Author's Note: My Thank goes to lovely Oriental Ramen who betaed my translation of this chapter!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the other characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I do not earn any money with this.

Chapter 1 - So the present runs into the past

Half awake and half in dreams
Seeing long forgotten scenes
So the present runs into the past
Now and then become entwined, playing games within my mind
Like the embers as they die
Love was one prolonged good-bye
And it all comes back to me tonight
In the gloom
Like an angel passing through my room

(ABBA, Like an angel passing through my room)

The air smelled like the sea. Andromeda could just taste the salt on her lips. In her small hand the blond child, with whom she came here with, was pulling.

"Romy, come now!" whined Narcissa impatiently.

Her sister rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Yeah. I'm coming, pest. What do you want to show me anyway?"

At the end of the question, Andromeda found herself in front of a considerably large sandcastle. Narcissa was standing proudly in front of it while she pointed with her little fingers to a stroke of shells: "Nacisa Back"

Andromeda had to keep back her smile about the missing "l" in the most ancient family name, as well as the somehow cryptic name of the proud architect.

"Oh, this is really beautiful," she praised instead, knowing too well that Narcissa was able to reach frightening loud levels with her angel-like voice.

"I built it all myself!" announced Narcissa proudly. "And when I am older, I will move in with Lucius in a castle like this!"

Now Andromeda really couldn't hide her laughter any more. "You are crazy! Bella will marry him, you know that!"

"No!" corrected the blond child solemnly with a hint of defiance. "I will marry Lucius, and you are going to help me."

"Me?" cried Andromeda astonished. "Keep me out of this! I'm not going to pick a quarrel with Bella. At least not when it is a sunny day..."

Now Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Romy, not today. I'm still too small. You have to help me when I am grown up."

Slowly an odd sensation came over Andromeda that her little sister could be serious. With any other child, this wouldn't have bothered her, but Narcissa's stubbornness was so strong that this idea had a realistic chance to last years.

"Come on Romy," begged the small one, with her large blue eyes that none of the thousand aunts at the coffee table were able to resist.

Andromeda thought for a moment. "Well, okay," she finally spoke solemnly, "but only if you really mean it!"

"Thank you Romy!" squealed the blonde while flinging herarmsaroundher sister's neck.

...

Soaked in sweat Andromeda flew up from her sofa. What was that? Had she heard someone scream? How long had she slept? What time is it? Drowsy, she lumbered with three steps to the cradle where her grandson lay sleeping peacefully. Above his head dangled the cotton labs that Andromeda had made for him some day ago. Thank God she had only imagined the scream - like so often when she laid down around midday. In her dreams, she could forget for a while. She had to forget; otherwise she wouldn't be able to bear everything. She had thrown her life away, which for now laid beneath the Earth. No, Andromeda was strong even if people didn't say that of her. Only because she would always be the younger sister of the famous mass murder. Andromeda had Black blood in her veins just like Narcissa and Bellatrix. She was able to forget and did so every minute she could. After all, she was everything this small being had in the world. Her and his godfather.

A little calmer, the adult woman sat down on her sofa again. She took a quick look at the clock. It wouldn't be much longer until He came. The godfather. It wasn't official yet. The real baptism would take place in a couple of months when the ministry was done with all the urgent issues, when people were willing to read about baptisms instead of reading more on obituaries.

Nevertheless, Harry Potter had been coming to her house regularly. Andromeda wasn't sure if she was pleased by this. It was true, she didn't mind the boy. Like everybody else, she was thankful for his feat... She just couldn't manage to like him. He did not belong in her life. Like all the other Gryffindors who stepped over her threshold recently, as they did during her marriage with Theodore. All these foreign faces were familiar only from the newspaper, and only because of a baby whose parents they had known. Andromeda didn't really want to appear ungrateful, for she was truly happy about the fact that Ted's parents had left him some friends in this world.

Only... Andromeda knew they were not her friends. Even though she tried to be as polite and sympathetic as much as possible... Sure, they were all nice people... just not her friends. They were strangers. They were not even Dora's friends. They were Remus' friends. And all were Gryffindors.

Tonks, this impertinent, cheeky man, who had dared to steal her heart... Didn't he used to love her for this very reason? That she was cutting and cynical? The proudest and wildest of the three legendary Black sisters... She, the unconquerable one? For this very reason she had loved him. He had coped with her, without trying to tame her by doing so. He had conquered her heart. He... He... He...

"Come with me"

"Have you gone completely insane now, Tonks? Oh Lord - It really must hurt having so much mugglishness in your veins!"

"Marry me."

"What?"

"Is that a 'yes'?"

"You are mad."

"Same as you. Even more so to be precise. So, marry me."

Grimly, she screwed up her eyes. Andromeda chanted, "No tears," not when expecting a guest. Despite everything, she was a Slytherin. Nothing could ever change that. Not even a house full of pathetic heroes.

...

The door bell rang. She quickly did up her hair before opening the door.

"Good morning, Andromeda," Potter greeted her.

"Hello, Harry," she replied in a friendly way. "Come in. Ted is still sleeping. I didn't intend to wake him yet, as he wasn't able to sleep well during the night. Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Yes, please," he responded smiling. She couldn't resist bringing herself back into the past, during a time when Sirius and Potter I made the streets unsafe. The father of this boy had disapparate into her bathtub once, something Harry didn't know. She didn't feel like telling him either. Thinking of Sirius made her ache, and Andromeda did not show weakness.

At least she got along with this Potter well enough. She already knew that he would stick his nose in more when it came to Ted in the future, but at least it was possible to chat with him without clenching her lips permanently. Andromeda had to admit that this Potter possessed something like empathy unlike James. He did not confront her about Dora after discovering that she didn't like talking about it. He did not ensure her every single minute that they would make it, though she knew pretty well for herself that they simply had to.

