A/N: Written for Breastroke in the 2012 Hogwarts Games, the Tim Burton Competition with the quote "Villainy wears many masks, none of which so dangerous as virtue."- Sleepy Hollow, and for a pairing offered on the Femmeslash Drabble Tag. Andromeda is a little…mentally disturbed.
Warning: implied incest, implied future possible dub-con (or, you know, having sex with someone who thinks you're someone else). But bear with me.
)O(
"Would you like a cup of tea, darling?" Andromeda came into the living room, balancing a silver tea-tray in the air with her wand raised dramatically in front of her.
"Sure, mum, put it over here." Tonks waved vaguely in the general direction of the table, then continued talking to her friend, who was sitting on the opposite end of the couch with her hands clasped demurely on her lap.
"...so then I told her to that it had been me she was snogging all along, and not that new girl Melanie. You should've seen the look on her face when I changed my face back to normal! Looked like she'd been stunned."
"That certainly is an amusing story, but I think we've gotten away from the reason I came here, a bit. If you'll remember," Audrey shifted closer to Tonks, her eyes wide open in earnest, "you were going to show me that spell; how you pack your bag. I'd really like to see how you manage to fold your socks."
"Has she been telling you that she was the responsible for that?" Andromeda suddenly cut in. "I'm afraid Nymphadora's cleaning skills could not even manage to wipe the dust from the top of her bedside table. At least, that's what I managed to take from what I've seen of her room. You should be ashamed, Nymphadora. Really."
"Shut up mum, it's none of your business. And don't call me Nymphadora."
"It is my house you're living in, darling. In the few months you actually are home, I expect you to get off your lazy behind and do something for the benefit of others."
Mother and daughter were practically spitting venom at each other, in the most polite of ways. Trying to defuse the tension (and to maybe make some headway in her quest for the perfect cleaning technique), Audrey stood up and cleared her throat.
"May I just say, Mrs Tonks, that I admire your work very, very much. I would be only too honoured if you could spare some of your valuable time to instruct me."
Andromeda brought herself back to reality and smiled stiffly. "Well, it would be a pleasure to teach someone who actually has some interest in maintaining a standard of hygiene. Come this way, girl. What did you say your name was?"
"Her name is Audrey, mother. You may also remember that my name is Tonks. And before you ask, no, I have absolutely no problem with being ignored while you two chatter on. I'll be in my room, doing something very interesting. If you feel like including me back in your life, do yell." Abruptly, she stood up from the couch, smiled tightly, and made her way up the stairs, making sure to slam all doors she passed them.
"Will she be all right?" asked Audrey tentatively, looking after her friend.
"Don't worry about Nymphadora, she does that all the time. Absolutely no respect."
"Err…right. Shall you show me…?"
"Oh I'm sorry darling, of course! Here, watch this," Andromeda straightened her wand arm and said, "Scourgify!", pointing it at Audrey.
At once, her pale blue robes rippled, giving her body the odd feeling of being slapped with a thousand butterfly wings. It was actually quite pleasant.
When she held out her arm to examine a sleeve, she saw a distinct improvement in the colour. The spots of black ink that had previously adorned it were gone. Before, the robes had been a faded blue, going grey at the hems. When she looked at it again she felt as if she was looking at an entirely new outfit. It was impossible to be so good at cleaning. Phenomenal.
She looked back at the woman who had changed her life without even knowing it. Here was someone who understood her. Here was someone who had the same passion for neatness as she did, but enough skill to actually fulfil it.
Here was someone she couldn't let go of.
"Good, eh?" Andromeda grinned, pleased with her handiwork.
"It's wonderful. I don't think these robes have ever been so clean, ever, not even on the day I bought them." Audrey stepped closed to Andromeda, gazing at her in reverence, "I don't know how to thank you for this."
A change came over the older woman's face. The grin faded away as her eyes darkened, her mouth slackened, the colour rushed from her face.
"You remind me of my sister," she said, walking towards Audrey, still with the same unfocused expression.
"Oh yes? What is she like?"
"She doesn't exist anymore. At least, not like I knew her. But...years ago, I thought she could redeem herself. She could come with me, escape with me from the clutches of our mother, escape from the life we were doomed to follow. But no, Cissy was always too proper to do anything like that, too prim, too...pure," she spat out the words as if she was ridding herself of something repugnant.
"I'm very sorry to hear that," Audrey pulled back unconsciously, away from the slowly advancing Andromeda.
"I thought...after all that time...she couldn't possibly break my heart like that. That BITCH!" The woman's wonderings had stopped, changing her quiet words to bellows. A flood of repressed emotion had seen its chance to go forth in the world and Andromeda could do nothing to stop it.
