Andromeda awoke in a rather unfamiliar place. The lighting was much brighter than what she was accustomed to in her dormitory, artificially bright, and the room she was in smelled entirely too sterile. On top of that, she had a dull pain in the back of her head, the remnants of a headache and her side felt a little stiff.
As she pulled herself up, a move that was hard as her arm appeared to be getting over some injury, it all flooded back, the fight with Rosier and the whole ordeal. She didn't get much time to think back on it however, as just as she sat up a rather screech-like sound invaded her silence.
"Andromeda! You're awake!" Narcissa cheered from Andromeda's bedside, startling the poor girl.
"It would appear so." Andromeda agreed rubbing her head and trying to blink away the disorientation as she adjusted to a new position. "How long have I been out?"
"Oh um only a day or so, really." Narcissa said rather vaguely to Andromeda's chagrin.
Before, however, she could ask for a more specific time, a loud crash was heard followed by a pounding of footsteps and soon Bellatrix could be seen coming into view, looking absolutely livid.
"You were supposed to tell me when she woke up." Bellatrix barked at Narcissa, who was taking this whole conversation rather calmly.
"She only just did Bella; I was on my way to tell you just after I finished saying hello." Narcissa explained looking up at the older girl.
"Well. The point is moot now." Bellatrix snapped, turning her gaze onto Andromeda. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Andromeda asked in confusion, still trying to get used to being in the Hospital Wing.
"Do you know how bad it looks when you stand up for a bunch of Mudbloods? Do you know all the smoothing over I've had to do just to secure you a spot in the Knights? What the hell were you thinking Andromeda?" Bellatrix raged throwing her hands up.
"I was thinking I should do my job. I wasn't standing up for mug-Mudbloods; I was taking care of some rule breakers." Andromeda answered a tad frightened of her sister's sudden anger.
"That's not what it looked like. That's not what Evan Rosier said. Your whole membership is hanging on a thread because of the stunt you pulled." She snapped glaring at Andromeda. "Your actions don't only affect you, they affect our whole family."
"Well I'm sorry bu-." Andromeda tried to explain before Bellatrix cut her off once again.
"And another thing, don't think I haven't been catching your slip ups. Calling them muggle-borns instead of mudbloods makes it seem as though you are sympathetic to them. And there's no way I can explain away that little anomaly." Bellatrix bit, clearly deciding this was the time to let out all of her rage onto Andromeda.
"Excuse me Ms. Black." A voice broke in, making all three of the sisters turn their attention to Madame Renfield. "The eldest Ms. Black, that is. I'm going to have to ask you to leave as my patient is still in a rather delicate position and you yelling at her will certainly not help."
Bellatrix glared at Madame Renfield for a few moments, trying to intimidate her into letting her stay, but when it came to her patient's health Madame Renfield was anything but a pushover. Reluctantly Bellatrix heaved an angry sigh and shot one last glare at the room in general.
"I'm not done." She told Andromeda as her parting words before storming out of the room.
"How long exactly have I been out?" Andromeda asked aloud trying to figure out what had just happened.
"Andromeda dearie, it's Friday." Madame Renfield explained tentatively. "You've been out about two days. You had a concussion and a rather serious injury in your side. I gave you a sleeping potion after I dealt with the concussion to allow you to heal properly. Whenever you're feeling up to it, I'll have to ask you what exactly happened. For the report, you know."
"Oh, well I'm feeling up to it now." Andromeda replied sitting up a bit more and blinking away the slight dizziness that overcame her. "How much longer do I have to stay here?"
"Oh, well I'd like to keep you for a few more hours, run a few last tests, make sure everything is all right. I can probably let you out by dinner if you're completely well again." Madame Renfield answered smiling. "Let me go get the forms out of my office and then I'll be back."
Andromeda nodded and watched the woman waddle off towards her office, reveling in the silence for a few seconds before her sister's blonde head entered her view, looking at her expectantly.
"Well?" She prodded, eyes wide, seeming to stare into Andromeda's soul.
"Well what?" Andromeda asked confused and a little unnerved by the look her sister was giving her.
"Well what! You're in the Hospital Wing and all you can say is 'well what?' What happened!?" Narcissa prodded staring at her sister in disbelief.
"You can't wait the ten seconds for me to fill Madame Renfield in for the final report?" Andromeda asked raising an eyebrow at her sister's impatience.
Narcissa pouted for a few seconds, but seeing she wasn't going to get a premature answer from her sister sat back down in her seat and sulked until Madame Renfield made a reappearance, this time with a clipboard. Madame Renfield stopped at the foot of the bed, smiling and poised a quill over the clipboard, presumably holding the reports.
"All right." She said smiling. "Tell me what happened."
It was a bit after lunch time and Andromeda's lunch sat on her bed, nearly forgotten as she chatted with her visitor. She had been eating with fervor before, having found herself starving but upon her friend's arrival with her homework she had practically forgotten her hunger.
