The Rescue

Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

The parents, transported with joy, embraced their future son-in-law, calling him their deliverer and the saviour of their house, and the virgin, both cause and reward of the contest, descended from the rock. Bulfinch's Mythology, Book XV.

When she regained her bearings, Andromeda discovered that she was standing in some sort of back garden next to Ted Tonks. He still looked somewhat like Rabastan Lestrange. She pointed it out and then looked around. "Where are we?" she asked.

"I couldn't say," he answered. "I didn't even know Dumbledore was at the Lestrange Estate. I have no idea where he would have sent us." He looked in a hand mirror and stared hard at his face until it looked normal.

"Mr. Tonks?"

"Please call me Ted."

"Ted, then, thank you. I was so frightened. I've been trying to figure out how I would ever submit to that man. I imagine I'll have to go back and he'll probably place me under the Imperious Curse so that I'll do whatever he wants, but thank you for this reprieve and for however many minutes of sanity are left to me."

"Miss Black, I'm not sending you back." He set down the items he was holding and opened his arms. She hesitated, so he stepped closer to her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm not letting you go back if I can help it."

She couldn't remember the last time she had been held like this. Maybe it was when her parents dropped her off at King's Cross at the start of second or third year. It was quite pleasant. "Oh," she sighed. "I feel so safe like this with you."

"I was worried about you, back there tonight. I thought he would hurt you then and there."

"I think that was the plan. I wasn't as attentive to him as he wanted at the engagement dinner, and I kept flinching whenever he touched me this evening. I think he wanted to use this weekend to force me into a position where I had to marry him."

His answer was to pull her tighter to himself. For a second, she rested there with her head on his shoulder. Then she tried to pull away enough to see his face, but he held her close.

"He won't do that again. I will devote my life to keeping you safe."

"That's so kind of you to say, but you don't need to try to be nice. I'll have to go back, sometime. I really don't have any way of avoiding it."

"Of course you do. I meant what I said at Florean Fortescue's. I want to marry you. Everything I've said still stands. We can find that cottage to live in, and we can live a quiet but happy life for all our days. On the other side, I'm still willing to have a marriage in name only if you would prefer. As soon as you decide you have a better option, we can get the marriage annulled. They'll stop hounding you once you've taken the step of marriage to a 'Mudblood,' I'm sure, so it's up to you. If I had some place where you could hide, I would offer it, but I don't think you would be as safe."

She took a step away. "You are the real thing, aren't you?"

"It's a genuine offer." He looked a bit affronted.

"Even with the Mud...I mean Muggle...upbringing, you can come to me like the mythical hero to rescue me from the serpent and save me? Is it as easy as that? My parents aren't like those of the mythical Andromeda, you know. They will not be grateful for what you have done tonight, and they will not approve a marriage between us. There will be more battles to fight."

"Why shouldn't it be easy, and if your parents can so easily send you to that wizard, do we need their approval? Miss Black, I have strong feelings for you, and not just because I can rescue a maiden from her fate. It interests me, the way you love your family and your heritage, but you instinctively pull away from the darker aspects of it all. You have such an integrity about that, and I admire your dignity. Plus, I've always thought you were pretty."

"So you keep saying." She twisted her mouth as she thought for a few minutes. There wasn't very much to think about. She had already decided at the ice cream parlor when it had suddenly been dashed away like a dream. "Very well, then, Mr. Tonks, I'm inclined to receive your suit favorably."

He looked happy, but cautious. "Does that mean something in the language of pure-blood witches?"

She tilted her head up at the sky and laughed. He absorbed the sound of it greedily. "It means yes. I will marry you, Mr. Tonks."

"You really should call me Ted, then."

"And you should call me Andromeda." She looked at him shyly as he rested his hands on her shoulders. He started to pull her closer, tilting his head to the side. She found that it was hard to breathe evenly, but she had no instinct to flinch with him.

"I'm pretty sure they're in the back garden. I heard them arrive, anyway." A woman's voice came from the nearby house. Andromeda stepped away from Ted with an embarrassed giggle. A second later, Dumbledore and Kingsley Shacklebolt were standing there with the witch who must have spoken. The last person to emerge was a wizard Andromeda never expected to see.

"Uncle Alphard!"

"Ah, Andie, my child. I hear you've flown the coop. I hope you're prepared for the fallout." He came forward to squeeze her hand. "Albus told me what happened at the Lestranges' estate. If you father had asked me, I would have suggested one of those Prewett boys for Bellatrix, but he insisted on that Lestrange young man. He always felt that Ignatius Prewett was a mistake for poor Cousin Lucretia, as though she didn't bring her problems on herself. But that's family laundry and where are my manners? You know Albus, of course, and Shacklebolt seems a nice enough lad. I take it this is Mr. Tonks? You have my gratitude, young man."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Andromeda and Theodore, this is Arabella Figg, and this is her home."

Andromeda held out her hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Figg. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Call me Arabella, dear. I never got married, being a Squib and all. Please, come inside. There's no telling who's out and about, even here."

They all went inside, to Miss Figg's parlor. Ted and Andromeda were seated together on a sofa. He patted her hand from time to time, and she couldn't figure out why it should make her feel comforted. Dumbledore and her uncle sat on chairs across from them, while their hostess sat in a chair a little way apart. Kingsley Shacklebolt stayed near the edges of the room, occasionally looking out of one window or another.

"Where is here, exactly?" asked Andromeda.

"Gretna Green. It seemed as good a place as any for a young girl to flee to," answered the Hogwarts Headmaster with a twinkling eye. "The more important question is what is to be done with Miss Black, now that she has been removed from her family."

