A/N: ugh! I'm starting to get tired of Ted/Andy, I hope it doesn't show in the writing though. Then again I don't think it's the pairing so much as the dating, I want them to move forward but I still have a few things for them to do before I send them on their merry way. I'll probably break up all the Ted/Andy fluffiness with tidbits of the other family members so that you don't think that this story has gone too soft.

The song I picked for this chapter is mainly for the scene b/w Andy and Druella at the very end but I love this song so it's for the whole chapter. And yes, I relize that it says son in the song and Andromeda isn't a son but just go with me here.


Mama, we all go to hell.
Mama, we all go to hell.
I'm writing this letter and wishing you well,
Mama, we all go to hell.

Oh, well, now,
Mama, we're all gonna die.
Mama, we're all gonna die.
Stop asking me questions, I'd hate to see you cry,
Mama, we're all gonna die.

And when we go don't blame us, yeah.
We'll let the fires just bathe us, yeah.
You made us, oh, so famous.
We'll never let you go.
And when you go don't return to me my love.

Mama, we're all full of lies.
Mama, we're meant for the flies.
And right now they're building a coffin your size,
Mama, we're all full of lies.

Well Mother, what the war did to my legs and to my tongue,
You should've raised a baby girl,
I should've been a better son.
If you could coddle the infection
They can amputate at once.
You should've been,
I could have been a better son.

And when we go don't blame us, yeah.
We'll let the fires just bathe us, yeah.
You made us, oh, so famous.
We'll never let you go.

She said: "You ain't no son of mine
For what you've done they're gonna find
A place for you
And just you mind your manners when you go.
And when you go, don't return to me, my love."
That's right.

Mama, we all go to hell.
Mama, we all go to hell.
It's really quite pleasant
Except for the smell,
Mama, we all go to hell.

2 - 3 - 4
Mama! Mama! Mama! Ohhh!
Mama! Mama! Mama! Ma...

[Liza Minelli:] And if you would call me your sweetheart,
I'd maybe then sing you a song

[Gerard Way:] But there's shit that I've done with this fuck of a gun,
You would cry out your eyes all along.

We're damned after all.
Through fortune and flame we fall.
And if you can stay then I'll show you the way,
To return from the ashes you call.

We all carry on (We all carry on)
When our brothers in arms are gone (When our brothers in arms are gone)
So raise your glass high
For tomorrow we die,
And return from the ashes you call.

Mama ~ My Chemical Romance


Summer of 1971: Andromeda hadn't realized just how much she missed Ted until she spotted him walking into Flourish and Blotts one summer day. They had kept contact through letters since going their separate ways after graduation but it wasn't the same as being with him. It was like a convulsion, this felling she had to follow him into the store and just be around him again.

When Andromeda had announced that she was going to Diagon Alley that morning her decision was fueled by a need to get out of the manor and away from the people in it. Ever since Druella had ceased Bellatrix's travels-saying that she needed to focus on getting herself a husband-no one was spared of Bella's glares, biting remarks, and dark curses, which left everyone in low spirits.

Andromeda was not surprised that she wasn't the only one who wanted to go. Sirius had asked if he could come, as he had been bored out of his mind all summer without his Gryffindor mates and Andromeda didn't have the heart to tell him no. Alphard, who was staying at the manor for a summer visit, had opted to go as well and he had parted ways with his niece and nephew shortly after flooing into the Leaky Cauldron, saying that he had "business to attend too."

This left Sirius alone with Andromeda at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

"Stay here," she told Sirius when she spotted Ted. Sirius looked up from his ice cream when Andy started to walk away, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be right back!"

Andromeda walked into Flourish and Blotts and looked around for Ted, her heart picked up it's pace when she saw him, a few isles away from the front of the store.

"Ted!" cried throwing her arms around his neck.

"'Dromeda?!" Ted asked, pleasantly surprised at seeing her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I've missed you so much," Andy smiled up at him as they embraced and Ted leaned down to plant a kiss on her lips.

"Couldn't you at least be doing something interesting?" a disgusted voice from behind the happy couple asked, interrupting the sweet moment. Andy and Ted broke apart and looked to see Sirius, "I almost wish I hadn't followed you know, Andy. If I had known you had run off like that just so you could snog in a book store I would have left you too it and finished my ice cream."

"Sirius," Andromeda scolded, while Ted laughed at Sirius who looked as though he might be sick. "I thought I told you to stay at the ice cream parlor."

"You should know me better than that by now," Sirius said off handedly as he sized up Ted who still had a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Who the Hell are you?" Sirius asked and Ted raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Sirius," Andy sighed, "be nice. This is Ted Tonks, my…" Andromeda briefly deliberated how much to tell Sirius about her relationship with Ted but, figuring that Sirius would keep a secret for her, she decided that the truth would be a nice change. "Boyfriend. Ted, this is my cousin, Sirius, you've meet him before."

"Yeah," Sirius said, crossing his arms over his thin chest and trying to make himself look taller. "I punched your friend. I'm still rather proud of that."

"I'm sure you are," Ted said, trying to hold back his laughter at the twelve year olds protectiveness of his older cousin.