"Thanks for bringing me my homework. I've been positively bored all morning. There's nothing to do in here but count the tiling on the floor." Andromeda remarked smiling appreciatively at her friend.
"And how many was that?" Xenophilius asked raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not entirely sure; I would get to about one hundred and then lose count." Andromeda admitted with a shrug. "You're here now though! So you can entertain me!"
"That's a lot of pressure on one wizard." Xenophilius joked smiling at Andromeda. "I'm a little afraid if I don't entertain you successfully then you'll hex me…"
"Oh no, I'm sure you will be sufficient. I'm not saying I won't hex you if I get bored though." Andromeda quipped smirking at Xenophilius.
"All right, all right. Let's see what can you do in a Hospital Wing?" Xenophilius asked aloud, more to himself than to her.
Andromeda waited as Xenophilius' eyes glanced all around the room, clearly seeking out some form of entertainment in the Hospital Wing which was, admittedly, hard to come by. Finally his eyes glanced at the window and I smile broke out upon his face.
"Well." He said a hint of amusement in his voice. "We could always look at the clouds."
For a second Andromeda thought he was joking, she had never been one for cloud gazing, but she quickly understood that he was serious and she figured that since she didn't have many other choices besides stare at some clouds or die of boredom then she could stare at some clouds.
"All right then." She agreed, getting up and heading towards the window as Xenophilius followed behind her.
Opening the window, she peered up at the sky, moving over a bit so Xenophilius could get a good look at the clouds as well.
"That one looks like a rabbit." Andromeda observed, unsure of herself.
"Boring." Xenophilius stated, pointing to another grouping of clouds nearby the 'rabbit'. "That one looks like a mooncalf."
"Oh? A mooncalf really?" Andromeda asked in disbelief glancing at the cloud and noting with a bit of annoyance that it did in fact look like a mooncalf "I'll give you that one…"
Annoyed that her finding had been deemed boring Andromeda searched for a much more interesting cloud, pointing out some clouds offhandly in her search. The problem was, she surmised, that it was nearly impossible to find a good cloud from the awkward angle from the window.
Twirling a piece of hair she decided the only way that she could get a better view of the clouds and therefore trump Xenophilius' offer was to get a better angle. Pushing the window open further Andromeda pulled herself up on the windowsill and leaned precariously out, grasping the frame as she hung out of the window.
"Oh! This one looks like a giant destroying a village!" Andromeda yelled in excitement to an amused Xenophilius, who poked his head out of the window himself.
"You have an interesting imagination there Andromeda." He joked, trying to see the cloud that she was talking about. "Which one is it?"
"What is going on here?" Madame Renfield shrilled behind them. "Are you trying to escape via the windows?"
"No!" Andromeda answered, partially startled by the sudden reappearance of Madame Renfield. "We were simply gazing at clouds."
"I'm to believe, that the daughter of the 'esteemed House of Black' is half-hanging out a window gazing at clouds?" Madame Renfield declared almost mockingly as Andromeda realized it did sound rather foolish.
"Well…" She stuttered looking for something to secure her innocence, she certainly hadn't been trying to escape and she didn't much like it being implied such. "I am."
"I'm sure." Madame Renfield bit, walking forward and nudging Xenophilius out of the way. "Come along, I shall not have my patients dangling out of windows."
Madame Renfield grasped Andromeda and tugged her safely inside, nudging her out of the way when she was once again touching the floor. Madame Renfield grasped the window and pulled it closed shaking her head and clucking her tongue at Andromeda and Xenophilius all the while. Once the window was safely secured again she turned to the two and sent them a fierce glower.
"You, boy. Visiting hours are over." She stated with a dismissing wave of her hand, believing Xenophilius to be a cohort in Andromeda's escape. "Ms. Black. Back to your bed, you are getting released tonight there's no reason for this tomfoolery."
"I wasn't trying to escape though!" Andromeda declared one last time as Madame Renfield led her to her bed.
Once Andromeda was properly situated, tucked back into her bed with the work Xenophilius had brought so she could catch up on her studies Madame Renfield walked back to her office shaking her head and clucking her tongue.
"Trying to escape out the window, why I've never heard of such a ludicrous and idiotic thing!"
"Now then deary, drink this for the next week, it should keep out any bacteria in the cuts." Madame Renfield said handing Andromeda a bottle. "About a tablespoon twice a day until it's gone."
"Thank you." Andromeda replied smiling, dressed in her own clothing and very glad to be getting out of the Hospital Wing.
"Ah, it's only my job, dear." Madame Renfield stated with a wave of her hand. "Now see, you're getting out it was silly to try and escape, wasn't it? I'm not all bad."
"I wasn't…" Andromeda began to defend herself before deciding it just wasn't worth it.
