Chapter Twenty Eight

A/N: Thank you to sfox88 and .1 for reviewing.

The next thing Scarlette felt was the solid impact of her body hitting the ground, knocking the air from her lungs and filling her body with a jarring pain. Her chest burned as she tried to force herself to breathe and her head spun with the impact of her Disapparating so suddenly. She had not been clearly focused on where she was travelling to; consequently, her limbs were aching as if she had run a marathon and she had not a clue where she was.

The surrounding area seemed familiar, like an image from a dream or from early childhood. She could feel the happiness in the place, the beauty and joy of a family home. Equally, she felt the sadness and loss that hung in the air, and hung in her very soul. It had been so long that the memory was faded, like a favoured relative who had disappeared many years ago and had never been seen again. Little did she know, that was exactly what she was here.

She moved quickly through the darkness, before it became so black that she could not see the faint outline of the house in front of her. A dark cloud was moving towards the moon, soon to block it from sight and leave her blind; she would have to reach that house before that happened, and hope that the occupants would be friends to her.

Before she knew it, she rapping her knuckles against the wood of the door, and it was only a second before the door was opened, the light from inside spilling out into the darkness. For a moment, she was blinded, the glow so intense that she could only see the shape of a person in front of her. But once she had blinked a few times, her eyes became accustomed to the level of light and she gasped as she recognised the figure in the doorway.

It was amusing to think that she had run to escape one mother, only to come face to face with the other.

While the war had given Bellatrix a certain joie de vivre, it had left Andromeda nothing short of spectral. Her face, once glowing with laughter, was pale and drawn, the only colour the dark red circles beneath her eyes. 'She's been crying.' Scarlette thought, and then she remembered why.

Ted Tonks had been murdered by Snatchers only a couple of weeks ago, leaving Andromeda a widow. She was clearly sick with grief. To lose her husband, the man for whom she had abandoned her family and the world she had known, was an agonising pain that Scarlette could hardly imagine.

She refused to think of Draco as lost to her, not now.

The instant she caught sight of her niece, Andromeda became even paler than she was, something Scarlette had not thought possible. She let go of the breath she had been holding, which escaped as a shuddering gasp.

"Scarlette?" The whisper was so quiet that it was almost inaudible, but the girl had been listening carefully for any reaction, and heard her name as clearly as if it had been shouted. At a loss for what else to do, Scarlette nodded, blinking rapidly to try and keep her tears at bay.

For a couple of seconds, they were still, as motionless as a stone tableau. But once the third second passed, a teary smile broke out on Andromeda's face, mirrored in that of the girl who had once been her daughter.

It all happened so quickly, a blur of movement and tears and flickering candlelight, but they were wrapped up tightly in each other's arms, clutching on as if each was the only thing keeping the other grounded. Scarlette could feel sobs wracking her body, but there were not of sorrow and despair, as they had been so often in the past years, but of pure joy at having found the only person that had ever been a true mother to her.

Eventually they broke apart, although Andromeda's hands still remained clutching at Scarlette's arms, as if she were afraid that she was an illusion and that if she did not hold on tightly, she would fade away into the darkness.

"Have you come back to me?" she asked, her voice a whisper of wonder. "Scarlette, have you really come back?"

Scarlette paused, knowing that whatever answer she gave would determine what happened in the war to come. The clouds were gathering now, the quiet before the storm, and she knew better than most that it would all come to a head and that only one side would emerge victorious, crushing the other into the dirt. This may well be the most important decision she made in her life, and taking a deep breath, she made it.

"I'm back." she answered, her voice no more than a squeak. Chastising herself for being so weak after all she had seen and learnt, she repeated the words, with more force behind them. "I'm back."

Tears of relief flowed from Andromeda's eyes, though she tried to keep them back, and she moved to pull Scarlette into her arms again. She paused when she saw the look of shock on the girl's face and turned back into the house, to see what had caused her to react in such a way.

At the foot of the staircase, clutching a baby in her arms, stood Dora, her expression a perfect mirror of Scarlette's own. She did not pause for long, and soon she was running, thrusting the baby into her mother's arms and throwing hers around the girl she had once called her sister.

There were so many questions to be asked, about the War, the battles to come, recent events and the baby boy, who was squalling now, although Dora was too preoccupied to notice, but neither of them moved to pose the first one. The questions could wait for the morning, when the sunlight would cast a fearsome glow over the lives they had led since their parting. For now, the darkness covered a multitude of sins, leaving the two, if only for a night, to pretend that they were sisters once more.

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