Arcturus and Melania appeared at the home of Ted and Andromeda Tonks. "I wonder what she wants to talk about with us," Melania said curiously as they walked up to the front door. Arcturus knocked.
"I have no idea," he responded. Only a few seconds later, Andromeda opened the door, with Nymphadora in her arms.
"Grandmother, Grandfather, I am glad you're here," Andromeda said with a smile. "Come in!" She led the way inside. "Tea?" she asked.
"That would be lovely, thank you," Melania said. Andromeda poured them some tea. "So, what do you need to talk to us about?" Melania asked. "Is everything alright? If you need a babysitter, we can take care of Dora."
Andromeda laughed. "No, that's not what I wanted to talk to you both about, though I will keep that in mind for the future. No, what I want to talk about is Orion."
"Orion?" Arcturus asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. "What about him?"
"I think you already knew I was meeting with him on a regular basis for a while now," Andromeda began. When Arcturus and Melania nodded in confirmation, she continued. "Well, I've been kind of, shall we say, doing mind healing sessions with him for a while," she said.
"But Andromeda, you're not a mind healer, you're just a regular healer," Melania said, confusion clear in her tone.
"Yes, that is correct, but come on. Can you see Orion speaking to a stranger?" she asked.
"No way," Melania said immediately.
"Absolutely not," Arcturus responded. "He would fight tooth and nail about it, too. He probably would not see one no matter what."
"Exactly," Andromeda said with a laugh. "Now, what I'm about to tell you, he did give me permission to share this with you both, but he doesn't want anyone else knowing."
"Understood," Arcturus said. "Not a word will be said to anyone else."
"Good," Andromeda said. "So, after Orion left the family, he and Walburga were homeless until Voldemort allowed them to live in a Muggle's home after the family were murdered. Walburga started hurting Orion because she no longer had Sirius, Regulus, or Kreacher to torture. He was also dragged to the Death Eater meetings, which he was very uncomfortable with. During one of the meetings, he was lost in thought, and Voldemort got very angry, and he told Walburga to do whatever she wanted with him. She hurt him so badly, that he had to Apparate himself out of there and he appeared at St. Mungo's, which is where I found him."
"Oh my..." Melania trailed off.
"So that's how he ended up there," Arcturus said. "I had a feeling something like that must have happened for him to go to St. Mungo's."
"Yes, and of course, he wanted to leave right away," Andromeda said with a smile.
"Of course he did," Arcturus said. "He's a Black. Blacks will do ANYTHING to get out of the hospital."
Andromeda laughed. "Yes, that's true," she agreed. "Anyway, while I will not go into what exactly we talked about, because that's his story to tell, not mine, he did agree, after some convincing, to let me meet with him regularly to work through some things. We've been meeting since. I know you already knew that I was meeting with him, because I mentioned that when I was at St. Mungo's after having Dora. But now you know more of the story of how that happened."
"It is safe to assume, then, that the information you asked me to get for you regarding pure-blood families was for Orion?" Arcturus asked.
"Yes, you assume correctly," Andromeda confirmed. "He's still working on viewing Muggle-borns the way we do, but it's a work in progress."
"We tried to teach him that, but he listened to some of the other family members and the people he met at Hogwarts instead," Melania stated.
"I know. He told me," Andromeda said quietly. "We've been working through that, but I will say, perhaps it would have been helpful to tell him WHY the way you were teaching him was the right way, instead of just expecting him to follow your lead." She held up a hand before they could say anything. "Just something to think about," she said. "It's hard to know what could have prevented him from following people like Walburga, but your approach could have helped. Who knows. We can't change the past. All we can do is reflect, and move forward."
"Thank you for that honest feedback, Andromeda," Arcturus said after a pause.
Andromeda nodded. "Now, I asked Orion if he'd be willing to meet with any of his family again, other than me, of course," she continued. "He was hesitant, but he said he might be willing to meet with you two. But no one else, at least not yet."
"He might be willing to meet with us?" Melania asked, surprised and slightly hopeful.
"Yes," Andromeda confirmed. "If he agrees to meet with you two, would you do it?"
"Of course!" Melania said immediately, unable to hold in her excitement.
"Yes, I would be happy to meet with him," Arcturus added, but more composed than Melania.
"Alright, I'll talk to him," Andromeda said.
"Just a moment," Arcturus cut in. "Where does he stay now? I am guessing he is no longer with Walburga, since she didn't seem to know where he was when the Death Eaters attacked over the holidays?"
"I cannot disclose his location to you, because he's his own secret-keeper," Andromeda said, knowing they would understand what she meant. "But I can assure you he is no longer with Walburga. He seems to be a little happier without her. Of course, he's technically still married to her, but he pretends he's not."
"Hmm," Arcturus said thoughtfully. "It's easy enough to break the marriage contract. If he wants that, I can make it happen."
"You'll have to ask him if or when you meet with him," Andromeda said. "Either way, if we do the meeting, I will be there as well, just in case."
"We understand," Melania said. "Just let us know what he says."
"We'll respect whatever decision he makes," Arcturus added.
Before leaving, Melania held Nymphadora for a few minutes. "If you ever do need someone to watch her for whatever reason, just owl us," she offered.
"Thank you, Grandmother. I'll definitely keep that in mind," Andromeda said gratefully. Melania handed Dora back to Andromeda when she started wailing.
"She is as loud as Lucretia was when she was that age," Arcturus commented with a chuckle. "We shall leave you to it, then. Keep us informed about Orion."
"Alright, will do," Andromeda said, already heading out of the room to go feed Dora.
Arcturus and Melania headed out of the house. Arcturus was suddenly struck with an idea. Perhaps he should see if the portrait of his brother would be willing to talk to Sirius and Regulus. He would have to talk to the portrait when he got a chance.