Estranged | Narcissa, Andromeda & Bellatrix Black

07 | dromeda

A / N

The only time Andromeda Tonks appears in the entire HP series (shakes head).

Every time I update this, I feel the need to apologise for taking so long (again, sorry!) I spend a ridiculously long time editing and re-editing a draft until I am happy with it — I'm fussy that way.

Happy reading!

Yours always,

kit xx

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━ v i i ━

d r o m e d a

IT WAS GETTING LATE.

Her face pinched with worry, Andromeda Tonks paced the room. Wisps of hair had escaped from her bun, making her appear even more like a nervous wreck, which she undoubtedly was.

Ted sat still at the table, but Andromeda was not fooled. The muscle in his jaw ticked as obviously as the passing of time.

Time. It elapsed without a sound, yet the seconds may as well have been screams.

Caving in to anxiety, she parted the curtains (for what seemed the hundredth time) to be greeted by empty, starlit sky. Of course, she wouldn't be able to see them until they were within the radius of the protective charms, but they were taking longer than anticipated. Something must have happened.

"You think — ?"

"No." Ted's reply came too promptly, like he had read her mind. "Mad-Eye knows what he's doing."

Unconvinced, she sat next to him, and the room fell silent once more.

The blast that sounded five minutes later made her jump out of her seat. Then Ted was flinging the door open, racing out into the garden. Two figures were splayed face down in the mud.

Ted was shouting, "Who's there? Is it Potter? Are you Harry Potter?"

Andromeda caught sight of the motorbike, a wreckage half submerged in the pond, its gears caked with mud.

"They've crashed. Ted! Crashed in the garden!" she cried. They're hurt.

Andromeda pelted across the lawn towards Hagrid, who was already beginning to stand. She did her best to support him as he lumbered into the house, sitting him down in the kitchen. A red welt on his forehead was oozing blood.

Hastily summoning a tube of ointment, Andromeda distracted herself by daubing it diligently on his various cuts; Ted was tending to Harry Potter in the adjacent room.

"Harry!" Hagrid called out, refusing to stay still. "Where's Harry? Is he all righ'?"

"He's with Ted," she replied, trying to calm him when she herself was far from calm. She needed to know. "Hagrid, what happened?"

"We were ambushed." Andromeda froze. Her heart sank. "Ruddy Death Eaters and You Know Who 'imself, waitin' for us. Someone musta tipped 'em off. I though' we were goners," said Hagrid, still jittery from the ordeal.

He was there. You Know Who. He was there, ready to kill them. She felt numb — she felt like crying — every part of her wanted to cry out her daughter's name, to know that Nymphadora was safe and not dead.