A/N: Thanks for the support!
This has been a chapter I have been deliberating on for a long time, and I have finally decided to bite the bullet and put it up... so, here we go!
Within two hours since the news reached the Tonks' household, Edward 'Ted' Tonks was rushing through St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries with his wife leading the way. Ted had been prepared to join his wife and retire for the day when an owl from the Ministry's Owlry had pecked his window incessantly. From then, it had been a whirlwind of activity and swift disapparation to the hospital.
Andromeda Tonks' face had scrunched into a mixture of anger and worry as soon as she read the letter. Her daughter, barely an adult and still an auror in-training, had been rushed to the hospital from Wycombe Town after a duel in an alleyway. Multiple thoughts ran through her mind as she brisk-walked through the corridors of the hospital, but of the many thoughts that did not pertain to her daughter, was a singular indignation cry, "Where was Alastor when Nymphadora was fighting?" If the blasted man was anywhere nearby when the duel happened, there was little chance for her baby girl to be in her sorry state. After all, there were very few Death Eaters roaming the streets and of the few free ones, not one of them would fight the strongest living auror for fun. Perhaps, if he was still alive and bored, he might duel Alastor except he really would not. It was not in his character to fight unnecessarily. Perhaps the other one might have duelled if only he was not in Azkaban.
"This year, he will finally be allowed a visit and I should see him. Will he be allowed anything? Does he still have the sweet tooth? But... he would ask me about you," Andromeda mumbled as she caught sight of the huge calendar date. "What should I tell him? He will blame me too, won't he? Corban...I should clean his tombstone too. After I clean Dora's mess... "
Soon, she was by the lift that would take her up to the suite level of the hospital which was the Special Force Ward, also known as the Aurors' ward. It was a space reserved for hospitalized aurors and aurors in-training, and as a result, required a certain level of authority and permission to enter. As she waited impatiently for the lift to descend, her husband reached her side and heaved an exhausted pant.
"For a person with shorter legs and strides than me, you sure walked a lot faster," Ted joked as he flashed her a smile.
"Is now the time to joke?" Andromeda asked testily as she folded her arms, glared at the number on the lift and tapped her foot harder as if that would make the lift's descend a lot faster. "I am going to skin Alastor when I see him. What was he thinking, letting her fight without his supervision?"
"Maybe he wants her to experience a real battle?" Ted answered her rhetorical question as his smile faltered into a grim line, "Maybe she's ready for o- "
"Ready? Ready?!" Andromeda repeated incredulously as she whipped her head so fast, she would have groaned at the muscle strain if she had not been riding on her adrenaline. "She's inexperienced!" she continued as her voice turned shriller, "She's barely graduated! Tell me, Mr Tonks, exactly which of her battle exercises or spells convinced you that she is ready for a real battle?"
Ted sighed as his wife glared at him as if daring him to refute her argument. She had a point, as she usually did when it came to things like these, and Ted refused to upset her even more by challenging her point. It was senseless to trigger her into a bigger outburst, so he remained silent and waited for the lift. When the number 2 lit and then dimmed, Ted swore his heart beat a little faster. The lift was finally reaching them after a strangely slow descend and that meant his wife could turn her frustrations onto Moody and away from him.
Just as the lift dinged and the doors were opening, Andromeda's head jerked as she stared wide-eyed at the corridor she had just stormed through. Her mouth parted as she whispered almost soundlessly, "Corban..?" as her eyes began watering. There was something strangely familiar about the back of a golden-haired and pale-skinned, black coated man. She was not sure if she caught a proper look of the man but when he had breezed past behind them, his presence had felt familiar.
No, Corban died. You caused his death.
"Are you alright, honey?" Ted asked gently as he squeezed her hand.
Andromeda jolted and almost pulled her hand away before she recognized her husband's concerned face. She blinked a few times, looked at him and then, to the corridor and, finally back at him. "No," she murmured as she shook her head, "I must be crazy to imagine a dead man." She took a deep shuddering breath, released it slowly and looked up at her husband. "Yes, yes, I am quite alright," she nodded as she entered the lift while massaging her temples. "It's just the stress making me see… feel things."
"I'm sure you will give her a piece of your mind, Mama Bear," Ted chuckled as he sympathized his daughter. There was no doubt little Dora would be lectured for hours, and then, grounded as soon as she was discharged. If anything, his wife came down hard on anyone who dared to bite more than they could chew; and right now, that was little Dora. "Although, I suggest to be a little gentler," Ted urged gently, "after all, her ego is bruised enough."
"There you go again. You pamper her too much, Ted," Andromeda bristled as she frowned and then glared at the lift buttons as if they had offended her. "What she needs is a good bollocking!" she growled as she crossed her arms, "Who does she think she is? Fighting in the alley like a thug… I'm just glad the other person didn't press charges!"
