I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
Hello! I'm back and thus we continue the posting. I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday if you ventured out. Once again, thank you again for reading and commenting, it means so much to me. Have a lovely day!
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Extended Family
Chapter 135 – Memory Lane
Takes place before chapter 115.
Ted walked into the room and looked over at his wife. "Is something wrong?"
"Hmm? Not really, why do you ask?" she asked absentmindedly.
"Because you're staring at the closet like it's done you personal wrong," Ted said, making her smile. He walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "It does look a bit full."
"We have neglected it for some time," Andromeda said, leaning into him. "I will clean it out tomorrow."
"Uh, how about this weekend? We can clean it out together."
She smiled and snorted. "I am completely capable of cleaning on my own. I am not Nymphadora."
He laughed. "Gosh, I've always wondered if she consciously makes the cleaning charms burst into flames or if it really is an accident."
"With her? Might be both honestly."
"I know you're capable, but just saying it might be more fun with us together."
She patted him on the cheek. "You need to do more things if you find cleaning fun."
"Well it's with you," he protested.
"You are terribly sweet," she smiled and kissed him. "I will be reducing the sugar in your tea because you are far too sweet."
"Why do you think I'm so sweet," he called after as she walked away.
"I can handle it," she called back.
"I know you can," Ted sighed softly to himself. He raised an eyebrow and fished for the mirror in his work briefcase. "Doesn't mean you have to on your own though."
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Andromeda reached for her mirror eagerly, smiling at the sound of something feathery headbutting something wooden. "Harry, love, how are you?"
"Hi MumAndi," Harry said warmly. "I'm okay, how about you?"
"Doing fine thank you. About to do a spot of cleaning."
"Want me to come by and help?"
"No thank you. You are minding the little ones and there will be a bit of a mess." She frowned. "Did Ted put you up to this?"
"Did Uncle Ted put me up to what?"
"You are a dreadful liar," Andromeda sniffed.
"I'm not lying," Harry argued. "I'm playing dumb."
"Clearly. No, I do not need your help nor Ted's help." She looked sternly at him,
"Fine, how about a little moral support?" He sighed at her continued look. "I swear I won't be coming over."
"Very well," she sniffed. "Do not forget that I am used to shenanigans and twisting of words."
"I know I know." Harry said. The mirror went blank, showing Andromeda's image once more. Before she could question things further, the fire in the hearth flared into life and a small form came through. "Nana!"
"Dally!" Andromeda cleaned Dahlia of soot and hugged her hard. "My goodness, what are you wearing?" she laughed.
Dahlia held her arms wide and beamed. A smock was over her clothes and she had a bandanna over her hair and one that she tugged over her mouth. "My cleaning outfit! I'm moral support!" She also brought over a small bucket with cleaning cloths, a brush, and a box within it. "Daddy also sent lunch and said we're expected for dinner."
"That boy," Andromeda huffed but smiled. "Very well then. Let's do the cleaning and get that out of the way, shall we?"
"Okay!" Dahlia followed Andromeda to the bedroom and she goggled at the closet. "It looks like mine!"
Andromeda laughed brightly. "Mine is far worse. It is much bigger than yours and we have a lot to do. Also less toys." She waved her wand and a few things began drifting out of it. "I will have to go through everything to be safe."
"Mummy and Daddy has us make piles when we clean. One for keeping, one for throwing away, and one to give out if the things are still good."
"Very clever. We shall do that too."
For the first part, things moved easily and swiftly. Andromeda was quick to decide on what to keep and what to throw away and what to donate with her belongings and she separated Ted's things for him to evaluate later. Dahlia carefully piled things in their respective piles, making sure to check with Andromeda before she moved anything.
They moved deeper and deeper into the closet, working their way through things methodically and smoothly. Dahlia opened an unmarked box and pulled out a picture frame. "Oooh, who are they?" she asked.
Andromeda took a look and stopped, looking pained.
"Nana?" Dahlia said, noticing her look. "Are you okay?"
"I am okay," Andromeda said softly. She sat on the ground and smiled when Dahlia sat on her lap, cuddling against her. "I have not seen that in some time." She sighed heavily. "That is me, just a little older than you are now."
"Really?!" Dahlia looked at the picture with wide-eyed wonder. "You've always been pretty!"
Andromeda's smile grew a little warmer. "Thank you."
"Who are those two?"
Her smile grew fainter. "Those are my sisters."
"You have sisters?!" Dahlia gasped.
"Yes. I have not spoken to either of them in some time." Andromeda coughed when Dahlia hugged her hard, burying her face in her neck. "Dally?"
