"Rudolphus told me that he thinks Mum and Father think that we are a good match," Bella was saying as Dromeda sat down across from them at breakfast.

The hall was still pretty empty, as it was still fairly early in the morning.

Dromeda dumped her bag onto the seat beside her and took in all the food on the table. She was so hungry.

Bella looked over at her, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. "Being held up by Hufflepuffs again?"

Dromeda rolled her eyes at her sister. "Bells, drop it please? I was in the Hospital Wing, getting my arm taken care of. The bloody idiot dis-located it and I needed it put back in place. I'm not that late am I?" she said, glancing around at the still somewhat empty hall.

She saw Teddy at his table, high-fiving some of his friends, and laughing. She smiled a little before dropping her gaze back down to her two sisters.

Bella nodded some and took a bite of her muffin. "Does it feel any better now?"

"Yes, actually, it does." She smiled. "The swelling went down too. What were you saying about Rudolphus and you?"

Bellatrix grinned at her. "He was telling me last night that he had spoke with Father and that both he and Mum feel that we are an excellent match, a fine pureblood coupling."

"That's great Trixie!" Dromeda said, genuinely happy for Bella. She didn't much care for the brooding, dark-haired boy, but Bella seemed to be infatuated, and their parents approved, so why not be happy for her? There were few things in life that made Bella happy.

Cissy was almost zoning out at this point, her gaze lingering at the other end of the table. Dromeda followed her gaze and sighed. Lucius was leaning on the end of the table, idly chatting with a few friends. He was cool, no real smile on his thin lips, and he was tense, dignified in a manner. He was nothing like the care-free Hufflepuff that seemed to be trying to wiggle his way into Andromeda's life.

Cissy let out a soft groan and turned back to her sisters. Bella was looking at her. "Really, Cissy? You have to fancy Malfoy? Of all the blokes in this House that you are suited for, you have to pick him? He's a year ahead of you."

Cissy looked up at her. "Bells, you don't understand. He talks to me, I think he really does fancy me too...I think he's just nervous of what his friends would think if he actually asked me to go steady."

"You are 13, Cissy," Andromeda cooed softly, taking her sister's hand. "You don't really understand what 'going steady' is."

"Yes I do!" she cried out in defense. "It means courting! He wants to court me!" The two older girls jumped some at her outburst and looked at their younger sister.

"Darling, you're being delusional," Bellatrix tried to reason with her, going to hug her with her free arm..

"No, you are!" she yelled, grabbing her bag and storming out of the hall.

"Bloody hell..." Dromeda whispered in shock. "What do think is wrong with her?"

Bella sighed, dropping the rest of muffin onto her plate. "I really haven't the faintest. She has been so moody lately."

Dromeda nodded some. "Why do you think she fancies Malfoy so much? He doesn't play Quidditch, he isn't really all that intelligent..."

Bella laughed some. Dromeda smiled, she liked to make her sister laugh. "This is true," Bella acknowledged. "But she thinks he is a handsome bloke, and she's going to get her heart broken if she doesn't snap out of it." She picked up her bag and looked down at Dromeda as she stood up. "Are you coming?"

Dromeda nodded and brushed the crumbs off of her hands, taking final quick swig of her pumpkin juice and grabbing her back, hurrying after her sister.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Dromeda finally soke up. "So, d'you think that Rudolphus will ask you to marry him?"

Bella paused, mid-step, but only for a split second. The question had apparently caught her off guard. She resumed walking immediately, her stride long and confident, like always.

"I'm sure he will," Bella said softly.

Dromeda looked at her. "You don't want him to? I thought you were happy that Father said that you were a good match for one another..."

"I never..." Bella sighed and turned to look at her sister. "I never saw myself getting married. I mean, yes, I always knew I would, it's what we do, we marry to keep the bloodlines pure, and Rudolphus is a really good man, strong beliefs in pureblood, everything a good husband should be. But now it is coming very fast and it's not just thoughts anymore. I'm going to have to actually get married..."

Dromeda smiled a little at her elder sister. "Trixie...It won't be so bad. If you love him-"

"Love?" Bella cut across with a harsh laugh. "Please, Dromeda. Love doesn't exist. If we all married for love, what do you think our world would be like? There would be mudbloods and suibs running amuck everywhere. No one marries for love, or if they do, it's very rare. Do you think Father and Mother love each other?"

Dromeda blinked some. "I always thought they cared for one another, yes..."

"Well, yes, of course he cares about her. He's not going to kill her, or let anything terrible happen to her, or to us, for that matter, but I doubt he loves her. He would not be the man that he is if he married Mum for love. I would assume that they were friendly with each other in school, and their parents thought it a good match. They grew to be close to one another."

"So..." Dromeda said slowly, her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "You don't love Rudolphus?"

She laughed again. "Not in the very least. As I said, he's a good man, a good pureblood husband, and I am sure that he will take excellent care of me and whatever family we decide to have, but I don't love him. I care for him slightly more than I care for others outside of the family, but I do not love him."

With that, she turned the corner and strode off down the hall that led to her first class of the day. Dromeda sighed heavily and wandered down the hall towards her Herbology class.

The sun outside was bright, shining across the grounds of Hogwarts. It was now late October, and the school year was as boring as ever. Dromeda was swamped with homework and essays to write, but today was a Hogsmeade day, and she didn't really care about all of her responsibilities. She wanted out of that castle and to just wander mindlessly around the village for a few hours.

