Andromeda Tonks knew first-hand exactly how tough being a mother was. She had raised possibly the biggest potential miscreant in the history of wizardkind. They were only lucky Nymphadora had decided to place her skills into following Andromeda's own footsteps and becoming an Auror, because she was almost certain that had it not been Y/N threatening to tear down the wizarding world from the inside out, Nymphadora most certainly would.
Speaking of the blasted boy, Andromeda also knew of all the heartbreak and loss that came with being a mother. To this day, despite only having met him a few times since his abduction all those years ago, she still very much considered Y/N her son.
Still though, having taken yet another trouble-making child under her wing, she considered herself fairly experienced in raising difficult-to-handle children. And yet, of all the things Ellie could have asked as she raced down the stairs, Andromeda could not have predicted that.
"Are you a witch?" Ellie had asked, no hint that the girl would be surprised even if Andromeda was.
Andromeda's first instinct was, of course, to say no. After all, had it not been one of Y/N's immediate requests, never to let Ellie know of Magic again? But Ellie was a sharp girl... and if, somehow, she had found out herself...
What really was the point in denying it?
"How did you come across that term?"
Ellie raised her eyebrows. "It's not exactly an alien term to Muggles, y'know."
"Well, how did you come across that term?"
The corners of Ellie's mouth curled upwards with amusement. "A ghost told me."
Andromeda straightened. "Muggles cannot see ghosts, Ellie."
Ellie paused a tad too long, as though someone was telling her what to say through a wire. "Well... I could see this one."
Andromeda pondered for a moment. There had been instances in which Muggles would catch a glimpse of ghosts. It was one of the reasons some Muggles swore on their lives they had seen one. No matter how the magical world tried, spiritual magic was never truly invisible to Muggles. Some of them were simply too spiritually aware. Ellie could be one of these Muggles, perhaps created from her previous lifetime aware of the presence of Magic.
"Where did you meet this ghost?" Andromeda asked.
It was an important question. Ghosts by nature were tied either to a person or a place, depending on what their regret during their mortal life was. If a ghost chose to become a ghost for the sake of revenge against a human being, they wouldn't be able to leave the immediate vicinity of that human. In other words that human would become 'haunted'. Likewise, if a ghost came back because their regret had something to do with a particular place, it was that place which instead would become haunted.
As far as Andromeda knew, her house wasn't haunted. This meant if Ellie had met the ghost here, she was the object of this supposed ghost's regret.
Again, Ellie was quiet for a tad bit too long, but eventually, she spoke. "I met it during my walk back from school."
Andromeda let out a breath. But tensed again upon the realisation that she was not yet in the clear. Now came the rather arduous process of explaining not only the magical world to Ellie, but also the state of the current war.
* * *
"What?!" exclaimed a rather flustered Dora. "You know?"
"About magic?" said Ellie boredly, flipping another page of The Killing Joke. "Yeah, I know."
Dora collapsed onto the amrchar beside Ellie's and buried her head in her hands. "Why can't it ever be easy?"
Dora returned late one night around six days into the summer holiday. Ellie was sitting on one of the armchairs in the living room, reading a comic. Ghost-Ellie was circling the room, apparently used to having nothing to do. Just as it had been with Andromeda, it seemed no one but Ellie could see her.
Dora had made a habit of disappearing from the house for long periods of time as a mix of work and her duties in the Order of the Phoenix took up almost all her time and sanity.
"Why can't what ever be easy?"
"You weren't supposed to find out, Ellie." Dora grumbled. "You were supposed to live our your life as a Muggle. Live happily. Never have to bother with this stuff again."
"Why though?"
Dora was silent. Of course, Ellie already knew why. But neither Andromeda nor Ted knew that not only did Ellie know about magic, but also of the family she once had. Ellie wanted to see exactly how Dora explained herself.
But she said nothing. Eventually Ellie broke the silence.
"I mean, if you really didn't want me to ever find out, it doesn't make sense to keep me around you. You, Andromeda and Ted are all magical. I was gonna find out eventually."
Dora ignored her. "This isn't a very good time to know about our world, Ellie." she said, chewing on her tongue. "We're in the middle of a war."
"So Andromeda tells me..." Ellie responded. "Something to do with some kinda wizard Hitler? Wants all Muggles dead?"
"A revoltingly creative way of looking at it," sighed Dora, but there was a ghost of a smirk on her face. "But yes."
Ellie put her comic down and leaned back against her armchair, placing her hands behind her head. "Is that why you guys decided to keep me around?" she asked, chewing her lip. "To keep me safe?"
