Chapter 23

23rd November, 1998

Blood Calls to Blood

Someone knocked at the door.

Three hesitant knocks. A long pause. Another three taps, equally spaced. The pattern repeated itself, and she knew exactly who was rapping it out. She wasn't showing any sign of stopping; if she knew her sister well, she could go on for hours. Well, let her, she thought bitterly, but a second later the knocking became unbearable. She stood up abruptly and sat Teddy back in his high chair, shushing him harshly as he let out a disappointed sound. Teddy, her grandson. When had she become old enough for grandchildren? She was only forty-five and felt at least sixty. And there would never be grandchildren, she reminded herself. Only one grandchild, a boy.

She had been hoping for a girl.

"Quiet," she warned Teddy, picked her wand up from the table, and headed for the door.

As a child, she would have bravely flung it open. Now, she silently opened it, and made sure that her drawn wand was the first thing Narcissa Malfoy would see.

"Go away," she spat, almost hearing the spiteful fifteen-year-old in her voice. "You're not wanted here."

"Please, Andy," Narcissa said, reaching a slightly shaking hand out as though to take her hand. "I just – "

"Don't," Andromeda said warningly, backing up a step and raising her wand so it was pointing at her sister's chest. "Go away!"

"I thought –"

The wand jabbed forward, forcing Narcissa to take a step back.

"I'm sorry!" she said, almost frantically. "Andy, please, just hear me out – I need to talk to you. For old times' sake –"

Just then, a high-pitched wail rang through the cottage and out the door. Andromeda unwittingly turned back, craning her neck to look at Teddy – and Narcissa pressed forward.

"Here, take my wand, I don't need it – I'm not here to hurt you. We need to talk. Please, Andy – do it for Teddy if not for me. He needs a family."

Andromeda turned back to her and snarled. "A family? Yes, he does, because you and your kind took it from him! He has no-one – no-one! You killed his grandfather, his father, and his mother! He has only me left – I have only him left – and it's all your fault!"

Unexpectedly, Narcissa nodded, and tears shone in her eyes. Andromeda's arm trembled, but she did not lower her wand.

"Cissy – "

"I know," her sister said tightly. "I know it's our fault, my fault – I know I made the wrong choices. You've lost so much, Andy, and I'm – I'm so sorry. But I'm trying. I'm trying to – I know I can't make up for it, ever, but I don't... I don't want to lose you again. I don't want to lose my sister."

Teddy was outright crying now, and Andromeda could feel her resolve faltering.

"Give me your wand," she spat, hating herself for her weakness.

Narcissa looked like she'd just slapped her. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

For ten seconds, Narcissa showed no signs of complying; she just stared at her sister as though she were insane. Then, slowly, she reached for her wand, plucked it out of her belt and, laying it flat on her palm, held it out to Andromeda, never leaving her eyes. Andromeda picked it up and tucked it up her sleeve.

"You lost me years ago," she said, but stepped aside and let her sister in. "Sit down," she said, not harshly, and took Teddy in her arms, trying to soothe his sobbing. "Shh," she whispered, kissing his forehead. "Shh. It's all right. Andy is here."

"He looks just like you," Cissy said admiringly.

This was true. Some days, Andromeda could hardly bear to look at Teddy. He looked a lot like her, and even more like Bella. Brown hair, a shade or two darker than her own. Steel grey eyes that undeniably came from the Black side of the family. Bella's eyes. Sirius' eyes.

Teddy was a replica of toddler pictures of Bella, and Andromeda couldn't stand it. Ever since the boy had realised his parents weren't coming back, he'd stopped morphing. There hadn't been turquoise hair or a duck's nose to draw attention from the Black features.

That had been at the beginning. Teddy still couldn't morph, but she had got used to it. Now she trudged through her days thoughtlessly, feeding, changing and soothing Teddy like a robot. She clung to life only for him. Ted was dead. Dora was dead. If there had been anyone left she trusted to take care of Teddy, she would have died, too. But she couldn't. Teddy needed her. The boy was an orphan. She was all he had.

There was Harry Potter, who seemed to think of himself as the kid's godfather. But when had the Saviour ever done anything for Teddy? During the first month, he'd stopped by twice a week. When it became painfully obvious Teddy didn't care for him – at all –, his visits became less frequent. He hadn't been over in weeks, though she occasionally saw him at the Weasleys'. From what she'd heard, he was busy with Auror business. She didn't really care.

There was still family on her side, of course. Cissy, Teddy's great-aunt. Great-aunt. Such a dignified, ageing term. It so suited the cool Narcissa Malfoy. There was her son as well. Draco. Some sort of cousin to Teddy. But there was no way she was letting Teddy grow up around the likes of that. Around anyone named Black or Malfoy or Death Eater.

