On the morning of January 1st, Nymphadora burst into Ronan's room and shouted, "Happy Birthday, Ronan!" while pouncing on the sleeping boy.
"Dora! Get off," he groaned, trying to push her away with his feet. "Stop!"
"You're my age now!" Dora sang to him. "And Happy New Year—I still think your grandfather was mean to not let us stay up together."
"Dora, no," Ronan said, throwing his arm over his eyes. "Go away."
She jumped on top of him with a giggle and said, "Wake up, Ro. I'm sure your parents will be back soon with your gifts." She began to tickle him, and he yelled and threw her off of him so she nearly fell off the bed.
He grabbed her by the arm, Dora shrieking with laughter as he tried to pin her down and tickle her. The two were wrestling and laughing until they heard a short knock on the door, both freezing for a second before scrambling upright and straightening everything they could before Ronan called for whoever it was to enter.
Desmond Lestrange stood in the doorway of his grandson's room, looking very old, and for once, not seeming to mind Dora's presence in the boy's room. "I want both of you to go wash up, eat some breakfast, and come straight to the study," he ordered. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, Grandfather," Ronan said immediately. "Are we in trouble?"
Desmond shook his head without speaking, and the two children shared a look of concern. "Hurry up," Desmond said, then turned and left them alone.
"What did you do?" Ronan hissed at Dora, scrambling out of bed. "Why does he want to talk to us?"
"I didn't do anything," Dora smirked, striding to the door. "I'll race you to breakfast."
The two washed up and hurried to breakfast, eating quickly as they tried to think of the reason that Desmond might be annoyed with them this time. Ronan was convinced that he was in trouble, but Dora didn't think it was anything to do with them. "We've probably got another New Years' party to attend," Dora shrugged. "He's probably got to tell us about it because your parents are still out in Albania or wherever they went a few days ago."
Ronan shook his head and pushed his plate away from him. "Let's go," he said. "Come on."
"What are you going to ask to do for your birthday?" Dora wanted to know as they walked toward the study. "Your father said you could do anything you wanted."
"I don't know," Ronan muttered. "I'll think of something later."
"You didn't do anything," Dora huffed, "so stop worrying."
Ronan didn't reply, lifting his fist and knocking on the door cautiously. "Enter!" came the command, and both children entered the room, Dora feeling very out of place, as she had only ever been in the study when Bellatrix had been there with her. "Sit down," Desmond told them, motioning to two comfortable chairs across the desk from him.
Dora and Ronan obeyed, and the man took a deep breath, lifting a piece of paper from the desk. "There is no easy way to tell you," he said to them. "Ronan, your father, mother, and uncle have been arrested."
"What?!" Ronan gasped, staring in horror. "No! Why?"
"No!" Dora had cried at the same time. "No!"
"They tortured a young couple into insanity and were followed and arrested in Albania, where they were supposedly trying to find the Dark Lord," Desmond said heavily. "Ronan—"
But the young boy had doubled up his fists and cried, "I knew Mother was going to get herself in trouble! Why couldn't she just behave and stay home with us?"
Dora's face had gone pale, and she was trembling, trying to understand what was happening. "They're going to Azkaban?" she asked. "Like Sirius?"
"There will be a trial, but yes, Nymphadora," Desmond sighed, and got to his feet. "Come here, Ronan."
"Mum and Dad can't just be gone," Ronan cried as Desmond drew the boy into his side. "They can't be." He buried his face in the man's robe and began to cry helplessly.
Dora was frozen in her chair, sad for herself and Ronan and scared about what was going to happen to them. She didn't know what to say or do, and she felt very much as if she did not belong in the room with the two Lestranges. "May I go?" she whispered, and when Desmond waved her away, she left the room quickly.
It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be true that Aunt Bella and Uncle Rodolphus had been arrested and were going to Azkaban. Dora knew they did terrible things, and she wasn't surprised to hear that they had tortured even more people, but she couldn't believe that her aunt and uncle had actually been caught.
