EDITED
"Hello, dear cousin." A tall woman with heavily hooded eyes whispered in Sirius' ear, who had his body turned away from her. He talked with two boys, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, as she remembered the names of the boys from her last year of Hogwarts. She made a "shush" sign to them after they saw her creeping behind them, and they seemed to know who she was, because they didn't told Sirius that a strange girl was trying to give him a heart attack. She had only recognized him because of his long black hair, which she told him to cut off a lot in their childhood years, when they were still under one roof. Well, his childhood years.
She looked like she was in her twenties, but in the same time could easily pass for a teenager. The woman wore a bold red shirt made from a beautiful and expensive looking silk, which had a surprisingly good conrast with her porcelain pale skin. A few loose strands of dark brown hair, who escaped her ponytail, falled on her freckled cheeks and she wore a bright smile which showed her teeth with braces on them.
He jumped at the sudden appearence behind him and quickly turned around. When Sirius saw her familiar face, his gray eyes widened and a small delightful cry escaped his lips. Sirius instantly pulled the woman in his arms and squeezed her tightly. The young woman laughed and squeezed him back just as tight, and they stayed like this for a few moments before the older pulled away.
"Oh my Rowena, Sirius, look at you! Ah, how much have you grown up since I last saw you, you look like a handsome man now, not a small hairy shrimp!" She took his face between her feminine hands and examined him, but not in a weird way, just a loving way. Her eyes glistened with tears of happiness and she still wore a bright smile.
"Andy, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in ages, woman! You look like an entirely different person yourself, too!" Andromeda shaked her head at his playfulness and looked at him from up to down. She couldn't believe how grown up he was, how much taller, stronger and handsome he looked, he even had a little bit of a beard on his chin!
"Dumbledore send me a letter a little while ago, he said he wanted to talk to me about something, but he didn't tell me about what exactly. So I returned from his office just now and decided to come over here to finally find you. After I finish talking to you I will go to the Slytherin common room to see Venera and Regulus, but I don't know if they want to see me. Now, let's go outside and talk!" Andromeda said brightly, without even having a clue that Venera was a blood-traitor and a Gryffindor. Sirius didn't say anything, because he knew she would find out later.
"There's no need to go outside, the others now have classes, and it seems like James and Peter sneeked out without us seeing them and are now in class, so... no one is in here." Sirius said an sat on the sofa and put his feet on the little wooden table. Andromeda sat on the armchair in front of the sofa and crossed her long legs.
"So tell me what is going on with you, how much I have missed since I ran away?" Andromeda said sadly. She wasn't sad about her running away from her home, there was a living hell because of her father, uncle and aunt, she was sad because she left her sisters behind, her cousins, and her mother. Andromeda haven't laid her eyes on her sisters and mother since her last year at Hogwarts, but she saw Venera, Regulus and Sirius at Diagon Ally, but was too much of a coward to go talk to them, to say her last goodbye and tell them that she still loved them with all her heart.
Venera and Regulus were shopping for their first year and Sirius was accompanying them, like an older brother and showing them around. Andromeda saw how Venera eyed him with big and doe eyes full of love and amazement, but Regulus eyed him sceptically, but also with love, but it wasn't that obvious. The three siblings never knew that their favourite cousin was there, looking at them for the last time for five years.
"Well, first, you have almost everything wrong; Venera is not a Slytherin. She is a Gryffindor and soon to be disowned. You have no idea how much she cried about you, even Regulus cried, but in his room because he didn't want to be seen crying over a "disgrace". And Venera was not the crying type then like you know, neither was Regulus, he still is. Regulus is a Slytherin like we all expected and a prefect, the most loved child out of us three. And then, there's me; a Gryffindor and no longer a Black." He explained and said the last sentence with a half smile. Andromeda gasped surprised and covered her mouth with her hand. Her thin eyebrows were raised high and her dark eyes were wide. Sirius laughed at her reaction and played with his fingers.
"Are you seriously disowned? Burned off the tree?" Sirius nodded at her and Andromeda was now fully shocked. Venera was a Gryffindor and a blood-traitor, little innocent Regulus was turning into a real Black and Sirius was going through the same path as her. She felt guilty for all these years missed because of thinking only about herself, instead of staying with her flesh and blood, her brothers and sisters, as she called them all. But then she came to her senses; she had taken he right choices, so was Sirius and now Venera.
