EPILOGUE:

Four Months Later
(August 30th)

Andromeda sat at her kitchen table, sipping her tea, listening for the gurgling, giggling, or crying that would indicate her grandson, Teddy, had awoken from his nap. The four-month-old was just starting to roll over. Sometimes he did it in his sleep, surprising himself, and then woke up scared, needing to be returned to his back. He was a sweet baby, bright, with thick tufts of hair that changed color several times per day, just as his mother's had.

Though Andromeda hadn't liked Remus Lupin much, she wasn't able to resist buying Teddy an adorable stuffed wolf that morning. It had a crinkly belly, soft limbs, and a tail he could chew on. She'd purchased it, she supposed, with the nonsensical hope it would someone connect him to his deceased father. Maybe she also bought it out of guilt… she hadn't wanted Nymphadora to marry him. Remus's lycanthropy aside, he was too old for her, too poor, to indecisive, and unwilling to commit. And, if she was being perfectly honest, she couldn't put his lycanthropy aside. She hated to think that the old myths of the importance of blood-purity had stayed with her all these years after she left her family to marry Ted, but she couldn't help thinking her daughter could do so much better.

When Lupin had taken off on Tonks, Andromeda was secretly relieved. She assured her daughter they could raise the baby together, Nympadora and her parents, and that he (or she, they didn't know yet) would never want for anything. But then Remus and Nymphadora got back together. He said he wanted to be a husband and a father. Plus they were in love, Nymphadora assured her mother.

Nymphadora had been so certain she and her husband would live happily ever after.

Damn it. Andromeda pinched the bridge of her nose, not wanting to cry, but it still hurt.

It still hurt to be without her daughter. Every single day, every single moment the baby was awake, when she'd look into his eyes and see Nymphadora, it hurt.

It hurt to be raising her grandson, alone.

It hurt to be without her husband, the only man she'd ever loved.

She was glad the war was over, grateful, of course, but she would never get over those losses. It hurt as much nearly four months later as it did on the first day.

A crack outside made Andromeda jump. It sounded like someone had apparated right into her garden.

"Harry?" she called, instantly on edge even though the Wizarding World was in recovery and there had not yet been any attempts by surviving dark wizards to harm those on the side of the Order. On the contrary, most former Death Eaters were already in prison. Azkaban was being guarded by the Ministry with help from Grawp and the other giants he'd converted to their side. The Ministry was being fixed too, led by Kingsley Shackelbolt, the only wizard who seemed up for the task. At Hogwarts, Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was preparing to welcome students in one month for the next year, though the castle hadn't completely been repaired. The previous term's seventh years had been invited back, any who wanted to attend, since it was believed they'd been cheated out of a year's education. Andromeda knew that Teddy's godfather Harry and his best friends (Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger) would not be among them, but she hoped at least a few of their peers would take McGonagall up on the offer.

"Hello?" called Andromeda, making her way toward the door. She flinched when there was a knock from the other side. "Who is it?"

"It's your sister," said a familiar voice. Andromeda was taken aback. Her sister? No! What was she doing here?

"Please," called the voice from the other side of the door. "Please, I know you must be angry, but I need you to speak with me."

"You need me to speak with you?" Andromeda laughed at the absurdity. Though she figured she'd regret it, she opened the door. "Narcissa Malfoy, what could you possibly need to speak about with me?"

Andromeda looked her younger sister over, her gaze settling on Cissy's midsection.

"You're kidding," said Andromeda, shaking her head. "Well, shocked as I was when Bellatrix came to me in the same condition, I suppose since I didn't turn her away I shouldn't cast out you either."

"This isn't what I want to talk to you about." Narcissa stepped aside, revealing the small pram she'd hidden behind her. "I don't know what to do about this."

Andromeda regarded the pram and shook her head again. "You put a baby in it, Narcissa, then push it around. Glad I could help. Goodbye." She attempted to shut the door, but Narcissa blocked it with her foot.

"Please!"

Andromeda bit her lower lip as Cissy twirled her hair, the way Mother always hated.

"It's hers, isn't it?" asked Andromeda, nodding toward the baby carriage. Narcissa nodded.