Dora gave a somewhat understanding smile. "Believe it or not, the state of the war wasn't all too bad back when I took you in."
Ellie stared. "But that was only a bloody year ago!" she protested.
"Exactly." Dora nodded gravely. "It's only recently become truly dangerous for Muggles."
"So..."
"Ellie, I decided to keep you with me because I wanted to." said Dora softly, getting up from her chair and sitting down beside Ellie on hers. "How much has mum told you about Y/N?"
From the corner of her eye, Ellie saw ghost-Ellie perk up.
Actually, Andromeda hadn't told Ellie much about Y/N at all. But since ghost-Ellie wouldn't shut up about the guy, Ellie would say she had an accurate grasp on him. She'd have to pretend she didn't, however.
"Not a lot." Ellie shook her head, internally bracing herself for more of the same stuff.
Dora suddenly a very faraway, distant sort of look. It was a significant few seconds before she finally said, "He was our adopted brother back when he was little. After that, you and he grew up in the same orphanage which made you siblings. Even back then, I saw you as a sister of sorts. I felt it was my responsibility to take care of you."
"You mean because Y/N couldn't?" said Ellie, struggling to keep the bitterness out of her tone. It took every bit of her internal strength not to blurt, "Because he was in prison."
But something in her expression must have told Dora that somehow, some way, Ellie knew. She knew something. She slipped an arm around the angry little girl.
"I know he hasn't been around much." she said softly. "He's had a very important role in this war. He couldn't protect you back then because - well he was in prison."
Yes, yes. Ellie thought impatiently. Tell me something I don't know. "That just means he did something irresponsible, right?" she said sullenly. "He decided to go and commit a crime... thought it was more important than I was."
She saw ghost-Ellie open her mouth indignantly, but Dora spoke before she could.
"It isn't as simple as that, Ellie." she said. "The magical government is a lot more - well, corrupt than the Muggle one is. Y/N was apprehended back when the Ministry was run by incompetent fools who were swindled by the followers of that magical Hitler guy."
Ellie folded her arms over her chest. "So he's.... what? Some kind of misunderstood hero of war?"
Dora let out a chuckle - but was dry. Sarcastic. "On the day you started living with me, Y/N declared war on the wizarding world."
Ellie paused, frowned, and then gasped. "Wait - he's the wizarding Hitler?"
Ghost-Ellie's jaw dropped dramatically.
"No, No!" Dora blanched. "He's the wizarding Hitler's biggest enemy!"
"But he's after the same thing?" Ellie exclaimed.
"No! No way he is!" ghost-Ellie huffed, blindly swatting at Ellie's head for daring to suggest such a thing. Of course, her hands shifted right through and Ellie promptly ignored her.
Dora bit her lip. "Remember when I said the wizarding world was corrupt?"
Ellie nodded.
"Muggles and Muggle-borns face a lot of discrimination. They get thrown into prison for no reason while criminal Pure-Bloods get off scott-free. They struggle to get jobs, they live, shunned from both the Muggle and the wizarding worlds. Y/N is trying to make things better for them."
"See?" said ghost-Ellie proudly, her hands on her hips and her nose in the air. "He's a hero!"
Ellie wasn't so convinced. "And what's he doing about the war? You said he's playing a big part in it."
Dora had an oddly proud look on her face. "Y/N and those who follow him are proving to be the biggest nuisance to wizard-Hitler and the Death Eaters. They've lost countless numbers due to him."
Ghost-Ellie nodded approvingly.
Ellie thought for a minute. For ghost-Ellie's sake, she spoke again. "And why was I living with you? What happened to the Orphanage?"
Both Ghost-Ellie and Dora stopped dead. Ghost-Ellie went aggressively silent as Dora pondered her next words carefully.
Ellie, of course, already knew what had happened. But she wanted to see if Dora would be truthful about it.
She also desperately wanted ghost-Ellie to have at least a bit of closure.
On the night Y/N declared war on the wizarding world," said Dora slowly." He took you from the Orphanage for fear his enemies would target you."
"And he was right?" Ellie continued.
Dora closed her eyes. "Y/N never imagined the rest of his siblings would be targeted. They had been safely tucked away in the Muggle world for years. But the Death Eaters found them."
Ghost-Ellie has disappeared from the corner of Ellie's eye. She turned to see her floating, her head down, up the stairs.
"Can you excuse me?" Ellie told Dora, who nodded gravely, perhaps assuming her words had gotten to her.
