I Wanna be a Kennedy: The Black Family Tragedy Chapter 11: Family and Friends, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: Yay! Spring break for me officially started yesterday and I couldn't be more happy. Normally this would mean an unholy amount of updates but I'll be spending most my break in New York (I'm rather giddy about this fact) and as it's my first time going I don't plan on writing any until I get back on Thursday. On that note enjoy this chapter in my absence.

I can't stand to think about
A heart so big it hurts like hell
Oh my God I gave my best
But for three whole years to end like this

Well do you want to fall apart
I can't stop if you cant start
Do you want to fall apart
I could if you can try to fix what I've undone
Cause I hate what I've become

I could stand to do without
All the people I have left behind
Whats the point in going around
When it's a straight line baby, a straight line down

So lets make a list of who we need
And its not much, if anything
Lets make a list of who we need
And we'll throw it away cause we dont need anyone
No we dont need anyone

You know the night life is just not for me
Cause all you really need are a few good friends
I don't want to go out and be on my own
You know they started something I can't stand

You leave for the city, well count me out
'Cause all this time is wasted on
Well, everything I've done

You know me,
Oh you think you do you, you just dont seem to see
I've been waiting all this time to be
Something I can't define so let's
Cause a scene
Clap our hands and stomp our feet or something
Yeah something
I've just got to get myself over me
You know me,
Oh you think you do you, you just dont seem to see
I've been waiting all this time to be something I can't define
So let's cause a scene
Clap our hands and stomp our feet or something
Yeah something
I've just got to get myself over me, yeh, over me, yeh, over me

Early 1972: Ted swallowed the lump in his throat down as he picked pitifully at his food. He and Andromeda had been dating a lot lately, always in the muggle world and things were going great in Ted's opinion. He knew that he meeting her family would never be an option and he understood why. But that didn't change the fact that their relationship was getting serious and he wanted her to be more than just his secret girlfriend. Therefore, he had asked her if she wanted to meet his family.

She had been nervous but excited at the opportunity and had only pointed out a few drawbacks to his plan. (Drawbacks that Ted knew exactly how to fix.) Now he had to run the idea by his parents.

He couldn't help but wonder if his hasty suggestion had been a bad idea as he watched his older brother, Tim, kick his younger sister; Tina, under the table and Tina use her spoon to catapult peas at him which earned her a disapproving look from their mother. 'Dromeda was a pureblood and use to a much higher class then that of Ted's family. He knew that she wouldn't care about such things but he couldn't control how his family acted and he had come to terms long ago with the fact that they were embarrassing.

Remembering how flattered Andromeda had sounded that he wanted her to meet his family Ted took a deep breath, preparing to bring the subject up…and sighed, dejectedly. He was no Gryffindor and he knew that as soon as he asked if he could have his girlfriend over his siblings would tease him to no end.

"Is something the matter?" Mr. Tonks asked, looking uncertainly at Ted. His two siblings stopped fighting and looked over at Ted, as did Mrs. Tonks.

Ted cleared his throat nervously as every eye in the room was now looking at him expectantly. "Actually," Ted began, putting his fork down, as it was clear that he wasn't going to be eating anything. "I was wondering if I could bring a, um-friend over for dinner on Friday."

"Of course," his mother answered easily and Ted picked his fork up, willing that to be the end of the conversation.

"Aren't you going to tell us more about your friend?" Mrs. Tonks asked with a kind smile. "Is it someone you met at work?"

After Hogwarts Ted had gotten a job at the ministry, it didn't pay much but it was a good start and it enabled Ted to slowly save up money for his own place. "Uuh, no," Ted answered, rather reluctantly. "It's someone I know from Hogwarts."

There was silence and Ted stared at his food, he knew he needed to get this over with and just tell them that it was his girlfriend but the eager looks on his siblings' faces silenced him.

"Oh, come on!" Tim yelled, fed up with his younger brother's short answers. "You gotta give us more than that to go on. Don't we get a name or gender?!"

Ted sighed, "Her name is Andromeda Black and before you start asking more questions: Yes, she is my girlfriend and we've been dating for a little over a year."

Silence followed Ted's' outburst "No offense, Ted, but who in their right mind's would date you?" Tina asked, playfully.

