Written for the Music Club (My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music), Variety of Prompts (Object: Ticket).
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.
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Andromeda Tonks had once prided herself on her ability to hold it all together. To suppress the pain and put on the face of the cold hearted bitch the world thought her to be. But under that uncaring expression had always resided a suffocating girl. She'd just became too accustomed to breathing through the fingers around her neck to allow any of it to show.
Of course there was always that one boy who could see through her act. The one boy who noticed her slowly falling grip. The boy who would caress the emotional bruises she sported and told her that she was better than any of them. The one who always ripped the smothering hold her family had from her neck.
It was for this boy that Andromeda now mourned. She couldn't believe he was gone. That both of them were gone. It was a sick fate that ripped her husband and daughter from Andromeda. A fate that Andromeda didn't wish to acknowledge. Yet sadly, she had no choice in this matter. Her husband and daughter were gone and all Andromeda had left were the photos in front of her.
But it wasn't enough, these photos. She'd gladly turn over everything laying in front of her to just get back the real thing. To have Ted and Dora walk through that door once more. Father and daughter smiling and laughing, bringing joy into the household.
A childish giggle danced through the open window, snapping Andromeda's attention from the stacks of photos. For a second she thought she was hearing Dora again. But this laughter didn't belong to a little girl, but a budding baby boy. Her grandson, Teddy Lupin, was so much like Dora had been at that age. So full of energy, life, and hair that never stayed the same color for more than half an hour.
Getting up from her place on the floor, Andromeda made her way to the open window. The sadness and aching she felt was dulled slightly at the sight of the baby boy on the swing set. His face was lit up in joy and happiness. His currently platinum blonde hair blew about wildly as the swing went back and forth, and he looked the exact copy of the grinning cousin playing with him.
Of all the things that Andromeda regretted in her life, taking in her young nephew after his family had abandoned him was not one of those things. It had been a shocking blow to Andromeda to have tracked down her nephew months after the war, to find him disowned, disinherited, living out of the Leaky Cauldron and scrapping by as an interning healer in St. Mungo's. Taking him into her home while he adjusted and figured out his life had been an easy choice, and three months later, she was saddened to realize that he would soon be leaving her as well.
He wasn't leaving for good though. He wasn't going to leave her and Teddy that way Dora and Ted had; not that the two of them had had much of a choice in that matter.
Another set of joy filled laughter rang out as Teddy called to go higher and Draco did so. Smiling, a little sadly, Andromeda turned from the window and made her way back to the piles of photos on the floor. Slowly sitting back down, trying not to take note of the soreness in her knees, she turned her attention back onto the photos.
Her fingers trailed over the smiling faces with great care, reflecting on all of the happy memories that they brought. For hours it felt like she sat there, thumbing through the box of forgotten photos. She kept an ear tuned to the laughter coming outside as she did so, trying not to sink too far into despair, but knowing that she needed to sort through these items.
Moving her gaze from the photos, she pulled the box of forgotten things closer to her. Ruffling through, she smiled at Ted's old Hufflepuff tie, some of his old papers, a couple records, a few Muggle trinkets that she'd forgotten the uses of, and those baseball cards he'd use to collect when he was younger. Digging deeper, her fingers brushed against the sharp edges of a ripped piece of paper. Fishing it out, Andromeda couldn't stop the tear that fell slowly down her cheek at the sight of it.
The ticket stub was wrinkled and faded from the years, but Andromeda still recognized the words along its blue background as if it were once more the day they'd bought it.
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Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bring copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
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Andromeda was still crying lightly by the time Draco entered the home later, with Teddy laughing in his arms. She tried to stifle the sobs but was unable to do so before he nephew saw. Setting Teddy down, he made his way towards her, dropping onto his knees and taking her shoulders in his hands.
"Aunt 'Dromeda?" Draco looked at her with concerned filled eyes. He muttered a spell, turning a discarded used handkerchief into new and handing it to her. "Is everything okay?"
Andromeda tried not to look into the boys startling grey eyes as they pierced into her. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
"What's wrong?" He repeated again. His eyes caught sight of the ticket in her hand, as well as the photos that littered the floor. "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for." Andromeda took one of his hands into her own. "What happened wasn't your fault. You had nothing to do with it."
"I know but…" Draco trailed off. He picked up on of the photos, smiling sadly at the cousin he would never get to know. "I still can't be feel a bit responsible."
Teddy waddle over, dropping down between them and grinning as he ran his finger over the play ticket in Andromeda's hand. The pair watched the toddler as he watched them, his eyes the same sparkling grey as theirs.
"You know," Andromeda spoke slowly, her fingers working over the faded piece of paper, "the first time me and Ted went on a real date, as a real couple, it was to this little Muggle playhouse in London. I'd very rarely been in the Muggle world, but seeing it with him was truly something." She paused for a second, not looking at Draco to see if he was still listening. "He took me to see this little play, A Sound Of Music. It was fairly new at the time and supposed to be this huge production. I wasn't a fan of it. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't like it. Maybe it was because I didn't belong to that world. I didn't understand a lot of the Muggle references and I had no idea what was going on most of the time. I told Ted I loved it because he loved it. And I loved seeing him smile the way he had.
"For weeks after that he'd sing those blasted songs, but there was one in particular that he loved. I don't remember the words, it's been so long since I've heard it, but it was the most annoying song I'd ever heard. Something about raindrops and dresses and winters, it was ridiculously chipper. Extremely chipper." She was laughing softly now. "But he loved it none the less. He loved all of that stuff. And I loved him."
She reached into the box, pulling out an old dusty record. She turned it twice, smiling sadly at the tattered sleeve it rested in. "I made the mistake of getting him that record for a wedding present a few years later. I was surprised he didn't wear it out he played it so often. It probably doesn't even work anymore. But the bloody idiot wanted the song to be our first dance at the wedding. I put my foot down on that one."
She handed the album to Draco who took it with careful hands. Shifting so Teddy could also catch sight of it – as the young child was eager to see everything being passed about – Draco's gaze roamed over the object. It was also worn down by age, the brightly painted mountain scene was faded into cold greys and greens under a near white sky. The elegantly written words were a dusty black, but Draco could still read them. Turning it over, he skimmed over the titles of the songs, finding them stranger and stranger as he went.
"But he loved it none the less." Andromeda spoke. She reached forward, taking Teddy into her lap. The child smiled up at her, hair turning from blonde into heavy black locks that fell into his face. Smiling, Andromeda pushed his bangs back and kissed his forehead. "We use to play it for Nymphadora when she was a baby. It was the only song that could get her to sleep at times."
Andromeda sat lost in thought, the play ticket resting between under her thumb. She could almost hear the lyrics again as well as Ted's deep baritone as he sank to the song, spinning her around their front room for the first time. She could hear Nymphadora's cries being quieted within the first few verses. She was taken back to being nineteen, exploring the world she'd been kept from with a man her parents disapproved of.
Teddy gave a light hiccup which drew Andromeda's attention onto him. He looked up at her with wide eyes. "Hung'y."
"I can bet." Andromeda patted his head. "You've been playing hard today."
"Playing!" Teddy clapped. His eyes snapped onto Draco as he jumped from his grandmother's lap. "Play! Dwaco."
Andromeda smiled at the boys. "How about I get started on dinner than."
"Would you like some help?" Draco set the record carefully into the box before turning his gaze onto her.
"I'll be fine dear." Andromeda waved him off as she stood. She brushed off the dust on her pants, and setting the play ticket on top of a faded wedding photo. Her gaze fell over the photos and items that still lay over the front room floor. "I should tidy this up though."
"I'll do it." Draco offered, trying to calm Teddy who was now bouncing about in his lap. Andromeda watched her nephew for a moment, searching for what was going through his mind. After a second she nodded, leaving the two in the living room as she headed into the kitchen.
With his aunt no longer there, Draco gazed sadly over the old photos. He didn't want to just put them back into the box. He didn't want to leave it like this. Setting Teddy to his right, and climbing to his feet, the young Slytherin began to think. He wanted to do something nice for his aunt, something to thank her for all she'd done for him over the last few months, and something to honor the memory of a cousin and uncle that had been taken from him long before he'd been given the chance to meet.
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Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
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It had taken Draco almost a week to complete his plan. In his defense for the delay, he didn't know what he was doing at first, and it was difficult to find time between work, playing with Teddy, and his aunt wanting to spend time together as a family. And once he started on the task, he wanted it to be perfect and didn't want to give it to her unless it was. But now was the time to finish his undertaking, and as he set the cumbersome book onto the coffee table, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
The morning birds chirped happily outside the window as Andromeda entered into the front room a few seconds later with Teddy on tow. The child was already babbling in half formed words as he dragged his grandmother into the room and over to where Draco stood. Trying not to laugh at the sight, Draco had to give into the fact that sending the boy to bring her down was a great plan.
