Chapter Four
Betrayal
Winter Term, 1968
The twelve students sat at the circular table, watching the concealed dishes with interest. Andromeda wondered whether any of the others were also new additions to the slug club this year. She briefly considered asking Bellatrix, who sat rigidly next to her, her back as straight as a chalk board. Bellatrix would have spotted any new faces from a mile off, but the uncomfortable silence of the room meant that there was no way of communicating with her without being overheard by the entire group. Thankfully, Professor Slughorn chose that moment to re-enter the potions classroom, which had been decorated in a way Andromeda could have never previously imagined. Every stain had disappeared, the floors were now carpeted in a luxurious shade of green, and glowing white candles floated around the table in a smooth circular motion.
Slughorn took his seat, and looked around at his newly formed group, beaming.
"Why so silent? After all, this is a party, not a wake!"
To the relief of the rest of the group, Goyle, a large boy with a permanently squinting expression, immediately spoke up. 'Honestly Sir, I think we were just too distracted by whatever's in those dishes in front of us. It smells fantastic."
This comment was successful in breaking the ice in the room, and the atmosphere instantly relaxed. Andromeda was not surprised, however, to feel Bellatrix tense beside her. She had heard enough stories about Goyle and the Slug Club to know that Bellatrix considered him a direct rival. Aside from also coming from a ancient magical bloodline, Goyle was also one of the brightest students in the school, and an incredible social operator. It was privately agreed amongst other students that he was likely to end up with a high-ranking position in the Ministry, if not the minister's post itself. Bellatrix, being very competitive, seethed at all of this, and only maintained a civil relationship with him for the sake of her own social position in the wizarding community.
Andromeda had to question why a sixteen year old girl even bothered to consider her 'position in the wizarding community'. They had their pure-blood heritage, they went to Hogwarts, wasn't that enough?
Slughorn had started asking several members about their summer holidays, and it didn't take long for Andromeda to establish that these must be last year's selection. She already knew Alice Selwyn, who was a friend of Narcissa. Eldred Worple, who sat to Alice's right, briefly summarised a family tour across the Scandinavian regions in search of mythical creatures. A dark-haired boy she didn't recognise, but learned was called Frank, recounted visiting his father's office in the Ministry. Barnabas Cuffe, who had just entered his seventh year, told Slughorn with great excitement about an internship at the Daily Prophet. From his casual name-dropping of half the paper's reporters, it became clear that Slughorn himself had been instrumental in securing said internship, and Cuffe was evidently keen to show his appreciation, as he prattled on for a good twenty-minutes. Fortunately, during this time, the rest of the food arrived at the table, and Andromeda contented herself with quietly eating steak and kidney pie.
Wendy Slinkhard was the only other girl from 4th Year, and Andromeda suspected that this was who Slughorn intended to 'friendship-match' her with. She already knew that his idea was fruitless; Wendy came from a group of Hufflepuff girls who kept very much to themselves, and tended to look on others with distaste. Andromeda had no intention whatsoever of attempting to befriend her.
Refocusing on the conversation, she became aware that Bellatrix and Goyle had entered some sort of showdown over who could provide the most gripping account of their summer escapades. It was worrying, to some extent, to see Bellatrix act in such an earnestly friendly manner.
"I tell you sir, the sheer amount of people in Black Manor over the summer was extraordinary. We had to bring in extra house-elves just to deal with day-to-day living. But the people we met -"
"- Oh I remember" Goyle cut in, "Our family visited one time. Though we spent the rest of the summer visiting relatives in Denmark, and the social crowd over there, let me tell you -"
"-Don't the Danish have a reputation for being especially plain? We had travellers from all over, and -"
"-Even met a Unicorn Breeder, one time. Absolutely loaded, naturally. He even told me that -"
And so it went on. And on. And on. At one point, Andromeda sighed a little too dramatically, accidentally catching the attention of a boy she vaguely knew: Ambrosius Flume, another Hufflepuff. His family were notorious for giving splendid dinner parties, which Andromeda occasionally had the luck to attend. She paused, worried whether he would take offence at her boredom, but to her luck he grinned, and mimed stabbing his wand in his eye. She stifled a snort, and spent the next few minutes staring steadfastly at her plate, willing her face muscles to return to their neutral position. At least she perhaps had one ally here.
"And to our newest additions!" Andromeda's head snapped up at the sound of Slughorn's voice. "I shan't give you the pressure of a personal introduction, so allow me to present you to the rest of our little club. This here, of course, is Andromeda Black – as if we could ever doubt your relation to your sister! And this fine young gentleman, you may already know, is Lucius Malfoy – naturally I've come across a lot of your family in my time; we really must trade stories..."