"Andromeda?" Tim scoffed at the name. "What the Hell kinda name is that?"

"Teddy," his mother cooed using a much despised pet name. "Why didn't you tell us you were seeing someone?"

"What does she look like?" Tim asked and just to annoy his brother he added: "I'd bet she has to be some kinda ugly to date you."

"Tim," Mr. Tonks said warningly.

"Honestly," Tim said to Ted, ignoring their father. "Does she have an extra nose or something? I swear I won't point it out when she comes over but if you'd just warn us ahead of time we'd appreciate it."

"That's enough, Tim," Mrs. Tonks warned while Tina giggled.

"That's it," Ted said dramatically when he could take no more mocking from his siblings or well-to-do questions from his mother. "I'm just going to tell her that you're all dead!"

"Now Ted, tell us more about this girl," his dad gently commanded. "And if Tim or Tina makes one more rude comment then we'll just kick them out when she comes and tell her you're an only child."

Tim and Tina displayed their outrage with this even though they knew their father was kidding.

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Andromeda looked at the array of muggle clothing that Ted had sent her, he had apparently borrowed them from his sister after Andy had expressed her concern that she only had robes to where to dinner with his family.

She dubiously picked up an item of clothing that was made out of denim, she believed they were trousers, but why would Ted send her trousers? Andromeda had been taught that women didn't wear such things. She put the trousers back on the bed with the others clothes and picked up a dark blue sundress which was the only item that she could see that even remotely resembled the dresses that she and her sisters wore.

It would have to do.

Shortly after dressing she flooed from the manor to meet Ted outside of the Leaky Cauldron. "You look great," he said by way of greeting and she tugged nervously at the hem of his sister's dress.

"You think so?" She felt out of place in muggle clothing but she supposed her slight discomfort would be better than going to meet his family in wizarding robes.

"Of course," Ted said earnestly, kissing her sweetly as they began to walk. "I think you always look beautiful."

"Do you think your parents will like me?" she asked breathlessly, her nerves propelling her insecurities. "I'm not overdressed, am I? I should have something to give to them, flowers or wine or something. I can't just show up to someone's house empty handed, what kind of guest would I be?!"

"'Dromeda, stop it," Ted told her firmly but there was a slight smile on his lips when he looked down at her. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders as they walked. They were going to apperate there but apparently Ted wanted to handle Andy's little meltdown before they went to his home and she was grateful for that. Apperating was uncomfortable enough without feeling nauseous before.

"You don't need to bring anything but yourself, they just want to meet you. They're excited about it. Just be yourself and I know they'll love you."

Andy sighed, knowing he was right. "Alright, let's do this."

Ted's smile broadened at the determined look on her face. "I should warn you though," he said abruptly.

"About what?" she asked, her resolve wavering.

"My brother and sister," Ted answered a shadow of annoyance passing over his face. "I love them but…they have a tendency to be rather straightforward and voice whatever thought crosses their mind."

Andromeda tried--with little success--to suppress the snort of disbelief that emitted from her. Ted looked at her, confused by her reaction.

"Ted," she rolled her eyes at him, "you're straightforward and usually speak without thinking. If they're anything like you I'm sure I'll be fine."

When they finally made it to the Tonks' home Andy had been thoroughly briefed on the Tonks family. She knew that Tim was a year older than Ted and had a nice job but still lived with his parents because he enjoyed the luxury of living with one's parents and wasn't ready to give that up. Tina was two years younger than Ted and was in high school which, Ted had explained, was muggle schooling system. Ted had one more sister, Tiffany who was three years older than Tim and had recently gotten engaged, she had her own home and would not be joining them.

Andy had asked Ted about the T names that his parents seemed to love so much but he had only shrugged and said, "Your family has consolations, mine has that letter T."

Andromeda had also been let onto another bit of information before they entered the Tonks' home. "I haven't told them about the prejudices against muggle borns," Ted said without preamble when they were outside of the house, taking Andromeda by surprise. "They think that the reason that I haven't been introduced to your family is because your parents are very strict and don't want you dating, they don't know the amount of trouble the two of us could get into if your family ever found out about us."