Their topics were confined to Teddy (as Potter and his friends called him), Potter's work at the ministry, the weather and various other courtesies. Even here, she had to give him his due that he, unlike James, did possess something like politeness. All things considered, it was possible to deal with him. For that, she was okay with Potter, and not his friends, as Ted's godfather.

"I'm sure I also have some biscuits," Andromeda suggested while placing the steaming cups on the kitchen table. The door to the living room, in which Ted was sleeping, stood open.

"I'd like that," responded Harry with a thankful nod.

Andromeda fished the biscuit box from the cupboard and served the cookies on a large plate. For a while they passed the time with irrelevant talking, before Potter finally changed to the decisive topic that they had both been waiting to discuss. "You said Teddy had trouble sleeping?"

She sighed. "Let's cut to the chase, Harry. I'm almost sure that Ted's father gave him the moon-addiction, the sleepwalking tendency. [In German this is a pun, because 'moon-addiction' also means sleepwalking] Last night, he did not only sleep uneasily like the last few times during the full moon, but his ears have been changing also. They become pointed and hairy. Ted is a werewolf. Or at least half of one."

The young hero watched her sadly. He nodded in understanding. "That's it then. At heart, I had known it already, I guess. But that's the way it goes. You refuse to believe it until there is no other way to anymore."

Andromeda had to bite back a grin. Not that Harry had said anything wrong or funny, but such a serious sentence mingled with the appearance of a Potter didn't fit in her head. "We will mange somehow," she picked up the thread before Harry would notice anything. "Remus left me some of his potion prescriptions. Moreover, I know a few talented potion masters." She gave him a confident smile, though she was thinking of sleepless nights and strong smelling potions. Again, Harry nodded thankfully. For a while now, she had the feeling that he was more than relieved not being alone in raising Ted. Sometimes, he was just the young adult without any experience still.

Andromeda had the mother instinct on her side. It had appeared with Dora before, which Andromeda, herself, would never have believed before. Cissy had been the one with the wish for children, not Bella or Romy. In the end, Cissy only had one child. Andromeda also happened knew why.

"Harry, I've wanted to ask you something for a while now. Do you probably know what happened to Draco Malfoy?"

A little surprised, the boy watched her. Usually she avoided this kind of topic. "He still is in pre-trial imprisonment," Harry answered. "His father had been sentenced already. You might have heard about it in the newspaper. They deal with the worst cases first, but it shouldn't take too long until Malfoy's trial now."

Pensively, Andromeda bit into one of the biscuits. Since she had heard of Narcissa's death, the thought hadn't left her. She knew her little sister better, like some would believe. This thought hurt, so she swallowed it down together with the chocolate fondant.

"How about school? Do you know yet if you want to go back?" she deflected to another topic.

Harry seemed to sigh a little bit in relief. "Yes. Well, no. What I mean is that I know now that I won't go back. Without Dumbledore, it's not Hogwarts for me anymore. Also, I don't need a certificate telling me what I am aware of myself. People already think that I possess some superhuman abilities anyway. Can't do much about that, I guess."

Andromeda smiled cheekily at him. "A Potter has his Kryptonite. Tell that to the world."

He grinned sheepishly. "I'm afraid that this world will not understand what Kryptonite is."

"That's just why it will give you the ace up your sleeve. Present your weakness without naming it, Potter."

It was almost written on his face how he struggled to bite back his comment about her Slytherinish way of thinking. They weren't that close, yet. Right at that moment, she was even sorry about it. Andromeda missed somebody she could discuss that with. She missed talking with anyone. Her regular chats with Potter Junior were already the closest to it.

...

Punctual at 3 P.M., Ted woke up crying noisily. Harry almost fell from his chair. One would think that by now he would have become used to it. Immediately, Andromeda stood next to the cradle and lifted her grandchild out of his bed. She handled him a bit in her arms before passing him over to the legendary, Harry Potter. While doing so, she questioned herself if Evans had ever permitted her husband to change the baby? After all, Evans was known for being the perfect mother. Andromeda had given Theodore a hard time before she had finally allowed him to hold their new born baby at least...

"Romy! She is also my child."

"Wash your hands first!"

"I have done this five times already, Romy! You had her for nine months. It is my turn now!"

"What if you drop her?"

"Black, do hand me over my daughter at once! Hey - I am talking to you!"

"But only briefly…."

"Finally!"

"Be more careful - What do you think you are doing there! No, no lifting. Tonks, give me my child back!"

"Just don't be that hysterical - I am not a monster father."

"Ted! What have you done with her hair?"

"What? Oh... Tell me, is your amniotic fluid blue?"

"Stop telling jokes now. What if she is ill? Go and get a doctor immediately!"

"Romy, calm down. Just look. Her hair is already blond again."

"Blond? But it was brown when she came into the world. Oh Salazar, Tonks, do something."

"Stop rattling at me, Romy. Is that green?"

"Oh... Yea, you are right. Well, I think that looks good on her. Hey, Dora, darling, you may stay like this."

"What? No! Dora, make blond again. You do not wish to become such a strange Slytherin, do you?"

"Theodore Tonks, stop influencing your daughter at once! Of course she will become a Slytherin."

"Did you just say 'your' daughter?"

"What - no. I just... Oh, give her back to me, now. Quit grinning, Tonks!"

Dreamily, Andromeda looked through the window. It was dark outside already. She still couldn't turn away her gaze though. Everything she used to love seemed to lay in the darkness now. How had Andromeda thrown her hands up in horror the day when Dora's first letter from Hogwarts had arrived with the proud report that she had ended up in daddy's house? In compensation for this, Dora kept her hair long in silver green stripes all summer. A photo of it still existed in the album. Had it really been that long ago already?