Caritas omnia potest

-Review October 1997-

-Andromeda's View-
I hadn't heard from Ted for weeks, this constant fear for my husband was literally eating me up. How I would have loved to rejoice with him that Dora was pregnant, but we were both denied that. Ted had fled when Dora came home and told us that even the Dementors were on Voldemort's side. All the Death Eaters had fled, but not only them. Almost all of Azkaban had answered Voldemort's call and joined him. Most of the time I sat alone in this house, looking through old pictures. Pictures from a time when everything was still fine, when I didn't have to fear for my family. But the horror had caught up with us faster than I would have liked. However they found out, they knew that Dora and Remus had married. Those were the last happy memories I had with Ted. After the letter from my sister, we fought almost daily, but Ted wanted to stay here and not flee like a coward, but I couldn't justify that. I knew Bellatrix would show up sooner or later. I winced in fright when the doorbell rang. With trembling knees I opened the door to the unknown visitor. I suddenly held my breath as I recognised Snape.

"I'm not here to do anything to you," he said quietly and handed me his wand without another word. Apparently he knew that I didn't trust him, after all, he had murdered Dumbledore and thus betrayed the entire Order of the Phoenix.

"Then why are you here?"

"Let's discuss this inside. You have my wand for all I care I swear I won't hurt you so you'll believe me," he replied calmly. He spoke the truth, his deep black eyes reflecting concern and sadness, which gave me an uneasy feeling. I nodded barely noticeably and took a step aside to let him in. Silently, he followed me into the living room and remained standing despite my invitation to sit down.

"Now tell me. What is a Death Eater doing in my house without ulterior motives?" I said promptly and sat down on the couch.

"I've come from the Malfoy country estate. What I learned there is not exactly pleasant. I thought it would be appropriate to inform you that your husband will not be coming back," he replied, looking at me with concern. he replied, looking at me with remorseful eyes. My biggest nightmare came true in that second. Ted would not be coming back.

"How?" I whispered in a trembling voice.

"The grapplers got him and the others. The boys managed to escape, Ted didn't. Before I came here, I took something off Bella. I assume it's your scarf," he said, barely audible, and held out a black and yellow scarf to me. I had bought it back then, before I got together with Ted. It reminded me of him, before he went with the others he had asked me for it, after all he had only found the courage to talk to me when I wore it for the first time in Hogsmeade.

"I'm so sorry Andromeda.", I heard Snape whisper softly before all the dams broke and I fell sobbing into his arms. For whatever reason, though, I felt safe in that moment.

-Retrospective End-

After the war, I had rebuilt the whole house. It wasn't that I wanted to banish Ted from this house, but it reminded me too much of him and this feeling crushed me over time. When the remodelling was finished, I was done with the grey that had haunted me for years. I had a best friend that no one knew about, but the conversations with Lucius sustained me. And today, when I saw Severus again, it was confirmation that I had indeed developed feelings for him, even if I never wanted to admit it. The only thing that still reminded me of Ted were single images, after all he had been a part of my life and I had loved him idolatrously, so I didn't want to banish him completely. I enjoyed the silence that prevailed at the moment, a state that I felt was too rare. But to my regret, this silence and my reverie were too quickly interrupted by Severus when Remus and Dora came home, Edward, Hermione and Harry in tow.

"Mum, you can't just drop Teddy off at the office!" came an angry voice from the front door.

"See I can," I replied annoyed, rolling my eyes. Merlin, why the hell couldn't I have one fucking hour of peace a day?

"What was more important than Teddy?" my daughter snapped at me.

"Dora believe it or not, but even I have friends who need me some days. I could have taken Edward with me, but as I said to Remus, there was something important to sort out," I replied calmly.

"So you could have taken Teddy with you?" asked Remus irritably, setting the little one down.

"Ara." he babbled with a grin and came crawling towards me.

"Who or what the hell is Ara?" came an annoyed voice from Dora.

"Her name is Senara and she is Edward's playmate," I answered my daughter with a grin. Harry and Hermione looked at us, slightly overwhelmed. Understandably, the two of them came here and Dora immediately opened a can of worms because I hadn't taken Teddy with me.

"I hate to butt in, but don't you think your fuss over Teddy is a bit excessive? Andromeda still has a right to her own life. Just because she's a grandmother doesn't mean she has to look after Teddy all the time," Hermione interjected.

"Thank you. At least one person who can understand me when my own daughter and son-in-law cannot. Teddy we'll go back to Senara tomorrow. I doubt they'll be back from their trip yet," I said, smiling slightly. After all, I wanted to know how the conversation between the two friends had gone.

"You just never tell us about your supposed friends. Understand us if we're a little sceptical.", Dora murmured in an apologetic tone, which I acknowledged with a nod. They would probably jump in a triangle if they knew who Senara's father was.

"I would still be interested to know who Senara is," Remus interjected.