"You look like you're about to cry," Dahlia sniffled. "Please don't cry."
Andromeda hugged her close, blinking furiously. "Do not be upset, Dally. I am feeling some very complicated feelings. Not all tears are bad."
"But they aren't happy tears."
"No, they are not." Andromeda sighed again. She leaned against the wall and cuddled Dahlia close. "She," she pointed at the picture, "is Narcissa, the youngest. That is Bellatrix, the second oldest."
"We're alike because I'm older than Iris," Dahlia said excitedly.
"Yes we are," Andromeda smiled.
"Why don't you talk to them anymore?" Dahlia asked.
"Oh goodness, how do I put this," Andromeda groaned. "Well, Bellatrix did something very bad and she is in Azkaban. Narcissa…well, she prefers the company of others and her own family."
"But you're sisters," Dahlia gasped.
"Sometimes, that does not mean a lot, to some people," Andromeda said sadly. "They have cause for disliking me."
"What?!" Dahlia gasped even louder.
Andromeda smiled weakly, the expression fragile and brittle. "This might not be the best time to speak about this with you. You are very young."
"AliMum said I'm very clever for my age and I understand things too much," Dahlia insisted.
"That is true," Andromeda conceded. She sighed when Dahlia clung to her and looked up at her with giant bright green eyes. "Perhaps a safer version for now." She thought for a long moment. "My childhood was very different from yours. I was raised a very different way, where kindness was weakness."
Dahlia frowned at that, mulling that over.
"I thought that was the proper way to be until I met Grandpa Teddy," Andromeda said. "I fell in love with him."
"Like Daddy and Mummy?" Dahlia asked, eyes sparkling.
Andromeda smiled. "Very much so. However, my family did not approve. They did not think him worthy and they said I either not be with him, or not be a part of their family."
"What?!" Dahlia gasped, even louder than before. "But family is important!"
"It is," Andromeda agreed. "But they chose to have it mean something else and I followed my heart. And my family never forgave me."
"That's not fair!"
"No, it is not, but that is life sometimes," Andromeda said sadly. "I have not regretted falling in love with Teddy, but I do regret what happened between me and my sisters."
"Do you miss them?" Dahlia asked sadly.
"Sometimes I do," Andromeda admitted. "Or rather, I miss how we were. We have all changed since we grew up. They are all very different now, I am different now." She sighed again. "They blamed me, for choosing my heart over my family, for making a new one."
She ran her fingers through Dahlia's hair. "But I do not regret the life I have with Teddy. Without him, I do not think I will be nearly this happy in life. I would not have had my darling daughter Nymphadora. And there is a strong chance that I would not have met Harry and everyone else."
"You wouldn't be my grandmother?!" Dahlia gasped breathlessly.
"A very real possibility," Andromeda said, shivering.
Dahlia hugged Andromeda as hard as she could, wrapping arm and leg around the older woman, burying her face into her chest. "I would be really sad!"
"As would I!" Andromeda hugged Dahlia back with desperate strength. "You are my beloved granddaughter." They stayed like that for a long time.
Dahlia wiped her eyes dry on Andromeda's robes. "I'm sorry your sisters aren't friends anymore."
"Me too."
"Do you think you could be sisters and friends again?"
"I…I do not know," Andromeda said softly.
"Maybe you could try?" Dahlia asked.
"Maybe, one day," Andromeda said. She looked questioningly as Dahlia gently untangled herself and carried the picture frame to the keep pile.
"I think you should keep it," Dahlia said.
"I think so too," Andromeda said with a sad smile. She shook her head and patted her cheeks. "Let's keep on going then, shall we?" They went back to cleaning with renewed vigor, an attempt to drive mauldin thoughts and feelings away.
"Ooh, what's this?" Dahlia asked, dragging a large sealed case out.
"Oh so that is where she has been," Andromeda said. She helped carry the case to her bed and opened it. "This is Mathilda. You must not touch her without permission, do you understand?"
"Yes Nana. Mathilda is so pretty!" Dahlia looked at the very large goblin war axe and carefully did not touch it at all.
"Yes she is. She is two centuries old, lovingly made. She is an important family artifact." Andromeda gently patted the red leather grip. "She deserves to be somewhere better than the closet. Why did I put her away in the first place? Oh right, of course, Dora."
"When she was being naughty?" Dahlia giggled.
"Dora is always naughty," Andromeda smiled. She sealed the case and slipped it under her bed. "But yes. Apparently she got into a rather large fight with someone at school and she had the idea to take Mathilda with her to settle said fight."
