheepishly. “I just hate having to lie to his face. Makes me feel like an ingrate.”
She just couldn’t get over how hollow his cheekbones were, how his eyes shone a little too brightly in his effort to present an affable exterior. This from a man who had exuded charm like an exotic perfume in his youth. Then at other times he would sound exactly like the man she remembered -- tarnished a bit around the edges, but time takes its toll on everyone.
So Andromeda did the only thing that came to mind: she fed them. Despite her custom of just tossing together a salad for lunch, she made them hearty sandwiches, slicing the bread thickly by hand instead of using her wand. As an afterthought, she added ripe tomatoes from her garden to harmonize with the rare roast beef. Dora barely managed to eat half but Sirius devoured two and then unapologetically asked if he could help Dora finish hers.
“Not so fast, darling daughter,” Andromeda admonished in a tone that made Dora freeze with her hand approaching the biscuit tin. “It’s the middle of the week. How do you figure skiving off work?”
Tonks shrugged. “Finished my assignment early today.”
“Then why aren’t you trying to round up those delinquents intent on blowing up hapless Muggles?” Andromeda pressed. “It’s all over the Prophet.”
“Juvenile pranks,” Sirius scoffed. “I’d suspect the Weasley twins if they weren’t away at school.”
“Those are cases for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Mum,” Dora clarified. “Would you like me to share your concerns with Arthur Weasley?”
“I wouldn’t want him to think I was criticizing his work ethic,” Andromeda demurred.
“Not Arthur,” Dora insisted. “He’d be thrilled that you were taking an interest. Likely, he’d owl you a weekly report, if you asked.”
Taken aback, Andromeda posed, “Aren’t some of these cases classified?”
“Not the ones that are purposely leaked to the Prophet,” Sirius rebutted.
“Such a cynical attitude I’d expect from Sirius,” Andromeda argued. “But Dora, I thought you at least took things more seriously. There’s an unmistakable dark undertone afoot. Why your father --”
“Says it felt this same way before,” Sirius finished gravely. “Random acts of violence that seemed almost accidental. People shrugging it off as inconsequential, just irrational fears. Until one day you wake up and everyone is afraid to look each other in the eye. Everyday actions seem suspicious; friends wonder who they can really trust.”
At the haunted look on Sirius’ face, Andromeda admitted, “You were much too young to remember, Dora. But that’s just the way things were in the year leading up to Sirius’ false arrest.”
Dora rolled her eyes dramatically. “I assure you, I take things quite seriously, Mum. But I’m at the mercy of my superior’s whims.”
“Then what’s your assignment for today?” Andromeda demanded.
“To round up the dangerous escapee, Sirius Black.”
Andromeda gasped in shock. “You wouldn’t dare! He’s innocent; you just said so yourself!”
“Chill, Mum. I’m not giving anyone up. But I have to go through the motions to throw them off the trail.”
“Technically, speaking, Tonks here is following orders “ to the letter,” Sirius smirked.
“Won’t you have to file a report?” Andromeda insisted.
“Sure. I went to Hampstead as directed. Interviewed a couple who saw some suspicious vagrants lurking about the Heath. Didn’t take long as they didn’t have any worthwhile clues. I’ll spice it up with some details and then the trail will fizzle out.”
“You make it sound like standard procedure,” Andromeda observed dryly.
“It is,” Sirius chuckled. “Kingsley Shacklebolt’s in charge of the operation; that way he can string it out as long as possible without success.”
“He’s part of the scam, you’re saying.”
Sirius chose his words carefully, “Let’s just say Dumbledore’s taken him into his confidence.”
“So in order to muddy the waters as much as possible, Kingsley has us following all sorts of diverse leads,” Dora giggled. “Prevailing wisdom is that sooner or later something will pan out.”
“But it’s a waste of resources,” Andromeda protested.
“How can you say that?” Sirius cried in mock horror. “Their ineptitude is keeping me alive.”
“They’re not inept,” Dora corrected. “Just misdirected. But Cornelius Fudge himself insisted that locating the deranged convict Sirius Black should be our number one priority. So the manhunt continues.”
Sirius issued a sharp laugh. “Dog hunt, even. Someone reported seeing Snuffles when I escorted Harry to the train station on the first of September.”
“That was Lucius Malfoy!” Dora exclaimed. “The last person you should’ve allowed to see you, even in Animagus form. Dumbledore was right to ream you out over that.”
“And I assure you, I felt like a chew toy when he got done with me,” Sirius winced. “What I want to know is how Malfoy knew it was me? Even Dumbledore didn’t know about my Animagus abilities until recently.”
“What about Severus Snape?” Andromeda threw out. “He’s good friends with the Malfoys.”
“Snape’s supposed to be on our side,” Dora protested. “Dumbledore vouches for him.”
“Andie’s got a point,” Sirius mused. “Only if it were up to me, I’d wager it was most likely Pettigrew who spilled the beans. He’s in the thick of it these days. Collared to…You-Know-Who... like never before.”
“Then you believe Harry Potter’s story?” Andromeda whispered.
“He’s my godson,” Sirius maintained. “Besides, I have no reason to doubt him. What kind of an agenda would a lad of fifteen have?”
“A pathological need for attention, good or bad.”
