Prompt:

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole: Write about someone who ignores an important warning

(relationship) father&daughter

(word) whisper

(quote) "I am in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul." - Bram Stoker, Dracula

Thanks to HP Slash Luv and CupCakeyyy who betaed this!

No living soul could be found in the small wizarding cemetery at the outing of London on this Sunday, and while Andromeda had always thought important to pay her respects to the dead, she couldn't blame the survivors of the war for not doing so. The aftermath of the war had seen more funerals in a few weeks than anyone could handle, both physically and mentally. Andromeda herself had been forced to bury her daughter and son-in-law, only a month after the death of her husband.

It had taken her two months after that to accept the idea she would have to look after their graves, and another month for her to step into the cemetery. In another life, or just a few months ago, Ted would have been here to help her through it. He would have held her close for the funerals, for both her sake and his, and would have taken her hand in his to pass the gates of the graveyard when then would come to plant the graves. He would have made jokes out of it, like he always did in this kind of situation, distasteful jokes that would have still made her laugh because of the absurdity of the circumstances.

But Ted was gone, just like Nymphadora and Remus, and she only had her four-month-old grandson left to hold on to. The sweet boy was playing with a strand of hair on her shoulder, blissfully unaware of their environment. He kept playing with it as they made their way through the graveyard, fascinated by the way her hair moved with every step she took, and only made a noise when she stopped abruptly in front of a grave she had not been planning on visiting.

"Hello Father," whispered Andromeda to the grave, her quiet voice soothing the toddler in her arms. "It's been a long time."

Twenty-six years, give or take a few months, and Andromeda was surprised when the answer didn't immediately come to her mind. When had she stopped counting the years? This answer came easily; she had stopped doing it when she had stopped missing him. Not out of love, that she could never, but life had its way to fill itself to the point where your thoughts couldn't go on their own to the people you had already missed for too long.

The worry of her daughter becoming an auror in such uncertain times, the war, and now the grief had certainly filled her life. She wondered guiltily if she would have thought of him if she hadn't stumbled across his grave, what with a baby to take care of.

"You were right, Father. But I don't regret any second of it."

Her voice was no louder than a whisper, yet she knew her father would understand her if he could hear her from wherever he was. This was the end of a conversation they had started twenty-seven years ago, after all, when the man had been both alive and well and she was a seventeen-year-old who was just discovering love.

He had summoned her to his office during the summer before her seventh year, something that wasn't unusual. Andromeda had only realised she was in trouble when instead of offering tea and starting a discussion on politics or a book they had both read, he had asked her to sit and fixed her with a stern look. It hadn't taken much for the girl to realise Narcissa had told him about Ted, the Muggle-born Hufflepuff she had started dating only a few months ago. The only surprise here was the apparent calm of her father, who had just asked her about him and the extent of their relationship. Being the favorite daughter of Cygnus Black had its perks, no matter the situation.

"You'll do well to remember this little adventure isn't meant to last. You do have a fiancé waiting for you to finish your education at Hogwarts, after all."

Andromeda had sneered at the thought of Evan Rosier, a boy three years her senior who had made sure to visit every broom cupboard with different girls before graduating and had taken a distasteful liking in violence and dark magic.

"I mean it, Meda," had warned her father. "No daughter of mine will marry a Mudblood. Invest yourself too much in this relationship and you'll lose everything. Your friends, your family, and everything you ever owned up until now."

And here she was, almost thirty years later, neither with parents, nor sisters, nor cousins, widowed and childless. Still, one look into her grandson's eyes, and her father's warning that was still echoing at the back of her head vanished. Ironically, it was the same thing that had happened when she had been proposed to.

She and Ted had sneaked out of Hogwarts during the Easter break and Apparated to a beach Ted had often been to during his childhood. It had been cold and windy, but the weather hadn't stopped the boy from pushing her into the freezing water. While her Pureblood upbringing would have wanted her to hex him in retaliation, she had just laughed and hugged him, her drenched clothes dampening his clothes and face. They had spent the day in the sun, laughing and kissing, and when it had been time to go back to the castle, Ted's hold on her had only tightened.

"I love you so much," he had said, suddenly serious. "I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you. Run away with me after graduation."

It had taken a minute for Andromeda to recover from her shock, during which her boyfriend's eyes hadn't left her face, looking for something she couldn't understand.

"Did you just propose to me?"

"Yes," he had breathed out. "I know you already have a fiancé and I can't offer you what he can, but I can't bear the idea of losing you to someone like Rosier without even trying to hold you back. I don't have mansions, and thousands of Galleons in Gringotts, and I'll understand if you want him but ─"

"I don't want anyone else," Andromeda had interrupted.

"You don't?"

The witch had looked into his eyes, a wide smile on her face, and had kissed him lightly.

"Why would I need mansions and pretty dresses when I already have you?"

And so she had married him. Her father had let her go without putting up a fight, to the astonishment of her mother, who had wanted to hew her to put her mind back into the right track. No one but Andromeda had understood how a man like Cygnus Black could just let her go. But she knew. He had let her go for the same reason she had come back to the Manor to announce her upcoming nuptials instead of just disappearing with Ted. He loved her too much to imprison her. She was his favorite daughter, no matter the oddities or incomprehensible choices.

I am in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul, she had written in her journal when she was younger and starting to see the world in a different light than what she had been told to see. Somehow, her father had known.

Tightening her hold on Teddy with one arm, she grabbed her wand with her free hand and transfigured some pebbles around the grave into flowers she moved to rest under his name. With a last look of longing towards the grave, she straightened herself and started walking again towards her daughter's grave, never looking back.

No matter the disownment or the years apart, deep down, she was still Andromeda Black. Blacks didn't break down or look back. She had other graves to plant and bring life to and a grandson to raise.

No matter how high the price, she didn't have any regrets.