Keynote: Ted has been dead for more than a year at this point. I believe that Nymphadora's death hurt Andromeda more than Ted's loss. However, I look at Ted's actions as being somewhat of betrayal in addition to the devastation.
History Note: I know a lot of history classes do briefly cover the idea of child soldiers. But if you have the stomach for it, research how child soldiers are prosecuted or live their lives after a war. Rwanda is a horrific but informative example. There is no simple 'move on.' I will not detail how traumatized the students are at Hogwarts but their reactions to the outside world, their behavior to one another, and their lack of respect towards their teachers, as well as Harry, should be the tip off that not all is well.
Chapter 8 - Scraps
It was a bad morning at the Tonks House.
Andromeda had locked herself in the bathroom. Harry allowed it for twenty minutes past the hour it usually took her to show before he broke the door down.
He meant that quite literally. Andromeda's 'keep out' wards stopped Harry's magic but not the pillow he transfigured into a stone and smashed the door off its hinges with. All done under a silencing spell, of course, so that he didn't spook Teddy who was entertaining himself in his enlarged play crib, under the watchful eye of Wendy Bird.
"Andromeda," Harry sighed when he stepped over the wreckage that only minutes ago had been the bathroom door.
She was sitting on the floor of the shower stall. Her arms wrapped around her knees. She had put a spell on the showerhead so the water stayed hot and on.
Harry took one look at the ward and knew he wouldn't be able to bypass it to turn off the water. Andromeda had an odd way of using magic, sometimes it was as if she didn't know when was using magic.
With all his clothes on he stepped into the spray of the hot shower and sat behind her on his knees. He bent over her back, she had begun to shiver the moment Harry's body blocked the water. He put his arms along the length of hers so that he was helping her hold herself. Harry was soaked in a matter of moments, his shirt clung between them. He rested his cheek against the side of her head.
"Andromeda," Harry said softly, closing his eyes as he wasn't able to see through the water drops on his glasses anyway. "You're not alone. You still have Teddy and me. And we still need you."
She tucked her face against her knees and for the first time since Harry had arrived here, she cried.
Her tears were lost in the pounding water.
Harry had just finished combing out Andromeda's hair, both of them now in dry clothes when there was a knock on the door.
No one he knew of who should be knocking on their door. He passed the comb to Andromeda and flicked his wand from his sleeve. Wandless magic was fun but Harry knew how to cause a great deal more damage with his wand.
He cracked open the door and was startled by the sight that stood before him.
Narcissa Malfoy in all her regalness stood straight backed and proud in muggle Britain. She wore black and cream robes, her golden blonde hair curled up neatly on the back of her head, her eyes were a striking blue, and in her hands, she held a medium sized box with gold and silver wrapping paper.
"Mrs. Malfoy," Harry greeted, raising his voice so Andromeda would know who it was.
The next thing he knew Andromeda was at Harry's side, pulling the door wide open.
"Cissa?"
Harry couldn't quite place the emotions or the tone Andromeda used, neither empty nor filled with emotion.
Narcissa's expression stayed cold but she held the box out to Harry, yet she kept her gaze on her older sister. "I brought a gift for your grandson," she directed the comment to Andromeda.
"Thank you," Harry said, taking the box, doubting it would be cursed seeing as this woman had gone to the trouble of saving his life.
There was a long awkward silence.
"Would you like to come in?" he asked.
Narcissa didn't move, until Andromeda stepped back out of the doorway in a wordless assent. Nodding, Narcissa entered, scrutinizing the little house the moment she crossed the threshold.
The room was modest, but it wasn't stuffy or prissy like the Dursleys' house had been, the rooms were tasteful in a timeless sort of way. The sofa was a soft cream, the currents were white, the walls a pale olive green. The floors were polished dark wood with a plush Persian carpet. The fireplace was the centerpiece of the room. There were still landscape and oceanscape paintings on display, the moving family photographs had all been kept on the second floor.
"Small," Narcissa remarked icily, "but not unpleasant."
Andromeda stood in the center of the room, looking lost, as if she were waiting -waiting for what, Harry wasn't certain.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked.
She gave a single nod, "I suppose the sofa is the only seating in this-" she stopped herself from saying something unfortunate, though the pause alone was insulting. "-house," she finished lightly.
"We have a table in the kitchen, if you would prefer," Harry offered.
"Yes, that would be preferable," the blonde affirmed.
Narcissa followed Harry, Andromeda trailed after them both like a phantom.
Harry started the water on the stove and prepared the teacups. While the water was still heating up he checked on Teddy who was happily teething on a rubber toy as he had his stuffed animals knock into one another with his other hand. Harry returned to the stove while Andromeda and Narcissa remained seated across from each other in stubborn silence.
"Sugar, cream-" Harry started to ask.
"Black, dear, I always take my tea black," Narcissa said.