"But Regulus... I want Regulus to be happy, Sirius, can't we make him follow Venera and you?" Andromeda said sadly and leaned forward. Sirius looked at her for a moment, with narrowed eyes. The woman raised an eyebrow at him and he finally spoke up.
"Are you a mind reader?"
"No?"
"Because Venera wants me to help her knock some sense into Regulus' head." He said and Andromeda was again taken aback.
"Then you should. It'll be very dramatic all of Orion and Walburga Black's children to be disowned." Andromeda laughed at the image that popped into her head: Orion and Walburga screaming in rage and breaking all the things in their sight.
"Yes, it would definitely, but Regulus hates me. I won't be in much of help." Sirius said with a shake of his head. "Andy, the whole family is ruined. Bellatrix is turning mental from what I hear, Narcissa is all lovey-dovey with Lucius Malfoy to even care about the twins, you are disowned, I am disowned, Venera is going to be disowned and then Reggie is going to be completely alone. With them. Aunt Druella only loves Venera, not Regulus to stand next to him. And that's because Venera is like a copy of Druella, she doesn't even care that she is a Gryffindor and a blood-traitor, Druella only cares about Venera's appearance. She buys her all sorts of dresses, robes, gloves, shoes, hats; everything, just to make her look like her young self. She is crazy, Andromeda, she is no longer the same woman. If Regulus stays there, he will be completely alone, and he will turn into a Death Eater. Like Bellatrix."
Andromeda was now in the verge of crying, she could not believe that this was her former family; full of truly crazy people and children wanting to escape.
Well, it was like this before, but the children were not like them, they were obeying the pureblood law, never crossing the line, and the parents were much more powerful and stern. She thought she would be the only one to escape the living hell. The only one who thought that way. But there she was; talking with her younger brother, yes, brother, about how he escaped and what he witnessed.
"Now let's stop talking about this. Let's talk about you. What is going on with your life, Andy?" Sirius asked and smiled at her. Andromeda smiled back and let out a sigh. She lifted her left hand, where, on her ring finger, shined a silver diamond wedding ring. Sirius gasped and leaned forward to cast a better look at it. "You're fucking engaged?! Since when? To who? Wait, I know, to Ted Tonks, right?"
Andromeda laughed and nodded brightly. She started playing with her ring with a small smile. "Yes. Actually I was engaged to him when I ran away. That was the main reason of my escape, other than that I was mentally and physically abused seventeen years. At least I know that Ted is the man I truly love and I'm sure he will be the man of my life. And there is other thing that keeps us together, other than the marriage." She peered up at him. Sirius nodded at her to continue and she did. "I have a daugher, Nymphadora, she is three years old."
Sirius' mouth and eyes were wide open and he couldn't believe his ears. Andromeda, the twelve year old big cousin, who taught him how to dance when he was six years old, who cleaned his mouth when he was smudged up after eating so his parents won't see him, the person he always looked up to when he was younger, was no longer a Black, but a Tonks, and for only five, almost six, years of missing, she now had a child and a whole new happy and healthy family. He stood up and sat next to her, hugging her and squeezing her a lot tighter than before, and swaying them from side to side.
"I'm truly happy for you, Andy." He whispered in her ear. "Your life is an example that the pureblood supremacists are wrong, and that arranged marriages are trash. The whole pureblood community is trash and they think that they are superiors. Stupid, foolish people..."
They stayed like that for a little while, just relaxing and keeping up with five years of missing each other.
"Sirius?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you not in class?" Andromeda pulled away and eyed him sceptically. Sirius smiled innocently at her and shrugged his shoulders. "I will not tolerate this behaviour, as the new Arithmancy teacher." She grinned and once more her braced teeth were in sight, but Sirius was too in shock again to notice them.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Andy?! You amaze me with every passing second, I tell you!" Sirius laughed and shaked his head. "So that's why Dumbledore send you a letter. Now do I have to call you Professor Tonks, or Professor Andy?"
"That's a very stupid question, you know?" She rolled her eyes and shaked her head, causing more strends of hair to fall. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and students started to fill the Common room. Sirius spotted Anne and Lily among the crowd and grabbed Andromeda's hand, leading her over to them. The two girls were lost in conversation about some boy and Sirius tensed a little, but didn't show it. He tapped Anne's shoulder and when she turned around, Lily turned as well.