Dora was afraid of what was going to happen to her, because no adult from the Lestrange family had actually cared about her except Bella, and now Dora was scared for herself and Ronan. She had never seen him so sad, scared, and angry, and she wanted to help him, but she knew that she couldn't make him feel better. She had never seen him cry in the entire four years she had lived with his family.
She wanted to go wait for Ronan in his room, but she was afraid of what Desmond would say if he found her waiting there, so she went to her own room. Arrested, she thought, imagining the Ministry Aurors with her aunt and uncle in chains. It wasn't fair to the ones that had children: children needed their parents. Dora knew that from personal experience.
A long while later, Dora went to check on Ronan, but he did not answer the door, and she entered the room anyway. The boy was lying on his bed, still crying, his hair as wild as his mother's.
Dora hurried to him, curling up next to her cousin. Ronan turned and clung to her, hiding his face in her dress. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"They're never coming home," the boy cried. "I'll never have a mum and dad again, and Grandfather says that I've got to learn more so I can be the Head of the family because Dad—" the boy sobbed "he can't teach me, and Grandfather's old—Dora, I don't want to be here! I don't want to do this anymore!"
"I'm sorry, Ro," Dora sniffed. "I know it hurts. Your magic is messed up, too."
"Grandfather did it," Ronan said angrily, sitting straight up so that his magic crackled even more dangerously. "He gave me the power to do anything to the manor that I want—he said Father wouldn't be able to pass it down, so he had to." The boy clenched his fists as a rage worthy of his mother came over him. "I ought to burn it down," he hissed savagely. "That would show him." He suddenly looked straight at Dora. "I could let you go home to your mum and dad."
Dora looked surprised, then shook her head. "You need me more than they do," she said firmly. "Besides, I couldn't get home by myself."
Ronan shook his head too, rocking back and forth as words just spilled out of his mouth. "You shouldn't be here—I'm sure Mum only wanted you for her Dark Lord because you're powerful."
"Ronan, don't say that!" Dora gasped.
"It's true!" Ronan cried, looking at the girl in despair. "Why do you think only you were taken? Mum only loved the Dark Lord, Dora—everything she did was for him. You saw what happened when she lost him." He shook his head miserably. "We need to figure out how to get you back to your parents," he said. "At least they love you."
"Ronan!" cried Dora, succeeding in grabbing him so he couldn't move away from her. "I'm staying with you, no matter what. I want to help."
"You can't help," Ronan snapped, trying to push her away, but she refused to let go. "Dora, stop!"
"I'm not going anywhere," she said stubbornly. "You can't make me. I'm staying with you. My family has lots of children: they don't need me. You need me."
Ronan met her eyes, his wild with fear and anger. "I'm scared," he barely whispered.
She squeezed his hand tightly. "I know," she answered softly. "But we'll be okay." She carefully slipping her arm around his shoulders and began to help him calm his magic.
"How do you do that?" he shivered.
"Aunt Bella showed me," she mumbled. "Whenever I was upset, she'd help me keep control of my magic by doing that. I don't really know what I'm doing."
Ronan leaned into her, still upset though he closed his eyes and tried to quiet his crackling magic. He wasn't exactly sure what he had done, but in a moment or two, there was a loud crackle of magic and Dora gasped, clapping a hand to her chest. "Dora," he breathed. "Are you okay? What happened?"
A door slammed somewhere in the manor, and Ronan looked terrified. "I don't even know what I did!" he said in a panic. "Dora—!"
"I'm okay," Dora answered. "It just surprised me."
They heard hurried footsteps, and Ronan shot Dora a look of fear. She jumped up, instantly morphing until she looked like a mini Bellatrix as she stood next to the bed.
Desmond Lestrange burst into the room without knocking, glaring around the room until he laid eyes on Nymphadora. "Get out," he snapped at her.
"Leave him alone," Dora snapped back.
"You'll not tell me what to do with my grandson, little girl," Desmond said coldly, drawing his wand. "Get out."
"Dora," Ronan breathed in a slightly high-pitched voice, obviously wanting her to leave.
"Don't hurt him," Dora pleaded. "He's really upset—" She shrieked as the man shocked her with some kind of spell.
