Chapter Text
When she walked out of the Hogwarts grounds in late June 1969, she was unsurprised to see a member of her family there. It was her cousin, the one who supposedly had died more than 10 years ago. Of course. Send someone Dumbledore or other school authorities couldn't identify for when she disappeared from public life, only to reappear the day of the wedding. It was clever, Andromeda thought, and she was surprised her family had enough actual cleverness to think of it.
"If you're going to drag me and lock me in a tower for two years before forcing me to marry Lucius Malfoy, it's never going to happen," she informed her cousin. "As Ted Tonks and I married in Hogsmeade two months ago."
The woman in front of her, silver blonde hair and a head shorter than Andromeda, coolly looked her younger cousin up and down. Andromeda clenched her fists, preparing herself for what was sure to be an untimely end.
"Cuz," her cousin said, with hurt in her voice. "I'm here to take you on a summer you'll never forget. Married, huh? So disgracing the Black name really does run in the family. Well, no matter. We've got to get to Majorica, where Dragonfire and Dreams are playing."
Andromeda looked back towards the school. Dumbledore had seen everyone off, but he was strolling down the path, and Andromeda had the feeling he was looking for either her or Ted. He had expressed dismay that they'd found an official in Hogsmeade to legally marry them, but as they were of age, he couldn't have stopped them. He had promised to try to look out for them, but both of them, filled with the teenage arrogance that they were invincible, had politely insisted Dumbledore was making far too big a deal out of things. Nevertheless, Ted had run out the second he could, Andromeda had told him to lay low while she faced her family. They'd kill him before they killed her. They hadn't actually killed Merak, but tensions were heating up and marrying a muggleborn was probably a worse crime than announcing you were really a girl and you weren't going to Hogwarts, as Merak had done. So here she was, not two steps out of the Hogwarts gates, and Dumbledore, the old bat, had a bit of wisdom in him. Too late for anything to happen now.
She turned back to her cousin, and sighed. If she resisted and Dumbledore came to get involved, it was only going to make things worse. "Okay," she nodded. "Okay, let's get this over with."
The woman grinned and grabbed Andromeda roughly by the shoulders. The last thing Andromeda heard before they disapparated away was the startled shouting of Albus Dumbledore. 'You've failed, Headmaster' she thought. 'Another pureblood you couldn't save'.
She was jolted from her thoughts by a very rough landing on some rocky ground in what appeared to be not too far from Hogsmeade. She could see the castle from here, and the rows of cottage roofs at the edge of the village. She could run. But her cousin was standing, beaming. Probably pleased she'd got one over on Dumbledore. Not that she knew anything of Dumbledore, or she'd know how easy a victory that was.
"We could have walked," Andromeda grumbled. She still didn't trust that this wasn't a trap, but she was going to meet her fate honestly. "What name are you using now, anyway?"
"Oh you're going to love this," said her cousin. "I am Cissy. It's a long story, I will explain it all later. Because we have time. I am not ready to accept my fate. I figured you wouldn't be ready to accept yours, so why not go on adventures for a few years, but you may have gone and buggered that up." She shrugged. "We'll see what happens after Majorica. Port key should be right around here, it's a bean can."
Andromeda took a few deep breaths. So much information, all unloaded at once. It was making her head spin. "So you're not … wait, what? Cissy? Like Narcissa? As in, my dead sister? Why would you do that?"
Cissy laughed, "Don't try to understand. Just come have fun with me. You were always the best cousin. I mean, it was you and ... Bellatrix …"
She trailed off, but didn't need to add any thought to that. Andromeda's twin sister was, in a word, psychotic. She was marrying Rodolphus, and it hadn't been arranged or agreed to. The two of them had fallen in love from Sorting Day, both of them instant Slytherins. They bonded over tormenting Andromeda over her near hat-stall, before the hat placed her in Slytherin.
"They're going to kill me, or worse, Ted, eventually," Andromeda said. "I'm not sure I should be prolonging that."
Cissy raised a brow, "You're breeding age, Andi, as long as you don't pop out some half-breed they'll let you galavant about until Malfoy is ready and then you'll have to give up the ghost and accept your fate. But that's two years! What were you going to do with those two years anyway?"
Only her cousin called her Andi, everyone else called her what she prefered, Dromeda. But her cousin was difficult and liked to play with expectations. As kids, she was Andi, and her cousin was Mira, and they were boy and girl, but switched. In fact, Merak was always the girl in her memories …
Dromeda was four and Merak was eight.
