A/N NOTICE! NOTICE! I forgot to tell you, but there will be a time jump here. All the way to Harry's fifth year. So Tonks is in the Order, Voldemort's back, and the Azkaban break out has happened. Loved all your reviews, by the way! I counted, and they'll be ROUGHLY ten chapters left... Yeah, kinda sad. Definitely one of my favorite chapters...
Disclaimer: I'm sure you get it by now. If not, visit chapter one for more information.
When she reached the bathroom door, Tonks's clothes were folded nicely in a pile outside. Picking the clothes up gently, Andromeda heard a sound emitting from the room in front of her. After a moment of concentration, she realized that Dora was singing. She was singing just as Andromeda and Rabastan had in their days at Hogwarts. Fortunately for Andromeda, Ted didn't sing, he caterwauled. However, Dora could've inherited her gift of singing from herself, not Rabastan. Deep down, she desperately hoped for the latter.
Bringing the clothes to her chest, she hurried down the stairs. With a gasp of pain, Andromeda clutched her left forearm. Her stomach churned, leaving her head spinning in circles. She grasped her temples, pushing down on her forehead. Blood dripped to the floor, creating a scarlet puddle at the bottom of the steps. Her Dark Mark was bleeding. From her experience of last year, she knew their Dark Marks didn't bleed when the Dark Lord summoned his followers. Tears blurred her vision terribly, and she apparated on the spot.
Like an animal just caught in the jaws of a predator, screaming not of just fear, but of pain and loss of all that could have been. A shriek so primitive that it was non-human – it could have come from any animal in the jaws of death…Unfortunately, it was herself. Clutching her right side, she felt blood oozing freely out of an open wound. With one last breath, she lost consciousness.
"No! No! Narcissa! Get me more of that Dittany. There's not enough!" A worried voice spoke as Andromeda felt a cold cloth stroke her fevered forehead. She moaned loudly and opened her eyes. Her vision was awfully blurred, not able to make out whether it was a man or woman leaning over her. "Andromeda? Can you hear me?" A woman. She nodded slowly.
"How dare you apparate in such a condition! You knew you would splinch yourself! You were already hurt in the first place!" Her mother.
"Here! This is all I've got left, I fear." From the tone of the woman's voice, she appeared a bit frantic.
"There's going to be a bit of a pinch, Andromeda." She felt her mother's hands rub against her bare side, and she clenched her teeth in pain. Letting out an anguished shriek, she glanced down at her sides. After a few moments of examining her wound, she noticed a new layer of skin re-grow over, as if it was weeks old.
Andromeda laid her head back on the cold marble floor. After a moment, she began to regain her vision, recognizing the crowd of people surrounding her. Her mother was leaning over her, fretting, with her father standing not too far behind. Narcissa mirrored Druella's expression and stood next to her husband and son, Bellatrix was sending bemused glances to her mother's face, and back down to her left forearm, where, no doubt, her Dark Mark was exposed. Rodolphus stood with his eyebrows furrowed the same way they had during Andromeda's fifth year, when Bellatrix had called him a pussy, and Rabastan stood close with an unreadable expression on his face. Countless Death Eaters with masks were around a table not too far away from where she was.
"Ironic that you chose tonight to splinch yourself, Andromeda." A high pitched voice came from the front of the room. The crowd around her stepped back, giving her a full view of The Dark Lord. "I was going to introduce you as my spy tonight," At this, Bellatrix's neck snapped so fast back to face Andromeda, she swore she heard the crack reverberate off the walls. "But you seemed to have other plans. Is there a reason you weren't focused enough?"
"My Dark Mark," She gasped. "It was bleeding." Her voice was hoarse, and her throat seemed to be in flames. Andromeda leaned back against the floor.
"Yes, that would have been my temper. It seems that Potter has blocked me from his mind, so I had called an emergency meeting." Andromeda nodded slowly. " As you are in no way, shape, or form healthy enough to attend this meeting, you may leave." He said dismissedly, taking his seat at the table once again.
"You're staying with us tonight." Druella whispered. Bellatrix and Narcissa exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously, as if understanding each other.
"You should probably Floo this time." Bellatrix chuckled sinisterly.
"Everyone, back at the table. Druella, Cygnus, do what you may."
Cygnus lifted her up, steadying her on her feet.
Three knocks resounded throughout Black Manor later that night. Skedaddle had hurried to the front door as fast as his old frail legs could take him. Upon opening the door, there were two cloaked figures, standing underneath the threshold.
"Young mistresses," Skedaddle squeaked as he bowed, "Master and Mistress Black are in the parlor accompanied by young Mistress."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow from underneath her hood. "Right," She breathed, slightly confused by his choice of wording.
"Now move." Narcissa pushed away the old house elf with one swipe of her hand, already half way to the parlor with Bellatrix at her heels. Peeking her head in, she saw her sister sleeping peacefully on the chaise lounge with her parents sitting on a couch across from her.
"You two have to explain." Bellatrix chided. Their heads shot up at her voice, looking startled.
"We've to explain nothing." Druella sniffed, facing Andromeda again.
"Sit down," Cygnus grinned at Druella's appalled expression. Taking their seats at Andromeda's feet, they looked up expectantly at their parents.
"Why didn't she tell us?" Bellatrix asked immediately.
"She was forbidden. We all were."
"Who is we?" Narcissa questioned.
"Myself, your father, Monsieur and Madame Lestrange, Rabastan, and, of course, Andromeda." Druella spoke coolly, her composure back once again.
"The child-?" Bellatrix was cut off.
"Is Pure." Cygnus finished.
"I can't believe she didn't tell us," Narcissa mumbled. "Although, I remember Rabastan saying that at his trial. You two brought it up again afterwards, I remember."
"Rabastan said what at his trial?" Bellatrix frowned.
"In a moment of absolute stupidity, he declared in front of that entire courtroom that Nymphadora was his daughter." Druella pursed her lips.
"Why didn't I know this?" Bellatrix asked, exasperated.
"You were already taken away. Shouting something or other." Cygnus mumbled.
"Now, what of the Mudblood? What's that situation?" Bellatrix questioned again.
"It was all set up. The Dark Lord needed a believable spy in the Order. It was her first mission. She was supposed to give the boy an heir, but she wasn't able to get pregnant after Nymphadora. Something to do with her becoming infertile. A bit of a downfall in the plan, but," Druella shrugged. "There was nothing she could do."
"You see, we hoped the other Lestrange wife would give birth to a son." Cygnus smiled.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes and glanced at Andromeda. She felt a swell of pride in her chest. How could Andromeda ever be a Blood-Traitor anyway? It was completely out of character for her. And to think, she had gone years with her and Narcissa showing her nothing but cruelness. They both had denied her existence, yet they were all on the same side without even knowing it.
"I'm glad to have her back, I really am," Bellatrix sighed, "But it's going to take awhile for me to warm up to her again. It's just the way it has to be. Azkaban'll do that to a person."
"Nice to know." Andromeda murmured, seemingly awake.
A/N There ya have it! Andromeda is back with her family. Now, originally, I was going to make this two chapters, but I didn't put a lot of detail in this, so I just combined them. :) By the way, I think it was about time for Andromeda to splinch. I mean, how many times has she apparated throughout the story? Face it, it was bound to happen. Please REVIEW!