Andromeda Tonks stared at Harry and Theo as if she'd never seen them before.
"You cannot be serious?" she barked, her face a mask of shock.
"Andy, why would we lie?"
"But. I don't understand. How?"
"We don't know any of the details, just what Draco told me. Her face is on the tapestry. That is quite literally all I know. Please, neither of us have any idea what to do with this. Draco says Narcissa isn't coping and well and you knew her once. How seriously is she likely not to be coping? You know that Mione will agree to see one of them, but if it's only one, should we be suggesting Narcissa? I don't particularly care about Narcissa Malfoy, but Hermione... we all know she'll hate herself if something happens to the woman and she could have prevented it." Theo sighed and wondered if coming here hadn't been a terrible idea.
"She's my niece." She whispered, ignoring his question, still looking at them wide eyed before she visibly pulled herself together. "Narcissa is unlikely to do anything stupid, but I imagine it would take her a significantly long time to get over the rejection, so yes, if possible I would suggest she meet her. Whatever else the woman is, it was no secret that she adored her children. We weren't in contact by the time Cassie disappeared but I remember seeing her from a distance and she looked broken, she hid it better as the years passed, but that look never really left her. Do you have any sort of a plan?"
Both Theo and Harry shook their heads.
"We need to see if we can locate the glamour. A long term one like that will be strong, and likely linked to her magical core. I wont know if we can break it before the babies are born until I see it, see her. If we can break the glamour, we may be able to trace a magical signature. We may also be able to use a version of medical legilimency to determine what happened to her. I cannot guarantee that she'll regain her memories, but she might. It is not my area of expertise, I will need to discuss it with a few colleagues."
"We need to tell her first." Theo muttered.
Andromeda looked at him sharply. "Why is it, exactly, that you are here telling me before your wife?"
Deciding to be honest with the woman, Theo glanced at Harry before he spoke. "You know her history with the Malfoy's is not great. She still has nightmares about her time with Bella. Lucius features in them frequently. I….I'm scared of the effect this will have on her. She might think she wants to know, but does she really? She's already lost the only set of parents she can remember, as strained as their relationship was, she loved them. 'm scared that when the realities of her birth family hit her, it'll break something in her. She's survived so bloody much, I've only just got her to accept that erasing the Granger's memories was the right thing to do, the guilt was killing her. I'd do anything to make her happy and I can't help but feel like this is going to do irreparable damage."
He looked up at Andromeda who was watching him with a soft expression on her face.
"She is very lucky to have you but you cannot protect her from everything. Hermione is strong, and she is resilient. She needs to be told this, because she'd never forgive any of us if she finds out later and discovers we knew. So how are you going to tell her?"
Theo sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Maybe we should bring her here, she might not hex us too badly in Teddy's presence." he said wryly.
Andromeda snorted. "You underestimate her ability to cast cloaking and silencing charms."
Both Harry and Theo paled slightly, making her laugh. "She is not that scary, Gentlemen."
Both men looked at her incredulously before Theo spoke. "Are we talking about the same witch? I love her more than I've ever loved anyone but she's bloody terrifying. Especially now. At this rate I won't survive this pregnancy. "
Andromeda laughed at him, "Bring her here, if nothing else there is safety in numbers."
Hermione sat on Andromeda's sofa, surveying the room. Theo was fidgeting, Harry looked troubled and Andromeda was watching her with a strange look on her face that she couldn't identify.
"Is someone going to tell me what is going on?" she asked finally, when it seemed as if no one was going to speak.
Theo sighed and reached over for her hand as he turned to face her.
"You know I love you, right? That I'd never do anything to deliberately hurt you?"
Hermione felt her mind screech to a halt. Theo was never this nervous. Whatever this was had shaken him and for a man who had been taught to hide his emotions his entire life, for it to be this evident was terrifying.
"Yes….Theo I love you too. Now, seriously, what is going on? You're starting to scare me."
"I….I got an owl a few days ago from an old classmate, asking to meet. They believe they have information on your birth family." he said gently, searching her face for any clue of how she was feeling.
"I….What? Who?"
"Fuck. Hermione." he pulled himself together, gentling his voice as he tugged her closer, releasing her hand in favour of pulling her onto his lap. "It was Malfoy."
