Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (don't I wish…)
Warnings: contains non-explicit mentions of torture, with the odd 'crucio' here and there.
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…
"Ted…" Andromeda Tonks backed away from the door. "Get out of here. Now."
Her husband looked up wearily from his book. "What?"
Then the door exploded, sending Andromeda flying back into the wall, air whooshing out of her lungs. Ted lunged to his feet and ran over to her, but before he could reach his wife someone grabbed him and yanked him away.
"Edward Tonks, huh?" someone sneered, hand gripping his light hair painfully. "Mudblood Tonks?"
Ted's face went pale as he took in the dark clothes of a Death Eater.
"Get away from him." Andromeda had recovered sufficiently to stand and raise her wand. She cut an intimating figure, pale face cruelly aristocratic as she sneered at them down her wand. "Or I will make you very sorry that you ever touched a hair upon his head."
Ted would have taken the time to stare at her adoringly, had he not been thrown back to reality with a sharp jerk on his hair.
"Aah…Andromeda Tonks." The man appeared to smile, from behind his mask. "The bloodtraitor. I'm going to enjoy this very much."
Andromeda's wand never wavered from his head. "I am perfectly capable of killing you." She said coolly.
"I don't doubt that," the Death Eater acknowledged, twisting his hand around the clump of hair and clasping the other around Ted's neck. "But your precious husband" – he sneered out the word – "is in-between us. Are you going to take the chance of hitting him?"
"Yes." Andromeda said, eyes void of all emotion. "He's been on the receiving end of enough hexes to know how to control his reaction."
Ted gave her a nervous smile. Indeed, he had been the target of much harassment when they had begun to publically see each other; including, but not limited to a number of nasty ad painful curses (everyone had been too petrified of Andromeda's wrath to go for the icy Slytherin directly), but that had been years ago.
Still, whatever Andromeda was prepared to throw at them could hardly be worse than what the Death Eaters had planned.
The Death Eater tightened his grip around Ted's neck, and he tried to breathe as shallowly as possible. Already, he could feel the panic closing in as his airway became compressed.
"I think that you're frightened I'm going to kill him before you can react." The Death Eater relaxed his grip around his hair and pulled out his wand from somewhere on his person. "Go on, Dromeda, I dare you. Curse away."
Andromeda surveyed him coolly.
"Rodolphus," she said. "And why isn't your darling wife here with you? Where, pray tell, is Bellatrix?"
"Your sister," Andromeda's brother-in-law sneered, "Is away. Hunting." He added with relish.
Andromeda didn't ask for further clarification, partially because she didn't want the added distraction but mostly because she didn't want to know.
"Let my husband go, or I will kill you." Andromeda stated; it wasn't a threat – it was a fact.
Rodolphus used the hand holding his wand to pull off his mask, letting it drop to the floor and leaving his scarred face free.
"Now, now, Dromeda – is that any way to treat family?" he tutted, pressing the tip of the want to Ted's forehead.
Ted's face was going blue from lack of oxygen. His eyes were bugging out of his face and his muffled gasps for air echoed around the room.
"Alright, then." Rodolphus abruptly unclenched his hand and shoved Ted forward into Andromeda, knocking them both off balance. "Expeliamus!"
Andromeda's wand went flying.
"Tut, tut, Dromeda," Rodolphus shook his head in mock-disappointment. "You've gotten rusty. That Mudblood has ruined your reflexes. There was a time when you would have hexed me before this."
Andromeda's eyes smarted with fury as she gripped her choking husband. She made no move to go for her wand – she knew, with deadly certainty, that she would never be able to get it in time to defend both herself and her – for the most part – defence-incompetent husband.
"What do you want?" she asked regally.
"Still a stuck-up bitch, huh?" Rodolphus said. "Oh, well. I guess we'll just have to see about breaking that out of you, huh?"
Andromeda dug her nails into her husband to gain his attention. When he looked up, fear and fury battling within his eyes, Andromeda leaned over to hug him, burying her face into his neck. "Apparate out of here," she hissed, nails poking further into his skin as if in warning. "I'll be right behind you."
Ted know better than to argue with his wife – she was by far the more dangerous of the two – and so she watched as his face scrunched up in concentration, as it did every time that he Apparated.
Nothing happened.
"Anti-Apparition wards are up, Dromeda." Rodolphus taunted.
Andromeda sighed. "I had hoped that you would overlook that. You are stupid enough for it, after all."
Rodolphus's eyes darkened in anger. "You'd do well to remember who's in charge, Dromeda." He said. "I would rip your filthy lips off and no one could dare to say a word in your defence."
