A/N:

I wrote this in a sleep induced haze last night. Enjoy the minimal editing (aka: all mistakes are mine)

Summary: Andromeda takes little Teddy Lupin to the zoo. They take a look at the animals together

Words: 1038

Prompts:

Ministry of Magic Discord Group: Who Dunnit?

Suspect: Andromeda

Crime Scene: Zoo

"Lions and Tigers and Wolves, Oh My"

As Andromeda wheeled the pram around the Muggle filled area, she was glad she had charmed her grandson Teddy's hair to stay brown. She could already tell that the two year old was excited to see all of the animals at the London Zoo, and knew he would have been cycling hair colors in an instant.

Just like his mother, Andromeda reflected fondly.

A group of school children sprinted past, chattering happily each with an ice cream cone in hand. A harried looking adult hurried after them, obviously an unwitting chaperone in their escapades. Teddy joined in making noise as the children passed by, one of them taking notice and waving to the boy, who grinned toothily at him.

"Teddy, are you ready to go see the tigers?" Andromeda asked, kneeling next to the pram that held the excitable toddler. Teddy screeched in delight, causing Andromeda to inwardly sigh.

No matter how much she talked with him and tried to teach him, Teddy refused to talk. He could understand and comprehend her, and he could vocalize, but as he neared his third birthday, he still hadn't managed to say his first word, and she worried. Hermione had suggested she take Teddy to a Muggle speech therapist, to get him to be more verbal, or if all else failed, teach him sign language so he could find his own words in his own time. Other kids his age had between 50 to 100 words already, but Teddy? Not even one yet.

She wheeled the pram down the zoo paths, weaving in and out of the midday crowd. Upon reaching the tiger dens, Teddy clapped in delight in seeing the tigers amble about. One launched itself into the small pool of water available to it, and her grandson screeched in happiness.

Andromeda, however, felt sick to her stomach. A great predator like this, trapped in a tiny cell, pacing its enclosure and occasionally interacting with others as they stopped to watch. It felt eerily similar to her Pureblooded upbringing that she had escaped. Always paraded in front of her father's friends and their sons, never knowing which one would offer for her hand when she was old enough.

It's what attracted her to the Muggleborn Hufflepuff, Ted Tonks, whom she eventually eloped with.

He never saw her as a commodity to be bought. She was a person to him, someone with ideas and inspirations and goals. He had set her free, and she would forever be grateful for that.

Teddy roaring in the pram drew Andromeda out of her thoughts to find her grandson and the tiger roaring at each other, much to the amusement of the other parents around her.

At an unspoken signal, the tiger clambered to its feet and headed into its den. It was most likely lunchtime.

"Shall we go see the next exhibit?" Andromeda asked. Teddy screeched in agreement and they continued into the next area.

This one had Timber Wolves imported from the Americas, a full pack of them. They had a much larger enclosure than the bears, with thickly wooded areas and plenty of spaces for them to hide from view.

A pack of disappointed school children left the viewing area, and an adult chaperone idly commented to Andromeda as if to spare her the time of waiting, "It doesn't seem like the wolves are out today. Must be too hot for them." The adult chaperone hurried off to catch up with her changes before they got out of sight.

Sighing, Andromeda knelt by the stroller again. "Well little man? What do you say? Should we wait for the wolves to come out?" Teddy babbled something that she still couldn't understand, but his happy expression could easily be interpreted as willingness to wait. Pulling a snack out of her handbag, she opened up the bag of crackers and set them in front of him, nudging his water cup closer. Setting up the pram so it faced the viewing window to the wolf enclosure, Andromeda took a seat on the bench, her foot idly reaching out to lock the stroller wheels in place.

She couldn't help but gaze at her grandson, feeling homesick for her family that she had lost in the war. Sirius, her beloved Ted, her only daughter Nymphadora, her son-in-law Remus, whom she knew of from Hogwarts but knew only a brief time before he was taken away from his only son.

Besides her sister and nephew, her and Teddy were the only ones left of the mighty Black Family, and it made her heart ache. Where had they gone wrong?

Teddy suddenly threw his snack on the ground, startling Andromeda out of her thoughts once again. With a light admonishing on her lips, she bent down to pick up the crackers before they could get crushed underfoot. When she straightened, Andromeda froze for a moment, the breath leaving her body as she locked eyes with one of the Timber Wolves that had walked up to the glass to inspect them.

Teddy howled again, in a near perfect imitation of a werewolf.

As she straightened, the wolf behind the glass joined in, its own howl somber. Mournful, even.

"Wolf!" Teddy suddenly said. Andromeda whipped her head around to stare at her grandson in shock.

"Teddy, what did you say?" she asked desperately, hope blossoming in her chest.

"Wolf! Dada!" he repeated while pointing to the wolf and he howled again, the wolf continuing its own howl. Andromeda swept the toddler up and clutched him tightly in her arms, the floor crackers easily forgotten.

He was alright. Teddy was alright. Everything…everything would be alright. And as Teddy continued to howl with the wolf, much to the amusement of the other people in the waiting area, Andromeda only felt relief and overwhelming love for her grandson.

"That's right, love," she whispered into his shaggy brown hair. "That's a wolf. It's kind of like your Dada." The two then spent the next forty minutes at the wolf enclosure, Teddy babbling at the wolf behind the glass and it patiently interacting with him. And when they finally left the zoo hours later, Andromeda felt lighter than she had the past two and a half years.