Sister Sister
6th April 1978
Solana tapped her foot loudly on the hardwood floor, she glared down at the page that she had been staring at for the past forty five minutes.
“What’s up?” Remus asked, leaning back on his chair.
“Nothing,”
“You sure? Looks like you’re in deep thought, and you’ve not touched any of the Cockroach Clusters.”
They had a funny smell so she had avoided them.
“You’re very observant today,” Solana rolled her eyes.
“I’m observant everyday,” he said, turning the page of his book, but kept looking at her.
“Yes but today you’re extremely observant.”
“Well you’re extremely bothered by something, and your foot tapping the floor is extremely distracting, but if you don’t want to talk then it’s fine,” he said, continuing to read.
“It’s Andromeda’s birthday.” she said, setting down her book.
“Okay,” Remus nodded, he put his book down as well. “Is it a bad joke if I ask if you’ve wished her Happy Birthday?”
Solana glared at him.
“Of course it was, I apologise,” he said sheepishly.
“She sent me a letter on my birthday but I didn’t get to open it.” Solana said, remembering how Antonin had burnt it before she could decide. She wished it had come when she was alone.
“Did you want to open the letter?” Remus asked.
“I think so,” she nodded.
“Have you thought about talking to her?”
Solana shook her head quickly. “Oh, no, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“She wouldn’t want to speak to me.”
“How do you know that?” Remus asked, he leant his elbow on the table resting his cheek on his knuckles.
“Because–” her mind went back to that day in Diagon Alley, Andromeda’s face. “I– I was awful to her,”
“You couldn’t have been that bad,”
“I called her a um–” she chewed the inside of her cheek, embarrassment filling her face. “I called her a mudblood lover in front of her daughter, she would never forgive me for that.”
Remus stared at her, she knew she shouldn’t have told him. She braced herself for him to get angry but he didn’t.
“Lana,” he said, softly. “I think your sister knows your family as well as you do, she would know that you said that to protect yourself.”
Solana looked at him, she was so sure he would resent her for saying that but he didn’t.
“Why are you so good?” she asked, her throat began to burn but she refused to let him know.
“What?” he stifled a laugh.
“If I had told anyone else what I said they would berate me, but you didn’t.” she said.
Remus shrugged. “Well, I know you didn’t mean it, and you obviously hold a lot of guilt, I’m not going to add stress onto you.”
“Thanks,” she muttered.
“So,” he said, “Do you want to see Andromeda?”
“I have no idea where she lives.”
“Well aren’t you lucky that I am friends with your cousin who knows where she lives,”
Solana hesitated.
“You don’t have to, it was just a suggestion,” Remus shook his head, returning to his reading position.
Solana stared back at her book, then up at him. “If I did decide to go… could you come with me?”
He looked up at her and nodded. “Yes, of course.”
“How long would it take you to get the address?”
“I could go now,” he said.
She nodded, as he packed up his books, turning to leave.
“Remus,” she said, before he walked away from her. “Thank you,”
He nodded. “Anytime, meet me at the One eyed witch statue in about an hour.”
☀
Solana’s stomach churned as she waited by the statue.
This was a really bad idea.
Andromeda was sure to shut the door– no slam the door in Solana’s face.
She would call it off, tell Remus that there is no point, that’s what she’s going to do. He turned up five minutes later holding a folded piece of parchment.
“Ready?” he asked.
But she shook her head. “This is a terrible idea, I don’t think she’ll want to see me– there’s no point–”
“Lana, if you don’t go now you will always regret it. And in the back of your mind you’ll think of scenarios. Also, selfish on my part but I really had to beg Sirius for her address, I’ve got to do his homework for the next month.”
Solana stifled a laugh. “You did that for me?”
It seemed like he was about to say something but he didn’t. He held up the parchment. “Do you want to go?”
She stared at it, swallowing hard then nodded. “Yes,”
“Okay,” Remus nodded. “Let’s go before one of the teachers finds us trying to sneak out.”
☀
Andromeda lived in Folkstone, her house was right near the sea, across the road from it. Remus and Solana had caught the Knight bus, stopping a few streets away from her house. Solana saw the bright blue door from a mile away. She remembered how Andromeda always said she would love to live by the sea.
“I feel sick,” Solana muttered under her breath.
“You can do it.” Remus reassured, standing next to her.
She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “I think I need to do this alone,”
Remus nodded, he looked around. “There’s a pub round the corner, you can meet me there when you’re done?”
“Okay,” she nodded.
“I’ll wait here until you knock on the door though, so you can’t chicken out.”
Solana wanted to huff but she knew he was right, she would definitely run away if he wasn’t with her.
“Okay, I’m going.” she breathed out, walking over to the door.
The big gold 187 was bright and shiny, vibrant viola’s were on either side of the door, Solana turned back around and saw Remus leaning on a wall watching her, he gave her a nod and she faced the door again, raising her fist and knocking on the door.
