Thanks again to Lisa for the nice comments, and to Jennycake, who was nice enough to review, too! Enjoy!


The Mauraders get a visit from Andromeda Tonks, we get a peek at what is my guess the Black family drama is like, and of course- some more good old, unadulturated Maurader dialogue! Oh, and a random non-Harry Potter movie quote is thrown in there somewhere, along with a horribly cheesy "royal" pun.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling... as if you didn't already know!

Disclaimer part deux: The "random movie quote" is from Miss Congeniality

After playing quidditch in James' back yard for hours, the boys came back inside as the sun was going down.

"Woo, I'm beat!" James sighed while he plopped down in a chair at the kitchen table, wiping sweat from his forehead. He looked tired, but happy. "That was a great game. Your flying has definitely improved, Wormtail."

Peter's face lit up. "Wow! You really think so! I haven't been practicing at home or anything- Mum won't let me- but I was concentrating more this time…"

"Calm down before you have an accident, sheesh." James interrupted him. "I'm not saying you'd make the Gryffindor team or anything," Peter's face fell. "But yeah, you've improved."

Remus patted Peter's shoulder, "Don't feel bad, Peter, you don't want to be on the team anyway- it's totally bereft of leadership." Peter laughed and cheered up again.

"Shut up, Moony! It so happens that the team thinks I'm a great Captain! We weren't undefeated last season for nothing!" James looked indignant. He rose from the table. "Anyone hungry?"

Everyone nodded an affirmative. James crossed the kitchen and opened a cupboard next to the sink. Boxes of all sizes and colors were sitting on the shelves inside.

"We can use one of these Mrs. Marcy's Easy Make dinner kits, I've watched my parents use them all the time. Do we want chicken, ham, or roast beef?" James asked, poking at three boxes right in front.

"I don't care, it all sounds good," Sirius said, pulling butterbeers out of the refrigerator.

Remus looked at Peter. "Chicken?" Peter nodded enthusiastically.

"Chicken it is then," James pulled down a large yellow box. "Now let's see how this works…" He peered at the instructions on the back of the box and pointing his wand at the box, said the incantation printed there. The box trembled for a few seconds, lifted out of his hand, and hovered a foot above his head. The boys looked on in amazement as potatoes and carrots floated out of it and onto the counter where a knife and cutting board materialized and started to quickly cut the vegetables into pieces. Seconds later, a whole chicken, already in a pan, squeezed out of the box and floated to the oven. As the oven door opened to let the chicken in the cutting board full of chopped carrots and potatoes glided over and dumped them into the pan along with the chicken. Then the pan full of chicken and vegetables dropped onto the rack in the oven and the oven door closed shut. The oven flipped on, and its timer set itself.

James grabbed the box out of the air and took a second look at the back. "I thought rolls were included with the dinner as well."

Just then, with eighteen individual tiny pops, a dozen and a half balls of dough sprung out of the box and landed on a baking sheet, which also came out of the box.

"Wicked," Peter said.

"Interesting," Remus mused.

"If cooking can be that easy, why does my mother insist on having house elves to prepare meals?" Sirius joked.

"Because she is a miserable, grumpy elitist and it works for her?" James said, putting his wand in his back pocket.

The boys laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it, Prongs," Sirius said, laughing so hard he was holding his stomach.

"C'mon, let's watch Muggle Television until dinner's ready," James said, pushing through the swinging door and going into the family room. He had just flipped on the television when the doorbell chimed.

"Who could that be?" Sirius asked.

James' eyebrows knit in confusion. "I don't know, Dad and Mum didn't say anything about having visitors today." He went into the hall and made to open the door.

"James!" Remus shouted. He had pulled his wand out of his pocket. "Use your head! Don't just open the door! Use the peephole!"

"Right, good call, Moony," James' hand left the door knob and he peeked through the tiny hole in the door. His laughter made Sirius, Remus, and Peter- who had their wands at the ready- jump. "It's Andromeda Tonks!" James said, unlocking the deadbolt with a wave of his wand, throwing open to door and shouting "Welcome! And you've brought the baby!"

"Andromeda!" Sirius said joyfully and rushed over to embrace his cousin.

"Wotcher, Sirius!" Andromeda exclaimed, hugging Sirius back. She looked over his shoulder at Peter and Remus who were still standing in the family room. "Hi Remus, Hi Peter!" she called to them.

Peter voiced a hello, while Remus turned a light shade of pink and mumbled something that vaguely resembled a greeting.