Andromeda’s sarcasm was not lost on Sirius who volleyed back, “Count on the Daily Prophet to recognize its own marketing strategy.”
Dora added her own observation, “Only Harry hates the limelight more than anything. Why would he purposely throw himself into the maelstrom if he wasn’t telling the truth?”
With a start, Andromeda found that between the impromptu sandwiches and intense conversation, most of the afternoon had flown by. “Can I offer you some tea cakes? I’ll just put the kettle on.”
Sirius’ eyes darted nervously to the kitchen clock.
“We’d best get back then,” Dora urged. “Floos can be warded with a password, you know. No need to give him any ideas.”
“Why don’t you take some of the roast beef home with you?” Andromeda urged. “Ted tends to go overboard at the delicatessen and then the two of us are stuck having the same thing for lunch all week.”
She could tell Sirius was tempted, but too polite to say so.
“What about Dad’s lunch?” Tonks wondered.
“He’ll just go for fish and chips with the lads,” Andromeda supplied. “You know how he craves greasy food now that the Healer says he should avoid it. A few days won’t kill him.”
Sirius bit his lip in hesitation. “As much as I’m tempted “ and I don’t have to tell you how much Remus craves rare meat “ it would just give us away.”
Andromeda suspected that it wasn’t in their budget, but that just made her more determined. “Not to worry, I keep some plain butcher paper to wrap Ted’s sandwiches. No one will suspect Dora didn’t buy it en route from the Ministry.”
With a kiss and a grateful hug, they were off. The emerald flames left Andromeda pondering what animal could have earned Sirius’ school chum, Remus, the nickname of ‘Moony’. Not some adolescent prank, surely; Remus just didn’t seem the type for public nudity. That was more in keeping with Sirius’ unbridled style, especially after smuggling in the Firewhiskey he’d once told her about.
Sirius continued to make infrequent visits, always in the afternoons and always with Dora to accompany him. “It’s not so easy to coordinate when Moony’s often puttering about as well,” he explained.
“What exactly does Remus do for a living?” Andromeda posed.
It hadn’t seemed like an intrusive question, yet Dora looked away uncomfortably.
“A little bit of everything,” Sirius improvised. “Dumbledore sends him on errands as needed, but there’s no set schedule.”
Andromeda nodded knowingly. “In other words, he works directly for your secret resistance organization.”
Sirius cleared his throat nervously. “Secret being the operative word.”
“I didn’t exactly give her any details,” Dora defended. “But she’s my mum!”
“Did you tell your father, too?” Sirius bristled. “Try justifying that to Dumbledore.”
Dora’s eyes flashed as she countered, “Wouldn’t you have told your mother?”
“No,” Sirius pronounced grimly. “She would’ve turned me over to the authorities, no question about it.”
Andromeda could not hide her shock. “Even if you were innocent?”
“She would’ve never believed it,” Sirius insisted. “Just which faction do you think the rest of the Black family has supported all along?”
As the holidays approached she saw less and less of Sirius, although Dora kept her abreast of the goings on at Grimmauld Place. Arthur’s attack came as a shock, doubly so because Harry had been able to sound the alarm right as it was happening. Was it luck or something much more sinister that kept You-Know-Who in the forefront of the lad’s mind? Andromeda wasn’t certain what to think.
Perhaps Ted would’ve had some insights, but she held to the promise of strictest confidence she’d made to her daughter. Their safety depended upon that margin of secrecy.
Not long after the start of the new year, Sirius arrived brimming with false cheer. “I had a houseful of guests for Christmas. Pandemonium at times and now it’s too ruddy quiet for my own good.”
“Sirius can’t sleep with the silence ringing in his ears,” Dora teased.
“Who has time to sleep?” Sirius dismissed. “Didn’t you see the latest headlines? I’m the mastermind behind a massive breakout from Azkaban.”
“I’m surprised the Prophet doesn’t claim you were planning a family reunion,” Andromeda scoffed, none too pleased that her mentally unbalanced sister was among the escapees.
Sirius cackled with devilment. “Only because that angle hasn’t occurred to them!”
“Wager you can’t guess how they decided Sirius was at fault,” Dora proposed. “Force-fed by Fudge himself. A man who never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like.”
“Still justifying the way he and the rest of Magical Law Enforcement railroaded me,” Sirius supplied.
“I wondered if your fake manhunt was feeding those very fears,” Andromeda remarked.
“Ha! Didn’t I say you rotters weren’t trying hard enough to find me?” Sirius crowed triumphantly.
“Who in their right mind could sell anyone on such a far-fetched notion?” Dora protested.
“No ambition,” Sirius mocked. “In the meanwhile, I’ve progressed from being a mass murderer to a nefarious criminal overlord. And to think Mother always said I wouldn’t amount to much!”
It was hard not to laugh at her cousin’s gallows humor. Putting her worries aside for the time being, Andromeda allowed herself to join in.
Spring had started in earnest when Sirius next came calling. This time he was alone.
“What happened to your bodyguard?” Andromeda teased as she gave him a welcome hug.
“Scampered off to the seashore.”
“Isn’t she afraid Remus will discover your absence?”
