"Hey, are you Sirius Black?" A tall, slightly pudgy boy approached Sirius in the hallway. Sirius and his friends froze in place. They recognized the Head Boy, a Hufflepuff by the name of Ted-something. Bonks or something similar.
For a moment, Sirius knew the same thought was going through each of his friends' heads. He knew. But how was that possible? No one could have realized they put a charm on the Quidditch field yet. It wouldn't turn pink for another two hours, or at least that's what James had said.
But Ted did not seem to be angry or upset, so Sirius decided to play ignorant. "Yes." Sirius said, tentatively.
Ted came closer to him. He didn't seem to want anyone else to hear, so James, Remus, and Peter backed off. "Can you give this to your cousin?" Ted whispered and handed him a small letter.
Sirius frowned at him. "Which cousin?" Sirius tended to avoid his relatives at Hogwarts on principle, and was not particularly thrilled with the idea of speaking with any of them. But then again, he might just throw out whatever it was Ted was giving him anyway.
Ted grimaced and shuffled his feet. Sirius found it rather comical that a seventh year seemed nervous about talking to a first year. "Andromeda." He finally blurted out. Sirius found himself genuinely surprised. Narcissa always seemed to be slightly nicer than any of them, (relatively speaking, as he considered his whole family to be rather horrible.) Mostly out of confusion, Sirius took the letter and nodded to indicate he would give it to her.
"What did he want?" James said once Ted left.
"What's that?" Peter asked, indicating the letter in Sirius' hands.
"A letter for my cousin Andromeda."
"Your cousin?" Remus asked in confusion "I thought your family was, like, really pureblood." Sirius nodded. "Ted Tonks is Muggleborn, what business would he have with your cousin?"
"Bet it's blackmail. Why else wouldn't he deliver it to her himself?" James said
"Ted Tonks? Blackmail?" Peter said, "Nah, he's too 'Hufflepuff' for that."
"Let's find out." Sirius said, taking out his wand.
"You're going to read someone else's mail?" Remus looked shocked. It was always hard to convince him to do pranks.
"You've known me for, like, two months now, and it surprises you I don't have any morals?" Sirius showed his fake shock. "Trust me, when it comes to my family, I could care less."
Remus and Peter seemed hesitant, but James automatically looked over Sirius shoulder as Sirius seamlessly opened the letter and started reading.
Dear Andromeda,
I know you are embarrassed by me, and I know how deeply you care about your family and I know you don't want to hurt them. But I also know that I am falling in love with you. And no matter how often you tell me otherwise, I can see that you're falling in love with me too.
I don't want to make you choose between me and your family, but I cannot leave you either. I would like to see you, even in secret. I don't know how it would work, but please find a way to send me back a reply letter. I figured it wouldn't raise your family's suspicions if your cousin came to talk to you, even if he's a Gryffindor.
Hope to see you soon,
Ted
"Blech." James said. "It's so-mushy."
"Yeah, well, older kids are like that, I suppose." Peter said. Against his better judgment, he had read the letter over Sirius' other shoulder. Remus had still refused to look at it.
"It's really brave of her though." Sirius said, "If any other Black saw this, Andromeda would be disowned before you could say Toujours Pur." He didn't say it out loud, but this was the first time he actually felt anything like pride for any of his relatives. This was also the first time he didn't feel quite as alone in his struggle against his name.
"What're you gonna do?" Peter asked.
"Deliver it, I suppose." He resealed the letter with magic "You guys wanna join me?"
"Sure!" James said a little too excitedly, but he quickly explained, "Maybe we'll run into Snivellus at the Slytherin table!"
Peter shrugged his agreement, but Remus immediately declined. "I have to go home tonight. My mother's taken ill."
"That's the second time this year! Is she okay?" James asked.
"Oh, she'll be fine, she just has a condition that flares up every once in a while. With Dad gone, though, she really needs someone around the house. I'll probably be back tomorrow, I wouldn't worry." Maybe it was Sirius' imagination, but it sounded as though Remus had memorized this explanation.
"Well, all right then, see you." Sirius headed for the Great Hall, James and Peter in tow.
