Ted Tonks: Father
As a child, Ted wore a smile and wide eyes with his heart on his sleeve. His childhood had been happy, for the most part, filled with a mother's love and quiet Christmases. Even at Hogwarts, the optimism that had characterised his younger years stayed with him, even as the darkness began to loom on the horizon. It was there he met Andy, a girl, then, intoxicated by his smile and jealous of his freedom. Her childhood had been categorised by limitations and complexity as much as his had been carefree and easy. She envigorated him while he excited her with promises of a life undreamt of.
When the words, "I love you," had first been whispered, it was by a warm summer's sunset with the taste of a sweet French wine fresh on their lips. It was when promises were easy to make, when happiness was in the air and the future was a distant thought until the morning. When that morning came, their love was no less pronounced. Andy was seventeen when she made the most important decision of her life, and nineteen when she made it known.
The fall out with her family was to be expected, but it was heartbreaking, all the same. Andy had accepted that it would happen, logically there was no other conclusion. Still, when her sister slammed the door in her face for the last time, the ricochet shattered through her walls, breaking her soul into more pieces than she'd realised was possible. Ted did the only thing he could as he bent down beside her crumpled form to pick up the parts, helping her put them back together a little more each day. The cracks always showed, but it was through the cracks that the brilliant light of her being shone.
Marriage came first, as it often did. A small winter gathering with their friends and his family. They tried not to make the absence of her relatives too obvious, both so that no questions were asked and Andy was able to enjoy the day. The news of a child came next. Andy told him one autumn afternoon, and the happy man was suddenly ecstatic. He'd loved Andy with all of his heart, and worried that a child could come between them. When he looked into the blue eyes of his newborn daughter, and she looked back at him, he saw that his worries were unfounded. Rather than take away from the love he already had for his wife, the little girl merely caused his heart to swell wide and grow fat with affection for his family.
By the time Nymphadora was one, the couple had come to understand how much of a blessing it was that there was two of them. It didn't matter how little she slept during the night, she still required constant vigilance throughout the day. It was late afternoon after the third bad night in a row, and as Andy yawned for the hundredth time that day beside him, Ted reached out and placed an arm around her with a sigh. Nymphadora had caught a cold, and they had guessed from the amount of screaming she was doing that she wasn't particularly enjoying it.
"You're exhausted, love, he told his wife, concern creeping into the lines around his eyes.
"I know, but I'll be fine," Andy brushed off his concern with her characteristic pride.
"You'll make yourself ill if you keep on like this, go and have a lie down," he told his wife softly.
"But Nymphadora-"
"Is my daughter, too," he cut in with a smile. "Go on, I'll wake you up at four."
Andy glanced at the clock, as if to check how far off that was. Stifling another yawn, she nodded.
"Okay, thank you. Wake me if you need anything, or if she gets worse," she asked of him as she began to stand.
"Or if anything that could possible be conceived as a negative thing chances to happen. I know, I will," he smiled at her, and she smiled back, knowing how protective her motherly love could be.
Despite the little girl's ability to alter her appearance with very little effort, this was rare at her current age, and her most common appearance was how she looked now, with the light brown hair and dark eyes of her mother.
Ted loved that she looked like her mother. It meant that when he looked into the little girl's eyes, he saw his whole life shining back at him, his wife and daughter. She was smiling at him now, gargling away as she wriggled in his arms. He was glad the potion they'd been given by the Healers worked, at least for a few hours They'd been told she would be better by tomorrow, and they were relieved.
Her face began to scrunch up, wrinkles appearing in her smooth skin and Ted's eyebrows darted together in concern. Was something wrong? When she sneezed, Ted jumped back a little in surprise and then smiled. The little girl's appearance had changed with the sneeze, and she now looked up at him with green eyes, his eyes, while her hair had taken on the dark blonde of the Tonks family. As much as he loved that Nymphadora took after Andy, he couldn't deny right now that he was looking into the face of his daughter.