A/N

Round four! I want to thank everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed my story. You are the best!
I hope you all enjoy this new chapter.

When Hermione stepped out of the floo at Grimmauld Place she was surprised to see that Harry and Ginny still awake with Teddy sleeping soundly in the small crib in front of the couch. Hermione noticed their tired faces.

„Is Teddy still fussy?" She asked while wiping away the soot from her clothes.

Harry rubbed his eyes and Ginny looked at her tiredly before answering her. "The poor baby wakes up crying every thirty minutes. I honestly don't know how Andromeda endures this," she said and Hermione nodded in sympathy.

"Did you enjoy Andromeda's company?" Harry asked and motioned for Hermione sit next to him.

She sat down and nodded. "It was lovely, really. Look, she helped me with my scar." Hermione carefully rolled her sleeve up to show the couple the nearly faded scar. "Bellatrix carved the word blood traitor in Andromeda's arm back in the seventies. Maybe you've seen it before?"

Ginny gasped and the young wizard shook his head.

"Unfortunately there is no real remedy but she invented a potion to close it up." She traced the scar with her finger.

Ginny and Harry both looked surprised when she didn't flinch in pain. They both looked at the scar closely.

"We chose to work together to enhance it as I think it could help a lot of people." A smile spread on Hermione's face at the prospect of working on this potion and with the older witch. "We'll start the following week."

"Sounds interesting," Harry said joyfully and his joy made Hermione smile further.

"If it works out well, I'll quite the job!" Hermione laughed and leaned back. They sat in silence for a moment before Hermione shooed the couple away. "Go to sleep. I will watch Teddy."

Harry and Ginny gratefully accepted the offer and disappeared into their bedroom on the second floor.

She bent over Teddy's crib to look at his sleeping form. He was sleeping peacefully, his hair still red like Ginny's and his tiny thumb limply resting between his lips. "You are perfect," she whispered and tenderly stroked his soft, rosy cheek.

Her thoughts wandered back to Andromeda. She took the small notebook out of her bag and scrolled through it. The witch's handwriting was flawless, just as she had expected. The booklet contained several little notes on things the older witch must have written down during her healer training and her time at St. Mungo's. There were short notes describing daily events but it also included difficult Latin expressions and detailed descriptions of spells. Every entry was dated and every page of an entry had a page number. Hermione smiled at a particular note: 'Always ask the trainee to give you the name of the patient!' It was dated June 5, 1980. Hermione wondered what might have happened on this day. She went back to the notes of the potion. They were neatly written and detailed. Someone else had crossed out and replaced ingredients. The handwriting was quite sloppy and Hermione figured it must have been Ted's. Suddenly she realised what she was holding in her hands. The booklet probably held many treasured memories for the other woman. Hermione smiled that Andromeda had left it in her care without a second thought. The smile still graced her lips when she fell asleep.

Teddy cried out soundly and Hermione woke with a start. The notebook fell from her hands and she quickly picked it up before getting up from the couch.

With clumsy hands she picked up the baby, making a face at the ugly smell coming from his nappy. Teddy only smiled at her and with a faint 'pop' his hair became curly and brown. She looked at him in awe.

"You know exactly how to make everything better. Don't you?" she cooed as she transferred him to the couch. She unskilfully changed his nappy and put his blue sleepsuit back on before putting him back into his crib. Just as she was about to turn away his face turned red.

"No, no, baby, please don't cry," she said exasperated but it was already too late for her soothing words. Panic rose in her chest and she regretted not having spent time with him earlier in his life. How silly of her that she never dared to visit them. She reached for her wand and cast numerous turquoise, sparkling butterflies into the air. Teddy immediately stopped crying and, with his tiny hands, tried to catch the sparks. Hermione saw how his eyes got heavier and soon he was fast asleep again. Letting out a relieved sigh, Hermione walked over to the couch, curled up and closed her eyes.

Andromeda was undressing to put her nightgown on when her reflection in the long mirror caught her eyes.

The mirror had belonged to her aunt. Harry had given it to her after she had stumbled upon it in one of the old bedrooms at Grimmauld Place. She had always admired the long glass with its beautiful silver frame. It was very Slytherin with black snakes and the Black family coat of arms with its motto "Toujours pur" embedded in it. She didn't exactly know what had drawn her to it that day at Grimmauld Place. It represented everything she despised. But when she had opened the black curtain and had seen her reflection, melancholia had washed over her. She had remembered the happier days of her childhood and the fact that she once loved her aunt dearly. She sighed, feeling overwhelmed by her memories.