Ronan cried out for her to just leave, and she fled the room, now almost as frightened as her cousin. The boy faced his grandfather, shaking as the man glared at him. "Why did you do that?" Desmond demanded of his grandson.
"Do what?" the boy whispered. "I don't know what happened. She was just trying to make me stop crackling."
"You have given her access to everything that I just gave to you," Desmond said in fury. "You have no idea what you just did!"
"I told you I didn't want it!" Ronan yelled at the man, anger boiling up inside him. He didn't understand what was going on and he didn't like any of it. "I don't want to be here, and I don't want to lead the family, and—" A scream escaped him as his grandfather shocked him a little more strongly than he had done to Dora.
"You'll have to revoke it," Desmond said sternly to the boy, who shook his head, panting at the residual tingling sensation in his body. "You will!"
"You can't make me!" Ronan shouted in rage, the stubbornness of both his parents rising inside him. "I don't know how, and I don't want to!"
Desmond Lestrange eyed his grandson for a moment, weighing his chances of convincing the boy before saying, "Very well, Ronan. Have it your way." And the man walked to the door and placed a ward on it. "Dora will not be allowed in here anymore." He left the room without another word.
Ronan lay there in his bed, tears falling down his cheeks as he grieved for his parents, an ache in his bones from the spells his grandfather had done. He was far more afraid of his grandfather than of his own parents, and he was concerned about what the man would do to Dora if she didn't obey him. But there wasn't much he could do to help Dora because she wouldn't listen to him and just go home.
Andromeda was not surprised when the news of the Lestranges' arrest came to them, nor that Charlie shouted in glee and demanded to know when Dora was going to come home. She didn't know how to respond, but Arthur glanced between her and Charlie. "The trial is on the third, tomorrow," Arthur said. "I can get the day off if you would like to attend."
"I want to go," said Charlie immediately.
"So do I," Will said firmly.
"And me," added Percy.
Arthur shook his head at Percy. "Five years old is too young to attend a trial, Percy," he said firmly.
Andromeda was glad of Arthur's support of the matter, and as she thanked him later that evening, he told her his reasons. "I think Charlie needs to see justice done," he said. "And Will is nine years old and understands what has happened. They should go with you."
She agreed to this, caring for Elsie before choosing her dress for the next day and going to Will and Charlie's room to choose their clothes in advance as well. The boys seemed very excited and uninclined to sleep as their mother tucked each of them into bed.
"Tomorrow," Andromeda said to them quietly, "you must keep quiet and stay right with me, no matter what." The boys agreed and she continued, "Dora might be there with your cousin and his grandfather, but you must stay with me."
"Why does Bellatrix get a trial when Sirius didn't?" asked Will.
"I don't know," Andromeda answered with a sigh. "Maybe we'll find out tomorrow."
The boys agreed eagerly, and early the next morning, their mother woke them up to get ready to leave. They scrambled to prepare and met their mother downstairs, where she handed off Elsie to their father and dragged a comb through their hair.
"Obey your mother, boys," Arthur told them firmly but gently. "Stay right with her." They agreed and followed their mother from the house.
Andromeda was dressed in her most fancy black dress, one that she had not worn for years and was very pleased to find that she could still wear it. Even Arthur had grinned when he had seen how she looked, and had kissed her and told her she was "dressed to kill." She had giggled at this compliment, fixed her lipstick, and proceeded to leave for the Ministry with her sons.
The boys were impressed with their mother's appearance, and Will had earned himself a pinch of the cheek when he'd told her she might get arrested if she looked too dangerous. Both Will and Charlie were grinning as they walked with their mother from the apparition points toward the lifts that would take them down to the courtrooms.
Andromeda was receiving frightened looks, though also questioning looks from those who didn't know who the two gingers beside her were. Her sons smirked ever so slightly as someone they didn't know held one of the lift doors for her and them.
"Quite the new year, isn't it," the man said to Andromeda.
She raised an eyebrow. "It is indeed," she replied coolly, and he didn't attempt to speak to her any further, though as she and her sons continued down into the depths of the Ministry, she was slightly surprised to be joined by her other brother-in-law.
