The next day, after a much lighter breakfast than the previous morning, Dora resumed her training in earnest, while careful not to push herself. She laced herself rather easily to eighteen inches, then pulled a bit harder at her laces until she was at a snug, but reasonably comfortable, seventeen and three quarters. She smiled. Feating with her mum and dad might have thrown her back a bit, but she wasn't too concerned.
After all, her waist before their feast had been at nearly seventeen, and there were still two days before her birthday.
And if she couldn't make it to seventeen and a half with ease? She also still had her other pair of dress robes, which were at eighteen inches.
"Mum? How long d'you suppose before we're back to our usual sizes?" Dora asked, sitting next to her mum on the couch. "I'm at seventeen and three quarters, now."
"You'll likely be back at seventeen and a quarter in a day or so," Andromeda answered, after studying Dora. "It usually takes me a week, as I'm rather older."
"More if you indulge after Christmas," Ted put in, with a chuckle. "There are plenty of leftovers."
"That may be part of it. Also, I'm not a teenager anymore," Andromeda laughed. "Or in my early twenties. I can only imagine what mothers of large families go through. Perhaps, they simply forgo serious waist training until they believe that they're finished. Oh," she added quickly, "they still lace up. Not wearing anything would be indecent. But there's a world of difference between taking yourself down a couple of inches and training back to under eighteen."
"But you started immediately after me, didn't you?" Dora asked, frowning a bit.
"I waited six months, and I had known at your birth that you'd be my only child." Andromeda looked wistful. "I'd wanted to give you at least one brother or sister, only it took too much of a toll on my body."
Dora swallowed hard. Her mother hadn't been in any danger of dying after Dora's birth, but the combination of Dora's metamorphagus powers and Andromeda being born into a very long line of pure blood relatives had, somehow, drained her ability to have more children. Not that they hadn't tried, and as far as Dora knew, there hadn't been any miscarriages. There just hadn't been any result from-well, from that.
"I'd have liked to have a younger sister," Dora admitted, "but I also don't mind having you and Dad all to myself."
Ted put an arm around Dora. "There are advantages to being an only child. Advantages, also, to not being an only child. You get away with more mischief."
Andromeda playfully swatted at her husband. "I misspoke. I have two children, it seems."
Dora chewed on her lip before asking her question. "Did they say that it was definitely because of my metamorphagus ability? Why you couldn't have more kids?"
"I rather think it's from too much intermarriage," Ted volunteered. "Muggles have birth defects from too much close marriage. Queen Victoria married her cousin, and there was trouble with at least one of her children, if memory serves me right. All of that can be fixed by magic. You never see a witch or wizard with a clubbed foot or extra fingers. Cancer and the like is extremely rare, too, and never in pure blood families. But Squibs are generally found in pure blood families, and that's a type of birth defect. Only being able to have one or two children could be another."
Andromeda laughed-a bit bitterly. "And, goodness knows, my family is certainly closely connected to other wizarding ones. My mother and father claimed that the Blacks were the roots of the pure blood wizarding tree."
"Do you think that I will only be able to have one kid?" Dora asked, after some reflection.
"It's possible," Andromeda admitted, gently, "but as you're a half blood, I don't think you have as much to worry about as if you were pure blood."
"You might be Dora Crabbe instead of Dora Tonks," Ted put in, with a mischievous smile. "Dromeda's mum was very much in favor of the two families joining together, never mind that no one has much in the way of brains."
"Not that this was of any concern to my mother. As far as she was concerned, the more stupid the husband, the more power held by his wife. Especially one with a tiny waist," Andromeda added, with a wink. "My mother certainly suffered for her thirteen inch waist, but she had final say when it came to any family decisions. All she had to do when my father voiced any dissent was place her hands on her waist and walk close enough for him to encircle it. Well, he immediately complied to her wishes!" She chuckled at the memory.
"She's not wrong on the waist front. But you were gorgeous everywhere else. Still are!" As he spoke, he encircled his hands around her waist, and lifted Andromeda so she was sitting in his lap. She playfully batted a hand at him, but giggled, and did not remove his hands.
In fact, she placed hers on top of her husband's, rather securing them.
Dora grinned, too, but another thought overtook her. "Wasn't he one of You Know Who's followers?"
"Rumored followers," Andromeda corrected. "He's not in Azkaban. Not the it speaks much about his innocence."
"Dromeda's convinced that as many as half of the supporters in Azkaban, including many who died from the effects of insanity, were not truly guilty. The Imperious Curse, you know. And there are plenty of guilty ones walking the streets, free as a bird," Ted explained. "I don't know about the numbers, but I agree with the sentiment."
"That's a bit scary to think about," Dora said, with a bit of a tremor.
Andromeda put an arm around her shoulder. "They won't try anything now that he's gone. Not enough reason to, honey."
Dora nodded.
"On a lighter note, kiddo, do you have any sweethearts?"
"Dad!" Dora protested.
Andromeda laughed. "It was only your first dance. How did the preparations go? I know you were comfortable, but were the other girls?"
"Oh yes. No one wanted to be uncomfortable, so we trained our waists until we felt at ease with our measurements the Wednesday before, and sent word to the house elves. It was quite easy to get everyone ready. We were rather organized," Dora explained. "Do you remember how yours tended to go?"
