A/N: Glad those of you who are reading this are enjoying this! PS: I know timing is royally screwed up in this fic. For instance: Dora Tonks was born when Remus was 13, which means I made Andromeda much younger along with the rest of the sisters to fit the storyline, so no need to bash me on it. Enjoy anyways!
About an hour went by on the train without much in the way of excitement. Andromeda anticipated going to the prefect meeting soon, so she changed into her green and silver Slytherin robes and just sat and waited longingly. Bella actually went out of her self-absorbed ways to buy Cissy a pumpkin pasty when the old woman with the candy cart came rolling by. Cissy chattered about why she DIDN'T want to get married to Barty Crouch because the boy was 'absolutely crazy', while Andromeda mused out the window and stared at the rolling countryside. She wished she could sit with Sirius, but he was sitting a few cars back, and Bella probably wouldn't allow it anyways.
Bella wasn't an overall EVIL person. She was only really just seventeen. What girl WASN'T a self-obsessed boy-crazy selfish brat at that age? Andromeda swore that she would rather have her legs eaten by the Giant Squid over being another Bellatrix Polaris Black. Cissy would be when she came of age, no doubt. She admired Bella over Andromeda any day.
"Bella, are you SURE I don't hav to marry Crouchy-Crotch like Mum said?" asked Cissy for the hundreth time. 'Crouchy-Crotch' was Cissy and Bella's name for the shabby little first-year who seemed…well…excentric, at times.
"Narcissa Aurora Black, I've TOLD you, no! Mum doesn't know shit about the times. But the ONE rule is, he must be a pureblood with money. Other than that, you choose," Bella said, running out of breath from saying the same thing over and over and..over. Cissy finally sat back in her seat with satisfaction to finish off her pasty.
Someone appeared in the doorway just then. It was a black boy in Slytherin robes. Half-blood male prefect for Slytherin, Hugo Mince. "Andromeda Black?"
"Yeah?" asked Andromeda, half-waking up from a daydream in which she and Remus Lupin were lying in each other's arms in the cool grass underneath a full-moon.
"They want us in the prefect compartment now," said Hugo. Andromeda nodded with a smile and a roll of eyes and stood up to leave with Hugo. As the door closed behind her, Andromeda heard Bella instructing Cissy in the ways of the world…
"Now, when you're choosing a man, Cissy, you must always be sure to…"
The prefect's compartment was triple the size of any other in the train. When Andromeda got there, she was greeted almost instantly by none other than Gryffindor prefects Remus Lupin…and some redheaded girl whom Androemda didn't know right off the bat. Remus smiled as she appeared.
"Andromeda! Good to see you!" Remus said. Androemda smiled. He was too friendly to like her in a way other than friendship. Andromeda nodded. "I didn't know you were a—"
"—well, I didn't exactly hang around long after you rescued me this morning!" Androemda said with a smile. The redheaded girl seemed to be cautious around Andromeda, for she too wroe the red and gold Gryffindor robes, and Androemda' Slytherin robes seemed to set her off.
Remus turned to the girl and lightly tapped her shoulder. "This is Andromeda Black, Sirius' cousin! Oh…the good one, I mean!"
"Remus, that's not a nice thing to say……..Cissy still has hope."
Remus laughed. The redheaded girl smiled lightly, seemeing to loosen up.
"And this is Lily Evans, female prefect for Gryffindor this year," Remus introduced. A suddenly bell rang out in Andromeda's head.
"Oh! You're the one James Potter wants to shag!" she blurted out, before quickly realizing what popped out of her mouth and quickly slammed it shut with horror. Lily didn't seem impressed or horryfied. In fact, she seemed kind of amused by it.
"Don't worry, I know all about Potter," Lily said with a tone of disgrace about her voice. She looked at Remus and groaned. "I really wish you would get him off it."
"What can I do? He's James Potter, and I'm a lowly prefect," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Ah!" Androemda suddenly yelped in surprise. A tall boy with mousey brown hair and deep blue eyes had bumped into her from the back. She whipped her head arund to look at the clumsy boy. Another prefect, no doubt. This boy wore the robes of Hufflepuff.
"Sorry," muttered the boy. He took his first real look at Andromeda and blushed. "Sorry..." he muttered again, much softer. Andromeda nodded skeptically and allowed the Hufflepuff prefect to pass into the apartment. Remus, Lily, and Androemda all took seats by the window. After the rest of the eight prefects had filed in, Professor Celestia, a chipper young witch, and teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts and head of Slytherin House, sat down to begin the meeting.
