Chapter 87: Valentine 4 (Tenebrius and Andromeda)

In the Tonks house, Tenebrius was the only one awake. Tonks had too much action at night, so she couldn't get up. Andromeda, who listened to us almost all night from her room, couldn't sleep either from the sadness of knowing that she would no longer be able to feel what her daughter felt in her room.

The first to get up was Andromeda, who found me already preparing lunch.

"Good morning" I greeted her when I saw her.

"Good morning...looks like someone had fun last night" she smiled at me, but also looked a bit depressed.

"Sorry if we made too much noise, I forgot to put silencing charms on" I apologized, although if she had wanted she could have put them on "Happy Valentine's Day" I handed her a box of chocolates.

"Thank you" she thanked politely.

For the rest of the morning, we cooked lunch while I tried to get her some laughs out of it using my [Jester Essence]. It was nice to see her smile a little, even if she still looked depressed.

We finished cooking and as if the smell had called her, Tonks, completely disheveled and limping, went down to the dining room. The food was already served, so we went to the table, but seeing the way Tonks walked and how she looked at me reproachfully and somewhat fearfully, Andromeda said.

"Not that I want to get me into your stuff, but don't you want to drink a potion first to recover a bit?" She asked Tonks.

"I already drink it" she shot me another blaming look.

Andromeda also looked at me in amazement at what I managed to do, but she said no more. It was a good meal where no one mentioned last night and we only talked about everyday things.

After finishing eating, Tonks took a bath and got ready, being more recovered, I told her about our plans for today. I told her to get ready to go out, and so she did. We were about to leave when we ran into her mother.

"Mom... let's go out for a while to..." Tonks wanted to tell her.

"You don't have to explain anything, have a good time" he smiled at us.

With Andromeda's permission, Tonks and I headed out, but on the way, she asked me if it was okay to leave her mom alone, to which I replied that she already had it covered. Tenebrius left shortly after leaving the house, and Red came over to spend time with his girl.

With Tonks we spent a nice day walking in the park, playing some games in certain establishments in London and going to the cinema, as well as having dinner in a restaurant at night, not as luxurious as the first time but much friendlier. We also got a little dishonest in the local bathroom, but nothing more than some groping.

...

Andromeda was alone, somewhat depressed on this day because of its meaning, she thought about cleaning up to try to forget, but it was useless. She ended up sitting on the couch holding on to her knees, she didn't want to show weakness, but now that she was alone she couldn't help but cry.

"Why is this beautiful lady crying?" I asked, touching her shoulder.

"Ah... Tenebrius! What are you doing here? Did you forget something? Do you need money?" She asked as she tried to wipe away her tears quickly.

"Well, if I need something, but I don't know if you can give it to me so easily"

"Tell me, whatever you need, I'll try to give it to you" she answered, trying to put on her best smile.

"I want you to be happy" I said without trying to hide that I knew it was very wrong.

"I…" She tried to say, but I hugged her in the process and she couldn't help but cry once more.

We stayed like that for a while, while she released my [Aura of Tranquility]. She stopped crying a while later as she smelled my body, which sent at this point was affected by a new skill I had acquired but I didn't quite understand.

[Fantasy Senses], the description was very vague, but Tonks told me that when I use my [tranquility aura] my scent changes, and after trying it on other girls I realized that I would pick up the scent of something that would relax them. It also picks up other scents with other auras or moods, and not just the scent.

"Sorry, I didn't want to keep you here" she apologized, realizing that she was crying into my chest all this time.

"You're not holding me back, I'm here to spend time with you"

"No, I can't do that to you, go and spend time together. I'm fine, really." She tried to push me away.

"I won't go, you're not listening to me"

"Go and spend time with Nymphadora, don't waste it trying to comfort me, that's what would make me the happiest right now"

"You're misunderstanding something, I didn't say I wouldn't spend time with Tonks"

"... I won't accompany them either, I'm just going to get in the way. Young people need their space, last night they reminded me very well"

"Stop thinking so much, let's go to your room" I told as I took her hand and took her with me.

"But Nymphadora..."

"Andromeda... trust me" I told her and she stopped asking questions and followed me.

Arriving at her room, I made her lie on her back on the bed, surprising her, but then she understood why. I started to massage her back, which she wanted to stop, but after feeling the pleasure she couldn't. Using [Ecstasy] and [Calm] she enjoyed it, plus I had taken my time to read a bit about it and learned a lot.

Andromeda fell asleep for a while out of relaxation, resting like she hadn't in a while. In the meantime, I took care of a few more things, getting ready for when he woke up.

...

When Andromeda woke up, she realized that she was in her bed, remembering what happened. Looking out the window, she realized that it was already late and went downstairs to go to the kitchen, where she found me.

"Tenebrius?"

"How did you sleep?"

"I, I feel embarrassed…" she was a bit ashamed.

"You needed it"

"Thank you, but I didn't want to take away your time together"

"That doesn't matter, you didn't do it anyway"

"Where is Nymphadora?"