A part of Harry wanted to roll his eyes, another part of him was reluctantly impressed by Narcissa. She was a hard woman, a high standard kind of person, and she was someone who would do anything for her son.
Despite the sides they had fallen on during the war, he respected her.
Harry hesitated when he went to pour himself a cup of tea.
"You are the man of this house, you will sit with us," Narcissa instructed.
Harry's eyebrows shot up. He glanced at Andromeda whose expression remained focused on her sister. So Harry took it as an invitation to join the nonexistent conversation between the two Black sisters. "Do you consider Draco to be 'the man of the house'?"
"Of course not," Narcissa said crisply. "My husband isn't dead."
Andromeda visibly flinched.
Narcissa's eyes narrowed, "But then my husband was never a-"
"Don't you dare," Andromeda threatened, her low voice dropping lower. "Don't you dare speak a word against him. Not here, not in our home."
"You left us for this?" Narcissa snapped, "For this tiny cottage, surrounded by muggles. By all that is magic, why did you do this to yourself?"
"I was happy."
"Doing what?" Narcissa hissed. "I understand wanting to raise your daughter, but what did you do in this little prison when she went to school? When your husband went to work?"
Andromeda was silent.
"What did you do?" Narcissa demanded. "What could have possibly compelled you to stay in the muggle world?"
"I taught dance."
"You did what?" Narcissa asked, had she had a little less dignity her jaw seemed as though it might have dropped to the floorboards.
"Dance, dancing. I was a dance instructor, ballroom, jazz, anything that wasn't tap or ballet. I took a few classes to get back in shape after having Nymphadora. I loved it. We were never allowed to participate in any sports but for dancing at parties and I- I am good at it. I went to college for it."
"You went to a muggle school?" Narcissa reiterated, "For dance?"
"Nymphadora was three years old when I started going, night classes mostly. Ted would take earlier shifts so he could watch her. When I got my degree, I found a local dance studio, I got hired, I taught when she was at school."
"You sent your daughter to a muggle school?"
"I didn't want her to have the life I had."
"Our lives were not bad."
Andromeda shook her head, "No, your life wasn't bad because Bella and I took the brunt of the horrific realities. We shielded you from their-"
"You left me! You left the year after Bella married."
"Marriage," Andromeda scoffed. "You mean when she was sold away like chattel and adopted into the Dark Lord's cult along with that fool of a man you call your husband?"
"Marrying Lestrange was the honorable thing to do."
"I would have sooner married Sirius than a Lestrange, or Malfoy for that matter."
"My husband loves me."
"I don't doubt it," Andromeda retorted, "you are a thousand times better than what he deserves."
"And that Hufflepuff was so much better than your own kind?" Narcissa hissed.
Andromeda leaned back in her chair, "I lost my daughter and my husband to this war. But yours is rotting in jail and Harry tells me your son has lycanthropy. That he was bitten the summer after the fifth year because your husband failed the Dark Lord."
"I am not a Death Eater," Narcissa said coldly.
"You married one and you allowed your son to become one. All that fine breeding, and they threw it away. I can only imagine how proud Mother would be. I suspect she would put Draco down herself or force you to do it."
It was Narcissa's turn to flinch, "At least they are alive, and my husband will be out of jail by the end of the week. The case against him isn't strong enough."
"Um," Harry said, "your husband set a basilisk loose in Hogwarts."
They both turned him.
Narcissa asked sharply, "Lucius did what?"
"He gave one of Voldemort's cursed items to Ginevra Weasley in my second year which ended up letting a basilisk out of the Chamber of Secrets."
Andromeda asked, "What happened to the basilisk?"
"I stabbed it with the sword of Gryffindor, and almost died. Lucky for me, phoenixes make good friends."
Andromeda and Narcissa shared a look before Andromeda said sardonically, "Yes, because marrying a muggleborn was such a step down from that."
"I was unaware of his actions," Narcissa said frostily.
"Unaware of his actions?" Andromeda repeated, "I don't know how you let that man touch you."
"He is very good in bed," Narcissa said with a sly smirk.
"How would you know? He's the only man you have ever slept with," Andromeda shot back.
Harry felt like this wasn't a conversation he should or ever wanted to be a part of.
"I didn't have to swim around when my first dip was that good." Narcissa argued, "In turn, I have ensured that whatever my husband's crimes, infidelity has never been one of them."
Harry's feeling of being extremely out of place at this point in the conversation.
"And yet you come here, a week before your husband's release, right before you're about to be put back on your leash."
"I have no leash."
"Then why are you here?"
"To meet your grandson."
"Liar," Andromeda spat.
Narcissa let out a breath, not quite a sigh and said, "Our parents did not pick Lucius, I did. I know how it looks, but I married for love. And yes, I did let him lead. I trusted him, I trusted that the old ways would get us through. I didn't realize until we were too deep in that there was no turning back. Had I run, taken my son and disappeared, we would be dead too."
"I have the same nightmare every time I close my eyes," Andromeda said.
