the one | h. potter

7. andy

The pain is everywhere. My bones feel like they're being crushed, my skin is on fire, hot knives piercing my flesh. The pain is similar to the cruitiatus curse, a faint voice in the corner of my brain points out, but I ignore the voice to keep screaming. I hear footsteams and my eyes squeeze shut, but I still see a bright blue light and feel it hit me square in the chest. The pain ebbs, and disappears altogether. I groan and try to open my eyes.

There's a hand on my forehead. "Shit- Liz. Liz, can you hear me?" a worried voice voice asks. Harry. My eyes open and I find that I'm right; his bright green eyes are focused on mine, filled with concern.

I nod but he shushes me. "I'm so sorry, I turned off my wards. I don't know why that happened. Oh my gosh, Liz, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," I croak. I try to stand up, but before I can do anything, I feel arms lift me and carry me. The pain the wards inflicted is gone, but the burn in my left heel reacts to Harry's touch and creeps up my leg fast. It reaches my knee by the time Harry lays me down on a couch in his living room.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why the wards reacted to you coming in like that; I modified them so they shouldn't have-"

"Stop apologizing, I'm fine." I sit up and take a deep breath. I look at Harry, who doesn't look the least bit reassured. "I've been through worse. That wasn't too bad."

"I'm sorry."

"Seriously, stop apologizing. It's not your fault, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Can I use your washroom?"

"Yes, of course. Out this door, then down the hall to your left. Do you want tea? Coffee?"

"Fruit tea, if you have any."

I already knew the way to the washroom, since I'd been at Grimmauld place countless times for Order meetings, but Harry didn't know that. I walk down the unusually bright but musty hallway (which looks much improved since the last time I was there, Harry seems to have updated the lights in the house) and open the door to the washroom.

I hope Harry isn't as good of a detective as I am, cause then he'll figure me out. It's lucky that he thought his wards were broken, because it would have caused a lot more suspicion if they weren't. I look at myself in the mirror. My hands are shaking a little bit (no wonder Harry asked if I was okay so many times), so I steady them on the sink. I stand there, close my eyes, and take deep breaths for a couple of minutes before fixing my hair and running cold water over my face.

I make my way back to the empty living room, but I hear Harry in the kitchen talking to someone. I push open the door and all the breath is sucked out of my lungs. My wand shoots out of my pocket and I've disarmed the woman before she can even turn around.

What else would you do if you find Bellatrix Lestrange in someone's kitchen?

My wand arm is stretched out straight, pointed straight at her throat.

"You're dead," I say. "How are you here? You're supposed to be dead."

"Liz, it's okay. It's not her," Harry says.

"Then who?" I ask. I look at the woman, who's now facing me, and realize that she is not, in fact, Bellatrix Lestrange. Her face shape is slightly different, her hair is tamed, her eyes are soft and blue. "You're..."

"Andromeda Tonks," the woman, Andromeda, says. "But you can call me Andy if you'd like"

"Andy," I murmur.

"She's a friend," Harry says. "She was here to come to take Teddy home, I was watching him today."

"Teddy... Tonks and Lupin's..."

"Yeah."

"Oh." I turn to Andromeda, Andy. "I'm sorry. I just got scared and-"

"It's okay. Happened to Harry the first time we met as well."

From upstairs, I hear a baby cry. "I'll go get Teddy, it's time to wake him up anyway," Harry sighs, bounding upstairs, leaving me alone with Andromeda.

We stand in silence for a couple of seconds. I can't help look at Andromeda and compare her to her sisters. She's got the same blue eyes as Narcissa, but the same hair and facial features as Bellatrix. Andromeda's eyes are softer and her cheeks crinkled, and while Bellatrix always looked angry and up to something, her sister looks kind, like someone you can trust.

"Liz... Smith, isn't it?" Andromeda asks. "Descendant of Merlin?"

"Yup. That's me."

"Ah, yes. 'Dora told me about you. How old are you again?"

"Eighteen. Tonks... told you about me?"

"Yeah. Saved her life several times, didn't you?"

I nod slowly. She gives me a small smile and shrugs. "It matters," she says, "I want to thank you, for her." A single tear falls from her right eye.

I give her a small smile. I knew Tonks, but I knew Lupin better. They both kept my secret until their dying breath.

"She told me about you," Andromeda says quietly.

"She... what?" My heart lurches. If Tonk's told her mom, who else would she have told?

"She told me your secret. That was terribly brave, what you did during the war."

"Oh," I pause. "Did she tell anyone else?"

"No. But you saved 'Dora and Remus so many times..." she trails off.

I put my arm on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat."

"Of course you would," she says, smiling at me with her sad eyes. "But what you got in return... I mean, Harry's wards detecting you? It's not fair."

"I'll live with it."

We stand in silence. "So, are you here for a date?"

"What?! No, no, it's not like that."

Andromeda raises her eyebrows and smiles. "It's all right, you can tell me."

"Harry and I train together, and he invited me and some other people over for dinner. I just came early because he asked me to help him with some spells."

Andromeda smirks and gives me a knowing look. "What type of spells?" she says, wiggling her eyebrows.

I sigh and Harry (thankfully), chooses that moment to come down the stairs with Teddy. I can't help but think Andromeda and Katie would get along well together while Harry hands Andromeda the baby. I look over Andromeda's arms and look at Teddy, who laughs and tries to grab my hair. Shockingly, he changes his brown hair to my bright red.

"He's a Metamorphagus? Like Tonks?" I ask.

"Yeah. So far he's only been able to do hair, but once, he mimicked my face. Scared the shit out of me," said Harry.

"Harry!" Andromeda scorns, "Language! Not next to Teddy!"

"Sorry Andy," he replies. She glares at him. "Just slipped out."

"M'kay." Andromeda makes her way towards the Floo and bids us goodbye.

"Have fun," she tells us, "but not too much fun." She winks at me and jumps into the fire.