"Malfoy?!" she screeched, her eyes wide as he tightened his arms around her. "How on earth would Malfoy have information about my birth family?"
"Remember the Black family tapestry?" Harry spoke as he came to sit down next to them.
At her nod he continued, "Narcissa Malfoy was a Black. It seems she had her own family tapestry made" he said gently, waiting for her to put the pieces together.
"No!" she snarled, shaking her head vigorously as she fought to free herself from Theo who refused to let her go. "No, absolutely not. Let me go Theo!"
"Not until you calm down. I'd really rather not be hexed for being the messenger."
She stopped struggling abruptly and turned to face him wide eyed. "You thought I was going to hex you?"
"We'll, I'm not going to lie, love, you're slightly scary at the best of times but add in pregnancy hormones….."
They watched as her lip wobbled and tears welled. Theo swore softly under his breath as he pulled her into him, one hand wrapping around her waist, the other in her curls as he guided her head to his shoulder.
"Come on sweetheart, don't cry! I'd rather you hexed me!"
Hermione sobbed harder, clinging to her husband as she fought both her hormones and the utter devastation she felt at finding out who her family was. She had clung to the hope that she'd one day find out where she had come from, especially after her failure at restoring the Granger's memories but now she wished for the blissful ignorance of not knowing.
The Malfoy's hated her. Two of them had wished her dead. Why would Draco even bother to tell Theo? Surely he was horrified. She felt a hand rubbing circles on her back that didn't belong to Theo, his grip on her was almost painful, as the sofa dipped next to them.
"Oh Hermione. It's not all that bad, lovely girl." she heard Andromeda whisper.
It took her several minutes to calm down, lifting her head she saw Harry's concerned face from behind Andromeda, Andromeda who was looking at her with a soft smile.
"You're my niece." She said, when she noticed Hermione watching her.
Hermione felt several emotions flit through her all at once. Maybe, just maybe, this would be alright. She didn't need the Malfoy's, Andromeda was family. She'd been family for a while, through Harry but now, she was actually family. And she wanted that so badly she could taste it. Slowly, she sat up, disentangling herself slightly from Theo, although not yet willing to move from his lap, she nodded warily.
"I'm….so very glad, Hermione. After Dora…...I'm just, very glad." A tear slowly fell down Andromeda's cheek which was all it took for Hermione to launch herself at the other woman, both of them sobbing as they clung to each other. Theo and Harry wide eyed and frozen at either side of them, neither sure what to do with the situation they'd found themselves in.
It had been no secret that Andromeda was lonely and struggling with her place in the world. She'd been accepted into their odd little family, absorbed into their lives via Harry but more than once she'd confided in Hermione, that as much as she loved them all, as much as she was grateful for their acceptance, she struggled with only really having a link to Teddy.
Andromeda sat with her hand clasped in her new found nieces and felt a little more at peace than she had in years. She missed Dora and Ted so much it hurt most days, and she couldn't imagine a day where she wouldn't. But, the part of her that had felt unmoored since the war eased a little as she accepted the link to family she had thanks to her sister's child.
It wasn't that she thought Harry would ever cast her aside, but his links to the Weasley's were stronger than his link to her. Now, she had a niece that not only linked her back to Harry but also to the new family she was growing. She hoped Hermione understood just how much that meant.
"They believe you had a glamour cast on you, we could look at removing it if you wish? I cannot promise but there might be a way to get some answers as to what happened." She said gently.
"I...can I think about it? I'm not sure I'm ready to look in the mirror and see someone else."
"Of course, it's entirely your decision. Are you going to contact them?" she asked her softly.
Hermione turned to look at her with wide, frightened eyes. "I don't know."
"Might I suggest you meet one of them at least once? I know it does not match with your experiences of them, lovely, but they were devastated when you disappeared."
Hermione nodded slowly. "You'll come with me?"
Andromeda forcibly shoved down the emotions that plea caused, nodding her head "Of course, lovely. Whatever you need."
Hermione composed an owl to Draco Malfoy from the safety of Theo's arms once they were home that night. Sending it off before she could overthink it, she burrowed in closer as he tightened his hold, both wondering what the reply would bring.