"Ahhh."

There really was nothing better than flopping down in a sofa in a clean living room with a mug of freshly made tea and after having her stomach filled with good food. Yes, she was at her parents' house. What of it? It was a Sunday. She had promised them Sunday dinners. Nothing to do with the fact that she somehow managed to miss her parents more in these past two months than she had her entire time at Hogwarts. And no. She wasn't going to analyse those feelings. No, thank you. She was just going to be grateful that she was home and had one of the best Sunday dinners ever. And now she got to sit and chill and not think about the mess in her apartment and the fact that she somehow got a bright orange stain on her Trainee Auror robes that she didn't know how it got there nor did she know how to remove it. Normal soap and water didn't work. And neither did trying to scrape it off. It was pretty stuck there. But that was a problem for this evening. Or maybe even tomorrow morning. Right now, she was just going to enjoy her parents' company and relax.

She hadn't really got a chance to do that recently. Her free time at home being taken up by studying of all things. She did not want to be the Trainee that he everyone back from progressing past NEWT stuff. She wasn't! So, studying every evening it was. Even if it meant endless hours of impossibly dry theory. It would all be worth it in the end, she always told herself. It would. It would. It would. Because all of this studying, all of these dry facts meant that she was going to become an Auror. A good one too with any luck.

"Sit up straight, Nymphadora."

Tonks didn't even try to hide the eye roll from her mother. Honestly, she was an adult and she had left school. Surely that meant that she shouldn't get told off for her posture anymore? And who cared if she slouched? She was sitting on the sofa for crying out loud! Yet, one look from her mother and she was indeed sitting up straight. Stupid mothers and their stupid, terrifying glares. It wasn't fair. She shouldn't be affected by it anymore.

"Hmpf," she grumbled and now it was Andromeda's turn to roll her eyes.

Ted, as usual, was chuckling in the background at their antics, knowing better than to get involved but finding it amusing all the same.

"You will thank me later, Nymphadora, for the lack of any back problems ate in life."

"Slouching on the sofa is not going to give me back problems."

"It can contribute to them," Ted told her unhelpfully.

Tonks glared at him. Her dad was supposed to be on her side, wasn't he?

"And, more importantly, slouching is not an appropriate way to sit," Andromeda said with a sniff.

And there went another eye roll. Honestly, it wasn't like anyone else could see her slouching around. And it wasn't like this position hurt or anything.

"Who cares," she muttered both teenage rebellion she hadn't quite shrugged off yet.

Well, she may be an adult but she was only eighteen. Still a teenager! Not that her mother particularly liked that.

"I do," Andromeda said sharply.

You know what? It wasn't worth the argument. Not over something as silly as this. So, she straightened up even more than she originally had. Her mother was never going to change. She may have escaped from the Black family and all of their prejudices but there were other things that she'd never shake off. Like insisting on impossibly good posture. And manners.

"What really happened when you two got married?" Tonks asked suddenly.

It had been mulling around in her head for a week or so now, or was it two weeks? Ever since the cat had been let out of the bag with her fellow Trainees. She couldn't help it, they seemed to know more about it than she did. Or was it just all gossip? It probably was all gossip; people never got the facts straight. But still, she had to ask. It didn't sit right with her that other people knew more about her parents than she did. Even if the facts were all wrong.

Andromeda had met out a little gasp and Ted had become very, very still. Tonks could feel them trying to communicate silently over her head like she was some sort of oblivious child.

"I'm right here, you know," she said irritably.

But they ignored her.

"We should tell her," Andromeda said quietly.

Ted bit his lip. "Really?"

Her mother sighed and ran a hand down her face in an uncharacteristic gesture.

"Yes."

"But-"

"She isn't a child anymore, Ted."

Tonks had to bite her lip to stop jerseys from agreeing. There was a time and a place and this wasn't it.

Ted sighed heavily and nodded and Tonks leaned forward.

