Disclaimer: I don't own 'Harry Potter' or any of the other characters in the books. None of the characters in this chapter are mine.
AN: This is the final chapter. The sequel is coming soon. This is set in July, after the school has broken up for the summer. For those who haven't studied Geography, cities are warmer than the countryside because of the urban-heat island effect.
Chapter Fifty One: Baby Girl
I was bored and nervous. I was particularly bored because the book I had chosen to take with me wasn't actually what I had thought it was. I had picked up the only 'magical creatures' book in our library that I had never read before, only to discover that the book inside the cover was not at all to do with magical creatures – not even Dark Ones. I blamed Bella. Inside, 'Guide to the Most Darkest Creatures', which I had expected to be about Dementors and Kelpies and stuff, was a book containing lots of absolutely hideous sounding rituals.
The first one I glanced at was a potion called a 'regeneration potion'. It looked horrible and included things like 'bone of the father, unknowingly given' and 'flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed'. I hoped I would never need to use it. There was also another ritual involving a virgin sacrifice (I wasn't sure what it was but it didn't sound very nice), and ashes from the dead body. The entire process looked disgusting so I decided not to read it anymore; I slammed it down onto the chair beside me.
I stared out of the window. We were at St Mungo's hospital, so it was charmed to show varying weather – it was obviously charmed because it appeared to be snowing and it never snowed in London, in July. I was in a waiting room because Andromeda was having her baby and I wasn't allowed in to see her. I had to wait for what seemed like forever until I was finally allowed in.
Andromeda looked tired and wet, and she held a tiny little baby wrapped in pink blankets. The child's hair was almost the exact same colour as Ted's was, and she had big blue eyes – most babies are born with blue eyes. She was beautiful. I looked at Andromeda and she invited me to sit on the end of the bed, next to Ted.
"What's she called?" I asked.
"Nymphadora," she said, handing me the baby, which I then cradled gently in my arms. She was so tiny, she could only just wrap her hand around my little finger. I watched in surprise as the baby's hair changed colour. It was now black like mine was, and I'm sure her eyes had changed slightly to look more like mine.
"We think she's a metamorphagus," said Ted, as if that explained everything. It didn't.
"What does that mean?" I asked. I'd never even heard of the word 'metamorhpagus' before, and for someone who read as much as I did, that was quite amazing.
"It means she can change her appearance at will. When she is older she will have a lot more control over it, but for now she just changes to look like whoever is holding her," said my cousin. She went on to explain how rare they were. I was just pleased that the baby liked me enough to want to look like me.
"Wow, that's amazing. I bet it would be really useful if she wanted to be an Auror or a spy or something!" I said.
"Hmm. I don't think she'll be doing any of that quite yet, though," said Andromeda. I nodded in agreement.
"She could be one day, though," I said.
…..
Later on, Andromeda and Ted went off to the new house that they'd bought together, while I walked home. When I got there, everything was normal until after dinner, when me, Sirius, Mother and Father went into the drawing room…
On the Family Tree, there was a little golden line attached to Andromeda's name, leading to the name 'Ted Tonks', and there was a little line coming down that said the baby's name on it – the tapestry had updated itself. Sirius was staring at it with his eyes wide and his mouth open - he knew from Hogwarts that Ted wasn't pureblood and wasn't from a 'respectable' house. It was quite funny that he was so shocked. Maybe if he'd listened when we tried to tell him, he wouldn't be.
Mother, of course, was furious. All she new about Ted was that he was muggle born, so he was off limits to anyone in the Black Family. She shouted for ages, and then called our Aunt and Uncle and Cissy round. Then there was more shouting. Cissy burst into tears because her sister had 'abandoned' her, and Sirius thought the whole thing was hilariously funny. I was just glad that Andromeda had got away before Mother found out that she'd had a halfblood child. At least she didn't know I'd helped her!
At the end of it all, there was a huge burn mark on the tapestry and a very distraught Cissy and me.
…..
AN: Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story, especially to 'HP Fann 7' and 'BlackWolf2013' for reviewing almost every chapter. I kept this short, as I thought it would be better that way. I have spent a long time packing, and I will now be heading off to University to do my degree in Biology – in the UK it takes four years to get a masters degree, and then I can go out into the world – eek. Anyway, the sequel to this will be up soon, and I hope you all enjoyed this story.
Please review.