"She is hurt enough, wife," Ted stressed as he touched her shoulders and turned her around gently to face him. "She is the victim in-"
"Victim? Victim?!" Andromeda shrieked as she interrupted her husband and shrugged his hands off her shoulders. "From what I understand from the witnesses' account, she had stalked and attacked first! She ambushed the poor man! How can you defend tha-"
"Because she's my daughter!" Ted roared as he pulled his hair in frustration and glared at her. "She's a girl just in case you forgot this too!" he continued in a softer but equally angry tone, "Do you really think she could have done anything to the man? She's just a girl and –"
"She's a young woman and an Auror in-training, mister!" Andromeda sneered as she overly stressed on her daughter's occupation. "A defenceless and an unarmed person would've suffered great grievances in an ambush. I would know that," she sneered bitterly as she unconsciously rubbed her hip.
Ted's eyes shifted to her hip and immediately guilt settled on his shoulders like a wet blanket and his face softened. A few years ago, when the aurors were rounding up the Death Eaters after the defeat of You-Know-Who, on the last day of Dolohov's and Yaxley's trial - where Dolohov had been sentenced and Yaxley was acquitted, she had been ambushed while she had been on her way to the Ministry. The Avery siblings along with some of You-Know-Who's last few groups of fanatic followers attacked her and kept her tortured in one of the abandoned lighthouses at the Southern end of England. Her ordeal of three-days ended when the High Lord of Durness found her and rescued her. However, during the rescue, he had been attacked from both sides while he was shielding her and helping her to mount a hippogriff. The last anyone saw of him was his body falling off the tower's column, tumbling against the rough and sharp edges of the cliff before his body disappeared into the raging sea with a huge splash.
"Yes…" Ted whispered as he covered her hand and looked deeply into her fierce brown eyes, "but this wasn't amongst enemies or a crossfire. Even if she is our daughter and an auror in-training, she is not Avery. She is not as brutal as Avery… and the man wasn't unarmed. He had his wand."
Andromeda withdrew from her husband as she looked away from him. "Good thing he did, and good on him for his reflexes or we would have a murder charge on our hands," she sniffed as she jabbed the lift button again as if it would quicken the lift's ascend. "Bless him, Merlin. It was good he did not kill her and still, he summoned St Mungo's emergency force for her."
Ted sighed audibly as he stood behind her and leaned his head on her shoulder. "You know, you're her mother. It wouldn't hurt to protect her sometimes."
"Precisely because I am her mother that I must teach her properly."
"You teach her well enough," Ted agreed easily, "but you know, she gets vengeful, riled up when it concerns her godfather or the Killer Clown–"
"Stop calling Corban the Killer Clown," Andromeda snapped sharply as her hand shook at her side. She refused to return her husband's stare and instead glared at her own unfocused reflection on the lift's steel doors. "There are things you can and cannot do," Andromeda continued softly but there was an undercurrent of bitterness and hardness that her husband refused to acknowledge, "and extracting your own brand of justice is something you cannot do. There is a reason for laws and the justice system."
"What if the system isn't sufficient?"
"A system isn't sufficient if you use your heart to decide the severity of the punishments."
"Wife…" Ted mumbled tiredly as he finally decided to give up arguing with her about the matter. There was nothing much more he could say to convince her. "Nymphadora is not you," he reminded gently as he hugged her, "and it's not your fault he died. He was a Death –"
"Death Eater or not, he found me and rescued me," Andromeda snarled harshly as she clenched her fist and fought against the hot tears that threatened to spill. "If it wasn't for me, he would've still been…"
"He was prepared to die…for you," Ted admitted softly as he hugged his wife just a little tighter.
"How are you sure?" Andromeda whispered as she swallowed the lump in her throat.
"He blitzed through the Avery's stronghold. He was one man but the force of an Auror squad," Ted answered her easily as he released her and exited the lift with clenched fists. Andromeda might have married him, and Nymphadora might be his daughter but nothing he could do would ever be enough. There was nothing he could do to prove that he loved her just as fiercely as the blond-haired, reddish-blue-eyed Scot. He was simply not as strong, not as magically gifted, not as smart. There were many things the Scot could do better than him, and there were many times when the Scot had rescued and protected his wife when he was simply not able to. The Scot had been his love rival while in school and he had believed he won when she chose to run from her wedding with the Scot and eloped with him instead. At that time, he had believed she loved him but it was moments like those in the lift that made him wonder if his wife ever loved him.
When Ted and Andromeda finally arrived in Nymphadora's room, they found Alastor Moody pacing the length of the room. Without much encouragement needed, the Tonks couple marched to their bandaged-up, unconscious daughter.
Ted fell into a chair as he held his daughter's hand and squeezed it as if it pass to her whatever strength he had. Andromeda, on the other hand, swerved her head to glare heatedly at Moody as she stormed towards him and jabbed her finger painfully into his chest. "What in Merlin's name happened out there, Alastor?" she growled menacingly as she punctuated her question with another painful jab.
