"Why would you be grateful?!" asked Tonks, appalled. She couldn't believe what was happening, beyond her worst fears. She felt like her mother had been completely erased by me—that what stood before her was nothing but an empty puppet, trapped under my will.
"Because I no longer feel pain," Andromeda replied with disturbing calm, still gently stroking her daughter's hair.
"What...?" Tonks blinked, confused.
"The pain is gone..." her mother repeated with that unsettling smile. "It vanished... and with it, a burden I didn't even know I was carrying. I've never felt so free... not even when I was cast out of the Black family. Maybe I got close then, but even at that time, I felt fear, resentment… so many mixed emotions. But now? No. Now I feel content. Free. And incredibly curious about what the future holds."
Tonks looked at her, her soul in pieces. She wanted to scream, to tell her this was all a lie, that I had brainwashed her, that she would do everything in her power to bring her back. But her mother's words pierced her like a dagger.
Because, as much as she hated to admit it… her mother truly looked happy. It wasn't just an empty smile. It was genuine. Sincere.
"Mourning is heavier than you think," Andromeda went on, her tone almost melancholic. "And pain doesn't hit its cruelest point at the moment of loss, but afterward… when you realize time keeps moving forward, that the person is gone and will never return, that the future will continue like that… that you'll grow old alone."
For a moment, her expression seemed to darken. But then, with sudden joy, her smile returned, wide and bright.
"But that's not something I have to worry about anymore. All that weight is gone, and now looking toward the future doesn't scare or sadden me. Just curiosity… and excitement."
Tonks felt a chill run down her spine.
"Seriously...? Please, tell me he didn't make you forget Dad…" she pleaded with a sob, her voice trembling with fear.
"Silly girl…" Andromeda pulled her into a warm hug. "I would never forget your father. He was one of the most important men in my life… and, most importantly, he helped me create the most important person to me."
The tender look she gave her was too much.
"Mum..." Tonks couldn't hold back any longer. She clung to her mother tightly, wishing—for a moment—that she could be a little girl in her arms again.
They stayed like that, silently hugging. Until, inevitably, the topic returned.
"Are you really okay with this?" Tonks asked again, her voice full of disbelief. "I can't stop feeling like Red changed you by force and..."
"I'm fine, my child," Andromeda interrupted with a reassuring smile. "And yes, he changed me, in a way I never imagined… but like I said, I like this change."
"But I can't accept it..." Tonks clenched her fists, frustrated. "I thought I'd managed to forgive him a bit, but… after this, he better not even think about touching me for a few years."
"Heh… I think that'd be hard for you." Andromeda let out a small chuckle. "Believe me, I could barely stop myself from jumping on him when I saw him. Luckily, I saw you first and ran to hug you, so I managed to keep my composure… and my clothes on."
"Mum!" Tonks exclaimed, her voice tinged with shock and rising dread.
"It's true… I can't stop thinking about how good it felt, about how much I'd like to do it again… And I'm telling you now to avoid misunderstandings: if he asked me to take off my panties, I don't think I could say no… In fact, I hope he does." She said it with a slight blush on her cheeks but didn't look away, speaking firmly.
"By Morgana..." Tonks felt a knot in her stomach hearing her mother say that. Her face paled. "He's a bastard… How could he mess you up this badly?!"
"Hey, why are you so angry? I told you I'm fine with what he did… Don't you want your mother to have a little fun now and then?" Andromeda smiled with a lightness that only made the situation feel more twisted.
"But you don't understand! He… he…" Tonks struggled to find the right words. She looked at her mother desperately, as if she could still talk her into reason. "Listen to yourself! You're talking about cheating on Dad with my boyfriend… and from what you're saying, you'd do it whenever he asked you to!"
"I think you're missing something." Andromeda sighed, crossing her arms. "I know exactly what's going on. It's not that I've lost my sanity or that I'm being manipulated. I'm just a bit happier, and maybe… a bit hornier than before."
"But you're saying you want to cheat on Dad!" Tonks raised her voice, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Nymphadora, my girl…" Andromeda gently took her hands. Her expression turned serious. "I know this might hurt, but… your father is already dead."
"I know, but…" Tonks's voice broke.
Andromeda looked at her with a mix of sadness and resolve. "Maybe it sounds like emotional blackmail, but I have to ask you… Do you expect me to spend the rest of my life alone? To drown in my sorrows like I did just a few months ago?"
"No, I… but…" A lump in her throat kept her from speaking further.
"I deserve to be happy, Nymphadora." Her mother looked her in the eyes. "Your father wouldn't blame you for anything, so stop worrying about that. If anyone has to answer to him on the other side, it's me… But even so, I need to move forward."
"But we're talking about Red! My boyfriend!" Tonks raised her voice, clinging to that thought like a lifeline. "You said he didn't make you forget Dad, but now you say you want something with him!"
She held onto that contradiction, because it was the only thing keeping her grounded amid the chaos. She wanted to blame me for what she was hearing, afraid it might be true.
Andromeda sighed with a mix of embarrassment and resignation.
"He didn't completely make me forget your father..." she admitted quietly.
"You see?" Tonks immediately pointed out. "Clearly he did something!"
"Only in a sexual sense." (Andromeda)
"What?" Tonks blinked, completely taken aback by the sudden comment.
Andromeda looked away, unconsciously rubbing her thighs together.