"Long time no see, cousin," Sirius said as he, James and Andromeda moved into the family room. Andromeda was a tall, pretty young woman with shoulder length brown hair and deep chocolate brown eyes. On her back she carried a plump baby in an infant carrier.

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly welcome at family functions anymore, you know," She winked at Sirius as she reached above her head, and pulled the baby out of the backpack.

"I'm not either, as you well know," Sirius said, peering down at the rotund baby his cousin was holding up to him. "And who is this?" He touched the baby's nose with his index finger.

"Meet Nymphadora! Isn't she precious!" Andromeda beamed as the baby cooed cheerfully at Sirius.

"Very Precious," Sirius said, smiling. The three other boys voiced similar opinions. "Can I hold her?" Sirius asked.

"Please do!" She plunked the baby into Sirius' arms. "I need to get this thing off my back!" She unbuckled the carrier and slid it off her shoulders.

James helped her lean the carrier against the wall. "We almost weren't going to let you in, you know. Old Remus here thought you could be some boogey monster."

"Or Death Eater, more likely. That was smart of you to be careful, Remus," Remus smiled bashfully and blushed. "You should have thought of that, too, James" Andromeda scolded. "With your parents being aurors- where are your parents anyway?" She looked around the living room as if they might pop out from under the couch.

"Out fighting Voldemort and all that is evil in this world," James replied flippantly.

Andromeda laughed, "I should have guessed. Anyway, your parents being aurors makes them and you more obvious targets for those maniacs. I really shouldn't be traveling outside by myself at night, but I had to see Sirius, and I couldn't use the Floo Network- they say the ash is bad for babies."

"Where's Ted, couldn't he have come too?" James asked.

"How did you know I was here?" Sirius asked at the same time.

"Ted's doing the news cast- he got a job as an anchor for the Muggle nightly news," She pointed to the television where, sure enough, Ted's pleasant face was on the screen reporting the news. "And I knew you were here, Sirius, because Narcissa told me she overheard our mothers discussing how you ran away from home and how Regulus said you were staying with the Potters."

"You still talk to Narcissa?" Sirius asked incredulously.

Andromeda nodded. "She's the only one, besides you of course, who would speak to me after Ted and I got married. We always got along fine with each other, mostly because we both hated Bellatrix so much, the heinous witch that she is, who can blame us- oh, she just married Rodolphus Lestrange a week ago, did you know? Well, anyway, Narcissa was always annoyed at me for being sorted into Ravenclaw, but mostly because she can't form an opinion by herself to save her life and is caught up in our family's Slytherin tradition and self-righteousness.

"Narcissa's in our year, we know about her, she's definitely more beauty than brains," James said.

Again Andromeda nodded, "Yeah, that's Narcissa: a popular beauty queen, but not exactly a deep thinker. Father's forbidden anyone in the family to talk to me, but she does anyway- I think she's lonely because it's impossible to talk to Bellatrix."

"Who'd want to talk to Bellatrix?" Sirius said bitterly.

"She's scary," Peter said quietly. Andromeda laughed.

"You're funny, Peter," she said. Peter blushed. Remus looked vaguely jealous. "Anyway, I'm rambling on here! My point is, something's happened and I needed to see you, Sirius." She pulled a scroll of thick parchment out of her robes and held it out to Sirius. He handed baby Nymphadora over to Remus who was sitting next to him and took the scroll from Andromeda.

"What's this?" Sirius asked, looking confused as he unrolled the scroll.

"Uncle Alphard died, that's his will. He wasn't married, and he had no children, and it so happens that he left you and me equal parts of his entire fortune, Sirius. It's not as big as your father's estate by any means, but seeing as how that will go to Regulus anyway, I'm sure your half will help you out immensely."

Sirius read the will wide-eyed and open-mouthed like he had been stunned by a spell.

"What the heck… It says here that he thought the way our family treated us was atrocious and that we're the only decent Blacks living." He burst into gleeful laughter. "Oh, I bet the whole family is furious!"

"Oh, they are. Even Narcissa didn't want me to see the will- the Black pride doesn't want this getting out, naturally- but I made her give me a copy. If you keep reading you'll see that it says that the gold has been split equally and put into two separate Gringott's vaults under our names. No one can access those vaults but us."

Sirius was still laughing. "Oh, this is rich! I can just see Mother's reaction to reading this! And she thinks that no one is going to tell us and that the gold will just sit there, unused!" He doubled over.

