So...here is chapter 2! Sorry for the wait but as my other stories seem more popular I updated them first. Please leave me a review if you like it, or even if you don't! x x x


Mid January 1984

"All aboard!"

A piercing whistle accompanied the shout, as the sound of the train doors clanging shut echoed down Platform 9¾. There was a mad rush as the few stragglers leapt for the train, waving hurried goodbyes at their relatives as they yanked their suitcases onto the shining red train.

Bella sneered disdainfully as a second year Hufflepuff landed at her feet, his trunk splitting open as he crash landed, seconds before the steady chugging of the engines could be heard dragging the carriages out of the station.

Bella, recognising the second year as a muggleborn, smirked and called over her shoulder, "Be careful Cissy, there's a lot of filth on the floor. Wouldn't want any of it to rub off on you."

Wrinkling her nose daintily, Narcissa picked her way through the mortified Hufflepuff's strewn belongings and caught up with her sister. "Honestly," she sniffed, "Mudbloods. They make us all look bad. They're so…" she sought for the right word, "undignified."

Bella nodded, tossing her thick black hair over her shoulder, "Well, unlike us, they haven't had a proper upbringing." she replied haughtily, "Where's Andi gone?"

Shrugging, Narcissa checked the carriage they were nearing for a familiar flash of white-blonde hair. Recognising the occupants as Gryffindors, and first years to boot, she turned away and replied, "She's probably with that Ravenclaw friend of hers, you know, the one whose father works at the ministry?"

Bella snorted, "Yeah in the Muggle Liason department. Really, Andi is going to have to be more careful about who she associates with. With the way people are talking she doesn't want to be labelled as a blood traitor."

"At least her friend's a pureblood." Narcissa commented. She was about to add more but let out a delighted squeal as she recognised the occupants of the next compartment. Twisting the handle, she slipped inside in front of Bella and exclaimed happily, "Lucius!"

Lucius rose to meet his girlfriend and kissed her gently on the cheek. "It's good to see you again, Cissy." he said formally, although with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Narcissa returned the look in kind and proceeded to settle herself in his lap deciding, for once, to hell with propriety.

Bella entered the compartment more sedately and took a seat next to Rodolphus, avoiding the three remaining members of their group, Rabastan, Evan and Barty, playing the rather unpredictable game of Exploding Snap.

"Ah, there you are, Bella." Rodolphus smiled. "What took you so long?"

"Some Mudblood filth blocking the corridor," Bella replied dismissively, "I think Hogwarts standards are lowering, I swear there weren't so many Mudbloods when we first started."

"Yet another reason why we must continue what we are doing." agreed Rodolphus, his gaze unconsciously resting on his left forearm, "Would you like me to go and hex him for you?"

Bella let out a shrieking laugh of pure pleasure, causing the other Slytherins to look up. "Yes, Roddy my dear, that sounds like a splendid start to the new term. Lets."

"Where are you going?" Rabastan asked his brother distractedly, keeping a careful eye on the pile of cards in front of him.

"To teach a lesson to some of the filth currently residing on this train." Rodolphus replied, drawing his unusually stocky wand from his pocket.

An evil, yet inexplicably dashing grin spread across Evan Rosier's face, "Sounds like fun? Can we come watch?"

Bella let out another raucous laugh, "Lets teach the young ones how it done, shall we Roddy?" Her eyes glittered with anticipation.

Barty placed a card on the pile and looked at Stan, "But what about the…" A loud bang echoed throughout the compartment as a puff off smoke hid the Slytherin from view for a few seconds. "…game." he finished weakly.

Rabastan snickered, "Never mind Barty, maybe you can win next time."

Rodolphus, noticing Bella was having a hard time stopping herself from jiggling from foot to foot in impatience, announced, "Let's go. You two lovebirds staying here?"

"Assuredly." Lucius nodded, "Narcissa is too much a lady to participate in such activities and what sort of gentleman would I be to leave her alone?"

Evan snorted with laughter and teased, "You just want some alone time with your girl, don't you mate. We'll make sure to knock on our way back in!"

Lucius looked steadily back, "Don't you have some Mudblood to hex?"

"We're on it."


"Andi? Hey, Andi!"

The shout took a while to sink through Andromeda's thoughts, as she watched through the door in trepidation as her elder sister's gang of Slytherins strode down the corridor.