“She’s the decoy,” Sirius chortled with a wicked gleam in his eye. “Had to check out a lead in Brighton so she whisked Moony off on a picnic.”
“What time did she say they’d be back?”
“She didn’t. But Moony told me to enjoy my visit. He sends his regards by the way.”
Andromeda’s jaw threatened to drop into her lap. “He knew?”
“For quite some time, I’m ashamed to admit. Should’ve known I couldn’t pull one over on him.”
“But he didn’t scold you?”
“Said it was patently pointless. That’s a direct quote incidentally. He always knew I’d find some way to break the rules and this was as inoffensive an outing as any.”
“Did Dora tell him?”
“She was just as speechless as I was. Just made Remus laugh all the more.”
“Did you ask him why he didn’t say anything earlier?”
Sirius gave her the lop-sided smirk that used to drive witches wild. “To which he replied, ‘How could I? I accepted the bribe. Hush money in the form of roast beef sandwiches.’”
Andromeda smiled at Remus’ inherent generosity. It was every bit as she remembered him from so long ago. Why she’d only met him a few times despite the elaborate tales Sirius had recounted from their days in Gryffindor Tower. What she most noticed were his kind eyes when he’d brought Snuffles for a visit on ocassion. That was before her daughter had learned the double-edged truth that not only did Sirius’ dog not exist apart from him, but that they had both been sentenced to Azkaban.
Without Dora’s presence, though, the conversation soon turned to more serious topics such as the Ministry’s continued policy of ignoring the obvious. Followed by Fudge’s erratic behavior that caused him to appoint an overzealous autocrat like Dolores Umbridge to Hogwarts.
“It’s that same rigidity that sent an innocent man to Azkaban in the first place,” Andromeda commiserated. “Why didn’t you fight back? Proclaim your innocence from the rooftops. I’ve always wondered.”
“They would’ve branded me a madman.”
“They did anyway. Sowing a smidgen of doubt could’ve gone a long way in this instance.”
Sirius gave her a long look before admitted lowly, “I may not have killed a battalion of Muggles in the middle of a busy street, but I was guilty. I murdered Lily and James just as surely as if I’d cursed them with my own wand.”
Aghast, Andromeda stammered, “How can you say such a thing? You weren’t even there!”
“But I was the one who suggested Peter Pettigrew as the Secret-Keeper. Don’t you see? It was tantamount to driving the coffin nails.”
“Did you suspect he was a traitor?”
“Merlin, no! I was convinced the traitor was Moony,” Sirius groaned. “I didn’t want to think that, but as our associates were picked off one by one the evidence seemed to point to him.”
“What evidence?”
“That’s just it. Our own paranoia acted like a drug, causing us to hallucinate mad scenarios when common sense should’ve told us otherwise.” Sirius issued a shaky sigh as his eyes clouded over with anguish. “Trust me, I had years to revisit all the things I did wrong, analyze and reanalyze each insignificant crumb of my existence. And much to my dismay, I was able to trace the source of every scrap of incriminating information back to Peter. That slimy rat had been pulling the strings all along. Had both me and James convinced of Remus’ guilt and Remus convinced that it was me. Why didn’t we see the truth of it while there was still time?”
“You can’t blame yourselves for the actions of others,” Andromeda soothed. “Pettigrew was the culprit, not you. Think how different Harry’s life would’ve been if his father’s closest friends hadn’t been scattered to the four winds.”
Andromeda refilled their wine goblets as encouragement for him to continue, “For the longest time I was convinced that Harry was better off with Lily’s relatives. She was such a wonderful, loving person that I told myself that her sister shared those same qualities. Totally blacked out all the clues that Lily had given about Petunia’s hatred of wizards in general. A worthless sod like me didn’t deserve to be Harry’s godfather, not when I’d been instrumental in his parents’ deaths. That, too, was a common refrain.”
“You could’ve atoned for your mistakes,” Andromeda interjected.
“I didn’t see that then. The despair from the dementors was just too debilitating. Retreating into the simplistic mind of a dog was my only refuge.”
“Clearly something made you change your mind.”
Sirius nodded slowly, the memories making him tremble with their intensity. “A scrap of newspaper floating under the door of my cell. Complete happenstance. I greedily snatched at it, eager for any scrap of news from the outside world. And there he was, Pettigrew, baring his little pointed teeth as Ron Weasley clutched him around the middle. The rat was squirming with all his might as if the camera’s flash hurt his rheumy little eyes, but I knew the truth. The shock of it was enough to spur me to action; I had to warn Harry. Hell, I had to warn Moony “ wherever the hell he was.
“When I managed to make my way to Hogwarts, I was dismayed to find that Remus was there, too. Dumbledore had offered what sanctuary he could to both of them, thinking wrongly that I was intent on murder. Well, actually, that part wasn’t so far off the mark, but it was the rat I was after.
“Learning how that dreadful Petunia had actually locked Harry in a cupboard, it was all I could do to keep from strangling her with my bare hands. Although as Albus wisely pointed out, that would’ve left Harry without his godfather all over again. I served my sentence, Andromeda, twelve years for the recklessness of youth. It’s time to rebuild the future with Harry.”