"First, I will do roll call…say your name when I call it," said Celestia. "Lily Evans?"
"Present!" Androemda smirked, noting that Lily sat perched on the edge of her seat like a little pigeon, eager and ready to please.
"Hugo Mince?"
"Here!"
"Ophelia Elsinore?"
"Here!" said a blonde-haired girl in Ravenclaw Robes.
"Viola Illyria?"
"I'm here," said the Hufflepuff female prefect.
"Theodore Tonks?"
"Present," muttered the clumsy Hufflepuff boy who tripped over Andromeda seconds earlier.
"Remus Lupin?"
"Yes, here," said Remus, even going to the extent of raising his hand a little bit.
"Andromeda Black?"
Before Andromeda could confirm her presence, the Ravenclaw pair began muttering with the Hufflepuff pair. Andromeda was able to pick up on some conversation…
"Black? As in the House of Black?" asked Viola.
"Yep," said Hugo, proud to be the male prefect to Andromeda's female prefect.
"Bellatrix's younger sister?" asked Theodore, looking at Andromeda as if she were a freak in a sideshow at a Muggle circus. That's how Andromeda felt. Like she was on display for the others to mutter about. Why did the Blacks have such a bad reputation?
"Yes, yes, Ted," said Hugo. Andromeda rolled her eyes at Remus, who bit his lip. Lily didn't make any gestures, she just sat and twiddled her thumbs.
"I hear that they want to wipe out all the Muggle-borns and make a pureblooded wizard society!"
"I hear that they want to shut down Hogwarts and open up a pureblood-only school in it's place!"
Theodore looked uncomfortable when they began talking about Muggle-borns, Andromeda noted. Perhaps he was one.
"Wow, who'd have thought a Black would actually become a prefect here? They're a troublesome bunch!" warned Ophelia. "Just look at that Sirius…"
"I beg to differ," said Andromeda. "You know, we Blacks may be a troublesome bunch, but we're not deaf, you know." The chatting then subsided. Theodore Tonks blushed again before turning away from Viola, his respective female prefect. Celestia looked at the group before moving on with roll call.
After the meeting was finished, Remus, Andromeda, and Lily were out in the corridor heading back to their own compartments.
"I don't want to go back and sit with Bella and Cissy," whined Andromeda. "Bella's teaching Cissy how to charm pureblooded boys."
"You don't care if people are purebloods, do you?" asked Lily, twiddling with a necklace. Andromeda quickly shook her head.
"Actually, I'd sooner marry a werewolf," Andromeda muttered. Remus suddenly coughed and looked around awkwardly. "You alright?" asked Andromeda.
"Fine," said Remus.
"You should come sit with me then!" said Lily excitedly. "I'm sitting with Bastet Pollux and Morgaine Pendragon two cars up…"
"Actually, I don't think it's a good idea to leave Cissy alone with Bella too long. The poor girl would have to spend six months in St. Mungo's to clear her head."
Remus and Lily laughed at this. Lily nodded. "I'll see you later, then!" Lily took off down the hall towards her own compartment after that. Remus looked at Andromeda.
"You sure? I could come with you…"
"Um, no thanks. We'll be arriving soon. I'm sure Sirius and James will want to see you back so they can mock you about being a good little prefect…"
"Yes, that's exactly what they're going to do." Remus moaned. Andromeda just stared at Remus for a minute and smiled mildly.
"Who was that chubby boy that followed you three around last year?" asked Andromeda.
"Oh, that's Peter Pettigrew. James took him in," said Remus, making it sound like Peter was an orphaned student. Andromeda nodded curiously.
"Oh?"
"I personally don't like him very much, but we'll see," said Remus. "He's so quiet and awkward, you'd think he'd have a hidden agenda."
"I don't know," shrugged Andromeda. "Never judge a book by its cover, Remus."
"Indeed," Remus agreed.
Andromeda didn't speak after that. She looked down towards where her compartment was and sighed woefully. "Guess I'd better go…"
"We'll have to do a trip to Hogsmeade together sometime," said Remus.
"Bella never goes to Hogsmeade. She'd much rather use the free time to snog around," Andromeda rolled her eyes and said. Remus gave a hearty laugh. "So, have a nice rest-of-the-trip," she wished, before walking down the hall, not bothering to wait and see if Remus said anything back.