"On Our Date"

"What?"

"Andromeda, why don't you take a bath and put on the beautiful dress I gave you for Christmas? Let's go out"

"What why? Is something wrong?" asked something confused

"Don't worry, I want to ask you out on Valentine's date" I smiled at her.

"Why? You should spend this time with my daughter, in fact, I don't know why you are not with her now. This is a day that you should be with her"

"We already spent a lot of time together last night"

"I know that," she huffed.

"Yes...sorry about that, maybe we overdid it" Now I was the sorry one.

"I'm not going to say otherwise. Although I like to know that your relationship is going well, I don't know if being so rude is good for your health... you shouldn't abuse potions" She tried to advise me.

"We don't use potions and spells" 'Only the last 2 hours'.

"Really?!" She said somewhat surprised "What about my daughter getting so bad that the potions didn't heal her that fast too?"

"AHA..."

"Oh wow, I'm happy for my daughter…" she laughed, but in the next moment she couldn't help but cry.

"Easy" I hugged her "This is why I want you to change to go out"

"No...no need, I just need some time and..."

"Andromeda!" I yelled at her causing her to flinch "Let's go out even if I have to force you"

"But..."

"I have some secrets I want to tell you, not all of them, but some... and we're going out for it"

"What secrets?" She was somewhat surprised that I said that so seriously.

"You'll find out once we're out. Go change" I more or less ordered.

She hesitated for a moment, but after feeling my commanding presence, she agreed, even though she kept saying that I should go out with Tonks instead of her. She took a shower, staying a while longer in the shower, thoughtful and a little sad, then she got dressed in her bedroom, seeing herself in front of the mirror with that crystalline purple dress that I gave her.

She came downstairs and found me also smartly dressed, but when I saw her I shook my head.

"Andromeda, let's go on a date, I thought you would make up more. I saw you with more makeup on Christmas than now"

"Stop calling it that, you'll make your mother-in-law blush, it's just a common outlet. I don't need to make up so much" She refused.

"Let's go upstairs" I picked her up like a princess and carried her to her room, which made her gasp. Once we arrived I left her sitting on her bed "You're going to get ready, and you're going to be more beautiful than usual"

"I do not want..."

"Andromeda, you are a beautiful woman, very beautiful... and now we are going to go out and have a nice evening. I want to see the most beautiful Andromeda in the world... please" I made a sad face.

"Okay..." she got up and went to her mirror to start putting on her makeup.

I watched her through the entire process and threw a few comments at her that encouraged her to do her best work. She also put on some shiny earrings, and seeing it, I approached her from behind her and placed a necklace that I had bought from the merchant on her neck.

"Pretty?" Asked.

"Yes, very beautiful, but I don't think you should do these things... I know I look bad, and they've been worrying about me lately, but you shouldn't do this. I know you planned this with my daughter to cheer me up and ..."

"I'll tell you it doesn't matter if you don't think it's right, but it will pass. Let's go" I cut her off.

Andromeda and I leave the house and head to the muggle world, where I always have my romantic dates, but it's because there are very few places in the wizarding world for things like this that I like. We went to a fancy restaurant as I did with Tonks the other time, only this time we were more welcome.

She felt a little uncomfortable, remembering the last time she went out to a place like this, somewhat melancholy. We sat at a table, we ordered food and while waiting we talked about various things, and although she asked, I told her to wait a little longer to tell her what she had to tell her.

Once the food arrived, there was a bit of silence until I started to speak.

"Andromeda, I have many secrets"

"We all have them"

"Yes, but mine are more than normal. With Tonks, we thought it would be time for you to meet some of them, not all of them, but enough for now... our relationship is something serious, and we don't want to hide it from you" I told her.

"I'm very happy about that, and you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, I'll be fine without knowing some things" Andromeda was happy, from the way I told her she could see that it was true that our relationship was stable.

"What I'm going to tell you now may surprise you, and I hope you don't take it wrong that we didn't tell you"

"You don't have to worry about anything, I know you're a good boy and that's enough to know that you didn't tell me for a reason"

"Well, have you weighed why I didn't have a problem with my wand being broken?"

"I...a bit, you look too calm on that subject" she didn't deny that she was surprised at my mood.

"That's because even if they broke Tenebrius's wand it wouldn't affect me at all..." When I said it she seemed to catch something "That's right, Tenebrius Akaichi doesn't exist"

"Then you...?" She was quite surprised, she stopped eating and stared at me.

"A false identity, it was created last year to be able to accompany Tonks to the ministry... and yes, we knew each other before, although not long before..."

"So no one knows who you really are?"

"Only 2 people, counting your daughter"

"And your current appearance..."

"Completely different from how I actually look"

"Your wand in the ministry..."

"One of Many"

"..." She thought for a while with a lost look "That is a great secret, one that I did not expect... now I understand why you always had so much security before the court, they could never truly convict you if they did not know who you are, but it was also very risky if you were discovered" She seemed to understand some things.

