A/N: This little piece is a little different than the previous ones. This one was written for The Houses Competition and it primarily features Andromeda and Teddy. It's a sad one. See summary and notes below for details:

Summary: Andromeda Tonks finds healing in the wake of her daughter's death by reflecting on the colors of the two Metamorphmagi who she raised: Nymphadora and Teddy.

Notes: mentions of canonical character death.

...

Nymphadora's favorite color had always been pink. From her earliest days, she preferred a head full of bubblegum pink hair, matching her rosy, round cheeks. As she grew up into young adulthood, her messy mop took shape until every pink hair was in its proper place. Nymphadora preferred shorter styles due to her job, but the bubblegum pink color remained. Only in death did Nymphadora's hair cease to change and she was buried with her mousy brown locks, as unnatural a sight as Andromeda Tonks having to bury her 25 year old daughter mere weeks after the arrival of her only grandson, Teddy.

Andromeda would've given anything to see the pink head of hair again.

The pink of Nymphadora's infancy was replaced by Teddy's turquoise. Blissfully unaware that he had been orphaned, Teddy preferred bright turquoise for his happy early childhood days. Like Nymphadora's steady pink, Teddy's turquoise became the new normal for the child in Andromeda's care.

Though they had usual daily shades, mother and son alike shifted their hair color according to their moods. When Nymphadora was angry, her fiery red hair indicated her displeasure. Teddy, however, only liked red hair when he was with the Weasleys. His angriest shade was a stormy gray. When Nymphadora was scared or anxious, her hair became silver. When Teddy was afraid or worried, his hair became white. Nymphadora's hunger was announced by a burnt orange, while Teddy's was shown through a lime green.

Their shades rarely overlapped, except in the latest hours of night, when they fell into a deep slumber.

Midnight blue was the Metamorphmagis' unconscious, sleepy hue. When Nymphadora drifted off to sleep as a child, her hair deepened gradually until it became a midnight blue. In her earliest days of infancy, the hue brought Andromeda immense relief, knowing her daughter was resting soundly in her cot.

Like mother, like son, thought Andromeda, as she gazed down at Teddy asleep in the same cot Nymphadora had once occupied. Teddy's hair shifted steadily from its turquoise to a midnight blue as he fell asleep.

It had been months since Nymphadora was buried and the daily pain of missing her never went away. These moments, late at night, when a midnight-blue-haired infant lay in her arms, Andromeda couldn't help the tears that fell onto her cheeks.

Teddy Lupin, while so like his late father, Remus, in his shyness and calm temperament, had his mother's face. Teddy's button nose, round, rosy cheeks, and dark, twinkling eyes were all his mother's. His face would be heart-shaped, his lips full and bowed, and his cheekbones high, all like Nymphadora's.

When Teddy drifted off to sleep and his hair turned midnight blue, Andromeda had to remind herself she was holding her grandson. She had to remind herself that the baby in the cot was her grandson, not her daughter. Teddy Lupin was a different child altogether, and he needed her as much as she needed him.

It was easier during the day, when Teddy babbled happily while playing with his toys. His turquoise head of hair would bend over to play with his colorful wooden blocks, stacking them and knocking them over in delight.

Nymphadora never cared for wooden blocks; she preferred toys that moved, made sound, or were enchanted to play music. Teddy was partial to the simpler pastimes. He liked basic, stuffed toys and ordinary wooden blocks. He was a calm, even-tempered baby, while Nymphadora had been a chaotic, but happy blur of color and giggles. The two Metamorphmagi differed in personality and color during the day, but at night, they were alike.

Nymphadora's midnight blue became Teddy's midnight blue. At first, it had been a happy coincidence. In the few weeks Nymphadora and Remus had to get to know their son, they'd been delighted to see that Teddy embraced the same midnight blue for his sleep.

In the weeks that followed their deaths, however, it was a nightmare for Andromeda to see that midnight blue. More than once, Andromeda hoped she'd gone back in time, regressed over twenty years and any given moment, her husband would pop in to see her holding their daughter, marveling at the miracle they'd created together.

Ted never came.

Morning followed the midnight blue hue and Teddy's turquoise returned, announcing himself very clearly as Andromeda's living grandson, rather than her deceased daughter. Andromeda was alone, save for the turquoise-haired infant who relied on her for all his needs.

In time, Andromeda stopped fearing the night. Teddy's sleepy, midnight blue became a soft reminder of who she'd lost and what had been left behind. Nymphadora was gone, along with her pink, but her son survived. Teddy was the light at the end of the tunnel; he was the hope and motivation that kept Andromeda going in the dark years after Nymphadora's death.

As Teddy grew, the midnight blue of his slumber never went away. It became a permanent sign that Nymphadora was alive and well in her son. Though Teddy was very much his own person and undoubtedly his father's son in personality, Andromeda grew over time to recognize she hadn't lost her daughter forever.

And when little Teddy Lupin was ultimately sorted into Hufflepuff House, surprising even Andromeda, she smiled to herself, thinking that the Hufflepuff dormitories would see another midnight-blue-haired Metamorphmagus sleeping within.

Nymphadora's legacy lived on through her son, and Andromeda couldn't be prouder.