A Soulless Angel

No mother enjoyed watching their child upset, even when they were grown up, but as she watched Nymphadora, who was lying on her bed, sobbing as she flicked through a photo album that was so prized in their family, her hair flicking through the dreariest colours, reflecting the metamorphagmus's dismal - no, distraught mood, Andromeda wished she could do something to help her daughter, but Andromeda was hardly in the best frame of mind to help.

Andromeda was too torn to really be there for her daughter, instead standing in the doorway, half torn.

Today had turned out to be painful. Not only had the Dark Lord died, which was a celebration in itself, but now the magical world was free from the blight of the Death Eaters; right now, there were millions of parties taking place all over the country, celebrating their deaths.

Dumbledore didn't like that; the old wizard (fool) had continually preached the Death Eaters should be forgiven, but sadly very few in the greater magical world were prepared to listen. Too many people had died because of the Death Eaters. The Death Eaters and the Dark Lord had cast a long, bloody shadow across the British Isles, and when the Dark Lord announced his return not so long ago, after having a long time to gather his strength and his armies, the Wizarding World had been torn apart.

Many lives were lost.

Many families had been ripped to bits, children murdered and orphaned.

The Ministry was compromised, especially when it was run by someone as cluelessly stupid as Fudge, who was a puppet manipulated by both sides and forced to commit actions which would either help or hinder the other side.

For a long time, Andromeda had been frightened of a single event; for a Healer, especially one who suffered from the stigma of having come from a family whom many considered to be compromised of Death Eaters, that was hard enough. But no, she was dreading hearing the news of her sister Bellatrix getting out and once more delighting in killing more and more people, subjecting them to the torture curse, cackling insanely the whole time.

Andromeda had died every single time she had heard the news of what her sister had done, wondering what happened to her sisters to make them into the people they had become.

When they were kids, Narcissa and Bellatrix had been proud of their heritage, but they had never been Death Eater brides. Narcissa had loved charms and loved enchantments, and Bellatrix had been an aspiring duelist and transfigurer and rune savant; she had been reckless, a bit mad, but never a murderer.

And then their father had betrothed them to scum that would go on to become top members of the Dark Lord's inner circle. And then…they both changed; Narcissa had gone from a kind-hearted, cheerful girl to a cold trophy wife, gone to the point where Andromeda didn't even know her anymore although she had hope with Lucius gone, she would come back, and Bella was twisted into a monster.

And now Bellatrix was dead. Lucius was dead. And Andromeda was unsure how to feel about that; she'd gotten away and married Ted before her bastard parents had ruined their lives, and her sisters hadn't been able to get out of the contracts, so she had no idea what horrors her parents had gotten up to with the Malfoys and the LeStranges.

Andromeda was cursing Albus Dumbledore in her mind. Thanks to the man's insane obsession with all things Harry, she and her family, who were perhaps the best candidates in Britain to take care of the orphan when the Dark Lord murdered Lily and James, were denied access and they were threatened by Dumbledore, who applied all of his political power to keep them away from Harry. But Andromeda was a Black, even though she had discovered, unlike Sirius, who was simply too stupid to bother looking properly into his own disownment, she hadn't formally been disowned, she had just been kicked out. But her influence was limited and she wasn't able to undo the chains Dumbledore had wrapped around Harry. But she hadn't given up.

And now Andromeda had the proof.

Proof that Albus Dumbledore had ruined Harry's life, even long before the poor child had been thrown into Azkaban. The old fool had just stood back while the whole Ministry, led by that moron Fudge led that barbarous witch hunt (perhaps one of the most insulting things any witch or wizard could even utter, never mind think) against Harry.

Harry had been abused, mentally and physically; his childhood of love under Lily and James, was torn away and replaced by hatred and anger aimed his way by two filthy muggles (just because she loved Ted and enjoyed some aspects of muggle culture, thanks to her more open-minded nature, as opposed to Narcissa and Bellatrix did not mean she was automatically a fan; Andromeda was not ignorant since she knew how cruel muggles could be, especially towards muggle-born witches and wizards, even if Dumbledore and so many others preferred sticking their heads in the sand), until he had become apathetic towards his own parents's memories, stunning dozens of people. Andromeda, once she'd gotten over her own shock, realised the magical world was wrong. For years everyone had assumed Harry would be like his parents, desperate to live up to their memory, but how could he do that if he had never heard anything good about them? Andromeda had kicked herself for not thinking about that before until she had heard it from Harry's own mouth.

What did Sirius and Dumbledore expect?

Did Sirius really think turning his back on Harry was a good move? Andromeda knew how Sirius was, but even she was stunned when she heard about what really happened, Once Harry's innocence was proven as well, Sirius had shut down. Andromeda had refused to help her cousin; in her mind, he'd brought it all on himself.

Xxxxx

Andromeda flinched when she heard a pretty loud, throaty sob coming from Nymphadora. "Nymphadora….," she came out of her trance, walking across the threshold towards her child and quickly knelt down she wrapped her daughter in her arms and looked down at the album.

It showed two small children, one an older girl and the other a tiny black-haired, green-eyed baby. Andromeda closed her eyes, remembering the scene, and she took in the sight of Lily, James and Sirius, all smiling and waving back at them, capturing the cheer of the moment, despite the utter hell going on outside while they enjoyed the time spent together while their children enjoyed their time together.

Andromeda bit her lip as she watched Nymphadora flicking the pages, showing photos of Harry and her sitting in a bed, while the young girl entertained Harry with her shape-changing abilities….photos of their parents playing with them…..Lily hugging and playing with Nymphadora….Andromeda playing with Harry….and on and on it went.