Ted cleared his throat. "Actually, it's been decided. That is, if it's ok with everyone, especially you, Mr. Black, since you're her family--"

Andromeda cut in. "Ted asked me to marry him and I agreed to it." It didn't sound like such a big deal when she said it quickly. She hoped the pat from Ted's hand signaled that he understood.

Uncle Alphard cleared his throat. "Under the circumstances, I'm not sure..."

"I've discussed this already with Ted," said Dumbledore, who turned and looked at Andromeda over his glasses. "This does solve your problem rather neatly, but you understand what you are doing?"

She nodded solemnly. "I don't know Ted extremely well, but I'm convinced that I won't find a kinder or a better man to be my husband. I'm content with this choice."

Arabella clapped her hands in delight as Uncle Alphard said, "I think we need to speak for a minute, my girl."

They were shown into a back room. "Andie, Albus told me a little bit about your predicament, and I was prepared to offer for you to move into my home. Are you sure you would rather marry Tonks?"

She smiled up at him. "It's a very kind offer, Uncle, but I don't see any way out of this other than marriage. If there's something in it, they'll run me to ground wherever I am, but if I stain myself with marriage to a Mudblood, the pure-blood wizards will want nothing to do with me."

"Then you're not planning for it to be a marriage in name only? If it can be annulled, they will do so."

She nodded as she thought for a minute, trying to find the right words. "Ted really wants me, Uncle. I know without a doubt that he's ready to be married to me forever. Even with those feelings, he offered to be platonic within our marriage. Of course, I know as well as you do that it wouldn't work. I don't know if I feel as strongly about him as he does about me, but I think I will enjoy our marriage. He interests me in ways that Rabastan Lestrange repulses me."

"Can you be fair to him, then? I would be disappointed if you got out of this problem only to decide you would rather follow your parents' plan for you after all."

She looked up. "I mean to try. I'm certainly not interested in anyone I've met, and I know I can never go back to my parents. It's not that I can't love Ted, it's just that I never thought of it, before. I can love him at least as much as my parents love each other."

The wizard smiled gently. "All right then, young lady. My offer still stands. You and Tonks are welcome to live with me in my cottage until such time as other arrangements are made. In fact, I'm going to do something for Dumbledore for a week or so. That will give you a little time to get used to each other."

"Thank you, Uncle."

"Who knows? There might be children someday. Evie and I had such hopes when we married and built that cottage...."

Andromeda stiffened at that. She hadn't thought about children, and the idea suddenly scared her. There was no time for it, because Arabella knocked on the door. "Miss Black? I noticed your dress was ripped along the shoulder. Would you like to change? I have your suitcase right here."

The wizard opened the door and stepped out. Ted was there, too. "Would you like to do it tonight, Andromeda? It turns out that Headmaster Dumbledore can officiate for us."

She smiled shyly. "I suppose we might as well." There was no point in waiting and getting nervous about it. The sooner it was over with, the sooner she could get on with her life, whatever that would be.

Uncle Alphard smiled sternly. "I'll talk to Mr. Tonks and Dumbledore then. You make yourself pretty for your groom."

When the witch and her hostess came out of the back room and into the parlor, Ted's chin dropped. She was wearing the wedding robe he had seen her modeling just the other day. He wondered, in passing, what else was in that suitcase. Without a window in between, and without the desperate look in her eyes she had on the other day, she was breathtaking to him. Her uncle jumped out of the chair where he was seated and walked over to the doorway. He led her up to where Ted and Dumbledore were standing.

The old wizard smiled kindly. "It seems we had a few interesting coincidences come together this night. Ted actually has a marriage license, so we won't need to fudge anything there..."

"Were you so sure of me?" Andromeda asked her bridegroom.

He shook his head. "There is nothing in this world I have wanted so much and been less sure about. The license was purely by chance. It seems there's a witch who thought I would put her name in as the bride."

She became worried. "If there's someone else..."

He shook his head emphatically. "Absolutely not. I have never seen the witch as a woman, certainly not as a woman I would ever marry. I've told you, you're the prettiest witch to me."

Arabella sighed somewhere in the background. Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"To continue, we have a license, and as it happens, we are in the town of Gretna Green, where marriages are done with...shall we call it...a more relaxed formality." He paused to see the effect of his comments on the group before him and also to find a small book in one of his pockets. "Let's begin, then..."

Andromeda had a chance to look around at the tidy parlor in which her wedding was held, at the witnesses, and especially at her groom. He looked distinguished in dress robes, but what amazed her was the radiant look on his face as he gazed at her. She got caught in his eyes and almost forgot where she was. There was a pause in Dumbledore's speech; he was waiting for her to say something. She whispered "I will," and the rite continued. She and Ted answered all of the questions and repeated the vows as directed.

When it came time for rings, Ted pulled out a chain from within his robes and unfastened a lovely gold band with Celtic knots worked on it. "It was my grandmother's," he whispered as he slid it upon her finger. As it settled into place, it seemed to glow.

Right then, Uncle Alphard stood and walked over to the couple. He removed his own wedding band and handed it to Andromeda, nodding toward Ted. With a lump in her throat, she placed it on Ted's hand and whispered the words Dumbledore said for her to repeat. At the very end, Ted was told to kiss her, and the moment that nearly happened in the back garden was upon her.

Once again he gently held her shoulders and drew her close. His face tilted to the side, and she started losing her breath. As his lips touched hers, it was a bit awkward to begin with. Then something seemed to flow from his mouth to hers, and she was warmed all at once. His kiss became more firm, and she started to feel something in her tummy. There was something within her floating around as she pushed her lips back into his. She lost consciousness to the world around her and just wanted to continue that kiss.

Suddenly there was a cracking noise outside. Andromeda and Ted moved apart as Kingsley spoke for the first time that Andromeda noticed that evening. "Nox!" he said as the front door to the little house burst open.

This has been beta read by Trickie Woo. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing!