This story is an alternative of „All the sweetness of the world": what if Andromeda got baby Aquilla? Would the nature take over the nurture, or would it be other way round? Well, I was curious myself. So I started writing this story. Can be read without knowing „All the sweetness of the world". Enjoy!

Nature vs. Nurture

Chapter one, in which a family grows bigger.

'And this one should go in there' Andromeda gave another piece of a jigsaw to her daughter. Nymphadora nodded and placed the piece where it belonged. The two of them were just spending late summer afternoon together while Ted was gardening outside. Nymphadora enjoyed summer time, even though she didn't have anything like summer holidays – she was home-schooled.

'Dromeda, do we want another daughter?' Ted asked, coming into the room. Andromeda frowned.

'We do, but… how?' she asked. Ted waved a piece of parchment.

'We have once-in-a-lifetime chance to adopt our niece!' he exclaimed.

'What? Narcissa doesn't want her daughter?' Andromeda asked, puzzled. Ted shook his head.

'It's not Narcissa… and maybe she would want to keep the baby, but she can't where she is.'

'You can't mean Bellatrix!'

'I can' Ted nodded. 'Here, the letter. From the Ministry.'

Andromeda took the parchment and read the message. She sighed then.

'We must take her. We must protect her from any Death Eaters!' she said, clenching her fist. Nymphadora looked at her sadly.

'Does it mean we won't finish this jigsaw?' she asked. Andromeda shook her head. She joined her daughter back.

'How will we do it?' Ted asked. 'I must go to work tomorrow, and if you go to the ministry…'

'Dora, do you want to go to the ministry with me or would you rather stay at grandma's?' Andromeda asked. Nymphadora frowned at the thought of crowded, noisy and yet so boring ministry. She simply decided to stay with grandma, even though it meant that she would be expected to change her face to an exact copy of her father's. Her grandparents didn't like her everyday pink hair. But they always gave her sweets, more sweets in one day than her parents gave her in a month, so it was worth being blonde with braids for a few hours.

'I'd rather stay at grandma's' she said aloud. Ted stroked her carelessly and went to call his parents by phone. He came back triumphantly.

'My mum is overjoyed to have Dora for a day' he said. Andromeda nodded.

'Good then. Let's finish with this jigsaw, Dora.'

The next day the whole family got up quite early. They all got dressed and Ted left first, taking Nymphadora. Andromeda Apparated to the Ministry about half an hour later, still having plenty of time.

Nymphadora enjoyed her stay at her grandparents'. She did all the things she couldn't do at home, like watching TV and gobbling loads of sweets.

'You've grown so much since I last saw you!' the grandma said. 'I wonder how you do this!'

Nymphadora shrugged.

'I'm a Metamorphomagus' she said plainly. 'I can control what I look like.'

Her grandmother didn't comment her metamorphic abilities, going on to complaining that the girl definitely lost some weight in the last month and suspecting Andromeda of neglecting to feed her. And to make up for this, she gave Nymphadora a huge apple pie with whipped cream. The girl couldn't resist it. Within minutes, the pie was gone, which made grandma even surer that Andromeda didn't feed her daughter properly.

Grandpa, on the other hand, had a different surprise. It was a swing which he made of a tyre. Simple as it was, it made Nymphadora the happiest girl at this side of La Manche.

Time passed quickly, and before the girl could get bored, Andromeda came to pick her up, carrying a small, pink bundle.

'Had a good time?' she asked.

'Sure!' Nymphadora nodded enthusiastically.

'Why didn't you tell us?' grandma complained. 'You must have known that you were expecting a new baby!'

Andromeda smiled wryly.

'We wanted to keep it a surprise for you' she lied without a wink. 'Now, see little Aquila.'

'May I hold her? May I hold my little sister?' Nymphadora asked, bouncing. Andromeda nodded and gave her the bundle. Nymphadora did her best not to drop the baby.

The baby girl was asleep. She looked like many other newborn kids, but Nymphadora was sure that this baby was very special. After all, not every newborn was her baby sister. She gently stroked Aquilla's fist.

'My little sister' she whispered. And at the very moment she knew, she was just all sure, that she would do everything she could to protect this one little baby from every harm that the world prepared for her.

Andromeda thanked her parents-in-law for taking care of Nymphadora and the three Tonks were ready to go back home. Andromeda took sleeping Aquila back and Nymphadora held firmly her mother's elbow. And they Apparated home.

'Dora, could you please sit here and hold Aquila for a few minutes?' Andromeda asked. Nymphadora wanted to say that she would gladly hold her little sister forever, but she didn't have time for it, so she just sat down in an armchair, holding the most precious bundle in the whole world. Andromeda went to the attic and brought a cradle from there.

'Was it…' Nymphadora started, not knowing what exactly she was going to say.

'Yes, it was previously yours' Andromeda said. She cast a few spells to make it neat again, and levitated it to the parents' bedroom.

'I thought my sister would share room with ME!' Nymphadora whined. Andromeda shook her head.

'Not yet, but I'll move her to you when she's a bit bigger. Aquila is so little that she requires us all the time, she will grow out of it…'

Nymphadora nodded with regret. Then she looked strongly at her mother.

'Yes, Dora? You wanted to ask me something?' Andromeda asked. Nymphadora nodded.

'Um, mum? Because… it's just… Aquila, right? She is my sister or not? I mean… she isn't really your and dad's…'

'She wasn't ours until today. She is ours now, and your sister. She is Aquila Tonks.'

'Tonks. Not Lestrange' Nymphadora nodded. 'Because she would be Lestrange if she wasn't ours, right? After this sister of yours who is a Death Eater and would curse me away if I didn't tidy my room… at least, when she wasn't in Azkaban.'