"I'm being honest when I say I can't forget your father. Not who he was, not what we shared… But sexually…" Her voice dropped lower. "I can't think of him that way. Even if I try, every time I do, the memory of what happened with Red comes back to me. And if I try to remember sex with Ted… Red appears again. I don't feel bad about it. Maybe I felt a bit guilty at first, but I got over it." Andromeda looked at her steadily. "I wouldn't blame your father if the roles were reversed. I'd like to believe he'd do the same."
Tonks was left with her mouth slightly open, unable to find words to respond.
"Nym... Tonks." Andromeda took a breath and spoke firmly. "You're not a child anymore. I think you can handle something like this. In fact, I believe you already have. I saw you arrive together, and I didn't see a complete break between you, so I assume you forgave him. That somehow, you were ready to move on before seeing me. I know you've accepted many things up until now. This is just one more. For our happiness, we both know Red is unstoppable and running away is not the answer. We can't avoid this path, but we can choose how we walk it," Andromeda said in a wise tone.
"But..." (Tonks)
"Do you think you can leave him?" (Andromeda)
Tonks fell silent.
"Do you think you can stop him if he wants something?" (Andromeda)
The whisper slipped from her lips before she could stop it:
"No..." (Tonks)
Andromeda nodded calmly, as if that was the confirmation she had been waiting for.
"Then tell me, what's better? Keep fighting until we're all hurt... or find a way to make the best of it?"
Tonks felt her strength leave her.
"I... I can't believe you're defending him..."
She let herself fall onto a bench, feeling the weight of reality crushing her. Silent tears rolled down her face. Everything her mother had said that night was more unsettling than the cosmic madness they had been caught up in. More terrifying, even.
Andromeda sat beside her and began to gently stroke her back in a comforting gesture. But it didn't make her feel any better.
Tonks had tried to ignore the future, to live in the present without worrying about what was to come. But her mother had made sure she feared the future. And doubted the present.
"Why did I get involved with him?" Tonks murmured out loud, as if suddenly that was the only question that mattered.
"Because you love him. And he loves you deeply." Andromeda's response came with a calm that only made her more desperate.
"If he loved me, he wouldn't hurt me so much... We wouldn't be going through this." Tonks felt her voice breaking.
"No, he truly loves you." (Andromeda)
"Why do you keep defending him?!" Tonks looked at her in pain. "Fuck... He's fucked your brain."
"Maybe." Andromeda gave a sideways smile. "But I'm serious. The pain you feel isn't because he doesn't love you. I know it better than anyone... maybe even better than he does."
"How can you be so sure?" Tonks clenched her fists, rage burning in her throat.
"Because before you arrived... the sex we had was transcendental." (Andromeda)
"I don't want to hear that shit!" Tonks shouted, feeling disgust and fury swirling in her chest.
"Tonks, listen to me." Andromeda grabbed her arm firmly, forcing her to look at her. Her eyes were serious—too serious. "I mean it. Transcendental... on a level no one could imagine. For a moment, I was him. Literally. In a spiritual sense."
"What?" Tonks looked at her as if she were insane.
"More than sex, it was a connection between our souls." Andromeda took a breath and continued, choosing her words carefully. "I saw what he saw. I felt what he felt. I thought what he thought... throughout his entire sexual life. Sweetheart, I was him. I understood him for a few moments. That's why I'm telling you to believe me when I say he loves you."
Tonks opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out.
"You were his first woman. His first time." Andromeda smiled faintly, but there was no mockery in her expression. "You have no idea how nervous he was, even though he tried to hide it. Up until the moment he was inside you, he doubted it was all real. He feared it was a dream. He still fears it. He's terrified of waking up one day and discovering that all of us... all the women he's shared something with... are just illusions in his mind."
"Are you serious?" Tonks whispered, disbelieving.
"Yes. I saw it with my own eyes. I felt it in my heart." Andromeda sighed and looked up at the sky. "And to think I thought I was nervous my first time... Well, maybe I win. But the fear he has—that none of this is real... that overwhelms me. It still gives me chills."
"It must've been a hallucination..." Tonks muttered, shaking her head. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't. This had to be a trick, some manipulation.
Andromeda watched her calmly before speaking again.
"In the Auror apartments... you were going to do it with his clone, Tenebrius, whom you helped create. But he asked you to wait for his real form. That's when you remembered he was much younger than you and wanted to stop. But he 'didn't let you,' though clearly you could have said no. And you thought... 'What would my mother and father think of me?' But you went ahead anyway, because you believed it would stay a secret. You even considered casting a memory charm so he'd forget... so only you would know."
Tonks felt her blood turn cold.
"How do you know that?!" she screamed, standing up abruptly. "Did you actually see what he...?" Her voice broke. A far more terrifying thought struck her like lightning. "How do you know what I thought?! Not even he knows that! Or does he?!"
"Calm down." Andromeda held her gaze firmly. "I told you. For a moment, I was him. And I was you too."
Tonks froze. A chill ran down her spine.
"How...?" She could barely utter the word.
"I don't know. Magic, maybe." Andromeda gave a bitter smile. "All I know is that in that moment... at some point... I was you fucking him. And him fucking you. I saw both perspectives. I understood you both."
Tonks felt her stomach twist. This was too much. It was twisted. It was impossible.
But then, something clicked in her mind.
And her eyes widened in horror.
"THAT MEANS YOU FUCKED ME!!!"
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