Do It Together

"She used to braid my hair." whispers Andromeda looking over at her husband reading the paper.

"I'm sorry, dear?" asks Ted, not quite sure what his wife is talking about. He looks up to see her direction for him to flip the Prophet over. He does so and shudders.

November 1st, 1981, The Deranged LeStrange: Captured At Last

He had no fond memories of Andromeda's older sister. She was a few years older than them at school and had a fondness for two things, Rodolphus LeStrange, and cruelty towards muggleborns and Hufflepuffs. Being both, Ted had been on the receiving end of her wand quite a few times in the beginning.

'She used to braid my hair.' starts his wife once more, staring at the witch laughing manically on the cover of the prophet as she heads to spend her life in Azkaban. 'and tell me stories. She would sing to Cissy and me, to drown out the sound of our parents fighting. She taught me how to get a boy's attention. and how to keep it. I think she regretted that one, once she found out the boy I was using that advice on was you.' she chuckles to herself.

Ted gets up from his seat and wraps himself around his wife.

'She's been dead to me for so long, that to see her like this... Bella is truly gone. That girl is gone. My sister is gone.' She starts to cry.

Ted didn't know what to do. He hated his wife's pain but could not bring himself to feel an ounce of sympathy for Bellatrix Black, the witch in the paper, or the sister Andromeda once knew. Instead he holds his wife, and lets her mourn, and hopes that Nymphadora doesn't walk into the kitchen any time soon.

Andromeda's sobs start to settle, and her tears start to dry.

'I want to read the article. I want to see what she's done.' Andy tells him. Ted's reflex is to say no. He knows his wife. He knows that she has always regretted leaving Narcissa in that house. (he could not call it a home) Not protecting her. Not forcing her to come with.

She regrets not protecting Bellatrix against their father, who thought that a smart mouth and determination on a witch was good for nothing but driving off acceptable suitors and did everything he could to take that away from her.

He had noticed over the years, that no matter your purity, or your ideals, no one came out of the House of Black unscarred.

'I don't think that's a good idea, Andy' he whispers into her hair, still holding her to his body, as tightly as he can.

'I need to know. I need to see what she's done. What I need to fix. Who I need to help?' She looks at him with those big brown eyes. "that's how you can tell they're sisters" he had heard in school. "they all have the same eyes." he could not disagree with that statement more. All three sisters may have almond shaped eyes as dark as onyx, but Andromeda's held a kindness there that was long gone in the Black sister awaiting trial.

'How about we read it together? However we make up for her, we do it together.' he offers, and Andromeda nods against his chest.

'That'll really piss her off.'