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Random Bits and Pieces of Nothing Andromeda Black

2ifbifrost

Head canon time!

You’re getting more than three, so be warned. Maybe a list of ten?

(so many head canons about Andromeda, she’s legitimately an established character in my head)

1. Andromeda lived a fairly sheltered life in the Black household and had never met a Muggle-born (or possibly even a half-blood child) before attending Hogwarts. It was attending Hogwarts that made her rethink her family’s prejudices, and she disagreed with her family’s beliefs long before she fell in love with Ted. The romance precipitated the rift with her family, but Ted Tonks was not the only factor in making her reconsider the Black family worldview.

2. In this vein, Andromeda had friends in all four Hogwarts Houses during her time at Hogwarts. However, she retained her pride in Slytherin House the entire time - she never believed she should have been in Gryffindor or that being a Slytherin was something to be ashamed of. If you try to tell Andromeda that all Slytherins are evil, she’ll scoff and then deliver an epic takedown, because she knows you are wrong.

3. She was closer to Narcissa than Bellatrix - Bellatrix and Andromeda were both strong-minded and tended to argue with one another, with Narcissa serving as family peacemaker. When Andromeda announced her marriage to Ted, there was a row that sent half the portraits at Grimmauld Place running from their frames to seek shelter (with a few running to spread gossip to other families.)

4. Andromeda was supposed to marry Rabastan Lestrange - it was going to be an arranged double wedding, Bellatrix/Rodolphus and Andromeda/Rabastan. The feeling of betrayal when Bellatrix found out that Andromeda was marrying a Muggle-born for love went beyond ideology - Bella felt personally betrayed, since she was marrying Rodolphus out of a sense of obligation; it was what respectable pure-bloods did. Andromeda’s betrayal was more than throwing over her family for a Muggle-born - it was leaving her sister alone at the altar to face her fate.

5. Before her marriage, her parents sent her a letter offering their forgiveness if she would come home, apologize for her wayward ways, and marry Rabastan Lestrange, as intended. Bellatrix sent her death threats. Narcissa sent her a letter pleading with her to come home, because her family loved her more than some Mudblood boy ever would. Andromeda only sent one reply: a Howler.

6. Within the Black family, she was known as Andra. Her father attempted to nickname her ‘Andie,’ as he called Bellatrix Bella and Narcissa Cissy, but when baby-Narcissa attempted to lisp her sister’s full real name, 'Andra’ was what came out - and Andra was the nickname that stuck. She stopped using it when she broke away from her family. Dromeda is reserved for Ted and Ted alone.

7. Andromeda is responsible for naming her daughter and is the only person who calls Tonks by her full first name. Nymphadora was always Dora to Ted, but Andromeda affectionately calls her daughter by her first name (and not-so-affectionately by her first and middle names when she’s unhappy with her.)

8. Andromeda was not happy about Tonks’s marriage to Remus - she didn’t have blood-purity prejudice, but still had some prejudices about werewolves that she had to overcome. She didn’t attend the wedding, although Ted disagreed and went without her. At first, when Remus abandoned Tonks, she felt justified (although she worked more on consoling her daughter than saying 'I told you so,’) - but after Remus came back, she began to get over her prejudices. By the time Teddy was born, she’d forgiven them, and even began to like Remus as she got to know him and see his relationship with Tonks in its actual functional happy state. After the Battle of Hogwarts, she bitterly regretted not going to the wedding - and doubly regretted not convincing her daughter to stay home that night.

9. Andromeda appears severe at first, and is definitely strong-minded, but she’s not humorless or nasty - at least, not until you try to mess with her family. Like Narcissa, she will tear apart anyone who tries to hurt her family, with her bare hands if necessary. Ted was easy-going and light-hearted and could make her laugh; she was the utterly driven, studious, focused woman of ambition and Ted was the mischief-making, impish, laid-back sort who was much more about enjoying life and taking things as they came. Andromeda’s temper might flare up, but Ted took it all in stride: their marriage worked wonderfully because they complemented each other so well. (It was a Slytherpuff marriage, btw - Ted Tonks was a Hufflepuff.)

10. After the war, Narcissa reached out, but she could never forgive her for what had happened during the war. Narcissa had lost Bella, but made it through the war with her family intact, while Andromeda had lost everything. Postwar canon Andromeda Tonks is strong woman, but when the subject of her dead daughter and husband are touched upon, can be bitter to the point of brittleness - she’d never show it publicly, but sometimes she breaks down in private. (Also, related head canon: Bellatrix had offered an extra bounty to the Snatchers if they delivered her Ted Tonks, which they did. His body was never found - possibly Vanished, as so many Death Eaters’ victims were, or fed to Nagini - and Andromeda believes Narcissa knew about this and refused to stop it. Despite the fact that Narcissa actually would have been powerless to stop this at the time, Andromeda is convinced that Narcissa, who always hated Ted for taking her sister away, would have done nothing in any case, and hates her for that.) Andromeda despises Lucius, knowing him to be an unrepentant Death Eater, and wishes he would have ended his days in Azkaban. Narcissa is still upset about losing Bellatrix, still loves her sister, even as obsessive a Death Eater as she was in her final days - and Andromeda can’t forgive that, because Bellatrix killed her daughter.

~bonus post-canon head canon~

11. When Scorpius Malfoy finally declares his love for Rose Weasley, his family’s knee-jerk reaction is to throw him out. Andromeda reaches out to Harry, who arranges for a meeting between them. Scorpius is very, very different from Andromeda herself - but she likes him, appreciates his willingness to stand up for his beliefs, and offers him advice, consolation, and straightforward, no-nonsense words of wisdom, telling him that he’s done the right thing - but, then again, he knows that, or he wouldn’t have done it in the first place.*

*I have completed fic of Andromeda’s visit to Malfoy Manor, in which she meets with her sister again - and meets Draco for the first time - in order to tell them exactly what she thinks of their decision. Andromeda Tonks has always been strident, no-nonsense, straightforward, intelligent, outspoken, and determined, and this is no exception - although she’s also trying to hide her pain and her emotional damage from the war underneath a facade of complete and utter indifference to her family. That doesn’t completely hold up, but Andromeda is willing to wield her words as weapons - not because she genuinely thinks the Malfoys will change their minds, but because she thinks someone should say what needs to be said. Andromeda is that type of person - she’ll say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done, and live with the consequences.

And does she ever have to live with the consequences.

(note that my headcanon is slightly different for Andromeda in an AU where Tonks lives: in TonksLives!AU!, she does eventually reach out to and reconcile with Narcissa, although it still takes years and is very, very difficult - there’s still decades of emotional damage there, combined with the fact that Narcissa is repulsed by Andromeda’s beloved grandchildren because they’re descended from a werewolf - in any 'verse, Narcissa’s anti-werewolf sentiments are another stumbling block in any attempt at reconciliation. Tonks’s survival would make later-life Andromeda less embittered and less emotionally damaged. Andromeda’s a survivor either way, but if her husband and daughter are both killed in the war, she’s never forgiving Narcissa for her role in it - if Tonks survives, then there’s a chance.)

Posted 12 years ago 79 notes Tagged: andromeda black, andromeda tonks, ask meme, meme things, harry potter head canon, harry potter headcanon, headcanon, head canon, harry potter, 2ifbifrost, .