Andromeda had always wondered about those years spent in Azkaban. She wanted to understand in case she ever got the opportunity to reconnect with her older sister. But it had seemed like such a boorish thing to ask of a man who was still trying to outrun his demons. Now that the subject had come up naturally, she couldn’t stop herself from pressing, “How did you manage to escape? You didn’t have a diabolical madman to subjugate the dementors.”
“That, my dear, is a subject for another day. When we can walk freely in the sunshine and put those phantoms to rest once and for all. That day will come; the tide will turn. We just have to be patient.”
That was the last time she saw him. Scarcely a month later, Alastor Moody arrived on their back doorstep to tell them that Dora has been knocked unconscious by her own Aunt Bellatrix. He looked like he’d aged a decade overnight, bearing a long gash across his forehead that was still fresh from healing.
“Dora will recover,” he avowed. “Albus will be here in about an hour to escort you to St. Mungo’s.”
Even though it was not yet daybreak, she demanded, “But I want to go now!”
“I know, sweetheart,” Ted had crooned in her ear. “But the Welcome Witch isn’t on duty yet. Is she?”
Catching Ted’s import, Moody growled, “Aye, that’s the way of it, I’m afraid. In the meanwhile, I have some more sobering news to impart. You don’t mind if I sit down.”
As the wireless news confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had been sighted in the crowded Ministry Atrium, Moody recounted Sirius’ last courageous stand before the face of darkness: wand to wand, one Azkaban escapee to another...
The glittering frame on the mantelpiece caught Andromeda’s attention. Dora in an ecru lace dress that had belonged to her grandmother. Andromeda had never found the time to shorten it to a more wearable style but its ankle length had been perfect for the occasion. Remus in a dusty brown suit that could not dim the radiant smile on his face as he turned to kiss his new bride.
The wedding ceremony had been hastily thrown together at the last minute. Impetuous and headstrong as ever, Dora had only given them two days notice that she was engaged to be married to a werewolf. Her parents’ initial shock had worn off when she admitted that it was Remus, as staunch and true a friend as her cousin, Sirius, had ever known.
There had been no persuading her daughter to slow things down, however. Dumbledore’s assassination by a trusted comrade had made everyone feel that life was too tenuous to waste with excuses and delays. So Andromeda had settled for convincing them that a wedding in a magistrate’s office was just too impersonal. Anonymity was all fine and good, she agreed, but if they wanted her and Ted to attend, they’d compromise on this one detail. It wasn’t as if they were sending out invitations to anyone else, she’d reminded them.
Remus had given an appeasing smile in support of whatever the others decided. Dora sighed in resignation before allowing the ceremony to take place in her parents’ backyard. The hedges drooping with early summer flowers had created a fitting backdrop in the photograph.
Ted rounded up a retired magistrate who just happened to be a school chum from Hufflepuff House. After a simple ceremony, the three of them had toasted the happy couple over a sumptuous afternoon tea on the back veranda. Reminding them to sign the official documents, the magistrate conceded he’d best be heading home.
“Here, Jerome, let me at least walk you down to the Apparition point,” Ted offered magnanimously.
It was nearly two hours later when he returned. “It’s done,” Ted announced solemnly.
“Did you have any trouble convincing him to stop at the pub?” Andromeda pressed.
Her husband shook his head. “Jerry was always the sociable sort. Since he insisted on providing his services for free, the least I could do was buy him a round or two.”
“A man of his build would take at least four or five to feel tipsy,” Dora observed with authority.
“True,” her father returned. “Luckily, he wasn’t too intent on seeing whether I kept up. When he staggered against my shoulder, I Obliviated his memories. He’ll be a bit fuzzy for a while but then decide he simply ran into an old mate at the pub. A perfectly natural occurrence.”
“You might’ve made a good Auror, Dad,” Dora beamed. “If all those years of commanding a swivel chair hadn’t taken their toll.”
Remus had nervously joined in with their laughter.
“You’re outraged that we should take such measures,” Ted noted as he refilled the champagne for another round of toasts. Andromeda could hear their voices in the background as she basted the rack of lamb that was to be their celebratory supper.
Remus took a long gulp before denouncing, “Such a shameful display of self-serving wizardry.” Then in a whisper, he added, “But desperate times call for desperate measures.”
The better to remain anonymous, Ted owled the signed marriage certificate to the Registry Office to make it official.
Despite their bubble of happiness, there was no mistaking the encroaching darkness that was slowly swallowing the outside world. It was only a matter of time before resistance fighters became outlaws, Andromeda worried...
She hesitated on the top step. The afternoon stillness was like a woolen blanket cocooning her from the chilly autumn rain. Teddy must’ve fallen back to sleep on his own. Self-reliance at such a tender age, he really was the most sweet-natured infant she’d ever known.
Instinctively, her fingers caressed the banister that held the warmth of many familiar hands. It was here that she’d been standing when she’d overheard Remus and Dora. So accustomed was she to their playful bantering that she hadn’t realized at first that they were in the midst of a full-blown argument. She’d raised her wand to cast a privacy charm, but something in her daughter’s tone changed her mind.
“” regret the day I took you to Kew Gardens,” Dora’s voice rose in volume. “I’m not some exotic orchid that needs to be coddled.”
Dora felt she wasn’t being treated like an adult, Andromeda translated from the petulant tone. She could just imagine the truculent expression that usually accompanied it.