Cissy had written once since the war. A stiff letter of courtesies and polite nothings and nothing else. No apology, no sign that she was anything more than a formal acquaintance. And the bit at the end, asking how Teddy was doing. The nerve she'd had, saying Bella's death had been hard on her.

Andromeda had not owled back, and that was why Cissy had chosen to come in person.

Andromeda wasn't completely closed off from the world, though. Ted's parents still welcomed her to their house and were hopelessly fond of Teddy. Molly Weasley insisted she come over at least once a month to dinner – the ritualistic, extended family dinner that welcomes all the Weasleys, their friends, colleagues, spouses and friends' spouses' colleagues' great-nephews, and Teddy and herself. She went shopping, had friends over for dinner, and lived as normally as she could. She made a conscious effort to do so, for Teddy's sake.

"Mummy," Teddy said suddenly, raising his arms for a hug. His eyes – Bella's eyes – were dry now.

She picked him up from his chair and started rocking him in her arms. "Not Mummy," she corrected him gently.

"Andy!"

"Yes, Andy," she agreed.

"He's adorable," Narcissa said.

"He's too much like Bella."

She planted another kiss on Teddy's forehead and looked deep into his eyes, his wide grey eyes, warmer than Bella's had ever been, and saner...

But for how long?

"You miss her," Narcissa said quietly.

Andromeda's head shot up, and Teddy whined a little at the sudden movement. "What?"

"Bella," Cissy elaborated. "You miss her."

Her lip curled into a sneer. "She murdered my daughter."

"Still."

Andromeda looked down at her grandson again. "I miss the sister I used to play with when we were children," she corrected. "In that respect, I miss you too."

"I've missed you," her sister said, her tone so sincere and her expression so soft that Andromeda couldn't remember a time when she had seen her sister look this... kind. "Maybe we can go back to that time."

She laughed dryly. "Cissy, I was five years old."

"Fourteen," Narcissa corrected her. "You were fourteen when she started going wrong."

"Was I?" Andromeda was thoughtful for a moment. Bellatrix had been in her sixth year then, and Narcissa only in her second. "No, it began the first time she went to Hogwarts."

Narcissa looked thoughtful. She reached out to lightly touch Teddy's tiny fist. "He's lovely," she said. "I remember you when you were born; you looked just like this. I was so jealous of you, because I wanted to always be Daddy's little girl, but Bella liked you right off. Always the perfect eldest daughter... You were too young at the time to remember this now, but she used to drag her pillow and blanket to your room and insist on sleeping with you. When you woke up crying, even before the house-elf reached you, she would be holding you in her arms and soothing you back to sleep."

It isn't true, Andromeda wanted to say. Lies, all lies! She killed Sirius! But she knew Narcissa had to be telling the truth. She remembered that Bella, the sister who had been determined to be the son their parents had never had, the one who was fiercely protective of her younger siblings.

"When we were little," Andromeda said slowly, almost unwillingly, "she came back from Hogwarts at Christmas and brought you and me sweets from Honeydukes. She knew which ones we would like best. Dad told us not to eat them all at once or we'd be sick but I didn't listen. I had a terrible stomach-ache that night, but Bella told Dad I had a fever and he believed her; he always believed her. And I wasn't punished."

"I remember that," Narcissa said. "She had brought me Chocolate Frogs and Sugar Quills."

"She went wrong at Hogwarts," Andromeda said again.

Cissy shook her head. "Not immediately. It was when... when you came that she started changing. Hanging out with Avery and the Lestranges... And then it came out that you were seeing Tonks, and I think she went mad. I was almost glad at the time; I was back to being her favourite. She wanted us to do everything together, she promised me she'd always be there for me so I wouldn't end up like you. And she told me that was why she was going to take the Dark Mark."

Andromeda felt the blood drain from her face. "She took it because of me?"

"She took it for me," Narcissa corrected her. "But she would have done it anyway. Sooner or later, she would have."

"And you?" Andromeda asked. "Where did you go wrong?"

Narcissa looked away. "I shouldn't have let you leave us."

Narcissa fell silent, and Andromeda looked at her – really looked at her. Took in the silky blond hair, the elegant features, the blue eyes which softened whenever she looked at Teddy. Took in, also, the proud hold of her head, the way she crossed her legs, and the cool smile she could force so easily. So what if the bones of her wrists stuck out more sharply now, what if there were more grey streaks to her hair? Her life hadn't been ruined the way Andromeda's had. Narcissa had made all the wrong choices and had come out of it good as new. The Malfoys had been a Death Eater family, but they had made it through unscathed, and hadn't even been imprisoned, although a significant chunk had been taken out of their fortune to be redistributed to "the cause" – the rebuilding of Hogwarts, the monthly pension to the injured who couldn't work, the rewards to families who had members who had died honourably. They were alive, and it wasn't fair. Why was it that her sister had everything – her house, her husband, her son – when she had lost it all? Ted – and Dora. If it weren't for Teddy, Andromeda herself wouldn't be alive by now.

