Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. I recently made the switch from a laptop to a desktop PC and it took a while to get settled in.
This is it, the last chapter of To Carry Our Memories. I hope you enjoy it and I hope it gives you something more than mere entertainment too. That said, I would never have gotten even this far if it were not for the support of many people over on the Harry/Fleur Discord server, the link to which will be at the end along with a fanfic recommendation. Thanks to DaveAthenai, Charlennette, and x102reddragon in particular for inspiring me and encouraging me to write these stories. If you enjoy the story please leave a comment telling me what you think worked and what didn't, your feedback is crucial in helping me to get better as an author.
To Carry Our Memories:
Chapter Four
The tinny whistle of the kettle brought Andromeda out of her thoughts. She hadn't been sleeping well since the argument and here she was again, well past two in the morning, making a cup of White Tea to settle herself.
"He deserves a part of that legacy, I thought you understood that…"
She grimaced, setting the mug down on the table. She knew why she couldn't sleep of course, how could she not, but it did nothing to help; understanding the problem wasn't the same as being able to fix it.
"I am not the one trying to take away someone's son…"
It had been a week since she'd last spoken with Harry and Fleur, a week since she said all those horrible things. Her jaw clenched and her hand curled into a fist in anger. Andromeda knew she couldn't keep Teddy away from the world forever, knew that he would be going away to school for ten months out of the year anyway and that it really wouldn't make a difference if he was in Scotland or some other place and yet… and yet.
"You want him to go to Beauxbatons and, now that you've got it in his head that he'll be better off there than in England, you want me to just lie down and accept your words coming out of his mouth!"
The words had been harsh then and they seemed only harsher now, especially with how they kept repeating over and over again in her head, an endless torrent of accusation.
"I'm fine."
She felt a lone tear drip from the corner of her eye, trickling down and evaporating before it could reach her cheek. She cast about desperately for some diversion, anything she could find to occupy her thoughts and drown out the choir of condemnation that the sound of silence had and always would bring, Mea Culpa, but there was nothing. The grandfather clock kept ticking, the forest cicadas outside the window kept buzzing, and the muggle electric fan kept swirling the air around her in a persistent, mechanical breeze. There was no saviour, no blessed deliverer to release her from the confines of her mind. There was only the chime of the third hour in the drawing-room, and then quiet once again. Her hand gripped the mug of tea so tight she thought it might shatter, careless of the way the heat etched its way second by second into her skin. There was nothing, only the quiet to swallow her. She wanted to scream.
She didn't.
~0~
"Gran?"
"Yes, Teddy."
"What if I don't fit in at Hogwarts?"
Andromeda's hand froze on the spatula for the merest instant before she returned to stirring the kippers around in the pan. She could see Teddy sitting at the table in the reflection of the window, he wasn't looking at her.
"I'm sure you don't need to worry about that, dear. Everyone has a place at Hogwarts, it's just a matter of finding it."
There was a pause, and she waited for his reaction as if it were the verdict in her trial.
"What if I can't find it, or what if it takes me years to find it?"
He was looking at her now, staring up at the back of her head with a pleading expression and she could see the doubt in his eyes, the way he wanted to say something but sat still Her grip on the spatula was white-knuckled as she replied, "Everyone has jitters when they go to school for the first time, it's just bad luck that you have so long between your birthday and the first of September to dwell on them. But don't worry too much, once you're there it will all be fine."
Teddy opened his mouth but closed it again after a moment without saying a word. The sight hurt almost as much as the idea of losing him. Almost. With a flick of her wand, the kippers rose out of the pan to join the plate of eggs and fried tomatoes already on the table, and another flick brought the steaming teapot and pair of mugs over as well. She sat across from Teddy and served a portion onto his plate to which he responded with a mumbled thank you, but he didn't look at her. She stared at him for a moment, taking in the frustrated scrunch of his brow that was so much like Harry and the tension in his jaw that was so much like Fleur, and she couldn't ignore the whispered voice in the back of her head telling her that when Teddy needed help, she wasn't the one that he turned to.
They ate in silence.
Teddy passed her his empty plate and moved to collect the teapot and mugs while she carried the plates and utensils over to the sink. They worked together, the familiar motions of clearing up after breakfast something they had repeated hundreds of times, but though there were only scant feet between them they felt stretched to miles, and Andromeda could feel the distance growing with every passing day. He left the kitchen and she heard the sound of his footsteps going up the stairs. It hadn't been the first time he'd tried to initiate a conversation but it had been his most direct attempt, even if he hadn't stated what he was thinking outright. So far, she'd managed to deflect without being too dismissive, but each time she did so it took him longer to talk to her again.
