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Andromeda apparated with the tiniest pop down the street from her home so she wouldn't awake her sleeping family in the house. It was a cool summer night as the girl rushed home. Her clothes were thrown on haphazardly, her blouse was not even buttoned all the way and revealed far too much skin for her mother's tastes. She pushed the iron gate open as carefully as she could, but the old gate groaned loudly anyway. Andromeda stopped pushing and glanced at the dark windows of the house. There was no sign of movement.
Deciding to just get it over with, she shoved the gate open and it groaned even louder than before but it was for a shorter duration. She slipped inside and pushed the gate shut, the metal clinking as she did so. Again, Andromeda glanced at the windows of the house and again there was still no sign of movement. She breathed a sigh a relief but she wasn't in the clear yet.
The soft grass brushed against her ankles as she moved briskly towards the door. The wooden stairs that led up to the porch creaked under her feet and she silently cursed all these loud inanimate objects. It didn't even occur to her to use her wand to silence everything because she was so focused on just getting inside the house without anyone noticing.
Her hand closed around the cool brass door knob and she opened the door just enough for her to edge her way inside. Thankfully, the door didn't make much noise as she closed it behind her. The house was pitch black and so quiet, the only sound she could hear was her heavy breathing. Andromeda willed herself to calm her breathing because even that seemed like it was loud enough to wake her family. Bellatrix was the lightest sleeper she knew and the last one she wanted to run into at this time of night next to her mother, of course.
Andromeda kicked her shoes off and placed them in them along with her family's shoes in a neat row by the door. Her hair that was once tied back in a tight bun earlier in the day was now a huge messy knot on top of her. She began climbing up the stairs, trying hard to keep her feet from making any sounds against the wood. Andromeda was just about to reach the landing and take cover in her bedroom when she suddenly heard a soft voice from downstairs that startled her.
"Dromeda?"
She whipped her head around, her heart feeling as though it was going to beat out of her chest. A small slender figure stood at the bottom of the stairs and as Andromeda's eyes got more used to the lack of light, she noticed it was her younger sister. Her sister's long blonde hair was loose and fell down her back. She was barefoot and in her nightgown, a glass of water was in her hands. Andromeda didn't hear the sound of running water when she got home.
"What are you doing up so late?" Andromeda asked and her sister held up the glass of water as her explanation.
"What are you doing up so late?" Narcissa countered, eyeing Andromeda's disheveled appearance.
"I was out with friends!" she hissed, wishing her sister would just go away.
"It's three in the morning," Narcissa whispered.
Their mother usually went to bed around nine in the evening, their father usually joining her soon after. Andromeda and her sisters were to be in bed no later than eleven, usually making it a guaranteed fact that everyone is asleep when Andromeda sneaks home at odd hours. Over the summer, Andromeda made the claim she was with her friends almost every day, hardly ever being home.
Narcissa climbed the stairs before stopping on the step just below the one Andromeda was standing on. The younger girl's eyes glanced at her sister's neck before smirking and making eye-contact with the girl. Even in the dark, with nothing but the small streams of light from the moon and stars coming in through the windows, Andromeda knew what Narcissa saw.
"You were with a boy," she taunted, noticing the dark love marks on Andromeda's pale neck.
"Shut up, Cissy!" she hissed again. "Don't tell mother!"
"Why shouldn't I?" Narcissa asked, clearly enjoying watching her sister struggle. As the youngest of the three sisters, it was rare for Narcissa to have any sort of power.
"I won't tell her about the Poor you received in potions," Andromeda replied and Narcissa scoffed.
"She already knows about that, which you would know if you were actually home for more than a few hours," Narcissa explained.
Andromeda's glanced up at Bellatrix's bedroom door and then at her parent's door. If anyone one of those three people woke up to this then Andromeda knew she was doomed. With a sigh, she looked back her younger sister who had her arms crossed looking rather haughty, still holding the glass of water.
"Please, Cissy," Andromeda pleaded. Narcissa took a ladylike sip from her glass.
"Who is he?" Narcissa asked, ignoring her sister's pleads.
Feeling increasingly frustrated with her sister, Andromeda bit her lower lip and her mind drifted to the thought of boy she spent most of her late night endeavors with. Ted Tonks was a charming young man who was in Hufflepuff at school and who was unfortunately a muggle-born. Her parents would consider him as charming as a pile of rat dung left out in the sun for too long. Narcissa looked at her sister expectantly and she suddenly spat out the first name that came to her mind.
"Thomas Travers."
Thomas Travers came from a somewhat respectable pureblood family and had developed an infuriating attraction to Andromeda that she had to deal with almost every day when they were at school. He wasn't that bad looking, but he was terribly awkward and had next to no personality. Andromeda would rather have conversations about the weather with her aunt's house elf, Kreacher, than spend time with this boy. However, he was pureblood and that was the only fact that mattered at the moment.
"Oh," Narcissa replied, sounding disappointed in the news. She was probably waiting for some terrible secret to slip out, a secret Andromeda prayed would never slip out. At least, not now.
"Sorry to disappoint," Andromeda said and left her sister on the stairs, finally retreating to her bedroom.
The sheets were soft and welcoming under her skin, she forgot to change out of dirty clothes. She clutched the pillow under her head and tried to go to sleep but the fact that Narcissa didn't look very convinced clouded her conscience. Andromeda squeezed her eyes shut, dreading the conversation she no doubt would have with her mother about sneaking around with Thomas Travers. Narcissa was a huge tattler.
Andromeda felt trapped. She didn't want to leave Ted and she also didn't want to lose her family. She finally drifted off to sleep with the lingering thought that it wasn't quite fair that she couldn't be with the one person who made her happy.