"I wasn't going to say anything about that," Andromeda reassured him.

"I know," Ted said and the smile he sent her way had a twinge of sadness in it. "I just wanted you to know. Although, I have told them that you're whole family are wizards and witches and that all this muggle stuff is new to you," his smile turned teasing then. "They've been instructed not to be alarmed if you start to play with the television."

Andromeda hit him lightly on the arm for his words (even though she didn't know what a television was).

"What else have you told them about me?" she asked.

"Not too much more."

When they finally walked the short path from the sidewalk to the Tonks' home Ted let them in and called, "We're here!"

The first person that Andromeda saw a girl, around fifteen or sixteen, who poked her head around the corner and into the entranceway. Her hair was the same shade of blond as Ted's but her eyes were blue instead of brown. As only the younger of Ted's sisters would be here, Andy had to assume that his was Tina.

"Jeez, Ted!" she exclaimed upon seeing Andromeda and came the rest of the way into the entranceway. "You said that she was pretty not that she was gorgeous!" Andromeda was more than a little surprised by the girls' outburst, but then again, Ted had warned her that his siblings had very little in the way of tact. "That dress looks great on you, by the way," Tina continued in a lower voice, leaning slightly toward Andromeda. "Your welcome."

"Thank you," Andromeda muttered, not knowing what else to say.

Ted and Tina led Andy into the living room where a boy, who looked around the same age as Ted, lounged on the sofa staring intently at a box with moving pictures.

The boy looked up when they walked into the room, his hair was slightly darker than Tina and Ted's and his nose was longer but his eyes were the same brown as his brother's and they widened when he saw Andromeda. "You're Andromeda?" He asked in disbelief. "There goes my unibrow theory."

"Ignore Tim," Ted instructed when Andy was about to ask him why his brother thought she would have one eye brow. "The rest of us do."

Just then a door of to the side of the room opened and two adults came out. Andy would have known that these were Ted's parents even without the introductions. Mr. Tonks had the same, slightly messy, sandy blond hair and Mrs. Tonks had Ted's warm chocolate eyes.

"You must be Andromeda," Mrs. Tonks said taking Andy into a hug that Andromeda wasn't expecting but was glad to be accepted into the straightforward nature of the Tonks family. "It's nice to meet you," Andromeda said, still a tad thrown off by the hug--her family didn't go around hugging strangers. "Thank you for having me over."

"It's no trouble," Mr. Tonks said, waving away her thanks.

The whole group was soon ushered into the dinning room by Mrs. Tonks and Andromeda was bombarded with questions about Hogwarts, her family, her interests, and how long she and Ted had been dating.

By the end of the night the Tonks family was calling her Andy; Tina had seemed appalled that all she had were wizarding robes and bad planned a shopping trip for the two of them that Andy was looking forward too; Tim had stopped trying to find something wrong with her that he could tease his little brother about; and Andy had helped Mrs. Tonks clear the table and do the dishes when the meal was over. Mrs. Tonks had assured her that it wasn't necessary but Andy had never done dishes the muggle way and found it relaxing, even though Ted had laughed at her when she had said that.

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He was a werewolf. Remus Lupin, Sirius Black's friend was a werewolf. He and James had just figured it out and now they didn't know what to do. They didn't know what to think.

Remus had gone last night, as it was a full moon, and left them with some lame ass excuse about his mum being sick. He'd be back soon and they needed to figure out what they were going to do about their new found information before he returned.

It was dead quiet in their dorm room and Sirius couldn't fathom what was going through the other two's minds…well that wasn't true. He had a good idea of what Peter was thinking, the boy was cowering in the corner, but he did that most of the time anyway. Or it seemed to Sirius that he did, Sirius had learnt to ignore the boy.

James, however, looked just as shocked and lost as Sirius.

Sirius had heard nothing but bad things about werewolves. They were ruthless, bloodthirsty, murderers. They enjoyed ripping apart humans, devouring and mutilating them until they weren't even distinguishable.

A chill went up Sirius' spine at the very thought.

He had shared a room with one of those bloodthirsty wolves for a whole year and half of another one! He had befriended a werewolf! He was lucky to be alive!

