Death had strange way of catching up with people. It came for everyone, yet even for Newt Scamander, who passed at the ripe old age of 105, it was a sad thing. He'd made it to the new millennium, though, and Newt had clung onto his last goal on the bucket list. The New Year's celebration didn't make it to Madison Square Garden, despite the fact that Frank Scamander, who had issued a public apology and left the realm of magizoology behind on his father's behalf, threw one hell of a party in Dorset. Lyall stayed with Tina the day after the funeral; it gave him a stark reminder that she'd soon be laid to rest beside her husband. When he returned home really early the next morning, he wanted to sleep.
Andromeda had other ideas. It started as a good morning kiss, and he suddenly had her bent over the breakfast table.
"Is this a regular thing with you?" Lyall sighed when she moaned, asking him for more.
Not ready to start the morning, Andromeda turned her head and swore when she heard the boy upstairs. Rain pounded the windows, so he'd beaten the storm home. The plastic orange cups on the dining table didn't bother her in any way as they got down to business. Finished quickly, Lyall got dressed and paced the kitchen. He wiped the sweat from his face. People grieved or dealt with death in odd ways. Some people held on, and he understood this better than most people, but she didn't even really know Mr. Scamander.
"Grief and sex," he said, nodding as he watched her shrug into her dressing gown. He packed this nugget away for future reference as he brewed some strong coffee. He tapped the machine with his wand and poured himself a cup. "That's a new pairing. And they say I'm a strange man."
Andromeda said nothing as she fumbled around the kitchen gathering frying pans. Not that he was complaining. He walked up behind her and ran his hands up her body. She stopped, a little surprised, and smiled when he nibbled playfully at her neck. Lyall, always an admirer of Newt's old retirement philosophy, swore he took too much pleasure in this relationship. He didn't care.
"The boy." Andromeda groaned when he pressed her against the wall. She knew that boy like a pocket watch because he came downstairs the minute she said something. Lyall let her go and went back over to the coffee machine. Teddy walked in, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes and asked what was for breakfast. "Eggs, bacon, and toast. Would you like something else?"
"No, ma'am." Teddy grinned when Lyall pulled out his chair. "You're back!"
"Mmmm hmmm," said Lyall, gagging on his first morning cup. Andromeda cast a few cooking spells. Bacon sizzled in one pan whilst eggs cracked and stirred themselves in a large mixing bowl.
"Cream and sugar?" asked Andromeda.
Andromeda snorted at Lyall and fixed his brew. He took it back, thanking her. The eggs tipped themselves into the hot frying pan and cooked themselves. Teddy went off really fast for seven-thirty in the morning ; he asked questions like the Spanish Inquisition. No, it was Saturday morning, so Grams didn't have to go into work. No, it would be raining all day ... yes, all day. Lyall admired that she'd gotten so good at anticipated some of the inquiries, she'd beaten Teddy in this game. They weren't stuck inside all day with nothing to do. Harry was on assignment for work, and she was sure Teddy would see him really soon.
Teddy drank his milk as he polished off his meal. "How soon?"
"Soon. Later this afternoon, late this afternoon," she said, setting his empty plate on top of hers. "Go get dressed, Ted, your clothes are on the dresser."
Teddy waved his hand in front of Lyall's face. Lyall, who hadn't touched his food and almost nodded off, didn't like that the boy liked playing with him. Remus used to take advantage of Lyall sleeping whilst appearing wide awake. "Grandson?"
Teddy asked a question he already had an answer to. "Why do you sleep with your eyes open like that, Grandpa?"
"It's a neurological something or other. Something in the brain." Lyall smiled, guessing his next question before it left Teddy's lips. "No, I'm not broken. Ted, Ted, I'd really like to sleep now, please."
"But we were de-gnoming the garden," said Teddy, stamping his foot. "The sun is up. We're up."
Lyall smiled. De-gnoming a garden would only be interesting to a little boy because in a few years, Lyall felt sure Teddy would be complaining about household chores. Andromeda supervised the breakfast dishes washing themselves, and she said she wanted this written down as evidence.
"It's raining, Ted. Let's do that tomorrow if the weather's fairing better, eh? How's about we play Gobstones later? You and me?" Lyall told Teddy to run along and get ready for the day. He left, excited to have something on the agenda. Lyall sat back and closed his eyes. They might open on their own later. He felt Andromeda brushing his hair out of his eyes. "I can't sleep with you doing that, ma'am."
"You're that tired?" Andromeda took advantage of Lyall almost never losing his cool. "So, back when I said you were an irresponsible, neglectful father?"
"Egg in my face?"
"Yes. I lied. I'm glad you're here with us. I love you." Andromeda's petting wasn't half bad. "Sleep now."
Lyall wasn't one of those people who gloated over being right, especially when it came to a wife, but it was nice to hear all the same. Andromeda chose her words carefully, not really saying she was wrong. He drifted off because it was easier to sleep with the rain in the background. Andromeda opened the window and hummed a little. Lyall eventually faded away.
Lyall felt someone blowing into his ear; he blinked and stared back into large blue eyes. Minty freshness hit him full in the face. Lyall jumped back, startled, and nearly toppled out of his chair as he groped around for his wand. His breakfast plate was gone. Teddy, shaken, put some paces between them.
"What's going on?" Andromeda stopped by the kitchen door and pieced it together. She grabbed Teddy by the scruff of the neck and shook him a little. "Theodore Remus Lupin, I don't know what's gotten into you today, but this needs to stop. Do you want me to put in the corner on a rainy day?"
"No, ma'am." Teddy shook his head until she put him down.
"He's fine, Dromeda." Lyall checked his watch, muttered that an hour and a half was better than nothing, and went to go take a shower, promising Teddy he'd be back in five minutes. He dozed off in the shower, too, and Teddy stormed into the bathroom after a half hour. Lyall jerked awake, slipping on the bar of soap. "Damn it. Yes, Teddy, I'm coming, I'm coming. In a moment."