'Who told you this?' Andromeda asked, shocked. Nymphadora shrugged.

'Dad' she said casually. 'He said your sister Bellatrix would come and Crucio me out of my mind, or Imperio me into tidying it anyway, or…'

Andromeda was even more shocked. But Nymphadora seemed unaware of this. She was casually sitting in an armchair, holding her baby sister, waving her legs, not knowing at all that she had just caused a storm which would break out very soon. She did feel warned, however, when Andromeda put on her sweetest smile and started talking in her sweetest voice.

'What else dad told you about my sisters? Not only Bellatrix. Narcissa too…'

'Uh, well…' Nymphadora hesitated a little. 'Well, dad told me that all three of you were Slytherins' she decided it was a safe start. 'And that both your sisters married pure-blood wizards' she took a deep breath before stepping on a dangerous path, or rather path which could put dad in trouble, as the really dangerous path was not telling her mother everything she wanted to hear right now, 'and that both your brothers-in-law are Death Eaters, and that your sister Bellatrix is one too, and she can hurt me really bad if I don't clean my room…' she made a short pause, 'but last year he told me that I no longer need to fear her because she did something so awful, along with her husband, that they were sent to Azkaban for the rest of their days, and it was torturing people with one of these three awful curses. And… that's all. Is dad in serious trouble?'

'I haven't decided yet' Andromeda said with amusement. It was true. Of course telling a little child about the Unforgivable Curses was wrong, but was it enough for serious trouble? Not really. But enough for something. But Andromeda didn't have time to think it through, as Aquila started crying. Nymphadora looked close to panic.

'Mum? What should I do?' she asked. Andromeda prepared a bottle.

'I'll feed her now, watch carefully if you want to do it later, okay?' she asked and took the baby from her daughter's hands. There was no other way, Aquila had to be bottle-fed. When the baby didn't want to suck anymore, Andromeda burped her.

'Humph' Nymphadora snorted. 'And I can't burp after meals.'

'You aren't a baby who would vomit unless burped' Andromeda pointed out. Nymphadora's eyes went wide.

'Babies do this?' she asked, astonished. Andromeda nodded and laid the baby in her cradle.

'All the time. Their little tummies aren't prepared to get food yet. They swallow a lot of air, and this makes them likely to vomit if they air doesn't go away. And you are a big girl and no longer swallow this much air while eating, right?'

Nymphadora shrugged. Andromeda ignored this. She summoned a bag of baby clothes from the attic.

'And Ted thought it was foolish to keep them all this time' she snorted. 'We'll have to go and look through everything we have there. There must be more useful stuff than we could think of!'

Nymphadora grinned at the thought of searching through all the attic treasures. She was hardly ever allowed to go there, as the whole attic was terribly messy, but could her parents refuse some help from her? The girl sat on her parents' bed and gently rocked the cradle her newborn sister was sleeping in, humming a soft tune she learned in arts-and-music classes she was attending. She didn't stop even when her father came back from work.

'Ted Tonks! You irresponsible ditz!' she heard her mother yelling, and a slap-sound. She felt a bit guilty. After all, it meant her father was in trouble. And she was a bit of reason to this…

'What do you mean?' Ted asked, puzzled. 'Why are you so mad at me? What happened?'

Andromeda slapped her husband across the face again.

'Dora told me what means you used to get her to clean her room! Threatening a child with Unforgivables, what the hell were you thinking?'

'But it worked!'

Another slap.

'And since when end justifies the means, you stupid m-' Andromeda suddenly stopped.

'Yes? Will you finish?' Ted snarled. His wife sighed.

'No' she said in much calmer voice. 'I don't want to call you this and I'm sure you don't want to be called this. It has nothing to do with this anyway. But I'll stick to irresponsible.'

'Ssh!' Nymphadora hissed, coming into sight now, when it was safe. 'Aquila is asleep.'

'Aquila?' Ted asked and winced.

'Yes, Aquila' Andromeda nodded. 'Our second daughter. Aquila Tonks. Come, see her.'

'I don't like this name' Ted said. Andromeda shrugged.

'Have any better options?'

'Loads. Elisabeth, Jane, Ann, Mary, Danielle…'

'You call these options better?'

'Only someone who named a daughter Nymphadora could say so.'

'You don't like this name?'

'It's just that you chose names for both our kids.'

Andromeda ignored this complaint and pulled her husband to their bedroom. Ted looked at the sleeping newborn.

'She's beautiful' he said with a soft smile. Andromeda nodded. She left her husband gazing at Aquila, remembering how long it took him to leave baby Nymphadora nearly nine years earlier. She only hoped that it wouldn't take him this time again with Aquila – both because Aquila wasn't their first child and because she wasn't metamorphing.

While the three Tonks were having dinner, Aquila suddenly cried. Andromeda stood up to check on her. She came back to the table quite soon.

'Nappy problem?' Ted asked, and Andromeda just nodded. They all finished the meal and Andromeda flicked her wand to wash the dishes.

'I'd like to hold Aquila' Ted said, smiling.

'Okay, sit on the bed. We don't want you to drop Aquila like you did with Nymphadora, do we?' Andromeda asked rhetorically. Ted sighed and obeyed. Once Andromeda handed him the baby, he smiled wider than ever. He gently stroked the single tuft of Aquila's hair and looked deep in her dark eyes, which resembled so much the eyes he had fallen in love with…

'Welcome to family, Aquila' he said, placing a gentle kiss on the baby's forehead.

Well, I guess it's enough for a start. Please review! Remember that English isn't my first language, so don't hesitate to point me the language errors.