Madame Renfield patted her hand, more to soothe than to proclaim her innocence and turned to walk away before pausing, as if something had struck her.
"Oh one last thing before you go." She said to a disgruntled Andromeda who really wanted to leave. "When the students who were under attack came in, it seemed they'd already been tended to. Do you know who had tried to heal them?"
"Oh." Andromeda said her face turning a slight shade of pink in embarrassment. "That was me."
"While you yourself were concussed?" Madame Renfield asked a little taken aback and perhaps with a hint of disbelief.
"Well, I didn't know that at the time I was just thinking that someone needed to make sure the student were okay in case it took a while to be found." Andromeda explained. "Besides, I didn't full on heal their bones; I didn't want to risk it. I just did some temporary fixes, bandaged them up and all that to hold them over."
Madame Renfield paused and glanced Andromeda over for a few seconds, as if looking at her for the first time, assessing her.
"Where did you learn those spells?" She asked finally after Andromeda had felt like she'd been thoroughly dissected. "I mean, those aren't common spells you learn in school, really."
"I kind of had a thing for healing a few years back. Fancied myself a Healer even, studied and learned nearly ever spell and potion I could." Andromeda explained turning her slight shade of pink again and glancing at her feet. "I stopped once I realized that being a Healer… wasn't going to happen."
"Oh." Madame Renfield stated glancing Andromeda over one last time as Andromeda just wished she could leave and never see this woman again. "Well, that's all, you're free to go. Try to take it easy please."
Andromeda nodded her thanks and rushed out of the Hospital Wing as fast as being a Black who never rushed anywhere allowed. It wasn't often she discussed her life plan before she had been told she wouldn't have a life, at least not one she was particularly fond of, and she certainly didn't like discussing it with Madame Renfield, a woman who whole-heartedly believed that she had been trying to escape out the Hospital Wing window.
However, back at the Hospital Wing Madame Renfield was tidying up Andromeda's borrowed bed, mulling over the events that had transpired. With a flick of her wand to make the bed and a shrug she headed back to her office.
"Well, what a waste."
Andromeda was extraordinarily happy to find herself back in her beautiful dorm room, staring out the encompassing window to the underwater life. She watched as a school of fish swam by, a rather tame thing to see given that the window showed the contents of the Black Lake. Soon she'd have to busy herself getting ready for the day.
Wishing to avoid all the gossip that surely had once again found her as the topic, Andromeda had hurried back to her dorm room and finished up her school work from the day or two she had been out. When she'd finished, it took a while since they were NEWT level classes and therefore NEWT level work, she'd found herself rather sleepy and had decided to turn in early.
Waking up she had taken a moment to appreciate the familiar surrounding that didn't feel even a smidge sterile and overtly crisp. Then she set about preparing for the day. It was Saturday, but not just any Saturday, it was, as she'd been informed by her roommates this morning, the second Quidditch Match of the year.
Andromeda twiddled her hair, recalling the first Quidditch Match of the year which hadn't ended well at all. At least, not well for Slytherin. Gryffindor had devastated the rather lackluster Slytherin team, which wasn't much of a surprise when one considered the fact that the team comprised of such gems like Rockwood and Malfoy, but perhaps Andromeda was biased.
Whatever the reason, Andromeda had decided to forget the horrible loss to the best of her ability and move on with her life, which had been rather easy considering that the Slytherin loss had been between Persimmon's idiocy and Evan Rosier's attack. In fact, had it not been the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw match today the Quidditch match probably wouldn't have crossed her mind.
On top of the previous match Andromeda didn't care who beat whom in the match today. It was Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw and as she was neither a Hufflepuff nor a Ravenclaw she didn't have any extreme house loyalty one way or the other. She supposed she would root for Ravenclaw, if only because she had nearly been a Ravenclaw herself and because Hufflepuffs were complete duffers.
If she was being completely honest, the only reason why she was even bothering to go to the match at all was because she liked to watch Quidditch, the game interested her, and more so she enjoyed seeing the Quidditch players in their uniforms. The uniform was one of the reasons why she had always been so fond of Kevin Broadmoor, that and he did his job not like the members of the Slytherin Quidditch team.
Andromeda sighed and turned away from the window where fish had ceased to swim by. She ought to get dressed and head down to breakfast and the impending gossip. She'd have to face it sometime. With one last longing glance at the window Andromeda got up and headed towards her trunk.
Andromeda was in the middle of breakfast, toast with jam and a side of oatmeal, when Bellatrix came storming in. Andromeda had decided to seat herself as far away from the other Slytherins as possible, which hadn't been too hard as she had been met with mixed reactions. Half the table were worried about her safety, making sure she was all right, while the other half was sending her unsure looks, hidden behind veiled compassion, but she could tell they were questioning her allegiance.
