You were in college, working part-time, waiting tables
Left a small town and never looked back
I was a flight risk, afraid of fallin'
Wondering why we bother with love, if it never lasts
"Can I really go? Will you be all right?" Fourteen year old Narcissa Black looked askance at her sister. "I mean, I know you're missing Bella. We're not the Three Black Sisters any more. We never will be, but I could stay if you wanted. We'd be the Black Pair, if it's any help."
"No, go on. I'll be fine. I'll just duck into Fortescue's and get myself an ice cream while you catch up with Emmeline and Calla. I'll meet you in Flourish and Blotts in an hour."
Cissy ran off and Meda watched her go. Despite herself, she turned to her left, expecting to see Bella at her side, as she had always been before. But she wasn't. Of course she wasn't. Bella had married Rodolphus Lestrange a week earlier and now she would never be available whenever her sisters needed her again. Whenever Meda needed her.
Sighing, Meda went into Fortescue's and chose a corner table, unwilling to have to acknowledge any of the other people crowding into the shop, though there were plenty of them, for it was a hot day in early August.
"What can I do for you?" A cheery voice broke into her melancholy reverie and Meda started.
"Oh!" Meda raised her head. A boy about Bella's age was standing above her, waiting to take her order. Straightening her shoulders, Meda gave it to him in her very best "Bella" impression. "One double scoop of Buttermilk ice cream with honey and coconut chocolate sauce."
She glared at him until he nodded, scribbled it down and turned to leave. "Coming right up.
A few minutes later he was back, bearing her order before him as though it were made of glass.
"Here you are. One double scoop of Buttermilk ice cream with honey and coconut chocolate sauce."
She reached out her hand for it and nodded, expecting him to walk away. He didn't. Instead, he pulled out the chair opposite her and sank on to it."
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Meda snapped. She'd never seen this boy before, and she didn't want to be polite now. Couldn't he see she wanted to be alone?"
"I'm due a break and this is my usual table. We may as well share it." He replied brightly, before holding out his hand. "I'm Edward Tonks, though everyone calls me Ted. What's your name?"
For a moment, Meda hesitated. She'd never heard of a Tonks; the boy was clearly a half-blood or a Mudblood. The Pureblood in her was screaming in disgust.
"Then again…" Meda thought devilishly. "If it wasn't for my family being Pureblood Royalty, I might actually have some friends like everyone else. I might not be missing Bella so much."
Without another moment's hesitation, she took the boy's, no, Edward's, hand and shook it. "Andromeda Black."
I say, "Can you believe it?"
As we're lyin' on the couch
The moment, I can see it
Yes, yes, I can see it now
Six months later, it was Andromeda's Easter holidays and she had begged off one of her mother's endless coffee mornings, saying she felt sick and headachy. Druella Black had eventually consented to let her stay home and whisked off to Desdemona Malfoy's, Narcissa scurrying in her wake.
The moment she was sure they were gone and that her father was securely locked up in his study, unlikely to come out, Meda Flooed to Diagon Alley. Glancing round her, she hurried up a side street to the tiny rooms above the Leaky Cauldron. Ted was there, waiting for her, as he had promised he would be.
The two of them laughed and joked and the time just seemed to fly by. Before Andromeda left, however, she looked back at Ted and murmured "Do you remember?"
"Remember what, Dromeda?"
"The moment I realised I really loved you?"
Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
"Do you remember? Cissy and I had gone home for Christmas, but I returned to Hogwarts early, citing my exams and NEWT workload as an excuse. I came back on New Year's Day, when all the adults were still nursing hangovers. You sneaked into the Hogwarts grounds to see me. We sat by the lake nearly all day. Just talking. Even though it was cold. Before I went in for supper, you hugged me. Kissed me. Called me "Dromeda" for the first time. Do you remember, Ted?"
Flash forward, and we're takin' on the world together
And there's a drawer of my things at your place
You learn my secrets and figure out why I'm guarded
You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes
It was Meda's last ever Hogsmeade Weekend and she was spending it with her sister as she always did. But as they wandered back to the castle, arm in arm, Meda caught sight of Ted leaning against the wall of the Three Broomsticks. Her heart leapt at the sight of him, but she was Andromeda Honour Black. She was a Slytherin. A Pureblood. The most scornful, most feared girl at Hogwarts. She had an image to keep up. To the outside world at least, she had to pretend she wanted nothing to do with him. She swept on past without even a backward glance.
It tore her apart to do so, but she had to. She had to!
The next time she met up with Ted, he kissed her and then said "Come in. I want to talk to you before we go out."
"Talk? Of course." Meda followed him into the tiny kitchen in the apartment he was renting, hesitating for only an instant before seating herself at the breakfast bar.
Ted barely waited for her to do so before getting to the point.
"What's wrong with you, Dromeda? Are you suffering from Schizophrenia or something?"
"Am I what?" Meda stared at Ted in astonishment. What was he going on about?"
"It's a split personality disorder. The thing is…look…I love you, Dromeda. God, I love you, but when I saw you in Hogsmeade the other week, you didn't even look at me. You swept past as if I wasn't there."
So that was what he was thinking about! Half of Meda ached to reach out and take his hand; to try to comfort him, but the other half, the prouder half, didn't. What was he complaining about? He knew she was a Black! He knew full well that she couldn't be friends with him! Not openly, anyway…
"I was with my sister! I couldn't exactly acknowledge you!"
"No, I don't mean that! Oh God, I've gone about this the wrong way, but…You're always with your sister, Dromeda. Always. Either that or you're with me. Otherwise, you're on your own. Don't you have any other friends?"