Part of her desperately wanted him to drop it, not to speak to her about what was on his mind; the other, larger part of her was desperately afraid of exactly that happening. The moment she realized she couldn't remember when he'd last spoken to her about something that mattered would be the moment she'd know she'd lost him in a far more important way than physical separation could ever be.
She'd been lying to herself, telling herself that Teddy's absence would somehow be made more bearable by the knowledge that he was treading a path she had once herself gone down. That, by following in their footsteps, he would somehow be kept close even when he was far away. But he would still be gone. He would still leave on the train and she wouldn't see him for months at a time, just a few short weeks at Christmas and Easter, and two months in the summer. He'd be gone either way and yet the idea of him going somewhere other than Hogwarts still made her hands tremble and her heart begin to race. There was only one right answer, she knew that, but it was far from easy and choosing it meant letting him go. That was something Andromeda didn't know if she could do.
~0~
"Andie, you know aren't alone, right?"
She looked up at Ted across the library table, Transfiguration essay forgotten. Andromeda's fingers were twisted around her Slytherin tie in a nervous habit her mother had yet to cure her of and she snatched them away, ruthlessly shoving them into the pockets of her robes as she sat up straighter in the rigid chair. After a moment she relaxed slightly, the instinctive correctness just as stifling as her own thoughts.
"I know that I can't stay with them…" she said eventually, not meeting Ted's eyes. They were too kind, too understanding. She couldn't stand to look at them, not with what she was about to say.
"But?" he asked.
She tried to smile but her lips twisted into something like a grimace, he always knew what she was thinking. He was perfect, really, or at least perfect for her.
"But they're my family," she whispered, "and I can't leave them behind… Not even for you."
She closed her eyes, already hating herself for what she'd just said and steeling herself for the barrage of justified fury he would surely send her way. Andromeda could handle anger, anger was easy, it was the hurt that would follow which she didn't know if she could bear. After a moment there was a sound of rustling cloth and she opened her eyes slightly, peeking out to see Ted's reaction only to freeze in place when she saw he was gone. Her eyes snapped fully open as she whirled around in a panic to see where he was, nearly leaping from her seat.
Movement in the bottom right of her vision caught her attention and she jerked around to face it, seeing Ted kneeling in front of her and leaning back slightly with his hands raised to ward off the whipping hem of her robes that had nearly slapped him in the face. She froze, collapsing back into her seat as she recognised the look on his face. He wasn't angry, he didn't even seem surprised. It was so much worse than that.
"I won't say I'm not disappointed, because I am," he said once she had stilled, "but I accept it." He leaned forward, reaching out to take her left hand in both of his. "They're your family, I get that, and you love them even if they don't always love you back."
Silent tears began to stream down her face as Andromeda listened, feeling more and more like the scum of the earth with every passing word. She could see in his eyes just how much her decision hurt him and his acceptance and understanding were almost more than she could bear. She wished he was angry at her, she deserved that. This? She didn't deserve this.
"It's your decision," he continued, "and no one can, or should, take that away from you." He paused, waiting for her to meet his gaze before speaking. "But know this, Andromeda, I will never stop loving you. No matter what happens, no matter what you decide, I want you to know that you will not have to face it alone. I will be with you every step of the way."
Andromeda's eyes widened as she realised what he was saying. "You're staying?" she asked.
He nodded, a wry grin making a quick appearance on his lips as he tilted his head briefly to one side as if to say, "You're stuck with me." She choked back a quiet sob and sprang forward, colliding with his chest with enough force to knock them both back onto the carpeted library floor and clinging to him, burying her face in Ted's neck and holding him tight as he slowly wrapped his arms around her.
"I don't deserve you," Andromeda whispered.
"If you still think that, then clearly I haven't spent enough time telling you how lucky I am that you're with me," Ted replied, one hand rubbing the back of her neck gently.
Andromeda chuckled weakly, lifting herself up so she could look him in the eye. Her eyes flickered back and forth across his face, and he waited patiently while her mind worked furiously.
"After seventh year."
He stilled, focusing on her face intently for a moment and she suddenly felt an irrational fear that he would say no, that now she had voiced the desire it would be taken away.
