I am not J.K. Rowling or in anyway affiliated with Warner Brothers. I don't own Harry Potter. Shocker, right?

"Hey baby, yer purty," he said in a gruff voice.

"Thank you. Give me your hand," she replied.

"Wow, well that's awful fast but I suppose I'm not gonna do a whole lot better. Where's the nearest chapel?"

"I had not looked around yet."

"Well, you'd better get on that if we're goin' to be married soon." She sighed and leaned forward, grabbing his hand. It was black and crusty from whatever curse had hit it, and she turned it over, studying it. It was the same way on all sides.

"I will keep that in mind."

"My mum, she'll be happy that I've got a girl you know."

"Oh?"

"That's part o' what started the fight you see. You see- what was I sayin'?"

"You were telling me about the fight," she pressed as an older woman slid to her side.

"What's it look like to you?"

"It looks like Wartcap powder but something went wrong. His hand seems to be decaying almost," she replied softly.

"Good," Tori nodded.

"She's gonna marry me," the man told Tori. "She asked fer my hand an' all."

"Ted will be very disappointed."

"Who's dis Ed?"

"Sorry to tell you, but she's happily married with a three month old. Are you quite sure you're ready to take on the responsibility of a baby?" Tori asked him. His eyes widened and he shook his head. "No, I didn't think so. Andromeda, there's a book in my office on the mixing of wartcap powder with different spells. I want you to get it and figure out what's wrong with him. Then I want you to fix it and bring him into the next ward. His brothers are in there."

"On my own?" Andromeda asked in surprise.

"Trust me. You can handle this," Tori assured her. Andromeda nodded and pulled her wand out of her pocket to summon the book to her side. The older Healer, her trainer, Tori, nodded and then swept away from the room as Andromeda began searching through the book.

"Yer married already?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"Yer not wearin' a ring," he accused. She flipped the page with her right hand and tugged on a thin chain around her neck with her left. A small gold ring dangled out in front of her for a moment before she dropped it down below her collar again.

"I don't want to lose it," she told him as she came upon a page with a picture that looked almost exactly like the man's hand. She smiled a little. Tori had been right.

"Yer too young to have a baby though."

"I'm nineteen actually."

"That there's the age my brother was when he had 'is first one."

"Good to know."

"Named 'im after me, 'is son, not my brother."

"That would have been very confusing growing up," Andromeda commented lightly as she picked up his hand by the wrist and pointed her wand at it.

"Yeah!" he said suddenly, sending the bitter scent of alcohol right into her nose. She flinched and nearly dropped his wrist, her wand falling back toward her side as she leaned away. "Yeah it woulda-" he stopped and looked at her. "Na, you can't 'ave had a baby already."

Andromeda pointed her wand at his hand again and changed it from black to its former self. What had looked like decay was only a coloring charm that tended to look bad when combined with wartcap powder. "I assure you I do. Now come on. Your family is waiting for you," she told him, picking up Tori's book and walking out of the ward, checking that he was behind her. Just outside of the room, she yelped, feeling someone pinch her in the butt. She turned and glared.

"Too scrawny to have a baby," the drunk man said.

"You would be wise not to attempt that again," she growled her eyes narrowing at him before flowing into the next ward. Tori gave her an amused look.

"What happened?"

"Billius!" someone scolded, looking at the man who was following behind Andromeda. It was a man, a few years older than the one she had been treating, and he looked annoyed. "What did you go an' do?"

"I jus' gave her a little goosing, dat's all," he argued.

"You don' do that to a healer!"

"She's only in training!" Billius protested.

"Oh, are ya?" he asked now seeming completely un-offended by his younger brother's behavior. A third man sighed.

"I'm terribly sorry about my brothers," he told Andromeda. He was sitting on the edge of a bed, playing with the wedding ring around one of his fingers, his face covered in pink and purple spots, contrasting badly with his red hair.

"Arthur here is the one who didn't devour the eggnog," Tori commented, "but got caught in the crossfire in his brothers' fight."

"I knew there was a reason we should have gone with my wife's family instead," he sighed. "It's only Christmas Eve. I shudder to think what might happen tomorrow."

