Take My Hand

AN: So much for consistency. I can blame my exams, and the chaos of Christmas and New Years and my birthday, but I'm still lazy. Forgive me. This one has a mix of happiness and angst. (Up in the last week before I start my final year of high school... :shudder:)

Metamorph - May 1975

Magic, I've decided, can show it's self when you least expect it.

Things have been a bit... fragile recently. Andy, with that oh-so-stubborn streak , won't admit just how much of a toll everything has taken on her.

She's pretending that everything's fine, and I hate it. It's not fine. We just lost a baby for Merlin's sake!

Even Nym's picked up that something's off. She's very perceptive for a three-year-old. We hadn't told her about the baby yet... probably a good thing. She'd begun to ask for a sibling recently; it'd would have been cruel to build her hopes up only to have to take it back.

No, nature was cruel to Andy and I in that regard, but we'll try to insulate our daughter from what pain we can.

First thing I knew about it was Chrissy—Andy's mentor—flooing me at work telling me to get to St. Mungo's, pronto. Then finding Andy stuck in a bed in near hysterics. I've never seen her that bad before. Not when her sisters hexed her after finding out about us. Not when Nym broke her arm falling out of the tree in our garden last summer.

All I could do was hold her as she cried. And cry with her.

After a week or so, Andy seemed to return to normal. But she wasn't; just hiding behind that mask that she learnt oh-so-well from her family. Detaching herself so she can't feel the pain.

Nothing I tried to break through worked. Nym was the one who managed that. Unintentionally, but it worked.

"Mummy," she'd started off as we both tucked her into bed, "Why are you and Daddy so sad?" she asked innocently.

I could see the tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "Because..." Andy's voice shook slightly.

I wrapped my arms around her, and she half-buried her face into my chest. "Because Mummy and I lost something... very important... and it hurts," I told her softly.

"Can you find it? I'll help you look."

I smiled sadly. "No, sweetie, we won't be able to find it again."

She looked at me, surprisingly seriously for a three-year-old, and nodded slowly. I blinked suddenly. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. Nym's eyes are hazel...

"Nym, what did you do to you're eyes?" I asked, somewhat sternly. Andy's forehead creased as she scrutinised our daughter's eyes. They had somehow gone from hazel, to a pale violet colour.

"I don't know... I was just wishing that I had eyes the same colour as Mummy's favourite colour, maybe that would make her feel better..." she trailed off uncertainly. "Why?"

"Because," Andy's voice sounded a bit strangled, "they are that colour, sweetheart."

"How?"

"I don't know, sweetie," I told her. Andy however, has a thoughtful look on her face.

"Nym, can you changed them back? Just think of them how they normally are," she encouraged her.

A line appeared on Nym's little forehead as she concentrated, blinking a few times until the violet seemed to drain away.

"Am I in trouble?" Nym's bottom lip trembled slightly as she took in our shocked faces.

"No," both Andy and I reassured her quickly.

"Just go to sleep, sweetie," Andy told her. "We'll talk in the morning," She bent down to hug her. "I love you so much, Nymphadora," she breathed.

"I love you, too, Mummy."

"Don't I get a hug?" I affected a hurt look. Andy smiled.

"I don't know, should we let him join our hug, Nym?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed with that wide grin of hers. I hope she always has that grin.

So I joined in the hug, and at the same time thanked Merlin for my wife and daughter. Especially for Nym's innocence and honesty right now. She doesn't realise just how much she's help Andy to start to think about closing the emotional wounds of the last few weeks. For both of us.

AN: ...And that is my theory on why Nym's an only child. A miscarriage can put people off. Especially when they already have at least one child. But what did you think? Please review. They are love. As always concrit is welcomed with open arms.

Also, I probably won't be updating regularly at all this year. It's crunch time at school. Year 12. But at least this time next year, I'll be free! (well, about to go to uni, but still, more freedom than school)