Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling. No money is being made.

Written for Quidditch League – Season 4 Fanfiction Competition – Practice Round

Prompt – In this round, players will be exploring one of our favourite dark families...yes, my lovelies, the Blacks are in the building. Have fun getting in touch with your dark side ;) See below the task for your position and read instructions carefully. It could be the matter of your team winning or losing. Chaser 2: Andromeda Black

Additional prompts:

Dialogue: "That's not what you said last night."

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die." ― Herbert Hoover

Chaser 2 for the Wimbourne Wasps

A True Black

She felt her pulse race as she was dragged into an out of the way classroom. Still, she was not alarmed. She knew the hands holding her as well as she knew her own. Even so, she despised how vulnerable she felt in that moment. Nothing infuriated her more than the utter helplessness she felt when those hands touched her.

"Unhand me this instant." She was a Black; she would not let him see her weakness. The color of his tie might be yellow, but he knew how to play her as if he were a Slytherin.

"That's not what you said last night." She felt his smirk against her neck, those soft lips nothing more than a caress against her skin. Of course it was not what she had said the previous night. Last night she had succumbed to her desires, forgetting for a moment who she was, who he was.

"Last night was a mistake." Could he feel her heart racing, giving away the nonchalance that coated her words?

His arms tightened around her for just a moment before letting go. She felt bereft, but she held firm. She was a Black. She turned, locking eyes with him. Why? Why was he able to move her so? Why could he make her burn and ache for more? Why? Why him?

"You know, Andromeda." A shiver raced down her spine at the way her name rolled off his tongue. Him uttering her name should not light her blood on fire. It did not. She refused to let her desires command her. "Lying to yourself won't change anything." He shook his head. "I felt it. I'm sure you did too. Last night… it wasn't a mistake. You're mine, Andromeda. Just as I am yours, if you would simply let me. You want this, I know you do. You just need to take it."

He took a step forward, and it took everything she had not to take one back. Slowly, gently, he caressed her cheek. She did not move when he leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. The gentleness of the action was almost her undoing. Still, she held firm. She was a Black and she would not let her baser desires dictate her. She had a responsibility towards her family, a duty to uphold. She was to be engaged this coming winter break and she would not risk the Black name for a folly such as this. His lips lingered for a moment more, a chance he was so easily giving her to do as her heart wanted. She did not respond, not even when his beautiful eyes flashed with pain for fraction of a second – she only knew what it was because it had become such a familiar expression in his eyes as of late; an expression she had put there time and time again. She did not believe she could hate herself more than she did at that very moment.

Then he was gone, leaving her alone in a dark classroom with nothing but her Black pride.

She sighed in relief as soon as she was away from her aunt Walburga. She was so very glad that these meetings only took place once a year. Sometimes she pitied her uncle Orion for having to put up with her. Was it any wonder that her cousins would rather spend their holidays at Hogwarts than at home? Even shy little Regulus had been reluctant to return home after he had gone to Hogwarts. Of course, he had returned. He, just like all other Blacks, knew his duty.

She almost jumped out of her skin when the door to the small parlor she had secluded herself in opened, only to relax when her uncle Alphard walked in. At least she knew that uncle Alphard would not be praising Bellatrix or remarking on the good match her parents had picked for her. There was nothing wrong with Rodolphus. He was a strong wizard from a pure line, handsome too; her parents had picked well. However, if she had to listen to one more person exalt his virtues she would scream.

She smiled at her uncle when he sat on the armchair near her. She was not ashamed to admit that uncle Alphard was her favorite uncle. There was just something about him that was different from most others in the family, something in his eyes that burned with a fierceness that she had only seen in a few of them.

"I see you escaped the clutches of my darling sister," he said, a sly grin spreading on his lips. Andromeda ducked her head, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. Her uncle laughed, and she glanced at him from under her wild curls. "I do not blame you. My sister can be a bit much, even if she means well." Andromeda raised an eyebrow. She might love her family, but she did not delude herself into thinking that aunt Walburga meant well. Her aunt cared for two things, and two things only: the prestige of the Black name, and the purity of one's blood. Such was the Black way. Uncle Alphard chuckled – it was not a nice sound. "Perhaps you are right." If she did not know any better she would have thought that her uncle had used Legilimency on her. "Walburga cares for little nowadays. Since this war started she has become more set in her ways."

Andromeda looked away from her uncle, her eyes drawn to the window that showed the back garden of the manor. She spied Bellatrix laughing while in a mock duel with their father. It seemed so innocent. A few years back it would have been.

Uncle Alphard sighed and Andromeda turned back to look at him, noticing that he had followed her gaze. "Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. It gladdens me that I have no children that will bear this burden."

"Uncle…" she whispered, no more words leaving her. What more could she say? She did not know how he felt, but she was worried all the same. She worried that her sister would not return one day. She worried that Bellatrix would lose more than her life in this war.