“You are being deliberately targeted.” Remus’ mild tone held an unmistakable edge of iron.
“We all are!” she dismissed.
“True. But your Aunt Bellatrix is specifically gunning for you.”
“She’s mental, Remus! She sees a moving target without a Death Eater mask and she fires spells at random.”
“You didn’t witness everything in the Department of Mysteries.”
“No, I was too busy dodging spells. How did you manage a bird’s eye view in the thick of things?”
“You were unconscious, darling. Bella was practically gushing with delight as she stepped over your motionless body to face her next objective: Sirius.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“If only, my unwilling hothouse Tentacula.”
Dora huffed at his grandiose words.
“If I had a Pensieve, I’d show you,” he insisted lowly.
“At the Ministry --”
“No!” he cut across sharply. “It’s too dangerous to go back there. You don’t want to give them any reason to look twice at you now that you’re married.”
“It’s not like I made an announcement,” she argued. “And I didn’t change my name, either. But I had to tell them about the pregnancy “ even if I purposely kept your name out of it. Dared them to draw whatever conclusions they wanted.”
He chuckled intimately. “The bureaucracy still has its ways of uncovering those details. It may just take a little longer is all.”
“It’s not a crime for an Auror to marry. Just look at Mad-Eye and his four…” Her voice faded into a sob.
“I’m sorry he’s gone, too, sweetheart.” Remus’ voice was muffled as if he were holding her close. “Learn from his refrain of ‘constant vigilance.’ You yourself reported that your aunt was on your tail the minute you lifted off from Privet Drive.”
“Coincidence. We all lifted off at once to overwhelm them.”
“She nearly overwhelmed you to hear Ron tell it!”
The strangled gasp that followed could only have come from Dora. “You don’t think…no, he couldn’t have been so thoughtless…oh, Remus, what if?”
“Legilimency is not my strong suit,” he gently reproved.
“Do you think Ron was retelling his exploits to some of the wedding guests? Is that how they found us?”
Andromeda’s ears perked up at this. She hadn’t really meant to eavesdrop, but her daughter had dodged any questions about the Weasley wedding fiasco, only saying that no one had been seriously hurt.
“It was in hushed tones between ‘Cousin Barny’ and me,” Remus clarified. “As for the other, I think our enemies knew about the wedding plans and used it to their advantage.”
“You lost me there, Remus.”
“Just look at it from their point of view: what other event would unite the pro-Dumbledore faction in one place?”
“So the Ministry coup was staged to coincide with the festivities,” Dora hypothesized.
“Less likely to encounter any opposition that way.”
“But the Weasleys were meticulous about erecting magical protections around the site.”
“Which had to be brought down for the delivery of the marquee, the tables and chairs, the band. Tradesmen of all sorts pierced those shields in the days leading up to the wedding.”
“And the Death Eaters only had to get to one. Imperiused some poor bastard to reveal secrets with no later recollection of what he’d done. Remember Rosmerta. Right under the noses of my entire squad!”
“The fact that there was no official reprimand should’ve warned me that the wizarding world was poised on the brink of an avalanche. It all seems so clear in retrospect,” Remus issued grimly. “Still, the true coincidence is that Kingsley was still at the P.M.’s office; otherwise, he might not have been able to warn us. His body might have been laid out next to Scrimgeour’s.” After a few moments of tense silence, he added lowly, “Just think back on the wedding reception if you think you’re not in danger.”
“The gatecrashers were after Harry. Once they saw for themselves that the trio was no longer among the guests, they starting pulling back.”
Remus’ next words chilled Andromeda down to her bedroom slippers. “And Bella showing up at the end, didn’t you find that disturbing? She was mumbling, ‘Widdle Nymphie-Dorie, come out and play with your auntie.’ Don’t blow that off as just deranged babble!”
“Well, what else would you call it?” Then relenting, Dora amended, “You didn’t see me protesting when you shoved me into the loo and ordered me to Apparate home immediately. Had to stand inside the bowl to circumvent the protective charms, but I did it.”
“And you’re certain Bella doesn’t have this address?”
“Absolutely,” she reassured him. “We moved here just about the time I was to start at Hogwarts. Bella and Rodolphus were both locked away by then.”
Sirius, too, Andromeda mourned silently. But Ted had been right to insist they sell the rambling house near the seacoast and relocate to the far side of the country. Keep one step ahead of the homicidal relatives, that was the desperate plan. He’d even entrusted the transaction to a random Muggle estate agent, the better to mask their trail.
“Then you’ll understand why I have to go check on Harry,” Remus insisted.
“HARRY?” It was the screech of a frightened bird. “You have no idea where he went!”
“Not precisely,” Remus returned with maddening calm. “But I’ll check Grimmauld Place first. See if any of the anti-Snape jinxes have been triggered.”
“I thought Kingsley was supposed to do that.”
“He may not be able to under the all-too-suspicious eyes of the new regime. Not without putting his life in danger.”
“And then what?” Dora whimpered. “Harry’s following Dumbledore’s orders. Minerva confirmed that.”
“Perhaps so, but he’s still a frightened seventeen year old. Did you know that Harry broke up with Ginny at the start of summer? Said he had to go it alone.”