"Stop doing this to yourself," Andromeda chided her daughter, trying to keep calm when all she wanted to do herself was find a way of chasing after Harry and do something to repair the damage done. But looking at the cheerful little boy, it was hard to believe that the cold-eyed, angry young teenager with white hair was the same baby. White Hair? Merlin, what the hell had Harry gone through to get that? His reaction to Dementors must be horrendous if it resulted in a reaction like that.

"I can't help it, Mum," Nymphadora choked out, making Andromeda sigh and hug her tightly. "The things I said to him, the way I treated him. He was terrified, I know that now. But back then I was so angry; I thought the little boy who I saw as my little brother was a traitor, a murderer."

Andromeda closed her eyes. She was sad to say it, but even she had believed in Harry's guilt, too.

"He doesn't know me, mum," Nymphadora went on, the usually happy and bubbly girl was reduced to a broken wreck of a girl. "I-I hurt him so badly, yelled he was a disgrace to his parents' memories, laughed and jeered when he reacted to the dampening cuffs. And he doesn't want to even know us, give me a chance to tell him.…how sorry I am." Nymphadora's lips were trembling and she suddenly wailed, "What have we done? What have all of us done?" She sobbed, throwing herself towards her mother, who held her tightly and she found herself crying with her daughter. Sob after sob, they sobbed their hearts out together. Andromeda wished she had found a way of defying Dumbledore, and now so many opportunities were gone for good.

Xxxxxx

After an hour Nymphadora fell into an uneasy sleep, allowing her mother to quietly leave with the help of a silencing charm; as she walked downstairs, she stiffened when she felt the wards go off. Someone was in the house.

"Andi? Dora?"

Andromeda sighed with relief. She raced downstairs, and she found Ted in the hall. He was tired-looking, his healer robes were messed up and dishevelled and his curly hair was more mussed than ever. "Ted!" She smiled and threw herself into his arms.

Ted chuckled and held his wife. He gazed at her in wonder. He had always been scared that she resented him for how she was kicked out of the Black family, but he knew how it felt. Ted's muggle family had been horrified when they learnt he was a wizard, called him 'freak,' rejected him. If a friend's family hadn't taken him in, he would have been helpless.

People like Dumbledore didn't care when they claimed to.

"This is a lovely welcome," he sighed, but his tone turned gloomy. "I heard the news. About Harry."

Andromeda closed her eyes. "He didn't know about us, Ted…but he definitely knew Nymphadora, and after hearing what she did, I can't say I'm surprised."

Ted looked down. All three members of the family had believed in Harry's guilt, sadly enough; the evidence was simply too great and the fact they didn't even know the boy had not helped. Andromeda had spent a long time-fighting Dumbledore just to visit him. But the old wizard kept refusing, saying it was too dangerous. The old fool seemed blissfully unaware the reason it was 'unsafe' was because he had allowed so many Death Eaters off like they were school children.

Ted had lost a lot of any respect he might have had for Dumbledore a long time ago. He had sat back on that gaudy golden throne, which made him wonder if Dumbledore was deliberately milking his own image for all it was worth, ignoring the world slowly going insane. He did nothing to help the muggle-borns like himself, and he had done nothing to curb the Junior Death Eaters.

"Neither am I," Ted said at last. "Duncan was the Healer who examined Harry today. He left upset."

"Why?" Andromeda asked with a frown. Duncan was a popular member of the Healer team.

Ted sighed. "His daughter, Elise. She burnt every bit of Harry Potter memorabilia when he was sent to prison. Duncan wanted Harry's autograph to make her feel better when Harry's innocence was proven."

"I take it Harry reacted badly," Andromeda commented, "From what I saw in the Leaky Cauldron today, Harry is very angry and he's got a right to be."

"He was. He came close to lashing out, telling Duncan to tell Elise to 'get a life,' and that he wasn't a hero. Merlin knows how that conversation went," Ted replied. "You met Harry at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Yes. I was in the courtroom, and I saw memories of his life," Andromeda closed her eyes, "He's a victim, Ted. He'd been abused all his life; that little baby who laughed whenever Nymphadora changed her hair or made her face into a duck is gone. That coward Pettigrew and that monster who twisted Bellatrix and Dumbledore saw to that, and the rest of the wizarding world did not help."

"How bad is it?" Ted asked, saying nothing about Bellatrix. He was glad the woman who was so twisted was dead, even if his wife's theories about her bastard family were right, That did not justify the things Bellatrix and Narcissa had done, and he knew there were plenty of people celebrating Bellatrix's death in particular.

"It's best if you see for yourself," Andromeda took him to her pensieve. She had liberated it from the Black family before she was cast out. Ted watched his wife as she placed her wand to her temple, and withdrew the memory strand. She put it into the pensieve, and Ted quickly stuck his head into the bowl. Half an hour later he came back out, his expression grim.

"Dumbledore and Fudge and the wizengamot have made a big mistake, Andi; by telling Harry their fears, they might stupidly push Harry to the dark side," Ted said, shaking his head. "I know you're not going to like this, but I think….I think perhaps it would have been kinder to let Harry leave Magical Britain. Now everyone will be pushing him and at some point, he'll snap and I know so many people who consider him evil, regardless of what he's done, will just say I told you so. Maybe it's best to let him go. Let's face it, Andi, we don't have the right to keep him here, especially after what he's done, and Harry doesn't seem the type to give up, and get to America, to the MACUSA."

Andromeda bit her lip. She had spent so long trying to gain custody of Harry, but the way he was framed, and so many believed his guilt showed nobody had ever known him. She had never had faith in Harry. But at the same time, perhaps Ted was right, she had to concede that, but she would be damned not to have a relationship with him.