A Sea...

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

Ted was waiting for her right next to the fireplace. He took her hand and ran with her out of the restaurant and into the little alleyway in back. When he folded her into his arms, Andromeda felt safe for the first time since leaving Hogwarts. "Hold on," he whispered as he turned.

When the world righted itself, Andromeda looked around. They were in a forgotten corner of a quiet park. Ted led her to a bench near a playground that was empty. "The young ones don't come here very often any more."

"I'm sorry. It must have been charming once."

"The neighborhood is changing. They don't have the same sort of families any more."

They were quiet for several minutes, during which Andromeda tried to figure out just how to broach the subject that was now critical. She didn't want to bring it up until she had soaked up the feel of him and the sense of security he brought her. She wasn't sure how Ted would react to her situation, either. Surely in a few moments she would absorb enough of whatever it is he exuded to her that made her feel so safe. She sniffed the smell of Quidditch and whatever was the scent of the soap he used. It hadn't changed since the day Prewett's Amortentia had covered her hair.

"Did he get a chance to...Andromeda, I can't say the word...did he attack you?"

"He just touched me, through my clothes."

Ted breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't stand the thought of you being..." He swallowed, clearly uncomfortable saying the word... "raped."

She shook her head. "It hasn't happened." Yet, she thought.

"We can't allow it to happen."

They were quiet again, and Andromeda realized there would never be a better time to broach the subject. "Have you been ill, like we both were before that day?"

"No."

"Oh. I'm somewhat sorry to hear that." Andromeda drew back and settled on the bench, feeling like a heap of bones. Everything came to one point, even whatever the Dark Lord had been talking about.

He smiled and looked at her. "I've been feeling a different sort of pain where you're concerned. I miss you so much that it makes me ache. Now that I know what it feels like to have you in my arms and in a bed, I confess I don't think about much else."

He was so sweet and kind to her, but how would he really react? She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and just said it. "Ted, I'm late."

He sat up quickly and took her hand. "Is there some place you need to be? I'll take you there."

She shook her head and squeezed his hand, willing him to understand. "No, Ted, late, in a womanly way."

Ted got very still for a moment, so still she wondered if he was breathing. "You haven't had any cycles since we were together?"

She shook her head.

"And...please forgive me...there's been no one else?"

She shook her head again. "Just you."

Without being entirely sure how it happened, she was pressed up against his chest, encircled by those strong arms. He was whispering into her hair, but she just heard a rushing sound in her ears. Was he telling her he couldn't help her? She calmed. No, Ted would never brush her off. He was a man who took care of things. She started listening. "My angel... my love..."

They sat quietly for a long while. Andromeda couldn't get enough of his arms around her. She felt his strength working through her, giving her courage.

He pulled back and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I should ask... Are you angry or upset?"

She shook her head. "My whole purpose in life was to marry someone and have his children."

"My children? I expected that you would have done or used something."

"Pureblood witches have been killed for preventing pregnancy. It was simply not a consideration. I expected you to do something."

"I had measles when I was a kid...it's a Muggle sickness. They said I probably wouldn't have kids." He put his hand over her belly, and she felt a glow within her. Was the child already responding to its father's touch? She felt a warmth move through her from head to toe. She was perfectly at home.

"Will you marry me now?"

She pulled back at that. "I... what will we do in the mean time? I can't go home."

"I know someone who can get us a special license, so it can be done quickly. We'll find a place to hide you."

"I..." Could she get married... just like that? What would her family do? Her hand fell to her tummy. The relationship was already consummated.

"What if I'm not?"

"Pregnant?" he asked. He smiled and teased her as his hands slid over her hips. "Then we'll spend the next thirty or so years trying our hardest to make you that way."

She blushed and looked down. When she looked back up, he looked just a little uncertain.

"Is there someone else, someone you wanted to marry?"

She thought of her fantasy of a tall, dark prince, and quashed it once and for all. The hero of her girlish fantasies always rescued her from grave danger. Ted, just by existing, was doing that. "There's no one. My only worry along those lines is that my parents have signed a marriage contract on my behalf."

"That can only go so far, and you haven't exchanged vows, have you?"

"No, but my family will never give consent to you."

"You're of age. I want you to give your own consent, Dromeda. Your family treats you like an object, like something to be bought or sold, but I want you of your own free will."

She felt dizzy for a moment and breathed deeply to clear her mind. "Mudblood, how can you possibly be so wonderful?"

He squeezed her closer. "You're back to yourself if you can call me 'Mudblood,' again. I'm not wonderful, Dromeda. I'm selfish and unkind to my enemies."

"You've never had an enemy."

"That's entirely untrue."

"Who could possibly be your enemy?"

"Lord Voldemort."

She stiffened in his arms at the sound of the name.

"And your family, if they want that man to violate you."