Teddy shook something, a Gobstones set, Lyall guessed, and yelled at his grandmother that Grandpa had said a bad word. Lyall got out of the cold shower and got dressed in peace. Andromeda put away laundry in the bedroom and wagged a finger at him.
"When Remus and I meet again wherever he is, he owes me. I'm too old for this nonsense ... and I want sleep. Remember sleep?"' Lyall stepped into his slippers.
"Sleep when you die."
Lyall whined a little as he went down the corridor, making a point to drag his feet, but she got the joke. This wasn't the first time Lyall told himself he ought to have had children earlier in life. He went to answer the door after exchanging the slippers for shoes. It was Porpentina Scamander and her grandson, Rolf. Lyall looked from one to the other, curious, and Tina, smiling, stepped over the threshold and picked up an owl on a stack of unopened post.
"You open these, and if you're lucky enough to be literate, you read through them. Why?" Tina opened the owl and read it aloud. Her grandson, a pudgy blonde man with green eyes, smiled and said hello. Lyall shook hands with him. Tina set the owl aside and muttered about men and selective hearing. "Because there is vital information in these things. You invited me on a date for the day, remember?"
"No, er, yes. Yes? That's the right answer? Yes, the London Zoo. The Magi-Zoo!"
The cogs in Lyall's head started turning after a minute. Tina nodded, and Rolf roared with laughter. Teddy beamed, clapping his hands together. Lyall went to the wardrobe, grabbed Teddy's raincoat and snatched his own Macintosh off the peg by the door. Tina helped Teddy with the raincoat. Never mind the deluge. Rolf handed them umbrellas, saying the old people could use them as walking sticks on the off chance the sun decided to make an appearance later today.
"Funny." Tina tapped him on the leg. Andromeda came downstairs, lost. "Wanna go to the zoo? Should be fun."
Andromeda pointed at the window. Rolf said that didn't matter, so Andromeda invented a vague excuse. "Oh, no, I've got loads to do ..."
"Like what?" Lyall, apparently slow on the uptake, shut up when Andromeda's eyes widened threateningly. He nudged that excuse along, wondering if he'd pay for this later. "Oh, yeah, she's going through my old files. Thanks, darling."
"You're welcome." Andromeda never stepped foot inside Lyall's office. It was Nymphadora's old bedroom, but he preferred his organized chaos. Tina said she never dreamed of touching Newt's research. Andromeda got off with a shrug, and they left.
Rolf offered to take Teddy, saying the grandsons ought to stick together. They Apparated a short distance from the London Zoo. As it was a rainy day, there were not that many people milling about. Rolf had their tickets, telling the gatekeeper he'd ordered them early. In reality, these were forgeries, a copycat of the real thing. When they got to the tiger exhibit, Rolf pretended to read the plague and reached through the vanishing glass to pet the old tiger.
"How's it going, Link?" Rolf put his head down, pretending to read the enclosure information again as a Muggle caretaker walked by. All the Muggle saw was a man touching the glass. Lyall gave a start as a baby chimaera jumped into the Muggle's pail of food. Rolf, winking at them, pointed his wand at the unsuspecting Muggle, Summoned the pail, cast a Fireproof Charm, and glanced at the plague. "Mr. Newton R. Scamander requests entry into Kowalski Keep, please."
"Wand," said a cool American voice. Rolf placed his wand on the plague and it shimmered. "Scamander."
The vanishing glass shimmered away and revealed a lush green habitat. They stepped over the barrier. Lyall thought a fat Muggle boy licking an ice cream might've spotted them, but he darted away as fast as his chubby legs could carry him as soon as the chimaera stuck her head out and hissed at him. Rolf stuck his wand in his back pocket and stepped over to the side, switching out his dress shoes for some boots.
"Mr. Newt Scamander," said Lyall, impressed when Rolf scooped Teddy up again and crossed from the lush environment, to a tundra, to a harsh place littered with volcanic ash. It had stopped raining once they crossed the first boundary into the tundra. The cold woke Lyall up.
"That'll be me." Rolf grinned when Teddy giggled.
He looked quite different from Newt Scamander, but he definitely bought his grandfather to mind. Rolf, like his grandfather, could not stay still for long. He certainly didn't miss meals at table, but he was a fit, stocky man who juggled a lot at once. There were healed burns on his arms. He was a twenty-eight-year-old man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Rolf was friendlier than his grandfather, yet he placed the lives of his beloved beasts first. Like Newt.
"And Aria's back home." Rolf sighed in relief.
Rolf put Teddy down and heaved the bucket like he emptied it of water; fire erupted as the chimaera got set free . Lyall placed a hand on Teddy's chest, blocking him. Tina stood off to the side as Rolf did a headcount. Rolf jumped into a rocky terrain and entered a small, enclosed cave crafted from obsidian rock.
"He has a cave? Like an actual cave?" Lyall raised his eyebrows at Tina, and a slew of the house-elf's jokes filled his mind.
"Shut up," Tina cut across him before the jokes started. She said it had been Newt's last pet project, a gift to their grandson. Rolf needed a place for research and writing.
"But I want a cave," said Lyall, pouting.
"Found it. He calls that organization? No wonder he gave me the second manuscript."
Rolf's voice sounded far away until he came outside. He carried a roll of parchment. A thin young woman with long blonde hair and startling blue eyes followed him. Rolf gestured at the encampment a long ways down and they Dispparated.
When they appeared again, they stopped outside a panoramic aquarium, except it was the largest aquarium Lyall had ever seen. It spanned the length of at least five football pitches. This place had an actual tiled floor and had a pleasant seating area. Lyall sat down with Teddy and Tina.
Lyall thought he recognized the inky beast inside, though countless other fish and other aquatic species swam around it. "Is that the giant squid? The one from Hogwarts?"
"Yeah. That's him. Everyone, this is Luna. Luna, this is Lyall and Teddy Lupin. Luna's my student."
Luna said hello. She looked dreamily at Lyall. "You look like your son. He taught at Hogwarts."
"Yeah," said Lyall, a little taken aback.
Rolf tapped the glass as he explained the giant squid, Bob, had been poisoned at the Black Lake. Whether by merpeople or actual upright people, they did not know, but he was recovering at Kowalski Keep until further notice. He tapped the glass again, this time with his wand, and its surface emitted a faint light. Rolf caught a clipboard and read through pages of notes.
Rolf waved his wand over himself and his robes got replaced by a tight fitting swimming uniform. He handed the clipboard Luna. "What does that tell you?"
"Not merpeople," said Luna matter-of-factly as she read through the chart. Rolf nodded. Luna tied her hair back with an elastic band and performed the same clothes changing spell on herself.
Rolf hung the clipboard on the wall and addressed his worried grandmother. "Lawsuit, anyone? I've got this handled, Gran."
"Be careful," Tina said, not taking his word at face value. Rolf said nothing, though he was visibly shaken and bothered. "Don't you go in there with your head not on your shoulders, Rolf. Take a minute. You've got this."
Rolf paced back and forth as he nodded and spoke to himself. After a minute, he gestured at Luna to go. Luna walked over and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. He said he was fine. A moment later, she conjured buckets, which Lyall guessed was food. Rolf raised his wand and sectioned off the aquarium with a casual flick of his wand: glass panels shot out of the ground.
Luna Apparated.
"I love my job; I love my life. Worrying means to suffer twice." Rolf cracked his neck, rubbed his hands together, and smiled at them all.
Lyall chuckled, giving him a thumbs-up. "Sounds like your grandfather to me, Newton. Do your thing."
"Yeah, yeah." Rolf Appararated into the aquarium and worked with Luna. Every so often, they gestured to each other with hand signals. Lyall realized, though it took him a good minute, they switched places to come up for air. Luna broke through first and came up again. Rolf joined her, laughing as he swallowed water. "Guess who forgot gillyweed or a Bubble Charm?"
Tina pointed at him.
"Yeah. Luna, we're good here," said Rolf, winded.
Rolf shrugged when she didn't Disapparate and join the others. Rolf dived three more times, looking like he had the time of his life. Lyall admired Rolf's skill; it was obvious this young man grew up at Newt Scamander's knee. He knew how to heal magical creatures, yet he respected their territorial boundaries. Teddy laughed when Rolf got inked in the face and came up with a colorful commentary, but things were far from funny when the giant squid body slammed the man into the glass panel. He'd sustained an injury because there was blood. When he'd finished, Rolf tapped the glass and gave Tina a weak double thumbs-up. Some of the water turned red.
Rolf Disapparated back into the room with Luna by Side-Along Apparition. Luna supported him over to an empty bench and cleaned the wound after she conjured a healing kit. Tina bustled over, asking if she could help, but Luna, pale, said she had it under control. Rolf talked her through this and that, guiding her through the procedure patiently.
Lyall jumped in, saying he could help, if needed.
"Okay, I'm going to pass out. Pack the wound ... faster ... wow..." Rolf made the mistake of looking down at the bloody floor. Luna fumbled, scared, so Lyall took over and shooed her away. Tina took over with Luna and tried to console her. Teddy sat on the bench, and he looked scared, too.
"Pack the wound," said Lyall, trying not to think about his grandson. After he told Luna she did a good job at cleaning this gash, Lyall recited the instructions back to Rolf as he gloved himself and worked with quick hands. "Packed. You need a Healer."
"No, no, this is nothing. Next, you wrap it. Can you do that?" Rolf waved at Teddy. Lyall said yes. He cast a non-verbal spell, and bandages shot out the end of his wand and wrapped themselves securely around his head. "I need …"
Rolf lost consciousness. Lyall finished his work, telling Luna to sit with him, for it was clear these two were more than teacher and student. He told her Rolf was fine, but really, he didn't know that for sure because he wasn't properly trained and certified as a Healer. He told her about injuries he handled with Remus, and some of those had been worse than this. Luna placed Rolf's head in her lap and stroked his bloody, soaked hair.
"You met his grandfather?" Lyall kept the conversation going.
"Yes, he's extraordinary," said Luna, relaxing a little.
"A gift. I'd follow Newt into the dark, though I'd be a little afraid of what I'd find." Lyall said he was done and pointed his wand at Rolf's chest after he went over to watch his hands in a basin. "Okay. I'm going to wake him up now."
"Okay." Luna's hands trembled.
Lyall pointed his wand at Rolf's chest and said, "Rennervate."
Slowly, Rolf's eyes fluttered open. He did not throw up, which Lyall took as a good sign, although he didn't want him sitting up right away, either. When Lyall mentioned that Little Newt dying the day after his grandfather would be uncool, or not cool, Rolf gave a thumbs-up again. Rolf apologized to Luna, patting her pale hand with his bruised one, and said it looked like they would have to put their trip to Sweden on the back burner.
Lyall was mildly interested. "Please tell me you're going there for chocolate." "What? No." Luna giggled at Lyall's scandalized expression. "We're looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."
Lyall gave her a bemused grin and tapped Rolf on the shoulder. "She sounds like a mad Scamander, Little Newt, you keep this one. You lot are weirdos."
Tina piped up, taking Lyall's grandson along with her. "Excuse me?" "Weirdos." Lyall stopped when Tina tapped her foot and said she didn't talk to dead people or have a werewolf for a son. Lyall held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'll have you know that werewolf had better manners than most people you'd meet in the street, thank you. I did a fine job." Tina conceded with a shrug, for she'd had Remus around as a dinner guest. "Yeah. Damn fine job. He paled next to Frank."
Rolf pumped his shaky fist in the air, making them all laugh. Frank Scamander had had it made and threw it all away for nothing. Lyall had never considered this, but the one who had truly suffered from Frank's path of destruction was most likely Rolf. Rolf wasn't, strictly speaking, raised by Newt Scamander, but he had definitely soaked up the magi-zoologist's teachings like a sponge.