"Andromeda," said the smooth voice of Lucius Malfoy as he joined them in the lift. "What brings you to the Ministry today?"
"Family business," she replied, a smirk playing about her lips.
"Ah," Lucius mused. "Your father is not here as of yet, though we know he enjoys a fashionably late arrival."
"Is he bothering to show up for Bella to be locked up?" Andromeda nearly laughed. "Or is it some other business that just happens to be today?"
Lucius smiled. "I do not claim to know Cygnus Black that well," he said softly.
"No," Andromeda mused. "So how is your son, Lucius? Has he done first magic?"
"Draco did his first magic months ago," Lucius said proudly. "He'll be quite the wizard one day, just wait and see."
Charlie and Will glanced at each other and looked away immediately, both amused to see this side of Lucius Malfoy. Their mother was also amused, but hid it more easily. "Well, I'm glad to see you enjoying fatherhood," Andromeda mused. "From what I've heard, you don't seem to think much of such things."
Lucius frowned for a split second, and Andromeda knew he was wondering whether she'd heard about his thoughts on fatherhood from Arthur, or Narcissa. "Now, Andromeda," he said, "we all have our duties, as I'm sure you've heard."
"I've heard nothing of the sort since Father gave me away," Andromeda answered, delighted at the thought. "Not all of us neglect such duties and must be reminded."
"Not all of us are so careless as to misplace a child," Lucius replied stingingly.
"Not all of us," Charlie spoke up boldly, "are so arrogant as to believe the child was misplaced."
Lucius raised an eyebrow at the boy and said softly, "And I thought it was a rumour that your mother sent your twin away. Oh dear."
Charlie was infuriated, but his mother placed a hand on his shoulder, reminding him to be still as the lift doors opened and Lucius began to walk away. Andromeda put her hand into her pocket and flicked her wand ever so slightly, a catty smirk on her face. As the boys watched, the ribbon in Lucius' sleek blonde hair came undone and flew to Andromeda's left hand, disappearing into her sleeve.
His hair fell out of the perfect drawn-back look it had had, and the man froze for a millisecond before he continued to walk away from them as Andromeda giggled to herself silently, her sons chuckling in delight at their mother's mischief.
The doors closed and the lift sank even lower, Andromeda shivering slightly, her sons moving closer to her. "Be very careful what you say," she warned them. "Stay close to me." Andromeda led them forward, moving toward the courtroom that Arthur had told her would have the trial. She walked to the door and was stopped by a pair of Aurors at the Entrance.
"I'm here to witness the trial of my sister and her family," Andromeda answered when asked to state her purpose. They were escorted into the courtroom and told where to go, Will and Charlie becoming very solemn as they saw old wizards and witches speaking together tensely in low voices.
"Either row," the Auror told her before walking her away and leaving her to choose.
From the first row, Cygnus Black looked up at her appraisingly, and from the second row, Desmond, Dora, and Ronan sat, the two children holding hands. Andromeda gave her father a slight smirk, raising an eyebrow to ask if he would be opposed, and he made the same motion. She walked forward and took the seat next to him, making sure her son sat right next to her.
"Have you left the rest of your little ones all alone?" Cygnus said in amusement. "Now that you have no little friend to send them to?"
"Dear me, no," Andromeda scoffed. "I can't leave the other twins alone together—they'd destroy the house. Arthur is with them."
"Ah," said the man in amusement. "The destructive type. And which of your sons are these, Andromeda?"
"My oldest, Will," Andromeda answered, "and the second oldest, Charlie."
"Nymphadora's twin?" Cygnus mused, looking the boy over. "I heard he assisted in the defense of St Mungo's a few months ago."
Andromeda merely smiled. "As much as a young boy can," she answered. "But how have you been, Father?"
Cygnus seemed to smile slightly, but replied, "Don't pretend you care, Andromeda."
"Oh yes, pardon me for not checking in on the one who said he was going to give me to someone that would hurt me even worse than you would," Andromeda scoffed. "Shall I make you a card, Father?"