"Are you sure?" he asked, tone deadly serious. He forestalled her hasty answer with a look, continuing at a measured pace that forced her to stop and think as well. "I know you hate it there, and frankly I'd prefer it if you left with me now instead of waiting another year in that hellhole, but they're still your family and I don't want you to regret this."
Her first instinct was to blurt out a yes as quickly as possible, to snatch what she wanted before it was taken away, but he'd helped her realise that wasn't the right way to do things. She stopped, took a deep breath, and forced herself to consider it. She pictured her parents, her cousins, Sirius and Regulus, and her sisters. Bellatrix's and Narcissa's faces swam through her mind's eye and she forced herself to imagine what this would mean. The betrayal on their faces gave her pause, cutting through her like a knife to the heart. It was almost enough to make her change her mind, almost.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said, heart aching with the bittersweet pain of liberation. "I can't keep living for other people, I need to do what's best for me."
Ted's serious face broke into a smile and with it, Andromeda knew she'd made the right decision.
~~~O~~~
The warm tickling on his cheek refused to go away. Teddy shrugged it off, starting to get annoyed by the stuffed dragon's attempts to comfort him. He'd tried over and over to tell Gran about what he'd decided, but each time it was like she just didn't understand what he was talking about. He'd been getting desperate, more and more direct with each attempt, but now… There was no way she'd misunderstood. She hadn't given him a chance to tell her everything, but now he wasn't so sure he wanted to. He wasn't even sure he cared what she thought anymore.
The stuffed dragon, which he'd had for as long as he could remember, climbed up on this shoulder again and tried to lift his chin with its snout. All at once, the defeat turned to anger and he snatched the toy away from him, crushing its fabric head in his clenched fist as he sprang to his feet and flung it at the wall where it bounced once and went still. Teddy froze. Its enchantments only animated it when it was near someone, but the sight of it lying there with its soft neck bent under its body was disturbing despite the knowledge that it wasn't hurt. His stomach turned and he could feel his stomach battling the heat in his chest, anger warring with guilt and shame as he tried to maintain the flagging defiance that had seemed so righteous moments before.
"Are you alright?"
Teddy spun around and saw Gran standing there looking uncertain. The door was only half-open, most of her body was still outside the room, and for a moment he considered pushing her out. To make her reap what she sowed, but he still loved her. In the end, it was hardly a contest.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
She opened the door the rest of the way but didn't enter as Teddy marched over to the small writing desk by the window and sat down, not looking at her.
"May I come in?"
He said nothing.
There was a rustle of fabric to his left and a creaking of springs behind him, and Teddy turned to see that she was sitting on the end of his bed with the stuffed dragon in hand. It was animate again.
"This was mine, a long time ago. Ted bought it for me because I couldn't bring any of my things with me when we ran away together," Gran said, smiling sadly. "Your mother liked to steal it, she'd crawl into our bed when she was little after having a bad dream and then, in the morning, she'd go back to her room. The dragon went with her every time."
The stuffed toy butted its head against her outstretched hand like a dog or cat demanding attention, then it curled up on her lap and settled to sleep. Teddy frowned, doing his utmost to ignore her.
"Teddy, I'm sorry for brushing you off earlier, I just… Is there something you want to tell me?"
He clenched his jaw. "Not really."
They sat in silence for a while and eventually Teddy's jaw unclenched, his brow unfurrowed as the muscles in his face got sore, and he leaned back in his chair as he realised how uncomfortable it was to sit rigidly straight with his head turned pointedly away to one side. Gran was brought back into his field of vision as he relaxed, and though he tried to ignore her it wasn't working. Concluding that she wasn't going to leave, he turned to look at her though he kept his face as blank as he could manage. She was sitting patiently, watching him without making any move to leave or interrupt. A short while after he met her gaze, she nodded slowly and spoke.
"When I was sixteen," she began, "your grandfather asked me to leave my family and stay with him when he saw how unhappy I was." Teddy sighed, he'd heard the story before and though he usually loved to hear any and every last tidbit of their family's past, he just wasn't in the mood right now. "I said no."
No, that wasn't right. Teddy refocused his gaze on her, wondering if he'd misheard, but her face matched the words and he realised he'd understood her perfectly.
"I thought you ran away together after your seventh year?"
