The 'I' in Family

Chapter 21: Reflections

Author's note: This was a bit of a shorter chapter, but it was kind of a filler chapter. There'll only be three more chapters and an epilogue, so I kind of got lost on ideas for Andromeda.

May 2, 1998

The day had started out normally. Andromeda had woken up, made herself breakfast, and waited for Remus and Dora to wake up-- both of them were sleeping. It was a Saturday, so Andromeda didn't blame them-- especially because newborn babies were exhausting to deal with.

It may have been a coincidence, but at that exact moment, cries could be heard from upstairs in the nursery. Not wanting her daughter or son-in-law to be awoken, Andromeda rushed upstairs as quietly as she could to try to calm Teddy down.

Once in the nursery, Andromeda picked up her grandson and began rocking him back and forth to calm him down a bit. His hair was a light orange, and he'd somehow managed to give himself freckles. Teddy's cries softened a bit, until he was completely relaxed, but then she felt eyes on her.

Carefully setting Teddy down, she turned to see Remus standing in the doorway. Andromeda almost jumped

"Sorry to scare you," Remus whispered, holding his hands up. "It's just me."

"All good," Andromeda whispered back. "I was trying not to wake you guys up, and I ran up here as fast as possible, so--"

"No, I woke up by Teddy's crying," Remus explained. "I'm a light sleeper, except around the fulls."

Andromeda nodded, and her eyes traveled backwards and she turned her head towards Teddy. It had only been two weeks since they'd found out he was lycanthropy-free-- and even then, Remus still worried.

"It seems like a miracle," Remus said, watching his son. "I still don't get it."

"I... I suppose it's all about genetics," Andromeda said, though she had no idea how it happened, either. But she turned back to Remus.

"You'd be a great father anyway," Andromeda said. "No matter if he were sick or healthy."

Remus bit his lower lip, as if he were going to disagree, but said nothing.

"I might just try to get some more sleep," Remus said. "You don't mind taking care of Teddy?"

"Of course not," Andromeda said.

Remus nodded and said, "Thanks," before turning around and heading back to the bedroom.

Andromeda remembered how Remus had come home almost two weeks ago after the full moon, exhausted and immediately fell asleep-- then as soon as he woke up he'd panicked, remembering about Teddy and praying nothing bad had happened to him, and then Dora had told him how he hadn't transformed, and Andromeda was only watching them, but still overjoyed.

For lunch on the Saturday morning (Remus hadn't fallen back asleep, so he and Dora ended up out of bed an hour later) Andromeda made grilled cheese-- something Ted had taught her to make. She'd never eaten it as a child, because house-elves didn't make those types of things-- at least, her house elf. But Ted had always loved them, so growing up Dora always loved them, and apparently Remus had eaten them as a child also. So they were a popular choice.

That afternoon was spent reading to Teddy (he loved that) relaxing a bit, and then as the evening progressed it seemed like a perfect end to the day.

Then they got the call-- a patronus appearing in their window and telling them that Hogwarts was under attack.

Suddenly, Remus had told Dora he was going to fight and Dora was staying home. She'd given birth less than a month ago; there was no way she should rush into battle. She hadn't been active, either, not since they'd transfered Harry to the Burrow, so there was no way she could fight.

Dora protested, obviously-- Remus also hadn't been very active. Both of them had less sleep with a newborn on their hands, even with Andromeda's help, and Remus barely got enough sleep anyways. But when all was said and done, Remus was the one to leave. First, that is.

Dora left soon after, telling Andromeda there was no way she couldn't fight. And she felt like Remus was running off like he did the previous summer, though it was much less panic about that rather than the fact he could get himself killed.

And then Andromeda had been left with Teddy, barely even sleeping that night, trying to convince herself that she'd fall asleep and the next morning her daughter and son-in-law would be back and...

And maybe the war would be over.

Maybe.

And it was-- but when Molly came the next morning, it wasn't the news she expected.

That was one of the lessons Andromeda had taken away from the day. That even a normal day could have a catastrophic ending. Still, she had worried that night, more than in a while-- well, not for long.

She'd been extremely worried when Ted was on the run, of course, but the worry had been replaced with grief not that long before.

And the grief still came, it would always come. Eventually she'd get used to the grief--hopefully, at least-- but it was still a lot. It wasn't even just Ted and Sirius and Dora and Remus. There was still grief for the rest of her family, or more accurate, grief of what they could have been instead of the monsters they were.

Maybe the word "monsters" was a bit harsh, but they weren't good people.

This might've come with the exception of Narcissa, and Regulus definitely got an exception. Andromeda remembered Regulus as a child-- when he and Sirius were very little, the latter was extremely protective until he realized that all Regulus did was follow his parents rules. Sirius hadn't realized Regulus was doing this to stop himself from getting hurt, and didn't realize that was why Regulus was trying to tell him to behave-- but Andromeda had. And even if Sirius listened to Andromeda less than she'd hoped, he still listened.

But Regulus had still loved his brother. Andromeda wished she'd done something before he died-- before both he and Sirius had died, even if that gap was large-- some sixteen or seventeen years.

There was a lot Andromeda regretted in her life, but she couldn't worry about that now, could she? No, she had a child-- a newborn child-- to raise now. She had a grandson that could look however he wanted to but his natural look was a mixture of his parents. Though his look changed sometimes--in fact, as a baby he changed his look unknowingly-- he was still Andromeda's grandson.

She had to take care of him, whatever she did.