1965

"Sirius, watch out!" Andromeda yelled when her cousin ran head first into his mother's huge mirror. It wiggled dangerously and Andromeda ran towards Sirius to pull him out of the way. Luckily, Bella was around to catch the mirror from falling. Sirius wriggled free from Andromeda's grip and escaped the room.

"What are you two idiots doing?" Bellatrix asked incredulously. "Can I not leave you alone for two minutes without you causing havoc?" She put the mirror back in its original position and crossed her arms in front of her body, giving her a stern look.

"No, you can't leave them alone," Narcissa replied haughtily and dragged her older sister towards the door.

"Let's get some fancy clothes for Sirius, I want to dress him up nicely," she said. Bella rolled her eyes but followed suit.

Andromeda stayed in the room, examining the mirror. She traced the black snakes with her fingertips; they were smooth and nicely carved. Their eyes made out of small emeralds.

"It was a wedding gift," she heard her aunt say as the raven-haired witch entered the room.

"As we were both Black's already your uncle thought it suitable to gift me this mirror. It belonged to his mother. She got it as a wedding gift as well. Your grandfather made it for her." She gently touched the family crest with her index finger and smiled lightly.

"It's a beautiful mirror, Walburga."

"Come sit next to me, ma fille," her aunt gestured to the empty space next to her. Andromeda sat down on the chaise longue. She studied their reflections in the mirror. The loving look on her aunt's face, her blood red coloured lips and the black makeup around her eyes.

"You get more beautiful every day, ma chère," she said and brushed her niece's hair with her long delicate fingers. "I wish I had a girl myself," she buried her face in Andromeda's hair.

"I'm sure father would've happily exchanged one of us for one of your sons," Andromeda replied drily.

"Your father loves all three of you," her aunt replied sternly. But Andromeda knew how much he longed to have a son and that the three of them would never be enough. Just as Sirius and Regulus would never be enough for Walburga.

Her counterpart in the mirror seemed to be mocking her. She examined the dark puffy circles that had formed beneath her grey eyes. Her hair hung untamed and dull over her shoulders. Every bone was showing on her upper body. She was tracing her collarbone when she realised that she looked more like Bellatrix than ever before. The thought made her shudder. If it weren't for the faint silver stretch marks on her belly and the horrible scar on her forearm she would be certain her dead sister was staring right back at her. She felt it again, the dull pain that never seemed to leave. The faint feeling of unwanted, undeserved grief towards a sister she lost to Molly Weasley's wand. A sister she had already lost thirty years before.

With trembling fingers, she traced the faint marks on her abdomen then the scar on her arm. "How could you do this to me, Bella?" she whispered into the night before covering the mirror with its attached black curtain.

Once in bed, she hugged Ted's pillow tightly, missing his scent and the sound of his voice. She had been looking forward to a peaceful night, a night in which she could finally sleep. Now she tossed and turned, unable to escape the numbing silence of her formerly buzzing home. There were no faint voices coming from the room next door anymore. No stomping footsteps in the hallway as her daughter went to the kitchen for a midnight snack. No rustling of sheets as her husband turned in his sleep. Finally letting go, she let the tears seep into Ted's pillow.

The next morning she anxiously paced in front of the fireplace as she awaited Harry to bring back Teddy. When the young wizard finally stepped out of her floo at precisely 10 o'clock relief washed over her. She pressed Teddy firmly against her heart.

Two weeks later a small grey owl landed on her windowsill.

"You must be Metis," she stated with a bright smile on her lips and stroked the tiny animals silky feathers. She carefully removed the attached note from its leg and opened it. Excited about Hermione's invitation she quickly wrote her reply and fed Metis some treats.

Later that day Andromeda walked through the door at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, aunt Walburga started screaming a series of insults at her disowned niece.

She looked at the portrait with wide eyes. A lump closed her throat and she tried to reassure herself that it was just the charm speaking and not her aunt. "Arrête, je t'en prie, arrête!" she spoke firmly once she found her voice again. To her surprise the portrait fell to the floor with a loud thud, spreading dust everywhere.

Hermione, who had been approaching Andromeda, jumped at the sudden noise. "How did you? And in French?" The young witch asked staring at the portrait on the floor.

"Accidental magic and the blood I believe. I may have been disowned but my blood is as pure and Black as ever," Andromeda stated a small smile dancing on her lips. "We used to speak French frequently at home," she said as she levitated the portrait to get it out of the way. "I actually wanted to get rid of it ever since the war ended. It is charmed to be unkind. My aunt, though, never was," she said, her voice laced with melancholy. "At least never towards me."