She smiled and nodded. "We did, but by then I was eighteen. This was just after Halloween of my sixth year. Ted and I had known each other since our third year and started dating after Christmas in our fifth. My father learned of our acquaintance, though not our relationship, and made my summer quite difficult after that. By the time September first rolled around, I was so hurt and desperate that Ted offered to find a way for me to come and live with him."
She paused, giving him time to process what she'd said.
"Why didn't you go?"
She smiled sadly. "Because I loved my family, even if they couldn't accept me. It hurt to stay with them, but the idea of leaving hurt even more. I convinced myself that it wouldn't be too bad to stay there so long as I was still in school, that three months out of twelve wasn't too bad even if it was miserable. And…" she trailed off, suddenly looking drained. "And I didn't want to disappoint them. My sisters more than my parents, I'd all but given up on them, and aunt Walburga did her best to keep Sirius and Regulus away from me, but I had always been close with Bella and Cissy."
She went quiet again, and this time Teddy was the one waiting on her to speak.
"We cannot live our lives for the sake of others, it will destroy us if we try," she said seriously. "I tried and, in the end, all it did was hurt me. I don't want you to live that way. I want you to be happy, to find your own way and your own meaning in life."
His mouth felt dry, and there was a frustrated ache in the back of his throat. "Then why won't you listen to me?" he finally asked, voice cracking partway through.
She seemed to wither, the lines on her face that were normally barely visible wilting into deep ravines as she shrank before him, and he was struck by how old she looked for a witch less than halfway through her life. "Because I am scared to let you go," she said at last, staring at him sadly.
"Why? I mean, I'll be coming back," Teddy said after a long moment.
"I know, but you'll still be away from here."
He blinked, staring at her in confusion.
"My husband is gone, Teddy. So are my sisters, so is my daughter, and soon you'll be off to H—to school for ten months of the year and I…" she took a deep breath, meeting him with a steady gaze. "I will be alone."
"I—Gran, I don't…" He trailed off, staring helplessly at her. "I don't know what to say."
"I do, Teddy." She smiled wanly. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
He started, having almost forgotten why he'd been angry in the first place. Andromeda nodded encouragingly, and he steeled himself to speak. "I… I want to go to Beauxbatons."
Andromeda closed her eyes and nodded. "Then that is where you will go."
Hearing her assent, seeing the sad acceptance on her face, feeling the weight lift off his shoulders and the sudden elation of knowing that he was going to be able to decide his own future, it was all too much. He darted forward and flung his arms around her, the stuffed dragon squished between them almost as warm and reassuring as she was, and hugged her fiercely. She rocked back, surprised, and let out a startled laugh. Teddy laughed too, smiling wide even though she couldn't see it while his eyes brimmed with tears. He couldn't have put words to what he felt if he tried, but there was something he needed to say. Thankfully, someone else had given him the right words.
"I want you to know that you will not have to face it alone."
"Gran," said Teddy, pulling back and looking her in the eye, "I promise I won't leave you alone."
She smiled gently, tears gathering in her eyes as she sniffed and dabbed at the corners with her sleeves.
"I'll come back for every holiday," he continued. "And I'll write to you every day, I won't forget about you or leave you. Not ever," he promised.
She chuckled weakly, taking his left hand in both of hers. "I think one letter a week will be enough, I can live with that. But, thank you, Teddy."
She leaned forward and kissed him on his forehead, squeezing his hand for emphasis as she looked him in the eye.
"Thank you."
~~~O~~~
"You want him to go to Beauxbatons and, now that you've got it in his head that he'll be better off there than in England, you want me to just lie down and accept your words coming out of his mouth!"
"—leur? Are you listening?"
Her head jolted up in a start, and Fleur smiled sheepishly at Harry across the kitchen table.
"I am sorry, could you repeat that?"
Harry nodded, eyeing her with some concern. "I asked what you think about me going to see Andie."
Her face fell. "I think," she said slowly, "that Andromeda would rather be left alone at the moment, she will speak to us when she wants to." She did her best at a wry grin. "She is a rather proud woman."
He continued to study her intently, and the half-smile flowed off her face under his scrutiny. "We know she wouldn't have said all that without a reason, but without knowing what it is it's just going to keep eating away at us."
"We already know why."
"Do we?"
"Yes," she said defiantly. "She had just come back from visiting Ted's grave, she was under stress, and she wasn't expecting us to surprise her with something that serious."
"So you're saying it wasn't her fault?"
She didn't respond, knowing where this was going and what he would say if she did. It wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation.
