Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. I am not associated with JK Rowling, Scholastic Inc, Bloombury, or Warner Bros. Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended, as this is only for fun.

Author's Note: Challenge fic for the Blackaholics LJ community of which I am a member. Please be a responsible reader and review.

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When Andromeda decided to leave the family, she did it in a very calm, no fuss way that was very 'Andromeda'. Her sisters were the first people that needed to know, and the only ones she felt deserved to know straight from her. The three sisters sat in the garden in the back of their home, underneath a tree that had been the center of so many games when they were younger. They drank tea silently, the only sound the chirping of crickets in the June night. Narcissa looked at Bellatrix, whose eyes were dark and cold, and then to Andromeda, who was disturbingly calm. Nothing to do but wait, she decided, looking at the bottom of her empty teacup.

"I'm going to tell you this in person," Andromeda started suddenly, looking at the grass, "because as my sisters, I love you more than anyone, and you should know that." Her throat worked as she swallowed hard. "I'm going to be married."

Narcissa nearly burst out with, "Congratulations!" but the heavily disapproving glance on Bellatrix's face stopped her. Bellatrix spoke instead. "To marry Tonks."

Andromeda played with the hem of her skirt and looked steadily at Bellatrix. "Yes. Ted asked me, and I accepted."

"He's a mudblood!" Bellatrix sneered.

"He loves me very much, and I love him," Andromeda said calmly.

"You're turning your back on the family! On us!" Bellatrix continued, jumping to her feet.

"You're my sisters," was her even response. Narcissa looked and saw the calmness in Andromeda's eyes. Contrasted with the anger on Bellatrix's face, it was very nearly comical, but Narcissa didn't dare laugh. The stare down between Bellatrix and Andromeda finally ended with Bellatrix storming off in her own odd, graceful way. Andromeda sighed and looked at her knees. Narcissa didn't know what to say, until Andromeda spoke again. "You're not going to go after her?"

Narcissa gave Andromeda a look like she was crazy and shook her head. "No way, not when she's like this. I like my head where it is," she said, and they lapsed into silence again.

"Nothing to say?" Andromeda finally asked with a tentative smile.

"Well..." Narcissa trailed off. "I guess... I just don't know why. You know that mother and father won't be pleased when they find out."

"I plan on being long gone before they find out," she replied.

"Unless Bellatrix has gone to tell them."

Andromeda shook her head. "Bellatrix won't tell. She's not happy about it—"

"That's one way of putting it," Narcissa murmured.

"— but she won't tell on me," she finished confidently. "She's a bit sore."

"Shouldn't she be?" was Narcissa's response. She couldn't keep the bitter, hurt note out of her voice. "Leaving your family and abandoning your lineage?"

Andromeda sighed. "Mum and dad won't like it, neither will uncle, aunt, or Regulus, and you know that," she said to Narcissa. "Like I said... I plan on being long gone before they find out."

"Then you better be gone fast," Narcissa replied acerbicly.

"I'm leaving tonight," she said. Narcissa looked at her in surprise, and she continued, "I'm meeting Ted in London tonight, and we'll be married." Andromeda began to babble. "I have a dress, it's not long or anything like that. It's not even white. It's blue, actually."

"You look nice in blue," said Narcissa, softly.

"Yeah?" Andromeda asked rhetorically. "You could come, if you wanted. To the wedding, I mean. I wouldn't tell on you."

"...But Bellatrix would," Narcissa finished.

"Scared of what Bellatrix could do to you?"

"No," she said, looking at the ground. "I don't think I should go."

"Even for me?" Andromeda asked.

"Yes."

Silence reigned again, both of the sisters looking anywhere but at each other. "I guess... what I'm really saying... no, asking... is why you're marrying him," Narcissa started tentatively. "Mother and father could find you a suitable wizard to marry, I'm sure, even with your... indescretionary conduct."

Andromeda shook her head. "I don't want to marry someone our mother and father pick out for me, Cissa. Ted loves me, I love him, and we're going to start a life together."

"Please don't do it," Narcissa said, moving closer to Andromeda.

Andromeda faced Narcissa, taking both of her hands in her own. "Can you see me living as a submissive to someone else? My husband? Or living with someone who only marries me because he wants someone to produce an heir to leave his money and property to one day?" Their hands tightened around each other. "I can't imagine that life for myself, I don't want it, and obviously I wouldn't choose it."

"What about me?"

"I wouldn't choose it for you either, but... you have to make your own decision, Cissa."

That's not what I meant. I meant who will I go to for advice and sympathy when you're gone? That isn't Bella's strong point, Narcissa thought. I'll be alone. "Can't I say or do anything to change your mind?" Narcissa asked in a deceptively steady tone.

Slowly, Andromeda shook her head. "I'm going to do it," she said. "Whatever the cost is going to be."

"Even if it's your family?"

"You're always going to be my family. Blasting me off the family tree is not going to make me not related to you."

"But that's what disowning is," Narcissa pointed out in a distressed tone. "They blast you off the family tree and you're nothing to me."

"Will I be?" Andromeda said in her annoyingly placid manner.

"You're supposed to be nothing to me," she corrected herself. "I won't talk to you, I won't see you, and..."

"You won't need to," Andromeda said. "At the risk of being cliched, the ones we love never truly leave us. They're always right here." She placed a hand, still clasped in Narcissa's, over Narcissa's heart, and she smiled. "So even if I'm not on the family tree, you can still find me."

"That's rather shoddy," Narcissa said bluntly. "I don't want you in my heart, I want you on the family tree. I want you across the dinner table at Christmas. I want to scold your children for being too loud when they come to visit. I want to send you a card on your birthday."

"Did I ever say that you couldn't?" Andromeda asked expectantly.

Andromeda got a cold look in response. "My family loyalty requires me to not acknowledge blood traitors."

Andromeda sighed, dropping Narcissa's hands. "I'm meeting Ted in London tonight," she reiterated her plans. "I have some packing to do and have to change into my dress." She looked at Narcissa, her eyes pleading. "You can still come with me for the ceremony. If you want to, meet me on the upstairs landing at six."

No more words needed to be spoken. Narcissa had failed in her attempts to keep Andromeda in the family. Andromeda gave Narcissa a brief, sisterly kiss on the forehead. "I will always be your sister," she whispered into her hair, before she stood up gracefully to leave. Narcissa briefly considered meeting her on the stairs, but instead stayed out in the garden way past sundown, and watched the stars appear.