Moody glared at her just as angrily and swiped her finger away from him. "She's a Prewalski!" he grumbled as he folded his arms defiantly.
"Did you just call my daughter a wild horse?" Andromeda snarled as she challenged the auror to repeat his words.
"What else should I call my student?" the auror mentor challenged her as his lips curled into an unforgiving, frustrated snarl. "She is as hard-headed and rebellious as her mother!"
Immediately, Andromeda's eye twitch as she took a daring step forward so that the adults were in each other's space. "You truly wish to die, don't you, Moody?" she whispered harshly as she slipped her wand out.
Moody released a short cruel bark of laughter. "I'd like to see you try," he taunted as he withdrew his wand from his pocket.
"Her father will sooner rather than later send you to your ma-"
"I can't send him to meet his maker, honey," Ted interrupted dryly.
Immediately, Andromeda's face blanched and Moody laughed. He retreated to lean leisurely against the window with a very smug expression stretched over his face. "What was it you were saying, Andromeda?" he continued to taunt her as he cupped his ear as if it to mock her and dare her to repeat her threats.
"You…!" Andromeda sputtered as she pointed her wand at Moody before she released a frustrated guttural sound. "Don't you –"
"This is a hospital!" a nurse snapped as she glared at both loud visitors, "This isn't a marketplace for your squabbles!"
"Excuse me?" Andromeda asked softly as her eyes flashed with indignation and anger at being told to quieten.
"Nagging women are so troublesome," Moody snorted as he ignored the nurse and tapped his feet impatiently for the arrival of the last invited person.
"If you wish to continue this, take it outside!" the nurse warned them.
Just as Andromeda opened her mouth to retort, Ted hugged her with an arm and another of his hand wrapped around her mouth. Struggling to keep his wife from lunging at the nurse, Ted smiled as kindly at the nurse and assured her hastily, "Thank you for the reminder. We can take it from here."
The nurse looked at all of them warningly before she left the ward and Andromeda broke free from her husband's hold. "What was that about, Ted?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"She's a mediwitch a–" Ted answered calmly.
"And I am a healer too," she snorted.
"Yes, you are but she works here."
"Doesn't mean she is better than me."
"Maybe not, but right here, right now, she is in her element," Ted smiled kindly as he pulled her hand gently to sit. "Plus, she works with the other medi-witches and medi-wizards…"
"Hey Alastor, what did they say about Dora?" Andromeda asked after a long lull of silence in the room.
"Comatose," Moody shrugged his shoulders, "a fractured jaw that was easy enough to fix, and an almost crushed windpipe."
"I would add dispirited to the list of injuries as well," a voice spoke and everyone turned to the door to see two older wizards entering. Albus Dumbledore escorted the white-haired man with silver-coloured eyes and a kind face to a seat. Once the wizard was seated comfortably, Dumbledore quietly helped himself to some lemon treats.
"Ollivander?" Ted asked as he peered curiously at the seated older wizard, "Why… what are you doing here?"
Garrick Ollivander took out a slim wooden case from his satchel and placed it gently on the table. Silently, he beckoned the Tonks couple closer as he carefully opened the case. Inside, the box was a red cloth with a small cloud of wood splinters and sawdust. "This is your daughter's wand," Ollivander spoke gravely as he looked into the shocked eyes in front of him. "A wand is not merely a tool to channel our magic, but when properly bonded to us, they behave as an extension of our being. So, whoever she fought, whatever happened in the brawl, he shattered her will as thoroughly as he destroyed her wand into dust. He dominated her easily. He has completely defeated her."
"No…" Andromeda whispered as she covered her lips and fell into a seat and held Nymphadora's hand, "no, no, no. It can't be."
"I don't think there is any spell that is able to viciously disintegrate and, therefore, destroy the soul of a wand," Ollivander refuted Andromeda gently, yet still firmly enough to silence any further retorts. "For now, we can only hope he did not destroy her magic chalice and that, she could recover from her mental defeat to wake again."
"You're wrong," Andromeda whispered hoarsely as she looked into the eyes of the wandmaker, "there is a spell that was created just for the purpose of destroying wands without actually breaking a wizard's spirit." When everyone stared at her, Andromeda took a deep shuddering breath and continued, "Evasto Autem. It was created by two people, and its secrets to cast it was kept only to its creators. One of them is dead…"
Everyone sucked a breath and hung onto Andromeda's words, while Dumbledore turned his attention towards the window just in time to watch the fleeting wings and tail of an eagle gliding past.
"The other person must have escaped Azkaban," Andromeda whispered ominously and suddenly, it felt too suffocating and oppressing in the room. "Antonin Dolohov has escaped Azkaban."
riverDraconis: I started this story with an intention of 20 chapters max but...the plot ran by its own and...here we are. Safe to say, the actual number will be miles above 20.
Please leave a review. Let me know what you think of this delicate chapter.