"So this is Italy…" Andromeda said, looking around curiously.

"Haven't you ever been to Italy before? Don't the Blacks have a villa here or some such?" Ted asked.

"Well, yes, so I've seen plenty of the villa, and of the ocean, but I've never seen Rome before."

Ted smiled proudly. "I'm honoured to be the first to show it to you then."

The couple was standing towards the edge of a narrow, cobbled street, watching the goings-on of the fair which they had had the good fortune to arrive in Rome at the same time as. There were about a thousand stands, selling anything one could expect to see sold, and more. Andromeda dearly desired some of the fine, brilliantly coloured silk scarves, but she didn't want to ask Ted for any more muggle money. Besides, the scarf her eyes kept being drawn to was a particular green-and-silver one that looked far too much like Bellatrix's favourite summer wrap…

But there weren't just the stands selling things. There was a troupe of women dancing, graceful and hypnotizing, all along the side of the street, the bright paint on their faces not quite making up for a certain deadened quality in their eyes. A helter-skelter parade of sorts was making its way through the streets – decorated knights on even more decorated steeds, kings and queens in their finery, and children who had just decided that they wanted to run alongside the horses. Andromeda smiled.

"What exactly is the occasion?" she asked Ted, watching a man and a woman who she supposed were supposed to be the Queen of Diamonds and the King of Spades passing by.

"I don't really know," Ted said, "but isn't it lovely?"

"Yes."

Andromeda sighed dreamily. She had a sudden, mad wish to run up alongside the parade, with all the children.

"What's this? Surely such a fine young couple deserve more than a place on the side of the road!"

Andromeda looked up at the knight, mounted on a powerful grey stallion, that had stepped away from the parade to address her. "Pardon me, sir?"

The knight lifted his visor, and Andromeda laughed in sheer delight.

"Uncle Alphard!"

He swung off the horse, and embraced his niece – admittedly not as pleasant an experience as one might wish, as he was wearing armour, but kind all the same.

"What are you doing here?" Andromeda squealed. "And in the parade too …"

"It's all good fun, isn't it?" Uncle Alphard said. "And you must be Ted Tonks." He turned to Ted and shook his hand. "You must be a good man, for Andromeda to want to come all the way to Italy for you."

Ted smiled rather nervously, apparently a bit intimidated by the knight who had stepped out of formation to compliment him. "I do my best, Sir."

"Oh, none of this 'Sir' nonsense," said Uncle Alphard. "Do call me Alphard. Uncle Alphard, if you prefer. But not 'Sir' - that makes me sound like some sort of dreadful bore."

Ted smiled. "Uncle Alphard, then. I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," said Alphard. "Welcome to Italy. A friend of mine told me you were here at the fair, and I couldn't resist dropping by to say hello. Wouldn't be right of me to let my favourite niece and her beau wander around Rome all alone, now would it?"

"Where did you get the armour?" Andromeda asked, staring in equal parts amusement and fond exasperation at her uncle's elaborate costume.

He winked. "It's all part of the fantasy. Don't you think it's rather fine?"

"Of course I do."

"Good." Uncle Alphard hooked his foot back into the stirrup, and lifted himself onto the horse. "Climb up, then. This horse is big enough for three."

Ted looked at Andromeda for some clue as to how to react. She grinned at him, and heaved herself up onto the horse after her uncle, and they together pulled Ted up behind her.

The sun was setting, and Andromeda rode through the streets of Rome, laughing at her Uncle's stories, watching the moon rise and the sky darken until the city was reduced to romantic moonlight and shadows. And when her Uncle finally deposited them at the hostel at which they were staying, any doubts that Andromeda had had about the utter rightness of her choice to leave the Blacks had been utterly and completely erased in the fun of the fair.