Storms always scared Andromeda. Ever since the day she was born, the noise of thunder terrified her out of her wits. It was storming the night she was born. Her mother always saw it as a curse, that Andromeda would be cursed. Her life was perfectly fine to this point and she didn't plan on changing things. At fifteen years old, the girl was scared of a small storm.
Tonight was just another night that she found herself sleepless. Looking out from her balcony she saw flashes of light and sounds so loud that they shook the house. Grabbing one of her blankets Andromeda stood up and moved out of her bedroom. If anyone could comfort her it was Bellatrix. Sneaking quietly past her parent's room she ran into her older sister's room. "Trix? Trix?" She called out. Her sister didn't answer and Andromeda headed toward the bed. It was empty.
"Trixie? Where are you tonight?" Andromeda was worried about where her sister could be on this summer night. She was always sneaking off these days. She decided that she would just sleep in Bellatrix's room until she got home. Curling up in Bellatrix's large bed, Andromeda still couldn't find the sleep she so desperately needed. She couldn't sleep knowing that her sister was out in this storm.
It seemed like hours before Bella arrived back at the manor. In reality it was a little more then one hour, but waiting with nothing to do it seemed like more. "Trix!" Andromeda called when her sister entered the room. Taking down her black hood, Andromeda saw a side of her sister that she had never seen. A look of pure hate and anger graced her once beautiful face. "You weren't with Lestrange were you?"
Bellatrix was in an arranged marriage with Rudolphus, but she didn't love him anymore. At that point Andromeda knew that her sister only loved the man by the name of Tom Riddle. When Bella nodded, Andromeda became scared. She had met the one they call the Dark Lord in the past, and he wasn't a pleasant man. He scared her and she knew that one day she would have to join his forces, or leave the family.
"I was with the Dark Lord tonight. He has finally allowed me to join him, since I am out of school." Bellatrix's previous light and happy voice only sounded dark and cruel. "He's a good man; he knows what this world needs. With killing the mudbloods, our race can be pure once again. Our family has been waiting for someone like him to finally do something about all of this mudbloods taking over the race idea."
"I haven't." Andromeda snapped back at her sister. For the first time she had found strength to tell her sister that she was wrong. There was nothing wrong with muggleborns in the wizarding world.
"You haven't? Are you going to run off and be a blood traitor like Aunt Cedrella are you? Get your arse burned off the family tree?" Bella yelled fiercely at the younger girl.
"I would never betray the family, you know that! I just don't want to follow your lord. He doesn't treat you well. I know the signs, every time you come back from one of you meetings; I see the pain from his hexes. He places curses on you, how can he be good!" Andromeda didn't understand why she could be so loyal to someone who treated her so badly.
"I deserved it. It was to teach me a lesson that I deserved. Just like the one you're going to get for back talking our lord." Bella raised her wand. Andromeda knew that she couldn't defend herself; she'd get caught for using magic outside of school and want to know why she needed a shield.
"Hex me. Go on Trixie; prove to me that he's the only way." Hoping that her words would keep her sister from hurting her, she only provoked Bellatrix even more.
"INCENDIO!" Bella yelled and fired toward Andy's direction. Andromeda sensed that she was in fact on fire, and there was no way she could stop it. She could die, and it was at that moment she knew her sister wasn't the same person she used to be.
"Augementi!" Someone had yelled from somewhere, Andromeda couldn't tell where. She just knew that someone had come to save her. Feeling that the flames were gone she picked herself up to look at her rescuer. It was Narcissa, her little sister. Staring at her small thirteen year old sister, Andromeda had a sigh of relief. "Bella, why'd you do that to Andy?" The small girl asked.
"She needed to know what side she's on. Unlike you and me, she doesn't seem to understand that mudbloods need to be killed." Bella acted calmly when talking to the youngest Black sister.
"That's no reason Bella!" Narcissa yelled. Narcissa came up to Andromeda and grabbed her arm. Starting to move out of the room, she took her older sister with her.