When they began to approach the Slytherin table, Sirius found his friends leave him almost immediately. They had just spotted Severus eating quite alone at the end of the table. Normally, Sirius would come help 'take care' of Snape, but he found himself too curious about the letter in his hand. Andromeda had always struck Sirius as a miniature version of her sister, Bella, but this letter seemed to prove quite the opposite. Sirius was realizing how little he had actually spoken with Andromeda, despite the too-often family gatherings. Sirius tended to hide in the kitchens during those.
He approached Andromeda cautiously. She was laughing with a group of her Slytherin friends when she saw him. "What do you want?" She asked callously.
He silently handed her the letter. She flipped it over, looking for a name, but not finding any, she asked, "Who's it from?"
Sirius glanced at her friends who were watching him closely and curiously. He leaned in so he was right next to her ear and whispered, "Ted Tonks."
Any trace of humor or laughter that had been on her face vanished without a trace. She looked at her friends first, to make sure none of them had heard what he said, then she glanced at the Hufflepuff table. Quite suddenly, she stood up, grabbed his arm and half pulled, half dragged him into the entrance hall.
As everyone was currently at dinner, the entrance hall was deserted, but she still pulled him behind a statue before slamming him up against a wall. This was no small thing, given that she was a seventh year, and he a first, but she added to this threat by pointing her wand tip directly at his neck. "What did he tell you?"
"Nothing!" Sirius moaned, truthfully for once.
"Did you open this letter?" She was practically spitting in his face.
"No!" She jabbed her wand into his neck. "All right, All right, I opened it! I was just curious, is all and—"
"You little—" She didn't seem to know a swear word strong enough for him so she turned to threats instead. "If you tell anyone about this, especially the family—"
"I won't! I won't! Why would I?" He closed his eyes, expecting to be cursed, but instead felt the wand leave his neck. He reopened them, to find that it was still pointing at him, but her concentration had turned to the letter he had given her. "You should read it," he said, "It's really good."
She glared at him, which seemed to be a threat all in itself, but she began opening the letter anxiously. Sirius tried to look anywhere but at her face as she started reading, but crammed up against the wall, there wasn't much to look at.
Finally, she spoke, though her voice sounded oddly softer. "Do you have a quill?" Searching through his pockets he pulled one out and handed one to her. "Wait there." She commanded. She pressed the letter against the wall and began writing hurriedly. She folded it up and handed it to Sirius. "Give this to him." He made to go back into the Great Hall, but she stopped him. "Not now! Everyone will know if you go straight to him!" He nodded at her in understanding and stuffed the letter in his cloak. "And, Sirius?" Her voice was soft again, "Please don't tell anyone."
He smiled at his cousin. "Nah, I wouldn't miss an opportunity to stick it to the Blacks."
He surprised her again by returning his smile. "You know, you're all right Sirius."
"Black!" They both jumped and turned as Professor McGonagall stormed toward them, seeming to come from the Quidditch Pitch.
"See ya!" He said to his cousin as he took off for the Gryffindor Common Room.
Over time, Sirius found himself seeing a lot more of Andromeda then he had in every family Christmas or other reunion combined. However, it was never in a typical place, or a typical time. Often, she would corner him in hallways between classes, or even early in the mornings or late at night. He began to feel like an owl, but he understood that she could not really depend on an actual owl, in case someone else opened it.
She soon came to find that it was close to impossible to corner Sirius without James, Peter, or Remus around. Eventually, she found out that they already knew her secret, but it took an entire month before she trusted them to pass her letters as well. This was convenient, as Remus and Peter were not in detention nearly as often as James and Sirius.
Sirius' friends did slightly object to spend so much time around the Head Boy. This was not convenient for the trouble makers, but they found Ted had taken a liking to Remus, and so they often assigned him to give him the letters.
James often laughed at their part in the forbidden romance, but Sirius found he liked it. He had started to like his elder cousin, and he slowly became the biggest supporter of her and her romance. He even started taking a bigger part in her own little rebellion, and set up meetings for the couple, and stood guard in case anyone came by to interrupt their little 'date.'
One day, when the seventh year's graduation was almost upon them, Andromeda pulled him aside once more and said, "Thank you." It was the first time that he could remember that any one in his family had ever shown any real affection for him. He wasn't sure how that made him feel.