The Slytherins, however, were too afraid of the Black name to make their doubts known, Bellatrix, on the other hand, a Black herself had no qualms of walking up to Andromeda as she blissfully enjoyed her oatmeal and toast and glare down at her.
"I need to talk to you." She hissed in an undertone, trying to keep the image of a cool detached Black. "We didn't finish our conversation before."
Confused about what conversation, Andromeda turned to address her questions only to have her wrist grabbed harshly by Bellatrix. Andromeda found herself hoisted out of her seat and dragged from the Great Hall to a little alcove nearby where there wouldn't be as much of a disturbance.
Finally once they were obscured from the rest of the school's view Bellatrix let go of her wrist, Andromeda was sure it would bruise, and didn't allow Andromeda to have a moment of relief as she stepped dangerously close.
"What do you think you were doing?" Bellatrix demanded pinning Andromeda into the corner.
"Well, I was eating breakfast; Madame Renfield said I should eat-." Andromeda stated perhaps a little sassily, but she didn't appreciate being manhandled.
"You know what I mean." Bellatrix bit glaring her down in an attempt to intimidate. "You jeopardized our whole family with your little stunt. Not to mention that you're on thin ice now and may not be able to get into the Knights."
"How did I-?" Andromeda began to ask before Bellatrix cut her off angrily.
"No. I'm talking you're listening." Bellatrix warned angrily. "I'm going to try to smooth things over for you this Wednesday at the meeting but no more of your 'Pro-Mudblood' stunts. In fact, no more even saying muggle-born. I'm beginning to question your allegiance myself Andy so you better start acting like a good little pureblood. Got it?"
Andromeda nodded meekly, eyes wide as Bellatrix loomed ominously over her, her hand grasping her wand lightly as if she were about to draw it on Andromeda to teach her a proper lesson.
"Everything all right?" A voice interjected just as Bellatrix opened her mouth to state another thinly veiled threat.
"Don't worry about it Mudblood." Bellatrix spat glaring at whoever had thought to interrupt the lecture. "Just having a little chat."
"Well, I don't know about you 'high society' folks but when I'm having a little chat with someone, especially my sister, it doesn't look quite so… lethal." The person joked, and Andromeda realized rather belatedly that said voice belonged to Ted Tonks.
For a second Andromeda watched Bellatrix send her heated glare to Tonks, trying to intimidate him to back off, but rather stupidly Tonks stood there smiling broadly at them like it was a big joke.
"Whatever. We're done here." Bellatrix stated pushing herself away from Andromeda, shooting one final warning glare in her direction. "Andromeda."
Andromeda breathed the fresh air for a bit before walking out of the alcove, however it seemed Tonks felt some weird need to hang around and be sure she was all right. She noticed absentmindedly that he was wearing a Quidditch uniform which left her rather confused.
"Are you all right?" He asked stepping forward to meet her as she exited the alcove.
"I'm fine." Andromeda stated roughly, and then because she felt slightly bad being so rude to someone who was just looking out for her she said a little softer, "Thanks."
"Don't worry about it, just doing my duty as a prefect." Tonks stated making it clear to Andromeda that it was just his duty. "If you're all right I have to go…"
"Quidditch?" She asked almost out of the blue making Tonks blink in surprise.
"What?" He replied trying to jump onto this new train of thought.
"Quidditch." She said gesturing to his uniform. "You play Quidditch."
"Yes. In fact I have to go play Quidditch right now…" He answered shooting her a concerned look. "Are you sure you're all right? Not in shock or anything?"
"What? No. No. I'm fine." She assured. "I was just. I didn't know you played Quidditch."
Tonks blinked in confusion staring at Andromeda who was glancing at his Quidditch uniform as if it were some big piece to a puzzle.
"Andromeda?" Narcissa interrupted looking up at her older sister. "What are you doing?"
"I'm… Going to the Quidditch match, you?" Andromeda answered, snapping out of her thoughts.
Freed from her stare Tonks took this moment as his leave as he really did have to get going and bid a quiet good bye, speeding off to leave the sisters to speak.
"We're going too; I meant what were you doing with that guy?" Narcissa asked nudging her suggestively.
"What? What guy?" Andromeda asked turning to look. "I see no guy."
"What? The guy you were just… okay. Let's go watch Quidditch then." Narcissa attempted to explain before shaking her head and walking towards the doors, followed by her posse.
Andromeda followed mutely still bothered, maybe he played Quidditch but that didn't necessarily mean he was good at it.
Hufflepuff was up seventy to thirty and Andromeda was in distress. At first she had half-heartedly wanted Ravenclaw to win but now she needed them to win. For no other reason than the fact that she was rooting for them and she didn't root for losers, particularly not losers who could not even get a quaffle through a hoop.
Next to her Narcissa and her group of fourth year friends were chatting blissfully admiring how good some of the players were. They weren't rooting for any particular team, they only cared about Slytherin and then only due to house pride, they weren't too into Quidditch and in fact really only went to the matches as a social event.
