Well, enough people asked for it that I decided I would give it a shot. A second helping of Andromeda for all to enjoy.
Disclaimer: Do we really still have to do these anymore? I mean everyone knows Harry Potter was invented by aliens and that J. K. Rowling is just a creation of the FBI to cover up the extraterrestrial truth…
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Nymphadora has something to tell me. She's really working herself up over it, too. I can tell these things after a lifetime of dealing with her inane activities. There is a certain crease which appears in her forehead and I have noticed it to be the herald of all important news that comes from her mouth.
There was one time when she was much younger and she accidentally set her entire bedroom on fire, and in desperation called the Muggle fire squad. By the time I had arrived home she had somehow turned each one into a member of the canine species. The Ministry was not happy about that one.
Then there was the night she informed me and Ted of her decision to become an Auror. I didn't take as well to that secret as I did to the previous. I know the already existing Dark Lord has been defeated but with families like mine in existence there is more than enough evil to go around. Did she really need to place herself right in the middle of it? And now that there are rumors flying about Voldemort…
But tonight is different. She has a secret and I have to figure out how to get her to spill. How much prodding will it take this time to get her to blurt it out? With the way she's acting, I really doubt it will take much.
"Nymphadora," I start. Might as well get it over with so we can get on with dinner peacefully. It's my job to pester her anyway. Just like my refusal to call her "Tonks" as she had asked me countless times to do. I enjoy the agitated look that comes over her face when I call her by her given name, especially in public. She squirms so wonderfully when I do.
"Mm?" She's fidgeting even worse now. It's so bad that she can't even open her mouth for fear the secret might just explode out of her. It must be really good. Definitely one to pursue.
"Is there something you want to share?" I am the picture of innocence. No use letting her know I can tell something is up. If there's one way to get her irritated it's to appear you already know what she's thinking.
"Nn." She shakes her head a bit, for further convincing. It doesn't work and I think she realizes that.
"Nothing?" Oh this will be good. Another shake of her head and I almost leave it at that, so she can stew a bit. But of course, as Nymphadora constantly reminds me, I meddle in other people's affairs more than I should, and I can't drop it just like that.
"Nothing? Nothing at all?" My voice has gotten high as I twist it to convey my compassionate concern for her well being. I sound rather like a mouse. Good thing Tonks the Fidgeter is as observant as a rock. This, more than being accident prone, has contributed to a great majority of her accidents.
She is about to give a final resolute "No" when she stops and her mouth abruptly springs open and a "Yes" pops out instead. I think we are both equally surprised, since I was certain it would take more than that to get her.
Ted slurps his soup, unaware of the little game I have been playing and the victory I have just scored. My mother would have cringed in horror to see his table manners. I love him so much at times like these.
"Well, you see…" She doesn't seem to know where to start. I nod gently to help her along. She clears her throat and says "Well" again. And then it explodes out of her mouth in a jumble of words.
"I know you hate talking about it but I thought you should know because it's really important and he's really sad and I thought you could cheer him up because Dumbledore won't let him out because everyone thinks he's guilty because they have no proof but he's really nice and he keeps asking for you and I know you're cousins and you hate to talk to your family but I thought he might be different because he keeps telling me about all these things you used to do when you two were little and all the fun you had and Dumbledore said it would be good for him to see some new people since he can't leave the headquarters and he's lonely – Sirius Black I mean not Dumbledore – and well" – she took the first breath of the whole sentence here – "I thought you could go see him."
Ted just stares at her, chewing slowly, face blank. I know he has no idea what she just said but he will pretend to anyway. I caught enough of that to nearly choke on a noodle in my soup. Honestly, the words "Sirius Black" out of my daughter's mouth are enough to give me a heart attack most days so that doesn't mean much. With what I just heard I should be dead and in my coffin right now.
"Excuse me?" I manage to cough out. "Repeat that again." Somehow I can't keep my voice from tightening up. That fake curiosity is gone now, replaced by a tense sort of desperation. This is not a time for games.
"Sirius – Sirius Black. I met him, Mum, and he's innocent." My heart is gripped by a mix of hope and excitement but I quickly beat it back. Instead I am angry – more angry than I understand. I almost feel like slapping her. How dare she bring him up? How can she even think of mentioning his name? She can see how upset I am getting and she regrets telling me. For some reason that makes me hate her more.
And then I catch myself. What am I doing? She doesn't mean it. She doesn't know what Sirius meant to me. I never told her what Sirius meant to me.
In a quite voice she adds, "Dumbledore believes him," and I almost feel like crying. Ted still doesn't understand though he recognizes the name "Black" and probably recalls Sirius from when Nymphadora was born. He doesn't really care much for remembering my family, not that I blame him. I don't care much for remembering my family.