"Lower your arm, there, genius." Tina grimaced at Rolf until he listened to her. She said he was her favorite grandson; Rolf muttered it helped he was her only grandson; it eliminated the competition. The two granddaughters? His sisters? They were all right. "Newton."
"When your grandmother tells you to shut it, you shut it." Rolf passed this advice off to Teddy. Teddy squeezed Tina's hand. Rolf studied her face, for he heard it coming. He grinned through the pain, although his head rang like a bell. "Wait for it."
"Newton Rolf Artemis Fido Scamander!" Tina threw out strike two and stalked away from him, furious. She turned on her heel as she got to the opposite side of the room. "Idiot. Just like your grandfather, I swear to God! Yes, let's do this because it's completely stupid. Stupid!"
Rolf nodded and complained, momentarily forgetting his head injury. "There we go."
"Teddy got one of those this morning, didn't you, grandson?" Lyall noticed Teddy nodded at his colorful trainers. "Tina acts like that because…"
"… he's the favorite?" Luna gave Rolf a high-five and laughed with him.
"Watch yourself, Little Newt." Lyall pulled Rolf into a sitting position and sat snuggly with him and Luna on the bench. He always expected Rolf to tire of the nickname, but he did not. Really, he wore it rather like a badge of honor. "She loves you. Between you and your grandfather, I'm surprised your gran hasn't dropped dead."
"Grandad dropped dead tending the Mooncalves in his suitcase." Rolf ended on a somber note. Ancient and caring, they all knew Newt Scamander would go taking care of someone or something. Rolf hastily wiped something from his eyes and muttered to Luna that he was all right.
Lyall didn't know what to say here, so he walked away, taking Teddy with him. Perhaps it was time to go. Lyall hurried through the tundra and stopped in the rainforest environment. When he got there, muttering to his grandson, he fell to the ground as the tears blinded him, fierce and fast.
Teddy, worried, approached Lyall like he would a wounded animal.
"I'm fine…I'm fine."
Lyall's chest constricted. Tina joined them minutes later and dropped to her knees, throwing off her shoes and cursing the rain. Lyall told her to get up, if she could get up. Newt Scamander obviously couldn't live forever. He might be an awkward ass, but he had been always dependably there. Whenever the outside world had weighed down and threatened to crush him, Newt and his creatures were Lyall's escape.
"I … I need him." Lyall knew Newt Scamander was Tina's husband for over seventy years, since before Lyall himself had been born, and this was wrong. She'd lost a husband, a father, and a friend! What was he doing crying on her shoulder? Tina held him, muttering that everyone died alone. She said next to Jacob Kowalski, who had been a successful New York baker, Lyall Lupin was Newt's man.
"He loved you." Tina muttered how bizarre it was that Newt and Lyall had walked into each other in a London street forty-five years ago. Their friendship had sparked from an accident. He'd been dying a long time, thankfully from natural causes, it still hurt.
Lyall gathered himself and wiped at his grass and mud stains. He beckoned to Teddy and held him in his lap.
Teddy probably viewed this place as a wonderland. "Are you okay, Grandpa?"
"He will be." Rolf Apparated onto the landscape and got his grandmother to her feet first. Luna followed close behind, though she had the sense to conjure a couple umbrellas; the ones Rolf had earlier had gone missing. She wore plain robes. Rolf got Lyall up and locked him in a tight embrace. "You realize I'm Newt Scamander, too?" Tina shrugged. She declined an umbrella from Luna because she was soaked through. "Newt Scamander in another life? How many times have you and I discussed this, Lyall?"
Lyall gave a watery chuckle.
"Listen to me. You need to get out and stretch your legs? Forget the world? You come find me." Rolf handed him a battered wallet, his grandfather's. Lyall checked the expired laminated London Zoo tickets in the billfold. There was a house key in there, too, and Tina said he should keep it. "Want to go to Egypt?"
"Why?" Both Tina and Lyall sounded suspicious.
"Because I want to and it's my life? I don't know." Rolf apologized when he realized this sounded rude, but they let it slide.
He really didn't know, it seemed, but he wanted to be free to clear his mind. Frank the Thunderbird was trapped in Egypt, yet it could be argued that the better place was Arizona, since Frank did eventually get released there. Now dressed in Muggle clothes, wearing one of his grandfather's vintage 1920's coats, Rolf reached into his blazer and bounced a green, spiky ball into the air.
"What's that?" Lyall stayed wary around the Scamanders.
"Oh, this? This … this is your inheritance. Part of it." Explaining that he had gotten his hands on his grandfather's will, Rolf flicked the green thing and threw it towards Lyall's face.
"Oh, God. Why would you do that?" Lyall ducked, for he'd seen a creature crawling out of the protective layer. Was that a cocoon? He shielded Teddy, slapping his outstretched hand away.
Rolf grinned, enjoying his little joke. Flicking his wrist, he released a large winged greenish-blue butterfly creature. It was beautiful. It understood English, for it followed Rolf's simple commands. It filled up space, but it glided with incredible precision.
"He said you had a lot of bad memories, and he said keep them because there were good ones, too. You deserve happiness." Next moment, though Lyall didn't see how this could possibly work, Rolf leapt like a cat into the air and landed on the creature; it had the surface area and apparently the ability to support his weight. Teddy and Lyall gaped at him, speechless. Slowly, Rolf got up from all fours and stood upright. He held up three fingers. "Three of these in the world. I have two."
"One," said Tina, smiling.
"Yeah, well. Is this not the coolest thing you've ever seen? Check this out."
Rolf checked his head wrappings and acknowledged Luna with a sign; he heard her loud and clear. He'd be dead careful. Rolf landed on the Swooping Evil again and whispered to it in Arabic. It acted like a magic carpet and guided Rolf as he spun off it. He landed on his feet like a skilled gymnast feet away from a puddle. He stuck the landing, too. Lyall pointed from the beast, to Rolf, and back to the Swooping Evil. After doing a complex, swift hand gesture, Rolf coaxed the Swooping Evil back into his home.
Rolf demonstrated the hand gestures again and again. He tossed it into the air, and Lyall, amazed, caught it.
