13th April 1973

"You did it, Dromeda!" said Ted ecstatically as the Healer handed Andromeda her baby girl.

"Nymphadora," she whispered, as she looked at her child's face for the first time, overwhelmed with feelings. The last few hours - hell, the last few months - were a blur of pain, fear and blood, sweat and tears, but at that moment, Andromeda knew that for this child, and for the amazing man that was standing beside her, it was all worth it.

She pulled Ted down to perch on the bed next to them, and they both peered down, studying their new baby.

"She looks like you," Ted told her, beaming.

Andromeda laughed. "I think she looks more like you."

"No, she doesn't," Ted argued. "Look, she's got your nose."

"But she has your eyes!" Andromeda told him. "And your mouth!"

Then something very strange happened. Andromeda and Ted had looked away from the baby for just a few seconds, but when they looked back, instead of the usual unremarkable brown colour of newborn babies' hair, Nymphadora's hair was ginger.

They were bewildered. "Did you see that?" Andromeda demanded, waving the Healer over.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Ted.

They watched her carefully, and after a minute the colour shifted again, to blonde.

"She must be a Metamorphmagus," said the Healer, surprised.

"Oh, yeah!" In her confusion, Andromeda had forgotten such things existed. She looked puzzled. "I thought it was inherited. It's definitely not on my side of the family."

"It is, usually," the Healer said, nodding.

Ted shrugged. "Well unless I have some magical relative I've never known about, I guess she's just unusual. Unique."

Andromeda smiled. Then she suddenly flinched. Nymphadora's hair had turned black.

"What is it?" asked Ted, suddenly concerned. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. I meant... special. Any child from these two families would be."

"No, it's not that, Ted, I'm fine," she reassured him quickly. "I... someone just walked over my grave, that's all." She didn't want to put a dent in Ted's happiness. She didn't want to make him think that she wasn't happy. But the shift in Nymphadora's hair colour had just alerted Andromeda to how remarkably similar her features were to Druella's.

She snuggled up to Ted and tried not to think about her family. She had never planned for things to happen this way. She was still only nineteen; she had never planned to be a teenage mum, an outcast from her family, or have to support a child on a low income.

But as Nymphadora's hair colours became more adventurous - blue, red, purple - Andromeda knew that the child in her arms and the man beside her were all she needed. Their life could be colourful, exciting; there were no rules! Andromeda realised that she had no idea where they would be in five years' time, but instead of being apprehensive, she loved the thought of the blank expanse of space in front of her. Her, Ted and their beautiful daughter. Together at last.

A/N: Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the delay in posting this chapter - it was partly because of overwhelming amounts of work and, um, challenge deadlines... and partly because I've been procrastinating and procrastinating writing this because I DON'T WANT IT TO END! But it has to, so there you go. Sorry it's short, too. But I felt this was all I needed to say.

Anyway, HUGE thank yous to everyone who reviewed, and also kci47 for all her wonderful beta work! And, um, to J K Rowling for writing Harry Potter so I could borrow her characters ;)

Also, I have another TedAndromeda in the works (shorter than this, probably only a one-shot), so keep an eye out for that if you're interested! :D