Andromeda remembers the Saturday afternoons she'd spend with Ted and Nymphadora. Her daughter, a young, scabby girl of nine, would rush ahead of her parents on the road to Hogsmeade, where the family would shop and eat lunch together. Ted would reach over and squeeze his 'Dromeda's hand, and with a charmed smile, he'd point out their little girl tripping clumsily. Andromeda would pretend to be cross with him and then hurry over to help Nymphadora up. Ted would then follow suit, and the trio would walk hand in hand towards the village.
She'd tell her girl stories when they were at Hogsmeade. There were real stories about Andromeda's life, Nymphadora's favorite being the one where her mother 'fell in love with Daddy'. There were make-believe ones, about evil, ugly stepsisters. What Dora never discovered was that these ones were parallel to actual tales of her aunts – Andromeda's two sisters.
She found herself remembering these carefree, peaceful days when Ted ran away – he purposely never told her where and why, but he should have known that his wife was smarter than that – and Nymphadora was off with Remus protecting the Weasleys, even when she was carrying a baby. The two people Andromeda loved most were in the possibility of danger every second of the day. What could she do to protect them, to keep them close like she had been doing for the past twenty-five years?
Then news of her husband's death comes. Her world is an array of confusion and loss. Dora has Teddy soon after, and there is some light again. Having a baby in her midst was like reliving Nymphadora's first few weeks in the world.
Then the worst comes like a full blow to the head. There is a battle, the one that ends it all, at Hogwarts. But she can't be triumphant over it. Nymphadora, her last connection to Ted, and Remus Lupin, her husband, are dead.
She raises her grandson from then on. But Andromeda is not the storytelling woman she was with Dora. Teddy cannot know of these people – his grandfather, his great-aunts. He will question more of their deaths, and he will be exposed to the true horror of the War.
Andromeda won't harm his idyllic childhood dreams. But by doing this, she is losing it. She has lost the legacy Dora and Ted would have spread for her. No one else knew the raw truth. It is gone.
A/N: Please review!