Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this so far, and sorry for the long wait. In case you have forgotten, Regulus and his friend Alex were attacked by Regulus's mother, and were rescued by an unlikely hero. They are now resting at Andromeda's house.

Chapter Seven: Andromeda

Regulus didn't think he'd ever felt so awful in his life. When he woke up he still felt shaky and his body hurt all over. He hadn't expected it not to: after having been under the Cruciatus Curse for half an hour he was lucky to still have his sanity intact. His head seemed to hurt quite a bit too. He lifted his hand to touch it and noticed something soft like a bandage; he must have hit his head when he collapsed and not noticed at the time.

He glanced across at Alex, who was lying awake with his eyes half closed as if he was trying to get to sleep. He had a bandage on his head too, but this one had blood soaked through it. Regulus thought he looked tired – very tired and probably a bit sick too, looking at the bucket next to him – so he kept quiet and didn't disturb him.

Regulus had just buried his head under the blanket when the door opened and the girl with the pink hair walked in. "Wotcher Regulus," she said brightly, causing both Regulus and Alex to become fully awake. "Oh, you are awake then. I'll just go and get you two breakfast." She went off and came back with a tray with two bowls on it. Then she tripped over edge of the carpet and fell flat on he face.

"Are you alright?" asked Regulus.

"I'm fine. That happens all the time and look, no spilt breakfast!" Miraculously the breakfast had managed to stay in the bowls. She gave one of them to Alex and then helped Regulus to sit up because he was too floppy and shaky to do so by himself.

"I'm Tonks, Andromeda's daughter," she said as she started spoon-feeding cereal to Regulus. Regulus insisted that he could do it on his own but it wasn't until the breakfast was knocked over and spilt half of it all over him that the girl decided it would be a better idea if he did do it himself. It then turned out that Regulus wasn't well enough to hold the bowl properly on his own, and the rest of the breakfast ended up all over the bed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," said Regulus, feeling rather embarrassed about being so utterly helpless.

"Don't worry: I'll clean it up," said Tonks. Then she waved her wand and said, "Scourgify."

"Thanks," said Regulus. Tonks skipped off and came back with another bowl. This time she held it steady with one hand, whilst feeding Regulus with the other.

"Tonks is a funny name," said Regulus between mouthfuls. "Is it a nickname?"

"Sort of. It's my last name. My parents stupidly named me 'Nymphadora', which I hate."

"I think it's an okay name," said Alex. "I wouldn't like to be called it but then I'm a boy."

Regulus didn't comment. He didn't particularly like the name 'Nymphadora' but he didn't like his own name much either. He wondered whether 'Tonks' referred to Ted Tonks, who had been Andromeda's secret boyfriend when he was younger. He certainly couldn't recall anyone else by the name of 'Tonks' to whom his cousin might have married. He ate about half of the cereal and then back flopped down with his head on Tonks's lap.

Meanwhile, Alex had eaten his owl bowl of cereal on his own and gained a little colour back into his cheeks. "What exactly happened? I'm sure that woman cast a spell at me. And why is Reggie so ill?" he asked.

The pink-haired girl was at first unsure of how to answer, but Regulus whispered that he had already told his friend a little bit about magic after he's first discovered that he and Hermione could do it. In fact, Regulus actually suspected that his friend might be able to do magic too, but he didn't tell this to Tonks.

"I don't know for sure who attacked you," she began, "but I know that they were a witch or wizard because of what they did to Regulus." She then turned to me. "My mother examined you and it looks like you were hit with the Cruciatus curse. That's a torture curse."

"I know," said Regulus. Then for both of their benefit, he added: "It's a long story, but the witch who attacked us was my Mother."

…..

A few hours later, Regulus's cousin Andromeda returned home from wherever she'd been – mostly likely some form of work. Alex had already recovered and Nymphadora had taken him home, but Regulus wasn't feeling much better than earlier. However he was excited to meet his cousin: in the four years since he was flung forward in time, the only one of his cousins he had actually had a lengthy conversation with had been Narcissa. Apart from the visit to Azkaban, and the short encounter the previous day, he hadn't seen much of Bellatrix – and he hadn't seen Andromeda at all!

He was slightly worried about what his cousin might think of him. It had been what? Twenty-five years since she'd last seen him. And he'd only really been baby cousin Reggie then. Now, lying in a bed in Andromeda's house, and still feeling the after-effects of the torture curse, he didn't think he was giving a good impression of himself. He decided to at least look as if he wasn't completely helpless, so, with a lot more effort than he usually did, he pushed himself into a sitting position and grabbed a book from the nearest bookshelf. It happened to be about plants and their uses in both magical and muggle medicine. He wasn't particularly interested in plants, but they were better than nothing.

Just then, his older cousin Andromeda entered the room. Regulus was surprised at how much older she looked - though not as haunted-looking as her sister Bellatrix, his cousin still looked like she'd been through a lot of stress during the wizarding war that everyone kept talking about. However, she still looked as warm and kind as she had always been.

"So I guess you married Ted then," he said in attempt to break the tension between them.

"Indeed I did," she said laughing slightly. She came and sat on the edge of the bed. "My parents and your father weren't happy in the slightest." Regulus laughed too. If he remembered correctly, Ted had been muggle born, and Blacks were not supposed to marry muggleborns (or 'mudbloods' as his Mother had called them). They would have really hated it when she got married. "So what have you been up to recently?" his cousin asked.

Regulus told her about waking up in London, and how the Mr Granger had found him and taken him in. He told her about Hermione and magic and Hogwarts, and what a shock it had been when he'd met Leo, Callie and Sirius. He also told his cousin about sneaking into Hogwarts in Hermione's suitcase, which she found funny, and the prank on Draco Malfoy. He didn't mention the visit to Azkaban with Neville because it hadn't really been a very sensible idea and had actually caused more trouble than it was worth, and instead finished off with his theory about Dobby and Lucius Malfoy.

After he had finished, Andromeda told him all about what had happened in her life after she had left Hogwarts, including all about her daughter. By the time she had finished, it was early evening. She called Mr and Mrs Granger on the phone her husband used to call his family, and told them a brief account of what had happened to Regulus. They agreed that Regulus could spend the night at his cousin's house and return home in the morning.

…..

AN: Thanks for reading. I'm sorry for taking so long, but I have been concentrating on my degree and on my other story. I will try to update this sooner rather than later. In the meantime, please could you tell me what you think:

What do you think of Regulus, Narcissa and Andromeda's relationship?

Or of Bellatrix wanting to help Regulus.

What do you think will happen with Riddle's diary?

Do you think having Regulus in on what's happening at Hogwarts will change the plot?

Is there anything you want to ask me about this story, or anything you particularly like of dislike?

I have a poll on my profile page about my OCs if you want to have a look at it. I also have a competition up on HPFC (Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges – it's a forum and you can find it easily on search), called 'Death Eater Child Competition'. Please have a look at it.

Most of all, I wish everyone good look this year (should have said that before), and please review this story.