Chapter 1

Family History

Andromeda was lying on her bed, waving her feet in the air and reading a magazine. She

had just finished painting her nails and was drying them in the air. She bobbed her head in time to

the music, "I'm a survivor, I'm not gonna give up.." blared from the radio. Turning the page to

read more embarrassing moments, Andy accidentally smudged one of her hot pink masterpieces

of a fingernail.

"Shit!" She cried, looking up from the pages and whipping out her que tip and mail polish

remover. Just as she began repainting the finger her mother walked in.

"Andy, are you painting your nails on the bed again? Honestly, I worry about you. I really

do, just the other day I was reading an article about how the smell of nail polish kills brain cells.

Make sure you don't get that paint on your brand new bedspread, and if you continue to insist to

paint your fingers in you room, you have to open a window at least."

"All right, I'm sorry mom."

"You always say 'all right', but you never listen, and you never do it, just the other day I was

telling you to clean your room. Now look at it! Is it clean? I think not! And Andy, I'm serious

this time, you really need to clean tis room, we have company coming tomorrow night."

"Alright mom."

"And will you please put those clothes away? I just spent all morning ironing them-"

"Alright mother." Andy said, becoming increasingly sarcastic and aditudal. Andy was a 13

year old girl, and the last thing she wanted to hear was her mothers ranting. Honestly, her room

wasn't that messy, besides, school had just ended. What did her mother expect during finals

week? So what if she didn't pick up her dirty clothing and papers from the floor during this one

week? When exactly was she supposed to be doing this? When she wasn't studying for her

exams, she was at the endless swim meets, that or chorus. During the end of the year crunch

things got a little hectic, even though it was only Andy and her mother, it was still crazy. Andy's

father had gone missing several years ago, when Andy was only seven year old. Her mother,

since then, had started eating for comfort, and in addition to drowning her depression in food,

she had become a combination work-a-holic neat freak.

"Well, I came up hear to tell you that you have a letter."

"Alright, where is it?"

"On the counter. Oh, and by the way, you need to call Mrs. Hallman back, she had wanted

you to baby sit next week, she has the dates and times."

"Alright, I'll be down in a second." Andy screwed the cap back onto her nail polish as she

closed the magazine and stood up. She had to give her mother some allowance, she was a

remarkably cool mom, much cooler than most of the other moms Andy knew, and she had had

a hard life. When Andy was seven, her father had disappeared a week before Andy's mother

found out that she was pregnant with her third child. Andy and her twin had been the first two.

Nine months later, her mother suffered the fourth big tragedy of her life.

The first had been her parents drowning after falling off a highway overpass in their Chevvy.

The second had been Andy's twin, a boy named Andrew, died in intensive care hours after

being born. The third had been the disappearance of her husband, shortly followed by the

miscarriage of her child. This had caused her cup of sadness to overflow, after this last death she

had sunk into her work. Andy rarely saw her, her days consisted of school and a blur of

aupares.

Not long after that her mother began to put on weight, eating more and more to calm herself

down. She had several therapists who all referred to it as obsessive overeating behind her back

and a problem to work through to her face. Now, six years later, she was still working and had

not yet managed to work through her many problems. Andy walked down the hall to the large

kitchen, they lived in an apartment so there was no downstairs (unless of course you counted

Mr. Harvys kitchen).

On the counter there was an envelope. It was not like the slips Andy normally got from

librarians, telling her she had overdue books, from the school telling her about some function

coming up, or telling her mother about her most recent escapades. This letter was thick and

heavy. Andy, curious, ripped open the letter quickly. She had never been patient, and wanted to

get to the meat of the letter, she was not interested in the envelope.

Dear Ms. Glenn,

Whether or not you are aware, you have extrodanary gift and abilities. Because of

this you have been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of

the most prestigious schools in Europe specializing in the teaching of magic. The term

starts on September the first, the train which will take you to school departs platforn 9

and 3/4 at exactly 11:15. Enclosed are your train ticket, and list of necessary supplies.

