Making the right choice.

Summary: Andromeda Black is starting her seventh year at Hogwarts. She's becoming closer to Ted Tonks but their relationship has to be a secret. Soon she will have to make the choice between what is right and what is easy. What does she decide?

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise -- all of it belongs to J.K. Rowling.

AN: I know the ages for Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa are wrong because of the Black family tree information but I wanted them to be nearer Sirius' age. I've still made it so that Tonks would have been born when Sirius was around the age of 14/15 to fit in with OotP.

Chapter One.

I made my way to the train compartment where I knew my younger sister would be sitting. This year was feeling strange already as I have never been to Hogwarts without my older sister Bellatrix being there to stand up for me when I need her. I'm not a coward, don't get me wrong, I can fight my own battles, but having Bella there just confirmed the closeness that us three sisters share.

Bellatrix has just finished her last year at Hogwarts this summer just gone. She passed her exams with good marks even though she had not studied much at all. "Who cares?" she had replied when I had asked why she was not studying. "It's not like I need NEWTs for what I'm going on to do after I've finished. All the Dark Lord cares about is loyalty amongst his followers." With a toss of her long, black hair she had wandered off out of the portrait hole with Rudolphus Lestrange -- probably to torture some defenceless Gryffindor first year.

I hadn't seriously thought for a moment that Bellatrix would join the Death Eaters when she left. Sure Bellatrix hated Mudbloods and thought that the world was a better place without them but to join the ranks of someone who planned to wipe out all the Muggles and Mudbloods -- that was something else. Anyway, Bellatrix had never answered to anybody. She was her own person and never did what other people told her to do. She had been born to be a leader, not a follower. I was wrong though. The day after Bellatrix had graduated from Hogwarts she had joined the Death Eaters and had the mark burned onto her forearm. The black skull standing out against her pale skin. Personally, I thought it looked hideous (I still do actually) and I vowed never to take the mark.

I sat down next to Narcissa who was examining her reflection in the hand held mirror she always carried around with her. Most people would think that Narcissa was nothing more than a vain Pureblood who didn't care about anyone around her but then most people didn't know the real Narcissa. She is two years younger than me as she is fifteen and just starting her OWL year. Narcissa doesn't look like either me or Bella.

Narcissa has long, wavy blonde hair that cascades down her back while Bella and I both have dark hair. Bella's is darker than mine, her hair is almost black, while mine is a medium brown. I hate my hair, it's so plain compared to Cissy's and Bella's. All three of us have different eye colours too. Cissy's are very pale blue, Bella's are very dark brown and I have dark green eyes. None of us had inherited the famous Black eyes which were steel grey, like our cousins Sirius and Regulus.

Sirius is my favourite cousin. I can't admit this to anyone though. Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor when he started Hogwarts and the family had never gotten over the shame of it. He had been the first Black not to be sorted in Slytherin which angered my Aunt, Sirius' mum. I still remember that Howler that had been sent to Sirius after Bellatrix had sent an owl saying that he had been sorted into Gryffindor. The word's weren't exactly bad, I'd heard much worse before when he had been yelled at, but this time the tone of Aunt Walburga's voice had been chilling and it had even scared me a little.

"Sirius Black. You are a disgrace to this family. Never before has a Black failed to be sorted into Slytherin house and you have shamed the family. You are in the house full of Mudbloods and Muggle lovers and I am disgusted with you. As far as I'm concerned you are no longer part of this family."

I remember looking over to the Gryffindor table to see what his reaction had been. He hadn't seemed too bothered about the whole thing. He just shrugged and turned back to the conversation he had been having with his three friends. The black haired one with glasses was James Potter, the one sitting across the table from those two had sandy coloured hair and was called Remus Lupin and the chubby boy next to him was called Peter Pettigrew. A small red haired girl a few seats down had looked startled at the Howler like she had never seen one before. "A Mudblood." Bellatrix had whispered when she saw me looking at the next table.

"So, Andromeda how was your summer?"

I was brought back to the real world with a start when my friend Scarlet spoke to me.

"Oh, it was okay. Nothing too special. A few balls and parties that I had to attend, the usual I guess."

The Black family was one of the oldest, and richest, Pureblood families left in the wizarding world and as a result we were all expected to turn up to these events that had been organised. I despised going to these events as I got bored very quickly. I hated having to wear those awful dresses that my mother insisted I must wear. I looked like an idiot and they are so hard to breathe in. I like dressing up in some nice robes but these awful creations did nothing for me. I still looked plain compared to my sisters.

"You're lucky. I would kill to be able to go to some of those parties but my parent's hate them. I think they are trying to keep themselves safe you know… with all that's happening these days. They don't want to end up in Azkaban."

"You are welcome to take my place. They are really boring." I replied. "So have you heard who the Head Boy and Girl are yet?"

I tried to change the subject. Scarlet is too stupid for her own good sometimes. I do really like her but she really shouldn't go on about her parents avoiding things because they don't want to show their loyalty to the Dark Lord who is rapidly rising to power. It's dangerous because if he found things like this out he would kill them. I don't want her to be killed.

"Some Ravenclaw guy and a Gryffindor girl." She shrugged, as she pulled a nasty face when the word 'Gryffindor' was mentioned.

"Typical." I rolled my eyes. It was always some Gryffindor that got either Head Girl or Head Boy. Traditional enemies of Slytherins. We were certain not to win the House Cup this year. Gryffindors didn't treat the Slytherins fairly and always took points for stupid reasons. Sirius was the only decent Gryffindor.

The rest of the afternoon went by slowly as the hills rolled past as we sped through the countryside. I occasionally joined in with parts of the conversation but nothing really interested me enough to make me want to contribute. Talking about ways to torture Mudbloods doesn't really interest me to be honest. I may not be fond of them, after all they were tinting the Purebloods blood and making it dirty. I was brought up to hate Mudbloods and anyone whose blood wasn't pure.

I managed to get a good seat in the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony. My cousin Regulus was starting this year and I wanted to see where he got placed. I hoped for his sake that he makes it into Slytherin because he isn't as strong as Sirius is and I don't think he would be able to handle a Howler from Aunt Walburga in his first week here.

"Black, Regulus."

I watched him walk up to the stool and place the Sorting hat onto his head. The seconds ticked past and I could have sworn my heart had stopped beating. Finally the Sorting hat called out "SLYTHERIN" and I clapped with the rest of my House as he joined the table.

Over the other side of the room I noticed that Sirius was looking a bit upset. I knew that he had wanted Regulus to be in Gryffindor with him. Even if it was just to prove that he wasn't 'weird' for being in Gryffindor, that he wasn't strange because he was the only Black to be in that House.

"Hey Andie!" Regulus grinned, nervously. "I made it!"

I smiled at his happiness, he was my second favourite cousin and I was just glad that he was happy. I was glad that now Bella couldn't turn on him like she had Sirius. Knowing this I was able to fall asleep easily that night which made up for the sleepless nights that were about to come my way.