She loathed him for it.

"It isn't fair," she said out loud.

"It isn't," Cissy said, and then: "Can I hold him? Please."

Andromeda handed her grandson over almost without thinking. Cissy gathered him up in her arms, holding him close, and gazed at him with unbelievable tenderness.

"He's adorable," she said for the second time. Then, "Oh, Andy! Please say something."

"What is there to say?"

"Andy..." Narcissa looked pained. Then she said, quietly, "I know you lost everything during the war. Your husband, your daughter and your son-in-law. And your sister. But, Andromeda... Couldn't this... Could we maybe draw a lesson from what happened?" She balanced Teddy on one arm and reached out to cover Andromeda's hand with hers. "I don't want to lose another sister."

"Took you long enough."

Narcissa recoiled as if struck, then relaxed and soothingly hushed Teddy, who had started to moan. "He's lovely. I... Would you let him meet Draco?"

"Your son?" Her voice rose. "Your foul son –"

"Don't speak about him like that!"

"He was a Death Eater."

"Yes."

She said it quietly, and though Andromeda had suspected it, the confirmation still gave her a shock.

"Then how can you even ask?"

"Draco is my son," Narcissa said. "You are a mother and a grandmother, Andy, you can understand that. I love him, I love him more than I ever loved myself. And I hate myself, I hate Lucius, I hate the Dark Lord for what we have made Draco become... But he is still human, he is still young, he can still be someone whose life was worth saving. Andy... I am so sorry for what Bella and I, for what the Death Eaters did to you and your family. There's nothing fair about how things turned out. You were brave and your family was brave. I only tried to save my own skin, our skin... And I'm still doing that. You must find me despicable... and I am... but Draco doesn't have to be."

"And you think that seeing Teddy would change him?"

"I think that seeing Teddy grow up would keep him from changing," she corrected. "Draco grew up as an only child. He never knew his only cousin. The only aunt he ever met was Bella, and the only children his age he spent time with as a boy were sons and daughters of Lucius' friends. I think he grew up too fast... But he isn't quite an adult yet. He's eighteen years old, he's seen enough death to get rid of the innocence of a child... But being an adult isn't only darkness, and he doesn't know that yet. He thinks the world is hardly worth living in. I think Teddy could lighten up what's left of his childhood and make him see the world as it is."

"How is it?" Andromeda said bitterly

She took Teddy back into her arms; her movement was so brusque she would have snatched him away if Narcissa had opposed the smallest resistance. But she didn't.

"From your description, his vision of the world already seems quite accurate."

Narcissa bit her lip. "Even in your case," she said slowly, as though wondering whether Andromeda would strike her down for her daring, "some things are bright enough to keep you alive. Teddy is that ray of sunlight which makes it all worth it to you, isn't he?"

"He doesn't make it worth it," Andromeda snapped. "He makes it necessary, but he can't even make it bearable and he'll never make me enjoy it. My world is only darkness, Cissy, and whose fault is that?"

"Andy, I am so sorry," Narcissa said again. "I –"

"I don't know how you can have the gall to talk about her in my own house," Andromeda went on, feeling her fury build up. "Your dear Bella, whom you followed around like a faithful dog, who loved you and showered you with praise and presents, who protected you from our father when he went into his rages – and you would have me believe you didn't know her true nature? And my Nymphadora, my daughter – how can you? You're sorry, you say, but you've never spoken a true word in your life, and you've never felt a true emotion, either! You're cold, Narcissa."

"I know I failed you," Cissy said quietly, looking hard and cold and composed as ever; but her hands shook slightly in her lap, and Andromeda felt her anger cool down somewhat. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"No," Andromeda whispered, "I don't think I can." Her sister looked stricken. "But Teddy will need a family."

Andromeda is one of the secondary characters. Her plot is given less space than others', but it isn't any less important. Teddy is a victim of the war; both his parents were killed in the Final Battle. Both his parents were heroes. And Andromeda lost all that remained of her family to the war – her husband, her daughter, her son-in-law. She only has her grandson left. I didn't expect her to turn to the Black side of her family for help. But I could see Narcissa reaching out, just maybe. Hence the chapter.

Next chapter is Wednesday, I think, and the one after that is next Sunday.