The 'I' in Family

Chapter 19

Author's note: I honestly have no idea when in July this could have happened, so we don't have a specific date. (Yay). But I love this chapter and it really warms my heart. It's probably one of my favorites.

July 1995

Andromeda checked her watch (the same one her parents had given to her when she turned seventeen— one of the only things Andromeda had kept from her childhood and teenage years. She'd gotten one for Ted when he turned seventeen, too, because he hadn't known about the watch tradition). It was 4:58. Dora was thirteen minutes late.

No surprise there. She'd never been the type of person to come on-time to things. Still, what with the rumors her daughter had confirmed to be true, that You-Know-Who was back and that it wasn't safe, worried her. Especially with her family's past.

Ted offered her a smile. "She'll be here soon enough, Dromeda."

Andromeda raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure she gets her terrible punctuality from you, you know."

But as soon as she said that, she heard the key in the lock, the door open, close, and then—

Crash!

"I'm okay!" came Dora's voice from the other room.

Ted laughed and Andromeda rolled her eyes as Dora walked into the dining room and sat down. "Sorry I'm late," she said. Today she had turquoise colored hair, but more greenish than blue. Her eyes were their natural pale grey, and she hadn't changed her height any time recently. She didn't do that often, but every once in a while did-- once she'd changed her height just before meeting muggle cousins, and Andromeda told her to go back to her normal height along with a lecture.

"You really need to be more careful, Nymphadora," Andromeda said. "You fall down... what? Five times a day?"

"Maybe six or seven," Dora admitted. Then her face changed to irritation. "But Mum, how many times do I have to tell you? It's either 'Dora' or 'Tonks'. Nymphadora just sounds ridiculous."

Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway, how are you? How's the new job?"

"It's good," Dora said, nodding a few times. She'd recently become the protégé of the old Auror Mad-eye Moody, the same one that had been locked in a trunk for a full school year. "Obviously Mad-eye is much more paranoid than when I first met him, back when I graduated from the Auror Academy, which is saying something, cause you remember how paranoid he is?"

Andromeda nodded. "I do."

"Yeah," Dora said. "According to this guy I met at the new job—Remus is his name— he knew him back in the first war. He was still paranoid back then, before he lost his eye. And Kingsley— you remember him, right? He's another Auror— said the same thing."

Andromeda frowned. She'd heard that name before. "Remus, you said his name was? That sounds familiar... what's his last name?"

Dora suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I, uh, don't know. It didn't come up."

Dora was a terrible liar. Andromeda raised her eyebrows.

"Fine. His last name is Lupin," she said.

No wonder she remembered it. "Dora, honey, I don't want you to spend time with him," Andromeda said, remembering him in his first year.

"Mum!" Dora snapped. "If this is because of the werewolf thing-"

"Werewolf?" Ted interrupted.

Both Andromeda and Dora ignored him. "It's not that," Andromeda said, though she did remember his name in the paper the previous year, when he'd been exposed. "I know about Chiara, of course, and I completely trust her. It's that... I remember him when he was at school. He was friends with Sirius."