Disclaimer: do I look like J.K. Rowling? Exactly.


Andromeda Black brushed out her long auburn hair in front of her bedroom mirror. With a blank expression, she plaited it down her back. She then dressed in a simple white dress she had gotten from her boyfriend, Ted Tonks.

"Today's the day," she whispered to her reflection.

Today was the day she would announce to her family the plans she had with her boyfriend. Ted Tonks was a Muggle-Born Hufflepuff, and Andromeda was a Pure-Blood Slytherin. She and Ted planned to get married as soon as they graduated Hogwarts next year and, as her parents were determined to keep their family pure, this would mean one thing: Andromeda would be disowned.

She was not afraid, however, nor sad to leave her family. They had had a rocky relationship ever since Andromeda started expressing different beliefs at the age of eight. She had once asked why it was bad to be a Mudblood; her parents, clearly appalled and thinking what a stupid question that was, had sent her to bed without dinner.

Still, Andromeda stayed true to her own beliefs, even at a young age. Whenever one of her two sisters said something foul about Muggle-Borns, she politely stated that she thought everyone was equal. She was level-headed and never lost her temper with anyone, or got upset when she was punished. Instead, she kept a blank aura and did not open her mouth.

That was the same approach she was to use today. She had everything planned out.

Andromeda headed down the stairs and appeared in the family kitchen, where everyone was sitting: her mother Druella, her father Cygnus, and her two sisters, Narcissa and Bellatrix. Narcissa was fourteen and Bellatrix was eighteen, the latter having left Hogwarts the previous year. She was soon to get married, a respectable, Pure-Blood marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange.

"We've been waiting for you," Druella snapped, her arms crossed. Narcissa sent Andromeda an apprehensive, almost apologetic look. The two of them had always had a closer relationship than Andromeda and Bellatrix had, but it had long since fallen apart.

"What did you wish to tell us?" said Cygnus almost boredly, stirring his tea idly.

Andromeda took a deep breath. She rocked back and forth on her feet, hands behind her back, stalling for time.

"Well," she began, speaking slowly, "Ted Tonks and I... Are getting married."

Druella gasped and dropped her teacup in shock; it shattered on the stone floor. Bellatrix cleaned it up with a wave of her wand and they all stood, looking furious.

"OUT!" Roared Cygnus, pointing to the door. "Get your things, and get OUT!"

"I-"

"OUT!"

Cygnus' hands were shaking; he had spilled tea down his front when he had leapt up, and his face was red. On the contrary, Druella, Narcissa and Bellatrix were all very pale. Narcissa looked quite frightened, but Bellatrix had an odd look of satisfaction on her face.

"Fine," said Andromeda simply.

She Apparated up to her bedroom where she grabbed a trunk- her Hogwarts trunk- that she had packed earlier, and Apparated back down again.

Andromeda took one last look at the people she used to call her family before heading to the door. When she stepped onto the threshold, Bellatrix shoved her the rest of the way out.

"You are no sister of ours," she snarled, before slamming the door in Andromeda's face.

Andromeda began walking down the dirt road, sun reflecting off her trunk on this August day. Once out of sight from her old home, she smiled. She was free at last.

A long-overdue laugh escaped her lips. She turned on the spot and vanished, anticipating Ted Tonks' face when she appeared on his doorstep in the middle of the summer.

She materialised in front of a country house. Though it was small, it was warm and cozy. The lights were on in the kitchen; looking through the window, Andromeda could see someone bustling over the stove, though they did not see her.

"I'm coming home, Ted," she whispered, before knocking on the door.


A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Feedback helps more than you know.

Thanks for reading,

Prim