"Believe me, I tried to remove it numerous times. It just wouldn't unstick." Hermione was frantically waving her hands.

Andromeda walked towards the younger witch and kissed both of her cheeks softly, tracing her jawline with her finger. "It's been a while," she spoke in a low voice. Her eyes never left Hermione's.

Hermione gave her a half-smile. "I'm sorry. I wanted to invite you earlier but I was so busy with that horrible job," she said and hugged Andromeda. "You look really well. Is Teddy finally sleeping through the night?" she asked as she looked at the older witch from head to toe. She admired the anthracite, well-tailored robes Andromeda wore. They hugged her in all the right places. Her dark hair was artistically braided and its loose end tied up with a black satin ribbon. She looked much healthier than two weeks ago.

"He is and so am I. You should see him now with his new teeth, he looks even more adorable." Andromeda smiled fondly. "He's at his great-grandparents today so we have the evening to ourselves."

Hermione nodded before leading Andromeda towards the kitchen to fetch the already prepared tea. "I did some research and bought pots and ingredients to set up a small potions lab."

Andromeda smiled at the younger witch's excitement and efforts. "Sounds wonderful," she said as she reached for her cup of tea to take a sip. "My healer colleagues assured me that a potion like this does still not exist. We have an actual chance to market it. With Harry's help, I checked out the books in the old library upstairs. I found some texts that might be useful to us. Did my notebook help you?"

Hermione nodded. "It did. I understand the basic mechanisms of the potion, but I still lack the deeper understanding. That's actually where we should begin. Why don't we head upstairs?"

Andromeda agreed and followed the girl past Sirius' and Regulus' old bedrooms into the study that her uncle used to work in. She picked up her notebook from the coffee table. When she opened it, she was confronted with the entry of June 5, 1980. She frowned slightly and switched pages. Hermione who was glancing at the booklet didn't miss the entry.

"I apologise for being so nosy but what happened that night? It sounds like a good story," she said lightly.

Andromeda hesitated for a moment, recalling the event would stir up many emotions but seeing the excitement in the younger woman's face made her willing to tell it. "It's indeed a rather interesting story. Can I tell you over dinner tonight?"

Hermione smiled at the suggestion and happily agreed before sitting down on the worn out brown leather couch. Andromeda sat down next to her and Hermione took the notebook from her hands. Quickly she switched to the notes on the potion.

"I stumbled over the Mandrake you used. What exactly does it do?" she asked, indicating the passage with her finger.

Andromeda furrowed her brows a little. "That was Ted's idea. As far as I know, it's only supposed to give some pain relief."

Hermione furrowed her brow but nodded. "Thought so."

Andromeda contemplated for a moment. "I think you agree with me that it is a useless painkiller. We should exchange it with something stronger," she suggested.

Hermione scooped closer to Andromeda, their thighs nearly touching, before opening an empty page in the notebook. Andromeda enjoyed the younger woman's proximity. The young woman smelled of vanilla and spices, a mix she happily inhaled.

"Do you mind if I add our notes in here?" She asked, ripping Andromeda out of her daydream who quickly shook her head. Andromeda smiled when the younger witch carefully dated the entry and wrote a neat '1' on the bottom of the page before adding her new notes.

They continued to work in silence, scrolling through the books Andromeda had selected. The older witch enjoyed looking at the studious woman next to her. Even the way she was reading a book intrigued Andromeda. She caressed every fresh page with her thumb and she scrunched up her nose from time to time.

Hermione finally looked up from the old, heavy tome in her hands. A smile spread on her lips at her discovery. "I know what we can use as a painkiller. It shouldn't interfere with the other ingredients."

"Go ahead," Andromeda said, putting her own book down on her lap, focusing solely on the younger woman.

"Three aconite leaves. That should be enough to take the edge of the pain," she said excitedly.

Andromeda agreed with her before writing it down in the booklet. She stretched herself. "It's getting late. Why don't we head to mine for dinner?"

"Only if you cook the Muggle way again," she said with a grin on her face.

Andromeda had to laugh at her statement and Hermione immediately adored the small wrinkles that appeared in the corners of her eyes and around her mouth. She was gorgeous when she smiled like that and Hermione wished she'd never stop. A small blush formed on her cheeks and she hoped Andromeda wouldn't notice.

"Cheeky," Andromeda replied softly after she had calmed herself. She stood and reached out her hand to help Hermione up.

A/N 2

Here are the translations for the French words:
Ma fille = my girl / Ma chère = my dear / Arrête, je t'en prie, arrête = Stop, I beg of you, stop!