"That's really naughty!" Dahlia said.
"You are many years younger than her at that age and even you understand that," Andromeda sighed.
"Does Auntie Dora have a Mathilda?"
"No, but it is a family tradition so I should do something about that. I suppose I should mention it to Sirius as well, for your father."
"Will I get a Mathilda?!"
"Maybe one day! We will see when you are older."
After some more cleaning, Andromeda nodded with satisfaction. "I can see the back of the closet now, finally. I really should be doing this more often."
"This is so pretty!" Dahlia held up a pair of deep purple dress robes.
"You think so?" Andromeda smiled. "That was the fashionable back in the day. Goodness me, I have not worn those in ages. Do you like them?" She held up her wand at Dahlia's emphatic nodding. "Then I will give them to you, after shrinking them some of course. Let us see." She incanted and the dress robes slowly shrank until they looked like they would fit Dahlia.
"Let's try them on and I can make more adjustments." Andromeda helped Dahlia put on her robes. "There! Hmmm, almost a good fit. Let's do some minor alterations here and there. There we go. How do they feel?"
"I like them!" Dahlia almost tripped and fell walking out of the closet.
"Whoops! Careful there. You have to walk a little slower in them. Hold the hem out like that. There we go." She clapped her hands. "You look beautiful in them!"
Dahlia giggled with glee, twirling and looking at herself in the mirror. "I can really have them?!"
"Yes you may. In fact, I will shrink all my old dress robes for you. Heaven knows I will not wear them and they are very well made, I would hate to throw them away." Andromeda caught a leaping Dahlia and whirled her around, laughing when Dahlia kissed her several times.
"Thank you, Nana! I love you!"
"And I love you," Andromeda said, kissing her back.
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"Oh my goodness," Katie laughed when Dahlia came through the Floo, still wearing the purple dress robes. "Where did you get those?!"
"They're Nana's!" Dahlia said proudly. "I look fancy!"
"Yeah you do," Harry said admiringly. "Like a little princess."
"And we have ones for Iris too!" Dahlia held up a very small set of shrunken dress robes.
"Dahlia asked me to do that," Andromeda said with a big smile.
"Those must be the most expensive baby clothes ever," Katie said with an equally big smile. "You don't have to do that."
"I insist, they are being put to much better use this way," Andromeda said warmly.
"Well, alright then. Let's get you all fancy too," Katie said. She took the robes and Iris to the baby room with Dahlia stumbling after.
"How are you?" Harry asked quietly.
"I am fine. Did you and Ted think me so incapable?" she asked, poking Harry gently.
"No, but you're never too old to have help, or too capable," Harry said, shying away slightly.
"There is truth to that." Andromeda hugged him. "Thank you, for sending Dally."
"She insisted," he said, hugging her back. "She loves her nana."
"And I love my granddaughter." Andromeda laughed brightly when Katie and Dahlia and Iris reappeared. "Oh my goodness! She looks adorable!"
"She looks like she's from one of those really old paintings with everyone in fancy clothes," Katie laughed. She held up Iris who wriggled and gurgled happily, wearing the shrunken sapphire blue dress robes. "Aww, she wants to thank her nana," Katie smiled when Iris held her arms open and made soft noises.
Andromeda took Iris eagerly and sat on the couch, cradling the little baby. Dahlia climbed onto the couch and draped herself over Andromeda's lap.
"She looks so happy," Harry smiled, seeing them together.
"They all do," Katie smiled.
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Ghostwriter - I love DnD so this was a very indulgent chapter to write that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
odonnellzoo99 - I thought making the end of book 1 a part of the a game would be that touch of whimsy Luna would do. You totally could get back into DnD. 5th ed is a lot of fun.
Arnie1701 - She would play her own character.
alix33 - It's a fun game with the right group of people.
poka - I thought it would have that touch of dreamy silliness that Luna embodies. Glad you found it as entertaining as I did, I had my reservations but it came out rather well.
Maya Grey - Thank you for the kind words. I might explore that one day. Thank you for reading.
choquain - It was rather fourth wall wasn't it? I love it when I can get away with things like that. Thank you for reading.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - I got into Dnd in college and I played 3.5, so I based it on that because I'm still fairly familiar with that system. I might do a running series of it in this fic, it was rather fun to write.
WhatHaveIDiscovered - that is the nice thing about this fic. Hopping around makes things less bothersome in some ways and a lot harder in others, but it's still fun and works rather well. I'm glad you also think Luna would adore the gelationus cubes.