"An adorable little girl. She's a month older than Teddy, only she wasn't lucky enough to have both her parents survive the war. Still, what amazes me is that a single father can manage to organise a nanny for the morning and spend the rest of the day with his daughter. For you, this seems a challenge." I replied to Remus and rose to make tea for our guests. After all, Remus and Dora certainly hadn't invited them to join in our family quarrels. Hermione followed me and eyed me from the side.

"What's on your mind?", I finally asked her.

"Well I'm looking for a part time job and you seem to know a few families who might be looking for a babysitter. Except for Tonks and Remus, I suggested it to them but they thought Teddy had his grandma," she replied with a sheepish smile.

"Hmmh, let me think. He mentioned something last week about Alice only working for him this month because she's pregnant herself. It would only be for four hours if I have it right in my head. He comes home at lunchtime and does the rest in the evening when the little one is asleep. If you want, I'll talk to him?" I replied thoughtfully. Hopefully I hadn't misheard and had understood Lucius correctly that he was desperately looking for a new babysitter, which wasn't so easy in the magical world. So Hermione would be perfect.

"That would be great. I can take Teddy with me, then you'll have at least four hours to yourself," she suggested with a smile.

"If they knew how often Senara's father has looked after Teddy, Dora would probably take him to the office more often," I smiled. In fact, at least once a week Lucius would also look after Teddy, or I would look after both children for two hours so that Lucius could switch off for a while.

"You are not eighty Dromeda. Then I would understand it if you sat in your armchair for hours knitting one sock after the other. Which would be, rather, Molly's way."

"I'll speak to him first thing tomorrow, which means you my dear will come here for dinner tomorrow. Senara is very shy, maybe it would be an advantage if you got to know her beforehand," I said, smiling slightly.

"Thank you for the help Dromeda. We all got gold in recognition and I would probably get any job if I played the golden trio card, but I want to finance my studies as best I can."

"It wouldn't be Miss Granger if she went all Ron Weasley, who is visibly resting on his rum. No wonder you broke up with him. We should get back to the others before the tea gets cold," I replied, slightly cynical. Harry didn't have a school-leaving certificate either, but I knew from Dora that he rarely played that card.

"I might have a part-time job," Hermione smirked.

"Sorting files?", Harry asked with a laugh.

"No. Looking after a little girl. It's only four hours, it would be doable with studies," Hermione answered him.

"Congratulations. I tried to find something at the Ministry, but it really doesn't fit in with your studies and the lectures," Harry said desperately and looked gratefully at me.

"How good that Senara's father can play with office hours," I said with a grin and took Edward to me.

-Lucius sight-
Senara had woken up from her little nap and was clearly enjoying knocking over Severus' towers.

"It's time to go home Senara. I have some work to do," I murmured quietly and began to gather up her things, which she had strewn across the kitchen.

"What are you working on?" asked Severus with interest.

"I work as an accountant. In the mornings I'm in the office, everything I don't manage in that time I have to catch up on in the evenings," I replied, slightly exasperated. Actually, I didn't want to tear Senara out now when she was playing so enthusiastically, but I still had a hell of a lot to do.

"I see. Do you have time again in the days?"

"Probably not until the weekend. I can send Andromeda over, she knows a little too?", I suggested to Severus. Of course, I would have preferred to come over myself. Severus seemed desperate because he couldn't remember anything, yet he made a happy impression on me and I didn't want to destroy that with stories from the past.

"Don't stress about it. I'm just curious."

"I can understand. I wish it were different, but I'm drowning in work and this month only has two weeks left, I need a new babysitter by then. I can't take Senara with me to the office. You can call me if you want to talk. You own a phone, don't you?" Thank Merlin, Saorise and Andromeda had explained this thing to me at Saorise's parents' house.

"Of course," Severus replied with a grin. Oh well, there was that. Sev didn't even know he was a wizard anymore. Severus held out a pen and paper to me, where I wrote down both numbers.

"In case of emergency, this is the number from the office, the other from home," I explained absently as I dressed Senara.

"I can ask around about a babysitter?" suggested Severus.

"No, that's alright. I'd rather do it myself. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your help, but Senara is a special case," I replied hastily. Alice was a muggle too, but her brother was a wizard and Senara hadn't had any outbursts of magic yet, something that could change very quickly and then I would have a more or less big problem.

"As you wish," he replied, slightly dejected. I lifted Senara up and hugged Severus.

"Sev take care of yourself. I'll see you at the weekend at the latest," I said quietly, which he acknowledged with a nod. Senara squealed briefly and put her small arms around his neck.

"She only really does that with Dromeda," I noted with a grin. Severus looked at me in slight surprise and stroked her head gently.

"She remembers you, even though she was only two months old when you disappeared," I explained quietly and turned to leave. As hard as it was for me, I couldn't afford to miss my work in the Muggle world.