"I've been caring for her, ever since…"

Andromeda interjected. "I heard you lied to… to Lord Voldemort." Though Harry Potter had insisted after the Dark Lord's defeat that he forever be called by his name ("Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself!") she still found it difficult.

"Yes," said Narcissa, expressionless. "I told him the boy was dead."

"But he wasn't."

"Obviously."

"Why?" Andromeda opened the door the rest of the way but still didn't move to let her sister enter.

"I asked him… about Draco… I was worried… my son might be dead. He… answered me. Said he was alive… I… I didn't care, I mean, I… Potter's being alive or dead, it didn't matter to me, so long as Draco… The Dark Lord, He didn't care if Draco lived... He didn't care about anyone, not even Bella... He... I... Draco..."

"Quit stuttering, I get it," said Andromeda, tossing her hair. She looked so much like Bellatrix whenever she did that. "I begged Nymphadora not to go that night. I threatened to put her in a full body bind to keep her here, but she insisted she had to be there, for her husband. Now they're together, I suppose. That's some comfort, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

They stared at each other. From inside the house, Andromeda heard the sound of baby Teddy crying.

"Come in," she said, exasperated, since she couldn't let him wail all afternoon and doubted Narcissa would leave even if she closed the door in her face. "Sit in the kitchen. We'll have tea. First I have to see to the baby."

"Can we have wine?"

Andromeda ignored this question, entered Teddy's room, which used to be Nymphadora's, and picked him up. She changed him, kissed his tiny fingers, handed him the stuffed wolf, and carried him back to the kitchen. When she got there, she found Narcissa sitting at the table, holding a baby girl, two glasses of wine and a bottle in front of her.

"You didn't say no," said Narcissa with a shrug.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Andromeda snapped, taking the bottle away but leaving the glass.

"Nothing is wrong with me." Narcissa took a long sip, ignoring Andromeda's judgmental glare.

"At least when Bellatrix came over to get drunk, her pregnancy didn't show yet."

"Bella came over here to get drunk?" Hurt flashed across Narcissa's pale face. "She didn't tell me. Is that what you meant when you said she'd been to see you in… in this condition?"

"Did you ever get around to telling her you'd been here?" asked Andromeda, purposely not answering the question. She sipped her own wine, balancing baby Teddy and his toy wolf in her left arm. "Did you tell her you warned us before the second time Death Eaters came to torture us? Did you tell her that you were the reason Ted went on the run, because you told us they'd be coming for him?"

"I…" Narcissa shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that slipped my mind."

"We've all kept secrets," Andromeda said offhandedly. "And we've all told each other things we probably shouldn't have. That's what sisters do, I suppose. Lie and confess."

"I miss her, Andromeda."

"She killed my daughter, Narcissa." Andromeda's voice was cold, even colder than it had been when she first opened the door. "I don't consider her my sister anymore. I'm not sure how I regard you, either, for the record."

"That's fair." Narcissa shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She sipped more wine. "I can only have one," she announced, tapping the glass. "Don't let me drink more."

"Trust me, I can finish the rest of the bottle myself. So. You and Lucius are expecting?"

"Well…" Narcissa's eyes darted around the kitchen, seeking something – anything – to focus on beside her sister, her sister's grandbaby, and the baby sleeping beside her in the stroller. "One of us is expecting, anyway."

"What?" Andromeda leaned forward, shocked. "It's not his?"

"I… well, honestly, I don't know. I had a little… thing… so I can't be sure… Lucius says if it's not his he'll divorce me, which I can understand, but at the same time… I mean… he slept around on me for twenty years and I never once threatened to divorce him, you know? Plus I'm the reason he hasn't been sent to Azkaban."

"Because you lied on behalf of Harry Potter?"

"Yes. And because I pressured him to turn in everyone… everyone who tried to run. Our former friends. The Dark Lord's most ardent supporters, including those who avoided Azkaban last time. Thus far we've testified against Rabastan, Rodolphus, Hortensia, the Carrows, Yaxley, Dolohov, Macnair…"

"That must make you a target, if any of You-Know-Who's supporters are still out there."

Narcissa bit her lip, glancing back toward Bella's baby. "Yes, some of them are and I imagine they're not happy with us. But a lot of things might make me a target at the moment." Without realizing she'd done it, she moved to rest the hand not holding her wine glass on her swelling belly. Andromeda nodded.