His mother had always said that werewolves should be shunned from society at the very least and killed for the best possible outcome.

Just then the door to the dormitory opened and Remus walked in. Sirius couldn't bring himself to look at him.

"Why do you all look so glum?" Remus asked.

"We've--," James started and he looked at Sirius as though asking him if he should continue.

Sirius did that for him. "We figured out about you're…" Sirius searched for the right word, bloodthirsty tendencies sounded a tad to harsh for fragile Remus. "Condition," was the word he finally settled on.

"Oh," was all Remus said and Sirius forced himself to look at him. Remus was just as skinny as he had always been and looked very tired. He had a few extra scars and looked like Hell. He should, a voice in Sirius' head reminded him; he just turned into a giant wolf after all. What caught Sirius' attention though wasn't Remus' appearance; it was the expression on his face. He looked just as lost as the rest of them, he looked as though he thought that this was the end, and he looked frightened.

Sirius wanted to tell his friend that everything would be alright just so he would never have to see those expressions on his thin face again.

That's when Sirius made his decision. This was Remus, his friend. He couldn't stop being friends with the boy just because he had a problem. He wouldn't ignore it either, like his family would. Sirius Black would befriend the werewolf and Gryffindor, Remus Lupin, in full awareness of his condition.

Nodding to himself Sirius stood up from his bed. "So…Who's up for some Quidditch?" he asked the room and received some very disbelieving stares in return for his efforts.

"I think we have bigger matter's at hand, Sirius," Peter said.

"You might but I've made up my mind," Sirius told them. "We'll play two on two. I want to be a chaser and Remus can be Keeper."

"Sirius," Remus said sadly. "You don't have to do this. I'll understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore."

Sirius walked over to Remus and rapped his knuckles on his head, "Don't be so thick," he commanded. "You're my friend, Remus, and nothing will change that."

"Here, here!" James yelled, standing up and holding an imaginary cup up in the air. "Sirius is right. We're the Marauders, pranksters for life, and nothing, not even a furry little problem, will change that!"

"Furry little problem?" Sirius and Remus asked at the same time, both looking at James like he had lost his mind.

James simply shrugged, "It sounds cooler than 'condition.' That makes it sound like he's ill."

"We'll be there for you, Remus!" Peter squeaked, standing from his spot in the corner.

"Here, here!" James and Sirius mimicked James' earlier action.

"What if we could really be there for him?" James wondered out loud.

"That's impossible, James," Remus said. "I'd rip any human who got near me to shreds."

"What about animal's?" Sirius asked, a marvelously mischievous idea sparking in his head.

Remus shrugged, "I don't think I've ever done anything to animals unless they got in my way. And even then I have no control over what I do," Remus explained and then upon seeing the familiar wicked smile forming of Sirius' face, felt the need to ask, "Why, what are you up to?"

"I was just thinking that if we," Sirius motioned to himself, James, and Peter, "became Animagi then we could actually be there for you when you transform. We could keep you company!"

"Yeah," James agreed quickly.

"No," Remus said. "That would be impossible and a total waste of time. You'd have to get the ministry's approval and that could take years, not to mention that the actual process is very difficult and dangerous."

"Listen to Moony," Sirius joked. "Sounding like he swallowed a textbook."

"Moony?" James and Remus said and the same time, Remus with disgust and James with a smile.

"I like the sound of that," James continued, "we can all get nicknames after we've successfully became Animugus and we know what our animal forms are."

"Did you guys even hear what I said?" Remus asked. "You can't become Animagi. You have to get Ministry approv-"

"Blah, blah, blah," Sirius interrupted his friend. "No one said we were going to do it legally."

"What!" Remus yelled, completely shocked, and he opened his mouth to tell his friends just how stupid their idea was until Peter stopped him.

"Don't bother," Peter said. "They're gone," he motioned to James and Sirius who were chatting away, already making plans on how they were going to achieve their aims.

Sighing, Remus realized that Peter was right. Remus wasn't going to be able to deter them from this course, but he could at least make sure that they didn't get themselves killed in the process. "Alright," Remus said loudly. "I'm in!"

There were cheers from his three friends and they enveloped him in a series of hugs and rough pats on the back.

It was good to have friends.