"Hmmm?" she answered, distractedly.

A gentle shake on her arm brought her attention back to her companions and she turned to look straight into the decidedly handsome face of seventh year Ravenclaw and head boy Ted Tonks.

"Becky was calling you." he informed her, nodding his head in the direction of her best friend, fellow sixth year Becky Hallam.

"Oh, sorry Bex." she muttered hastily, forcing herself not to blush. Ted Tonks somehow always made her feel uncomfortable. Despite being six and a half years at Hogwarts, she was unused to the company of muggleborns and never knew if she was unintentionally insulting them when talking as she would to her family or other Slytherins.

"Never mind." sighed Becky, used to her friend's behaviour: when Andromeda was into a good book, it usually took more than that to rouse her. "I was just saying that when the weather improves we'll be able to sit outside for our free periods this term. How cool will that be!"

Andromeda raised an eyebrow, "'When' the weather improves? 'If' is more like it. Don't forget this is Scotland we're talking about. We'll be lucky if we can walk about the Castle without our cloaks on by the end of term."

Ted gave her a friendly nudge, "Don't be so pessimistic," he smiled, "Scotland does occasionally see the sun, even if…"

Ted was cut off by a terrified scream from the next compartment, followed by angry yelling and an insane cackling. He frowned, "I'd better see what's going on."

Recognising the laughter, Andi shook her head, "Ted, don't…" but she was too late, as the door swung shut behind him.

She turned her worries gaze to Becky, "That was Bella," she informed her friend.

"Oh dear Merlin," muttered Becky, Bella's duelling ability infamous throughout the school.

The two girls rose and went out into the corridor to see what the commotion was.

A small Hufflepuff was cowering against the floor, his hands and face covered in ugly tentacles, while Bellatrix and Rodolphus both stood above him, although their wands were now pointing at the head boy.

Tonks had his wand out, bravely standing his ground against the two Slytherins, now backed up by Rabastan, Barty and Evan.

Andromeda gulped, five against one. And no one could beat Bella in a duel. "Bella what's going on?" she called, hoping to diffuse the situation.

Her call went unheeded and the tension in the air increased as the small crowd that had gathered seemed to hold their breaths.

"Reverse the hex, Black." Tonks demanded, holding his wand steady. Andromeda could just barely make out a quaver of fear in his voice.

"Why? What are you going to do about it, mudblood?" Bella's sing-song voice echoed eerily down the corridor, and Andromeda recognised the dangerous glint in Bella's eyes.

Tonks unconsciously squared his shoulders, "As head boy…" he began, but was cut of by a bark of sneering laughter from Rodolphus.

"Head boy? It's a disgrace that filth like you is put before proper wizards with decent heritage."

"Jealous that I got head boy over you, are we Lestrange?"

Andromeda gasped, and she was not the only one. Rodolphus was looking murderous, as were the three younger boys behind him. Even Bella looked a little shocked.

"How dare you!" growled Rodolphus.

From over his shoulder Evan Rosier shifted position, "To hell with this." he muttered, raising his wand and shooting a quick hex at Tonks.

There was a second gasp from the crowd surrounding the fight, followed by some 'ooohs' of surprise and admiration as Tonks expertly blocked the curse. He refrained, however, from sending one back.

"Well?" he said, his tone more confident.

Bella snorted in disgust, "Lets not waste our time on such filth." she declared.

Rodolphus nodded in agreement but made no move to break his death glare with the head boy. Rabastan nudged his brother in the back and after a moment the Slytherin quintet stalked back to their compartment, Barty hurrying at the rear.

Andromeda let out a breath of air she didn't realise she was holding, 'That was close' she found herself inwardly thinking.

Ted muttered a hasty counter-curse at the Hufflepuff who had attracted Bella's wrath. "Don't worry about it." he assured the terrified boy, "They're always like that, it's nothing personal. If they harass you again come straight to me."

The boy nodded, looking slightly less scared and Ted sighed, returning to where Andi and Becky stood, the rest of their compartment peering out of the open door behind them.

"That was amazing, mate!" a seventh year Ravenclaw exclaimed raising his hand in a high-five as the group settled themselves back into their seats.

Ted looked a little sheepish, "It was nothing, I was just doing what I had to."