She pulled her cloak around her more as she walked along the path, alone. Cissy was sick and whining with a stomach ache and wanted to stay in bed. Bella had said something about wanting to spend the day alone with Rudolphus. This all led to the fact that Dromeda had to go to Hogsmeade alone.

She didn't keep many other friends other than her sisters. She was somewhat shy, and she didn't really like the people in her House. No one really knew how to laugh. It was all of this pureblood mania nonsense, and not near enough trying to have fun and be a kid.

She stepped to the side when she heard a group of rowdy boys coming down the path behind her. They were laughing and carrying on, singing loudly at the top of their lungs. They came barreling past her tripping and laughing hysterically, like someone had just told the best joke. One of the boys jumped on the rest of the group unexpectedly and the other three dropped him and that just caused them to laugh more.

Dromeda smiled some to herself. One would never see Slytherin boys having fun like that, and just enjoying life. They were more into being dignified.

"Bunch of bloody gits, don't you think?" said a voice from directly behind her.

Dromeda jumped and grabbed at her chest over her heart, spinning to face the owner of the voice.

Teddy.

She glanced around them. Aside from the boys, they were alone. She smiled some at him. "I wouldn't say gits. They look like they're having a good time."

He grinned at her, falling into step beside her. One of the boys from the group turned around to yell back for him. "Oi! Ted! You coming mate?"

He just held up a hand to wave them on, before dropping it back down and putting it into his pocket.

She fought back a small blush. Why was he blowing off his friends just to talk to her? "So they're you're bloody gits?" she asked, pulling her hair down to hide her face.

He chuckled some. "Yes, that they are. Jeff and Riker are on the Quidditch team, but Blaine, Kurt and I just hang out with them. We're all in the same year and we sort of became like a band of brothers in the dorms."
"It must be nice to have such good friends," she said, casting another quick, yet paranoid look around them.

He smiled down at her. "Why are you so on edge?"

She looked up at him, a bit startled by the question. "I...don't know what you mean."

"Ha!" he laughed. "You look over your shoulder every five seconds to make sure that your sisters, or anyone else from your House isn't around to see you talking to me."

She sighed. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, our Houses don't exactly make the best of mates..."

He pushed his hands deeper into the pockets of his dragon-hide leather jacket. "I didn't think you would be one to care about that sort of stuff."

She gave him a look. "What are you talking about? You don't even really know me. We talked twice at the beginning of the year, and again now. That's three times in roughly two or three months. You don't know me, nor the first thing about me."

"I'd like to," he told hersoftly.

She completely forgot that she was walking and she stumbled a bit, her eyes wide. "What?"

He smiled at her some. "I said that I'd like to. I'd like to get to know you better."

"Um...Why?" It was the only thing that she could think of to say to him.

He shrugged. "First of all is the fact that you didn't kill me that night on the platform. Second is the fact that you didn't hex or curse me in anyway. But you did put a spell on me that night." He was grinning now as he looked into her confusion-ridden face.

"I didn't! I didn't even know where my wand was that night!" she cried defensively.

He chuckled, taking her hand and stepping in front of her to stop her. Her eyes darted all over, trying to see if anyone at all could see them standing there like that, a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff, together.

"You put the spell of infatuation on me. I can't get you out of my head. There is something so real about you. You're not a snob, you're not obsessed with all of that pureblood bullshit that most of your lot is. But you're not easy either. You keep me at a distance always, but I don't want to be at that distance. I want to get to know you..."

She was horrified. "You are the daftest boy I have ever met..." she muttered, pulling her hand away from his, only to have it snatched back up by him almost immediately.

"I don't really care. I fancy you."

"What? No. No, you can't!"

"Why? Because of your family?"

"Yes! Do you know what they would do to you if they found out that you had eyes for me? They would kill you! And I don't mean figuratively!"

He sighed some. "Then at least agree to be friends, and let me see if I want to take that risk?"

"Friends? Why?"

He just gave her a look. "What do you mean 'why?'"

She sighed and sat on one of the boulders protruding from the side of the hill. "I'm two years younger than you. I'm in a completely different House than you, as I am a different class of wizard all together. And I'm a girl. What makes you think there will be anything in common between us to even have a friendship?"

He shrugged again, standing in front of her, the wind blowing his sandy hair around his eyes. "I just know that something about you keeps pulling me in deeper and deeper, and I feel like I have to know you, or I'll...or I'll die!" he said dramatically flopping into the grass at her feet.

She blinked, then smiled a bit before giggling. "Hush down, some one will hear you..."

He grinned up at her, playing with the grass, pulling it out and twisting it around his fingers. He looked so cool, lying there in the grass, aloof even, like nothing mattered. It made her smile.

"So we can be friends?" he asked hopefully, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Are you kidding me?" she said, standing up and brushing herself off. "Slytherins and Hufflepuffs are never seen together. There's no way I would ever want to be associated with the likes of you." She took a step towards him and winked at him with a small grin, her eyes saying otherwise. "In your dreams, Hufflepuff..."

She stepped around him to walk away, and he turned and watched her, grinning.

As she flipped the hood up on her cloak, she heard the boy behind mutter a triumphant, "YES!"

She just shook her head and smiled. This year was about to get a lot more interesting.