The London street had been peacefully quiet before the Muggle witnesses had been attacked by the Confundus charm, but now the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic was on the verge of being breached and the atmosphere had turned to chaos.

"Stupefy!" screamed the cackling figure in the distance, whose presence was both a surprise and a horror to the aurors who had run frantically out into the street when the invasion began. As the mist cleared they could see the straggly black ringlets of her hair and the ruff black leather that clothed her emerging from between the buildings.

"Avada Kadavra!" she roared in sadistic delight as terrified Muggles fled before her, causing more panic amongst the Ministry workers.

"Sound the alarm!" shouted Jacob from the front line; "tell the Minister that it's Bellatrix Lestrange!" He ran forwards to make sure that civilians were out of the way before he allowed his men and women to retaliate the Death Eater's spells. The windows in the nearby shops and houses glowed green from the killing curse and red from the spilling of blood. "Now!" he cried.

It was several minutes later before he realised that almost all of his aurors had been killed and by that time Bellatrix Lestrange was stood before him with poison in her eyes and a wand in her hand.

"You knew my name" she sneered.

"I would never forget it" he spat back.

"How sweet; what makes you hate me so much?"

"Besides being a Death Eater? You killed my daughter!"

"Remind me, I've killed a lot of people"

"Her name was Nymphadora and you killed her because she was trying to save her friends!"

"Of course! My first kill. It served her right for defending a blood traitor and a filthy mudblood-"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Avada Kadavra!" Jacob's disarming spell had missed her but Bellatrix's killing curse had caught its target full in the chest. She cackled at the top of her incessant voice as she stepped over the now motionless Jacob White and blew the doors off the telephone box.

Andromeda had spent only one night in The Leaky Cauldron so that she could reach her destination as soon as possible; this was something she should have done a long time ago. She was stood in a small wizarding village that was dusted with snow and had trees positioned around the quaint houses. She found the house she was looking for at the edge of the main square and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" muttered a young boy from the other side of the door; he looked a little bit older than Andromeda's daughter and had golden hair which was darker than that of the other members of this family she had met before; his eyes reminded her of the river she had passed on her journey to the village.

"My name is Andromeda; are your parents in?" she asked.

"My dad isn't back from work yet" he answered; "but my mum's home; I'll go get her". The boy closed the door and ran up the stairs by the sound of it. It was a few minutes later before the door reopened and a familiar middle-aged woman stood before her.

"It has been a while" she said neutrally.

"I should have visited a long time before now, Mrs White. Please don't think I don't cry for her every day".

"Spare your empty sentiments" she snapped bitterly; "I'm sorry, it's been a stressful ten years if I do say so. Come in" Andromeda silently forgave the woman who had lost so much and followed her into the little cottage.

"I can't believe it's been ten years since she died" she said to Mrs White.

"Some days I still can't believe she's gone"

"I understand how hard it must be"

"I would say that you can't possibly understand, but from what I've been told you have seen your fair share of tragedy on the battlefield".

"Who told you that?"

"Her, of course". Andromeda felt both warm and cold at the same time at the thought of the person she had come to visit watching over her all this time; it brought back some of the hope she had lost.

"Is that boy her brother?" she asked Mrs White.

"Adoptive brother, yes. He won't tell us who his biological parents are; says it's too dangerous; but we know that he is a pure-blood. We found him wandering around on his own when we were working in Bulgaria a few years ago and, well, it's been hard without Nymphadora-". Mrs White stopped talking when the two women reached the top of the stairs and had a clear view of a painting at the far end of the corridor. "I'll leave you to it".

Andromeda was nearly in tears when she saw the familiar blonde hair and yellow-and-black Hufflepuff uniform that she remembered so well. The girl was stood in front of the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts; although she had never played the game herself she was very fond of watching.

"Hello" Andromeda whispered.

"Indeed" smiled Nelly back at her. She looked maybe two years younger than she had been when she had died but she talked more sophisticatedly with an educated tone; Andromeda could see in her eyes that she had the same memories and tragedies of the girl who had sacrificed herself for the boy she loved.

"Teddy misses you" the painting said.

"I was about to say the same thing to you"

"He didn't want me around-"

"You know that's not true. He doesn't care if you stick up for mad aurors (who aren't in reality that mad) or hate the Order of the Phoenix; he just wants you to return to him and your daughter". Andromeda's mixture of tears and smiling juxtaposed all the emotions she had oppressed for a decade.

"We named her-"

"You gave her that embarrassing name of mine just to keep my memory alive; I love you both even more for that". Andromeda wanted desperately to hug the painting but she knew it would only show her how far away her friend really was.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You're supposed to fight your sisters and help to end this war as well as dealing with the losses which are yet to come".

"What do you mean?"

"As we speak Albus Dumbledore is interviewing for a position at Hogwarts where he will be given a prophecy which will be vital in the coming battles. However once a prophecy has been spoken it can't be broken. You need to find answers to the secrets".

"What secrets? How?"

"You want to find the lost child of the madman, the location of the wild-haired witch who killed me, the danger that your husband is in, your daughter's obsession with certain magical creatures . . . the list is more extensive than you know".

"But how do I find the answers?"

"There is a painting of the dead African witch at the Ministry of Magic; you should visit her first".

"You mean Kendra Shacklebolt?" Nelly nodded. Andromeda was already striding towards the stairs when her old friend called her back.

"My mother doesn't yet know that a few minutes ago my father was murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange whilst attempting to deny her entry into the Ministry; your husband is currently at work, do not let the same happen to him". Andromeda was out the door before she had time to say goodbye to Mrs White and the young boy as the thought of Ted being surrounded by the deathly green light gave her the adrenaline to rescue him which only Nelly was able to instil in her.