"Well, yeah, but still! Bellatrix Black! Everyone knows she's mental and…" the boy trailed off as he realised that Andromeda was sitting in the compartment,

Andi hurriedly stared at the book she had already picked up and pretended to be too engrossed in it to have heard the boy's words. Someone else quickly shifted the topic of conversation onto something less controversial and she breathed a mental sigh of relief, but she could still feel Ted's concerned gaze boring into her.

A while later a hastily folded paper aeroplane flew unnoticed into her lap. Looking up she saw Becky grinning madly, "Open it!" her friend mouthed.

Andromeda smoothed out the piece of paper and couldn't help blushing as she read what Becky had written; 'I think Ted fancies you!!'

She looked across at her friend, "Don't be ridiculous" she hissed, trying not to distract the rest of the compartment from their Quidditch discussion.

Becky just gave her a knowing glance and leant forward to join in the Quidditch conversation.

Leaning back, Andromeda sighed and tried to concentrate on her book for the rest of the journey.


The ceiling of the Hogwart's great hall swirled with clouds as the windswept students made their way to their house tables and waited impatiently for the food to appear on their plates.

Rodolphus was still muttering mutinously to himself, as the Slytherin crowd made their way to the first table, bedecked in green; the words 'I could have taken him' coming up more than once.

Bella sighed in annoyance and took up a conversation with Evan about how likely it was that her mother, also Evan's aunt, would like the portrait that had been commissioned from one of the greatest wizarding artists alive today. Druella Black nee Rosier was universally known as a harsh and disapproving woman.

The chatter died away, as the headmaster, former transfiguration teacher Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome back," he called enthusiastically, "I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas, and that will continue into an enjoyable term here at Hogwarts. But now, I believe it is time for the feast! Do not hesitate to dig in!"

With that the headmaster sat down again and picked up his knife and fork decisively. Following his lead, the students were soon piling unbelievable amounts of food onto their plates and discussing their Christmases with friends.

"Muggle-loving fool." muttered Lucius, passing a silver platter of roast potatoes to Narcissa.

Narcissa nodded, eager to agree, "Who on earth decided that he would be appropriate for the position?"

Leaning over to take the potatoes off Narcissa, Rabastan answered, "Bagnold of course, yet another key member of the Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers society."

"It's a disgrace, naturally." Lucius continued smoothly, "But when He takes power, the right people will be in the right places in government. Then we shall see some changes."

"And I suppose we shall see you as minister, Malfoy?" interrupted Bella amusedly, turning away from Evan.

Lucius fixed her with an inscrutable gaze and took a dignified sip of his pumpkin juice. Bella opened her mouth to make another salacious comment but froze, mouth hanging open, letting out a little hiss of pain. Rodolphus stooped his mutterings and made a violent movement to grasp his left arm, while Lucius shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Well," Lucius said after a moment, "That was a lovely feast, but I think I shall get an early night. See you all tomorrow. Night Cissy."

He stood up and Bella and Rodolphus followed suit. "Yeah," Bella agreed, "An early night sounds like a good idea. Coming Roddy?"

A look of comprehension flittered across Rabastan and Evans faces. "Is it Him?" they hissed together, "Can we come too?" Barty let out a squeak that they took as another plea to tag along.

"Not until you're older." dismissed Rodolphus, "Besides, Stan, don't you think it'd be a little obvious if we all disappeared at once? Even Dumbledore might notice us all sneaking out."

Unable to find fault in this, Rabastan and the other boys slumped back in their seats. Narcissa looked up at the three nervously, "Be careful won't you?"

"Assuredly." nodded Lucius, "Now we must be off. Night all." He added raising his voice slightly.

The three seventh years exited the hall, largely unnoticed, although five at the Slytherin table watched them leave. Narcissa gazed concernedly after her boyfriend, while the three boys looked wistful and disappointed that they could not go too. Sitting inconspicuously at one end of the table, Andromeda watched them go with a worried frown marring her features. She had some idea of the secret activities her sister got up to, and wished she didn't. Ignorance was bliss after all.

She cast her gaze around the hall and started as she realised that Ted Tonks had been staring at her from the Ravenclaw table. She blushed slightly but sent him a shy grin. Ted grinned wider than she thought was possible then turned to his friends as the boy from the train nudged him in the side.

Andromeda spent the rest of the feast avoiding Becky's 'I knew it' maniac smile.


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