"That's enough, Sirius," Andromeda told him not liking his hostile glare at Ted. "Ted is nice to me, so you should be nice to him."

"We'll see," was all Sirius said, he did uncross his arms but he still glared at Ted. "Shouldn't we go, Andy? Uncle Alphard might be looking for us by now."

Andromeda was about to tell Sirius that if he wanted to leave then he could but Ted looked at her worriedly.

"Maybe you should go," he suggested, ignoring the hurt look on Andromeda's face. "I don't want you to get into trouble if you get caught talking to me."

"We won't get into trouble," Andy lied, wanting to stay with Ted longer. She didn't see the look of disbelief at her lie that Sirius gave her from behind her back, but Ted did and he also spotted a tall dark haired man at the end of the isle who had 'Dromeda and Sirius' gray eyes making his way over to the two Blacks. Ted's eyes widened to try and convey a wordless warning to 'Dromeda but it was too late.

"Andromeda," A deep voice very close to Andromeda's ear said calmly, making her body go rigid with fear. "When you and Sirius come back to the manor I would like the two of you to join me in the study."

Andromeda knew that voice and she knew the answer she was expected to give, "Yes, sir." Her Uncle Aphard righted himself, nodded once to a surprised Ted and then left the bookstore.

"We're in trouble," Andy admitted.

Andromeda and Sirius left the bookstore after saying a quick goodbye to a dejected looking Ted, although, Andromeda tried to assure him that it wasn't his fault that they were in trouble and she assured him that she'd write him as soon as possible.

Not feeling up to the task of shopping any longer and wanting to get what Alphard had in store for them over with they flooed from the Leaky Cauldron back to the Black Manor. Upon stepping from the grate they saw that everything looked as they had left it, there were no angry relatives crowding the fireplace, just Druella, who was sitting in her chair and reading a book like always. Perhaps Alphard wouldn't tell anyone?

"Hello mother," Andromeda said as she walked by the chair Druella was sitting in.

Sirius muttered his own form of greeting to his aunt and followed Andy. They were half way up the steps when they heard Druella's reply, "Alphard wants to see both of you in the study," she said, not looking up from her book. "So don't even think about hiding out in your room, Andy."

This caused Andromeda and Sirius to stop. How much had Alphard told Druella? "Of course mother," Andy replied, cautiously.

"And after he's done with you I'dlike to speak with you in your room, Andormeda," Druella continued, still not looking at the children.

Andromeda's shoulders slumped even lower than they had been. "So he's told mum," she thought.

With hung heads they walked the rest of the way through the manor to the study. Andromeda raised a fist to knock but before she made any contact with the door Alphard called, "Come in."

Opening the door they saw their uncle standing with his back to the door, looking up at the Black family tapestry.

They hesitantly stepped into the room and Sirius closed the door to the study as quietly as he could-which wasn't that quietly as it was a heavy door and always shut with a loud bang.

"Come here," Alphard ordered after the door and banged its way closed.

Looking worriedly at each other they walked over to their uncle. Uncle Alphard was somewhat an enigma to the Black children. He was the older brother yet he left all of the family affairs to Cygnus and his cousin, Orion. He traveled for a living and only came around the family on the holidays, they never received any letters of where he was or how he was doing and he was pretty much forgotten about through the year and then came at Christmas or summer as if to remind them all that he was, indeed, a part of the family, no matter how remote.

Therefore, neither Sirius nor Andromeda knew what to make of himbeing the one to find them talking with a mudblood.

Andromeda stood beside Alphard and Sirius beside her, all three looking up at that ominous tree of their ancestry.

They stood that way for some time before Alphard spoke. "Do you know what happens to Blood traitors in this family?" he asked the two.

Sirius and Andromeda threw panicked glances at each other before Andromeda, being the oldest, spoke. "Uncle Alphard, I don't think what we did warrants us as blood traitor," she defended them.

"Just answer the question, Andromeda," was Alphard's reply.

"I don't know, sir," she admitted.

"Do you know, Sirius?"

"No, sir," Sirius said quietly.

"Then answer me this," Alphard posed another question. "What do the two of you see when you look at this tapestry?"

Andromeda looked back at the tapestry, she saw her family, connected with a thin gold thread and she told Alphard as much.

Sirius' answer, however, caught her by surprise.

"I see the scorch marks," he stated, fingering one of the remarked marks in between the names: Cassiopia and Dorea.

Looking closer she saw more, dotting all over the tapestry, she had never noticed them before, too distracted as she was by the gold thread.

"There's the answer I was looking for," Alphard said, finally looking away from the tapestry and at Sirius and Andromeda. "You see, when a member of the Black family does something that the rest of the family think goes against pureblood ideas or will threaten the Black families' blood purity their name will be blasted from the tapestry and it will be as if they were never even born."

"But," Andromeda looked at the tapestry-which now seemed to be full of little black burn marks-and back at her uncle. "That doesn't change anything. You can't just ignore a problem and hope that it goes away, life doesn't work that way."