The brothers gave each other looks of slight concern, and Cygnus waved away the suggestion. "No need," he said. "I learned many years ago how exactly ungrateful my daughters are."
"Well, if you insist," Andromeda answered, smiling pleasantly and turning her gaze to the floor of the courtroom. There were four chairs equipped with chains standing ready for the prisoners—though Andromeda was sure that there were only supposed to be three: Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and his brother Rabastan.
She didn't say much of anything else, but when the trial was brought to order and the prisoners were escorted into the room by the dementors, she was shocked at the identity of the fourth prisoner.
"Father," the young man cried in terror, look up at Barty Crouch Sr imploringly. "Father, I didn't—I wasn't—"
But older Crouch ignored his own son, and Andromeda realised for the first time who the woman sitting next to him and weeping quietly was. Will and Charlie scooted closer together as they watched, wide-eyed, as Crouch Sr read out the accusations, having to raise his voice to be heard over the hysterical pleadings of his son.
Bellatrix sat proudly on her chair, looking around the room with an air of carelessness, though when her eyes fell on the remnants of her family, her eyes narrowed, and some of the crowd followed her gaze. Andromeda heard her daughter give a little gasp, but then Bellatrix looked directly at her, piercing, questioning, and Andromeda didn't look away, not judging, not laughing, simply just existing.
"I now ask the jury to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!" Crouch shouted over the screams of his son and sobs of his wife.
Every single hand of the jury was raised, and everyone in the crowd except for Andromeda's family, Cygnus, and Desmond's little family were applauding wildly in favour of locking away the four prisoners. Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers got to their feet as the dementors glided back into the room, and Bellatrix looked up and addressed Crouch directly.
"The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us; he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!"
The crowd greeted this statement with disdain, but as Bellatrix turned to leave the courtroom, Andromeda distinctly heard Nymphadora echo, "We will wait. It'll be okay, Ronan."
"Nymphadora," Desmond hissed at her, barely moving his lips, and Charlie looked around to see his twin give the man the same defiant look Bellatrix had just given Crouch.
"You're no son of mine!" Crouch was yelling at the boy who was attempting to fight the dementors. "I have no son!"
Will turned away from it and looked at his mother. "Can we go?" he asked, looking as if he would be sick.
Andromeda got to her feet, and as she pulled her sons to her side to keep them out of the crowd, Desmond swept past with Ronan, Dora lagging behind as she seemed to want to stay and watch. The moment Dora locked eyes with her birth mother, she seemed a little frightened, and all Andromeda could think of to say to the girl was, "We will wait, Dora." Then Ronan grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her off after them.
Will took his mother by the hand and gave her an insistent little tug, and she realised that for whatever reason, he very very much wanted to leave immediately. Andromeda took her sons by the hands and kept them with her as she made her way to one of the lifts, and they began to rattle upward again toward the Atrium. "Are you okay?" she asked him gently.
Charlie glanced at his brother, who seemed to be struggling to come up with words. "Crouch sent his own son to Azkaban," Will said, seeming upset about this. "Do you think he really was innocent? Like Sirius?"
"I don't know, Will," Andromeda sighed softly. "Crouch doesn't want anyone to think that he supports the Death Eaters, and so he sent his son to Azkaban."
"Was he a Death Eater?" Charlie asked. "He looked like a kid."
Andromeda smiled sadly. "He is very young, less than twenty years old, I think."
Will shook his head. "It's really sad," he muttered. "His whole life, in prison."
"I know, it's sad," Andromeda murmured. "That's why it's very important to make good decisions when you're young. You don't want to end up ruining your life."
"What about Bellatrix?" Charlie asked his mother. "You didn't want her to go to Azkaban, and she's evil."
Andromeda became very aware of everyone else in the lift at that moment, and she said, "Bellatrix has probably done lots of mean and evil things, but she's my family, my sister, and I wish she didn't have to go."
Charlie shook his head, and Andromeda knew he was wondering why she didn't hate Bellatrix for taking Nymphadora. "I grew up with her," Andromeda said softly. "I know why she's mean, Charlie. Bad things happen to her when she was a little girl."
