Character: Andromeda Tonks

Challenge: Snakes and Ladders Challenge

Prompt: N/A

Era: Pre-Marauder—Next Generation

Summary: Four instances in the life of Andromeda Tonks with the people who meant the most to her, all asking for the same thing.

Tell Me a Story

"It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story."

Patrick Rothfuss

"Tell me a story, Andy, please?" Narcissa begged, eyes wide and pleading.

Andromeda could never resist her sister's puppy-dog eyes, and Narcissa knew it.

"All right," she said grudgingly, setting herself down on her sister's golden coverlet.

Bella took a seat next to her, still running a brush through her thick, shiny hair. Andromeda smirked. At thirteen, her older sister was quite vain.

"You're too soft with her, Andromeda. I'll tell the story tonight," she said with an imperious toss of her now neat locks.

"Once, a wizard and his father lived in a quiet little cottage outside a sleepy town inhabited by Muggles."

"Muggles?" asked Narcissa, her voice trembling as she snuggled closer to Andromeda, who draped an arm comfortably around her.

Bellatrix grinned, showing each and every one of her teen.

"Yes, Muggles, and filthy ones at that. They could not do a thing by themselves. They came to the young wizard's father night and day, begging for cures for their silly little father, being the simpleminded fool he was, agreed. You see, he had told the villagers that his source of power was his kindly little pot he kept in his kitchen. Not one villager suspected he was a wizard. So, day after day and year after year, the father made the Muggles better and received nothing in return."

"They didn't pay him?" asked Narcissa indignantly.

"Not a Knut," Bellatrix said. "Eventually, all his weakness caught up with him and the old man died, leaving his son the little golden pot and a note, telling him to continue to aid the hapless Muggles who came to him. The wizard did the sensible thing and chucked it in the fire.
"Not yet a week had gone by since his father's passing when a woman asked him to cure her daughter's warts.
'Begone!' yelled the wizard. 'I care not if your brat has more warts than a toad.'
Yet the woman continued to pester him, until finally, fed up with her, he whipped out his wand and cured her"

"He cured a Muggle?" asked Narcissa.

"That he did. The woman screamed when she realized his powers did not come from the little pot after all. Pleased that he'd finally gotten rid of her, the wizard collapsed in his favorite armchair to sleep. Hours later, there was a knock at the door. The wizard left his wand on his chair and answered it. The townspeople ambushed him"

"What happened?" squealed Narcissa, burrowing deeper under Andromeda's arm.

"They hung him," Bellatrix said simply. "Now, Cissy, what is the moral of this story "

"Don't leave your wand behind?"

"No, but never do it Cissy."

"Do as your father says?"

"No."

"Avoid Muggles?" asked Andromeda tentatively.

"Absolutely Andy."

Andromeda couldn't help but think that she liked the other version she'd read in the school library just the tiniest bit better.

~o0o~

"Tell me a story, Andromeda."

Andromeda looked sideways at her friend, lying in the sun-baked grass beside her. She and Ted had opted to leave the neatly manicured grounds behind in favor of a grassy hillside dotted with flowers just beyond the lake. That way, they could spend the afternoon interrupted. Andromeda didn't even want to think about what would happen if Cissy found out and wrote Bella. She's find Ted's body in pieces

"A story?" she asked.

"You know, the things mothers tell their children before they go to bed at night?" Ted asked teasingly.

"My mother was never much of a nurturer," Andromeda commented absently. "What kind of story?"

He shrugged.

"All right. This was one of few stories that my mother used to tell, because it's about my namesake Andromeda. See, there was this queen who thought her daughter was even more beautiful than the gods. Angered by this, the gods gave her a missive: sacrifice her daughter or her kingdom. She could only give up her daughter. The king and queen chained Andromeda to a rock by the sea so that a sea monster could devour her. Andromeda cringed, sure the end was near as the monster rose from the waves. Just when she thought she was finished, a brave hero named Perseus swooped from the skies and saved her. Andromeda left her family behind."

Ted's eyes sparkled as he moved closer.

"Why don't I be your Perseus and unchain you from those pureblood sea monsters, then?"

He kissed her, and all Andromeda could think of was the look on her mother's face if she knew.

~o0o~

"Tell me a story, Mum?"

Eight-year-old Nymphadora Tonks bounced around her bedroom, excited at the prospect. Andromeda smiled.

"Of course. Settle down first, love."

Nymphadora snuggled deep into her covers and Andromeda could only think of the same expression that Cissy had worn.

"Three sisters walked along a deserted path at twilight. A man strayed into their way. This man was fate, and he asked each sister what they would sacrifice everything for. The first sister boldly announced that she would sacrifice everything for her cause. Fate nodded proudly and let her pass. The second sister timidly said she would sacrifice everything for duty.

'A noble cause," said Fate, and the second sister passed.

The third sister didn't hesitate to say love. Fte allowed her passage as well. The three sisters went on their own ways. The first sister lost her sanity, family and freedom to the cause she had so brazenly defended. And so the first sister fell into darkness. The second sister lasted longer than the first, but she was trapped in a loveless marriage with no escape in sight. Sadly, the second sister fell into despair. The third sister, however, met the man she had always been destined to be with, and Fate looked on with a small smile."

Nymphadora smiled broadly, showing a row of jack-o-lantern teeth.

"I like that story, Mum. Like the three brothers except not."

Andromeda chuckled and put her daughter to bed. She wouldn't have traded this for the world. Narcissa and Bellatrix would never understand.

~o0o~

"Tell me a story, Gramma," Teddy said.

Andromeda smoothed his hair back. His forehead was still burning hot.

"I don't know," she said, eyes finding the clock. "You still have a fever and it's late…"

"Please?"

He looked at her with that same pleading expression that Dora, that Narcissa had always worn, and Andromeda felt her heart break.

"Just one. There was once a little girl. She had two sisters who held her up. Together, they stood not eh pedestal that had been created for them at birth. They remained there for many years, as happy as could be. Then the little girl fell in love. Right before her eyes, the pedestal of lies was shattered. Her sisters pushed her away and turned their backs, but the little girl didn't mind. Time marched on, and the little girl had a little girl of her own, who grew up and finally had a son, just like you."

She tapped her grandson's nose and he giggled.

"That's not a very long story, Gramma."

"No it's not, darling. Do you want to hear another?"