Behind Black Eyes

By Kashy

Andromeda (Black) Tonks.

Andromeda Tonks - who never really thought of herself as a Black - was on her death bed.

She knew her grandson Teddy was sitting besides her, holding her hand and praying that she would move on safely. Andromeda could smiled at the fact that she hadn't died like her husband Ted, sister Bellatrix, daughter Dora and cousins Sirius and Regulus. No, she was dying from old age after living a fairly good and happy life. She knew her life hadn't been that great though, she had had made some 'bad' choice by her family that essentially turned them against her and left her alone. Andromeda didn't mind after she ran away because she had Ted, but as she grew older she began to miss her sisters and the company that they had been.

Her first mistake to them had been the marrying of Ted Tonks, who had been a muggleborn and then birth of her beautiful and talented daughter Nymphadora had just sweetened the hate that filled her family. She knew that her elder sister Bellatrix hated her for leaving the family after she had finished school and marrying somebody considered to be 'unworthy'. But it had been her decision and she couldn't and wouldn't regret.

She knew Bellatrix hated her, even loathed her with all her strength and passion but she had always looked up to her elder sister. Andromeda just wished that they weren't so different, that they didn't have completely different moral values. But the feeling of hate had become mutual at some point in her life. She only really hated Bellatrix because she had because she had torn her own family apart and left her poor grandson without any parents. Bellatrix had spent years in Azkaban, Andromeda recalled and she had enjoyed those years where she could be seen without somebody reporting horrid things back to her sister. Andromeda hadn't really thought about Bella while she was in Azkaban, she had mostly concentrated on her own family and not the one that she had left behind. She assumed that her sister never thought about her as well and that thought was slightly comforting. And then she didn't have to feel the pain – and joy – that followed her whenever she thought about her older sister that she was so close to when they were younger.

She didn't know why her family couldn't be like her favourite cousin Sirius. She remembered sticking up for him after he was sorted rightfully into Gryffindor and after Cissy took the first opportunity to write a letter to their mother and father explaining the horrible situation. She remembered watching the stars with him and being his only friend, his only family member after everybody had pushed him away just because he was different. She didn't think he was a disgrace, she thought of him as the person that broke the Black family tradition and proved that not all Black's had to be filled with Pure Blood madness. She had looked up to him even though he was so much younger then she was. Andromeda remember wanting to take her young cousin with her as she walked away from her family. She couldn't believe it when Sirius was put into Azkaban, but she believed it anyway, something that she later regretted. Yet another reason to hate Bellatrix, she thought bitterly, was because of the way her cousin died. It was Bella's fault that her lovely Sirius was dead.

Bitterness seemed to run in the Black family, especially when directed at her. Narcissa – Cissy – had become a Malfoy. Andromeda had always seen her younger sister as the peace keeper for some reason. It wasn't like Cissy was a peaceful child – or even woman – Andromeda was far more peaceful then her little sister but Cissy had always been the neutral one. She did what she was told, but held her beliefs close to her heart and Andromeda knew that those beliefs weren't necessarily bad. Cissy had contacted her a few times, to tell her about her marriage to Malfoy, about her son Draco and had even kept her up to date with news on Bella. She didn't really want to hear the news from the world she used to live in, but she kept the letters close to her heart because Narcissa was her sister after all. Cissy was different to the herself and Bella, different to Regulus and Sirius. She didn't fall in love with darkness, she didn't fall in love with the wrong man, and she didn't become a traitor. She fell in love with a man with money, power and status and did all the right things to protect her family. Andromeda saw a little bit of herself in her younger sister, the caring side, the compassionate side that graced so little of the Black family.

Regulus seemed to be a different matter to her. She didn't know how he died and she didn't mourn his death because she didn't know he was truly dead until she was dead herself. She had never been close to the youngest Black for some reason. Maybe it was because they never really clicked or maybe it was because they were cousins and he was too much like Bellatrix for her liking. Andromeda never believed that Regulus was a bad person, he just wanted to do what made his family happy even if that meant supporting the Dark Arts and living his life on the edge under some bodies command then, that's what he'd do.

She was reunited once again with her husband, her daughter and her husband and the people that had died at the hands of her sister and her Death Eater friends. In death she met with her parents, her cousins and last of all her sisters whom she would spend the rest of eternity with.

Hope you like Andromeda. I think that chapters are going to get longer.

Please Review. It would be very much appreciated.

((A/N 2: Andromeda re-edited. I'm quite impressed with myself here. Both Bella and Andy are now over 1000 words, something I wasn't supposed to achieve.

Well Review!))