The gray-haired witch felt a sadness deep in her bones as she sat in front of the fireplace. The dying embers crackled and popped like a dragon too tired to put in any real effort. She knew that nights like tonight meant the world to the child in her arms, but she feared that she had reached too far into the recesses of her mind this time. Like a greedy goblin, she had delved too far and too deep looking for snippets of treasured memories.
"Your mother was," she choked as the words felt like ash in her mouth, "she was an amazing witch. She could do anything she put her mind to -even if it was completed as gracefully as a troll sometimes." The aging woman held back tears as she chuckled. "She always seemed to have trouble walking on a flat surface, much like you my little one."
"I suppose Grandpa Ted and I were asking for trouble when we named her Nymphadora. She absolutely loathed that name and constantly told me I was foolish for naming her that." Andromeda tenderly tugged a few of Teddy's bubblegum pink curls as he experimented with different textures.
"My... birth family... the Blacks. They had a long-standing tradition, for several generations in fact, of naming children after the plentiful and awe-inspiring stars in the nighttime skies. Much like your cousin Draco, he was named after the constellation of the same name. Your cousins Sirius and Regulus were named after stars in the Canis Major and Leo constellations. My own name comes from a northern constellation that encompasses the Andromeda Galaxy."
Andromeda was unable to hold back tears this time. Teddy, the sweet little boy, reached up and wiped them away for her before giving her a bear hug. They cuddled together as she flicked her wand to add a log to the fire. Ted may no longer be with them, but she would forever combine Muggle and magical methods to honor him and his life.
"My birth family wasn't very nice and wanted nothing to do with me after I married your Grandpa Ted. The idea of continuing the ever-so-proud tradition of astronomical names was too much to bear. I refused to name my own children after long lost relatives with no common decency."
"But your mother, she loved you so very much. Nymphadora wanted nothing more than to make this world safe enough for you to grow up in," the Slytherin witch tweaked Teddy's nose, "She also had your penchant for playing pranks and causing mischief."