"No matter what our circumstances we—"
"We still choose how to respond, I know," she said with a bite in her voice. "You have told me before."
"And yet you still insist on blaming yourself for the actions of others," he said in defeat. "You're too hard on yourself, you always have been."
"Am I? I can think of several occasions, recent ones, where my lack of introspection caused us significant hardship." She stared at him, silently daring him to disagree with her.
"Yes!" He threw his hands up in frustration. "Even now you're focusing on your flaws instead of acknowledging Andie's responsibility for her part in making you feel this way. Responding to people hurting you by trying to change yourself is a quick path to insanity."
Her lip twisted sourly. "You make it sound so—" she bit back the words. She knew exactly why he was so good at letting go of other people's anger, it was because he'd had to practice it since he was one year old just to survive his relative's treatment. She knew he was right, too. She also knew she wasn't the only one refusing to face their emotions. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, consciously tensing the muscles in her body and then relaxing them.
"And what about you?" she said after a moment. "Have you fully processed everything, let go of it, and moved on, or are you distracting yourself by trying to help me?"
Harry opened his mouth, said nothing, and shut it again with a grimace. "You may have a point."
A moment passed, then two, and they let the silence hang.
"I agree," Fleur said suddenly. "About going to talk with Andromeda, that is. We need to address this for our own peace of mind, and we still need to talk to her about Teddy."
Harry sighed, running his hand through his hair as he nodded. "Well then, I guess tomorrow we'll head on over and—"
He was cut off by a soft chime, and the two of them stared at each other in confusion for a second before turning to stare up at the pantry ceiling in a line that, had there been nothing in the way, would have brought their gaze directly to the front door. The doorbell was so rarely used that Fleur had almost forgotten what it sounded like, and a moment passed in which they both wondered if they had somehow imagined its sound. The chime came again, dispelling any doubts they had, and they both rose to their feet. Fleur glanced out the kitchen window, it was just before dawn and she couldn't imagine who would be calling at that hour, James and Isabelle weren't even awake yet. The stairs, the dining room, and the hallway slid past in a haze of cautious confusion, and Fleur looked over at Harry to see his eyes already meeting hers, an eyebrow raised quizzically. She shrugged and he stepped forward, opening the door just enough to stand in the opening and look outside.
A heartbeat passed in which she felt her hand itch to hold her wand, and then Harry stepped back and let the door swing fully open to reveal Andromeda standing on the veranda, back straight and hands clasped stiffly at her waist. For a moment they stared at each other, neither Fleur nor Harry nor Andromeda speaking, then Andromeda raised one hand and gestured awkwardly inside. Fleur and Harry glanced at each other, then Harry stood aside and Fleur turned to lead her in.
~0~
They turned away from the living room and headed back downstairs into the kitchen. By the time they had settled at the worktable and Harry had brewed a small pot of tea, the silence had settled awkwardly between them. Fleur tried to say something but it all felt off, as if the familiar groove of their company had been somehow altered and she could no longer slide smoothly into it. Andromeda held her mug in both hands in front of her, clutching it like a lifeline.
"I've come to apologise," Andromeda started. "What you told me caught me off guard and I did not respond to it well, but that is not an excuse for what I said. Harry, I know that you understand what Teddy has gone through, often far better than me. And Fleur, I know that you have never done anything but what you thought was best for Teddy, you both have."
She paused, staring out the window at the brightening horizon and not meeting their gaze.
"I know that words are not enough, even when it was my words that caused this," she said eventually, "but I need you to know that I am sorry."
Harry glanced at her meaningfully and she nodded slightly. "Andromeda, we won't pretend that what you said didn't hurt us, because it did, but we love you," Fleur said, leaning forward to take Andromeda's left hand in both of hers, "And, as you once told me, the greatest power of love is to forgive."
Andromeda looked down briefly and she raised her right hand to dab at the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
"Yes, I did tell you that," she said, squaring her shoulders with a sigh and meeting their gazes. "And thank you, I promise not to waste it."
She looked as if a great weight had been lifted from her, and Fleur could feel it as well.
"Andie," Harry said quietly, "we do forgive you, but we also need to know. What happened, why did you say those things?"
For a moment Andromeda hesitated, indecision flashing through her eyes, and then she told them everything. By the time she had finished they had all drank their tea and Harry had brewed a second pot, and Fleur had to wipe away her gathering tears.