"Oh he's rather good… number fifteen." Solace Parkinson observed gesturing as a player flew by with Quaffle in hand.
"Oh yes he's gotten a fair few in hasn't he?" Narcissa agreed smiling before doubting slightly and turning to Andromeda. "Hasn't he?"
"Hasn't who?" Andromeda asked half paying attention as she hoped for the Ravenclaws beater to smash into whichever Hufflepuff chaser was scoring.
"Number fifteen. The boy with the Quaffle." Narcissa explained. "He's good isn't he?"
"The bloke who's been scoring all the points and beating Ravenclaw?" Andromeda clarified to Narcissa's nodding friends. "Yeah he's pretty go…"
Andromeda blinked as she realized just who number fifteen was. If he was going to play Quidditch then he wasn't allowed to be good. Certainly not better than the Slytherin purebloods that had played last match and failed miserably. That didn't make sense. How could a muggleborn be better than purebloods when that was inherently against everything she'd learned.
Even if she ignored all that, she respected Quidditch players. That is to say, she appreciated those who were good at it because while she loved Quidditch to death she herself was completely awful on a broom. The main problem lay hence, she wasn't supposed to respect him because he was a muggleborn, but he was rather good at Quidditch so how could she not respect him? It almost made him human and that scared her.
It was best not to think like that though, that's what had stopped her in her tracks when she'd seen her Quidditch uniform and if she could just keep ignoring it…
"No. Number fifteen is awful." Andromeda said resolutely, more to herself than to the group of fourth years who stared at her confused.
If she said it enough she could forget the truth and believe it.
With Monday came classes and inevitably an emergency prefects meeting which had been called in order to settle the matters of the recent attack. Andromeda wasn't looking forward to it. She didn't much like rehashing the events again or dealing with the other people who probably had their own opinions of her in light of recent events.
However, as a prefect she didn't have much choice and so Monday evening she found herself sitting in the prefects meeting squished between Penelope Penrose and Margareta Davies. Both girls in her opinion were wearing far too much perfume, and Andromeda tried to focus through the choking haze of perfume that surrounded her.
"Now then." Molly Prewett began, clearing her throat to start the meeting. "I'd like to start first by apologizing for any inconvenience this meeting may have caused, but Arthur and I decided it was necessary due to recent events. I'm sure you all know what happened, so there's no need to go through it again, but due to these events we've decided to revamp some patrolling rules."
"We've decided that we will no longer have one student patrolling on their own. That is to say if you can't make it to your patrol, please tell us and we will find a replacement to fill in. Also, if you find that your partner hasn't shown up to patrols please locate either Molly or I or find a teacher and we will patrol with you or find someone who will." Arthur explained smiling at each person as he spoke. "We don't want anyone patrolling on their own anymore. Any questions?"
As Arthur spoke Travers shot Andromeda a look as if to ask her what they would do now, and Andromeda ignored him. She wasn't entirely surprised, and luckily she only had one more patrol with Travers. She couldn't care less if he couldn't make it to the Knights meeting or not because of the newly instated rules.
If she was being honest, she was supportive of this new rule, although if Travers had been there that night she didn't think it would have helped much, he probably would have helped Rosier and even tried to stop her from helping the muggle-borns. In a normal situation, however, she could see where it was better to have two people rather than one patrolling.
"If there are no questions," Molly Prewett said with a smile, "I'd like to remind you all that patrol partners will be switching next week as well as patrol days, so please be sure to check your rotary."
Molly and Arthur shared a look, checking the other had nothing else to say and then dismissed the prefects. Andromeda got up and headed out of the room in order to get some fresh air, noting with a bit of despair as she entered the fresh air of the corridor that the smell of the two girls' perfume clung to her clothes.
"Andromeda." A voice called making Andromeda stop in her retreat and turn around. "Can we talk for a minute?"
Unfortunately for Andromeda, it was Travers.
"Sure." She answered, a tad disgruntled as she followed him into an emptier part of the corridor.
"That's a, er, nice smell you're wearing there?" Travers said once they had stopped.
"Thanks I call it Eau de Margareta and Penelope." Andromeda bit, glaring at him. "What do you need?"
"I was just wondering if you had any idea about what we could do Wednesday? Since I have the Knights meeting but we have to say if we can't patrol now…" Travers answered awkwardly making Andromeda want to roll her eyes.
"Why don't you just skive class that whole day and fake sick?" She suggested shortly, annoyed that she had to solve this boy's dilemma for them. "Don't show up for patrols and I'll tell Prewett that I hadn't seen you in class all day and think you might be ill."
Travers seemed to mull this over for a bit, weighing the pros and cons, before smiling and nodding.
"Brilliant! Thanks so much Andromeda, I owe you!" Travers declared before walking off, presumably in the direction of Gryffindor tower.