"Who's the father?"

"He's dead."

Andromeda raised an eyebrow. "His name died with him, did it?"

"If…" Narcissa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If my husband is not the baby's father, only one other man could be, and no one would be helped by… by knowing about it."

A sharp cry from inside the pram startled them. Narcissa lifted out baby Nova. She balanced the six-month-old in her lap, supporting her carefully, since she still couldn't quite sit independently. Teddy's face lit up at the sight of the girl – his second cousin, or maybe first cousin once removed? He reached out to touch her.

"She's kind of cute," said Andromeda, not quite sounding like she meant it. "She has your sister's eyes. Nice complexion. Sort of fat."

"She's gained a lot of weight since I started giving her formula. Bella was breastfeeding, if you can imagine. The thought of it rather disgusts me, but she seemed to enjoy it. She said she felt like it was a bonding experience. Can you imagine? Bellatrix Black talking about having a bonding experience with a baby? Severus – Snape – once saw her doing it and commented that he found it disturbing because it humanized her, which didn't mean much to me at the time, but I've found myself thinking on it since, for some reason. Maybe because, since the war ended, she'd been made out to be this super-villain, as evil and sadistic as the Dark Lord Himself, which I just can't... I just can't abide, not having known her... before. Anyway, Bella also insisted breastfeeding would take the baby weight off. No idea where she heard that."

Despite the intense hatred she'd been feeling toward her sister since Nymphadora's murder, Andromeda had to laugh. "I told her that," she explained, catching Cissy's puzzled expression. "It does take the weight off. It did for me. I was down to my pre-baby weight in a matter of months. It took you ten years."

Narcissa scowled. "Two years."

"Five years."

"Fine, five." There was an uneasy silence as both contemplated the absurdity of this same conversation held between Andromeda and Bellatrix, which had taken place nearly a year ago.

"So you plan to raise that one?" asked Andromeda, pointing at Nova, who was sucking on her own little fist, ignoring Teddy, who was still cooing and reaching toward her.

"How can I? No one knows she exists. I was permitted one visit with Rodolphus in Azkaban. I asked what he wanted to do. He suggested giving her a new identity and paying Euphemia Rowle to raise her. She was a Death Eater too, but too low-level, she won't go to Azkaban, no one cares enough to try and put her there. He said there should be enough gold left in his and Bella's Gringotts vault to keep Nova fed and sheltered until she comes of age. I don't like the idea, especially since I discovered last December that he'd been having an affair with Euphemia, but what can I do? She's not mine. And I'll have my hands full enough with this one, especially if Lucius casts me out. I can't exactly get by on my good name, you know?" She scoffed.

"Not to mention the damage it could do her, growing up in our world with that name."

Narcissa furrowed her brow and sniffed the baby's head, which smelled of powder and shampoo. "What's wrong with Nova? I think it's pretty."

"I didn't mean her literal name. I meant her parentage."

"Yes, well, being Bella's baby would be difficult, I'm sure, but…"

"I meant because of her father. Oh! Merlin's beard!" Andromeda's face took on an expression that Narcissa interpreted as a mix of revulsion and worry. "I do hope that baby and yours don't have the same father."

"You think I was sleeping with Rodolphus?" asked Narcissa, equally horrified.

"What? No!" Andromeda gave an involuntary shutter at the very idea. "Cissy, Rodolphus isn't the baby's father. I… how… how could you think that? You lived together for over two years! Didn't she tell you anything?"

"You mean you think my husband knocked up my sister?" This seemed to scandalize Narcissa even more. She bounced the baby gently on her knee, shooting her sister a wounded look.

"You can't be serious! She hadn't slept with Lucius in over twenty years!"

"Bellatrix slept with my husband over twenty years ago?" With every question, Narcissa's voice rose in pitch. Andromeda shook her head. She quite literally couldn't believe her ears.

"You lived with her Cissy! You were close with her! Are you really telling me you don't have any idea who the father of that baby is?"

Slowly Narcissa shook her head, feeling dense.

"It's His, Narcissa. The baby's father is Lord Voldemort."

