The Profound Difference Between Draco Malfoy and Cygnus Black

Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. Andromeda just hoped they hyphenated their names. Take that, Narcissa of the Pure Black Blood! Weasley-Malfoy. Or even Granger-Weasley-Malfoy. She was probably the only one who liked the sound of it.

Hermione was liable to snap in half in her efforts to simultaneous reverse completely understandable automatic prejudice and dislike while insisting that Ron do so and acting like it wasn't difficult. Ron would probably just break a few things then spend the rest of his life praying that they divorced. The Malfoys…well, that should be entertaining.

But it was harder than Andromeda liked to think, to watch Scorpius Malfoy stand up at a large joint family dinner, and tell his father that he could stuff it – disinherit him, never speak to him again, duel him to the death for all he cared – he would marry Rose anyway. Is that what she looked like to Narcissa and Bellatrix as they stood above the stairs on that cold landing? Was her back that straight when she looked her father in the eye? Was her face that red at the end of her spiel? Probably not, Scorpius like his father was extremely blonde and pale.

Was Scorpius afraid that his voice would tremble? That everyone could see how very easily he would back down from this? How desperately he hoped, knowing it was impossible, that his parents would give in? Did he also fear – fear how easily and joyously he would fall into their arms when it felt so glorious now to stand at last?

Perhaps, but he showed nothing. Had she? When Narcissa remembered that moment in later years, would she have recalled a flicker of doubt, of longing? Did Bella see a flash of weakness? Did she give any sign of how she herself was torn in half as she stood before her parents and tossed her sisters out the window without even addressing them?

Scorpius grabbed Rose's hand, apologized for letting the proposal cat out of the bag almost sheepishly, and put the Granger Family diamond on her finger. Strong, beautiful, not even glancing at his parents. And his lady giggled nervously and smiled and threw her arms around him. And nearly everyone at the table erupted into applause.

Teddy looked over at her, eyes searching, thinking he knew what she was thinking. But it was not pride in Scorpius, or even satisfaction that the Black bloodline was again to be "polluted," or even a simple painful reliving of her own choice. It was annoyance.

Because the comparison would inevitably be made, and it was not the same thing at all that Scorpius had just done. Because they would all think that they understood what she had done better now, and Andromeda did not want any of them to try to touch such a terrible and dangerous thing. Not on her behalf.

She had had no cheering section, no enclave to flee to the very second she had rejected her family. Could pale frail Draco stand with the fury and power of Cygnus Black as he advanced on his middle daughter with the cold rage she had never before seen in his eyes? And the pain that swam in Scorpius's father's eyes – did any of them think that that was anything compared to the cold disinterest he suddenly felt in the life and well being of a former beloved daughter?

Even if they were all tossed unceremoniously from Malfoy Manor – and with the reinforcements Scorpius had they might well overrun it instead – did any of them think that would make it easier to understand the shock and terror of having to flee from your life while fending off Unforgivables shot at you from every angle - directed from your parents' wands? And – Andromeda had never been entirely sure – but perhaps one from her elder sister watching from above?

While her mother flew at her, hissing Imperio! and her father shrieked Crucio!, both determined to steal from her this rebellion, this defiance, this shame, to cow her back into the daughter they had wanted but found in none of their spawn, Andromeda had thought she saw a flash of green light behind her – and though she had looked into black eyes full of hatred, already shrouded with wild hair as her always so secretly fragile sister broke before her very eyes, Andromeda had never known for sure. Never known for sure if her sister had tried to put her out of her misery rather than let her fall into such shame.

And what would happen to Scorpius if his father did not cede? Did none of them think of that? Or did they imagine they knew that too?

For all the Unforgivables thrown about that night, it was Andromeda who had done the unpardonable. And the curse that she brought upon herself did more damage than any her family might have landed if they had not trained her so well – if she had not been so quick on her feet. If they hadn't known she had already passed her Apparition Test.

Andromeda Black left her family – broke it and tossed it aside. How could she ever hold her family together again? She abandoned Bella – left her to fall into madness without her sister to hold her steady, without anyone to protect whom she could also rely on, with her world shaken to its foundations. And darling Bella had tumbled into a madman, then run gleefully through all the world, trying to recreate the total destruction her sister had enacted on her life and the entire Black Family before she fled. She had left Narcissa – left her weak sister who loved only harmony and peace without any protector in a household suddenly wildly strict and controlling, left her to parents who molded and re-molded her until they nearly broke her identity entirely, then handed it like silly putty to a man who had no real use for it.

Of course Ted would be taken, as payment for that debt. Of course Dora would fall, victim to that curse. Dodging all those spells had its cost. They said a spell fired by a family upon its own would never stop. And all of them rained down upon Andromeda Tonks's line, until the end of time. That she knew, the moment they first told her Ted had died. She knew that Dora and others would follow.

The cost of surrendering your family was never being able to hold the pass again. Not against any storm. Like negotiating with terrorists. You couldn't go back – you couldn't undo it, reverse or ignore the curse you brought on your own head and those you loved more than your own.

Luckily for Scorpius, Draco stood and gave his guarded blessing. And Daphne immediately removed the Greengrass locket from her neck and placed it gently across Rose's. But Andromeda watched Scorpius until she could meet his eye, and she knew that he had no idea. Even if there were no Unforgivables flying through the air, it only meant the curse would be tamer. It had fallen all the same.

The comparison was, in that way only, appropriate.