“How do you know that?”
“Is that really the important issue?” he decried. “I suspect keeping a secret in that household is virtually impossible.”
Dora disagreed, “Don’t you think you’re blowing a bit of teenage angst all out of proportion?”
“Harry’s convinced he’ll die before this is over. I don’t know about you, but that sort of fatalism from a lad his age worries me more than I can say.”
“But you said it yourself: Harry’s of age,” Dora protested.
“So are you, darling. I trust you to take care of our unborn child for a short time. I owe Harry this.”
In a sullen tone, Dora maintained, “You owe it to Sirius, you mean.”
“Lily and James,” he corrected fervently. “I should’ve never let the shock of Sirius’ arrest blind me to that. Taken a more active role from the start. Perhaps even prevented the Dursleys’ deliberate neglect.”
“Right. An unemployed werewolf taking care of the Chosen One. Dumbledore would’ve approved, no doubt about it.”
Unfazed by her sarcasm, he remarked, “You forgot ‘loveable.’ Love always went a long way in Dumbledore’s book. Don’t sell that short.”
“And Lily’s love?” she argued. “The sacrifice that kept him safe while under the Dursleys’ roof?”
“Oh, I’d forgotten about that,” he allowed. “Still, I could’ve handled things better. Not just retreated into a shell to lick my wounds.”
With a frustrated huff, Dora implored, “Why is Harry suddenly more important --”
“You understood that when you agreed to marry me,” he firmly cut across. “My commitment to continue the fight against tyranny is for all our sakes. If I abandon that, what future will our children have?”
“Is my commitment to the Order less noble simply because I wasn’t on board the first time you defeated --”
“Don’t!” he warned. “The Taboo! You can’t risk putting yourself in danger. Bella or no Bella. Anything stronger that a Levitation Charm puts the baby at risk.”
“Will you Levitate me up the stairs when I get as wide as a she-troll?”
“If you want me to, but that’s months away. In the meanwhile, I need to achieve some sort of balance in my life. For once, not being tied to a job can be a great advantage.”
“You’re balancing on a razor sharp rapier.”
“We all are, but we can’t let the Order fall to pieces with both Albus and Alastor gone…”
The sudden buzzing in Andromeda’s ears meant that one of them had remembered to shield their conversation. Holding her breath, she took a few steps closer to their bedroom door, hoping that the perimeter had been hastily constructed. A wall of ice stopped her and resolutely turned her in the direction of the master bedroom.
Quite a trick that, she remembered thinking before giving it up for the night.
Remus had not been present at breakfast the next morning.
Dora’s face was colorless as if she hadn’t slept much. Probably camouflaged the puffiness under her eyes as well. All at once, Andromeda regretted not taking time to confide in her husband before coming downstairs.
“Remus having a bit of a lie in?” Ted teased guilelessly.
Andromeda held her breath, but Dora just shrugged it off. “He had a errand he needed to run.” Her breezy manner seemed to indicate it was inconsequential.
When Remus hadn’t returned by suppertime, she volunteered, “Things in life are never as simple as one supposes.”
When he wasn’t back the next day, she was less certain. By the fourth day, panic had set in as she alternated periods of angry pacing with starring sullenly at the wall.
When the silent tears started, Andromeda could stand it no longer. “We want to help, sweetheart,” she begged.
“Remus swore me to secrecy,” Dora affirmed with a fierce sniffle.
“Did he also say he’d be gone this long?” Ted inquired.
“He didn’t say at all,” she moaned. “Perhaps he hit a snag. Field work is full of unexpected complications.”
“Don’t tell me you’re not imaging his broken body in a culvert somewhere!” Andromeda hissed. Unspoken were the words that there was always another full moon looming around the corner.
Dora’s chin had trembled at that, but she maintained stoically, “A sign of the times. Nothing more.”
“Nothing more?” Ted railed in impotent fury. “This isn’t some faceless stranger!”
“Or co-worker even,” Andromeda supplied as she wrapped her arms around her distraught daughter.
“The Healer warned I could get overly emotional,” Dora sobbed into her mother’s shoulder.
“Rubbish!” Ted affirmed. “You have every right to be worried.”
“Don’t Aurors use some sort of tracking spell?” Andromeda suggested.
“Too dangerous,” Dora insisted. “He could just as easily be traced by another. Kingsley’s the only person in the Department whom I trust.”
“This new man who’s all over the news?” Ted prodded.
“Yaxley,” Dora supplied. “As Dark as they come. We’ve known about him for ages.”
“All right then,” Ted announced. “I’m going to take up running.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Andromeda screamed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m following my Healer’s recommendation,” he harrumphed. “Now that I’m retired, I finally have the time.” In a bare whisper, he supplied, “And that’s what you’ll tell anyone who should ask about my change of routine.”
Catching on, Dora protested, “Let me at least follow you in the Jeep. We can cover more distance that way.”
“Not with you at the wheel,” he chuckled. “You make the thing buck like a reluctant hippogriff.”
“Only because I haven’t mastered the gear shift “ yet,” she defended.
“Absolutely not, Dora,” Andromeda pronounced. “Even practice lessons will draw unnecessary attention to us.”
