"Leave it, Tonks. You're only hurting yourself more by looking into it; we'll get him back" reassured Sirius in his calmest voice. Andromeda had spent too much time this past year gazing into the two-way mirror that had been a wedding present from a stranger, but every so often she saw the familiar welcoming green eyes of Ted gleaming hopelessly at her from who-knows-where. As much as it pained her to hear him talk about the torture he was going though, it had relieved her to know that the Death Eaters hadn't killed him yet. Why have they kept him alive? she often wondered.
"You're right" she replied to her cousin, "when do we have to leave?"
"Any minute now". Sirius had temporarily moved in with Andromeda and her normally-lively daughter Nymphadora, although the seven year old had adopted the short mousy brown hairstyle that signified she missed her father.
The portkey was an old hairbrush which had been given to them by Dumbledore in order to take them to Godric's Hollow; tonight's mission was too top secret to risk brooms, thestrals or the floo network (which was being watched by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named).
"Twenty seconds" Sirius warned.
"Nymphadora!" Andromeda called up the stairs; her daughter arrived almost immediately. "Do everything Nelly and Hepzibah tell you to do, and look after our guest! I won't be too long" she gave her daughter and hug and then joined Sirius in the kitchen. The guest she had been referring to was a ten year old boy with electric blue eyes and dark blonde hair who had been living with them ever since his adoptive parents had been murdered at the Ministry of Magic. But the boy wouldn't tell her his name, so Andromeda simply referred to his as 'guest'.
"Is it wise to the kids alone with paintings?" Sirius asked.
"Almost everyone else from the Order will be in Godric's Hollow tonight, and in these times you're no safer with a living person watching over you" she tried not to sound bitter and subdued but she couldn't help it.
"Now!"
The ground in Godric's Hollow was slightly dusted with snow even though it was now nearly March. There was a little stone church marking the centre of the village with quaint cottages surrounding it. Andromeda and Sirius reached the second-to-last cottage in no time, having only to follow the signs of secrecy along the footpath.
"Come in, quickly" whispered a desperate voice from the doorway as they entered the house, only to look into a living room filled with people. Andromeda turned around to see the speaker, her flowing red hair starting to look slightly grey with worry despite the young age of the woman.
"Is everyone here?" Sirius asked the woman after hugging her.
"Nearly, we're just waiting for Frank and Alice now".
"How's Harry?"
"Come on upstairs, he's sleeping". Andromeda told the pair that she would wait in the living room with the others as Sirius followed the dainty figure of Lily Potter up the staircase towards the sound of a baby stirring in his sleep.
She walked over to a familiar couple who were stood in the corner of the room holding hands encouragingly. The man was tall and pale with aging salt-and-pepper hair that clashed with his elaborately colourful robes. The woman was his opposite, her blue eyes were so bright that they framed her beautiful faced amidst her long auburn hair and she dressed even more bizarrely than he did.
"Tonks!" they beamed at the same time; she greeted Quentin Jones and Carmen Ironwood with similar enthusiasm. It wasn't until they shared quick hugs that she noticed Carmen's rapidly swollen stomach.
"You're-"
"That's right" squealed Carmen, "we decided as soon as we got married we wanted to start having children; nowadays there's no time like the present". There was a solemn silence as they all realised how in a few weeks or months they might no longer be around to have children.
"Where's Alastor?" inquired Andromeda to break the silence.
"He's getting his artificial leg today; 'bout time too! he's been itching to get back in the fight and start yelling at us for blowing the operation" answered Quentin, causing the trio to laugh despite themselves.
It was a now a year since Andromeda had comprehended the prophecy which she was told she needed to work out in order to make things right. She had been told that the child of Mad-Eye Moody's who had survived a Death Eater attack in Bulgaria was one of three but she had only narrowed it down to two. If Nelly was still alive, despite Moody's ambiguous appearance, she would be too old to be his child and she looked too much like Lydia and Jacob White from what Andromeda had seen in pictures.
"Good for him" Andromeda muttered to her companions.
"Sirius says Ted's still alive, Tonks. Trust me; we'll find him and destroy You-Know-Who all at once and then everything will be back to normal". If only Andromeda thought sadly, my life has been everything but normal since I was fifteen.
"They're here!" announced Remus Lupin as the Longbottoms were escorted into the room by James. They didn't look as happy as the usually did; the colour had almost completely drained from their faces and they looked as if they were hollowed and subdued inside; they had been avoiding Andromeda for some weeks now.
"I'm guessing you're contemplating their miserable expressions and unkempt appearances?" whispered a warm, humble voice beside Andromeda, "I can only guess but, not to sound over-confident, I normally guess these things right". She turned her head slightly to see shockingly the long white back and smiling, wrinkled face of Albus Dumbledore.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you not noticed that they have been avoiding you these past few weeks?"
"Yes, but I don't know why-"
"Where the Potters are being targeted by Lord Voldemort, it appears that Frank and Alice Longbottom have been targeted by your sister; Bellatrix Lestrange".
"But why?"
"Nobody knows, although I do have my suspicions. They do not judge or blame you, of course, but they fear that their son is more vulnerable now to Death Eater attacks".
"Is it time?" asked Lily from the doorway, Sirius stood right behind her.
"James, I will ask you once more to consider me for this task" Dumbledore pleaded of the bespectacled, messy-haired wizard.
"Thank you for offering, Albus; but me and Lily think that the spell will be more powerful with a close friend as Secret Keeper". Dumbledore eyed Sirius in a peculiar fashion, but didn't protest any more on the matter.
"So what do I need to do?" asked Sirius.
"Actually" Lily interjected, "we decided that it would be too obvious if it was our best friend who was Secret Keeper-"
"So we want Peter to do it" James finished. For the first time since arriving at the house in Godric's Hollow Andromeda noticed a snivelling lump of a man cowering in the corner; clearly in his twenties but already balding and slightly hunchbacked.
"Everyone needs to go upstairs while the Fidelius Charm is cast; then it is Peter's responsibility to reintroduce you into this room so that you have permission to enter at will" announced Dumbledore.
"Let's go see the baby" added the majestic figure of Kingsley Shacklebolt from behind a cream coloured armchair.
...
"He's beautiful" mused Andromeda as she held the baby in her arms. She had grown close enough to the Potters over this last year to know them as well as she knew Ted and Nymphadora. The boy had messy tufts of dark brown hair on top of his head that was just like James' and brilliant green eyes like his mother's. It was only later that Andromeda realised how similar they were to Ted's.
"Follow me" called the man named Peter from the bottom of the stairs. Andromeda laid the baby boy back in his crib before following the rest of the Order of the Phoenix out of the bedroom and down the stairs. After being 'let in on the secret' the various witches and wizards filed out and left the Potter's home.
"Carmen?" Andromeda called out to the pregnant woman. They were stood in the snow outside the church of Godric's Hollow while Sirius was saying goodbye to his friends and Quentin was conversing with Kingsley.
"Tonks, if it's about-"
"You know that I want to now about your family. Please, are any of them still alive? When did you last see them?"
"I've already told you" she tried not to sound irritated, "I've only got one family member still alive and I haven't seen him since I was on holiday with my family years ago-"
"Carmen! Are you ready?" bellowed Quentin from across the square.
"One second!" she addressed Andromeda once more, "it's too dangerous for me to tell you any more; I'm sorry". While she waited for Sirius, Andromeda couldn't help thinking about the prophecy and how she didn't understand why figuring it out would help to destroy the Death Eaters; and then she thought about her imprisoned husband and how she needed to figure it out if she was to see him alive in person again.