"One question. Well, I've got a lot of them, but I'll stay most of them because you… you don't have all day." Lyall chuckled along with Tina. He shrugged, simply going with honesty. "Where did you learn how to move like that, Mr. Scamander?"
"I'm not afraid." Rolf shrugged. "Grandad said move. I moved. He told me to haul ass once."
"Mr. Scamander, indeed. He lives. I'll be damned." Lyall pocketed the Swooping Evil, fidgeting when Tina warned him be careful; the thing ate brains. Rolf opened the barrier and guided then back in the London Zoo. Teddy asked for a piggy as there was a break in the storm: Rolf gave him a lift, smirking when group of Muggle teenagers smirked at his vintage peacock blue coat. One of them called him a grandfather.
"Yeah, you wish you had one of these, whipper snapper, whilst I'm bringing the Roaring Twenties back." Rolf stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Where are you? I know who I am."
The teenagers, struck dumb, simply stood there. Rolf nodded, giving them a moment for a comeback, and took Luna by the hand after Teddy got tired. The young people had nothing to say. Rolf, Tina, and Luna Disapparated. Lyall, surprised at the man Frank's once abandoned son had become, stood there smiling for the longest time. Teddy bought him back to earth, and they went home.
"Newt Scamander. I think he saved me again." Andromeda sat on the couch and took a sleeping Teddy when Lyall placed the boy in her arms. She took off Teddy's soaked trainers and set them on the coffee table. She asked Lyall what he meant by this. He didn't say hello or hug her when he got home, Lyall simply said the first thing to come to mind.
"'Yesterday is gone.' He used to remind me of that all the time. We were fellow Hufflepuffs from different generations, so we were cool." Lyall made a derisive sound; he'd known he was the farthest thing from cool back in his schooldays.
"Oh, the friendly folk were cool? Since when? Slytherin, please." Andromeda sat on her feet and covered Teddy with a light blanket on the back of the couch. Lyall waited patiently for her to finish. He opened his mouth twice, and she added a bit more, nothing much.
"There are parallels in our lives where none existed before," said Lyall, sitting on the coffee table and connecting the dots. Maybe he read into this because Teddy stayed on his mind, but Newt had seen it first. Andromeda listened as he told her about Frank and Rolf, tying them to Newt. "Rolf was as good as Newt's boy. His second son."
"Remus died." Andromeda immediately pointed out the differences. For a woman who initially did not really like his son until she'd learned the truth, Andromeda acted like quite the cheerleader for Remus Lupin, though she still complained that he often spent too much time looking for missing socks. "And he wasn't a deadbeat dad. "Did you know he'd picked up another job and was going to start pulling in eighty hours at a dead end Muggle restaurant?"
This didn't really surprise Lyall. He'd hammered it into his son that he needed to step up whenever push came to shove. He might've been dealt a bad hand, but Remus was no layabout or a charity case. People could find work, work nobody else wanted, but the tasks were out there for the taking. Lyall himself took paranormal activity jobs from the Muggles whenever he needed the money. If Remus had to run himself ragged to get food on the table to support his family, he damn well would've done it.
"Remus and Nymphadora were murdered," said Lyall, pointing out the difference. It was war, and it was what it was, but it was murder. "I raised him to fight to get where he was going. You know, we hardly ever fought when he was a kid. I'm not saying this as a cliché, but he was one of my best friends. I swear it. Do you know how rare that is? Between a parent and a child?"
Andromeda shook her head. "I'm jealous. There were days I thought Nymphadora hated me, and I really grew up hating my mother. The month after Teddy was born, we talked … we really talked. The stupid girly melodrama disappeared. I think that's why I was so angry."
"Never had that problem. There was that whole incident with Severus Snape and the Whoomping Willow. Oooh, God help me, I swear I almost put my child in the ground, and if his ill mother wasn't there with me, I would've destroyed Remus."
Lyall was a mellow man, but that didn't mean he didn't ever get pushed over the edge. He lessened the severity of what had happened now, thanks to the passage of time, but those teenage boys, those ignorant fools who had called themselves marauders, had nearly crossed a line. "I beat him with my belt, which he didn't think I would do, but I did. I took him into a Hogwarts bathroom and I beat him. And then I made him work all summer till he practically dropped."
"You? That surprises me. I thought you'd let a child, your child get away with anything." Andromeda called him a pushover as a grandfather. She shook her head when he didn't bother to deny it.
"He's five."
"He's a boy."
"He's my grandson." Lyall got up to grab drinks for them and came back with tea. "Aren't grandparents supposed to spoil their grandchildren? We did our part." "We are doing our part. We are both Teddy's parents and his grandparents, so if we mess this up, that's on us." Andromeda stopped, not wanting to spark an argument when nothing was wrong. "What do you think we'd be doing right now if they were here? Do you think we'd be as involved in his life?"
"You would." Lyall shrugged when she frowned at him.
Andromeda dropped the subject and cupped her mug in her hands. It started raining again. "Hufflepuff, huh?"
"Not this again. I'll have you know Hufflepuffs are friendly … you mentioned friendly … but it carries weight. And loyal."
"And pushovers."
"Pretty much. Story of my life." Lyall took Teddy up to bed and tucked him in after he got the boy into his pajamas. Andromeda followed him. Teddy woke up. "Did you like the zoo?"
"Yeah. Mr. Scamander is cool," said Teddy, finding a good sleeping spot.
"Cool, yes. A Hufflepuff." Lyall caught Andromeda rolling her eyes and winked at her. Teddy said he didn't like the thunder and didn't have to ask Lyall to climb into bed with him. Lyall placed his shoes on Teddy' s bedside table. Teddy went out like a light, and Lyall held him close. When he made to get up, Teddy gripped his damp shirt. "You go."
"You're staying there all night?"
"I might. I used to do this with Remus all the time … especially after the attack. He slept with me for months." Lyall kissed Teddy's forehead and brushed his curly hair out of his eyes. "Looked a lot like this."