Uncle Alphard smiled at her. "Do not worry, Andromeda. You still have the rest of your last year at Hogwarts to look forward to. That should be your only concern at the moment. Besides, it is your engagement we are celebrating – Bellatrix's marking aside. Are you not satisfied with the match?"

Satisfied? Was she satisfied? She had no reason not to be, had she? Rodolphus was a good match for her. He was strong, intelligent, charming, handsome, pure-blooded, rich. What more could she want? They had had stimulating conversations the few times they had interacted. Aside from that, Rodolphus – unlike Lucius, someone her parents had considered for a match as well – was not more enamored with his own reflection than he was with her. It was a perfectly acceptable match. "Rodolphus is satisfactory, Uncle. I will do the family proud and carry out my duty as a daughter of the House of Black."

She hardly recognized her own voice. Was this what the rest of her life would be like? A mimickery of the detached coldness that seeped into her tone every time she spoke? She closed her eyes, echoes of her breathless voice ringing in her mind. Passion filled gasps and moans a sinful symphony that made her heart race. Would she ever sound like that again? Would that burning desire grace her voice once more?

Her uncle hummed and she snapped her eyes open, looking at the sprawled man on the armchair. When he behaved liked that, her uncle looked so out of place in the pristine parlor. No proper pureblood would ever sit like that – much less a Black. "A daughter of the House of Black," her uncle mused. "I wonder… do you know what a Black is?"

"What?" She blinked, grateful that there were no portraits in the parlor to see her less than composed reaction. "I do not understand." What sort of question was that? What is a Black? They are the Blacks, it was that simple.

Her uncle looked out the large double window once more, his eyes following Bellatrix's willow form. "That is a Black," he said, motioning towards her older sister. A part that she usually kept hidden snarled at that declaration. So, a true Black was someone who followed a Dark Lord? Was that all they were good for? "There," her uncle said, pointing at a small table a little away from the others. "That is a Black too."

"Sirius?" Andromeda frowned. According to her aunt Walburga, Sirius was anything but a Black, even if he did bear the name. Her aunt still screeched about what a disgrace it was to have a Gryffindor Black, and it had already been four years. Not that she agreed, of course. She quite liked her little cousin – he was one of her favorites. Her gaze went back to her uncle when he hummed.

"Those two are true Blacks. They are everything a Black should be. They are wild and free. A Black does whatever they want, whenever they want. They care nothing for the consequences of their actions. That is what Blacks are. This polite, proper mask that the whole family wears is just that – a mask. Something we have been crafting for so many years that most of us forgot that it was simply a mask." Her uncle leaned forward, his eyes blazing with passion that was breathtaking, and she knew she was looking at another true Black. "We saw all those happy little families and we emulated them. We are all the same now, when we should not be. We might not have been a happy family, Andromeda, but we were Blacks. We reveled in being different, even if it meant being an unhappy little family. Do you know why?" She shook her head, unable to form words in the face of such fire. "Because every single one of us burned. We were fire and passion, wild and free. And we might have been an unhappy family, but individually we were happy, elated. Look at us now." He spread his arm towards the garden outside, encompassing every single Black present. Andromeda looked at her family, really looked, for what felt like the first time. They looked like a magnificent painting, artfully done but lacking life. And then there was Bellatrix and Sirius. They were a blazing star in the midst of a lifeless landscape. Bellatrix was utterly untamed. Sirius was just as uncontrollable. "Your sister and your cousin are true Blacks. They do what they want, not caring for the consequences. They give themselves completely to what they desire, letting their hearts lead them instead of their heads. My sister may complain about Sirius, but he is more of a Black than she will ever be. Bellatrix and Sirius… they jumped and found their wings as they fell." Andromeda looked back at her uncle, her eyes wide and revealing far more than they had in a long while. "Have you found your wings, Andromeda?"

Had she found her wings?

You're mine, Andromeda.

Was she a true Black?

Just as I am yours, if you would simply let me.

Could she risk everything?

You want this, I know you do.

She closed her eyes, breathless pleas and moans echoing in her head. Longing surged through her with abandon.

You just need to take it.

"Yes." Her eyes snapped open and she looked right into the grinning eyes of her uncle. "Yes," she repeated, as much to herself as to him.

She was a true Black, and just like a true Black she would follow her heart and desires.

A.N.: Another Quidditch season is starting and I'm back on the Wasps but as a Chaser this time. Go cheer for us :D

On another note, I'm sorry I haven't updated my multi-chapter stories. I have been swamped with work for my course and it's been exam after exam. Aside from that I've been working on finishing my original so fanfiction has been neglected a bit. However, I am back to writing and I will update The Rise of a Dark Lord, Bound in Servitude, Death's Son, and Young Princes all at the same time. I can't give you precises dates, but in the next few weeks they should all be up. Please don't think I have abandoned those stories, I haven't. Life has just gotten in the way.

That said, I have tumblr now. It's littlemissxanda. If you guys have any questions or prompts or anything, let me know over there. I'll get to those questions much faster than the PMs here - though I'll get the PMs here done as well, it just takes a little longer.