"Way to go, Padfoot, that's really great news," James said happily. Peter nodded his head up and down emphatically.

"Yeah, Sirius, that's great!" Remus exclaimed, bouncing Nymphadora up and down on his knee. She gurgled happily.

"She likes you, Moony!" James said teasingly.

Remus blushed again, and looked down at the baby, who looked up and gave him a wide toothless grin. Suddenly there was a loud shout that startled everyone. Remus was looking at Nymphadora with a look of confusion and horror.

"Oh my God, Remus, what's wrong?" Andromeda cried, gently taking Nymphadora out of his grasp, looking worried. One look at her baby, however, had her in tears with laughter.

Everyone peered at the child. "What the-" Peter whispered, scared and unable to finish his sentence.

Nothing was wrong with Nymphadora, she was wriggling gleefully in her mother's arms. Her face, however, was no longer the face of a baby's, but an exact tiny replica of Remus'.

"Merlin's beard, what did you do to my cousin, Moony?" Sirius asked, his eyes wide.

Andromeda continued laughing. "He didn't do anything! Nymphadora's a metamorphmagus."

"A what?" James exclaimed, still staring at the baby.

"A metamorphmagus. It means she can change her appearance. It's a really rare condition, our pediatric healer couldn't even remember the last time a metamorphmagus has been documented. When she's older Nymphadora will be able to change what she looks like just as easy as you or I change facial expressions, but when they are babies Metamorphmagi haven't gained control of their gift yet. The healer believes that she mimics people's faces like babies mimic sounds they hear their parents speak before they learn to talk- she's learning to utilize her power."

"That is the weirdest thing I've ever seen." Remus said, breathlessly.

"Don't worry, Remus, she gave Ted and I quite a turn the first time she did it to us, too, believe me. She can usually only hold the face for a few minutes though- see she's already returning back to normal." Nymphadora's face morphed back into her true baby face. "I think it's really cool, myself."

Just then the timer on the oven went off.

"Ah, dinner's ready. You are welcome to stay and eat with us, Andromeda," James said as he rose from his chair. "C'mon, Moony," he poked Remus in the shoulder, "Let's go set the table- you too, Wormtail." They left the two cousins and the baby sitting in the family room.

Sirius couldn't take his eyes off of the will. He kept reading it and re-reading it as if he were afraid that if he stopped looking at it for a second that the writing would disappear.

"Hard to believe isn't it, Sirius? I know Ted and I are very thankful, the past two years have been difficult trying to make it on our own, we had trouble finding work after we eloped right after graduation. Until recently we both had been working as servers in a Muggle restaurant in downtown London."

"Why? Both you and Ted had top marks at Hogwarts! You should have had no problems getting good jobs!" Sirius said, incredulously.

"Oh, sure- we had great marks, but we hit a brick wall when applying to the Ministry, and everywhere else in the Wizard world."

"Why?"

"Lucius Malfoy, I suppose," Andromeda sighed and shifted Nymphadora onto her other knee.

Sirius was puzzled. "Lucius Malfoy? What does he have to do with anything?"

"A lot, Sirius. Didn't you know that he and I were engaged?"

"Whaaaat?" Sirius' mouth hung open. "Why would you have anything to do with that snake?"

"I didn't have any choice in the matter. It was a betrothment, really, his parents made a deal with mine when I was very young. The Malfoys and our family go way back, and they liked the idea of their eldest children marrying and forming a new pureblood Slytherin dynasty." Andromeda told Sirius all of this with disgust on her face. "But they didn't count on me being sorted into Ravenclaw." She chuckled dryly.

"Yeah, I was only seven at the time, but I clearly remember the scandal that caused. Of course, I thought it was great."

"Any decent person would have felt the same way, Sirius, but as you well know our family is anything but decent. Father and Mother were furious- they sent me a howler that very night at Hogwarts after they got my owl telling them the news. I remember it dropping onto my bed in the middle of the night and me running with it into the Common Room to try to avoid waking up my dorm mates. It was awful to begin with, but imagine to my surprise when in it my parents revealed that I was supposed to marry Lucious Malfoy and that I may have just blown my chances at a good match and a good life by refusing Slytherin House."

Sirius snorted.

"I know, typical Black family melodramatics, eh? I decided then and there that I would never marry Lucius, even if it meant running away and living as a Muggle after Hogwarts. Fortunately, I met Ted and the rest is history."