Narcissa's hands flew up to her face. The baby dropped from her knee, but thankfully Andromeda's quick reflexes saved her. She grabbed and flicked her wand, using a hovering spell to suspend the infant in mid-air, allowing time for a stunned Narcissa to hold her again. Nova and Teddy both giggled. Apparently this little trick was amusing to anyone under six months old. As a matter of fact, Teddy seemed so delighted by it, his hair turned black and curly, like his cousin's. Nova's eyes widened. She was now able to see more clearly at a distance, and apparently this appearance alteration surprised her. She opened and closed her pudgy hand, as if waving to him. He replied with a toothless grin.

"Oh, dear," said Andromeda. She turned him to face her. "Teddy Lupin, you change yourself back right now!"

He didn't really understand what she was saying, but the distraction of being so close to her was enough and the thick hair on his head again became straight, turning bubblegum pink.

"How do you know?" whispered Narcissa. "It can't be."

"Of course it is! She didn't tell you? She told me. The day she came here, the day she came and told me she was pregnant, she sat right where you're sitting, we split a bottle of wine, and she got pissed off it, I took her to the bathroom to vomit, and she confessed that she was with child thanks to the Dark Lord, as she called him."

Now Narcissa felt sick to her stomach in a way that had nothing to do with the baby she, herself, was carrying. "Then it's settled. I absolutely can't keep her. I can't! What if someone finds out? I can't… like you said, I'm already a potential target! I have to think about my son, and my husband, and this baby. Besides, how can she grow up… how can she live… knowing that? How can she go through life if people know? It would be bad enough growing up in our post-war world as the daughter of Bellatrix Black Lestrange, but to be the baby of Bella and that… that… that monster?"

"I thought you were rather fond of Him," said Andromeda snidely. "You were among His most dedicated followers, were you not?"

"As I told you the last time I called upon you, it didn't much matter to me who won the damn war, so long as my son was alive in the end."

"I know how you feel," said Andromeda. "I'd almost prefer a world with You-Know-Who running it, if it meant I could have my daughter back."

Narcissa sighed, remembering how Bella had promised her their sister would come around once the war was won, how they'd all be together again. "She'll need us!" Bellatrix had promised. She'd been so sure they were going to win. Maybe she'd have been right about Andromeda switching sides, but she'd been so very wrong about the outcome of the war.

"So, who is it?" Andromeda leaned forward conspiratorially. "Your little offspring's father? I promise I won't tell a soul! Just give me a hint or…"

"Wait," said Narcissa, cutting Andromeda off. "You said Bella slept with Lucius over twenty years ago? How do you know that? Did she tell you? Did they have an affair? She always acted like she hated him."

"Make no mistake, she did hate him. I caught them in an alleyway once. We didn't speak of it –or of anything at all – until last year, when she intruded upon me after the first time my husband and I were tortured for information. At that time, she assured me she did it only because He made her. He being Lord Voldemort, of course. But I believe Lucius pursued her afterward, which she resented."

"Fuck," Narcissa swore, overcome by the desire to hex her cheating husband into the next century. She set her anger aside momentarily to continue the conversation. "The last time Bella and I spoke candidly, I accused her of letting the Dark Lord whore her out and she became angry, insisting it wasn't true. But I knew. I knew what He was capable of. What I don't understand is how she could adore him the way she did, especially now, knowing… knowing she more than just adored Him." Her eyes darted down to Nova and she gave an involuntary shudder. "He was awful, Andromeda. The Dark Lord. He was awful to all of us but especially to her. I don't understand how she could hate Stepfather for all that he did to us as kids, but then turn around and love the Dark Lord, a soulless sadist who frequently beat her, and publicly cursed her, and savagely raped her…"

"Stop!" Andromeda held up a hand. "I don't want to hear this. If there's anything I don't want to feel right now, it's sympathy for the bitch who killed my Miracle Baby. Understand?"

"I'm sorry," said Narcissa. She kissed baby Nova's cheek. "I understand."

"So you're going to do as Rodolphus requested? Hand her over to Euphemia Rowle?"

There was a long pause, during which Narcissa carefully regarded the six-month-old girl in her lap, feeling utterly conflicted. Finally, she nodded. "She'll be better off, right? I shall tell Euphemia to spend all the gold she needs, but she'll have to take Nova far away, give her a new name, a new life. She shouldn't let her go to Hogwarts. She shouldn't tell her anything about her parents, not even about Bella. Nothing. And she shouldn't tell us anything about her, not her new name, not where she'll be living, not a damn thing. It must be kept secret. It's too dangerous otherwise."