Andromeda rolled her eyes and headed towards the Slytherin common room, wishing not for the first time that she hadn't been patrolling the night of the muggle-born attacks.
On Wednesday Andromeda waited exactly five minutes at the spot she was supposed to meet Travers, to make it seem believable, before she went to find Molly Prewett. It wasn't that hard, as she had assumed she was in the library due to the overload of work that seventh year NEWT classes tended to bring.
"Excuse me?" Andromeda asked when she located the table Molly Prewett was at.
Molly looked up and confusion passed over her face, before she put down her quill.
"Andromeda? Shouldn't you be patrolling?" She asked glancing around at her friends that were sitting with her.
"Yes, that's why I'm here. Travers didn't show up for patrol." Andromeda answered, feeling a little bad to be interrupting the girl's important studying. "I noticed he wasn't in our classes today... I think he might be ill…"
"Why am I not surprised?" Molly asked herself with a sigh as if she had been expecting Travers not to show up. "All right, I'll patrol with you. Will you guys bring my books up when you go back to the common room?"
Molly's friends agreed and she got up and headed towards the library exit with Andromeda, a little annoyed at being disrupted.
"So…" Molly began awkwardly as they started off on the rounds not sure what to say to the other girl. "You all right?"
"Yes?" Andromeda answered in confusion, unsure why she would not be 'all right'. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Oh, I just meant… after Wednesday." Molly explained biting her lip. "I heard you got hit with a few curses…"
"I did, I'm fine now though." Andromeda assured, and then remembering her pleasantries. "Thank you for asking."
"Yeah well.. Look can I ask you something? Or a few things?" Molly blurted out, surprising Andromeda.
"I suppose, yes." Andromeda agreed curiously.
"Why'd you do it?" Molly questioned to Andromeda's further confusion. "I mean, why did you step in and help those muggle-borns? That wasn't really a Black thing to do…"
"It was my duty as a prefect." Andromeda clarified easily, it had, after all, been the story she had been telling everyone.
"No, but there's more than that. If, say, Rockwood had been the one to walk into the room I doubt he would have done anything." Molly continued.
"Well I'd say that's a little biased." Andromeda bit in defense of Rockwood. "Just because he's a Slytherin he has to aid in the torture of muggle-borns?"
"Are you going to try and stand here and tell me that Rockwood doesn't hate muggle-borns? Because I think we all know he does and would have gladly let that little escapade continue." Molly shot back with a roll of her eyes.
"…All right, I'll give you that." Andromeda conceded with a laugh.
"Right. So, knowing that. Why did you step in? It was clearly past prefect's duty because Rockwood's a prefect." Molly pointed out.
"I, I don't know honestly. It just didn't seem right, to team up on a bunch of little kids like that. I'm against bullying no matter who it is being bullied." Andromeda stated, confused herself as to why exactly she had helped those muggle-borns.
Molly sent her an analyzing look that struck Andromeda as quite familiar, and as she thought about it, it was rather similar to the look that Tonks sent her every now and then. Despite herself, she snapped.
"All right, why does everyone keep looking at me like that?!" She demanded abruptly, stopping to turn and glare hotly at Molly.
"Like what?" Molly asked confused by the sudden turn of events.
"Like, like I don't know! However, it's freaking me the hell out!" Andromeda declared flustered for words.
"Sorry?" Molly apologized furrowing her eyebrows. "I didn't even realize I was looking at you odd, honest."
"It's fine. It's just creepy. It feels like I'm being dissected or something." Andromeda explained, crossing her arms as if she had a sudden chill.
"Can I ask my other question then?" Molly pressed after a small silence. "I promise I won't look at you weird."
"Yes, all right." Andromeda agreed once again.
"Where is Travers really tonight?" Molly asked, to Andromeda's surprise. "I'd believe he was sick… had he not pulled the same excuse when questioned about his absence last week."
Andromeda mentally slapped her face with her hand. Had she known Travers had faked an illness she wouldn't have told him to use that excuse and she was a little surprised the boy was stupid enough to believe it would cover his stupid arse a second time around.
"Maybe it's a repeating bug?" Andromeda suggested without enough time to make up a better excuse. "I honestly have no idea where he is. Perhaps he's just skiving."
"It's a little weird to choose to skive after we just announced we didn't want anyone patrolling alone though. Especially considering his partner just was attacked." Molly pointed out, rubbing her chin as she mulled it over.
"I don't pretend to know what goes on in that boy's brain." Andromeda said with a shrug, hoping Molly would change the subject.
"I know you wouldn't have any clue about this at all." Molly began, quite sarcastically. "But you wouldn't happen to think maybe the Knights of Walpurgis meetings are on Wednesdays?"
"You're right, I have no idea." Andromeda agreed shortly, twirling her hair nervously. "Like I said before, I'm not involved with the Knights."