Meda started. How did he know what she was like? She never told him anything about her Hogwarts life. There was no way he could know. Unless…
"Have you been spying on me?" She leapt to her feet as a surge of anger jolted her.
Ted's head snapped up and he spilt the coffee he'd been making as he raced across to catch her arm.
"No! Of course not! I love you. I'd never spy on you. It's just obvious. You never mention anything about school, not even your graduation party, even though you were in your Seventh Year this year. And when we go out, you're always on your guard. Always. I don't know why, but it can't be making you happy."
"It's not." The admission slipped out before Meda could stop it.
Ted reached behind him and put down the coffee cup before turning back to her. "Then why do it? What drives you to do it? Tell me."
"I'm a Black. That's all there is to it. If you'd been born in this world, you'd know: One Black is worth a dozen of everyone else. No one else is worthy of us. Our only friends, true friends, are our family. You must have run into Bellatrix Black at Hogwarts? She was my sister. When Bella left Hogwarts, I was broken. Absolutely broken, Ted. I didn't want it to happen again. I still don't."
To her horror, Meda found she was in tears. Ted pulled her into his arms and lifted her tear-stained face to his for a kiss.
"We'll never do that. I promise you. We'll never tell our children that they're any better than anyone else, or that anyone else is better than them. Never."
"We? Our?"
"Yes." Releasing her, Ted suddenly dropped to one knee before her. "Andromeda Black, I realise that this probably isn't either the time or the place you envisioned, but… will you marry me?"
But we got bills to pay
We got nothin' figured out
When it was hard to take
Yes, yes
This is what I thought about:
Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?
You put your arm around me for the fist time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
Do you remember all the city lights on the water?
You saw me start to believe for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
Those first few months were hard on both of them. Meda had to adjust from living in a mansion to living in close quarters with someone else. To adjust from having whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, to having a husband in a menial job at the ministry and a restricted budget. From being the beloved sister and daughter of one of the most influential families in Wizarding England to being a relative nobody. But whenever things got too hard, she thought of the first time she had met Ted; the first time he had kissed her; the day he'd proposed to her. All those tiny little moments that would probably mean nothing to an outsider, but built their relationship. Built it into what it was.
Oh, oh, oh, oh
And I remember that fight, two-thirty AM
You said everything was slipping right out of our hands
I ran out, crying, and you followed me out into the street
Meda had stayed up waiting for Ted. She had had some news. News she had wanted to share with him. News she had been sure he would adore. Now, at two-thirty the following morning, as he yelled at her, she was regretting ever telling him. Finally, she had had enough. She snapped.
"You could be happy, you know! It's your fault, anyway!"
"My fault! My fault! How is it my fault?"
"You're the father of this baby!"
"Oh, so you're telling me that the great Andromeda Black doesn't know any Contraceptive spells?"
"As a matter of fact, I don't, because it's not exactly something a Pureblood girl learns! We're supposed to give our family heirs!"
"Because your family can afford it! We can't!"
Before Meda knew what she was doing, she pulled out her wand.
She pointed it at Ted with a trembling hand.
"I could kill you here and now! I could kill you and go back to my family! I could tell them you'd kidnapped me! Raped me! Forced me to marry you!"
"Why don't you, then? You obviously want to!"
In her anger, Meda didn't even hear what Ted was saying. "Do you think I wouldn't? I'm a Black and Blacks will do anything!"
"Why don't you, then?" Ted roared, cutting her off.
Meda took one last look at him, his face contorted with anger and then fled, wrenching the door open and slamming it behind her.
Braced myself for the goodbye, cause that's all I've ever known
Then, you took me by surprise
You said, "I'll never leave you alone."
To her surprise, Ted followed her. He caught her in a vice like grip just as she was about to Disapparate.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Dromeda. I didn't mean any of that. Any of it. I'm thrilled about this baby. Really. We'll make it work, I promise. Just don't leave me. I'd die if you left me. Honestly. Please don't leave me."
"You told me you wished you'd never met me." Meda's voice was small.
"That's nonsense. Of course I don't wish that. I love you. I love you! And do you know when I realised it? The same day you did!"
You said, "I remember how we felt, sitting by the water.
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time.
I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter.
She is the best thing that's ever been mine."
"Do you remember? You and Cissy had gone home for Christmas, but you returned to Hogwarts early, citing your exams and NEWT workload as an excuse. You came back on New Year's Day, when all the adults were still nursing hangovers. I sneaked into the Hogwarts grounds to see you. We sat by the lake nearly all day. Just talking. Even though it was cold. Before you went in for supper, I hugged you. Kissed you. Called you "Dromeda" for the first time. Do you remember, Dromeda?"
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
Meda watched Ted's face as he was talking. He was alive, completely passionate, as he tried to woo her all over again, just with one paragraph. It worked. In that second, she realised why she loved him. She tumbled into his arms, eyes ablaze, not with anger now, but with smouldering desire.
"Oh Ted! Ted!"
She reached up and pulled his head down, crushing his lips to his in one furiously ardent kiss.
Do you believe it?
We're gonna make it now
And I can see it
I can see it now
Seven months later, Meda leaned against the downy white pillows of a St. Mungo's hospital bed, cradling her newborn daughter, Nymphadora Jane Tonks. Ted stood by her shoulder and rested a hand on it, telling her he loved her without words. Pressing a kiss to her baby's temple, Meda looked up at her husband.
Their eyes met. She smiled despite her exhaustion.
"Everything's going to be all right now. I can feel it."