Andromeda slapped her hand over Ted's mouth before he could do something stupid – such as doing just that. Protesting against threats in her defence was, while sweet, likely to get him killed in their current situation.
Unfortunately, it wasn't an unfounded fear. Ted had gotten into trouble more than once with her Housemates for protesting against talk about her that he, honestly, had no business protesting against (especially since, for the most part, they hadn't been dating at the time).
Rodolphus noticed her movement.
"Worried about your filthy mudblood, are you?" he said, moving forward wearily – though not close enough for her to lunge for him.
Ted's face twisted with anger under his wife's hand, but he made no move to break her grip.
"You should be," Rodolphus continued, smiling. It was not a nice smile – it was full of hate and malice and poison, and it made both Ted and Andromeda freeze. "You see, he's on top of my Bella's list. As soon as the Dark Lord gives her permission, he is dead."
Ted inhaled sharply (almost choking on Andromeda's palm, as she still covered his mouth), and then went still.
He had known that Bellatrix was after him – she had been threatening both of them ever since they had begun to date. Even before that, she had gone out of her way to be extremely nasty to him, thanks to her sister's cordial attitude where he was concerned.
So news that he was going to die at her hand? That was nothing new.
"If my sister so much as steps a foot of my husband, I'll –"
"What?" Rodolphus interrupted her. "Kill her? My dear, you've grown so soft that you couldn't kill a fly."
Andromeda's eyes flashed dangerously. "Really?" she asked, voice deceptively calm.
Rodolphus just smiled. "Really." He said, pointing his wand at the couple. "Crucio."
Ted jerked his body in front of his wife in time to catch the curse. Immediately, he screamed from behind Andromeda's hand, body thrashing in mindless pain.
"Ted!" Andromeda snarled.
Rodolphus just laughed. "The mudblood sure screams prettily, huh? Crucio! Crucio!"
Andromeda continued to hold her screaming husband in a death grip, unwilling to let him go through so much pain alone. Rodolphus had apparently decided to focus all his attention onto the muggleborn, and had almost completely ignored her presence.
His first mistake.
Andromeda inhaled sharply through her nose and tried to block out Ted's screams. She had to, or she wouldn't be able to concentrate.
She couldn't be dangerous unless she concentrated.
Her wand was gone – yes, that was true. And with her wand, she was able to do some of her most powerful magic.
Wandless magic had never been her forte – but that didn't mean that she was completely incompetent at it.
She had been a Black, after all.
Gripping Ted all the tighter, Andromeda closed her eyes and willed her wand back. Inside her chest, she could feel her magic prowl, like a discontent cat. It was too used to easily channelling itself through her wand – it didn't want to make the effort –
Andromeda forced it to make the effort.
Slowly – inch by painful inch – her wand began to make its journey across the floor. Andromeda very carefully did not stare at it. If Rodolphus ever got any sense of what she was up to…
Perspiring with the effort, Andromeda felt her breaths coming out in short gasps, and tears pricked at her eyes.
Rodolphus noticed her distress, of course, but misinterpreted its cause. He broke the curse, and Ted's screams abruptly ceased as the man tried to grasp that he was no longer in any form of pain.
"What's the matter, Dromeda?" he smirked, walking over to them and kicking Ted in the ribs. The man groaned and curled up tighter around his wife.
Andromeda tried not to think about how protective of her he was, even though he was in shock.
"Leave my husband alone, Rodolphus. Your quarrel is with me."
"How noble, Andromeda." Rodolphus simpered. "How very Gryffindor of you. Perhaps you should begin dressing in red – after all, no true Slytherin would ever marry a mudblood."
Her wand sailed through the air and into her hand in response to her anger.
"Colloshoo!" Andromeda snapped, pushing her husband out of the way and pushing herself in the opposite direction as Rodolphus came crashing to the floor, feet still adhered to the floor. Rodolphus gave a scream of rage and pain as his ankles made a very interesting sound, having lunged at Andromeda when he had seen the wand, and fallen in the process. "Expelliamus!"
Rodolphus's wand slipped out of his hand, and Andromeda caught it neatly.
"Confringo!" the blasting curse shot past her ear and into the wall behind her, and Andromeda instinctively rolled out of the way as the plaster exploded.
She needed to get out of here, and Ted needed to come with her. The man was completely incompetent when it came to self-preservation, and if she left him here – which she would do over her cold, dead body – he would, at the very least, come out of the experience in much the same shape as Frank and Alice Longbottom.
Such things did not bear thinking about.