"Girls, we have a new guest here. This is my favourite cousin Andromeda, Andromeda, these are Venera's best friends and mine good friends, there's another girl too, but she is in Slytherin. The redhead is Lily and the brown haired is Anna, but call her Anne or Annie, because she will skin you alive." Anne rolled her eyes at Sirius' sayings about her in the introduction. Andromeda just smiled at her and said "Hello" to the girls.
"Actually I remember Lily, I met her at the library in her first and my last year, she was pissed off because one of your friends told her she was a know-it-all and a show off, right?" Lily nodded, laughing at the memory.
"It was actually Sirius, but I knew he was your cousin so I was scared that you would tell me that he was right and sod me off." It was Andromeda's turn to laugh.
"You should have told me, I was going to teach him how to act like a gentleman." She ruffled Sirius's hair and the three girls laughed. "But I don't remember you, Anne?"
"I'm in Venera's year, so you was out of Hogwarts when I started." Anne smiled at Andromeda. The latter nodded understandingly and turned to Sirius.
"So, after I met these lovely girls, can you lead me to Venera and Regulus?" Just as she was saying that, Venera showed up around the corner. Sirius saw her first and turned Andromeda around by her shoulders gently.
He smiled when he saw how Venera stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Andromeda and how she dropped her books, caught off guard to see a figure she didn't see or talk for five years.
"Andromeda?" Venera whispered and took a few steps forward unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Andromeda shaked her head and just ran up to her and literally jumped at Venera, hugging her. They were on the brink of falling to the ground, because the older woman had jumped at her with a little too much strength. All these years of Venera wondering what happened to Andromeda, scared of writing to her because she thought that her cousin hated her after leaving her behind, and now, Andromeda, her big sister, her favourite cousin, her guardian, was here again, not going anywhere, hugging her, which showed that Andromeda missed her as much as Venera did. They were both sobbing out of happiness and soaking each other's cloathing, but they didn't care at the slightest. The girls were holding on each other like their life depended on it, like they were never going to see each other again, at least Venera was scared of the latter.
"Oh, Venera, look at you!" Andromeda sobbed pulling away, saying the same words she said to Venera's brother. The older one looked her up and down, noticing that Venera was still small, short and fragile, only a few inches taller since her cousin last saw her. Andromeda wondered why she stopped growing up in height, she seemed growing up just fine when she was a child. But other than that, she was very grown up in her body measurements; her curves resembled a woman's, she had a medium chest, but definitely bigger than Andromeda's, her shouders were still tiny, but her hips were a little more wide, so it gave her a more proportional body, her legs were very skinny and short, and her feet were so small that looked like they were only a few inches, and her fingers that gripped Andromeda's shirt were also skinny and short. Altogether, everything about Venera seemed short, small and skinny, but she seemed healthy, so there was nothing to be worried about.
Her face was no longer chubby and cute, but beautiful and more mature. Her lips were still as full and pink when she was younger and her eyes... oh, her eyes were even more beautiful than before! Stormy gray, almond shaped, framed with very long, curly and black eyelashes, with happy tears spilling out from them. Her hair was still frizy and thick, dirty blond like Walburga's before the older woman turned it black with spell, so it resebled her name, and because she didn't like blond hair. Looking at Venera's face, Andromeda couldn't believe how much her younger cousin grew up for five years, she couldn't imagine how many boys were after her, but in the same time couldn't accept how many years with her she missed. Andromeda choked another sob and pulled Venera close again.
"Where have you been, Dromeda?" Venera sobbed in her cousin's chest and hugged her even tighter. They were crying for about a minute longer, and the others in the Common Room, sensing the personal moment, headed to their dorms to relax in their free period.
"Verra, I'm so sorry! I have written to you so many times, but I was too much of a coward to sent the letters, they just stayed at my desk... I missed all of you so much; mother, Narcissa, Bellatrix, Regulus, Sirius, even Glenda, the house elf, and her son, Kreacher!" Andromeda laughed between tears at the mention of the funny house elf, Glenda. But then Sirius and Venera looked at each other with knowing looks and Venera turned to her cousin with tear streaned face.
