A/N: I spent most of this morning wondering what I was going to do after the somewhat strange ending in the previous chapter but then finally something came to me. It is another idea that's been playing around in my head for this story for a while but it never seemed to fit before but now it might just do. This story has carried on far longer than I imagined and I can't quite envision an ending so I don't know if we are anywhere near. Anyway, here is chapter 37 and in case someone is interested, I was once again inspired by an instrumental piece whilst writing this. It is called "Meant to Be", by Two Steps From Hell. Of course, the title for this chapter has once again been derived from that piece of music also. ~Cissy

Chapter 37

"Meant To Be"

She could not sleep anymore and as her feet made contact with the soft carpet in her bedroom, Andromeda wrapped the bed sheets around herself before crossing the room towards the window and quickly closed it. The glass felt cold under her fingertips and she shivered as she remembered Hermione's face. Another lightning flash cut through the darkness outside and illuminated her face. Her breath hitched as she caught the glimpse of the dark cloaked figure standing underneath the old oak tree across the garden. Darkness swallowed up the image and Andromeda pressed both her hands against the glass, followed by her face, in an attempt to catch another look. She saw nothing.

A shiver crept down her spine as she started for the bedroom door. She changed her mind about half way, turned back and quickly got changed into a simple pair of robes that lay across the arm chair beside the bed. She picked up her wand from the bedside table and padded across the landing down the creaking staircase. When she reached the front door she looked over her shoulder to make sure that Nymphadora had not heard her get up and once reassured that the house was still covered in silence, she removed the chain and opened the door.

The sound of the pouring rain was almost deafening and it came down so fast and heavy that she could barely see a hand in front of her face. Thick, black clouds obscured the moon and she took a deep breath before stepping out of the door and into the night. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the tall oak tree in the back of the garden and she was about to turn around, convinced it had just been her imagination fooling her, when another flash of lightning lit up the sky.

Her heart froze. The dark clad figure still stood where she had first seen it, their face obscured by their hood. She could just about make out the shape of their face but then the darkness fell again. Andromeda grasped a firmer hold of her wand and finally stepped from the covered doorstep into the pouring rain. The intensity and the sheer strength with which it hammered down on her actually made her shoulders ache. The garden had turned into a muddy mess, with large puddles of water everywhere. She waded across the soggy mess, fully aware of the cold rainwater seeping into her shoes and dripping behind her clothes. Her wet robes clung to her body and her hands started to tremble as the cold began to invade her bones.

When Andromeda reached the oak tree she found the cloaked figure had moved even further away, almost crouching down in the shadows. She slowly raised her wand and whispered, "Lumos." The tip began to glow and the weak silver light lit up the visitor's face. Andromeda blinked a few times in an attempt to force the rain out of her eyes and then she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Ginny!" She took a step towards the youngest Weasley child in an attempt to protect her from the violent weather. The roaring sound of thunder over their heads made her look up, suddenly alarmed. "For Heaven's sake, dear, what are you doing out here? Come on, let's get you inside!" She tried to take the redhead's arm but Ginny pulled away as if burnt by fire. Andromeda's eye narrowed. "Ginny, what's going on? How did you get here? How did you get away from…"

"I escaped." Ginny's voice was so soft that Andromeda had to strain herself to hear it. "I can't come in, Andy. I am not supposed to be here."

"What do you mean; you're not supposed to be here?" Andromeda asked. She brushed a strand of wet hair out of her face. "Have you seen your parents? They were so worried! I mean, we all understand why you had to do it but they thought they would never see you again."

"They won't," Ginny said, still refusing to make eye contact. "It is why I came to you."

"Will you please come inside?" Andromeda whispered. "Standing out here, in the rain…"

"It is the only place where it's safe," Ginny interjected and slowly reached up to lower her hood. Andromeda followed the redheads hand with her wand and the silver glow fell across Ginny's pale face. She let out a soft gasp when she discovered the long, ugly scar that covered the left side of Ginny's face, starting just below her eye and reaching all the way down to the corner of her mouth. The flesh looked red and sore and the cut had not yet fully healed. Andromeda's eyes filled with tears.

"Bellatrix did this?" she whispered.

Ginny snorted and she let her fingertips dance across the unsightly wound. "Actually, this is Narcissa's handy work." She shook her head. "A goodbye present, of sorts. I think she called it 'a reminder.'"

"A reminder? A reminder of what?"