"Ted..."

"If you don't want to marry me, I'll help you find a place to stay until you decide what to do."

"We don't even know for sure..."

Suddenly, Ted stood. "Then let's go find out."

Two hours later, they stood together outside a clinic. Andromeda clung to Ted, who held her close. "It's true. I'm going to have your baby."

"Poppy said it will be born around Christmas."

"How did you know she would be at this clinic?"

"Quidditch players spend a fair amount of time in the hospital wing. I got bored one day and asked what she does over the summer."

"I'm pregnant." If she said it enough, maybe she would comprehend it.

"Yes, love, you're pregnant with our child."

"There's a person growing inside me." It was one thing to suspect and to wonder, but to know there really was a baby within her made Andromeda's heart beat wildly.

Ted put an arm around her and walked her back to a place they could Disapparate. "You're amazing, Andromeda. I can't tell you how much I want to marry you. I know we could be brilliant together, but you do have other options."

Andromeda considered the options. There were ways to end the pregnancy. She could go back to her family, marry the Dark Lord, and possibly live forever. She quickly moved to the second option. Ted said he would help her find a place to live. She could carry the child, place it with another family, and then return to her life. Or she could keep the child and raise it alone. Then again, she could marry this man who had fathered the child on that indescribable day of passion. She was sure that he fully intended more passion if she chose that option. She couldn't help a shiver of anticipation at the thought.

"Ted, I think I'd like...I think I'd like to marry you."

"Oh, Dromeda..." He kissed her, then, and she knew she'd made the right decision. She enjoyed his kiss and realized she would be kissed on a regular basis from then on.

When he let her up for air, she had one request. "Would it be all right to stop in Diagon Alley for a while?"

"Certainly."

She went into Madame Malkin's boutique. There was a gown there that belonged to her. It was already paid for and was made just for her, so there was no point in letting it stay there.

When she came out of the shop, holding a large garment bag, Ted was waiting for her. "They're starting to look for you, but some friends are willing to take you in."

"Just like that?"

"Yes."

"Not your parents...my family will look there first."

"That's what the others thought." A cloud passed over his face. "My family is being moved for the moment. This family is beyond suspicion, and they're pureblood. It's perfect for you."

Andromeda put her hand in Ted's. "If you're sure, I trust you."

"Ah, love, the future is as glorious as I said." He put his arms around her and turned.

Andromeda felt dizzy and sick when she arrived back on solid land, with Ted's hands firmly around her. He held her until she was steady and then released her. A sweet little house, often referred to as a "start up" by estate agents, stood before her. "Where are we?"

"This is the home of Arthur and Molly Weasley."

"But they're blood-traitor Gryffindors!"

A firm hand under her chin moved her face around to look at him. "You've just consented to marry a Mudblood, Andromeda. Doesn't that make you a blood-traitor, too? Does it really matter so much? Should we reconsider the whole thing? I can take you back to your family home."

He was right. At some point in the past few hours, she'd made a final decision. She would no longer be a true pureblood. "It's no home to me." She put her hand in his and set her face to the path in front of them. She'd come this far; surely she could see it all through. Maybe if she wished hard enough, she would wake up from this dream and find that Ted was as wonderful as he was but also had pure enough blood to satisfy even Aunt Walburga.

Molly Weasley's words were kind, but her eyes had a look that said, "We'll see." Ted continued to hold Andromeda's hand as Molly led them to her room, and then he set her carpet bag on the bed.

"I'll be down fixing dinner," said Molly with a disapproving look.

Ted's hand ran down Andromeda's arm to her hand. "It's just a few days."

She closed her eyes tight and thought of what the Dark Lord had planned. The more she thought about it, the more sure she was that he had known about the baby. In the home of her parents, she and the baby were in danger. It wasn't clear whether Molly would be a friend, but at least she wouldn't hurt Andromeda. "It's different, but I'll get used to it."

He pulled her close. "I'm not supposed to come here very often. They think I'll be watched. I'm going to miss you so much, but it's just for a few days."

It was something to add to the list of things she would think about later... marriage to a Mudblood, living with blood-traitors, the look in Molly Weasley's eye, and now having to navigate this new world without Ted's comforting presence. She clung to him for just a minute. "It's the best way, isn't it?"

"That's my witch." He said it with such pride that she didn't have the heart to do what she was a hair's breadth from doing, which was burst into tears. Instead, she gave him as convincing a smile as she could.

Her reward was sweet kisses of the sort she'd come to depend upon. "My angel, we're so close now," he whispered as he caressed her face and neck. "We'll never be apart after this."

After a few minutes, they walked down the stairs and back to the kitchen. Molly was doing something with a big knife and a roast while smaller knives did things with various vegetables.

Ted made his way to the door and then turned. "I can't tell you how I appreciate this, Molly," he said.

