The 'I' in Family

Chapter 3: The First Letter

Author's note: For this chapter, I'll be making some references to a one-shot I wrote called "The Story of Chiara Lobosco," which you can find on FFN under my account cgolnertheniffler. This chapter will make ten times more sense if you read that, so it's highly recommended. Otherwise, enjoy!

July 8, 1998

Teddy was sleeping again. Harry had left the house around an hour before, having come for a visit, and now Teddy had finally fallen back asleep for his afternoon nap.

Now that she was alone in the house, it gave her the opportunity to continue clearing out Remus and Dora's old bedroom.

She couldn't bring herself to step in the room for several weeks afterward the battle. Now, however, it had been a full year since the wedding and a little more than two months since they had died, so Andromeda felt she was ready to step back in.

As she stepped into the room, at first glance Andromeda could immediately tell that her daughter had been pacing before she left. She must have bumped into the dresser, because a few books and other things were on the floor next to it.

Andromeda looked around the room again. It was dusty (but Andromeda had expected that) and the bed was somewhat made. Looking back at the fallen things next to the dresser, Andromeda suddenly noticed that a box labeled "letters" was sitting near the dresser, in between it and the desk. Andromeda frowned, picked up the box, and set it on the desk, opening it.

Inside, there was again a lot of dust, and many letters. Andromeda pulled out the stack and looked at them.

The letters spanned from the early July of 1994 to late June of 1995. Flipping through them, Andromeda found that Sirius had stayed in contact with Remus while the former had been on the run. They were short and, most likely in an attempt not to reveal information, were very discreet. Some of the letters from Sirius were only making sure Remus was okay. Others, from Remus, were trying to keep track of where Sirius had been seen.

Then there was one more, dating to April 28th, 1998.

Andromeda frowned as she saw who Remus was writing to. It was still Sirius... but this was 1998.

Still frowning, Andromeda opened the letter. It was much longer than the others. Slowly, she read over the letter.

Dear Sirius,

I'm still not sure why exactly I'm writing this, especially because it's the middle of the night, but I guess it's partially because I can't sleep and partially because I'm getting over-excited. I know you're never going to see this (unless you and James are creepily stalking me as ghosts, which I highly doubt, though it does sound like something you would do) but I might as well write it.

You probably noticed that I sound a little bit... well, over-excited, like I said before. It's a long story. Very long. I guess I could sugarcoat it, but I don't really want to.

Let's start at the beginning, which you already know, back when I met Tonks in the summer of 1995. Fast-forward a year later, and... well. You know what happens then. A few days after you died, Tonks came over to me and officially told me how she felt. And here's where I'm the idiot. Yes, I'm the idiot for most of this story. I want you to know that now before you finish this.

Anyway. By then, I was in pieces. God, I still am. I don't think I'm ever not going to be in pieces. Tonks had been injured at the battle (do you remember? Tonks fell unconscious because of your idiot cousin just before she went after you) so she was in St. Mungo's for a while, and then she came to find me. I was pretty relieved to find her, but then the ugly monster called grief decided to come along. That, mixed in with the fact that there's already a monster inside of me did not help a lot.