"Well, now Glenda lives her life happily on the wall next to the staircase..." Venera said and bit her lower lip. Shortly after Andromeda ran away, Glenda stopped serving the Black family properly and they took the matters in their own hands, leading to Glenda's head on the wall. Venera and Regulus believed that Glenda stopped serving because she was in too much pain and stress, because Andromeda was gone and the house elf and the girl were extremely close since Andromeda was a baby.
Andromeda's lip trembled. "Why?" She asked in a squeaky voice.
"After you left Glenda just stopped serving properly. She would drop the plate with food, or the cups of tea, and mum and dad took the matters in their own hands. Glenda was too sad and stressed without you to work like she was expected. Now Kreacher is in her place." Venera explained and was pulled in a hug again. Andromeda cried again and Venera couldn't help but cry too. After a lot of crying Sirius interrupted the two.
"Hey, what would you two say about a little walk around the castle? We can find Regulus easier that way, knowing how much he hides away, just like a snake." Sirius said and Venera looked at Andromeda and rolled her eyes, because the thing she hated the most was Sirius complaining about Regulus. The two girls walked with interwined hands and tear stained, red faces. After a while in their walk, Andromeda spoke up.
"So, Verra, how did you get into Gryffindor?"
Venera didn't seemed caught off guard and answered. It was obvious that Andromeda didn't expect her to be a Gryffindor.
"Ironically, the Hat told me that I can be either Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor, but not in the slightest a Slytherin. Ravenclaw was not in the cards either. I tried to reason the Hat, but she stayed on her ground and told me that I was even more different than my family than Sirius and that I was not meant to be in Slytherin. I continued to fight with the Hat, and she told me I was very stubborn and strong headed and that I was brave, because I literally fought with the Hat. And that's why she put me into Gryffindor."
"Wow, with me she just yelled "Gryffindor" without even telling me to be ready for the living hell. Stupid old Hat." Sirius shaked his head. Andromeda remembered how Sirius stood up from the little chair back in his Sorting, with scared face and trembling little legs. She wished if he was sorted in house other than Slytherin, that it would be Ravenclaw. It was the house that was closest to Slytherin, and he wouldn't have been so punished and caned for the Hat's desicion. And it was Andromeda's house, after all, she would have have been next to him all the time, keep the close bond between them, spending more time with him before running away and probably never see him again.
But she knew that Sirius was not in slightest meant to be in Ravenclaw, he was clever and witty, yes, but he was also very daring and stubborn, and always in the center of the attention. Sirius could walk in a room and with only one word to have all eyes on him, he was that charming. Gryffindor was the only house for him.
The three relatives were walking cluelessly and Andromeda saw how hard time Venera had catching up with Andromeda and Sirius' long legs, with her own very short legs. She wondered how Venera was still so small, and if she is only a few inches taller than her ten year old self, how was Regulus? Is he still small, fragile and short like Venera, especially when they are twins.
And it was a very funny sight to watch Venera and Sirius next to each other. He was dark haired, tall and masculine, like a real grown up man. She was blond, very small and feminine, just like a doll. The differences were drastic, and Venera looked more like a Rosier; light hair, light eyes, full lips and small figure. The only thing that they both shared was their stormy gray eyes, and Andromeda knew that Regulus had them too, so they three had a bonding thing.
Andromeda's feet were now hurting for walking around the castle, they were now on the first floor and just walking around, like flys without heads. She wondered why they just don't go down to the dungeons, but then remembered that if she was seen with Regulus, her cousin would be punished very, very hard, so Andromeda didn't ask to go down. Venera and Sirius didn't seem to have problems with walking, they were like non-stop walking around the castle, for classes and such, but Andromeda had lost training with the years.
"Do you even know where to search for Regulus?" She asked and sat on the window seat. Venera sat next to her and laid her head on Andromeda's shoulder.
"It's now Friday, right?" Sirius nodded at Venera's question. "He now has a Qudditch training, he will be here in just a few minutes, I suppose. While we wait for him, why don't you tell us about you? How have you been?" She turned her head to Andromeda.
The oldest, again, just lifted her left hand up to show Venera the ring, and the blond gasped surprised and grabbed her hamd to examine it, like her brother. "Since when?" Venera asked and looked up at Andromeda with wide eyes.