"Yeah, it was an even bigger uproar two years ago when you ran off." Sirius said. "I was still suffering life at Grimmauld Place at the time- you would have thought that Salazaar Slytherin had come back from the dead and proclaimed that he was a Muggleborn." He paused for a second. "But no one ever mentioned you ever being betrothed to Lucius, I just thought you were being defiant."

"Lucius' and my parents never mentioned it to anyone, thankfully. And afterwards, they certainly wouldn't have said a word about it. Lucius is a prideful guy, though, and I'm positive he's used his money and influence to keep Ted and I from finding jobs- even if he is set to marry Narcissa and should be able to forget about the whole ordeal."

Sirius was again incredulous, "Narcissa?"

"Mhmm. You see, my father and Mr. Malfoy betrothed Lucius and I using an old Dark Magic contract called a Blood Pact. They are illegal nowadays, but they were used all of the time among Dark wizards hundreds of years ago. The contract involves incantations, rituals, and is sealed by writing and signing the document with the blood of both parties. Both sides are bound by magic to fulfill their end of the bargain or the defaulter can be killed by the party he defaults against.

"How typically Slytherin," Sirius said, disgusted.

"I know- apparently the Malfoys have the flair for melodramatics like the Blacks." Andromeda shivered, "When I defaulted against the contract, it fell to another woman with my Father's blood to make the situation right. Fortunately there are two other daughters in the family."

"But Bellatrix was heavily involved with Rodolphus Lestrange…" Sirius said, working out the conclusion aloud.

"So that meant Narcissa was left." Andromeda finished for him. "Fortunately, she's been head over heels for Lucius since she was a pre-teen- so it was a perfect solution: the Blood Pact was fulfilled, Lucius get's his trophy Black bride when Narcissa graduates in two years, and I get to keep my life. Although I'd bet Uncle Alphard's fortune that no one in the family gives a rat's tail about that last point."

"Yeah, I'm sure the Blacks wouldn't mind seeing both of us kick the bucket," Sirius grinned as if this was an esteemed honor to be proud of. He tilted his head as if something had just come to his mind. "So, uh, does Narcissa know about the Blood Pact?"

"No. I didn't either, to be honest, until after Ted and I had married. Mother sent me a letter telling me all about the Pact- probably to try to scare me into coming back home and marrying Lucius. But by that time the Malfoys had had enough and wanted to end the matter- so Narcissa was told the happy news- happy on her end, anyway. I'm glad I didn't know, though," she shivered again, "I'm not so sure I could have handed that kind of liability over to my sister, even as head over heels in love with Ted that I was."

"It's just Narcissa!" Sirius scoffed.

"She's still my sister, Sirius," Andromeda said seriously. "I know she's a bitchy Slytherin diva now, but all those years when we were kids it was her and me against Bellatrix, well mostly me protecting her against Bellatrix, and we used to be as close as it was possible for two Black sisters to be. What if for some reason she refused Lucius like I had and the Malfoy's tried to kill her instead of me? If I had known about the Blood Pact before I ran off, I'm… I'm…" her voice faltered. "I'm not sure what choice I would have made." She looked off sadly into space while baby Nymphadora continued to wiggle happily in her grasp, blissfully unaware of the emotional turmoil her mother was experiencing.

Sirius stood up and placed a comforting hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Sounds like a situation a brave Gryffindor could shine in, what with making those tough life altering decisions and all," He tried to sound light and funny, "Are you sure you really were sorted into the right house?" He winked at her, then turned earnest, "Don't worry a second more about it, everything happens for a reason, right?"

Andromeda shook herself out of her troubled reverie and looked up at Sirius. She smiled at his handsome face. "You're right. Everything happens for a reason."

James poked his head out from behind the kitchen door. "Are you two ever going to join us? Peter's going to eat your helpings if you don't get in here quick!"

"I am not!" Peter shouted indignantly from the kitchen table.

"Come on, coz," Sirius said, taking Nymphadora out of her mother's arms and heading towards the kitchen. "Let's get some dinner."

Andromeda followed Sirius through the swinging door. "Sounds great." She got a whiff of the roast chicken. "Mmm, smells great, too!"

James had set the table with one extra place for Andromeda and had even conjured up a highchair for the baby to sit in.

"Allow me!" He took Nymphadora from Sirius and put her carefully in the highchair, then buckled her in.

Andromeda sat down while Remus prepared her a plate full of chicken, carrots, potatoes, and rolls. "Wow, James, you seem to have such a knack with babies. Thank you, Remus," she took the filled plate from his hands and placed it in front of her.