"It was hard," Andromeda said without any preamble. "We were a scandal. An enormous one. I don't think you realise how important the Black Family was at that time but they were one of the top families for a reason. And I was one of its daughters. Its next one to be married off."

"But that didn't happen."

"No. Kt didn't. Because I couldn't. I... I couldn't."

Ted put his arms around his wife and a look of distress crossed her face.

"We'd loved each other for fifth year," Ted took up the story.

"Sixth," Andromeda said weakly.

"Fifth but we were both idiots and didn't label it until the next year," Ted continued. "And we'd kept it a secret. We had to."

"It wasn't safe for either of us to be public," Andromeda continued. "And, technically, I was betrothed. To someone three years older. Rabastian Lestrange."

"The Death Eater?" Tonks couldn't help but gasp.

"He wasn't then. Or maybe he was." Andromeda said in a distracted tone. "Either way, we had to keep our relationship a secret. You do not want to know what the Black family did to muggles and Muggleborns for fun."

Tonks shuddered alongside her dad. No. As adult as she thought she was, that was something she'd never be old enough to hear, thank you very much. She'd heard stories but she suspected they were downplayed.

"And we were going to run away as soon as we left school and get married," Ted continued, looking carefully at his wife. "But things had to change."

"I don't know why but my wedding to Lestrange was moved to Easter of our seventh year," Andromeda added. "I don't know if they had suspicions or if he was growing impatient but that was the new plan."

"What about your NEWTs?" Tonks asked.

Andromeda snorted. "These were deemed important for me," she said in a strained tone. "A housewife of an important pureblood family didn't need NEWTs. I was only allowed to because Professor Slughorn insisted I did. Said it would be a waste otherwise. Somehow, my parents agreed."

"But our plans had to be brought forward," Ted continued. "We had to get married. And fast. Magically. So that no one could dispute it."

"I managed to escape my house," Andromeda said. "And meet your father where we had planned. We had everything planned out but we just had to move it all up. We were pretty much on the run for four days before we got married at the Ministry."

"And then after as well," Ted said, looking very tired. "We eventually had to go to Dumbledore after our marriage made the newspapers. To try and figure out how to be safe. Or reconcile with her family."

Andromeda snorted indefinitely. "Which didn't happen. Actually, we had to leave Hogwarts for our own safety. Too many purebloods there that could organise an "accident"."

Tonks had known that neither of her parents had graduated Hogwarts officially - taking their NEWTs at the Ministry. But somehow, she never thought of their relationship and subsequent marriage as being the reason behind it. She had never thought of wondering why.

Wow. Just wow. She knew they were leaving more personal things out but she didn't want to pry into those. They were theirs and theirs alone. The information that they had just given her was more than enough for her to try and digest.

"You never told me all this," she couldn't help but say petulantly.

"You never asked," Ted replied.

Tonks frowned. "But I did. That first time people figured out who I was way back at the start of first year. I wrote and asked why people were being so awful."

"We answered that." Andromeda reminded her.

"With facts I already knew!"

All that letter she had got in response had said that people were still amazed that someone from the Black family actually married a muggleborn, of all things.

"Yes, well," Andromeda said, slightly flustered. "You were only eleven."

"And now I'm older," Tonks said. "The same age as the two of you when-"

"- everything happened," Andromeda finished for her, looking thoughtful.

That was such an odd thought. Here she was, an adult, not in Hogwarts anymore, a job that she really wanted to do and all of that with her family's complete support. Yet, when her parents were her age, they had none of this. They were fighting to be together. They had something to prove.

And they proved everyone wrong, Tonks realised. A thousand times over. She couldn't help but look at her parents with newfound respect.

"True love conquers all," Ted said teasingly with a soppy look on his face.

Andromeda snorted. "Hard work more like." But then her face softened. "But love as well."

And then her parents decided to seal those statements with a kiss. Tonks didn't care if she was an adult now or what, that was still something she didn't want to see.

"Get a room!"