"Of never being able to be free again," Ginny said slowly. Her eyes darted over Andromeda's shoulder at the cottage and she seemed torn between the earlier offer to go inside or remain out here. Light brown eyes closed briefly only to open again, riddled with tears. "I think I would like to go inside after all."

Andromeda wrapped a protective arm around the young redhead and guided her into the house. The second she closed the front door behind them she felt the comfortable warmth of the house seep into her bones. Ginny walked into the living room and sat down on the floor in front of the fire. Andromeda aimed her wand and the flames roared up a little higher, filling the room with an orange glow and slowly erasing the cold wetness that they had brought in with them.

"What happened?" Andromeda asked as she handed Ginny a blanket she kept lying across the back of one of the sofas and the redhead eagerly wrapped it around herself. Suddenly was shaking.

"It was all Bellatrix," she said softly. "From the moment I was arrested and sent to Azkaban, it was all her. I heard some of the other prisoners say how she never bothered to do the interrogations herself but she came to see me not once but twice." Her voice trailed off. "She wanted information and I fought for as long as I could but I couldn't keep fighting. She broke me eventually. I barely remember telling her but whatever I shared, she used it to round up the rest of the resistance." Ginny's eyes fixed on the dancing flames in the fireplace. "And she used it to get to mum and dad."

"Bellatrix has your parents?" Andromeda felt her heart sink in her chest.

"No. She has a way to break them, like she broke me," Ginny answered. "My life for their loyalty. By dawn they will hand themselves over to Bellatrix." Light brown eyes looked up to meet Andromeda's eyes. "When they do, there will only be you left, Andy. They took everyone, in one way or another. When the sun rises, all that remains from the times before all of this, is you."

"Then why aren't you with them?" Andromeda asked. "I'm sure they would love to see you."

"Let them think I am dead," Ginny said meekly. "They are better off if they do not know that it was me who sold out the rest of our resistance, whatever there was left anyway. Let them live some sort of life, albeit in the shadow of the Cores. Bellatrix never meant for me to get away tonight. They were going to take me some place where my parents could see me, away from Azkaban, almost like a last goodbye. Bellatrix claimed she had changed her mind and she was going to execute me at first light."

"After your parents had signed themselves over in the belief that they had saved you." Andromeda's eyes narrowed. "Bellatrix was never able to keep a promise. Not even when she was a child. The deceit was planted inside of her ever since the beginning." She sighed. "How did you escape?"

"Bellatrix left me in the care of a couple of her minions. Defected Death Eaters probably, or some other lowlife idiot she has picked up somewhere," Ginny said and the venom in her words reminded Andromeda of the strong willed, somewhat stubborn fighter Ginny had once been. She had not lost that passion, she had not lost the fire that roared within her, but she had been subdued and been confronted by the painful loss that was brought along by war. "They were bringing me to some cliff top. I remember seeing a small castle. They struggled with the protective spells and all it took was a moment of weakness…"

Andromeda smiled. "You took your chance."

"I managed to take one of their wands and Dissapparated. I wasn't sure where I was going but I had to get away from that cliff top. Once I was gone, there was no way they could follow me. It was dark and it was raining when I arrived in London. I needed time to think and a place to hide, just for a couple of hours." Ginny wrapped the blanket a little tighter around her now shaking body. "I went to Diagon Alley."

"Diagon Alley? I thought everything had been closed down and boarded up?" Andromeda asked. It had been another one of the changes since the Cores came into power. A lot of the businesses had been moved down to Knockturn Alley but most of the brightly coloured shops that had drawn so many to the cobbled alleyway were now empty.

The corner of Ginny's mouth twitched. "Depends on who you talk to. There is more to Diagon Alley than meets the eye."

"So that's where the resistance organised itself," Andromeda smiled. "I always wondered how you managed to regroup yourself. Diagon Alley became your base, didn't it?"

"The old storage room at the back of Ollivander's wand shop. The front was destroyed months ago but the old storage room is still intact. It can be reached from the alley as well as from down below. You have no idea about the ingenious layout of London's sewage system until you start making your way down there," Ginny said. There was a glint of hope in her eye as she talked about the resistance. "The wands that Ollivander believed were no good were kept there. Some were a bit temperamental but most of them did allright. It was safe and it was warm." She sighed. "Until I told Bellatrix where to find it."

"It wasn't your fault, Ginny," Andromeda said. "She left you no choice. She would have killed you."

