Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
In Andromeda's Mind
By: ChoCedric
It is the end of the war, and Andromeda Tonks feels broken, desolate, devastated. Her entire family is gone. Her one and only love, Ted, and her daughter, Nymphadora, and her cousin, Sirius, and her son-in-law, Remus. She feels totally barren and empty, as if there is nothing left to live for.
When she was a little girl, she always felt like an outcast. Living with her two sisters, Narcissa and Bellatrix, and their parents, she never felt like a part of the family. They were always talking about how pure their blood was, and about how they felt they were better than anyone else. Even though she was brought up to believe those ideas as well, she can't help feeling that they're messed up somehow, that hatred and bigotry shouldn't exist.
During her years at Hogwarts, she was introduced to people that felt the same way she did, and it amazed her. Her eyes were filled with wonder as she discovered that Muggle-borns are just as good at magic as purebloods are. As the years passed, she was always close to her favorite cousin, Sirius; they could be the black sheep together.
She fell in love with a Muggle-born by the name of Ted Tonks, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back for her family. Bella screamed at her about how she was a blood traitor, Narcissa looked on with haughty disdain, and her parents blasted her name off the family tapestry. But Andromeda didn't care anymore. She knew what was right and what was wrong, and this love with Ted felt completely right.
As she lies in bed all those years later, thinking back on the horrors of the war that took so many people she loved away from her, she can't help but remember when Dora told her she was getting married to Remus. She tried so hard, so, so terribly hard to not be prejudiced because he was a werewolf. But no matter how hard she tried, her family roots couldn't be denied. She had been told for years growing up that werewolves were a danger to society, and the horrors of Fenrir Greyback strengthened that belief.
But now that he is dead, she realizes how wrong she was. She should have been happy that her daughter found love, just like she did when she was young. She misses her terribly, her vivacious daughter who was so full of life and mischief. She feels awful that it was her own sister, her own sister Bella, who murdered her in cold blood. She knows Molly Weasley cast the final curse that ended her sister's life also. She feels a sea of conflicting emotions as she ponders over this string of events. She doesn't know if she'll miss Bella, but feels terrible for even wondering that, for the woman was, after all, her sister.
The calm, mild-mannered Remus Lupin was good to Dora, she knows, and she hopes that little Teddy will have a good life; she certainly plans on giving him one. She knows she would die of a broken heart if he wasn't in the next room, sleeping soundly in his crib. Narcissa is also still alive, and she hopes to Merlin that somehow, the two can make amends. They have been estranged for so long, and now is the time to rebuild relationships.
So as Andromeda Tonks settles down to sleep, she hopes with all her heart that she will see her family again soon, even Bella. She knows that Bella was the one to take out her beloved cousin Sirius as well, but hopes that wherever the two of them are now, they are hopefully trying to repair the fractured shards of their relationship. She prays that she will make her daughter proud, and hopes Remus will forgive her for thinking badly of him in the beginning. Her last conscious thought is of Ted's loving arms coming around her and squeezing her tightly, his face breaking into a soft smile.