tonks prefers her surname. (aurortonks) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-06-14 17:32:00 |
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When Tonks logged off the network, she stood up from her chair only to sit back down again. Her mother was really here? For a brief moment, she considered logging back into the system to double check. Just to make sure that her eyes and mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. She had stopped herself of course, there was no mistaking that her mother had arrived and was now awaiting the arrival of her very grown up daughter. Tonks could not be more excited or more afraid that her mother had arrived. She stood up once more, and this time she moved to her kitchen to grab a couple of individual packets of tea. This occasion called for something stronger, but tea would have to do for now. Considering Tonk’s mother thought of her to only be eleven years old, she didn’t want to make things more uncomfortable by drinking in front of her. Tonks left the room, and her heart pounded with excitement at each step. There was so much to tell her mother, but all she wanted to do at this very moment was to bury her face into her mother’s chest. Tonks had learned and gone through so much since her arrival, and having her mother here could provide the comfort that only a mother could give. Tonks held her breath as she reached her mother’s door. The last thing she wanted to do was blurt out all of the information, not like she had done with Remus. The older Remus, and the night she told them about their son and their deaths. She couldn’t do that to her mother, no this information needed to be drawn out smoothly. Tonks was not looking forward to having to tell her own mother that she would have to raise grandchild all on her own. Without Remus, without Tonks and without her husband. Her heart was in pain, but she had to quickly push the emotions aside and cling to the one emotion that would make her happy. Tonks knocked and waited impatiently. Andromeda was sat stiffly on the edge of the bed, knees pressed close together, hands neatly clenched in her lap. She’d spent her whole childhood being taught very strict lessons on poise and composure, and just because she wasn’t actually part of that tight-laced, pureblooded world any more, did not mean she’d forgotten everything she’d been taught. And even if she had managed to find herself in a strange version of New York, full of strangers and grown-up versions of her friends and family, there was no need to make a scene. She just wanted to see Nymphadora. Even if she was older, and not the skinny, cheeky eleven year old that she adored, she was still her daughter, and if she was alright and safe Andromeda supposed she could manage to get on. It would help if Ted was here, but everything seemed to suggest he was still at home. Would he arrive eventually? Would he notice her missing? Andromeda bit down hard on her bottom lip and anxiously brushed a lock of dark brown hair off her high forehead. There was a knock on the door, making her jump noticeably and causing her knees to knock together uncomfortably. Andromeda swallowed, staring wide-eyed in the direction of the door. Then she took a deep breath, automatically felt for her wand and got to her feet. As she crossed to the front door, the witch absently straightened her jumped and brushed some imaginary lint from her skirt. Then the door was being pulled open and Andromeda found herself staring out at a face hovering in the hallway. “Nymphadora!” She was taller, and grown up, but Andromeda was quite sure they could transfigure her little girl into a pineapple and she’d still be able to pick her out in a crowd. Without thinking, she took a step forward and folded her arms around the young woman stood on her threshold, smiling into a crop of colourful hair. “Darling, look at you!” “Mum!” Tonks laid her head on her mother’s chest. She could cry if it wasn’t for the fact that she was doing everything she could not to. Not now, there was too much to say to her mother and it wouldn’t do either of them any good if Tonks started blubbering now. She had to be strong, for her mother. “I’m sorry, Mum.” Tonks said as she looked up to her mother. “I know it’s a shock to see me like this. It’s one of the many curses of being brought here. People can be taken from different points in time.” Once Tonks was inside her mother’s place, she smiled and opened her hands. “I brought tea. Do you have a pot on?” She could have looked but she was staring at her mother. It was amazing that she was here, absolutely amazing. Even if she wasn’t ready to tell her everything, she felt stronger to have her mother around. “Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault,” Andromeda smiled as she pulled away, cupping her daughter’s face gently in one hand for a moment. “As long as you’re alright.” It was odd – she couldn’t keep