'CAUSE YOU'RE JUST A MAN
IT'S JUST WHAT YOU DO
YOUR HEAD IN YOUR HANDS
AS YOU COLOR ME BLUE
lana del rey

Rory just wanted to talk to her Dad. She didn't like using Floo but she didn't fancy a walk. Whatever it was she wanted to say to him, she didn't remember once she saw who was standing in front of her. The green smoke faded like a sick magician's final trick. But magicians didn't raise the dead — not even real magic could.

But she knew it wasn't a ghost either. She'd seen ghosts every day working at Hogwarts. She knew they were nothing but foggy memories, apparitions of the past. No, what she was looking at was not made of reminiscent fragments. It was real. Real and full of life.

Her mouth became dry and her eyes heavy. She collapsed.

"Shit," Andy muttered. He instinctively ran to pick up Rory and place her on the couch.

"Oh my God..." Aaron gasped. "What happened?" He furrowed his brows and looked around the room. He looked down at his clothes, looked at his reflection in the television, and began crying. "Why do I look like this? What's the matter with Rory? Where am I?"

Dealla watched in pain as the boy connected his old life with his new. Real and pretend were meeting somewhere in the middle. His time as Matty would become a distant memory, almost like a dream recalled the next morning. The details were so fuzzy but yet it felt so vivid. She hadn't meant for any of this to happen. She did not believe that the sins of the father should reflect on to the children — yet she had not only witnessed it but played a major role. None of it was meant to punish Aaron. He was just a child.

Andrew and Dealla were children once, too. Although, at times she wished for her memories to be wiped, it was something she could never bring herself to do. It's much easier to inflict pain on others, isn't it? To use a child as a proxy for a man that taught you the very meaning of the word? There was no forgiving what she'd done. And as she watched Aaron stagger around the room with tears in his eyes she knew she was going to hell.

"Aaron," she said calmly. "You're okay. Everything is going to be okay. Something happened to you... please, sit down."

Rory still lay unconscious, which was probably for the best. Cleo left the room to get her water and Andrew sat by his daughter's side. She knew he was trying to look away from Aaron and Dealla. She knew he did not want to fully feel anything just yet. He was casting his emotions aside until he knew it was real. Brutal optimists like Andrew often did that.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Dealla asked Aaron. She had got him to sit in an armchair as she crouched in front of him on the ground. He was fairly tall, but close enough that they were almost eye level.

"I was at home... Not this one... Mum and Dad were here and then the people came in with masks and took me away. Then it's really fuzzy but... you were there..."

"You were kidnapped by Death Eaters."

His crystal blue eyes widened, "What? Wait... the war. Oh my — Oh my goodness... No. No. No." he started shaking his head as if he were trying to get certain thoughts to fall out. "When was this?"

"Nineteen ninety-seven." Andrew interjected. "Three years ago."

"No." That was all Aaron said.

"It's the year two thousand. You've spent the last three years under a memory charm. You lived as a student called Matty. Everyone thought you were dead..." Dealla sighed. "It was my fault. But they wanted me to kill you and I just couldn't do that. But I fear I've done something much worse."

From the couch, Rory began to stir. She groaned and took a sharp inhale before opening her eyes.

Nothing Andrew did to Dealla could've justified what she had to witness. He could have done what he did a thousand times and she'd still be atrociously evil. Her ears rang as she watched Andrew console Rory. She couldn't hear anything, her vision was starting to blur.

And then, clarity. But she was no longer in the year two-thousand at Andrew's house. It was nineteen-eighty. She was with Andrew in her flat. They were dressed rather nicely and it was cold out... James and Lily had just gotten married. A few people had come over after the reception. But they'd all left... expect Andrew. And they were no longer in her kitchen... they were in her bedroom.

"You're very beautiful," he said.

"And you're very married," she replied.

He rolled his eyes, "Don't remind me."

Dealla perked up. "Trouble in paradise?"

Andrew nodded and sat on her bed. Oh God. He put his face in his hands. "I'm so unhappy when I'm with her. Sometimes I think of running away. I want to take Aurora and you and go far away from this. From all of this."

"Me?" She smiled. Why would that make her smile? He just confessed to wanting to leave his wife and she smiled? "Why am I somehow involved in this?"

Instead of answering with words, he looked up at her. He got off the bed and walked over to her. They were so close now he probably could've counted every freckle on her face. In his eyes, she saw a mixture of worry and longing. She wasn't an idiot. She knew all too well the look men got in their eyes when they wanted her. The look they got when they knew for a few moments she would be absolutely theirs.

But Andrew couldn't be hers. He had vowed his life to someone else. But in her mind she couldn't stop what was about to happen. She didn't want to. When she kissed Andrew it was like satisfying a craving. He was a cigarette and she wan an addict, needing nicotine to feel whole.

And then it was over. She thought about killing herself that night. Mostly out of shame and embarrassment. Of course, she didn't. Dealla went on with her life, Andrew with his. They saw each other at Order meetings but the war was getting worse and he had a child to raise. She thought she could be absolved of her sin, maybe even pretend it never happened.

But then she couldn't. Because she missed her period and felt tired all the time and started throwing up every day. She was being punished for what she did.

She told him after an Order meeting at her flat. A very full circle moment. She'd never forget that look in his eyes. Pure regret. Maybe even hate. For whom though, she wondered. He probably went home and thought about killing himself like she did weeks prior. He was speechless.

"I'm going to... I'm not going to keep it," Dealla stated.

"Oh. Okay." Andrew nodded. "Yeah. G-Good."

"Good?"

"I mean... if that's what you want. I support you and this is your decision and I... Fuck!" He took a heavy breath. "Fuck. Oh my God what have I done? I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm..."

Dealla remained stoic. "I'm going to a Muggle doctor tomorrow."

"I'll go with you."

"You will not," she retorted. "You've done enough, Andy."

"If Christine hadn't... I was going to... I think I really did love you, Dee."

She crumbled at those words and suddenly was back in the present, on the ground in front of Andrew Harrison, sulking in sin and regret.

Aaron had calmed down and Rory came to. Things felt calm.

"Sorry..." Dealla said. "I think I'll leave you all to it now. Just... owl me if you need anything."

And she left — something she should've done twenty years ago.

A/N
I come back after a year only to remind you all that Andrew Harrison is still just a man !! But we love him...

I figured I'd never finish his spin-off/prequel so decided to spill the tea here!!

Enjoy! See you in 2025 (maybe jk maybe not)