Her heart started beating and the urge to run away was strong.
“Dromeda, I told you not to come back yet– Oh,” Ted Tonks opened the door, he had flour all over his clothes, and somehow egg shells stuck in his hair, he furrowed his brows. “Sol–Solana?”
She pressed her lips into a tight smile, her stomach churned even more, she felt as though she was about to vomit. “Hi,” she said, quietly.
Ted looked around, he must think this is a horrible prank, she should leave.
“I just wanted to talk to Andromeda but she’s not in, so I’ll just go–” she said, turning around.
“You can wait inside,” Ted said, quickly, he smiled softly, “Andromeda should be back in about half an hour, she would love to see you,”
“Oh, um,” she looked back at Remus who was still waiting by the fence. She nodded. “Yeah, okay, is that okay with you?”
“Of course, of course,” he pulled back to let her in the house, “As long as you don’t mind the fact I’m trying to bake a cake and failing immensely.”
As Solana stepped into the house the smell of cinnamon and vanilla hit her instantly, the walls were filled with pictures of the family and two older people Solana didn’t recognise; they were probably Ted’s parents.
“Sorry about the mess,” Ted apologised, tidying up the strewn shoes by the door.
Solana didn’t say anything as she looked around.
Andromeda’s house was warm, inviting and bright. Nothing like their childhood home, and nothing like Solana would ever get to have.
“Would you like a drink? Coffee? Tea? We’ve run out of pumpkin juice but we’ve got blackcurrant or orange squash?” he was nervous, he looked flustered.
Solana should leave. But she didn’t.
“Tea would be great, thank you,”
Ted nodded, walking into the kitchen, the radio was playing but Solana didn’t recognise the song. She stood in the doorway as he turned the kettle on the boil, she fiddled with her hands not knowing what to do with them.
“You can take a seat, just be careful of the black chair, it is prone to breaking despite the many reparo charms.” He warned.
Solana nodded, taking a seat on the wooden chair next to the one he warned her about.
Then there was silence amongst the two.
Solana hadn’t officially met Ted Tonks before her sister ran away to marry him. He was a Hufflepuff and five years older than her so she wouldn’t have. She’d only seen him playing Quidditch but other than that, the two hadn’t even spoken a word to one another.
“So, uh, how is school?” Ted asked as he placed down a rainbow mug in front of her.
She nodded. “Yeah, school is… fine, it’s just… school,” she said, she wrapped her hands around the hot mug to stop from fiddling.
Ted also nodded. “You on the Quidditch team?”
Solana shook her head. “No, I hate the sport,”
He chuckled. “Drom’s the same,”
“I used to only watch it because Narcissa was playing, other than that I don’t really care,” Solana told him, she sipped the tea, accidentally burning her tongue. She was too shy to tell him that he had made it too milky and that she preferred two sugars, so she kept sipping.
She furrowed her brows. “Um, is something burning?”
“Huh?” Ted asked, then his face dropped. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” he grabbed an oven mitt from the side and opened it over, wafting the steam away from his face.
“Fuck!” he groaned, throwing a black looking brick on the side. “You’d think I’d know how to use an oven being a muggleborn for Pete’s sake.”
“You could maybe cut the burnt bits off?” Solana suggested,
“Good idea.” Ted nodded, grabbing a knife, but as he cut into it the entire cake crumbled, the cake was burnt to a crisp. “I hate baking.”
Solana held a chuckle back.
“Okay,” Ted nodded, looking at Solana, “Dromeda has a very strict no magic rule in the house, but if we keep this a secret, she will never know.”
“You want me to lie to my sister, whom I’ve not seen in nearly five years?” Solana asked.
He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes. “God, I’m a terrible husband, but yes, please?”
Solana grinned, “Do you know the spell?”
“Of course, this is not my first rodeo,” he rolled up his sleeves and took his wand out.
Five minutes later a masterpiece of a cake was in front of them.
“God, I love baking,” Ted laughed.
“Well done, I can’t believe you made it from scratch,”
“And when my wife asks you will say that exact phrase,” he raised his brows, then his voice went small, “Please,”
Solana nodded, “Of course,”
The front door opened.
“Ted, we’re home!”
All the nerves that Solana had swept away in the past half an hour had come storming back. Her mouth ran dry and she had finished all of her tea, her stomach churned a lot more than it had before.
“Hey,” Ted said, noticing her tense up. “Dromeda is very forgiving,” he gave her a small smile. “I’ll let her know you’re here,”
He left the kitchen, leaving Solana sitting staring at the empty mug, she heard faint voices, her eyes landed on the back door leading to the garden, she felt bad but she couldn’t see Andromeda. She couldn’t face her after what she had said to her. She couldn’t see that disappointment again.
She had to leave.
She scraped the chair against the floor hastily walking towards the back door…