"Be proud," her mother always told her. She didn't exactly obey, not because she was rebellious, but because she never understood why.
Her name was Andromeda Black. She was constantly reminded of this fact, with an emphasis on her last name, throughout her childhood. She was not proud of it, unlike her sisters, cousins and nearly all of her family. She had been told, for a very long time, that being a Black was something that put her above certain, or rather, a lot of other families. And then, there were some people, who didn't come from reputed wizarding families, who she must never even think of associating with, she was informed. When she was younger, she didn't understand it. It didn't feel fair. When she grew older, she didn't agree with it. She learnt it never had been fair.
Besides, she did not see why being a Black meant everything had to be pre ordained for her and her sisters. She saw Bella's marraige to Rabastan Lestrange being planned years in advance, when they were just children. She saw her entire life written out for her, and she found that she did not like the idea. She knew that her sisters were not happy about it either, but also that none of them would ever say as much. She often wished that they would.
In the beginning, her family supposed it was merely a phase. After all, who wouldn't want to be a part of one of the oldest pureblood wizarding families in the country? They could not imagine that their ideals were anything but perfect. Nonetheless, her mother made sure she was always in attendance for the fanciest of their dinners and best of their parties, perhaps hoping it would show her what it meant to be one of them. They would all look at her with fake smiles on their faces but quietly whisper that she ought to fall into line sooner rather than later, when they thought she could not hear.
Soon enough, however they realised they were wrong, and they did not like being wrong. Andromeda showed no signs of changing her beliefs. She could be quite stubborn, much to their surprise. Word spread rather quickly that the middle Black sister was likely to grow up to be a blood traitor; a phrase whose meaning young Dromeda did not even know at that time. All she knew was that it meant even her sisters began to shun her. She was wrong, supposedly. Bella, who had previously been rather fond of her, now began to glare at her, almost disappointedly and even went as far as to call her a few choice names. It hurt to have her own sister turn on her. She didn't understand why. Was it so wrong to have an opinion?
But she found her answer soon enough. The Blacks certainly considered her to be a lost battle and they were sore losers. To them, it was their pride that mattered, above anything else. Above, even their daughter's love, as Andromeda quickly realised.
If she disliked being a Black before, she certainly hated it now. All her family did was care about status. She was very happy to be getting away from them when she went to Hogwarts. Nonetheless, she was certainly glad she was sorted into Slytherin. She shuddered to think what would have happened otherwise. The gladness lasted a very short time, however. The Slytherins were much more like her family than she had expected them to be, and it did not take long for her to become an outcast again. The students from the other houses did not wish to associate with her either. The Hufflepuffs were too scared, the Ravenclaws too disinterested, and the Gryffindors too proud to be seen with the pariah of Slytherin house.
She supposed she should become used to it. When her entire family and most of her acquaintances joined the Death Eaters, she simply sighed quietly to herself, and tried to stay away from all of it. Her family was not pleased. As it was, they had never quite accepted her lack of interest in their methods of propagating Pureblood supremacy. But they were still all she had, and for a long time, she wondered if she was wrong herself, if everything she believed had been for nothing. She withdrew into a shell, and no one even tried to break her out of it. Years of having no one to count on made her bitter, almost. Almost.
One wizard, named Ted Tonks changed that fact. By the time she met him, they had all but cut her off. But it was difficult for her not to fall for him, despite knowing her family's opinion. In a way, she was starstruck. How could she not be? They had so much in common, and he was the only one who ever showed her she wasn't alone.
Her name was finally removed, or rather, burnt off from the family tapestry, the day they heard she had married the wizard they considered too be far to inferior to them. She was a blood traitor to them, now, no better than their worst enemies. She never had her family by her side, but now they had officially disowned her. She was not one of them anymore.
He didn't care, not one bit, and she found, that after a while, neither did she. She felt almost free, even. Her expectations, shaped by her family, had chained her, but now, the Order accepted her the way her family never had, and for the first time in her life, she truly felt like she belonged.
It was all she ever wanted.
Notes: For the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Training Camp.
Position: Chaser 2 of the Banchory Bangers.
Main Prompt: The Ugly Duckling
Optional Prompts: Sore, Starstruck, Hate
Apologies if this is slightly AU! I did try to stick to canon, but we don't know much about Andromeda in canon.