starfishstar

CAN'T RETURN, WE CAN ONLY LOOK

Summary: Newlyweds Tonks and Remus come to dinner. Ted and Andromeda observe them from the other side of the weight of years.

Characters: Ted, Andromeda, Tonks and Remus

Words: 1,070

Notes: Written for the

rt_morelove Twelfth Night Tales, for prompt #4, “multiple narrators, not to include R/T.” (This story stands alone, but certainly draws on my headcanon from "A New World Bursting into Bloom" and returns to themes explored in "Already There" and "Go On, Try.") Title from "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ted and Andromeda stood together by the picture window at the front of their sitting room, looking out at the quiet village lane and waiting for Dora and Remus, who were coming to dinner.

Dora had sent a hasty owl from the north of Scotland, a piece of parchment that bore a single word, MARRIED, in an enormous scrawl, followed by three exclamation points. Andromeda had cried when they got the letter, then pretended she hadn't.

Now, as they stood gazing at their front garden bathed in evening sunlight, Ted slipped his hand into Andromeda's, and was glad when she turned and rewarded him with a smile.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Why would I be nervous?" Andromeda's tone would have managed to sound matter-of-fact and unconcerned to anyone but Ted.

"Oh, you know, meeting the son-in-law. The person our only child's decided to spend her life with. Seems rather significant."

"We've met Remus before," Andromeda said, her eyes flicking again to the path that led from the lane to their door, although no one had appeared there yet.

"And you, my love, are deliberately missing the point."

Andromeda sighed. "I like Remus," she said.

"I know you do."

"But life hasn't been easy on him. Which means, now, life won't be easy on Nymphadora."

Quietly, Ted said, "And I'd imagine she's had a long think about that, and decided this is worth it to her. She's a sharp firecracker, that one. She knows what she wants."

"I wish we could see it," Andromeda said, even more softly, her eyes still fixed on the lane. "I wish there were some way to look ahead and know for certain this will make her happy."

"I'm happy," Ted said. "Quite often deliriously so."

His wife turned again and gave him a quizzical look. "What does that mean?"

"You don't remember? You asked me the same thing."

They'd been so young, still at Hogwarts, Andromeda desperately trying to untangle her love for her family from her revulsion for their views. She'd been devoted to Ted, but unsure, still, whether she would ever be able to work her way free from the web of her family's expectations. You're so whole and good, Ted, she'd said one evening late in their seventh year, her eyes on him anxious and dark. How can someone like you be happy with someone like me?

Andromeda's expression softened at that shared memory. "I was a daft eighteen-year-old, wasn't I?"

"No," Ted said. "You were a wise and brave eighteen-year-old, and I happen to think you made the right decision. Though I'll admit I'm biased."

With a pop barely audible through the glass of the window, Dora and Remus appeared in the lane. Dora was radiant. So was Remus.

Ted watched as they walked up the path to the house, Dora and her new husband, holding hands. Beside him, Andromeda squeezed his hand, the tiniest flicker of pressure of her fingers against his, before she collected herself again.

"I'll put the kettle on," she said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andromeda observed Nymphadora and Remus during dinner, the little jokes and smiles that passed between them. They were the kind of in love that had them constantly reaching out for one another with gentle, small touches. Andromeda saw how Nymphadora lit up whenever Remus looked at her, how Remus' usual reserve melted away when Nymphadora looked at him. But she saw, too, how Remus still startled with surprise and a little bit of terror when Nymphadora turned the full force of her affection on him. This was not a man who knew quite what to do with being so completely loved.

Nymphadora, her hair spiky and purple today, narrowly avoided putting her elbows in the mashed potatoes as she narrated the story of their simple, impromptu wedding, and Remus watched her with wonder on his face as she related the tale. Andromeda wished she could know what Nymphadora thought of the fear that so often crept into Remus' eyes, how she'd made her peace with that.

Later that night, the newlyweds having departed to a temporary flat of their own in London, Andromeda had dressed for bed and was seated in front of the mirror in their bedroom, brushing her hair, when Ted came and placed a kiss on top of her head.

Andromeda caught his eye in the mirror and he smiled, that crinkle-eyed smile she never tired of evoking.

"They're very much in love," Andromeda said.

"Yes," Ted agreed.

"And Remus is terrified. He seems to think it's all going to explode at any moment."

"Hm," Ted said, not agreeing or disagreeing.

Andromeda thought of the events of recent weeks: Dumbledore's death, the battle with Death Eaters at Hogwarts that both Nymphadora and Remus had got caught up in. Andromeda and Ted had increased the protective spells on their home yet again, just in case the Order should need them as a safe house.

She didn't blame Nymphadora for wanting to seize hold of love now, without delay. But she couldn't fault Remus, either, for his fear.

What concerned Andromeda about Remus had never been that he was a werewolf, but rather that he was clearly all too aware of the limitations that caused him, and too inclined to run from Nymphadora at the slightest sign that he might endanger or inconvenience her.

But marriage wasn't something to run from simply because of risks or nuisances.

"Andromeda," Ted said, drawing her back from her thoughts. His hand was on her shoulder. "Stop. It'll be all right. Or if it isn't, they'll find a way to figure things out for themselves. Your worry doesn't keep Dora any safer."

Andromeda set down the hairbrush, reached up and covered Ted's hand with her own. She turned and looked at him, studied his dear face that always managed to be calm in the face of life's storms. Andromeda wondered, not for the first time or even the thousandth, where she would have been without Ted.

"All right," she said. "I won't worry. Well… I'll worry less."

Ted chuckled. "That's a ringing endorsement."

Andromeda wondered how he could be so confident. And yet she knew he was right: It was Nymphadora's turn, now, to make her own life.

She thought about Nymphadora, her child all grown up. She thought about Remus, who clearly loved her daughter. "Yes," Andromeda decided. "In fact, it is." And she clasped Ted's hand in hers.