Andromeda softened. "Hope was lucky because you're a natural at this. You really are."
"He's five. Think five." Lyall showed her his open hand. She'd done this before, and he mean to patronize her or knock her down. Andromeda had, after all, raised an Auror and got cut off from her family. "Do you miss her? I know you miss Ted. You don't have to talk about it."
"All the time. And he's so much like her. He does this thing with his nose." Andromeda laughed when Lyall scrunched his nose and wiggled it. He'd seen Nymphadora do it once doing her transformations. "Yes!"
"She was funny as hell. Not strange funny. I dragged her to Church on Christmas Day back in 1996. She left the priest a fake phone number. Probably an alias. I took confession after her … and I couldn't stop laughing. She suggested the sacrament be actual wine because it would really, really help."
Andromeda blushed.
"That's when I knew she was good for Remus. He actually told Father Ryan to piss off once. Told the priest to color inside the lines and mind his own business. A child had no right to guide him towards the light. He wanted Thomas More. Do you know who Sir Thomas More is?"
"No."
"He was a pillar of the faith in the sixteenth century. He fought against the Reformation … Chancellor to Henry VIII … lost his head … Remus was really well read in Muggle history." Lyall scratched his chin, lost in thought for a moment. He got up to go to the bathroom and showed Andromeda the Swooping Evil in the back garden once the rain finally let up; he took him a few tries to get the creature back in the cocoon.
"That's insane." "It's extraordinary." Lyall pocketed it when she called Newt Scamander a madman. Lyall kissed her. "Just because someone is misunderstood doesn't make them wrong … it doesn't make them insane. There's beauty in the different. Oh, by the way, and I think you'll agree I win here, wasn't your daughter a Hufflepuff?"
Andromeda rested her head on his chest. "How'd you know that?" "The Hufflepuff scarf in her bedroom cupboard." Lyall gave away his source without a fight.
"Damn. You've got me. I married a Hufflepuff, too."
"You married two of those." Lyall snickered when she feigned disappointment; she cared nothing about old school rivalries. Why would she? It didn't surprise him that she gravitated towards those who were polar opposites from the Black family. Family was family. He'd wanted to bring this up ages ago, though he didn't know how to strike up this conversation confidently. "Don't take this the wrong way, dearie."
"Funny. Continue." Andromeda recognized this as her usual line.
"What do you think about reconciling with your sister? Giving it a shot? Hmmm?" He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender when she glared daggers at him. If Bellatrix Lestrange had been alive, he wouldn't have dared testing the waters because that woman deserved to burn in the deepest parts of hell. Andromeda turned to go back into the house. "Andromeda."
"You don't … you don't even know those people!" Andromeda's mood changed with the drop of a hat. "Reconcile? I haven't seen Narcissa for thirty years, and I'm glad the other one is dead. They're evil … they are all evil. And brainwashed."
"Not Sirius. Not you. And surely there were others?" Lyall wasn't surprised that Andromeda couldn't quite bring herself to say Bellatrix's name. The woman had killed her daughter and thrived on terror. He had never met Narcissa Malfoy. Lyall had pretty much stayed out of other people's lives and focused heartily on his work, but that didn't mean he didn't hear things. "Evil's a strong word."
"Really?" Andromeda sounded harsh and cold, a hint of her former family, he guessed. His mistook her confidence for underlying pride. She struck him when he tried speak his defense and make his point. Lyall backed off, surprised. A shadow passed over her face, a glimmer, and Andromeda touched her face, trembling in fear. She'd scared herself. "I didn't mean it ... I am not this person ... I buried this."
Lyall recovered almost instantly. "Forgiveness is the first step to mending whatever's broken. Friends are friends, but family ... family is family."
"You don't get the right to tell me what to do as my husband," she said.
"No, but I am your friend. We are close friends, are we not? Friends and family stay. They stay the storm." Andromeda, calmer, went back into the house and walked into the bedroom. She distracted him with love making, and he decided yes, this was a crutch. The bedroom cupboard was open. They got into bed. She said Teddy was fine. He sighed, stopping her before she crossed a line. "Why do you do this?"
"Because you're my husband, and you're talented at this. If I were your first wife, I never would've left your bed." Andromeda, puzzled, lit the candle, and studied his expressionless face as she shifted on top of him.
Lyall analyzed her, resting his hands on her hips, shocked he hadn't seen this before. "Sex is your bridge back to what's normal. Your escapism. Your Newt."
"What?" Confused, she lost her passionate feeling and stroked his face.
"People block things out. For me? It's my work and Newt Scamander's creatures, and theories, and finds. I cried like a baby in front of our grandson today, by the way, and if he's smart, he's going to stow that away for later."
Lyall held up a finger, merely stating a fact. He got out of bed because he'd forgotten the Swooping Evil buried in his coat on the floor. He used his wand to craft a cage and stowed the thing in his beside table cabinet. He didn't know what to fed this thing, and although he suspected it thrived outside, he raided the food stores. He imagined a butterfly. What did they eat? Nectar, and dung, and rotting fruit. Andromeda would never keep spoiled food. Lyall grabbed an apple and sped up the process. He'd keep the Swooping Evil by the back door.
Andromeda got up and made him jump in the kitchen. "Feeding your escapism?"
"There are only three of these in the world. If I murdered it on the first night, Newt would come back to haunt me." Lyall chopped up the apple and added a few chunks of uncooked meat to the food tray and fresh water. He made a mental note to confirm this diet with Rolf in the morning.
"How does that work? The ghost thing?" Andromeda hugged him from behind snd rested her head in his back.
"Would you like the long answer or the short one?" Lyall had learned over the years that people preferred options whenever it came to theories or explanations.
"Mmmm hmmm."
"Short one. All right. Please do not bite me, Mr. Swooping Evil." Lyall and Andromeda took cautious steps back as the latch sealed itself. The winged creature expanded, adjusted to its environment and sucked its food like a vacuum. It did something with the water, not drinking, really, and zoomed back into its cocoon. "Interesting. Note to self. Swooping Evil observation journal."