"That doesn't matter, Andy," this time it was Sirius who spoke so somberly. "Not to our family, anyway. They'd much rather ignore a problem," he practically spat the word, "and act like it doesn't exist than confront it and try to fix it or even try to understand it."

Andromeda didn't like the way that Sirius was speaking it was too bitter for a twelve year old. "What makes them blood traitors?" Andy asked Alphard, indicating the burn makes that she now knew had at some point been a part of the family.

"There are many different reasons," Alphard said, "Marrying a Weasley," he pointed to a burn mark between Charis and Callidora, "being a squib," he pointed to the one that Sirius was fingering earlier, "supporting Muggle rights," he indicated the hole between an older Sirius and another Cygnus, "and obviously, marrying a muggle," he looked at Andy when he gestured at one on the very top of the tapestry, beside Elladora.

"Oh," was all that Andy said.

"I'm not trying to tell you not to do as you wish," Alphard told them. "You'll end up doing that regardless; I just want you to know what could happen."

With that Uncle Alphard turned and walked from the room, leaving the two standing there, looking at their own names on the tapestry.

"What are you thinking?" Sirius asked Andromeda after some time.

"Probably the same thing you are," she told him. "What my life would be like if I wasn't on this tapestry."

"What have you come up with?"

"I don't know yet," she said honestly. "I can't see it."

"Me neither," Sirius sighed, "but I suppose that when I'm on the brink of being a blood traitor I'll be able to see and make my choice."

"Yeah, I suppose."

They stood there for another moment, trying to see what their lives would be like if they were disowned but neither being able to see just yet.

It was several moments before Andromeda remembered her mother and left Sirius at the tapestry. She went straight to her room, knowing that Druella would be there waiting on her and she was right.

"Mother," Andromeda said, to make her presence in the room known.

"Shut the door Andromeda."

Doing what she was told she took a seat on her bed beside her mother, waiting for Druella to start, which she wasted no time in doing so.

"Andromeda, Alphard told me that he caught you and Sirius with a mudblood in Flourish and Blotts."

"Did he?" was all Andromeda replied, looking down at her hands and trying to keep them from fidgeting from her nerves.

"Andy," her mother said, turning her middle daughters face to look at her. "It's just me, I told Alphard not to tell anyone else."

"Why?" Andromeda asked.

"I wanted to hear your account of the situation."

"What do you want to hear me say, mother?" Andromeda asked. "We were talking to a muggleborn wizard that I knew at school."

"Muggleborn wizard?" Druella asked with raised eyebrows and a slight laugh. "What happened to them just being mudblood's?"

Andromeda just shrugged and decided that silence would be better than to try and stammer an answer.

"Ahh," Druella said, taking in her daughters' silence. "Perhaps it was this "muggle born wizard" who changed my daughters' ideas?"

"What makes you think he has any influence on my ideas?" Andromeda asked, hotly. "Why can't I make up my own mind without anyone influencing me?"

Druella raised an eyebrow at Andromeda's outburst but said nothing about it. "Tell me what happened, love," she commanded gently.

"I spotted this wizard going into Flourish and Blotts an-"

"Does this muggle born wizard have a name?"

Andromeda looked down at her hands that were now fidgeting nervously in her lap and couldn't repress the blush that colored her cheeks as she said, "Ted Tonks."

"You're blushing," Druella observed, surprised.

"I'm not," Andy said, defensively, looking back up at her mother, but the truth still hadn't faded from her cheeks.

"Oh dear," Druella breathed. "This is worse than I thought."

Andromeda shook her head, hating the disappointment in her mother's eyes; "It's not mum," Andy disagreed.

"Then tell me it's nothing!" Druella commanded. "Tell me this mudblood means nothing to you," when Andromeda didn't say anything Druella's heart broke, "Please tell me he's nothing to you," she pleaded and still Andromeda didn't speak and refused to look at her mother.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself Druella spoke to her daughter, "I know that you are old enough to make your own decisions but I just hope that you will think on the course you are heading in because it is one without your family," she told her honestly and looked at Andromeda's face to make sure that she understood. "Are you willing to be a blood traitor for this mudblood?" Andromeda opened her mouth to confirm or deny her mothers worries but Druella held up a hand to stop her. "Don't answer that now. I want you to think long and hard on this. Do you understand me Andromeda Elladora Black?"

"Yes mother," Andromeda consented. "I'll think on it, but may I ask one question?"

"You may."

"I know that an arranged marriage is a happy marriage for all, but haven't you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had held out and married who you wanted instead of who was arranged for you?" Andy asked in one breath.

"When I was young, yes, but I have a happy marriage and three lovely daughters. I am happy now."

"But mother-"

"No more Andromeda," Druella commanded. "Not now."

Blacks were not supposed to show weakness or emotion but as Druella sat there looking at her middle daughter, who looked so lost and alone, she was forced to remember that she was only a Black by marriage. "I love you, Andromeda," she said embracing her surprised daughter who after a moment hesitantly hugged her mother back. "No matter what path you chose just remember that."

A/N: I had to give Andy the middle name after her ancestor who was blasted off of the tapestry for marrying a muggle, I couldn't resist. Review, please!