"Let go of my arm, it hurts when you touch it." Andromeda told her. Narcissa's face showed aplogy. "Cissy, where are you taking me? We can't tell mum and dad, they wouldn't understand."
"I guess your right." Narcissa turned around and headed toward the stairs. "Come on Andy. We're going to get you fixed up."
"No I'll be fine. Plus how are we going to get to St. Mungo's?" Andromeda knew that there would be too many questions involved with she went in for medical help.
"The house elves can apparate us there. Tenny, Nine!" She called the girls two favorite house elves to the door. "Take us to St. Mungo's. Now." The two elves grabbed our arms and off we went. The sensation was nothing like the type that I felt when traveling with mum or uncle Alphard. It was much rockier.
"Welcome to St. Mungo's, what's your problem?" A secretary greeted us as we arrived. Narcissa did all the talking, and she told them the truth. Andromeda was lit on fire by their sister. A group of healers came over to take Andromeda to another room. She was worked on for a couple hours before she was able to be released.
On her way out she saw a familiar face. "Tonks?" She asked. It was weird to see a muggleborn at St. Mungo's. They usually went to their own doctors.
"Black? What are you doing here?" Ted asked. He was always a polite boy, and it bothered Andromeda to death. She couldn't hate him like she was supposed to. He was too nice for that.
Sitting next to him she whispered the incident into his ear. He nodded and understood. "I never really liked her. She was evil!" He told Andromeda. She told him to shut up, since it was still her sister.
"Now what are you doing here?" Andromeda was curious.
"My father decided to play with my wand and one of my transfiguration books. I think you can figure out the rest." Andy raised an eyebrow. If his father was a muggle how could he have transfigured himself?
"I thought your dad was a muggle. Muggles can't make anything come out the end of a wand." It was the truth. There was something that Ted didn't know about his father.
Ted shrugged. "Well it was nice seeing you Andromeda. See you in school."
Andromeda headed back to the manor with her sister. It was almost morning and she knew that there was going to be a letter from the ministry arriving in the morning. Narcissa performed magic outside of school.
When Andromeda finally awoke it was mid-morning and she picked up a robe and headed down to the dining room. Bellatrix was still seated from her breakfast and was staring at her. Andromeda couldn't meet her gaze, not after what happened last night. Luckily she was saved by her father running into the room. The Black girls didn't see their father often for he didn't believe in the man raising the children.
"What did my dear Narcissa mean when she said you were lit on fire?" He demanded an answer out of Andromeda. She couldn't look at him; she couldn't tell him the truth. So she remained silent.
"I lit her on fire." Bellatrix acted as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
"You what?" he yelled. There was a fierce loyalty that was demanded in the house of Black, and that was loyalty to everyone in the family. Who hadn't been disowned at least.
"She called my Lord cruel. She needed to learn that his is the only way. So I cursed her, gave her, her penance." Bellatrix's voice was rising. She wasn't happy with her father's tone.
"You do not light a family member on fire Bellatrix, and you should know that your family shall always come before that one you call lord." He came up to her, as she stood and stared at her face to face. With a raised hand, he slapped her. Loyalty was taken very seriously.
Bellatrix stormed out of the dining room, although not before she could yell at her sister once more. "I hope you marry that mudblood I've seen you with. You'd make a great couple, until the Dark Lord kills you that is," she sneered.
Andromeda couldn't believe her sister's words. She wasn't interested in Tonks that way. At least she had always told herself she wasn't. But it was time to face the facts; she did wish that Ted was a pureblood, so they could marry. But she knew that couldn't happen to her. She would marry Philleas Yaxley. It had been arranged since she was eleven years old.
"What boy does she speak of? Are you associating with mudbloods?" Her father asked her.
"No. There is just this mudblood that has fancied me for awhile. Can't blame him, he knows what pureblood beauty is." Andromeda let out a cruel laugh at a joke she didn't even find funny.
"Good. You are becoming quite beautiful my dear." With that her father left the room. Andromeda was alone to enjoy what was left of the summer heat. She spent the day thinking about how wonderful life would be if she could marry Ted Tonks.