"Strange."
"That doesn't blow your mind? Really?"
"I like shoes. Do you like shoes?" Andromeda took his vacant expression as good enough. She threw her arms around his neck. "You like chocolate, coffee, strong coffee and the scientific method. Apparently you and God are mates."
"Apparently," he said dejectedly, studying a bruise on her neck. "What's this?"
"Focus. We don't have to be the same person; I don't to be a Catholic scientist ghost whisperer. Lyall, focus." Andromeda locked his face in her hand.
"Ghost whisperer? Ouch." His lips moved strangely with this hold. "This is strangely enticing."
"Is it?" She locked her lips to his. Andromeda took it wherever she could get it.
"No, dearie. We're going to have to work on this. You asked about the ghosts and apparitions. Short version. Let's see." Her wanted her; he wanted her all the time, and Andromeda proved nearly impossible to resist. Lyall sorted his thoughts and organized them; he gave lectures about this at what Hope used to call "weirdo conventions". "Except in extreme cases like a Dementor's Kiss or splitting one's soul, say, the soul acts as a record. A vampire doesn't have a soul."
These were random facts, and Lyall whittled down to the point. He made some coffee and perched himself in the counter. Andromeda told him, not for the first time, that drinking coffee this late at night was a bad idea. She hid a secret sweets stash. He sighed, for she'd moved it again. He showed her the empty biscuit jar.
"You and Teddy take me a fool." Andromeda revealed nothing.
"No chocolate."
"But a werewolf has a soul?"
"Yes. But that's another story for another day. A soul ... a soul leaves the body the moment after death, sometimes during a death, and it lives on. But that person must have unfinished business ... they can't be laid to rest even though their body might be laid on holy ground. A poltergeist, Peeves, say, is a collection of energies rolled into a ball ... not a ..."
Andromeda started crying, throwing him off his train of thought. Lyall guessed what this was about, which is why he had wished to dodge the subject in the first place. She'd asked before. This was about her husband and her daughter.
"Oh, dearie," he said sympathetically. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You want people to move on. You do. Nymphadora knew you had her boy handled ... and Ted ... Remus said he was a happy man. That's good, isn't it? They are at peace. Find your peace."
"It's not fair. This is just me being stupid. I thought I was over it ...I was ... and it hit me again this afternoon when I found a box of Ted's things in the cupboard. I love you. I do, and this isn't fair ... it isn't fair to you." She took the napkins he offered her.
"I will love my wife until I die. Both of them." He brushed her hair aside and kissed her neck. "I told you it gets easier. I never said you forget. Why would you want to forget? No. They are family. A part of you."
She stroked his hair. "Grief counseling. If this apparition thing doesn't work out, you should look into that Muggle occupation."
"Newt said that once. After Hope died, if you tell anyone this I'll be extremely angry with you." Lyall shrugged, rethinking his empty words. "Remus is dead. What the hell? I bought some hard liquor and locked myself inside Hope's university office for three days. I didn't miss her funeral because I couldn't show up. I got drunk. Really drunk."
Andromeda guessed. "You slept through it."
"I may or may not have fallen asleep at her desk before I disposed of the evidence and Disapparated before my son and the university chancellor showed up?" Lyall got this out in a rush, his voice growing weaker and weaker. Andromeda laughed. "Oh, God, that does sound worse when you put it into words."
"You were that man?"
"I don't even remember what happened. It's a blur. I stole something. What was it? I don't know." Lyall gave a noncommittal sound when Andromeda told him to go let her go first. Never mind that he was older. "Sure."
Andromeda waited.
"You go first. I'll put you in the ground," said Lyall, reciting this in a bored tone, "and if we happen to die together, not that we will, but on the off chance we time our demises perfectly, I promise that I'll kill you. Something painless. I don't know. Then I'll probably die alone in an Azkaban cell because I murdered my wife. But it doesn't matter. As long as you're happy."
"Good man."
"Don't die before the boy grows up. Stick around a while." Lyall lowered her dressing gown and kissed her bare shoulder. "Nineteen's good."
"That's love. Yes." He parted her legs. Andromeda groaned as he spun her around and placed her on the counter. They both screamed as they came together and fell into a rhythm. Andromeda dug her heels into his back and slapped him when he called her a fool. He groaned, moving with her. "God."
"You don't believe in God," he said quietly. She was there, really there with him for the first time. He slowed down, taking every moment in. "I love you, dearie."
"I love you, too. Oh, my love." They kissed. She held him, muttering that Teddy would surely walk in on them one day. "Don't die. Please."
What a ridiculous request!
"I want to visit my sister." Andromeda drummed her fingers on the range and nodded to herself, convincing herself that this was the right move. "Yeah."'
"What? Now? Right now?"
Lyall checked the time. It was shortly after seven. Andromeda said yes, saying they'd drop Teddy off at Harry's. She'd send an owl, and if Harry couldn't keep the boy for the night, they'd bring him home. Andromeda told him to shower because if she didn't do this now, right now, she feared she never would. He went to get ready and grab Teddy. They woke him up because Andromeda wanted him to sleep through the night, and Harry sounded excited about a spontaneous sleepover.
They Apparated to Malfoy Manor. Lyall, who had never thought about this place, told her he felt out of place. Andromeda told him to join the club. She joked about the peacocks: Newt Scamander had made the right call with his Diricrawls. They, at least, Apparated at shit in a chicken coop. Cleanliness was next to cleanliness to a neat freak.
Lyall squeezed her hand as they approached. "Are you sure?"
"No."
"Did you send an owl ahead?"
"No. Don't look at me like that." Andromeda waited until he turned that frown upside down before she reached for the knocker. "Peacocks, really, Lucius?"
Lyall wanted to ask whether this could have been her sister's idea, but he was trying the get his mind and his body on the same page. He wished he could stay and run away at the same time. No house-elf answered the door. A tall, pale, blonde young man did. He introduced himself as Draco.
"Oh, my God. Well, this is going to sound strange." Andromeda tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, offered her hand, and froze.