from staring , even as she stood aside to let Nymphadora in and shut the door softly behind them both. Andromeda sagged for a minute back against the wood, the door handle digging gently into the small of her back. She closed her eyes, trying to wipe the image of her little girl away and replace it with the beautiful young woman stood in front of her. It wasn’t easy. “Oh!” she let her eyes snap open at Nymphadora’s question, pushing herself away from the door and immediately starting to fuss around, getting things ready. “Nymphadora, you’re a lifesaver.” Glad for something to do, Andromeda pulled down two mugs as things started to bubble and whistle. Occasionally she’d pause in her bustling around to look at her daughter, and then catch herself and turn back away, opening drawers until she managed to locate a teaspoon. “Sit down, darling,” she finally insisted, holding out a hand for the tea. “I’ll bring them over for you.” She hesitated for a moment, her lips pressing together and her head tilting in a rather ‘Black-like’ expression. “Nymphadora, your hair…” “Yeah, mum. I’m all right.” Well as best as she could be given the circumstances but there would be more about that later. Tonks smiled as she watched her mother about in the kitchen. Taking her suggestion, Tonks sat down on the couch and watched her mother work. Tonks smiled brightly, wondering when the topic of her hair would come up. Good ol’ mum. Honestly it took more strength for Tonks not to laugh out loud at this moment than it did earlier when she was trying not to cry. “Come on, Mum. It’s not that bad. I’ve had it for ages now.” “But you’ve got such a lovely face,” Andromeda sighed, carrying two mugs of tea across the room and passing one to Nymphadora. “It’s a shame.” She knew she was rather traditional in many ways – she couldn’t help it that one happened to be that she’d prefer her daughter not to have half her hair missing. Still, the overwhelming feeling currently flooding her system was joy at seeing her, so Andromeda settled down in another chair without adding anything more. “So,” she leaned forward, hesitated when she saw the lack of coasters on the coffee table, and balanced her drink on her knee instead. Andromeda took a deep breath through her nose, wrapping long fingers around the warm mug. “I suppose you’ll need to update me. On you and on… well, this place…” She tilted her chin a little, indicating the small apartment they were currently sat in. Tonks nodded, there was a lot to say and Tonks continued to stay silent for a short moment. Where should she even begin? “Well,” she finally said. “I’m really not sure where to start. I mean you’ve guessed now that we’re from different timelines.” Tonks tried to offer her other a smile, but she could guess that it wasn’t easy to see your child so grown up over a short time. Much like it was when Teddy arrived. Thinking about him caused her stomach to turn, it was best not to think about him right now, there was still so much else to say. “I’m twenty-four, mum. I’m actually an Auror now.” She turned to look at her mother, just to see what her facial expressions would do. “I suppose I could start from there. What was happening in my life before I arrived here.” Tonks drew a deep breath, then started her story. “It’s not easy to tell you this, but it’s true. In my future. We’re at war. Again. Against You-Know-Who. And I’m helping, Mum. Dumbledore brought back the Order of the Phoenix, a group to help the fight against You-Know-Who and his followers. There’s a few reasons why I was brought on. I mean the first, is that my mentor, Alastor Moody gave me a great recommendation. But there’s another reason.” Tonks would have to tell her about Sirius. At least enough information that maybe Sirius could sit down and talk with her without Mum being terrified. “Sirius is here, Mum. At the tower. He hasn’t said anything to you yet, because well...in your time he’s still in Azkaban. But you need to know. It wasn’t him. He was innocent Mum, he wasn’t the one that murdered the Potters, he was framed, by Peter Pettigrew.” Tonks wasn’t entirely sure how her mother would take it. After all, Sirius and her mother had both severed ties with the Black family. Tonks waited for her mother to respond before she continued with her story. “You’re an Auror?!” Andromeda’s initial reaction was a huge smile, and she leaned forward again, careful not to knock her tea as she reached for her daughters hand. “Sweetheart, that’s wonderful!” But then her natural ability to worry kicked in and Andromeda found herself chewing on her bottom lip, the smile dropping a fraction. Auror’s went up against dark Wizards and Witches. People like her sister. At least Bella was safely locked away back at home. (Andromeda ignored the pang of guilt that came with that thought with practiced ease.) What did it mean here? And then it got worse than all of that, because the war was back. And