"She would have killed me anyway. I think I would have died happier knowing I didn't sell out my friends," Ginny flared up. "Anyway, it's too late now." She fixed her eyes on the fire. "Pretty much all of them are in Azkaban and soon, most of them will be dead." She swallowed. "I know that by dawn I will be."

"You really want your parents to believe you're dead?" Andromeda asked. "You want them to sign themselves over to Hermione and Bellatrix and forget all that we have given up, all that we have lost? Don't you think that if they knew you live, they would find it inside themselves to fight once again?"

"What is there left to fight for?" Ginny asked and let the blanket slide from her body. She fingered the soft material, letting her fingertips dance across the flowered pattern. "We have lost so much."

"Don't let them lose you too." Andromeda's eyes searched Ginny's face. "Go home. They no longer have a reason so hand themselves over if they know you are safe and sound. It is a blow to Bellatrix that they have lost you. She was counting on them to switch sides. It would have been another slap in their faces, and in mine too."

"Maybe you're right."

"I don't hear that very often," Andromeda smiled. "You can stay here till morning, if you want. It is not safe out there in the dark."

"It isn't safe in the light either," Ginny countered and Andromeda had to admit she was right. The young redhead pushed herself up. "I think I should go." She took a deep breath and caressed the scar across her face. "Mum is going to have a heart attack when she sees this."

"I am sure she can heal it," Andromeda tried to reassure her but Ginny pulled a face.

"Maybe on the outside, Andy." She slowly rolled up the sleeve of her left arm and revealed her wrist. The burn mark was unmistakable. "But she can never erase this and what it stands for. Ironic, isn't it? Bellatrix branded me as being part of the one thing I have grown to despise. From now on everyone will look at me and wonder what happened to me. When they see my face they will pity me. When they see my wrist, they will assume I am one of them. And those who oppose the new regime will never believe me at first glance when they see this." She slowly pulled her hood back up. "Bellatrix destroyed me."

Andromeda stared into the glowing flames. "Bellatrix destroyed everyone."

Ginny had reached the living room door and turned around only to see Andromeda standing by the fireplace, clutching a photo frame in her hand. The brunette witch looked dup when she felt Ginny's eyes on her and, whilst holding the picture, she crossed the room. "Where will you be going?"

"Straight to mum and dad, I think. I don't know what will happen tomorrow morning. Bellatrix expects to see them. I don't know what happens if they don't show."

Andromeda's eyes narrowed. "Expects to see them where?"

"I think she called it Black Manor," Ginny said and she opened the front door, therefore missing the sudden change in Andromeda's eyes. "She said that mum and dad would know where to go."

A cold chill invaded her chest and began to strangle her heart. Andromeda swallowed but she squared her jaw, hiding the sudden rush of emotions behind a stoic mask. Suddenly her features hardened and her eyes darkened. "Nobody is going anywhere tomorrow."

Ginny turned around in surprise. "What?"

"Go to your parents' house. Wake everyone and tell them that you have to leave," Andromeda urged. "You must be able to think of some place where the resistance felt safe? Something you didn't share with Bellatrix, maybe? An old house nobody knows exists?" She watched a memory dawn in Ginny's eyes and she nodded. "I thought as much. You must leave before sunrise."

"But why?" Ginny asked. "What are we going to do?"

Andromeda straightened her spine. "Leave that to me." She gently pushed the young redhead out into the rain. "Go home, Ginny. Don't ask questions but just do as I say. Get your parents and your brothers and get the hell out of that house."

"How will we know when to come back?" Ginny asked as she stepped into the darkness. She turned around and her eyes locked with Andromeda's. "Andy, what are you doing?"

"I don't know," Andromeda answered and it was the honest truth. "But I will be damned if I let you or your parents fall into the hands of Hermione and Bellatrix." She shook her head. "Go home, Ginny." She lump in the back of her throat didn't want to shift, no matter how hard she swallowed, and she fought against the sudden tears stinging behind her eyes. "I'll see you soon, I promise."

She watched Ginny disappear into the darkness and then softly closed the front door. She leant against it with her back and then slowly slumped down to the floor. The tears streamed down her face, lashing against her skin, and she covered her face in her hands. Somewhere deep inside her chest the shards of her already broken heart started bleeding all over again and the pain was worse than it had ever been before.