"Avada Kedavra!" she hissed in fury, aiming for one of the three Death Eaters that were storming into her house.
"Crucio!" someone shouted, and Andromeda almost dropped her wand as pain shot through her body.
Swearing, Andromeda spun around and shot the freezing curse at the one holding his wand in her direction.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Andromeda cursed as her arms snapped to her sides, as though her entire body had been wrapped in cling-wrap. Her wand once again fell from her nerveless fingers, and she could only stare in on in horror as they all turned their attention to Ted.
The stupid man hadn't even tried to get away, Andromeda fumed as he fired off a few curses at the Death Eaters. Of course, he wouldn't have gotten far – probably would have tripped over his own feet, his wife thought cynically – but he could have at least tried to save his own skin, dammit!
"Now," Rodolphus hissed out as he scrambled to his feet as gracefully as possible with his two very-likely sprained ankles. Andromeda and Ted had been pushed roughly onto their couch, and they both sat there limply, under the influence of the body-binding curse. "We have some questions to ask you."
Andromeda simply glared at the man. The Ministry had fallen, of course, but did he truly think there would be no repercussions from this? Did he think that he could get away with hurting her Ted?
Of course, they could always just…kill them. The thought had occurred to Andromeda, and while she was loathe to admit it, it would be a smart thing for their enemy to do. While she and Ted weren't officially a part of the Order of the Phoenix, their daughter and her husband were, as were many of their friends. A good way to flush some of the lesser-known ones would be to kill off as many Order-affiliated members as possible, and watch the rest explode into action.
After all, the Order could hardly afford for their allies to become deceased. They were small enough, as it was.
"About Harry Potter," Rodolphus smiled unpleasantly. "And the Order of the Phoenix."
…
"Mother! Mum!"
Andromeda awoke to her daughter, Nymphadora Tonks, shaking her awake.
"Mum!" she said again, fingers digging into Andromeda's shoulders. "Wake up!"
Andromeda abruptly came into full consciousness, eyes snapping open to take in the ruined remains of her lounge room.
"Teddy!" she shouted, lurching upward as her memory painfully returned.
"Shh, Mum, Dad's fine," her daughter promised, hugging her mother tightly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Andromeda said without really meaning it. "How about Ted? Where'd my husband?"
"Dad's fine," Dora promised soothingly. "Look, he's right over there – see? He's fine. A bit battered and bruised, but no worse for wear."
No, he's not fine. He's no better off than I, at the moment, Andromeda thought – but she kept her thoughts to herself. No need to frighten her daughter, after all.
"C'mon, we've got to get you checked out."
Andromeda gave her daughter a cool look. "Give me my wand."
Dora's face went white.
Andromeda let out a low snarl. "Nymphadora!"
With trembling fingers, her daughter brought out the shattered remains of her wand*. Andromeda stared at it numbly for a long second, and then let out a scream of rage.
"I am going to KILL HIM!" Andromeda roared. "I will end him! It will be slow and it will be painful and I will NEVER LET HIM TOUCH ME OR MY FAMILY AGAIN!"
"Mum…" Dora gave her a shocked stare, looking shaken.
Andromeda was too furious to notice.
"Help me up," she demanded, every inch the aristocratic-pureblood that she was. She was shakily pulled to her feet, and then she shrugged off her daughter's worried hands and strode carefully over to her husband.
"Get up, you imbecilic," she hissed, toeing his stomach.
Ted opened his eyes a crack, and gave her the weakest grin she had ever seen on his usually cheerful face. "G'morning, Andy," he slurred.
"Shut up," she snapped. She bent down – carefully, carefully, because her ribs ached something raw – and pulled him easily to his feet. That man is too thin, she thought, irrationally irritated with him. "Come with me."
"Where are we going?" Ted made no move to dislodge her arm, which clutched at him hard enough that it was going to leave bruises, later.
"We're going to get fixed up," Andromeda said. "And then you are going somewhere safe, and I am going hunting."
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*Okay, so I know that Andromeda's wand wasn't broken, but I thought it would be an interesting catalyst for her to go over the deep end.
Author's Note: so this is darker than what I usually post up, but it just…caught me. Personally, I'm in love with Andromeda and Ted, from what I've read, and I've always been a quiet fan of them from what I read in the books. I've always pictured her as a slight badass, which is where her character came from (since we never see much of her in the books, and they aren't in the movies AT ALL *sobs*).
Also, for any readers of my 'Sorting Hat' series, I know that I should be writing for 'Woes', but I just can't seem to get the latest chapter right. I promise that I'll upload it soon, though!
Please review!