her daughter was an Auror, which meant it wouldn’t be like before, when Nymphadora could be safely tucked away with her Mother. She’d be out there. Fighting. And there wouldn’t be anything Andromeda could do about it. The older Witch felt the limited amount of colour in her pale complexion drain away, and she clenched her right hand tighter around the mug, so that the heat seeping into her skin made her palm red and hot. Before she could voice any of her concerns, which she was sure Nymphadora had heard a thousand times before anyway, a name cropped up. Andromeda had tried very hard not to think about Sirius too much these last few years. He’d been her only remaining family for a long time, and to have him suddenly turn on her, to have everything she’d known about him be swept away as a huge lie… It hadn’t been easy. After Sirius had been arrested it had been easier to just get her head down and carry on, pretending like she hadn’t just had her final tie to her home, her childhood, brutally and painfully severed. But what Nymphadora was saying made sense. She’d known Sirius. That was what had made his arrest hurt so much. She’d been so sure he’d never do something like that to James, who he’d loved like a brother. Andromeda couldn’t believe what they said he’d done, couldn’t match that image to that of her favourite cousin. But Peter… She didn’t know Peter well, but she hoped… Could it be true? And if it was… “Oh, Salazar.” Andromeda’s free hand flew to her mouth. If it was true, Sirius – funny, charming, hopeless Sirius – was locked away in some cold, dark cell for something he hadn’t done. And she’d just abandoned him. She’d let it happen. “I…” Her dark eyes flew to meet her daughter’s gaze. “I never thought…. I mean, are you sure? He… It was Peter? How?” Andromeda realised her tea was slipping and quickly moved to put it down on the coffee table, lack of coaster be damned. “He must hate me.” “I’m so sorry, mum.” Tonks said as she pulled her mother into another hug. “Yes, they had always known that someone close to the Potters was feeding You-Know-Who information. Peter was their Secret Keeper, not Sirius. By the time Sirius figured out what happened, it was too late. Peter had set him up.” It hurt Tonks to think of her cousin that way. Tonks was still a child when it had happened, but she still remembered. Like her mother, she threw away any thoughts of her favourite cousin because at that age, he scared her. “No, no.” Tonks said soothingly. “He could never hate you, never. I promise, he wanted to come to you as soon as he saw you arrived but worried that you still thought of him as a criminal. He had problems when Frank Longbottom showed up.” Tonks smiled at her mother before adding, “I promise, as soon as you’re ready he’ll want to see you!” Tonks paused as she watched her mother carefully. It was a lot of information and she wasn’t sure how to tell her the rest. “Listen mum, there’s no way around to telling you this, but I have to. They’ve explained how we come from a book based around Harry Potter’s life? Well a lot of people here have read these books. I don’t want them giving you information that you should hear from me first.” Then Tonks explained everything. She tried to keep everything as light as possible. Tonks told her mother that she met a wonderful man named Remus Lupin, and that he was here. They get married and have a beautiful son named Teddy. Hoping the fact that Tonks named her son her father would make her mother smile. But of course she couldn’t keep everything happy, Tonks had to tell her the truth. About the battle of Hogwarts. About what Bellatrix did to both Tonks and Remus, and what happened to Tonks’ father, Ted. It was too much to take in. She remembered Remus Lupin vaguely from Sirius’ little group of friends, and he had seemed like a lovely boy back then. She did think he must be quite a bit older than her daughter, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on it. They had a baby – her grandson, named after her husband. The idea bought a warm glow to her chest and a faint smile to her face. But then she heard about Bella. Andromeda’s hands felt numb and there was a buzzing in her ears. Her big sister, Nymphadora’s aunt. Andromeda had always known Bella was unhinged, that there was something terrible lodged deep in the mind of her sister, but she’d never had imagined… And Ted. Darling, funny, kind, perfect Ted. To have him taken from her as well. It was unimaginable. Andromeda felt physically faint, felt the bottom drop out of her stomach and her veins fill with ice. The rest of the evening was a blur. She remembered fresh cups of tea and her suddenly grown up daughter wrapped in her arms, a sharp pain in her chest and her own face in the mirror, blotchy and tearstained. But somehow, comforted by the knowledge that Nymphadora was still safe with her in this strange flat, Andromeda fell into a fitful sleep. |