"Fabian and Gideon? I doubt you would have had much more luck with them," Tori laughed.

"The Prewett brothers?" Andromeda asked. "It would have ended up worse."

"You know them?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"They are Aurors aren't they?" Andromeda pointed out. "They see a lot of this place."

"Ah, which brings me to my point. So have you. It's Christmas Eve. Go home Andromeda," Tori said turning to her.

"I'm supposed to work six to six. It's only eleven."

"I can manage without you. Nothing tonight will be too serious. It's just the results of inner family fights. You have a family at home. Go. Merry Christmas." Andromeda met Tori's eyes, feeling unsure. "I'm not trying to trick you or anything. I know you love it here but you also have a husband you're over the moon about and a baby at home. You don't need to stay here." Andromeda finally smiled.

"Thank you Tori," she said as the one sober brother smiled at her warmly, his eyes seeming a bit far off, lost in his own world. "Good-bye. Happy Christmas." Quickly Andromeda left the room, heading for Tori's office where her cloak was hanging off one of the three chairs in the room. She hurried toward the waiting room as she threw the cloak over her head and apparated into the alley off of the quiet street where her apartment with Ted was. Snow had fallen since she had left for work around five hours ago and it was still falling gently in the street lights as she hurried toward the door of her apartment building. Her feet led her up the stairs, passing a young girl in a dark green dress as she fled down the stairs, her older brother behind her, running late to a church service. She turned and began to walk down the third floor hallway, passing two silent doors and one where laughter and Christmas carols could be heard behind the door. Then she came to her own door and checked the hall before pointing her wand at it to unlock it.

Andromeda dropped her cloak on the kitchen counter and slid into the open living room, smiling a little as she saw a golden-haired man sound asleep on the couch. His right hand was squished between his body and the back of the couch, his left on the back of a baby who was sound asleep on his stomach. Andromeda chuckled a little as she moved forward and gently pulled the pillow out from behind his head, slipping herself into its position, his head resting on her lap. Her fingers played through his hair. He murmured a little and opened his eyes, smiling at her.

"Either I've been asleep a long time or you got off early."

"I got off early," Andromeda told him as he slowly picked up his sleeping daughter from his stomach and sat up on the couch. She reached out and took Nymphadora from him. Still sleeping, the baby nestled against Andromeda's body, her hair sliding from a wispy blondish-brown to Andromeda's chestnut. "Exciting night around here then?" she asked with a slight laugh.

"They were singing some pretty enthusiastic Christmas carols next door," Ted told her as he scooted close to her. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. "So are you the one with the cold feet who keeps climbing into my bed in the early morning?"

"Very funny Ted," she told him as he put his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into him. She did feel like she'd hardly seen him in the past few weeks. She was working mostly nightshifts, six pm to six am, four days a week. He worked nine to five six days a week.

"I've missed you Dromeda," he said with a smile, moving his arm around his shoulder to begin gently tugging at the hair band keeping her hair in a ponytail.

"Things will calm down eventually, right?"

"Not a chance. I like plants too much. You like healing too much." He grinned before he finally managed to release her curly hair and began playing with it as her foot twisted around his ankle by its own accord. He leaned forward and kissed her faintly on the cheek. Andromeda heard a light whine as her daughter began to wake up, her eyes coming open. Ted slipped off the couch and headed for the kitchen. Andromeda got up and followed him as Nymphadora began to cry hungrily. Ted was standing by the stove with a pan, milk, and something that smelled chocolaty. Absently, Ted reached up and grabbed a bottle with formula in it and Andromeda took it from him, switching Nymphadora to just one arm and filling the bottle with the tap. Then she gave it a flick with her wand to screw the top on and heat it up a little before giving it to her hungry daughter. She walked out of the kitchen towards the window at the end of the living room. She stared out at the muggle street, the snow still falling softly. A moment later she heard two clinks on the small end table before she felt a pair of arms slip around her waist. She sighed lightly and leaned back against Ted's warm, familiar body.

"Happy Christmas Ted."

"Happy Christmas."

Well, end of the two-shot, the Andromeda/Ted part. Hope you have a happy holiday!