~()~

The wrath of Bellatrix was something every living soul feared but it was nothing compared to the sheer terror Hermione unleashed when the two guards returned empty handed and delivered the news they had lost their prisoner. She and Bellatrix were still in the living room where they had shared their passionate encounter earlier and her mind had already gone haywire after the glimpse of Andromeda so when the two men begged for their forgiveness, Hermione merely raised her wand and cursed the first guard. The second one scrambled to get away from her but landed face first on the floor when the Cruciatus Curse hit him in the back.

"CRUCIO!" she cried and the red jet of light crashed into the guard's body, causing his body to seize. The veins in his face pressed against his skin, giving him a somewhat blue appearance, and his eyes appeared to be bulging out of his head. "Crucio! CRUCIO!"

He rolled onto his side, bringing his knees up to his chest, and then his stomach emptied itself across the wooden floor. The foul smell of sick penetrated Hermione's nose and she slowly walked over to the convulsing man, disgust written across her face. Without warning she grabbed the collar of his jacket and slammed his face against the floorboards. The cracking sound of bones breaking lingered around the room for a few seconds and Hermione yanked his head back up, Blood poured from his broken nose.

"Idiot!" she scolded him. "You lost the prisoner?" She slammed his head against the ground again. Blood splashed across her boots. When she pulled him back up, his left eye had started to swell and already changed to a deep shade of purple. "How dare you come back here, you useless piece of shit?" Her hands slipped from his jacket and his head landed back against the floor. He didn't move. She turned away from him and her eyes fixed on the second guard, who lay on his back with his eyes wide open. The first Cruciatus Curse had hit him in the back of the head. No one had ever been hit in the head with that spell before. Hermione bent down to look at him.

"I think he's dead," she said as she looked back up to find Bellatrix watching her from the sofa.

Bellatrix pointed at the guard Hermione had just assaulted. "I think they both are."

"We have plenty more where those came from," said a voice from the doorway and Narcissa strolled into the room. She was careful not to tread in the vomit or the sick splattered around the floor. "We just open another can of idiots."

"What are we going to do about the girl?" Hermione asked. "She will have the chance to tell her parents you were never going to stick to your end of the bargain." She stored her wand up her sleeve and slumped down on the sofa next to Bellatrix, seemingly frustrated. "Why did we hire these morons?"

"These morons, as you call them, used to be faithful to the Dark Lord," Narcissa pointed out and she smirked. "Needless to say, he wasn't a very good judge of character."

"We have to find her. If she raises the alarm…" Hermione began but was cut off when Bellatrix covered her hand with her own. It was an unexpected soft touch and Hermione's eyes met those of the dark haired woman.

"Things will work out," Bellatrix reassured her and a little smile played around her lips. "Maybe there is something positive about the Weasley brat escaping after all."

Hermione snorted. "We get to hire better guards?"

Bellatrix shook her head. The tips of her fingers drew small circles across the back of Hermione's hand. "The Order."

"The Order is dead, Bella. Or they might as well be." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Half a dozen Weasleys, your stupid niece and hopeless sister." The mention of Andromeda brought back the memory from earlier that night and she shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of it. "They are no threat."

"Most of the resistance members are currently locked up in Azkaban," Bellatrix said slowly. She eyed up Narcissa, who was twirling her wand around her fingers. "If I remember correctly, Cissy left the Weasley kid with a memory of her own." Narcissa smirked and Bellatrix chuckled softly. "Sooner or later she is going to try and bring back her friends."

Hermione openly laughed. "Only an idiot would try and win a battle they've already lost. Most of the Order is dead and soon the resistance will be too. They have nothing left to fight with or to fight for."

"Do not underestimate your enemy, my love," Bellatrix said softly but there was a warning to her words. "Because they do not underestimate you."

~()~

She waited till first light. Weak sunlight filtered through the dark clouds and erased darkness from the previous night. The shadows started to dissolve. She slowly opened the door to the room where her daughter slept and peered inside. Nymphadora slept on her stomach, with one hand tucked under her pillow and the other on top of it. Her hair was a soft shade of blonde and Andromeda was momentarily stung by the sudden resemblance to her sister. Never before had she seen Narcissa when she looked at her daughter but now it frightened her how much they looked alike. She suppressed a quiet sob and let her gaze linger on Nymphadora's sleeping form just a little longer before slowly closing the door again.

"Goodbye, my child."

The tears fell from her eyes as she went back downstairs and stepped out into the early morning light. She could still smell the rain in the air and walked down the path towards the white picket fence and gate and turned around one last time to look at the house that had been her home for so many years. She and Ted had moved in mere days after their marriage and they had never left. Not until this war came along and tore everything apart. The life she had once known had slipped through her fingers. It was gone.

