A/N: While not my first fic (more like 19th or 20th), this IS my first Harry Potter Fic. And, par usual, I just have to pay attention at least one under used character (Andromeda Black-Tonks, in this case)
Summary: "Yet another thread of her old family had been abandoned to the winds." Andy Tonks finds her cousin on her doorstep one night after a fight with his family. Mentions of Ted & Nymphadora.
Edited because of timeline issues, now ties in with my Andy/Ted/Nymphadora vig series, Take My Hand, but that doesn't have to be read to understand this.
The incessant knocking at Merlin knows what hour wasn't doing anything for her mood. At first, she'd pulled a pillow over her head, hoping that whoever it was would take the hint and buzz off. She also desperately wished for her husband's ability to sleep though nearly any noise.
She gave up after she heard a muffled thump from the next room, signifying her daughter's wakefulness. Padding first to the room of her three-year-old daughter, Andy made sure that Nymphie hadn't hurt herself when she'd fallen off her bed before heading towards the front door irritably. Wrenching open the door, Andromeda had been ready to hex the visitor into next week, muggle neighbourhood be damned. But when she saw who was huddled on her front step, she promptly forgot that thought and dragged him in from the rain.
"Sirius! What do you think you're doing! Trying to freeze to death?" She scolded him absently closed the door and inspected her young cousin. "What happened?" she asked shrewdly.
Sirius flicked his wet fringe out of his eyes, sending water droplets flying. "What makes you think something happened, Andy?" he replied in sorts, an innocent expression on his face.
Andy raised an eyebrow. "That look may work on your classmates, but it won't work on me, Sirius Black," she reminded him. "And as for what makes me think somethings happened... One: You show up with no warning. Two: You show up in the middle of the night-"
"It's only quarter past ten, Andy-" Sirius interrupted before being silenced by Andromeda's look.
"When you've got a three-year-old in the house, that is late."
Sirius squirmed uncomfortably. "I didn't wake her did I?" He asked worriedly, he had quite a soft spot for little Nymphadora.
Andy sighed. "She's awake, but she obviously hasn't realised you're here yet as we haven't been bombarded yet."
"Ah," was Sirius' only reply.
After a few moments silence, Andy tried again. "So, are you going to tell your older, banished cousin what's going on? Especially since you're in my house late at night," She asked mildly.
Sirius dropped into a nearby lounge chair. "I finally did it, Andy. I told them exactly where to get off. I left them behind."
Andy followed Sirius' example, collapsing into another chair. "You ran away," she stated quietly.
He grinned wryly at her. "Damn bloody right I did. Godric, I've been waiting to do that for years."
"You do realise that you've probably been blasted off the tapestry by now, you won't be able to go back," Andy reminded him gently.
It was Sirius' turn to raise a dark eyebrow. "You know as well as I do, Andy, that that tapestry is a damn abomination. I know what I've done, I don't want to go back. Ever," he shuddered. "I'd go stark raving mad if someone tried to cage me in that house. My only real regret is that I've left Reg alone. He'll bend to whatever they say now," Sirius snorted softly, "not that he doesn't already. I just hope he figures out that he has to please himself, not everyone else," Sirius ran his fingers through his hair distractedly before looking up at Andy again. "Do you think I did the right thing?"
She got up and went to hug her cousin, the only one who still kept in contact with her. "I do, Sirius, although as I'm Andromeda Black, the one who ran off with an Ravenclaw Muggle-born, I mightn't be the right person to ask that."
Sirius chuckled softly. "But that's why I'm asking you, Andy. You're different from the rest. Like me."
Andy sighed. "What are you going to do now?"
He squirmed slightly here. "Um... I was kinda hoping that I could... um, crash here for tonight, and maybe tomorrow?" Sirius looked at the floor as he asked.
"I thought you'd never ask," Andy smiled. "Nymphie'll be ecstatic."
He looked up in relief. "You don't mind?" He clarified.
"No, Ted and I'll be happy to have you for a few days."
"Thanks, Andy," Sirius leapt up and hugged her enthusiastically. "I probably won't be here very long though, I'm gonna send an owl to James first thing tomorrow to see if I can stay at his place for the rest of the summer."
"Ok, just don't leave in too much of a hurry, or Nymphie won't be happy with you at all," Andy warned teasingly.
Sirius smiled as she showed him into the guest room.
His head had no sooner hit the pillow is than he was asleep.
Andromeda Tonks sighed as she slipped silently from the room and padded back towards her daughter's room. Another thread of her family blasted into exile. Why did they have to cast out one of the few decent sorts in the family, why?
Andy clung to the doorframe of Nymphie's room while she peered inside to check on her once again sleeping daughter. It wasn't so long that she had been that thread abandoned to the wind, but now... now she felt she was far richer in the things that really mattered, and she could weave her own family.
One without all the prejudice and aristocracy of her old one, one that would always welcome Sirius into it's midst.
A/N: What do you think? Reviews are loved (CC loved too).