Andromeda smiled. "Our first year was the most difficult, nearly dreadful at times, but we learned from our mistakes. We alternated between tightening our laces and the other preparations. Hairstyles, a small amount of makeup for those permitted to wear it, charming our dance shoes, all that sort of thing. And there were at least a few dances each year, so we were experts by our seventh year. How did you girls manage with the makeup and hair?"
"We laced up first, and then worked on each other's hair. A few girls also wore makeup, but I didn't," Dora added, quickly.
Makeup wasn't forbidden, but Dora had never felt the desire to use it.
"Your mum wore her hair in a very similar style as you did at her first dance," Ted said, removing one hand from his wife's waist to stroke Dora's hair. She leaned into the touch. "I remember it exactly."
Andromeda smiled. "Braids were the height of fashion back then. They've come back, I see. For awhile, it was loops."
"Never did see the appeal, there," Ted interjected.
"Oh, fashion can be rather odd. Back when my mother was young, bangs were the rage. Grandmother forbade it, so she cut them herself, while at school. My, did she pay for it afterwards, when she went home for the summer holidays! Grandmother singed off that hair entirely, and I do mean singed. Then, Mother also received a week in her punishment corset, without respites for bathing. Laced down from her usual fourteen inches to thirteen! She recounted that she could barely walk upright by the end of the second day, because she couldn't manage more than the smallest amounts of food without it coming up again, and let me tell you, it takes all of your breath to remove your food in that way." Andromeda shuddered. "When she was finally released, fourteen inches must have felt loose to Mother." Andromeda shook her head. "Well, Mother didn't alter her appearance without clear permission after that."
"Your grandmother sounds terrible," Dora murmured.
"Well, things were different back then. And my mother was extremely proud of her thirteen inch waist, so she likely felt it was worth it." Still, Andromeda shook her head. "Now, tell us more about your dance, love!"
"It was great!" Dora began, turning away from thoughts of singed hair and tortuous corsets. "We weren't sure if the boys our year would want to, but at least half of them did. I knew all of the steps, and didn't stomp on anyone's foot, not once!"
"I knew the lessons would pay off. That's lovely!" Andromeda praised.
"Are you going to see anyone?" Ted asked, with a half smile. "Any sweethearts we should know about?"
"Dad! I am now even fourteen!" Dora protested.
"You will be in a couple of days, and fourteen isn't too young to begin seeing young men." Andromeda smiled over her daughter's head at her husband. "I was fifteen when I began seeing your father."
"Privately, under the guise of tutoring," Ted added.
"But didn't anyone see anything, and report back to your family?"
Dora couldn't imagine this sort of secret staying that way.
"Bella was nearly three years older than me, and two years ahead. By the time we had become to see each other in earnest, she was more concerned with NEWTs and her life after school. She was hardly tracking my every move. Now, Cissy..." Andromeda shrugged. "She had begun to see Lucius in her third year, of course, so she had plenty to occupy her, there. She knew we spent a bit of time together to study, and Narcissa was disapproving of our friendship, but she was younger, and I don't think she believed I would go against my family."
"It's also not terribly uncommon for Black males to date females who aren't pure blood, as long as they avoid anything that can lead to a child," Ted added. "Because illegitimate children are bad enough, let alone someone who's not pure blood."
Yes, that rather made sense. She knew their world was far more traditional than the one of her muggle cousins.
"And, of course, we never went past kissing before marriage," her mum added.
"Sometimes, you barely had the breath for that," Ted mused.
Andromeda blushed. "You were a very good kisser. Still are."
"Mum!" Dora protested, staring at the floor.
"You do know that's at least part of how you came to be, right, honey?" Ted teased.
"I'm trying to forget about that," she half grumbled, to the chuckles of her parents.
Andromeda pulled her closer. "Better that you focus on school over boys, at least until you finish with your OWLs."
"That's my plan," Dora promised.
"Now, tell us more about the dance, if you like," she coaxed. "I promise, we won't tease you."
Dora nestled against her mum, who had begun to card her hair, and described the evening.
"It sounds like you had a lovely time," Andromeda said, when Dora had finished. "Both Norman and Charlie seem like very nice boys. Especially Charlie. Very thoughtful."
"It was a bit awkward, since we weren't seeing each other," Dora noted, "but I sort of understood his reasoning."
"Have you spoken much before?" Andromeda asked.
"Not very much. We have Herbology with the Gryffindor house, only we mostly work with our own houses in the greenhouses," she explained. "There's no animosity, though."
"He noticed you, though." Andromeda continued to card her hair.
"He noticed my waist," Dora countered.
"You're lovely beyond your waist. And not just when you're dolled up, although when I saw the pictures, I could have sworn I was looking at a younger version of myself." Andromeda hugged her closer.
"I did feel very pretty, then," Dora admitted, almost shyly.
"You were more than pretty. You always are, sweetheart," Andromeda told her, gently holding her face so she was looking into her daughter's eyes. "I'm not just saying that because I'm your mum."
Dora blushed. "Thanks, Mummy."
Author's note:
I usually update on a weekly basis, but I've rather taken a break with working on this fic. Not permanently, but the renewed interest in a fandom of my formative "tween" years has sparked a desire to write fanfiction for that.
I've also been rather disappointed in the reception of the latest chapters. I don't expect comments or kudos on EVERY chapter, but if you're reading and enjoying this, they do mean a lot, and help me to develop my storyline. Going a few weeks without any sort of feedback is rather disheartening for an author. So, please, if you're still reading, know that I value what you have to say.
Thank you.