er. july!
My July story.
The first one to post. For the first and probably last time.
“And how do you expect to do that?”
“Mum, I lo-“
Andromeda cut her off quickly, turning from the counter to face her daughter. “Don’t finish that sentence. You barely know him, Nymphadora.”
Tonks made a move to interject, but her mother continued, turning back to the counter but making her wand movement a bit more sharply than needed. The bacon hastily flipped in the skillet at the wand’s command. “Besides that, he’s much too old for you and a… Nymphadora, he’s a werewolf for God’s sake!”
“I wouldn’t think you, of all people, Mother, would actually be prejudiced. I’ve been told a certain story loads of time and-“
Andromeda turned quickly, taking her daughter’s shoulders, the breakfast temporarily forgotten. “This isn’t about being the better person, Nymphadora. And it’s different, completely different. He could kill you, Dora. Don’t you understand? Werewolves are dangerous.” She shook her shoulders and met her daughter’s gaze. “You can forget all about it when you don’t have to see him. But… married…” She shook her head. “He could hurt anyone.”
She wanted to say that Remus wouldn’t do a thing, but her mother knew that. Mum had always liked Remus. She would smile and give him tea and ask about Sirius whenever he came over for the Order, but since she had heard her daughter might want to marry him, her opinion had changed rapidly. It wasn’t Remus. It was the infuriating beast he turned into when a full moon came out. Andromeda knew Remus would never hurt anyone, but she knew that Moony could hurt everyone. Tonks swallowed. “I’d be willing to… I mean. I would!” she argued. “Anything could have happened when you married Dad and-“
Andromeda let go of her shoulders and sighed. “Muggleborns are much different than werewolves, Dora.”
Tonks met her mother’s gaze and dropped it quickly, sitting down at their small table. “Sometimes you have to take a chance, Mum. Sometimes it’s a… a little bit of a…”
“Sometimes, Nymphadora, I think marriage is synonymous with sacrifice.”
Seeing her mother standing in the middle of a kitchen, wand raised to conduct the making of breakfast, she could see that she meant her statement. Mother could have been taken care of, could never have to perform a cleaning spell or have to make breakfast by herself. She could never have to work for anything. She could have surrounded herself in money, power, influence, and, above all, safety.
Instead, Andromeda had picked a life of barely making by and working to keep everything together and surrounded herself in love, but had fear as a constant companion. She had been deserted by her entire family, even the sisters she had loved so much. She had picked Dora’s father above it all, and now she was living the results of the decision.
If anyone knew about sacrifice, Tonks supposed, it was her mother. She had an easy life handed to her on a silver platter and had asked for it to be exchanged for something else. Something not very easy and certainly not just handed to her. She had to fight for what she had, and no matter what, Tonks would always admire her for it.
But her mother hadn’t been the one to sit around when she was told not to. How could she admire someone and then try to quit when she went to follow her? Tonks stood from her seat at the table, meeting her mother’s gaze for a moment. Andromeda looked away and Tonks left, closing the door quietly behind her.
Andromeda tried to remember that Nymphadora was just a brave little girl, that she had raised her daughter to stand up for what she wanted and to go for it with everything she had. Dora had just been doing what she thought was right. Dromeda just wished that Dora’s raising hadn’t left her mother with a crying baby and an empty house.