"Is Dora going to be like that?" Charlie asked worriedly.
"No," Will said sharply.
"I hope not," Andromeda answered, leading her sons quickly out of the lift and to one of the apparition points. "Hold tight," she told them, and disapparated home with her sons.
The boys didn't run into the house like she thought they would, but stayed right with her. Arthur met them at the door, looking from his sons to their mother and asking, "Was it that bad?"
"We sat right next to my father," Andromeda sighed. "And Desmond, Ronan, and Dora were right behind us. The dementors were very focused on their prisoners, so I think we missed their full effects."
"Chocolate, then?" Arthur asked, and as Andromeda was confused, he added, "Chocolate helps repel the cold caused by dementors."
"Oh, just a little, then," Andromeda said, sitting down on the couch as Silas and Regis ran up to her, laughing and talking about something they had done that their dad had had to fix.
"Will, come here," his mother said, and he obeyed, curling into her side. "I'm sorry you were so shocked by that young man."
"What happened?" Arthur asked, handing out chocolate to the three—and then to Percy, the twins, and Tommy.
Andromeda took a bite of chocolate and sighed, leaning back into the couch and slipping her arm around Will. "Barty Crouch Jr was sentenced to life in Azkaban at the same time," she answered. "He's just barely out of Hogwarts, and Will was shocked to see such a young man going to prison."
"Barty Crouch Jr," Arthur sighed. "So he was a Death Eater?"
"Well, I didn't check his arm, but apparently his father believed he was," Andromeda replied. "Disowned him before the whole Wizengamot, poor boy. I do find it hard to believe that he was part of the Longbottoms' torture, though. I was in the Longbottoms' house just hours after it happened, and there was no trace of the boy's magic in the living room, where most of the fighting occurred. Perhaps he was a Death Eater, but I think it's unrealistic to say that he was there and none of his spells missed their marks and left traces on the walls or furniture. If even Rod and Bella's spells had missed, the boy surely had no chance. The evidence against them wasn't announced to the visitors."
"So you think he was innocent?" Charlie said in surprise. "I thought Rodolphus looked annoyed when the boy was screaming for his mother to help him."
"Well I'd be annoyed too if I were going to Azkaban and the person I'd been arrested with was trying to get off," Arthur said.
"They were arrested together?" Andromeda asked her husband. "Where did you hear that?"
"He was found in Albania with Bellatrix and the brothers," Arthur answered. "I guess I forgot to mention it when I first told you that they had been arrested."
"That makes sense," Andromeda breathed. "They must have picked him up and taken him with them, or he met them in Albania. Crouch said they were looking for the Dark Lord."
"Looking for—" Arthur said indignantly. "Andromeda, we all had heard the rumour that You-Know-Who had gone to Albania. It wasn't some secret that Frank and Alice were keeping."
"No," muttered Charlie, "I think Bella just wanted to hurt someone because she was sad."
"You are exactly right, Charlie," Andromeda told him. "That's what she does."
"She must be really sad," Will said darkly. "Mum, I'm going to sit outside for a while, okay?"
"Okay," Andromeda said softly, patting his shoulder as he got to his feet.
Charlie got to his feet. "Me too," he sighed.
Andromeda nodded at them and told them to put on the cloaks, then looked up at her husband as the boys went out the back door. "How was it really?" he asked her.
"Bellatrix defied Crouch and told him the Dark Lord would eventually return," Andromeda smiled. "But other than that, it was very quick. Crouch's son did a lot of yelling and begging, and in the end his mother fainted, but it went rather well. I think the rest of the Death Eaters are too afraid to try anything—and I think Bellatrix and the boys were indeed the Dark Lord's most loyal followers."
"She thinks he'll return?" Arthur frowned. "Why?"
"I don't know," Andromeda answered. "But as much as she was—is—obsessed with him, I expect her to know whether he's really gone or not. Everyone who's heard the Albania rumour ought to know the Dark Lord isn't really gone. I believe that Bellatrix is right: her master will return, and then she will return to him."
