I don;t own anything... Lol, just enjoy.
"Make your family proud."
Those had been the last words Andromeda heard from the house elf that had taken her to Kings Cross when she was eleven. Her parents couldn't even be bothered to come and see her off, leaving a terrified (though she wouldn't admit it) girl to find her own way.
"Make your family proud," the long eared house elf said to her, pushing her trunk closer before he disappeared, even those of Black employ abandoning her. Narcissa should have been nearby, as she was four years ahead of Andromeda, but she couldn't find her sister anywhere. No, she was all alone, struggling to figure out how to make an absent family proud when she was so scared.
The platform was bustling with students and parents, running every which way, but she stood still in the middle of all of it, quiet, still, observant.
"Always watching," a familiar, kind voice said, and she looked up, squinting at the tall man standing in front of her.
She smiled with pure relief. "Uncle Alphie!"
He knelt down next to her, taking her into his arms. "I'm sorry I'm late, Ande. But I didn't forget you."
A call to board the train was given, the voice loud and crisp and clear, and Andromeda settled a nervous look on her uncle.
He smiled gently. "You're scared. That's okay, just don't tell anyone." No, that would get her in trouble. "Actually, let me amend that. Don't tell your family. But make a friend or two that you can admit fear to… it will make you a better person in the end." Andromeda made to say something, but he shook his head. "Just listen… I'm giving you life lessons right now. And you, dear child… need them."
Something in the way he was speaking frightened her, like he thought he wasn't going to get the chance to say any of this to her later.
"Whatever house you get sorted into, accept it. You can be great wherever they put you. Stand up for yourself, but always be polite. Be polite to every single person, Ande. You are better than any one of them… any of your family. Take what you have to from your family, for as long as you have to… but one day, I promise you, you won't have to take any more. And Ande… you don't have to make anyone proud. I'm already proud of you."
"Dromie?" A cold, feminine voice from behind Alphard Black said. Narcissa stood in all her porcelain glory, holding a hand out to her sister. "Come away, Dromie. It's time to go."
Alphard pulled Andromeda to him, hugging her again, tightly. "I love you, Princess." He pulled back, gracing her with a deep, genuine smile before he stood and nodded to Narcissa, who could only glare back at him.
"Do you need help with your trunk?" A boy asked, and Andromeda largely ignored him and her sister as she watched Alphard walk away.
"No, Tonks, I'm helping her. Don't speak to her," Narcissa hissed. The third year prefect shrugged his apology.
"Lovely. Another Black," he muttered, though for an instant, when Andromeda turned around, their eyes locked, and he knew that she wasn't just another Black. He smiled at her, which sent Narcissa on a trip and she shoved him away.
"Come on, Dromie, you can sit in my compartment," Narcissa said, her voice sickly sweet, but not fake. Never fake. There was a bond between the sisters that no one dared try to break or get in between.
The sorting ceremony seemed a little ludicrous to Andromeda, and part of her looked at the dirty, torn hat distastefully. Many of the names that were called elicited whispers as the purebloods commented on the family, or the muggleborns and half bloods commented on the wealth.
She was only the fifth name in, and the hall fell silent. No whispers, no excited chatter… no, she earned silence, as Narcissa had done before her, and Bella and Sirius would both elicit next year. Her heart pounded as she walked up to the stool, and the hat was dropped over her eyes.
'Ahh,' it said. 'Another Black. I should know where to put you right away. Slytherin, yes?'
'Yes,' Andromeda whispered in her mind.
'Slytherin is for the ambitious and sly and cunning… which you certainly are. But I also see loyalty… bravery… intelligence and diligence. You would be a good match for any of the houses.'
'No!' She thought, terrified as her hands gripped the stool. 'I belong in Slytherin!'
"What's taking so long?" Rudolphus Lestrange whispered, leaning across his brother, Rabastan, to whisper to Narcissa. She gave him a cold glare, which shut him up immediately. Rabastan seemed interested in the young girl, watching her intently. He too was an observer. He watched more than he spoke, and he was the only one that seemed to notice her white knuckled grip on the stool.
The hat had narrowed her choices down to Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and Andromeda was certain that she'd been sitting there for near an hour. Now, the whispers were starting.
'I think Ravenclaw is the place for you,' the hat told her with a definitive tone. 'So it'll be-'
'No!' She screamed at it. 'Slytherin! I belong in Slytherin!'
The hat paused. 'You'll come to hate it there, child.'
'I'm not supposed to like it. Just put me there,' she begged. She was not going to be a disappointment. She was not going to give her father any reason to be angry with her. She was going to make her family proud.
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled across the Great Hall, and it was lifted from her head. She breathed a long sigh of relief as she was welcomed heartily by the Slytherin table.
Rabastan Lestrange was the only one to set his quiet, observant gaze on her.
The year passed quietly for Andromeda, under the careful watch of her eldest sister. Her parents sent her the occasional letters to reminds her who she was, but never howlers. Black's did not make such vulgar scenes. She never shared what was in those letters. She did as she was supposed to, in her quiet, observant way, and no one questioned the hesitation the hat had when it sorted her. No one but her… not until things started to change in her third year.