Sincerely,

Minerva Magonagal, deputy headmistress

Andromeda dropped the letter on the floor, picking up the envelope to check if it was really

meant to be for her. The person in the letter had the same last name, but surely this was not

intended for her. She was no witch! These people were either playing an elaborate prank, or

were simply daft. Coming up from behind, Andy sensed her mother bending down and picking

up the letter. Andy, meanwhile, examined the envelope it had arrived in, sure enough it was

adressed to her, in heavy purple lettering. It even stated which bedroom she lived in. There was

no stamp on the letter, causing Andy to wonder how it had been edlivered.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I don't understand. What is Hogwarts? And why do they think that I'm a witch?"

"Well, I don't really know. I had an idea that something like this might happen." Her mother

trailed off, lost in thought, twidling her short brown hair around and around her fingure.

"Mom?!"

"Yes? Oh, sorry. Darling, I was hoping this day would never come, I put this off as long as

possible, but it has come, as I always suspected it would, and I now regret not having told you

earlier. I am going to tell you a story now, and I do not want you to interupt, otherwise I will

stop and that will be the end of it." Andy hardly felt that this was the appropriate time for a story,

but she sat down on the counter stool to listen anyway. "There was once a young wizard, he was

from a prominent, well know, wizarding family. It had always been expected of im that he would

marry a woman of equally high station, continuing the family line and increasing the families

stature. Unfortunately, this young man had other plans. He did not agree with his parents, or the

groups he had become involved in. Those groups were the death eaters. Your father, Regulus

Black was that man. He had fallen in love with a woman who represented everything that the

Death Eaters hated. I was a muggle, non magical person, and the sole purpose of the Death

Eaters was to destroy the muggle population, as well as all wizards who were not pure bloods.

"Your father left the group of death eaters and disappeared for seven years. We had no

contact with his brother or parents. We were married and blessed with you. Unfortunately, our

happiness was not destined to last, for the Death Eaters tracked him down and murdered him,

after first killing my parents by causing a highway accident. Since then, we have gone into hiding.

I changed our last name again, your true name is Andromeda Black, not Andy Glenn. Because

your father was a wizard, I thought there was a high chance that you might be too. When the

letters from school started coming, I was almost possitive. I am very sorry for not having told

you this before, you were so young and I was afraid that you might say something about it to one

of your friends. If you had, we would have been located again, and they would have taken you

from me too."

"What about the miscarriage? Was that them too?" Asked Andromeda, her voice slightly

choked due to the lump that had just risen in her throat.

"There was never any evidence of foul play, although it is entirely possible. The Death

Eaters know no bounds, they are filled with hatred, fear, and anger. They are evil people who

cannot be controlled." How was her mother saying all this so calmly? She was talking about it

as if it had happend to someone else a long time ago, not to herself.

"Are they still around now? If I go to Hogwarts, can I use my real name? Or will I still be in

hiding?"

"You may use whatever name you wish, if you decide to attend the school."

"What do you mean, if? Of course I'm going." Andy said, standing up from her stool and

picking up her letter, shoving it back into the torn envelope.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into here, Andy. Magic is dangerous, and

these people are not like us." Cautioned Mrs. Balck/Glenn.

"How would you know? Who are you to critisize them? You married one!"

"Listen, I know you're upset right now, and I am sorry, alright? Listen, why don't you think

about it? Give it time. Are you ure you're ready to leave? What about your friends? It would be

an entirely different lifestyle if you left for Hogwarts."

"I realize that, thank you." Andy left her mother, she felt bad, and she did see the logic

behind her mothers descision not to tell her about her magical herritage, but she was upset too.

She had gone her entire life thinking that she was a freak, a loser, and that she was a totally

different person from whom she actually was. How was that supposed to make her feel? Her

entire life so far had been a lie. Personally, I welcome the opportunity to recreate myself,

who knows, maybe the guys at Hogwarts will be worth my time. Suddenly, vision of hot

guys conjuring roses out of nowhere filled Andy's head. She saw herself marching down the halls

of Howgarts, waving a wand with bubbles streaming out of it. Yes, I will go to this school,

and my mom will have to live with my descision, just as I had to live with hers.