"Alright, alright." Andromeda laughed. She laughed at the boy, before turning her gaze onto Draco, who quickly stopped his laughter. "Why do I have a feeling you sent him after me?"
Draco shrugged. "I have no idea what you mean."
"Right." Andromeda didn't believe him. But her attempts to question further was gone as she noticed the large leather bound book that rested on the table beside her. Her eyes narrowed at it, trying to make out the words but unable to from affair.
"What is this," she asked as she bent to pick it up. Her hand ran along the carefully etched words. Her gaze went to Draco as if questioning if it were real. Seeing no betrayal in his eyes, she went back to the book. The name Tonks was written into the leather and stood out in black against the dark brown. Curiosity took over her, and she flipped open the first page, only to nearly drop the book.
A picture of her and Ted, both in their early twenties, smiling, and leaning against one another outside in a park was what greeted her. As she flipped further she came across more pictures, all from the stakes that she had found in that abandoned box. As she continued through the book, she could feel the tears building behind her eyes but refused to let them fall.
Soon the pages were no longer filled with just her and Ted, but their daughter as well. Some of them were taped together and faded in other places, but most were in pretty decent conditions. As she reached the end of the book, she stopped on a particular page. She ran her fingers over the play leaflet for The Sound of Music. It was faded, wrinkled in several places, and repaired with a few charms, but Andromeda recognized it instantly from whenever she'd first seen it. She hadn't even noticed it when it had been in the box. To the left of it, was the ticket stub from that day. The wrinkles had been smoothed somewhat and the text restored slightly.
Closing the book, she turned her gaze onto Draco, only to find him gone. Following the sound coming from the kitchen, she found him standing in front of the table while Teddy sat in a chair, digging into a bowl of cereal. Upon her entering, Draco looked up and smiled sadly.
"Did you.." she trailed off, choosing to lift the book instead of finishing the sentence.
"It didn't seem right to just leave them in a box." Draco shrugged. After noticing the tear that was forming in the corner of her eye, he took a step back. "I'm sorry if I…"
"No." Andromeda moved forward, setting the book onto the table. "Thank you. For this. It means a great deal."
Draco nodded. After he didn't speak, Andromeda stepped forward, enveloping him in a tight embrace which he gave into moments afterwards. "Thank you," she whispered as he let him go.
"It was nothing." Draco replied. He looked away, before his eyes sparked. "I almost forgot."
He stepped passed her towards and to the counter. As he walked back over, he slipped a large piece of cardboard into her hands. Glancing down, she recognized the album cover which was brighter and more alive than she'd seen it in years.
"I remembered what you said about playing it for your daughter." Draco spoke carefully and slowly. "And with Teddy being up all night, I thought maybe you could try it with him. And since you said you don't remember the words, I got the record fixed so that… you could…" Draco trailed off, not sure what to say on the matter.
"Thank you." Andromeda repeated.
"Don't thank me." Draco shock his head. "It was the least I could do after everything you've done for me."
"We're family Draco." Andromeda ran a hand along his arm and smiled at him softly. After a few moments, he smiled back. The moment was broken as Teddy, in his attempt to line up his cereal, flung milk splatters onto them.
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Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into spring
These are a few of my favorite things
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It was few days later, the click ticking passed midnight whenever Teddy wandered into Andromeda's bedroom, his blanket trailing behind him and face red with tears. He stumbled into the room, careful in his attempt to climb onto the bed. "Gran."
Andromeda stirred slightly and after a second attempt, she woke to see her grandson looking down at her. "Oh, Teddy." She sighed as she sat up, wrapping him under the blanket. "What's wrong? Another nightmare?"
"Ya." Teddy muttered, nuzzling up into her. "Scary."
"It's alright." Andromeda mussed, patting down his currently vibrant red hair. "It's going to be okay Teddy."
"Will you sing for me?" Teddy asked, his voice drowsy in sleep.
"Of course." Andromeda replied. Her eyes caught the record folder on the dresser. Smiling, she looked down at the sleeping child, the lyrics already coming to mind. "Raindrops of roses and whiskers on kittens…"
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When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
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