"Right. Well I've noticed on Wednesday nights when Arthur and I have been patrolling we've caught a few Slytherins roaming the halls…" Molly declared offhandly. "You don't think Travers would have joined the Knights do you?"
Andromeda snorted.
"A Gryffindor? I'm not even a part of the Knights and I know they wouldn't look too kindly on gryffindors." Andromeda remarked with a shake of her head.
"True… Although I've talked to Travers before, he doesn't seem the most pro-muggleborn." Molly mused aloud, staring off into the distance.
Andromeda shrugged noncommittally and glanced down at her watch.
"Oh, looks like my patrol is over." She declared relieved, Molly Prewett was smarter than she had thought. "See you later."
"Bye Andromeda." Molly chirped watching the girl speculatively as she walked away.
She was sure there was more to her than that.
Andromeda was in trouble. She couldn't sort her thoughts and if there was nothing more important to her then it was knowing exactly what it was she thought about what, and recently her beliefs she'd come to know her whole life were changing.
Unfortunately for her, she did not get a chance to sit down and sort out her own thoughts and beliefs, as she had patrols that evening, and it was the first night of her patrol with her new partner. She hoped they would be normal as she raced to the traditional meeting place from a tutoring session with a younger Slytherin, she hadn't had time to check her rotary all week.
She skidded to a halt with a look of disbelief plastered on her face. How was it she could be so unlucky? Of all the possible patrol partners she could have had, really only two since she knew she had Rockwood at the end of the year, it had to be him. This would not end well for her at all, she could tell.
"Shall we start?" She asked Tonks with an attempt at disdain.
She hoped if she could freeze him out and keep this whole ordeal as silent and uncomfortable as possible then maybe she could get through alive, because honestly there was no one she wanted to be walking around with less at the moment than Ted Tonks.
He nodded curtly and they headed off in complete silence, to Andromeda's relief. It seemed he didn't want to talk to her either and she was perfectly all right with that. However, about halfway through their patrol, her plan backfired.
The silence was killing her. Her whole life had been this awkward uncomfortable silence, and she couldn't handle it anymore, and for once in her life she could actually do something to stop it.
Andromeda took a deep breath and hoped that she didn't screw herself over too much by going down this road.
"If you start with Phineas Nigellus' line, which would be easiest since if you're going past him we're talking whole other centuries, then there are four." She stated, glancing hopefully at Tonks out of the corner of her eye.
"What?" He asked snapping up and staring at her in disbelief.
"You wanted to know who had been purged from the family line didn't you?" Andromeda asked, trying not to snap at his confused face. "Last time we talk, or I suppose three times ago if you count that corridor incident and the whole Xenophilius thing which I choose to ignore."
"Oh. Right. I remember that. Yes." Tonks rushed out with a scratch of his head as it came back to him, and then with a hint of disbelief. "You're going to tell me now?"
"Well, the silence is killing me, so I don't see any reason not to. At least it'll create some noise." Andromeda explained offhandly. "It's rather boring though."
"Boring is better than uncomfortable silence." Tonks suggested with a shrug.
"True. So, from Phineas Nigellus, which is all I remember up to anyways, there are four." Andromeda stated clearing her throat. "First is his sister Isla Black who married some muggle-born Bob Hitchens. Which of course is strictly against pureblood rules."
"A stupid horribly racist rule, mind." Tonks pointed out blithely.
"Don't interrupt, if you're going to be impertinent then we can just going back to being quiet." Andromeda snapped, shooting him a glare. "So after her you go to the next generation, Phineas Nigellus' kid Phineas. Big blight on his father, he was, supported muggle-born rights straight out of Hogwarts. He didn't stay on the family tree long."
"How dare he." Tonks scoffed mockingly. "To think that muggle-born might be people."
Andromeda shot him a deathly glare, which he cocked a smile at.
"I'm agreeing with you." He defended jokingly. "I personally can't stand muggle-borns. Have you ever hung around me I'm downright dreadful."
"One more strike." Andromeda warned, gritting her teeth in an attempt to fight back a laugh, as obnoxious as he was he was funny. "Then there's Marius Black who'd be my Great Uncle. Marius, to his misfortune and the family's embarrassment, was a squib. Poor fellow was booted out of the house at the age of eleven."
"Squib?" Tonks asked.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me! Can't you shut up for five seconds?" Andromeda cried in disbelief and annoyance.
"Well, no not really, I have a chronic talking problem, but I really don't know what a squib is." Tonks stated as Andromeda sent him a suspicious look. "Honest, I don't. Muggle-born, remember? We don't have squibs, and it's not something we've covered in class."
"A squib is basically the reverse of a muggle-born." Andromeda explained after debating whether to believe him or not for a few seconds. "They're someone from a magical family who possesses no magical powers. As you can imagine they aren't looked very kindly on in wizarding society."