With determination, Andromeda turned on the spot and the soft 'pop' had faded out before Nymphadora woke in her bedroom and found the house empty. Her mother had left.

When she reopened her eyes she found herself standing outside a tall, black iron gate. The walls that it was attached to had not changed throughout all these years and for a moment she allowed herself to be taken back to the first time she had seen these very gates. She had been no older than seven and clutched her father's hand. It had been one of the last times she had done just that. He had brought them here, to their new home. Since the night she had walked out all those years ago she had not been back.

Andromeda carefully raised her hand and placed it against the cold, black metal. She had seen her father do it when she had been a little girl and as she grew up, she had done it herself. The gates recognised the blood in her veins. Blood that tied her to this family like it tied Bellatrix and Narcissa. No magic could erase the bond that blood created. She took a step back as the gates slowly swung open, revealing the gravelled path that led across the surprisingly well kept green lawns towards the house.

It loomed up from behind the trees her mother had planted the week after they moved in. The branches were barren and reached up towards the sky like claws. Andromeda froze in her step and reached for the hood of her travelling cloak. Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt the fear grasp at her heart. She knew she could meet her death out here today. Until now she had never considered, or perhaps never dared to believe, that her sisters had moved back into their old family home. Nobody had ever been happy here. A sad smile fell across Andromeda's face. It was probably why they had come back; because it knew no happiness.

"You know you shouldn't be here."

The softness of the voice made her look up and Andromeda's eyes widened when she recognised Hermione standing on the stone steps leading up to the house. Dressed in elegant, form fitting black robes and with her hair tied up, the young brunette looked strangely angelic.

"I don't think either of us should be here," Andromeda answered. "But I think you know why I am here."

Hermione's eyes found Andromeda's. "You shouldn't have come."

"You really think that after what happened, I shouldn't have tried to see you?" Andromeda asked and she slowly walked towards the steps. Her eyes held Hermione's gaze. "That wasn't just something, was it?" When Hermione didn't answer she found the confirmation she had been looking for. "It happened to you too."

"You should leave." Hermione was about to turn around but Andromeda grabbed hold of her arm and forced her to spin back around.

"Why don't I mean anything to you anymore?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "You want an honest answer?" She stepped down, closing the distance between her and Andromeda. "You mean too much to me." She averted her eyes. "You know what I can give you, if you were only willing to accept my offer. I can give you the world, Andy. I can give you everything. I can give you my heart."

Andromeda shook her head. "You can't give me what you don't have."

"Then leave."

"This was never meant to happen, was it? You were never to lose yourself in all of this. You wanted to be at Bellatrix's side and forget about who you were, about where you had been. You wanted to erase the friendships you had formed and abandon those who cared for you. What Bellatrix gave you was supposed to take the pain away. You found something inside yourself that you believed could heal you," Andromeda said. "All of this…" She gestured around. "Everything you have done was so that you didn't have to feel pain anymore. You were the missing piece of their heart and you welcomed it into yours. But it didn't work, did it?"

"Andy…"

"You still feel, even if you don't want to. They tried to break you and you let yourself be destroyed but nothing you did could ever undo what had already been done." Andromeda's hand slipped from Hermione's arm. The touch was so soft, so familiar, and for a moment she remembered how she had sponged down Hermione's body after she had suffered at the hands of Bellatrix. She had been able to wash the blood away but not the pain.

"You know you could die out here," Hermione said. Unexpectedly soft eyes met Andromeda's. "Why did you come here looking for me if you knew it could be the death of you?"

"Because I had to see it for myself. I wasn't sure before but now I am." Andromeda shook her head. "This isn't over yet." She hesitated, as if to decide whether or not to try and kiss her but Hermione made the decision for her by stepping away from her.

"Go home, Andy. It ends here." She glanced over her shoulder. "You do not belong here and I… I am alone."

"As long as I still breathe, you are never alone."

Hermione slowly turned away from the older woman and began walking back to the house. "I shall see to it that none of the guards harm you on your way out, Andy." She didn't look to see if the other woman did indeed leave, not until she heard the soft sounds of footprints on the gravel. She turned slightly and watched Andromeda walk away.

"Andy?" she called her back. She turned. "You have to let me go."

Andromeda sadly smiled. "I can't."

Hands up if you thought that the cloaked figure in the opening scene was Hermione!