Ellie dashed up the stairs to catch up with her counterpart. She found her crouching on the floor in Ellie's bedroom, her head buried in her arms, which were resting upon her knees.
Ellie wished she could touch her. Instead, she knelt down and sat beside her.
It was a while before either of them spoke.
"If I had a body, I'd have gone into a panic attack by now." ghost-Ellie eventually whispered, her voice trembling.
"I'm really sorry I brought it up." Ellie said, feeling as though he guilt were gluing her to the floor. "I just -"
"I know why you did it." ghost-Ellie said miserably.
Another silence.
"I'm glad we found out why Y/N dumped me with pinkie." ghost-Ellie said, lifting her head from her arms. "At least I got a bit of closure on that front."
Ellie leant her head back til it was touching the wall behind her. "What now?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I can't just sit down and carry on living my ignorant Muggle life, can I?" Ellie said gruffly. "Not knowing that innocent Muggles are getting killed on the streets and they don't even know why. Not while knowing something brought you back and not finding out what it was."
Ghost-Ellie smiled weakly. "I appreciate it - but..."
"I won't take no for an answer." Ellie said firmly. "Don't forget your past is my past. We're the same person. This is about finding closure for myself as much as it is you."
* * *
Or so she had said.
It was easy to claim you were going to go on some epic quest to find out why the ghost of your past-self came back as a ghost, it was another thing entirely knowing exactly how to start that epic quest.
Because a few more weeks had passed. They were about halfway into the summer hols already and nothing really of note had been done. Ellie had been deluding herself with daydreams of grand summertime adventures found in books like the Famous Five. Where kids got into life-threatening adventures pretty much every summer, and then went back to school as if nothing ever happened.
But again, Ellie and ghost-Ellie had no idea where to start. They had half-expected to find wizards duking it out on the streets with their wands... after all, wasn't there a war on?
But the streets were as non-magical as ever.
It was nearing the end of July. Ellie had spent the majority of today lazing around and letting ghost-Ellie read her comics over her shoulder.
At first, Ellie had been rather hesitant with having what was essentially a permanent roommate, but if it was going to be anyone, she came to greatly appreciate that she had been such a precious person pre-wipe. It was absolutely impossible to hate ghost-Ellie.
The heard the front door unlock and click open.
"Dora's back." said Ellie, putting her comic down and making to go down the stairs and greet her.
As Ellie clumped down the stairs she saw Ted sat in his favourite armchair reading the paper. She figured Andromeda was cooking dinner as she watched Dora enter the living space.
Something was wrong. Dora seemed to be in some kinda weird state of shell shock. That term only came to Ellie's mind because of how aware of the wizarding war she was now, and her imagination immediately ran wild. Had someone attacked her? Had she been cursed on the street? Had Ellie's adventure finally begun?
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, Dora didn't seem to be hurt. She sauntered, with what seemed to be forced calm, over to her father and lowered his newspaper.
"Dora?" his voice was gruff but his eyes softened as he saw his daughters expression.
Dora couldn't seem to get the words out. She let out some kind of garbled gasp, seemingly choking on her own saliva.
"What's wrong with her?" whispered ghost-Ellie, who was hiding behind her counterpart, as though expecting Dora to suddenly explode.
Ellie walked on over and gave Dora a good thump on the back. Dora went flying with it far too easily, even for someone as clumsy as her, and steadily regained her footing, gasping out something that sounded like, " - marry!"
Ted frowned. "Are you talking about the wedding the Weasleys are hosting?"
Ellie recognised the name Weasley from ghost-Ellie's story as the family that had taken her in while she was traumatised. She was about to verify this with Ted before she noticed something very curious indeed upon Dora's left hand. She let out a very un-Ellie-like shriek.
Andromeda immediately came rushing over. "What's wrong? What's -?!"
Ellie was pointing at Dora's hand as though she were holding a gun, letting out incomprehensible nonsense, a mix of squeals, squeaks and strangled gasps.
Dora finally seemed to have found her voice, returning Ellie's earlier favour by smacking her on the back.
"I'm - I'm getting married."
"Who -!" Ellie gasped, but stopped. It could literally be only one other person. The very same man who had made regular visits to Dora's apartment last year, a man who Ellie had come to know very well.
"But - but -" Ellie sputtered. "You haven't even started dating yet! Surely you can't be marrying Remus already?!"
"Who's Remus?" said ghost-Ellie cluelessly, looking at everyone in the room as though they could answer her question.
Ted and Andromeda were speechless. Ted's jaw seemed to have dropped to the floor and Andromeda looked to be trying very hard not to clap her hands to her mouth and start jumping for joy.
Dora looked very sheepish indeed. "I finally got it into his thick head that we should start seeing each other properly two months ago. But we've been dancing around each other for around two years now."
"I'll say," grumbled Ellie, recalling a particular incident last year in which the two had somehow taken a tumble onto her bed in Tonks's apartment.
"And that's it?" said Ted sceptically. "Less and two months and you're already getting married?"
"Like I said," if Dora want so shaken she may have rolled her eyes. "We've been unofficially dating for far longer than that. And with the war and everything -"
"You want to hurry it up in case one of you dies fighting." said Andromeda bluntly.
"Mother!"
Ellie winced. Dora only ever called Andromeda that when they were arguing.
But aside from that, there was an uncomfortable lurch in her stomach at Andy's words. The war had seemed like such a far off thing up until now. Could Dora truly die from it? From what Ellie understood, Dora was part of an organisation that was trying to actively oppose Wizard-Hitler. Wasn't she in an almost indescribable amount of danger?
Was that truly why she wanted to get married so soon?
Ted folded his arms over his chest. "Is this truly what you want, Dora? He's thirteen years older you."
Dora nodded. "I - I love him, Dad. I really do. And believe me, he's used the age argument many times already. That and the - "
"Werewolf argument." said Andromeda, again, her voice very blunt.
Ellie frowned. "Hold up. Werewolf? Is Remus a -?"
"Don't you start too, Ellie!" sighed an exasperated Dora.
"But isn't that dangerous?" Ellie thought back to the times she'd met the kind-eyed man. He'd seemed so - passive and wise. Remus Lupin, a werewolf?
"Of course it's dangerous!" Andromeda near-shouted. "You'll be sleeping on the same bed, for Merlin's sake!"
Merlin? thought Ellie stupidly.
"Andromeda, please... " Ted got to his feet.
"So what?" Dora stamped her foot and glared at her mother. "He'll be taking the potion!"
"And what if he forgets?" Andromeda argued. "All it takes is one bad night, Dora. One bad night and then -"
"Then what?" Dora shouted. Her hair flashed bright red. "I get attacked? I become a werewolf too? So what? Then we'll just be two werewolves who love each other - living in the same house - closed off from the rest of the world! So what?"
"You know its not that simple!" Andromeda was being held back by her much larger husband now. "Being a werewolf is a cursed life! You'll lose your job! Neither of you will be able to provide for any children you may have!"
That seemed to stump Dora. Only for a moment though, because she immediately flared up again, her hair now cycling through red and orange like a fire.
"Well, it's a good thing Y/N is going to change that, isn't he?!"
Andromeda was struck dumb. For a moment, the entire family, Ellie and ghost-Ellie included, stared at Dora.
"Dora." Andromeda started, in a tone much softer. "You can't possibly believe..."
"Believe what?" Dora spat. "Believe in what Y/N's doing? Believe in his cause? Well I do. I do, Mother. He's going to change the damn world."
Ted and Andromeda looked very uncomfortable.
"What?" Dora demanded. "Don't you?"
Andromeda pursed her lips. "I'm afraid for him, Dora."
"You don't believe in him, you mean." said Dora sharply. "You don't think he can do it."
"No, she doesn't." said Ted, his voice suddenly very firm. "And neither do I. I've seen first hand how badly things are for Muggle-Borns and Half-Breeds, Dora. It's a problem at such a large scale... Y/N cannot truly fix it without becoming as bad as, if not worse than You-Know-Who. People must die for Y/N's dream to reach fruition. And I'm not talking about just Death Eaters."
Dora had no retort. She hated it, but her father had a very good point. To change the world, deaths wouldn't stop at just Death Eaters. Problematic opposers to Y/N's wishes would no doubt die. Y/N's dreams were so noble that it was often difficult to remember that he was not a hero. He was the leader of a regime. He already had a multitude of people who agreed with his ideals. It was only a mater of time before he'd start to garner followers.
And if the recent breakout at Azkaban was anything to go by, it was likely he already had followers.
But if that meant a world where she and Remus could live peacefully... a world where they could be free to love each other... wasn't it worth it?
"I repeat, Dora." said Ted softly. "Do you truly want this?"
There was no longer any refusal in her mother's eyes. The message was clear. If Dora truly did want this, Andromeda would no longer oppose.
Nymphadora nodded. "I do."
"Badass." whispered Ellie. Ghost-Ellie couldn't help but nod rather than rebuke her language.
* * *
"Oh don't be so silly," ghost-Ellie huffed, as her alternate self tugged uncomfortablely at the hem of her fancy dress. "You look really pretty!"
"That's narcissistic." Ellie grumbled, as she stared at herself in the mirror.
It was to be a small wedding, with only a few people, but it was still a formal event, and thusly she was in a 'lovely' sky blue dress that seemed to be made for someone about five hundred times girlier than herself.
"I don't get it." said Ellie morosely. "You're literally the same person as me, but I'm almost a hundred percent confident this thing would be better on you."
Ghost-Ellie grinned. "Then use your brains. If you're confident it'll look good on me, that means you're confident it'll look good on you."
"It's - it's not me."
"Factually, that is inaccurate."
"Oh, shut up." Ellie grumbled again. "When did you start using all these fancy words?"
"You rubbed off on me."
But Ellie had to admit, Dora was an even bigger tomboy than she herself was, and if she could look good in an extraordinarily feminine wedding dress, anyone could. Obviously, she had an unfair advantage with her metamorphmagus abilities, but the point still stood.
Dora herself was pacing around the room, her enormous dress following her. Other than her hair, which had been changed to a natural blonde colour, nothing much looked different about her. Ellie was envious of how naturally she could pull off the beautiful bride look without even changing too much about herself.
Dora was nervously pacing, her eyes switching between the clock upon the wall and out the window towards the enormous wedding tent which had been pitched in the garden. The few guests they had invited were there, along with Remus and her parents.
"You okay?" said Ellie amusedly.
Dora looked up. "Do I look it?"
Ellie wasn't sure whether to be truthful or sensitive. She opted for the former. Just because she was dressed like a well-mannered lady did not mean she had to act like one.
"Do you look it?" she repeated. "You look like you've swallowed a porcupine, that's what you look like, sis."
"Gee, thanks." Dora rolled her eyes. She eyed the tent outside again. "Do you - do you think Y/N showed up? We invited him but..."
As always when Y/N was mentioned, ghost-Ellie perked up.
"And bring the entire wizarding war here with him?" Ellie shook her head. "I'd give him a smack if he did turn up."
Dora looked somewhat dejected. "I suppose so."
At that very moment, Ted turned up, closing the garden door behind him. "It's time."
Dora looked as though she might faint.
"You should go and take your place in the tent, Ellie." Ted advised.
Ellie nodded. She took the long route out the front door of the house instead of the garden door and circled around through the back of the large white tent. It was a Muggle wedding, accommodating for the majority of Ted's extended family who were not aware of Magic but knew of their previous niece/granddaughter Nymphadora. But despite that it truly gave off a wonderful atmosphere.
The walls of the tent were lined with red and pink ribbons, and the natural sunlight shone through the white fabric of the tent, giving the place a pleasant glow. A few dining gables were set up, and where the alter was, the tent had no wall, directly facing the back of the house, with a red carpet leading straight to the garden door.
Remus was already at the alter, tugging very nervously at his collar. Ellie caught his eye and gave him an encouraging wave, which he returned softly. Ellie then found her seat beside Andromeda, who was very teary-eyed indeed.
"Feels like just yesterday when she was a wee babe." she sniffled. "Such a small little thing..."
Ellie slipped her hand comfortingly into Andromeda's hand. Andromeda smiled.
"We've been invited to another wedding, you know. A much larger one than this. Magical and everything. For Dora's old schoolmate, William." she said softly. "Do you want to go?"
"William Weasley?" Ellie enquired.
Andy nodded. "You may not remember it, but you were quite close with their family before your amnesia. I'm sure it'd mean a lot to them if you went."
Andy could tell Ellie was considering it well. "All of Y/N's best friends will be there too. They knew you before, and I think it'd be nice if they got to know you again."
That sold her. She recalled how loving Y/N's friends had been with her during ghost-Ellie's story. Ellie looked at the ghost girl in question who was nodding so fast she thought her head would fall off.
"I'll go."
At that moment, the small number of guests - mostly Ted's family, went silent.
Tonks had now exited the garden door, hand in hand with her father, being lead to the alter. Many of Dora's paternal aunts burts into tears as Dora, looking still hilariously nervous, approached.
Remus and Dora were blushing like schoolchildren as Dora reached him. It was adorable.
Andromeda was softly weeping and ghost-Ellie was watching with awe. Ellie fixated on the alter as the newly wedded couple began their vows.
Her adventure, it would seem, would have to wait.
And gazing at the elated face of her sister, Ellie had to admit she didn't really care.