"Oh. That's awful." Tonks observed, for once the smile dropping from his face. "What happened to him then, that Marius fellow from your family? You said he got kicked out of the family when he was eleven, why?"
"Well, eleven is the age your Hogwarts letter comes, isn't it? If your child hasn't exhibited any magical powers by then, it's probably not happening." Andromeda explained with a shrug. "As to what happened to Marius… I imagine he got sent to a muggle orphanage or something, if my great grandparents were feeling kind, which is doubtful. I never met my Great Grandfather Cygnus, but my Great Grandmother Violetta was a piece of work. I don't imagine he even lived…"
"What?" Tonks exclaimed in shock. "You're saying they might have killed him for being a squib? That's ridiculous, that is so messed up, I mean, their own child?"
"It was a different time, although nowadays it isn't necessarily unheard of." Andromeda said with a bitter laugh. "Being a squib is possibly the worst possible thing in a wizarding family. Especially one like mine. If anyone found out it could be a risk to our name so often they just get…disposed of quietly. It's no big deal honestly."
Tonks guffawed and stopped to stare at her for a few seconds.
"What?" Andromeda asked in confusion.
"That's just so backwards. You actually believe that?" Tonks proclaimed in outrage.
"Wha-Of course. That's just the way it is. It's how it's always been." Andromeda stated, more to herself to him, because it did sound a tad wrong. "Regardless there's nothing we can do about it. Pure blood families don't change, Tonks, they just don't. We have certain traditions we'll always follow and they'll always believe that they're right in following them."
Tonks stuttered angrily for a few seconds before his face lit up, as if something had just occurred to him, he smiled broadly at her.
"You're freaking me out…" Andromeda said unnerved, taking a step back.
"You said 'they'. Why did you say they?" Ted asked in poorly hidden excitement. "You had been saying 'we' but then you changed to 'they'."
"What? No. No I didn't." Andromeda defended, to her dismay realizing she had said 'they'.
Tonks shot her a skeptical look as Andromeda twiddled her hair nervously, this was exactly the dangerous territory she had not wanted to go into.
"How long do you think you can keep lying to yourself anyways?" Tonks questioned nonchalantly causing Andromeda to falter.
After a bit of a pause where Andromeda searched for anyway to avoid the question altogether she finally turned to Ted, twiddling with a section of hair.
"I have to keep lying to myself, because otherwise I will be completely and utterly screwed." She finally choked out, tugging on her hair. "You don't understand what it's like. If I stop believing for one second the things I've been taught since I was in the womb, I'm out of the family forever. I can't do that. It's all I have, so that's what we do. We lie to ourselves to preserve what we want most.
"It's hard though. Lying to yourself when the truth is staring you so hard in the face. It's been bothering me for weeks now, and… and it's all your fault." Andromeda stuttered out staring accusingly at Tonks.
"My fault? How is it my fault?" Tonks asked in shock.
"It's your fault because you're good at Quidditch!" Andromeda declared hotly.
"You're going to have to give me more here…"
"You had to be good at Quidditch. Quidditch is something I respect. I love Quidditch. However, I'm absolute rubbish at it, so how can a muggle-born be better at Quidditch than I am when we're supposed to be inherently better than you lot because we are born of magic. It doesn't make sense." Andromeda explained, trying to piece her thoughts together. "Flying a broom is a magical ability so how can someone like you be better at it than me, or even some of the purebloods on the Quidditch teams? It goes against everything I've ever learned."
"That's because everything you've been taught makes no sense." Tonks said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, which Andromeda normally would have shrugged off but in the moment it was the least of her worries. "It was bound to happen sometime, wasn't it?"
"It never happened to Bellatrix, or Rookwood. They follow it blindly. I don't think they've ever had a single doubt. So why do I have to? Why do I have to be the one who realizes that maybe something isn't right here?" Andromeda replied, tugging restlessly on her uniform. "It's, it's not fair."
"Because, Andromeda. Haven't you ever thought for one second, realized that you are incredibly and insanely different from them?" Tonks asked her, turning to face her head on.
"Different? How am I different? We had the same upbringing, same parent in Bellatrix's case… So how am I any different?" Andromeda questioned staring at Tonks for an answer she couldn't seem to grasp.
However, for Andromeda's misfortune Tonks had taken the time between her response to check his watch and he held it up for her to see.
"Patrols over." He said with a sort of sad smile, a smile full of promises Andromeda couldn't even begin to comprehend. "I told my friend I'd help with homework once my patrol was over. I really have to go, sorry."
Andromeda watched as Tonks walked off, to go find some mysterious friend and answer all of her questions, while leaving Andromeda with so many more. As Andromeda stood there, staring at the spot where he had been standing not moments ago she tried to solve the riddle he had proposed her.
"Yes, but how am I any different?"