"I love babies," James said simply, sitting down and helping himself to the food on his plate.

Sirius shook his head, "You're never even around babies, you idiot."

"I have too been around babies!" James said stubbornly, "I have some younger cousins."

"You have two younger cousins, James, but they're ten and nine years old." Remus said, smiling.

James opened his mouth, then shut it quickly. Just as quickly he opened it again, "Yeah, and when they were babies I remember liking them!" He chomped down on a large forkful of chicken as if to say that that was that.

"James Potter, the family man," Peter said, amused, his small dark eyes twinkling.

"There's nothing wrong with that. Families are a wonderful thing." Andromeda said, making a baby bottle materialize out of the end of her wand. She placed the bottle in Nymphadora's hands and the baby began to feed.

"Unless you are a Black," Sirius said mischievously.

"We never really ever have been true Blacks at heart," Andromeda said, looking fondly at her baby.

"Too bad you couldn't have been Potters- I wouldn't have minded a sister and a brother." James said.

"Yeah, that's all we need- more Potters running around this planet causing trouble and reeking havoc in Gryffindor Tower!"

"Hey, shut up, Prefect Moony!" James threw a roll across the table at Remus. "Just you wait, there will be plenty of Potters someday. I bet you'll even be a Professor at Hogwarts and get to teach them!"

Remus pretended to look horrified, "Oh, please no! Anything but that! I'll quit if I have to teach Trouble and Double Trouble Potter!"

"Or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Potter!" Peter said laughing, as he ducked a roll from James as well.

"Dumb and Dumber Potter!"

"Thing One and Thing Two Potter!"

"I doubt Lily will agree to naming her children such ridiculous names," James sniffed.

The table exploded with laughter. Sirius leaned far back in his chair, tears coming out of his eyes, Remus cackled with his mouth full until he nearly choked on a piece of potato, and butterbeer shot out of Peter's nostrils. Andromeda looked on with amused wonder, and Nymphadora showed her toothless grin and shook her arms up and down, bouncing in her highchair.

"Would you please, leave the Lily issue alone! The poor girl's ears are probably burning with all the time you've been talking about her!" Remus said, making a funny noise that was something between a cough and a laugh. Peter smacked him on the back repeatedly.

"Yeah, Lily marrying James, that's the most unlikely pair I've ever heard of!" Peter chimed in. "Right Sirius?"

Sirus leaned forward, the front two rungs of his chair connecting with the floor again, and folded his arms. "Let old Prongs dream; I think it's funny."

"Wonderful, it's great to know my pals are cheering for me. Really brilliant." James said, pretending to look despondent. "Won't you all be eating your words some day."

"Yeah, sure, James."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"The important thing is he never loses his confidence."

"Do I know this Lily?" Andromeda asked.

"Lily Evans."

"She's a Gryffindor."

"In our year."

"The name rings a bell, who are her parents?" Andromeda asked.

"No one you'd know, she's a Muggleborn."

"Ah, that's the best kind of wizard." Andromeda winked at them and continued eating.

"Oiy! That's nice!"

"Are you trying to hurt our feelings?"

"Lovely thing to say at a table full of Purebloods!"

"Don't forget one Half-Blood."

"Yes, of course, how could we forget Moody the Half-Blood."

"Sorry boys, just joking, you know I love you. Could you please pass me the rolls?"

"Here you go."

"Thanks, Remus, you're a prince."

"What's for dessert?"

"Finish your dinner first, Wormtail."

"Ha ha ha, ok, sure, Mummy."

"Uh, I dunno, I think I have a stash of leftovers from the Hogwarts' Express trolley in the cupboard."

"What a host- he offers us stale Cauldron Cakes and hard Bertie Bott's Everflavor Beans!"

"Only the best for my mates."

"Mates? What mates? Your parents pay us to hang out with you."

"Funny, really funny, Padfoot."

A/N: Did you get the pun? Sorry, I couldn't help myself! I'm not trying to hint who I think the HBP is or anything, just being cheeky! Anyone like Andromeda's story? I have a whole separate fanfic idea pertaining to that little plotline planned out, so be on the lookout! Is it too uncharacteristic for a sixteen year old boy to be pondering about his future children? I wouldn't know because I never was a sixteen year old boy! I just liked the idea of James being so sweet on Lily that he was convinced without a doubt that they'd be married someday.

This is all I have on my mind for now with this story, but I'm sure something else will come to me because I really like writing these guys!