Ande watched as Ted left the room, kissing her briefly before explaining he'd be out for a bit. She smiled and nodded, telling him to be careful. She always told him to be careful.
When she heard the front door open and close, her smile lingered. Being with Ted made her happy in a way she had never experienced growing up. He made her feel like just maybe, everything was going to be all right.
As she moved through the small house picking up Ted's messes (if there was one thing about Ted that would be her undoing, it was his messiness) she came across a small framed picture of herself and Sirius as young children, and a smiling Uncle Alphard.
She stopped and fingered the photo, smiling at the memories it brought back. She remembered the day clearly. Alphard had taken the two of them to a muggle amusement park. Neither of their parents had been entirely pleased when they found out, but it was a day both she and Sirius would always remember as one of the few happy days of their childhood.
She remembered the cotton candy, and how she swore they used magic to make it. She remembered sitting on a bench with her uncle while Sirius went inside this ride that spun really fast. Alphard had wanted to go on it too, but Andromeda refused, convinced that it would come off of its hinges. So her uncle sat outside with her, his arm around her tiny shoulders.
"You're not like them, Ande," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"You were meant for greater things. You and Sirius both. I can see it in you." He turned and gave her a warm smile that her own father would have never given her. "Promise me that when they try to keep you down, you'll fight them."
"I promise," she answered.
Being eight years old, she wouldn't understand the weight of her promise until years later.
"What do you think, Uncle Alphie? Are you proud of how we turned out?"
The man in the photo smiled and winked.