"Hmph," was her reply.

He kissed Andromeda on the cheek. "I love you," he said as he went out the door.

"I..." she said, just before biting her lip.

"I know, Dromeda. I know." He smiled and walked down the path. An instant later, he was gone.

"Well, are you going to make yourself useful, or do princesses like you just stand around and wait for other people to do things?"

Andromeda turned. "I'd like to help, if you'll show me what to do."

"Show you what to do?"

"I've never done any of these things," she admitted, spreading her arms to indicate the kitchen full of activity.

Molly looked aghast for a moment but then nodded her head. "Your mother has house-elves, doesn't she?"

"Yes."

"So you know absolutely nothing about how to care for a home, or cook."

"I can make an omelet."

"Ted Tonks is a good man. He deserves more than that."

"I...I suppose he does." Andromeda suddenly felt inadequate. "I would be grateful to learn whatever you teach me."

Molly sighed. "And Bill's going to wake up any second. Here, this is how you peel a potato." Molly took a peeler and a potato and showed Andromeda what to do.

"By hand? You were doing it with a spell."

"The spell works better when you have a sense of what it needs to do."

"But I can't do all those things! I'm pregnant!"

Molly shrugged. "So am I. Three months gone with the second baby and miserable more often than I feel good. Still, dinner doesn't cook itself, and you can't expect your husband to work all day and then come home and cook for you."

"I hadn't thought of that." Andromeda put out her hands and took the potato and peeler.

"You don't say." Molly's voice had a tone that said she didn't think Andromeda thought about much of anything. "Just see what you can do with those potatoes while I look after Bill."

A little while later, Molly came back into the kitchen holding the hand of a little red-haired boy. "Sit yourself down while mummy finishes with dinner." she said. The tot sat on a rug in the corner and played with some blocks. Molly came over to the counter where Andromeda worked and said, "You seem to have done well enough with those. This is how we put them to boil."

"Sort of like some potions with roots."

"I suppose," said Molly as if she was bestowing a great honor. Yet she seemed to unbend a bit as she showed Andromeda the various steps that went into making the dinner. She kept up a steady stream of conversation as she prepared meat and vegetables, all the while keeping an eye on the toddler in the corner, who occasionally strayed from his rug and wandered into the living room. Andromeda was given orders to stir as Molly went in search of her son. Minutes later, a new stream of conversation would start as Molly came back into the kitchen tugging the hand of her son while scolding him for getting into something.

Andromeda was sure there was a stream of perspiration running down from her neck by the time Molly declared dinner to be ready. After that, it was time to set the table for dinner. The spell for that was a variation of Wingardium Leviosa that Andromeda was quickly competent with.

Arthur came in shortly afterward, and gave his wife a kiss before looking for his son. He held the boy while he shook Andromeda's hand. He then took his sont for a bit of play in the living room, leaving the women to do the last few things to serve dinner. When Molly declared that process complete, Arthur came back into the kitchen, strapped Bill into his high chair, and sat at the table. Andromeda sat where indicated. The meal progressed in relative silence. Molly and Arthur spoke in short exchanges about their day while passing looks between themselves that indicated there was more to say but not in front of the company.

Molly showed Andromeda how to wash the dishes and then followed Arthur into the living room. Andromeda could make out snatches of the conversation, and none of it sounded good.

"Ted's parents' house has been burned to the ground."

"Already?"

"We got them out just in time. An hour later, the Dark Mark was visible over the burning house."

"What are they doing at the Ministry?"

"Nothing on either side. Cygnus is demanding that the Minister look into this personally, which of course Fudge won't do, but they've done nothing to really help Ted, either. It's hardest on him, of course, being knocked out of the Aurors by Cygnus Black's friends a week ago."

Andromeda had to sit down. Had father really done that? It would have been right after he'd sent Ted away from the house. Was father spiteful enough to hurt a man's livelihood just for asking to court his daughter? She tended to some stray bubbles as she decided her father was exactly that spiteful.

Arthur had left The Evening Prophet on the table. The lead headline read, Debutante Missing...Presumed Kidnapped. There was a picture of her taken just after N.E.W.T.s had ended. There was no indication that they knew what had happened to her, just a tearful quote from her mother and a promise of a reward from her father.

"Is she really worth all this to him? To have his parents affected like this and to lose his job?"

"He seems to think so."

"She's useless in the kitchen. She doesn't know anything about cooking, and she seems afraid of Bill. I don't know how they'll manage."

"I'm sure every couple has their struggles to work through, just like we did, Molly. He's crazy about her, and she must like him enough to get with child."

"Hmph. We'll see."

Andromeda was exhausted that night. It was her first day of any real exertion since the school term ended, and she slept more soundly than in weeks.

A/N: Thank you to Kyria of Delphi and Pennfana for help with this story!