"I was already engaged with Ted when I ran away, the main reason was this. After two years, I was graced with a daughter, Nymphadora. She is now three years old. And a metarmorphagus, I still can't tell what her real hair colour is." Andromeda laughed and played with her ring.
"Are you fucking kidding me? You have a child?" Venera half-yelled. Andromeda laughed and nodded.
They discussed other things, like how is the life back in Grimwauld Place, did Venera is betrothed to someone already, in which Sirius shifted uncontrollably, how is Druella, and did Walburga still makes Venera wear seven inch high heels in home because of the lack of height. And apparently, she still wears them. Sirius joined in their conversation and he and Venera started bickering about something Andromeda didn't hear, because she finally spotted Regulus at the end of the corridor, making his way over to them with his broomstick in hand.
Maybe he didn't see Andromeda, only Venera and Sirius, because the oldest was hidden behind them. She felt how heartbeat increased, her palms were sweaty, and it was definitely more difficult than she expected. Andromeda didn't expect a warm welcoming from Regulus' side, but she believed that he would at least talk to her, even for a little bit. With his every step, Andromeda saw that Regulus was far from his ten year old self, and that he didn't look like Venera even in the slightest bit. Instead, he looked like Sirius; dark haired, very tall, long legs, light eyes and unruly hair, but shorter than Sirius' long hair.
Venera and Sirius stopped bickering when they saw Regulus, Venera smiling and running to her twin, hugging him, and Sirius rolling his eyes in the backround. Andromeda, however, was too scared to stand up and her legs were literal jelly. The twins were now a feet away from them, and the oldest was already in Regulus' sight. His reaction was similar to Venera's; stopping in one place with an open mouth. But he was not happy like his two other siblings, instead his face turned from shock to anger very quickly. The gray innocent eyes Andromeda remembered were now full of anger and not so obvious sadness, and were definitely not innocent anymore. He looked way more stressed than Venera and Sirius, and Andromeda instantly felt a pang in her chest. Regulus' handsome face was so tired and his eyes were puffy, obviously from stress.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" The middle child said with a sneer and took a step back when Andromeda finally stood up and took a step forward to her cousin. A hurt washed over Andromeda's face, the small smile she wore dropped instantly and Venera and Sirius looked dumbfounded at their brother's behaviour. "Aren't you supposed to be with that mudblood of yours? The one who got you to turn your back on your blood?"
With his every word Andromeda was more hurt than before, and Venera and Sirius were more shocked than before. But when she thought about that; Andromeda was not in her right to be hurt, or shocked, or anything like that. Regulus did grew up among the Sacred Twenty-eight, just like her, Narcissa, Bellatrix, Venera and Sirius. He was a blood supremacist, turning his back on blood traitors, the same way his whole family were. When Andromeda found her voice, she spoke up shakily.
"Regulus, it's not in that way, please let me explai-"
"Shut your traitorous mouth, Andromeda, just save it! You left us, without even saying goodbye, and we were family! You have not idea how much hurted we were, the family is turning into nothing, all because of ungrateful traitors like you and Sirius!" Regulus yelled at her and his whole face was red from anger. All of this is because he is insanely hurt, Andromeda thought, he didn't mean it. Sirius didn't even flinched at Regulus' harsh words, he was used to it, and the only reason he was still associating with his little brother was Venera.
Andromeda didn't expect that this will escalate so quickly, so she spoke up before he vanished in his dorm. And she asked him the only question she wondered. The only question that was running in her mind.
"Regulus, what did you become?"
Instead of pausing and looking at her shocked like many would, he just looked at her blankly and answered with the most emotionless tone Andromeda had ever heard.
"I would ask you the same question, Andromeda. But I don't want to hear it. You're not family anymore, you never would." He said, but it seemed that he mostly tried to convince himself that. But Andromeda was still there; his big, loving, caring sister, the one who was always there for him after basting, and the one who hurt him the most. She caused one of his childhood traumas and he loathed her for that. She was no longer in the family, she was with a mudblood, and she choosed the mud over the blood. And with these thoughts Regulus stormed off to the Slytherin dungeons.
Venera and Sirius both hugged Andromeda and she quietly sobbed in their Gryffindor robes. It was a quite emotional day for the Blacks, but little did they knew that it was only the beggining.