Arthur sat down, reaching out and stroking Andromeda's hair out of her face. "It worries me that I still don't know what side you're on," he said quietly.
Andromeda met his gaze calmly. "I'm no Death Eater, Arthur, but I'm no Light witch, either," she told him.
"You wouldn't stand with me if it came down to it, would you?" he said matter-of-factly. "I think I'm glad the war's over."
She bit her lip slightly. "It's my job to take care of the children, Arthur. Everyone knows you have some unusual hobbies and interests, but I never speak ill of you to anyone."
He watched her for a moment longer, then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and kissing her lips. "You'll never change," he said. "You'll always be Andromeda Black, and that doesn't bother me, but it worries me."
"I wouldn't betray you," she told him earnestly, her arms around him as she willed him to understand.
"It bothers me that you didn't mourn the loss of your friend when she as good as died," Arthur told her quietly. "Did you know your sister would target her? Is that why you said no?"
"No, I just knew I couldn't keep them safe," Andromeda answered, feeling attacked. "Arthur, are you accusing me of trying to harm my best friend?"
Arthur sighed. "I don't know what I'm saying," he muttered.
"I know you don't believe Sirius was innocent," Andromeda began with a spark of anger, "and Bellatrix definitely isn't, but I would never purposely put my friends or my family in harm's way, Mr. Weasley."
"Dromeda," he began, but she disentangled herself from him and moved a few inches away on the couch. "I thought I was getting to know you, and then it turned out that I didn't know you very well at all."
"I will always surprise you," Andromeda said to him. "You're not my responsibility, Arthur: you're an adult."
"You would always protect the children, though?" Arthur asked intently, though he seemed hurt by her words.
"They're my flesh and blood," Andromeda replied. "Of course I would. What kind of mother do you think I am?"
"I just meant—never mind." Arthur looked across the living room to where Elsie was napping in her cot.
"Just because I don't show sadness doesn't mean I'm not sad," Andromeda told Arthur. "My sister has just permanently incapacitated my best friend, and I'm trying to hold myself together for the children's sake."
"Of course," Arthur murmured, unable to look at his wife. "Dromeda, I shouldn't have brought this up today. I'm sorry."
Andromeda didn't move, her hands folded in her lap. "My duty is to raise the children," she said. "Not protect you from your decisions. I won't teach the children to disagree with you, but I'm not raising my six sons to sign up for Dumbledore's army. I want them to think for themselves."
Arthur agreed, still not looking up. "They will," he said. "I just worry that they might make bad decisions and end up like those you saw today."
"Whatever they choose, I expect them to go after it with everything they have in them," Andromeda said quietly. "No matter what opinions or sides they take or choices they make. All of them will always be my sons and daughters, no matter where they go, what they do, or what they become. And I will never be ashamed of my family. Not even of you."
"Not even me?" Arthur said with a weak smile.
"You don't make excuses for yourself, and neither do I," Andromeda said, "but like I told you, I will never speak badly of you to others. You are my husband, and that is part of my duty to you and the family."
"It's not a chore," Arthur sighed.
"It's a choice," Andromeda said. "And I accepted that years ago. I will always honour you, Arthur, even though I don't agree with all your ideas. You're a very kind, considerate man and husband, and I really appreciate that."
He reached out, and her eyes narrowed, but he merely took her by the hand. "I think you'll always scare me," he said, "but you're a good wife and mother. I know you've been through a lot, and you're going through a lot right now, but you're a strong, stubborn witch and I know you'll be all right. I'm here for you if you need me."
She nodded and pulled her hand away, knowing he was still hurt, but unable to reach out to him at the moment. She wanted to be alone. Getting to her feet, Andromeda said, "I'm going to take a bath. I'd like a little while alone."
"Of course," he murmured. "I'm sorry that I upset you, Andromeda."
She walked away from him and headed up the stairs, feeling real tears prickle at the back of her eyelids. Andromeda hurried to find her things for the bath and get herself hidden away all alone before the floodgates burst and she cried for the first time since before Sirius had been arrested. Andromeda did not know what to do.