"He wants to see you. He can't go out because he doesn't have the proof yet to convince the Ministry he's innocent. He asked if I would talk to you and try to convince you to visit." She was uncertain if I would get angry again. She really does mean well, and I guess she did the right thing by telling me, but it still stung to hear it from her. It would sting to hear it from anyone.
"I-I don't know." And I get up and leave the table. Ted gets up after me but I don't want to talk to him. I didn't tell him about Sirius either. I wanted to keep him separate from that family. I didn't want him to ever really know about them. It got so that ages ago when we passed Bella in Diagon Alley and she tried to hex the both of us I only told him she was a Black. I couldn't tell him she was my sister. The less overlap between the two parts of my life the better.
I won't even mention the cold looks I get from Mrs. Malfoy on practically a daily basis. Sometimes I wish she had gone the same way as Bella so I wouldn't have to see her so often and could imagine her ugly face rotting in Azkaban. But she never had been as overtly violent as my other sister.
Ted's arms are around me and I want to shrug them off. I don't want his comfort, not now when I want to wallow a bit and think about that awful family. Ted can't be there when I think about the Blacks and Sirius because Ted doesn't belong in that part of my life. Neither does Nymphadora but she's stuck herself right in it anyway.
"Mum?" I hear her voice from the dining room. "I'm sorry." She sounds like a little girl again, like she's broken another plate in the kitchen and has to confess what she's done. I can't be here anymore, not with them. I go outside and this time Ted knows enough not to follow.
I walk the dark streets looking in at the other families all finishing dinner. We – or rather, I – chose a house in the Muggle part of England. Further distancing from the past. I suppose it was only a matter of time before it caught up with me. The newspaper of two years ago was a taste of just how fragile a glass castle I have built. It really was only waiting for the right moment to shatter…
I think I'll go home again. It's cold now that the sun is down and I'm not as upset as I was before. I really can't avoid the inevitable out here any more than in my own home. Perhaps I will be able to talk to Nymphadora now. I'll try at least.
She there to meet me at the door. She really is sorry for mentioning him and making me upset but she is right to tell me. I should know. For close to fourteen years now I haven't and it's eaten me up inside.
I nod to her and she tells me the rest in a subdued voice. "He's innocent. He didn't betray the Potters and he wasn't a Death Eater. He certainly doesn't seem like a murderer." I sort of laugh because she's echoing the thoughts that have run through my mind a thousand times before. Not that that really changed anything. He was still guilty no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise.
But Nymphadora says that he's not guilty and I feel hollow inside because I really don't know what to think anymore. "Dumbledore believes him so I guess that means its all true," she adds, and I turn my attention to the man I have rarely met and is the focus of so much of the news in the Daily Prophet recently. I get irritated at him, that it's been fourteen years and only now he's bothering to take any interest in my cousin. He knew Sirius just as well as I did, if my cousin's tales of his Hogwarts days were anything to go by, and it never bothered him that the boy he knew would never do what the man in the paper was accused of? Everyone knows Dumbledore holds some power over the ministry – Fudge certainly does and it's killing him – but he couldn't be bothered to try to get my cousin a proper trial? What, he was busy every weekend for the past fourteen years? Couldn't find the time?
And there I go again getting angry with the wrong people again. It wasn't his fault and I should be glad he believes Sirius now. Everyone forgets that Dumbledore is not some Muggle superhero. There are limits to everyone.
"Where is he?" I ask. I guess I have decided that I will go see him, regardless of the apprehension I am feeling.
"I-I can't tell you." Ah, Order business. I think Nymphadora believes she has successfully hidden her double identity as Tonks the Dark Lord Fighting Fiend from me but she forgets not everyone is as unobservant as she. Some things are more difficult to keep from your mother, no matter how well you hide them.
"I'll owl Dumbledore then," I say. She is smiling weakly now, relieved of this secret and the duty Sirius charged her with. I can see she is hopeful that it will work out. I feel the same way.
Isn't it funny how anxious this is making me? It's really childish of me, but I can't help it. All these years I couldn't bring myself to believe his guilt and then someone finally tells me he's innocent and I fall to pieces. It really is funny. Strange though how I'm not laughing.
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I'm pondering turning this into a longer story which follows the events of book 5 and the relationship between Sirius and Andromeda. I want to but the problem is that whenever I even think about doing that with something it ends up being abandoned. I mean there are lots of things I could still write about, like the ending of OotP which would throw dear Andromeda for a loop I am certain.
I want to know what you think, my dear readers who have shown me that there is hope for stories about minor characters. Thanks a bunch, and Happy Prisoner of Azkaban Movie Day! :)