"We're going to play pirates!" he announced to a bored looking Bellatrix and curious looking Andromeda. "You," he thrust a sword at Bellatrix, "can be the Pirate King." Bellatrix perked up at this, she liked being the one who was actually in charge. "And one of us will be the princess and the other the daring scoundrel who rescues her!"
"Merak, you be the princess, I'll be the scoundrel!" cried Andromeda, because being the princess was rather boring. You sat there tied up and watched the other two fight until you were either 'killed' or 'rescued'. Then you'd start all over again with a different scenario.
Merak liked being the princess anyway, he even put on frilly pink dress up robes for it.
Bellatrix turned to Andromeda. "I'm going to kill you," she said calmly. A shiver ran through Andromeda. It almost sounded as though her sister meant it.
Andromeda shook her head, clearing the memory. Bellatrix was a cold plague, slowly infecting you the more you thought about her. And the more you thought about her, the more power she had. And the more power she had, the hungrier she became. She was in every memory, every happy moment with her cousin.
Could maybe this be a chance to know her cousin as she actually was? Would her cousin accept her for who she was? Maybe. Maybe not. Did her cousin really expect her to run away for two years? Could she do that to Ted? Ted. What was he going to think when she disappeared without a trace?
"I was thinking Healer," she said, shyly, getting back to Mira- Cissy's question. Cissy, Cissy, Cissy, she told herself over and over again. Cissy, Cissy, Cissy. Mira had been through so many names through the years, it was easier to just keep her as Mira, but for right now, for this trip, for whatever Cissy had planned, she could be Cissy. It would probably change - it always changed.
"Oh, perfect," Cissy said. "You've got more than enough time, come on." She once again grabbed Andromeda, and touched the now-glowing port-key. The two were whisked away, Andromeda realizing far too late that she'd left her bookbag behind.
*
Dumbledore stared at the bookbag. It was Andromeda's. Slytherin, but with some heavy yellow modifications for Edward. He fingered it lightly. "And it was an unauthorized portkey?"
The DMLE witch nodded. "I'm sorry, sir," she said, and looked it. "We have no way of tracking her or the woman she was with past this point. It's a wonder we found a backpack, I'm thinking it wasn't intended to be left behind. Possibly Andromeda managed to leave it. It doesn't look like there was a struggle - it may have been all she could do."
Dumbledore straightened up. He looked devastated and yet, slightly proud as well. He was keen on the idea of Andromeda leaving him breadcrumbs. "But you'll pass the description around? See if anyone knows anything or recognizes the blonde witch?" he asked. He hesitated, then added, "Marisa, I need you to keep this next bit quiet. But Edward Tonks - Ted, he goes by Ted, married her in April." A beat, then, "He's a Muggleborn."
Marisa raised a brow, "And this isn't public knowledge yet, how? Well, I suppose if they requested it just be filed and not announced, someone would have to know to go looking for it." She'd answered her own question, but she still looked to Dumbledore for some sort of explanation.
He threw up his hands, "The young think they can break the world. Usually they learn their lesson in far less dire circumstances. I shall speak to Edward, let him know that her disappearance is being investigated and he should proceed with caution."
"He has rights, Albus," Marisa chided softly. "I can't stop him if he-"
"He won't," Dumbledore said firmly. I'll see to it."
Had Dumbledore known he wasn't the only one to begin looking, he might have approached things differently.
At the same time the DMLE and Dumbledore were investigating a backpack, Cygnus Black was giving Orion Black an earful.
"I've taken Andi off on an adventure. Don't worry, daddy, I'll have her back in time to marry Malfoy," Cygnus thundered, reading the text of an owl letter. "What has your child done?!"
Orion sank wearily into a chair. "It seems I cannot be rid of it," he said. "I cannot bury my son without her wreaking havoc on all we had planned. I am sorry, my brother. We shall find them. I'll take Rosier and we'll track them down. You've a wedding to prepare for; it's not every day a father sees his daughter married."
"She will marry Lestrange," Cygnus agreed. "And when we drag them back, Dromeda will be a proper lady who does as she is told and will marry Malfoy. Our lines will continue. Our Lord demands it."
At this, Orion looked up, "Could we not involve him?"
"And let him know we have failed?" Cygnus shot back. "He need not know. He will attend their weddings and they will give him the first generation of a clean Kingdom. Your plan is excellent, Orion, and I thank you for continuing to understand the responsibility that is yours to bear of your child's."
Neither of them could say the same Merak, they had not spoken it since the 'funeral'.
Orion, put in his place with Cygnus' comments, stood. "Ah, my brother, I am helping family with their troublesome daughters. Think nothing of it. It is what we do for family."
"Always," Cygnus echoed.