"Andromeda, I am so sorry. We had no idea…" Fleur said after a while, feeling guilty all over again at how she had missed her friend's suffering.
"I didn't want you to know, I thought I could deal with it on my own and you were embarking on the great adventure of parenthood." Andromeda smiled sadly, "I didn't want the past dragging you down."
"You are hardly a relic, Andie," Harry countered. "You're as present and real as we are, and you deserve to be happy."
"If you say so," she replied, but Fleur could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't believe him.
"I spoke with Teddy," Andromeda said after a moment. "He-he wants to go to Beauxbatons."
Fleur looked at Harry, uncertain if they should accept the deflection or press the matter.
"Did he say why?" Harry asked after a long moment.
"He did his best, from what I understand it simply speaks to him more." She paused, hesitating before turning to face Fleur directly. "It seems that your stories left quite an impact on him."
"You've been filling his head with stories, is that—"
Fleur twitched, dismissing the memory with effort and focusing instead on what Andromeda had just said.
"So it had nothing to do with the past at all?" Harry said, sounding surprised.
Andromeda shook her head. "So it seems." She paused, and Fleur could see a thought forming behind her eyes. "Sometimes, I think we as parents place too high an emphasis on our sins."
Fleur felt the disbelief on her face, and Andromeda nodded at her seriously. "We mustn't pass on our mistakes of course, and we must do our best to improve beyond our flaws for both their sake and our own, but they are not us and we are not them."
She leaned back in her seat, taking a long sip of her tea and speaking quietly as if she had in part forgotten they were there.
"Their paths are their own, their mistakes and their achievements their own as well. Legacies are to be remembered but they cannot be lived, and it is just as wrong to deny them their sorrows as their joys."
She went quiet, and Fleur and Harry glanced at each other uncertainly.
"Andie?" Harry said.
She looked up with a start. "Sorry, I was lost in thought." She sat up straight and cleared her throat, "As I was saying, Teddy has asked to go to Beauxbatons. I have agreed to support him and I hope you will do the same."
They glanced at each other. "It is unexpected," Fleur began, still looking at Harry, "but his happiness is what matters in the end. We will support him no matter what."
Harry nodded slowly. "If Beauxbatons is where he wants to be, then Beauxbatons is where he'll go."
~0~
Unlike Hogwarts, whose term began on the first of September without fail, the year at Beauxbatons began on the first Sunday, this year on the third of the month, to give the students a full day to get settled in, receive their schedules, and reunite with old friends. Also unlike Hogwarts, students attending Beauxbatons were not all transported to the school in a single group.
Fleur and Harry stood at the edge of the clearing on either side of Andromeda watching as Teddy waited for his turn to climb aboard the flying carriage sitting in the middle of the hidden grove. That carriage, and others like it, would gather students from all across France and deliver them to the palace of Beauxbatons hidden above a forest high in the Pyrenees. Even from so far away, they could still see Teddy's smile as he chattered animatedly with another student just ahead of him, and he practically leapt up the steps when he was called forward to climb inside. He paused on the top step, turning back towards the group of parents in which Fleur, Andromeda, and Harry stood, and he waved excitedly in farewell. Fleur heard Andromeda sniff quietly as she raised a hand in parting, and Fleur could see shining tracks running down her cheeks even as she smiled back at Teddy.
"Are you alright?" Fleur whispered, smiling and waving as Teddy met her gaze.
"No," Andromeda replied as Harry waved at Teddy in turn. "But I will be."
Fleur turned to look at her, seeing that her smile was genuine even as tears streamed silently down her face.
"So long as he's happy, I will find a way."
AN: This one was a bit tougher than usual due to not using a strict outline. The non-structured writing style has been fun to grapple with and it gave me the room to organically shift focus a bit, adding a lot more to the characterization of Andromeda in particular. I've even got a tasteful subversion or two in there as well, a nice little contained twist that adds to the narrative and plays with expectations without going full M. Knight Shyamalan. That said when I hit moments of writer's block it was much harder to move forward. The lack of a detailed plan made it so I couldn't just grit my teeth and get to the next bit, knowing I could come back and rework things a bit later on because there was no "next bit" to get to. Thank you for reading. If you liked the story then please leave a comment telling me what you think worked and what didn't, your feedback is crucial to helping me improve as an author and is always appreciated.
The link to the Harry/Fleur discord server can be found on my profile.
Fanfic Recommendation: Dancing in the Rain by Arms of Atlas.