"Can you believe that she, she, the girl who everyone praised as being the most pretty and prudent and sensible of the three of us, used to spend so much time fucking her sisters?! I was so surprised when she came into my room that first night and took off her clothes, but really, I should have seen it coming. Of the three of us, she was the one who acted like the perfect Black already, so why should she not totally act like a Black?! Being a Black was about being the dirtiest, most blood-obsessed, most hypocritical person in the world, but hiding it so well everyone thinks you're a saint. She mastered that perfectly. She and all of the rest of that sick, depraved family. Bitch!" Andromeda ended her rant with another scream of rage.
Never in her life, not even when she had left home, had she shown her true thoughts on such a grand scale.
There was always someone around who would stop her. She would look at them and know it was a bad idea to go back into that part of her life. It had given her nothing more substantial than scars, scars everywhere.
Ted had tried to heal the scars by kissing them over and over, day in and day out. He had tried covering them in potions. He had taken her to see his Healer friend, even. But they could do nothing to make them go away.
She had thought she'd accepted that. There was nothing she could do about the scars but try to forget about them.
She didn't want to forget about them. Forgetting them would mean forgetting the lazy nights she had spent with Cissy, just lying in bed and thinking about the universe. Those nights had been the highlight of her life, then.
Who was this girl standing in front of her? Why did she look so scared, so pale? Andromeda squinted and took a step towards Audrey, who backed away and crashed into the small coffee table behind her.
"Cissy…I'm so glad you came back."
"Mrs Tonks, I don't know what you're talking about, and I really wish you'd stop. Why don't you sit down…?"
"Shut up Cissy. We have a seriously large amount of sex to catch up on."
"Mrs Tonks! There is no 'Cissy' in this room!" Audrey's voice was desperate. While a moment ago she had been standing in front of a very attractive and self-possessed woman, the person in front of her now looked…dead. She had a ghostlike pallor and moved in a way that could only be described as inferi-like.
"What? Stop being silly and let's get to the point. I'm not ready to forgive you, but I think we can work something out. Run away with me before they find out you're here! No-one will have to know." She grabbed Audrey by the shoulders and forced her lips on the younger woman's, crushing them with animalistic want. She closed her eyes in the expectation of a blissful familiarity.
Audrey struggled for a moment, her arms pinned to her sides. As the kiss went on her muscles relaxed. She may not have been moving her lips of tongue or teeth, but she didn't feel inclined to fight those of Andromeda. A warm, fuzzy feeling started to burn in her chest. Whoever Cissy was, she was missing out on a seriously intense confrontation.
Just as Audrey was getting into the kiss, moulding her lips and body to that of Andromeda, the older woman suddenly bit her lower lip , sending a sharp ripple of pain through Audrey.
Andromeda let out a strangled cry and pulled away from Audrey, scrambling backwards to the opposite end of the room.
"Oh Merlin, I am so so sorry! I think I'm going mad; there's no other explanation for this." She stood, panting, with her hand on her stomach and the other over her mouth. Her features were frozen in a grotesque, repulsed expression. She had not only bared her soul to the young girl, but—she couldn't even think about it without bile coming up her throat. She was disgusting.
"I think it would be better for both of us if you just left now. I'm sorry."
"I—if that's what you would like me to do…"
"Yes, please."
"All right." Audrey turned around and stepped towards the front door. It shouldn't end this way. She hadn't minded the kiss, really.
In her nice, clean and controlled world, Andromeda has suddenly shown her that having those good traits didn't mean you couldn't also lose it every once in a while and kiss a stranger. Hmm. She wasn't sure what she had gained from coming to the Tonks', but she knew it was probably something valuable.
People aren't necessarily who you think they should be.
Maybe, then, she could still give Andromeda aid. What was life without taking a few chances?
She took a deep breath and adopted the same quiet attitude she had had earlier. She opened her mouth slightly, turned up her nose and raised her eyebrows.
She turned around slowly and tiptoed back to the woman, who was now curled up on the corner of the floor into which she had retreated. Audrey crouched down and said, "Andromeda! Fancy seeing you here. I've come back."
"What?"
"Don't you recognize me? It's Cissy. I believe we've got quite lot of catching up to do."
"Is that really you, Cissy? There was a girl here just now, pretending she was you."
"It really is me. Trust me. Now, where's that bedroom of yours? We'll be needing privacy."
"Just down the hall. Oh Cissy, I'm so glad you've come back!"
"I'm glad too."
Audrey took Andromeda's hand and helped her up. Leading her by the arm, they left the sitting room and walked down the hall to the bedroom.
If something's hidden that doesn't mean it's gone.
Sometimes a person needs to feel a little nostalgic. Not repressing your feelings could be the cure for them.
Rebellion does not come easily, but when it does it becomes a way of life. Andromeda had learned that through her family ties and many relationships.
Audrey had learned that through the secret little things she did each night.
Kinkiness wears many masks, none of which so dangerous as virtue.
)O(
Fin