She carries the basinet close to her body. If she had it her way, she would be holding it at arms’ length. But she knows that if she does anything out of the ordinary, she will attract unwanted attention.

The reviled child sleeps soundlessly beneath layers of white linen. She thinks that under any other circumstances, she may have grown to love him. In many ways, she wishes that she could.

She is thankful for his sleep. She does not think she could stand it if he were to open his eyes. They are far too much like hers. Looking into those eyes day after day has been bad enough, but today she knows she would see her. His eyes would reveal his mother’s disgust at what she had become. His mother, her daughter, were the same woman. Yet somehow, she could never have been both.

She tries not to think about her daughter at this moment, she tries not to think at all. Each time she imagines anyone she has ever loved, she only sees them shaking their heads at her, horrified by her decision.

She refuses to look down at the infant, afraid that his eyes will not be shut. Instead, she stares at the path in front of her. Her legs move of their own accord, her mind is no longer in control of her body. She realises that her mind has not been in control for a long time now. He has.

Every cry, she is at his command. She has not eaten; she has not slept. She is not a woman, but an appendage to the life of another.

It was not supposed to be this way for her, she knew. This child, this life, should belong to her daughter. But this will never be the case, and she is almost envious.

It did not take a single moment for Andromeda Tonks to lose everything. It took a whole lifetime. She wonders why she has not given up by now. Then she realises that finally, she has.

If she had not given up, she would not be carrying this child through an unfamiliar town, she would not be risking the respect and love of her dead husband and daughter, and she would not be standing at the front gate of Harry Potter’s house.

She looks up at his home. It seems to be quiet and cosy. She thought that this would have comforted her, knowing that he would be safe. But it is only increasing the feeling rising in her chest. She recognises the feeling as guilt. She is slightly surprised that she did not feel this sooner. She supposes that after all this time, she has finally become numb.

She unlocks the gate with a wave of her wand, still staring up at Harry Potter’s home. She takes each step carefully, knowing that if the child was to wake up now, she might never make it through.

Once she reaches the front door, she takes what feels like her first breath in over a year. After this moment, she will be free. There is still one more decision left to be made, but she will not decide until she has nothing left to weigh her down. This is why she has come to the Potters’. They will have no choice but to accept the burden, take on the task of parenting this child. She pities them.

She hesitates for moment on the doorstep. Should she knock and run, or let the child wait in the cold? Her recently blackened heart goes for option B. Not that it matters of course. Everyone will know it was her. Who else is cruel enough to give up on a one-year-old boy?

She was a Black, you know, she can almost hear them say. It’s no wonder. And the funny thing is, she completely agrees. She has become the woman she spent her whole life trying not to be.

She takes a second breath and slowly places the basinet on the doorstep. She risks losing herself and takes one last look at the child. He is still sound asleep. His tiny fist curls over the arm of a toy rabbit, the one his father had given him. With green hair sticking out at the front, he is the strangest looking baby Andromeda has ever seen. She regrets never loving him, but she does not regret what she is about to do.

“Wha’ are yeh doin’?

She almost falls down the step in surprise. Her first thought is that the Potters were out and have returned, destroying her plan. She is already coming up with a plan to escape until she notices that this is not Harry Potter at all. It is Rubeus Hagrid.

“Oh, it’s yeh, Andromeda,� he says, smiling obliviously.

She stares at the giant, losing her breath. Her heart is racing and at first she is confused as to why. But then it occurs to her that this man is not completely ignorant to what she is doing. At least, not in the way he would expect.

Without knowing it, Rubeus Hagrid has interrupted an act that he has once witnessed before.

He looks from Andromeda to the basinet on the ground. She prays that he will not understand, but she knows the giant is far more intelligent than he looks. She watches his mouth transform from a smile to a small “o� shape.

She begins to shake her head violently. “It’s not... I’m not...� she stutters. It is not enough to convince him, and he watches her furiously. She wills him to understand that she is not a monster - she is doing what has to be done. But even as she thinks it, she knows she is wrong.

Hagrid knows the effect abandonment has on a child, for he believes he has done it himself. She knows he blames himself for the way Harry Potter was treated, even though he was not the perpetrator.

She sees this boy, ten years from now. He will surely wonder what it was that caused his only remaining family to betray him, he may even feel it was his fault. This, despite how true it may be, is the one thing Andromeda does not want him to think.

She is horrified by her own mistake. How could she have ever believed that this was the best option for the child? Maybe she had simply convinced herself in the midst of her own selfishness. And to leave him with the one man who, in the past, suffered greatly because of the decision to leave him on a doorstep. She knows the circumstances are different for this child, but in the end it will always be the same. She understands her error, and is willing to do anything to reverse it.

She looks up at Hagrid. He appears to be speechless.

She slowly bends down to retrieve the basinet. Despite that there is still the same child inside, the basinet feels lighter than before. She holds it tightly in both arms, bringing it closer to her chest. She needs to prove to Hagrid that she has simply made an error, and that she can start over.

She knows that words are useless to her now. So she simply stares at him, pleading with her eyes.

Hagrid’s face faintly softens, and she thinks he is about to speak. Instead, he nods at her.

This simple exchange is enough for Andromeda. “Thank you,� she whispers.

She darts past the man, rushing down the path with the basinet secure in her arms. She does not look back, or wonder what Hagrid will do with what he has just seen. Though he may never understand what led her to almost abandon a child, she knows he will not tell Harry Potter.

Once she is a good distance from the house, she slows her pace and comes to a stop.

For the first time since her daughter’s death, she finds the strength to willingly hold the child. He did not need her at this moment, instead she needed him.

She places the basinet on the ground and gently untwines his limp body from the rabbit and linen. By now he has woken, and to her surprise, he remains quiet. This boy would rip the still air with his lungs of a night time, but won’t make a sound after being knocked around a basinet while the carrier runs for her life. Andromeda finds herself smiling.

It’s an odd feeling, happiness – something she at first, had not recognised. But it washes over her, filling her lungs and allowing her to breathe. She has so suddenly surfaced from her bottomless depression, and has become someone who feels almost buoyant.

As Andromeda stares into the dark eyes of her grandson, they stare up at her, gleaming in the sunlight. They, as usual, make her think of her daughter. But today there is no bitterness toward him for having her eyes; today she is grateful.

She feels the boy’s hot breath against her neck. His hand wraps over her finger as if he is protecting it, he is protecting her.

“Teddy,� she says to the wind. She thinks of his father, his namesake and his mother - three people she will never let down again. He is all she has left to remind her of them. Without him, all evidence of her life will be removed. It would be as if she never did exist.

She steps out into the day, leaving the basinet behind her. As she walks away to greet her new life, she holds Teddy close in her arms. She has not realised until now that he fits against her perfectly, as if they are never meant to be apart.