Narcissa waited.
"I am standing in the greeting room of Grimmauld Place. You, Mum, Sirius, Regulus, and Aunt Walburga are there. Mother and Aunt Walburga tell Sirius and I that we can have our loved ones back if we kill Regulus and you."
Narcissa asked, "Did you kill us?"
Andromeda shakes her head, "I raise my wand but before I can decide, Bella appears to stab Regulus and you in the side. You both die slow, and she laughs. She laughs, kills Mother, Aunt Walburga, and Sirius. I am alone with her, she keeps laughing at me. I turn my wand on her. My spell cuts her deep, her blood bled black and she keeps laughing because it was never her, it was my own reflection."
"And then?" Narcissa prompted.
"Eventually, I wake up." Andromeda looked at her sister directly, "We lost. In the end, it didn't matter what our beliefs were, the choices we made, eventually we all died."
"You're right," Narcissa said. "None of what we were taught mattered, except what we taught ourselves."
Andromeda cocked her head, "And what, pray tell, was that?"
"Take whatever we can because-"
"We lose everything in the end."
"That's bleak," Harry said.
"The three of you are welcome to come to dinner this Saturday night," Narcissa said.
"And what will Lucius have to say about that?" Andromeda asked.
"Lucius will have nothing to say on the matter," Narcissa said severely. "Azkaban without dementors isn't so terrible that he will not be recovered by then and after what he has done... Well, I am the Lady of the House."
There was something in the way she said it that made Harry think that Lucius was going to miss his government imprisonment compared to what his sweet darling wife was going to do to him.
"Very well," Andromeda said, then almost smirked after a moment of thought, "We will be there, if just to watch him squirm."
"Do you want to meet your grand-nephew?" Harry asked, correctly anticipating that there would be no hug and make up between these two sisters.
Narcissa stood, "Before I leave, yes, that would be acceptable."
Again Harry felt the urge to roll his eyes, but with a herculean effort, he restrained himself.
When they entered the nursery, Wendy Bird was floating upside down. A flying bird is not a remarkable thing. An owl with her wings tightly pinned to her sides still clinging to her perch, a perch that was undulating from side to side like a pendulum was…
"He's powerful," Narcissa remarked. "That's good at least."
Harry gave her an exasperated look as he drew his wand, on the chance that Teddy might drop the bird perch and the bird on himself.
It was Andromeda who said, "You always were a bit of bitch. The only baby you ever liked was your own."
Narcissa turned up her chin, "Draco is perfect."
"You know my husband worked in the maternity ward?"
"What of it? He wasn't there when I had Draco."
"No, but healers talk," Andromeda said, then smiled, "For a forty-seven hour labor, he better be perfect."
Harry blanched as he looked between the women in horror, "Two days? It took you more than two days to give birth?"
"Yes," Narcissa said, her voice glacial.
He silently thanked whatever powers there were that he had not been born a woman.
"I also heard in the last hour you splintered every door and window sill on the floor as they had only warded the glass," Andromeda pushed.
"And your pregnancy went so smoothly?" Narcissa growled.
"Nymphadora was out in twenty minutes, Ted caught her. The entire neighborhood had a blackout that night but it wasn't the most physically tasking thing I've ever done."
If looks could kill Andromeda would have been so much minced meat on the carpet..
Harry had picked Teddy up and had coaxed Wendy Bird onto his shoulder.
Teddy giggled and pointed at Harry's owl who had a single feather sticking up on the top of her head.
Distracted as Harry was with entertaining Teddy, he didn't hear the rest of Black sisters' murmured conversation.
"Why didn't you have more children, then?" Narcissa asked.
"Why didn't you?"
"We tried but it wasn't meant to be."
"Ted and I tried too, but he… there was an accident during his training."
"Did it hurt his performance?"
Andromeda chuckled, "No, but he wasn't fertile afterward. They never found a fix that wouldn't risk his life."
"You are a witch, Andromeda."
She glared at her younger sister, "I know what I am."
"You're still young enough."
Andromeda frowned, "Young enough for what?"
"To try again," Narcissa said. "To start over."
"What are you talking about?" Andromeda asked, though she knew perfectly well what Narcissa was referring to.
Narcissa gave a meaningful look in Harry's direction, "He's a good man, powerful, handsome, what more could you want?"
Andromeda hissed at her, "I am old enough to be his mother."
Narcissa gave a graceful shrug of her shoulders, "He's living in your house, why not enjoy the benefits?"
"Get out."
Narcissa smirked, "You were always fun to rile. I will see you soon, along with your son and your kept man."
Andromeda wanted to be outraged, but looking at Harry who was encouraging Teddy to wave goodbye to 'Aunt Cissa' she felt something deep in her heart flutter.
She squashed that feeling. She didn't know if it was the whispers of lust or something more, but she knew Harry deserved better than the broken scraps of an old witch.
AN: Thoughts and reactions please, please?