Too Far Gone
By: P.E.E.V.S.Y.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Andromeda Tonks was sitting Indian-style in the far corner of her and her husband's bedroom. Photo albums of all different sizes and shapes were spread out on the floor around her. At the moment, she was looking at a small, flower print one with a sad smile on her face.
On each page, pictures of three smiling girls waved up at her. Occasionally, cameo appearances were made by a tall, stern-looking dark haired man, a tiny, nervous blond woman, a short, smiling elderly man with salt and pepper hair and two gorgeous little boys with the same black hair and laughing gray eyes.
"Mummy!" a little girl shrieked, startling Andromeda out of her reverie. A little girl with bright pink hair jumped over the large bed in the middle of the room and tumbled down into Andromeda's lap.
Andromeda let out a laugh, "Well, hello Nifty, my dear. How was your and Daddy's little adventure?"
"It was fun, Mummy! Daddy and I looked at all the amimals in the zoo! And then, and then, and then and then Daddy and I went to Diagonal!"
Andromeda laughed as she shifted her photo album out from under her five year old daughter, "Diagon Alley, Nifty,"
Nifty wrinkled her nose and turned her head sideways, "Didn't I say that? And Mummy, can't you just call me Nymphadora or Tonks or Dora like everyone else does?"
"No," Andromeda smiled, "I can't. You're my Nifty and there's nothing you can do about it!" Andromeda tickled her child as Nymphadora started to laugh hysterically.
"Okay! Okay! Nifty!" Nymphadora squealed as she squirmed in her mother's lap, "Mummy, who're they?" she suddenly asked, pointing to the three girls and two boys waving up from the photo album laying abandoned in front of them.
"Them, Nifty?" Andromeda asked, picking up the album again and putting it in her and her daughter's lap.
"Yeah!" Nymphadora grinned, bouncing up and down. Andromeda leaned down and rested her head on Nymphadora's shoulder. Nymphadora leaned her bright pink head against her mother's.
"Tell me about them Mummy!" Suddenly, Nymphadora giggled, "That one looks like you, Mummy!" Nymphadora pointed one of her tiny fingers at the girl in the middle of the photo, her dark brown hair sliding off her shoulder and glowing in the summer sun. The girl was laughing and banging into the girl and boy on either side of her. On her left, there were two boys.
The first boy was small and had mischievous gray eyes. His slightly pudgy face was grinning widely and he was giving the boy on his other side bunny ears. The second boy was the smallest of the group and could barely have been four years old. He was standing up and sucking his thumb, seemingly oblivious to the other boy's antics. However, his gray eyes were also mischievous as he watched the laughing girl on the brunette's other side holding a frog above the first boy's head.
On the brunette's right, were two other girls. The girl closest to her had long, silky black hair. She was leaning over the brunette and was holding a toad over the first boy's head, snickering. It was obvious that she was going to drop it on his head at any moment. Next to the raven-haired girl, the last girl sat. She was a beautiful blond who was rolling her eyes at the other girl's antics. She was also leaning over and occasionally elbowed the raven-haired girl when she shifted too much. The brunette, the one Nymphadora claimed looked just like her mother, surveyed the whole scene, laughing her head off.
Andromeda gave her daughter a sad smile, "That is me, Nifty. I was thirteen in that picture,"
"Really? Wow, Mummy! You were so pretty!" Nymphadora squealed. Then, out of the blue, she scrunched up her eyes and nose.
When Andromeda looked back down at her daughter, she was surprised to see a younger version of herself looking back.
"Look at me Mummy! Now I look just like you did!" Nymphadora giggled, "Now, who's that?" Nymphadora pointed at the girl with the frog.
"That was my older sister, Bellatrix. I used to call her Trixie. She hated when I did that. Always told me to call me Bella," Andromeda chuckled to herself as she continued to look down at the picture.
"She's about to put a frog on his head!" Nymphadora sniggered, "That's so funny! Who's she trying to put the frog on, Mum?"
"That's my cousin, Sirius. He was so mad when she finally did. He chased her around the house for an hour. It was so funny! Trixie was laughing the entire time, never thinking he would catch her. He did though. Then he accidentally turned her into a giant talking flower,"
"Flower?" Nymphadora howled with laughter, "I like him," She announced when she finally calmed down, "He's funny. So, who's Sir-i-us giving them bunny ears too?"
"That's Regulus," Andromeda explained, "He was the youngest and everyone always picked on him,"
"Oh," Nymphadora turned around, looking worried, "Was he okay?"
"Oh, Reggie was more than okay. He always knew when someone was going to do something to him, so he was able to miss the ones he didn't want to hit him. I think Reg actually enjoyed trying to guess what people would do next and how to avoid it,"
"Oh. Okay. As long as he didn't mind," Nymphadora said contently, "Who's she? She's really pretty, Mummy," Nymphadora asked, pointing to the last person in the picture, the blond girl.
Andromeda laughed softly, "That's my little sister, Narcissa. She was always the prettiest of all of us. She used to spend hours on her hair and then never wanted to get it messed up. Nar-Nar, or Cissy as she like to be called, preferred to watch our games rather than play them. She did join us in the adventure games though. She used to play the princess that we were all trying to save,"
"Oh. I'd've liked to have been the knight coming to save her!" Nymphadora shrugged. She looked at the picture for a little bit longer before turning to face her mother again. This time, her hair was starting to turn pink again and her face looked more like her own, "Mummy, how come I never met 'em before? We see Aunt Tracy and Uncle Bert every Christmas and on my birthday. How come I don't know them?" Nymphadora asked, the picture of innocent youth.
Andromeda's gray eyes clouded over. How was she supposed to tell her little angel that they didn't want to meet her? That they didn't even want to see her and wished that her darling little Nifty had never been born? How was Andromeda supposed to tell sweet, curious and fun Nymphadora that her beloved sisters and cousins grew into horrible people?
That Bellatrix had tortured two innocent people into insanity? That Narcissa had married one of the foulest men to walk the earth and refused to even look at muggleborns? Or that Sirius had betrayed his best friends and therefore condemned them to death? That Regulus hadn't been clever enough to avoid being killed when he had satisfied his curiosity and wanted out of the Death Eater's ranks? How could she explain to her little baby what her family was and where she came from?
"Nifty," Andromeda started to say, but then she paused. Finally, she said, "You've never seen them because their too far away. They can't travel this far to see us,"
"Dora, 'Dromeda! Get ready to go! It's time to pick out Dora's cake!" Ted Tonks, Nymphadora's father, called up the stairs.
"Yippee! Cake!" Nymphadora jumped out of her mother's lap and went slipping and sliding out of the room.
Andromeda stood up slower than her daughter had and walked to the door. Just as she was about to exit, she looked back and saw the picture with all those happy faces smiling up at her. Andromeda sighed; at least she hadn't lied to Nifty. Not exactly.
After all, the past was to far away. In fact, it was so far away, that it would never come back. Nifty would never meet the fun-loving if wild Trixie, or the sweet and kind Nar-Nar. She'd never see the adventurous and reckless Sirius or the shy but witty Regulus. Unfortunately, they were all gone. Too far away for anyone to ever reach.
Andromeda turned and left the photo albums behind. It was time to pick up her daughter's birthday cake.
The End.
A/N: I was looking through all the old stuff I've written, when I stumbled on this. I read it, liked it, edited it and decided to post it. Tell me what you think, please! I hope you like it, but if you don't that's okay too.
-P.E.E.V.S.Y.