“What if…” Dora suggested as her eyes searched the room. They lit up as she spied Cassie’s leash hanging near the back door.
“Leave the poor dog out of it,” Andromeda pleaded, Remus’ grim warnings clamoring for attention inside her head.
“Your mother’s right, dear,” Ted backed her up. “Cassie’s not a young pup anymore. She doesn’t have the stamina she did when you were twelve.”
“In other words, Dad’s plan has a better chance of success if the two of us stay out of it,” Dora grumped in acceptance...
Returning to the kitchen to lay out the tea things, Andromeda passed the worn patch in hallway carpet. The very spot which had allowed Dora to keep an eye on both the front and back doors as she paced in silent desperation. With Ted fast asleep upstairs in preparation for his pre-dawn jogging expedition, Andromeda had coaxed her daughter to give voice to her frustration.
Instead, Dora found comfort in revisiting how she and Remus had first met. Recalling how those two unapologetic bachelors had accepted her so readily into their midst, it was easy to forget that Remus had spent a significant chunk of his adulthood on his own before taking up residence at Grimmauld Place. But she’d had more smiles and laughter and love in her young life, Dora insisted; Remus had only really blossomed when he’d been among the Marauders. Once Lily and James were gone, Peter blasted to kingdom come, and his best friend revealed as an unrepentant murderer, Remus had retreated into himself. Even when those events had been put into proper perspective a dozen years later, neither he nor Sirius had been able to recapture their youth.
“That is until yours truly waltzed into their lives and announced she’d gleefully hex anyone who didn’t call her ‘Tonks’,” Dora maintained during those long, restless nights when Remus had wandered the London streets in search of answers.
Newly recruited into the Order of the Phoenix by her crusty mentor, Alastor Moody, she had no idea she was about to come face to face with her cousin and his best mate.
“I remember you,” Dora cried after the Order meeting had adjourned. “You were in the photo, trying to hide behind the flower pots.”
Despite his gentle smile, Remus had given her a blank look.
That is until Sirius had slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Prongs’ wedding photos! I’d forgotten all about that. I gave one to Andromeda and Ted since they had to leave early. I suspect you were the culprit, young lady.” Sirius winked in Dora’s direction.
“I don’t think so,” Dora scoffed. “I was perfectly behaved as a child.”
Remus had chortled deep in his throat and then tried to cover it up with a cough. “Not if your antics with a certain black dog were any indication!”
“That was you, too?” Dora gasped.
“At your service. Nursemaid and tireless dog-walker to the disenfranchised.”
“Catchy,” Sirius smirked. “Perhaps if you placed an advert in the Prophet…”
Remus had given Sirius a scathing look in response. Dora hadn’t known about his frustrating job search. Hell, she hadn’t even known he was a werewolf.
Not until he was absent from the next meeting and Dumbledore mentioned that the man would be out of commission for the next few days. “Severus, do you think you might be able to brew up a special batch of Wolfsbane for Remus? Save him a full-blown transformation this month.”
“If I must,” Snape mumbled before changing the subject.
His beady eyes had noticed the shocked look on Dora’s face, though.
“Weren’t you the one who liked to romp with Sirius’ furry mongrel as a child?” he’d hissed so lowly that only she could hear. “Have you ever wanted to play catch with a full-grown wolf? Just make sure you bring a meaty bone or his fangs will just as soon snap --”
“That’s enough, you blackheart!” Sirius railed as he yanked Snape forcibly away from her. “Your skeletons would dance a merry jig if I let them out of the closet right about now!”
“Wastrel!” Snape retaliated.
“What about you?” Sirius returned. “Couldn’t wait to defame poor, unassuming Remus before the whole school!”
In a voice like an angry serpent, Snape sneered, “Perhaps I didn’t want innocents exposed to his antics in the Shrieking Shack!”
“There wouldn’t have been any so-called antics if you’d bothered to bring along his potion like you were supposed to.” Sirius was on a roll now. “You managed to follow him down the tunnel with your wand drawn but accidentally left the smoking goblet behind. On the man’s desk, no less.”
“ENOUGH!” Dora had described Dumbledore’s voice as a low roar. Instantly, a dozen conversations stopped in mid-syllable, the silence hanging like a cloud of gunpowder residue. “If I have to set the two of you to writing lines, I will!”
“Can’t be any worse than penning my memoirs in this wretched hole,” Sirius grumbled as he folded himself into the nearest chair. “Woke up to peeling black walls. Wallpaper instead of stone, but a prison nonetheless….”
Dora sympathized with her cousin’s restlessness at facing the same scenery day after day. Like a bed-ridden child staring out the sheers at the other children romping in the sun or snow or jumping into crackling piles of autumn leaves. And in that instant, she grasped just how lonely Remus’ life must have been, ostracized by society for something he couldn’t help.
Well, he wasn’t about to face inequity from her, she decided right then and there. She’d encountered enough superstitious claptrap just because she was the only Metamorphmagus people had met. Why was it that the world was overflowing with wizards so full of themselves that it was a wonder they didn’t explode?
No doubt about it, her Dora was good at making those two gloomy Gryffindors laugh like school boys once more, Andromeda recalled fondly. Despite the grim tidings of Voldemort’s increasing influence, that derelict townhouse often rang with laughter amid the fragrance of take-way meals.