"She'll be better off," Andromeda agreed. "You're doing the right thing." She finished her wine and poured a second glass. Noticing Narcissa's longing expression, she chuckled and summoned over the tea pot and a cup. "You can have tea. Milk? Honey? Sugar?"

"Just sugar, thank you." Narcissa looked down at Nova, who was gazing lovingly up at her. She felt an immediate twinge of guilt, wondering if the girl would miss her, the Auntie who'd been mothering her for four months, more than half her life. Narcissa shook it off. She was being silly. By her first birthday, she'd have forgotten the Malfoys entirely.

"Alright," said Andromeda, removing the toy wolf from Teddy's mouth. "If you won't tell me who you were with, will you at least answer this? Whoever he was, was it worth it? Did he treat you well? Was he in love with you? If he were still here, do you think you'd be together?"

"He treated me fine," said Narcissa. "Better than fine. But he wasn't in love with me. But I think…" She twirled her hair again, in that way Mother hated. "I think maybe I was in love with him. That's why, once I knew he was gone, I couldn't… I thought about… I was going to take a potion, to get rid of it." Her eyes darted down at her swollen belly. "I had been planning to take it that night, maybe the next morning. Only he died and I just couldn't bring myself to, you know… in case it's his. But to your last question, about whether we… whether it would've come to anything… I can't say, but the fact is… He's dead, Andromeda, so there's no sense wondering, right? There's no sense dwelling on what might have been."

They talked for another half hour, during which Narcissa drank two cups of tea and Andromeda, as she said she would, finished the bottle of wine. By then Nova was starting to get fussy and it was time for Teddy's bath, so they agreed to part, with a promise that this goodbye wouldn't be forever. After so many years of estrangement, they suddenly felt that they needed each other. No one else could truly understand them, or where they came from, or what they'd been through. That was something only to be shared by two sisters.

"Do you really think I'm doing the right thing by giving her away?" asked Narcissa as she pushed the pram out Andromeda's front door. "She's all I have left of Bella."

"I genuinely think she'll be better off," Andromeda assured her, trying to suppress the pain that consumed her every time she heard her older sister's name. "And you will be too. She could be dangerous, Narcissa. She's not just the daughter of Bellatrix. She's the daughter of Lord Voldemort."

"Yeah," said Narcissa. She and Andromeda embraced. "Yeah, you're right."

"Goodbye," called Andromeda before shutting the door. "I'll see you."

"Yes," she confirmed, waving. Then she traveled home, heated up a bottle on the stove in the kitchen (without magic, since she was still teaching herself to cook), and fed baby Nova Black for what would be the last time. At nightfall, she would gather her things and take her to Euphemia Rowle's. According to Rodolphus, Euphemia had already agreed to the plan… so long as she'd be significantly financially rewarded for it.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Narcissa thought, gazing wistfully down at the now-sleeping baby.

But giving Nova away was the best thing.

For everyone.

A/N: So that's it! The Augury Origin Tale. The spin-off will be quite different, as it is entirely planned out now save for the last chapter. It will be longer and each chapter will be in three parts, all taking part on the same day, the first featuring Bellatrix, the second about Andromeda, and the third following Narcissa. Below is the detailed description. I hope you'll be interested even though it won't be the same (though it takes place within this same 'universe' as the other three stories). Thanks for reading!

DESTROYED BY THE DARK LORD: An Augury Origin Spin-off:

Bellatrix loves Him. Andromeda fears Him. And Narcissa wants Him dead.

The Dark Lord represents great divide between the 3 Black sisters, who grew up protecting and confiding in each other, but now barely speak, as Bella and Meda find themselves on opposites sides of a war… with Cissy stuck somewhere in the middle. This is the story of their different paths, childhood pain, romances, indiscretions, and sisterhood, and the darkness within.

FOR MATURE READERS. *Cursed Child Spoilers.*

Featuring the following ships:
Bellatrix/Voldemort, Bellatrix/Snape, Narcissa/Snape, Narcissa/Lucius, Andromeda/TedTonks, Lupin/Tonks