porcelain, ivory, steel

It had been purely reactionary for Narcissa to stop the young girl who was clearly running away. A mother’s instinct that had her hand reaching out for the girl’s arm, and then crouching down to the child’s level, asking her where her mother was. There was a moment where Narcissa’s brow furrowed as she realized the girl looked familiar before the voice calling out for her confirmed it. Nymphadora. Andromeda.

Narcissa’s eyes closed for a moment against the sudden onslaught of emotions. Releasing the girl, she stood up, back straight and stiff. She was not ready for this, not ready to see her sister. She had thought at one time that it would be the three Black girls against the world. That they could conquer anything and anyone. As they grew older, though, that expectation had shifted, finally shattered by Andromeda’s leaving. Without a backward glance. With barely a word. 

She still felt the keen sting of betrayal, the hurt that had run through her when she realized Andromeda was not coming back. Her older sister had chosen a man over her and had not even tried to take Narcissa with her. Would she have gone? That was debatable. But Narcissa would have liked to be given the choice, or at least some consideration. As it stood, her sister had gone on to make a new family. Narcissa had kept a subtle eye on Andromeda, making sure she was updated of everything going on with her sister. 

The bitter, childish, petty part of Narcissa had wanted Andromeda to fail. It had spitefully hoped that Andromeda’s life was not the fairy tale she seemed to think it would be when she left. It was disappointed when Andromeda did not only survive cutting ties with her family but seemed to thrive. And now she had a daughter. 

“Andromeda,” she said, nodding, more than ready to make her exit.

Andromeda had done a lot of things she regretted in her life. Too many things to name. But if she had the opportunity to change one thing it would be how her relationship with Narcissa had ended. Bellatrix had been a lost cause in Andromeda's eyes long before she'd actually left but Narcissa? She had been a friend, a confidant and the only person she felt she could trust for years. Narcissa had always deserved more than she'd gotten. Parents who neglected her and a sister who abandoned her, there wasn't a day that went past that Andromeda didn't regret the fact that she'd torn a hole in their family, so wide that she'd had to leave Narcissa behind entirely.

“Narcissa.” She started. Tentative. Tender. It was the first time she’d spoken to her sister in years. She could see that Narcissa wanted to leave, hadn’t wanted to speak to her in the first place. Andromeda wanted more than anything to speak to her baby sister, just sit down and catch up with her. Just talk like they used to, but if Narcissa had wanted Andromeda in her life, wouldn’t she have made that clear by now? They’d been drifting apart before Andromeda had left and she was already trying to leave now, she clearly wanted nothing to do with her. Andromeda had made her choices and these were the consequences, she had to accept that.

Narcissa was beginning to leave when Nymphadora spoke up. “Mummy, do you know her?” It was an innocent question but it broke Andromeda’s heart. Her daughter didn’t recognize her own aunt. She didn’t know how to answer Dora’s question. Andromeda had never told Dora about her family, the young girl didn’t even know Andromeda had a family of her own. Come to think of it, Andromeda herself wasn’t even sure of it these days. As far as she knew, Andromeda was nothing to the noble house of Black. “Uh... Yes, Dora. I know her very well.” 

He didn’t look at her with disgust, something that resembled more a faint disdain. He couldn’t help it. Disguising his feelings had never been something Rabastan was very good at and it hadn’t improved with age. It wasn’t as though he disliked Andromeda, but he did dislike that she left her sisters. He resented his own brother more than he cared to admit, but he couldn’t imagine the gaping hole that would be left if Rod suddenly decided to abandon him. He wasn’t sure they, especially Narcissa, deserved that.

Tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks, Rab gave a slow, understanding nod. He was relieved to hear she was happy. That was all he wanted for everyone really, no matter the side they were on. Perhaps because he struggled to find it so much for himself. “ Sounds like you have everything worked out. I’m happy for you, really. ” he gave a meek smile, lightly wondering whether he should be honest with her about his own situation. In the end, he decided honesty might bear too heavy a weight for a light catch up. “ Things are great. Never better. I went pro for some time with a big quidditch team, but decided I wanted to pursue other options. ” 

It wasn’t all a lie. He did go pro and he did pursue other options, though not out of choice. Rab wondered if she kept up with any news about him or the others, read any short articles about them in stupid tabloid magazines as she was flicking through aimlessly. He refused to believe Andromeda would’ve never been tempted to see what people they knew had been up to, that she stopped caring as soon as she left, or never cared at all.

“Yeah.” She began, although the joy in her voice was quickly fading. “Yeah. I do.” She was mentally kicking herself. Rabastan didn’t seem angry. He was smiling and congratulating her but something about it felt hollow. How naive had she been to think that anyone from her old world would want to hear about her new life. Rabastan was certainly one of the kinder people from that Pureblood world, someone who she’d never felt she’d had to lie to, but he was still a Lestrange. Still a firm supporter of the views that people like her parents held. How could she have ever thought he’d be happy to hear about her idyllic life as the wife of a muggleborn. 

She nodded along to his story. Trying to seem as supportive as possible despite the aching feeling in her gut. As he spoke, little things came back to her. Small things she’d read here and there when the names of old friends and family had been too great a temptation to resist on the days she’d failed to convince herself that she’d left that life behind. “Oh right, I think I saw something about that in The Prophet.” She couldn’t remember the exact details, she hadn’t wanted to wallow in her ingrained need to know what was happening in everyone else’s life. “So what are you doing now? It must be pretty exciting if you left pro quidditch for it.”

She had met Frank here after work.  He was a sucker for kitschy things like this, and she had always had a hard time saying no to something he was excited about – but she was tired.  Work was hard.  Trying not to lose control of the fragile stability she had just managed to grasp was hard.  Everything was hard – but she was trying, and Mary said that was the most important thing.  And she trusted Mary.

She smiled a genuine smile though, when she saw Andromeda – she hadn’t seen her older friend in quite some time, and it was good to see a familiar face every now and then.  “Andromeda!” She cheered,greeting her with a quick hug.  “Neville and Dora are probably wreaking havoc on the poor babysitters, oh no.  It’s nice to get away, it is.  How is yours?”

Alice had always been one of those people with an infectious smile. When Alice was smiling so was Andromeda, and it hit her when Alice first greeted her that Andromeda hadn’t seen her smiling in so long. She felt a pang of guilt knowing that she was responsible for that. Maybe not directly, but she knew without a doubt that her family was responsible for it. A person she had once loved, still loved, had tried to kill Alice. 

And so the grin that Alice greeted her with felt important. It felt like a promise of hope. Andromeda made a silent vow to herself that she would do everything in her power to keep Alice smiling. “I shudder to think of what the pair of them have gotten up to in there.” Andromeda replied with amusement. “Best not to think about it and just enjoy the night, I think.”

“Kids these days. No respect for their elders.” He kept a mock serious tone, but at the same time he knew that he felt the same way. The worries he had held before Harry had been born had immediately quadrupled, leaving him pretty convinced that he was already ending up with grey hair. His son was his life, just like he knew that Nymphadora was Andromeda’s. “I’m glad someone feels the same way. It makes me wonder how my parents managed it without just using a permanent sticking charm and sticking me up on the wall somewhere.” 

Andromeda signaled her agreement with an exasperated sigh. It was a noise she’d heard from her own mother’s lips countless times. The thought frightened her a little, Andromeda had sworn to herself she would be a better mother to Nymphadora than Druella had ever been to her and her sisters. “My mother came dangerously close to doing just that too many times to count.” Andromeda confided, then as she felt a pang of guilt hurriedly continued. “Of course I can’t exactly blame her. There were three of us and we could be rather unruly.” Andromeda smiled, although there was a hint of sadness in her expression. A sadness that was always present whenever she talked about her old life.

She turned at the sound of her name, glancing up from hands that she had been wrapping in tape. She was due to give some kind of martial arts demonstration, and she was thinking about demonstrating on whatever bloke kept making comments from the other side of the room. She had ears, but maybe he thought that women couldn’t quite process whispers. He was sorely mistaken. 

“I’m really hoping they aren’t, or I’m not staying.” She said easily with a crinkle of her nose, scanning the room with eagle-eyed precision in search of the one thing that would keep her from wholly losing her temper. She wouldn’t say that she had a problem, when it came to drinking, but she could admit that it took the edge off her irritations quite well. “Who has a dry event anyway, that should be illegal if I’m being honest.”

Dramatics and hyperbole were her forte, and as she continued to wrap her hands she kept searching. “They may be in another room. I say we go search for it. Can’t possibly focus on anything else if I’m going to be faced with a whole night of this.” 

Andromeda grinned when she heard Addison agreeing with her. She said a silent Thank Merlin that she hadn’t suddenly turned into some lonely alcoholic. “The free alcohol was half the reason I agreed to do this in the first place.” Of course getting paid was a big reason, but it hadn’t been enough to convince Andromeda to face a room full of people who would do nothing but judge her. Defending her life choices wasn’t exactly what Andy would call a productive work day. 

“Well this is a Ministry event. We could probably find one or two people who agree and get them on board. Hashtag ban dry events, or something. We could go viral.” Andromeda said, laughing. She wondered if perhaps it was the best idea to be drinking when she was working, especially if she would have to do some serious healing, but then she caught sight of a man who had been an old friend of her father’s, some Pureblood family patriarch, glaring in her direction. Screw it, she thought. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.” She said, already marching off in the direction of the next room.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really.” He knew firsthand that it took a village to raise a child, and he was lucky that Harry had yet to do the same thing. Kids were quick, one blink and then they were off down the street with no regard for the safety or well-being of themselves or their parents blood pressure. “They’re too quick to keep an eye on sometimes. It’s like they know the second you take your eyes off of them.”

“I feel like I’ve aged about thirty years since having Dora.” Andromeda agreed with a sigh. With all the times Nymphadora had nearly given her a heart attack, Dromeda felt like an elderly lady instead of a woman in her mid-twenties. It almost made her understand her mother and father’s parenting technique of ‘pay someone else to do it for me’. “I feel like I’m looking after an Olympic athlete instead of my daughter sometimes.”

Location: Unusual Defense Methods Conference

Availability: @addisonkettleburn

Andromeda had been quite apprehensive when she’d been asked to attend the Ministry conference. In case things get... out of hand, the woman she’d spoken to had said. There were too many people who worked for the Ministry that Andromeda had no desire to run into, much less be healing and what on Earth did they have planned for this conference that they needed a healer on hand?

Although she was nervous, Andromeda had never been one to let her emotions betray her. The last thing she wanted was some stuffy pureblood seeing her and telling her parents that they’d seen her and she’d looked miserable. Not that she still cared what her parents thought of her. She didn’t care what they thought, right? That’s why she’d come here, because she wasn’t afraid of what she’d left behind.

Merlin, she needed a drink. “Addison!” She might not have been the person she was most hoping to see, but she was a friendly enough face. Someone to help distract her from her thoughts. “Is this a dry event or something? Or is the ministry too cheap to provide alcohol now?”

Location: Parents Night Out

Availability: @alicelngbtm

Like most things in her life, date night had been Ted's idea. She would normally have a thousand questions about this and that, mostly revolving around who would look after Dora, but it seemed RED had taken care of everything and so Andromeda had happily agreed.

It was the first night in Andromeda’s memory that hadn’t been consumed with worry for Dora, where she’d allowed herself to simply relax and enjoy her night. The setup seemed to be very muggle, therefore just slightly odd to her, but certainly not so much that she was enjoying in any less. Maybe it made the night better, muggle things always made Andromeda feel just a little bit closer to her husband.

Andromeda was on her way to get a refill on their snacks when she saw a familiar figure ahead of her. “Alice!” She called, hurrying to catch up with her. “I should have known you’d be here. Are you enjoying your night?”

Miriam was almost flattered that the other woman recognized her. Mouth forming into an “o”, she quickly placed her hands on her hips, a small, almost awkward, smile coming afterwards. “Ah, didn’t mean to be so harsh,” she apologized, tilting her head. “Yea, yea… I’m a Healer. Janus Thickey ward.” Her chest couldn’t help but puff out slightly at her words because this achievement was one that she would always just be so proud of. While the job made her feel trapped sometimes, Miriam did feel as though she was doing something and that was so wonderful. 

“Miriam,” she said, wiping her hand on her pants, and then sticking it out for the other woman to shake. She’d never been particularly good with first meetings, unless they were in a hospital bed and she were taking care of them. “Nice to meet ya. 

“Wow. That’s incredible.” Andromeda’s eyes were alight with excitement and fascination. “You must do some really great work.” She said eagerly. Being an untrained healer, Andromeda didn’t see very many truly exciting cases. Not that she minded, it was enough knowing that she was out there helping people in need, albeit not as much as other, real healers could. 

His eyes narrowed in scrutiny and while she might’ve looked a little tired, she still seemed to look good. Better than him anyway. He had not seen her for years, but she’d been a prominent figure in the pureblood circle at one point, how could he not recognise her? Besides, he saw both her sisters in her features, a softness not present in Bella but still looking more seasoned than Narcissa’s. He wasn’t sure how to behave around her. She had done things he wished he had the courage to do himself, proof that family wasn’t blood-related.

He had heard a while ago that she had been pregnant, but seeing the child still gave him a slight jolt. Rabastan looked around them before waving her apology off with a hand. “ It’s fine. It happens. ” He looked at the child in uncertainty then back to Andromeda. “ It’s, uh, been a while. Things… are okay? ”

She felt like she’d been holding her breaths for those first few moments. This was new ground for Andromeda. she’d had very little interaction with anyone who’d run in those pureblood circles since she’d cast herself out. She was unsure of exactly how she was meant to act. It was in moments like these Dromeda wished there was a guidebook for people like her. The Guide To Being Thrown Out Of Your Prejudiced Pureblood Family. The thought made her laugh. Maybe Sirius would co-author it with her.

There was something in Rabastan’s voice though that made Andy feel like she could breathe again. Kindness wasn’t the right word for it. Comfortableness certainly wasn’t. But he didn’t look at her the way Bellatrix and her parents had on the few occasions she’d passed by them on the streets. “Things are okay.” She said, a delighted grin breaking her feeling of discomfort. “Great. Actually.” Would he want to hear that? That her life had never been better since she’d abandoned her family. Perhaps not, but if he didn’t that was his problem to deal with. “I have my own family now and I’m uh... I’m really happy.” It was the first time she’d been able to admit that to anyone from her old life. Anyone who knew what it meant that Andromeda was happy. She was suddenly aware of a weight on her shoulders being lifted. “And how are you?”

Watching the way Andromeda interacted with Rory, despite not being completely certain she was comfortable, brought a smile to Maisie’s lips. It was hard to trust new things. Maisie knew that better than anything else. But she also believed that if any dogs would serve as a good introduction to the pet, it was her own. Hyper enough to demonstrate how fun dogs could be but also friendly and approachable. “There’s no reason to be scared s’long as you respect them and their wishes. Most dogs are friendly, even the ones that are big babies.” 

As Andromeda brought Nymphodora into the conversation, Alistair shifted, raising his head to look at the child curiously instead of waiting for commands from his master. As if a light switch had flipped, he got up of his own volition, trotted over to the toddler, and sat down in front of her, sniffing her cautiously before planting a huge kiss across her face. When Finn came over to investigate, the younger but much larger dog growled protectively, placing himself between Finn and Nymphadora. 

Maisie watched, only looking away when Andromeda asked her name, “Yeah. I’m Maisie. Ted and I knew each other back in Hogwarts. I didn’t know Alistair liked kids. She must be a good one,” Bending down, Maisie extended her hand to Nymphadora, “It’s nice to meet you, wee lassie.” 

“Right. Yeah, I think we might have met. Y’know, way back when.” Andromeda felt a twinge of sadness. Even though she and Ted were so happy together now, it still upset her to think of the long years where they’d had to hide their relationship. Andy wished she could have let Ted have the normal high school relationship he deserved. She wished it hadn’t taken her so long to be able to get to know his friends, but she could make up for lost time now, couldn’t she?

He was glad he left – he told Ted he would be right back, that he wanted to give Andromeda the chance to send him away if she wanted too.  He was glad that he was giving her the opportunity because it showed him what he needed to see, that she was genuinely willing to help.  His chest ached as he thought of the little girl in the other room, as he thought of the cousins he was putting at risk.  But he didn’t know what else to do.

He was dry now thanks to Ted’s change of clothes, but he still felt the water of the lake lapping over him.  He still felt cold.  He felt the tight grip of the Inferi as they tried to pull him under.  He felt the pulsing of the locket in his pocket.  He was lost and he didn’t know what to do.

“Everything went wrong,” he whispered, suddenly feeling like that kid again, that would chase his brother and older cousins through the endless manor.  “I don’t know… what to do.”

Andromeda watched him in silence. Communication had never been the Black family’s greatest strength and she was terrified of saying the wrong thing, asking the wrong question and somehow losing Regulus’s trust forever. With everything she’d lost already, she didn’t think she could handle that on top of it all. 

“It’s okay, Reg.” Her voice was quiet, gentle. She wrapped an arm around him, hoping the small gesture would help him forget whatever it was that had shaken him so much. She just wanted him to feel safe. “Don’t worry. It’s okay.” she repeated the words, not even sure if she believed them herself but wishing desperately that they were for her cousin’s sake. “We’ll figure it out, okay? Whatever it is.” Andy couldn’t bring herself to ask what it was that had gone wrong. She was too scared to ask him. Too scared to think of sweet, little Regulus, her baby cousin, risking her life. It made her shudder to think of it.

“Yeah. You’re Andromeda Tonks if I remember correctly.” Andromeda’d had to patch Addison up on more than one occasion, and she was grateful for the other woman. It was far less fuss to go to someone she knew, than to have to deal with all of the questions and prodding of those at St. Mungo’s who normally acted like they had never seen a witch with an injury in their lives. She didn’t like the dramatics - she preferred plain and simple. 

“This is Nymphadora, right?” She asked, spotting the girl on the other side of her mothers legs. She was so small. Maddox had been that small once, though it was hard to believe now. She was almost six - Addison didn’t know where the time had gone, and it was just as hard to believe that it had been that long since she had lost Carter. The years were passing in a blur of activity and life-threatening missions and losses, and she all of a sudden felt the weariness settle into her bones. It wouldn’t last - she’d be back on mission tonight, and she’d be back with Maddox tomorrow, and it would all push her to keep fighting.

“the one and only.” andromeda beamed at the recognition. to her memory, the last time addison had required andromeda’s attention, she’d been so badly injured that she was barely conscious. she wouldn’t have been surprised if she remembered nothing from that night at all. addison never seemed to want to stick around and chat once andromeda had her back on her feet, so she’d never really gotten to know her.

“yeah, that’s her.” she said, an affectionate pat on her daughter’s head accompanying the words. “but she’s being shy today. dora, do you want to come say hi to addison? i promise she doesn’t bite.” then she turned back to addison, a playful smile on her lips. “i hope you’re not a biter. i don’t think nymph’d ever trust me again if you were.”

Having a child himself, he knew the dangers of taking your eyes off of them for even half of a second. He was convinced that they had a radar for it - the moment they didn’t feel eyes they would take off like bats out of hell, leaving you to chase after them. He had debated putting a leash on his son, if he was being honest, and he was keeping a tight hold on him in the crowded streets when he heard a familiar voice, and saw a blur trying to take off past him. Catching her quickly with his free arm, he kneeled down to her level, waiting for Andromeda to catch up to them. “What do you think you’re doing, Nymph?” He asked, crowding her and Harry closer together to keep a hold on both of them. “Hi, ‘Dromeda.” 

“james.” the word came out as a breath of relief. she was certain there must be some God smiling down on her somewhere if dora hadn’t run into some old grumpy pureblood relation just searching for a reason to berate her. “you’re a godsend, you know.” she said warmly, wiping the thin sheen of sweat from her brow, and then scooping dora up with her free hand. 

Rabastan descended the marble steps of Gringotts, slithering a small velvet bag filled with coins into the inner pocket of his coat. He peered up at the gloomy sky in dismay as he wrapped his coat around him tighter, wondering lightly if there was anything else left for him to do before heading back to the manor. He held a certain contempt for the manor. It wasn’t his home really, it belonged to his brother and Bellatrix, and he just lived there because it seemed the right thing to do at the time. 

He was pulled from thought as he wandered through the crowds of people when he felt a thud against his leg. Looking down at the little girl, his eyes widened in surprise. Looking up, he couldn’t miss the sight of what he assumed to be the girl’s mother and upon realisation, stammered awkwardly. “ Oh–um, hellooooo… ”

“i’m so sorry.” andromeda begun apologizing, although her eyes remained focused on dora instead whoever it was who she was speaking to. as she spoke, andromeda wrapped the little girl in her arms and lifted her up, “dora can be a little-” she broke off suddenly when she came face to face with him. rabastan, her mind provided instinctively. a habit from a time when it was considered the height of impropriety not to recognize a fellow pureblood on sight. his brother was married to her sister. a sister who had cut her out of her life for embracing the one thing that had made her truly happy. she wondered if her estranged brother-in-law would begrudge her that happiness too.  merlin, would he ever recognize her? she couldn’t imagine how, her portrait had been burned from the family tree years ago and she highly doubted her family kept pictures for the sake of nostalgia. she’d given up the idea that her family missed her at all a long time ago.

“i’m sorry.” she begun again, more hesitant this time. “dora can get a little excited sometimes. she doesn’t always look where she’s going.”

andromeda kneeled at the edge of nymphadora’s bed, adoration in her eyes as she watched ted. he’d just finished telling dora the story of a sponge and a squid that lived in the ocean delivering a pizza. andromeda had a thousand questions, but it had seemingly done the trick for dora, now fast asleep in her bed. 

andromeda was getting ready for bed herself, already in her pyjamas, when there was a knock at the door. she stopped what she was doing and called out to ted, “did you invite someone over or something, babe?”. upon hearing that her husband didn’t know who was at her door any more than she did, andy snatched up her wand from the nightstand and approached the door with caution.

“reg? oh my god.” she almost didn’t recognize her cousin at first. perhaps it was because she hadn’t sen him in so long, but she was sure there was something different about him. he looked panicked in a way that andromeda had never seen before. “are you okay?” she asked, confusion, fear and worry for her baby cousin warring in her head. “c-come in.” she said finally. “tell me what’s happened.”