"It's also the reason why I didn't want to spend Christmas with you, I didn't want to introduce a fake person to Tonks's other relatives. I won't show you my true appearance for now either because it might be hard to accept, but in a few months, I'll come in person"

"In person?"

"Another secret, this is a magic clone, but don't tell anyone because I'd get into too much trouble"

"Garrick!" She realized.

"That's right, it was me, I caused too much damage to our family" I confessed

"..." Andromeda took her time to ponder as we continued to eat, well, she mainly stirred her food with her fork instead of eating.

"Do you dislike what I did?"

"No, I just didn't believe that everything... more than being upset I'm grateful to you..." she replied with some weakness.

"I think you shouldn't...it was my fault" I hit the table with my hand "I don't know how you don't hate me right now, it was my fault that all this happened if I hadn't joined the ministry and caused the problem with Garrick Edward wouldn't suffer what he suffered" I said with doubts and fear, the truth was something I worried. Tonks didn't blame me, but I couldn't say the same for her mother.

"Nope!" She yelled as she silently activated a soundproofing spell, "It's not like I didn't think of it at first, but this isn't your fault. We can't blame good people for their good deeds, even if they cause bad things by their decision of bad people" She was very sure of her words, not showing any hesitation, it seemed as if she had pondered this for quite some time.

"Are you sure you don't hold the slightest resentment against me? You have every right to do so"

"I'm sure, what happened was horrible..." she was silent for a moment "But blaming yourself for that won't do anyone any good"

We continued eating for a while in silence with some occasional conversations, where I would use my [Jester Essence] to be able to make her laugh even with very bad taste jokes.

"You said I wouldn't take well who you really are?"

"It will be difficult for you to accept at first, and you may want to scold Tonks...a lot"

"I don't think it will happen, you have proven to be an exemplary son-in-law, I don't think I can't accept who you are..."

"I'm a woman"

"..." Andromeda stopped eating, and her eyes widened for a second "Well, I may scold Tonks for lying, but I won't turn you down" she said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"It was a lie, I'm a man"

"Thank Merlin!" She sighed in relief "Not that I would have had a problem with you being a girl, but I wanted grandchildren…" She ended up laughing, it would have been a big surprise, but she took it well.

"But still I won't tell you who I am for the moment, but I hope that when I do, you can keep the secret"

"Don't worry…" she smiled, but then that smile disappeared "can I ask you something else?"

"I will try to answer you"

"Are you...trying to seduce me?"

"Are you saying that because I took you out to dinner?" I asked, confused by her change in attitude.

"Yes and no... all day today, you have been seductive with me. The massage, the necklace, and the dinner, every word you said had more than friendly intentions, they were flirtatious and loving" She said with great seriousness "I understand that you are young and that I may be attractive to you, but I can't take it in a good way so soon after my husband's death. I consider you part of my family and I appreciate you very much, but I consider what you do completely inappropriate..." She said between sad and upset.

"Oh...sorry about that, but you're confused"

"It's not true, clearly your actions are courtship. It can be a bit funny and the photo from the other time could have given you the wrong idea, but I think it's in very bad taste" her tone of voice was very severe.

"No, you're wrong, it's another one of my secrets. I wasn't courting you, although you deserve it" I laughed.

"..." She was a bit confused, she had wanted to finish what I was doing because it seemed like an insult to her husband's memory.

"I have some special abilities, it's part of my secret, and among them is that on Valentine's Day all my actions will have a romantic tint"

"..." She looked at me in disbelief.

"Pay attention to what I do next"

After that she saw how I took my glass of wine, looked at it, ate some food, played with my fork, whispered insults to the waiter... The more she saw, the more surprised she was because everything she saw seemed to her a form of flirt with her, as if the movements were in slow motion, just like in a romantic movie.

"You see?"

"Yes... sorry, I didn't want to talk to you like that, but I thought that... now I feel ashamed" Andromeda felt sorry for misunderstanding things.

"It's fine, but if you had told me it worked maybe I would have hesitated to tell you the truth" I made a joke to break the bad atmosphere.

"Stop playing with this old lady's feelings, I didn't know of such an ability" She acted a mock annoyance.

"If you were a single girl, would it have worked?"

"Even if she was any married woman, it would have worked. You gave me the feeling of being the most conquering man in the place" she also continued the joke after understanding that it was not my real intention to seduce her.

"Cool"

"I think I have to tell my daughter that the next Valentine's Day they should organize dates inside the house, lest you attract unwanted flies"

"If you want you can imagine that if I'm courting you, I mean, you said so yourself, everything I've done so far seems like it. Let's say we can put on a good play to have fun with, I know it might seem tacky and depress you, but believe me, I will make you have fun..."

"I don't think..." She was about to refuse.

"Andromeda, trust me. Forget for a moment that we are ourselves or that we know each other, you need some release, crying every day is no longer healthy"

"But..."

"We're not going to do anything really, just a performance, let's take advantage of my ability. You're my mother-in-law, and you can trust me, try it..."

"... I think I can, although I don't entirely agree, it can be fun"