Disclaimer: If I was JK Rowling then Dobby, Lupin and Tonks wouldn't be dead, would they?
Chapter One.
The name that has been running through my head since 1973 – Nymphadora – was still haunting me,but in a different way. This was more… pleasant.
'Andromeda is pregnant!' announced Sirius. There was excited squealing from the girls, who were sitting around the fire with the infamous Marauders. 'Shit, girls. Not so bloody loud. It's like the Hogwarts Express Disaster all over again.' The girls exchanged puzzled looks but soon realised this would have been some stupid prank gone wrong.
'And what exactly was the 'Hogwarts Express Disaster'?' asked Lily.
'Well, we, James and I, that is, were aiming a curse at Snivel – Severus,' he corrected himself after receiving a glare from Lily, 'to make his voice all high pitch and girly but… it kinda hit the train instead. Damn that train was loud.' Sirius turned to hit Remus who had made a comment about no one else even hearing it. Although, he did make a good point. The whistle was so high pitch that human ears couldn't pick it up but having a dog as his Animagus heightened his senses even as a human so his ears were more sensitive.
'Is it a boy or girl?' Alice asked excitedly. Her blue eyes were shining in the light and she laughed softly as Frank played with her hair.
What is she talking about? 'Um?' The baby, you dolt! 'Oh, she isn't sure yet. The baby isn't very old so they couldn't tell yet.' Sirius looked over to Remus as he mumbled something else under his breath. He was becoming increasingly irritable due to the upcoming full moon, which was tomorrow night, and, luckily, a Friday night. Therefore, the other boys, who accompanied him during the full moon, could sleep during the next day.
'I'm going to go to bed,' Alice got up, stretched, kissed Frank on the cheek and started towards the Portrait Hole. She paused for a moment, 'Oh, and Sirius. Keep me posted on the baby news, okay?' Sirius nodded to show he was listening. After a minute Lily, too, said her 'goodnights' and 'goodbyes' and disappeared into the girls' dorm. Soon after Lily left James, Peter, Frank and Sirius decided to go to bed, leaving Remus all alone in front of the crackling fire. He shivered unintentionally as he thought about the following night's transformation.
'It's a girl,' Sirius announced to the group, who had been receiving weekly updates on the baby, 'they've named her Nymphadora.' Lily squealed excitedly and did a rather odd jumping, dancing… thing. 'Andromeda has invited you all to see her and Nymphadora baby at the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade weekend.' As if right on time, a first year came with a notice from Professor McGonagall about the next Hogsmeade weekend. 'But please, no squealing.' He said with a pointed look at Lily and Alice although, he didn't doubt that Peter joined in on the squealing every now and then. It had been two years since Andromeda and Ted left Hogwarts so the girls were very excited to be meeting up with them again. Although, Lily, Alice and Andromeda kept in touch through letters, it was not the same.
The next Hogsmeade weekend came so quickly, with much squealing, and the boys thought they would be deaf by tomorrow. The group of excited 5th Years decided to stay at school until it was time to meet with Andromeda, and then they would go through the Honeydukes passage into Hogsmeade. Hours rolled by quickly and it was soon time to leave, and with a lot of shoving, everyone got into the tunnel safely. Sirius hopped out of the tunnel to check if it was all clear to go into the shop.
Soon enough the eight teens were hurrying through the streets of Hogsmeade, towards the Three Broomsticks. They were all moving so quickly, they forgot to open the door and they ended up with a very sore, very squished Sirius. Once safely inside the teens looked around for the familiar brown hair they had all grown to know during their time at Hogwarts. It seemed that they were early as Andromeda was nowhere in sight so they hurried to a large table for ten.
There was a familiar tinkle as the door opened and Ted Tonks stepped inside, Andromeda following cradling a sleeping Nymphadora – whose hair had changed from brown to platinum blonde, to orange, to green and back to brown in the space of twenty seconds - in her arms. Lily and Alice squealed and ran up to greet the couple, waking Nymphadora –whose hair had now turned the same shade of orange as Lily's – in the process.
Andromeda and Ted came and joined the table, Lily and Alice trailing behind. All the boys greeted the couple happily and Remus mumbled a 'hi'. However, he could not take his eyes of Nymphadora, again, sleeping peacefully in her mothers' arms. Her hair had, again, changed colour and was now a beautiful brown, the same shade as her mothers.
The next few hours passed quickly and it was soon time for the teens to return to Hogwarts, deciding that they would catch up again sometime soon instead of risking a detention.
After arriving back at the school, the girls sorted through the photos they had taken and discussed whom Nymphadora looked more like; her mother or father, and the boys lounged around the fire in the Gryffindor common room, discussing the latest Quidditch news they had talked over with Ted. The boys' conversation was soon interrupted with James remembering that he had Quidditch training scheduled now, which would be a disaster if the captain did not show up. He ran to the dorms, grabbed Frank by the arm, ran back down the stairs, hit Sirius over the head for letting him forget, and ran out of the common room, Frank and Sirius in tow.
A/N: Hello my dearest readers, this story is dedicated to taylah (on a different site.) who asked me to write a Lupin/Tonks story so yeah… I promise that I will make the chapters longer in the near (next chapter) future! Oh yeah, it jumps around a lot to random memories of Remus/Tonks…
Read & Review.
Sal1705