"You're my aunt? Andromeda?" Draco smiled, a hint of a friendly smile, though he reveled in the awkwardness of the moment. "Well, I win that bet. You look like Bella. You're pretty. Come in."
"Thank you? Thank you." Deciding to take this as a compliment, Andromeda squeezed Lyall's hand with a death grip.
They walked through the manor and into the library. It was the largest private library Lyall had ever seen. Bookshelves went straight up to the ceiling and covered every wall. Draco left. Andromeda sat in a handsome leather chair and placed one foot behind the other like a proper lady.
"My hand, dearie." Lyall could only grin and bear it for so long, and she practically cut off his circulation as footsteps approached. He smiled at Narcissa, an elegant blonde woman with a lined face.
"Sorry." Andromeda let him go.
They stared at each other for the longest time. Lyall half-expected one of them to draw wands or Narcissa to kick them out, but neither of these things happened. Lyall pointed at the books, and Narcissa nodded, inviting him to help himself without saying anything. Lyall looked down, thinking he might've done better than a coat and jeans.
"Hello," said Narcissa. She conjured drinks and cakes and locked the library door. Lucius was off running errands. Andromeda said hello. Andromeda asked about the bet. Lyall thought he imagined a flicker of a smile cross her face; it lightened her features, but it went away as quickly as it appeared. "Draco bet me one of us would cave within seven years after the war."
Andromeda nibbled on a cake. "How much?"
"A thousand Galleons." Narcissa sat down when Lyall and Andromeda whistled and exchanged a look. Of course, to the Malfoys, this might pass as pocket money. "You couldn't wait two more years, dear?"
"We can postpone this," said Andromeda, taking the save and half-rising from her chair.
Lyall snapped a volume shut and put it back as he shook a disapproving finger at her. He found another book on alchemical properties. "Sit. Stay."
Narcissa smiled appreciatively and helped herself to a drink. Lyall imagined this would be a long night aided by alcohol. Both sisters matched each other drink for drink. They kept to the small talk and didn't scratch the surface until round three. Draco came in and placed a decanter on the table with some shot glasses, amused by his mother. He said Lucius had decided to stay with a Mr. Nott for the evening.
"Lovely. Oh, here." Narcissa tossed him a purple pouch. "That's almost all of it, I think, bi=ut I don't want to count right now. I'll give you the rest in the morning. Draco. Draco, this is your aunt."
"We've met. Good night, Mother." Draco pocketed the gold and kissed his mother on the head. He said the guest bedroom had been prepared, third on the left, nodding at Andromeda. She thanked him. "Nice meeting you. I'll ask the housekeeper to make breakfast tomorrow morning. Actually, it's today."
"Night, Draco." Andromeda giggled when he rolled his eyes and called her by her name. He left. "He's a nice boy."
"Isn't he? He looks like me. Actually, he looks a lot like Lucius, but what the hell? You. New husband." Narcissa snapped her fingers at Lyall. Andromeda and Narcissa had moved over to the comfortable couch and left the drinks behind. "Why aren't you drinking? Life is better with drinking."
"Drinking." Andromeda waved her empty shot glass. Narcissa asked for Lyall's name for at least the third time that night. "It's Lyall. I told you already."
Narcissa swore right, left, and centre this was a lie. "You did not. You did?"
"Yes. Lyall? The werewolf's father?" Andromeda waved away her sister's confusion and ignored Narcissa when she said it was strange for a woman, even a widow, to marry her daughter's father-in-law. "Yes. You know what's strange? An arranged marriage."
"I love Lucius." Narcissa flushed with color, getting angry.
"Oh, that's good thing. Lyall, I was set to marry the other Lestrange brother when I was thirteen. They set that marriage in motion early," said Andromeda, giggling at the very prospect. "We would've wed shortly after I left school, and I never would have left Bellatrix's side. Can you imagine? Mrs. Lestrange!"
"No, dearie," said Lyall, thankful this had never happened.
"Oh, Lyall," said Narcissa, taking her sister's glass and her own, speaking before he had more to add. "There seems to be something wrong with this picture. These are empty."
"I see." Lyall went over to get refills and came back with three glasses of expensive wine. Whatever was in the decanter was half gone, and he didn't want a strong nightcap. "Here we go, ladies. You are drunk, dearie."
"Yes." Andromeda touched her finger to his nose. "What time is it?"
"Three-thirty." He checked his watch and sat in the oversized armchair.
Narcissa snorted when she said Andromeda was a grandmother.
"I know. Isn't that madness? Thank God Bella never had children. Can you imagine?" Narcissa looked almost on the brink of saying something, but she kept her mouth shut. She snuggled next to her sister and said it was the definitely the drink talking when Narcissa said she, Andromeda, was her favorite.
"No, no, you are. I cried when you left." Narcissa drained her glass one last time before she set it down. "You used to tell stories...and we'd go running into the sea. Remember my wedding? You said ..."
"Cissy, I wasn't around for your wedding." Andromeda set her half-empty glass on the side table; she shook her head and said it was Bellatrix. "Yeah. Not me. I sent you the ice cream maker."
"Yeah. Why? I don't even make my own sandwiches."
Lyall laughed and then apologized when the girls looked at him. He didn't doubt this assessment one bit. They had a Muggle housekeeper at the moment because Lucius wished to disassociate himself from anything having to do with the Dark Lord. She seemed like a nice lady, although she must have gotten the night off or something. Lucius hid in Malfoy Manor a lot, he gathered, and he went out only at night. They asked Lyall if they would remember this night.
"I doubt it. Let's do this, again, ladies."
Lyall offered Narcissa a hand and helped her to bed first. He had to carry Andromeda, and he shushed her as they headed upstairs. Drunk Andromeda would probably make another appearance whenever they gave this another shot. He tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. Lyall knew breakfast would be a strange affair, and at this point, he hoped it would be brunch because of the hour. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the bed and didn't move a muscle. Even if nothing happened over Sunday brunch, they had taken the first step in the right direction.