“Dora’s right, Padfoot,” Remus often insisted. “If you can’t see the world on a tramp steamer, then let us at least bring you some tidings from those exotic ports of call.” He didn’t mention that ethnic offerings abounded in metropolitan London and were a comparative bargain.
Of course, Remus had been too much of a gentleman to allow Dora to do all the fetching, even if he rarely had the funds to pick up the tab himself. But that was one of the primary functions of the Phoenix Headquarters Operating Fund. Andromeda suspected that Sirius replenished it often enough from Kreacher’s household account, but how a house-elf was still able to tap into his old master’s Gringott’s vault she’d never learned...
Teddy was like the two of them superimposed upon one another. So quiet and introspective and curious and daring at the same time. Nothing escaped his notice even though he was still dependent on others to get around. If he was anything like her daughter, Andromeda feared that she’d have to cast a regular Impedimenta Charm just to catch up with him. Little Dora had wrung her out at age twenty-five, how in Salazar’s unholy name was she going to cope now?
A small hiccup drew her attention away from the streaky windowpane. At some point during the afternoon, the rain had let up but her own tears had continued unabated. She quickly dried her eyes as she darted up the stairs to find that Teddy had woken up at last. In a moment she would change his nappy, but right then his little face was captivated by simple dust motes dancing in the gentle sunbeam. He turned his hair a golden hue in appreciation as he gazed up adoringly at her.
It was more disconcerting when he soon started to do the same thing when he woke up in the dead of night. Not always. Not if the curtains were drawn tightly shut. But if the palest stream of moonlight managed to penetrate the midnight gloom, he’d wake up gurgling with delight. In those moments, the platinum shade of his hair was so much like Cissy’s that it made Andromeda’s heart ache.
Even when it was time for his feeding, he rarely cried out in the night. Instead, his curious eyes would seek out the flying horse mobile above his crib. Sometimes he even managed a stray spark of magic to make the horses circle and sway in gentle time to the music. Instinctively, he counted on his doting grandmother to be there with a bottle straight away when she heard the tinkle of the music box.
If only she could train herself to nap when Teddy did; that way they’d both wake up refreshed and energized as Molly recommended. But she’d never been one to sleep during the day, not unless she was sick or totally sleep-deprived. Today Andromeda was neither so there was nothing to keep the house from feeling like a mausoleum around her.
Alone with only her thoughts for company, it was not difficult to berate herself for the bad blood that persisted between the remnants of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. It was so needlessly stupid to feel utterly alone when she had family living in Wiltshire. Everyone else was gone, but Cissy still turned a cold shoulder to her remaining sister. Not that Andromeda had ever cared for Lucius’ aloofness, but she had a nephew who she’d only seen in photographs, for Merlin’s sake. Nevertheless, she’d gotten a good measure of Draco from the comments made by Harry and friends. Supercilious just like his father, but perhaps he might’ve mellowed somewhat if things had been different. From what bits Remus had added from his teaching days, Malfoy the Younger greatly needed an introduction to Other Points of View.
If she hadn’t stopped to pen a few lines to Harry, she would likely have started to carry on a conversation with the ruddy chocolate frog cards. Probably answered herself, too, she grimaced. A different voice to match each famous witch or wizard as storytellers often did.
Thank goodness Molly and Arthur had taken her in much as Ted’s family had once welcomed the young witch whose family had turned their backs on her. She’d found their Muggle habits charming, if unfamiliar, just as they had warmed to her customs in return. With his feet firmly planted in both worlds, her husband had always been one to bridge differences, not foster discord like the Blacks seemed to do.
Remus had once set Dora to laughing merrily when he observed the Weasley propensity for picking up strays. “They all do it; unconsciously even. How else do you explain that of all the children on that train, Ron would befriend Harry right from the start?”
“Not that I’d put it that way myself,” Andromeda qualified over freshly baked crumpets. But Molly hadn’t been offended, chortling wholeheartedly at Remus’ pithy observation.
“Such an irrepressible sense of humor. Dry as a bone one moment, then puckish and corny the next,” Molly acknowledged. “Always catching you by surprise, that was Remus. He’d even prank the twins sometimes; although Godric knows, we’ve never been able to figure out how.”
“Dora claimed he was the master -- although he was always too modest to say so himself,” Andromeda volunteered. “That school gang of his, the Marauders -- ”
“Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs as they were known to Fred and George,” Molly supplied with a bittersweet smile. “When the twins learned that one of their idols had been sitting across from them at holiday gatherings…Well, it was all I could do to keep them from canonizing poor Remus.”
“Must’ve embarrassed Remus to no end.”
“If it did, he never let it dampen his enthusiasm for our raucous family gatherings.”
Unbidden, the image of an empty chair rose like a phantom in the midst of holiday merrymaking. Molly was surely struggling with the same thought as she stifled a sob.
“All the more reason why you and Teddy absolutely must join us at Yuletide. It will be here before you know it,” Molly sniffled. “Harry, too, once he decides what he wants to do next.”
Andromeda nodded through a tight throat then turned her attention to brewing a fresh pot of tea. In the background, Molly expertly burped Teddy over her shoulder.