"Alohomora" she exclaimed quietly; aiming her wand at the lock on the front door. As it creaked open Andromeda had the strangest feeling that number twelve, Grimmauld Place wasn't unoccupied.

"Why don't you just throw sparks in the air and get us spotted more easily, Tonks" Alastor whispered angrily; "Keep the magic to a minimum and the voice just as quiet!"

"I was doing!" she protested indignantly; "and don't call me Tonks!"

"Actually it suits you" piped up Sirius from behind them; Andromeda crept into the house holding back a retort but smiling all the same. She still wasn't happy that Frank had sent Moody with her for backup; she would have preferred anyone else but last night Ted had told her she was patrolling with the best.

"There isn't a single auror at the Minister more sharp-eyed and on-the-ball than Alastor; you'll be fine, 'Dromeda" he had said. She had convinced him to stay home from the Minister today, claiming an illness; so that he and Nymphadora would be safe.

The house of her aunt and uncle was as dark and dreary as she remembered it, but the look on Sirius' face told her that it had become more desolate and unkempt since he had run away a few months ago. The furniture was mostly black leather; the walls either charcoal-grey or mouldy-green; it's as if Salazar Slytherin threw up all over the walls she thought bitterly to herself.

"Should we split-" Sirius began.

"Quiet boy! Do you want those dirty betraying rotten . . . parents . . . of yours to know we're here? You'll blow this entire operation!" Alastor snapped.

"Mr Moody, this isn't a military operation-"

"Hush, Tonks!"

"Don't call me tha-"

"We should split up". Sirius, angry at the fact his tactic had been stolen, chose to search the upper floors where Andromeda knew his bedroom and his memories were. Moody uttered something about searching the paintings for spies and Andromeda decided to search the kitchen.

What struck her first was how non-homely her uncle's home really was; the racked wooden tables and cabinets didn't really scream family-living when combined with the lack of food and people. The second thing which struck her was a feeble voice crying from inside one of the lower cupboards. She pulled back a makeshift curtain to find one of the many unloved faces of her terrible childhood.

"Kreacher!" The house-elf looked at her with a mixture of shock and disgust as if she had no right to enter the dump which was his living quarters. His face was much more wrinkled than it was the last time she had visited Grimmauld place; back when she was just a child and still considered a member of the family; his loincloth was as ragged and dirty as ever.

"Why are you crying?" she asked in a neutral tone; just like she human members of the Black family she had no pity or sympathy for someone who had willingly chosen to cast her out.

"Kreacher does not answer to blood traitors" he spat.

"Answer me! Have they hurt you? Was it Orion? Walburga? Regulus?" but at the last name he burst into another uncontrollable fit of tears which sounded so monstrous it was almost unreal; "so it was Regulus who hurt you?"

"Master Regulus would never hurt Kreacher! Master Regulus cared for Kreacher and sacrificed himself for Kreacher!"

"What did you say?"

"I- I- filthy blood traitor!" he threw an old porcelain mug at Andromeda before running under her legs and around the kitchen table. She chased after him with her wand at the ready, but he was too quick and desperate to be caught.

"Impedimenta!" bellowed Moody from the rear entrance to the kitchen; sending Kreacher into a frozen stupor that held him firmly in place. "You need more training, Tonks" he said to her from across the room; like a teacher to a pupil.

"Firstly I was doing fine on my own, secondly my name is not Tonks, and thirdly it's too late for me to be an auror so there's no training needed". Despite her skills at duelling, the memory of the greenhouses and Nelly had always been a clear warning that she should stay away from such a violent profession, yet here I am she thought scornfully.

"It's never too late, Tonks" she knew he was using the name because she disapproved of it so much, "every auror needs a protégé".

"Wait a few years and I'll give you my daughter" she smiled jokingly.

"Excellent; Nymphadora'll make a fine addition!"

"I was just jok-"

"Come along, Tonks. Time to question the elf!" She had given up trying to reason with him; she had even stooped low enough to try and pull a face behind his back but she knew that that eye of his was swivelling in her direction.

"I know I don't know you very well, Alastor, so I'm sorry if this is somewhat a personal question-"

"How did I get my eye?"

"Well, yes". She felt awkward and tense now, but instead of releasing Kreacher he pulled up two of the scarred wooden chairs and sat down in one of them; gesturing for her to do the same.

"A few years ago I was on holiday in Bulgaria, with my family" he started.

"Your family?"

"Yes; my wife and our two children. I was off duty when it happened; the Death Eater Igor Karkaroff set two of his minions on them when I was out one day, I found out later that my son escaped but the others were not so lucky".

"I had no idea".

I ran after the wizards who killed my wife and daughter but instead of catching them I ran into Igor Karkaroff himself. He blasted my eye away and I sent him to Azkaban for life imprisonment. My wife Drusilla had been on the donor list at St Mungo's Hospital and-"

"You didn't-"

"I used some of my own magic on it first" he said in his gruff voice, sounded much too nonchalant for such a gruesome topic, "but yes, it makes me think of her. Everyone thinks I'm mad for it, those who know the truth anyway, and most of them stay clear of me, but Albus has his reasons for trusting me".

"Which are?" she had always wanted what the Hogwarts headmaster had seen in someone so transcendent.

"Before we got married my wife was Drusilla Dumbledore". There was a strange silence in the room as Andromeda's respect for the mad auror grew and grew in the darkness of the Grimmauld Place kitchen.

"What happened to your son?"

"I know he's alive and that he's being looked after; apart from that I haven't got a clue, but I do know that he changed his name for protection". She was about to ask why he didn't look into it more, but he had risen from his chair and was now approaching Kreacher; whom he had just released from the bonds of his jinx.

"Tell me all that you know, elf".

"Master Regulus is dead".

"How?"

"It doesn't matter how!" he croaked; "he was of the noble and most ancient house of Black and now he has been taken from us".

"But he was a Death-"

"Stupefy!" Luckily the spell had missed the three potential targets in the room; the eager smile on Kreacher's face told Andromeda who had cast the jinx.

"Get out of my house, blood traitor! You are no longer welcome here!" screamed the voice of Walburga Black. Her robes were straggling along behind her as she stormed into the kitchen filled with fury and vicious intent.

"Expelliarmus!" Andromeda's disarming spell had reached its target and caught Walburga off guard; looking around desperately for her wand. Moody was ruthless, pushing her to the ground with shear brute force and pulling Andromeda out the kitchen door by the wrist, "time to run, Tonks!" Her levels of dread were so high that for once she didn't even mind the name.

"Tell your cousin I'm sorry about this" he muttered.

"Sorry about wh-"

"Accio Sirius" they heard the voice of a young man wailing as he was thrown down at least six flights of stairs; his arms flailing around his head in protection and terror the entire time. Moody tried his best to land Sirius safely on his feet but to Andromeda he didn't appear to be putting in a lot of effort. "That" he eventually answered, ushering them both over the threshold and outside into the street.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked frantically; panting as they ran down the cobbled street adjoining Grimmauld Place.

"I'm sorry, Sirius" Andromeda consoled; "Regulus is dead and your mother found us interrogating Kreacher".

"Did you find anything?" Moody insisted; she thought this was highly inappropriate seeing as he had just discovered that his brother was dead, but nevertheless he appeared to be still with them.

"Just one thing" he said, "Bellatrix is living upstairs".