Andromeda stared at Malfoy. She suddenly didn't feel so judgemental of Bella's attitude towards Goyle, after all. Malfoy was also in her year, and somehow his presence took away from her accomplishment of getting a Slug Club invite. Most of the students were either invited to the Slug Club early, or not at all, and she had felt quite proud of her late breakthrough. The smug expression on Malfoy's face suggested a similar outlook, which irritated her. He wasn't even that good at school; he just came from an esteemed bloodline, and yes, was mildly attractive in the conventional sense. Not that she was interested in him. He was rude and obnoxious and just a little bit creepy. Anyone who dared comparing her to this smug-faced intruder was going to regret it for a long time.
However, Slughorn turned his attention to the twins. The twins were small and silent, and only in the first year. The Carrow twins, interestingly, had not spoken all evening, aside from the occasional monosyllabic response. They both sat attentively, but absolutely withdrawn from conversation. They didn't appear shy, or nervous, just unwilling to socialise. Even after some friendly questioning from Slughorn, they only gave away minimal details about themselves. Andromeda would be curious to see whether they were invited back next time. Actually, she also wondered whether she would be invited back next time. Realising that she had left most of the talking to Bellatrix, she resolved to use dessert as an opportunity to get her foot in the door.
It didn't take long for her to subtly move the conversation to Quidditch. Even if she wasn't good enough for a team position, she was still a reasonably competent player, and what's more, a passionate spectator. Luckily, the Blacks had attended several recent national championship games, which she discussed with avid interest. It helped, of course, that the players of the winning team often received an invite to Black Manor, and as such she was very well educated in Quidditch politics. After a rather fraught argument with Malfoy, who stupidly declared that the Holyhead Harpies didn't even deserve a place in the championship, Goyle switched the conversation back around to school matches.
"Did you hear about Dahlia getting dropped as Slytherin captain? Poor girl, she was crying for hours in the girl's dorms"
Andromeda slowly turned to stare at Bellatrix, whose face was so poker straight that she knew she was guilty.
"Really? What happened?" Wendy chimed in.
"Noone's really sure. She just walked in one day, and said she needed to be taken off her captaincy. Stuart's been pulled in to replace her."
Andromeda hoped that Bellatrix could feel the death glare she was sending her.
"That's so awful! But I can't understand why"
Bellatrix cut in "Well maybe she has other things to worry about. Schoolwork, or hobbies, or -"
"But Quidditch was her hobby. It was her life! I heard she wanted to play professionally -"
"It must have been a family issue then. It's rather rude of you, Wendy, to go nosing into other people's business like that"
This silenced Wendy instantly. The wrath of Bellatrix, even from over a dining table, was enough to force most people into submission.
"Lumos". Hidden under the bedsheets, Narcissa checked her pocket watch using the small light emitting from her wand. Alice should have come back to the dormitory some time ago, and she was desperate to hear a full run-down of the evening. Even if she was partially insulted that she still hadn't received an invite, she did still want to know how well her sisters had managed the get-together. Alice was the perfect mole, and she intended to get every detail out of her. But Alice was late. Confusingly late, as the club had been scheduled to finish at about ten. It was now nearly midnight.
Extinguishing the light, she curled up to her duvet, and positioned herself so that her head was still facing the door. Maybe Professor Slughorn had decided to keep the group a little later than usual. Even so, it was very strange for Alice to not be back before midnight, especially as Narcissa knew that she was taking a trip home to see her parents for the weekend. Initially, Narcissa could have waited for news of the Slug Club until tomorrow, but Alice's conspicuous absence sparked a invigorated sense of curiosity. She lay in wait, determined not to fall asleep until she came in.
The next morning, Narcissa awoke to the sound of the other third year girls getting ready for the day ahead. Alice was amongst them, chatting and laughing as if nothing strange had happened the previous night. Narcissa pushed herself into an upright position, hair sticking out in every direction. Alice, who had been tugging on a pair of socks, glanced round, and spotted her.
"Oh good, you're up! Tarquin knocked about half an hour ago; he wants to know if you want to go with him to Hogsmeade later."
At the sound of his name, Narcissa shuddered.
"What did you say to him?"
"I said that you were out, being very busy and important, but if I saw you I would pass the message along. Why are you giving me that expression?"
Narcissa realised she was grimacing, and tried to stop. "Sorry, it's not you, it's him."
Alice sprung up and flopped onto the bed beside her. "Is it really that bad?"
"It's worse." Narcissa accepted the hairbrush that Alice offered her, and continued, tugging the knots out of her hair. "I don't even know where to begin. He's so absolutely horrendous on every possible level. His hygiene is so awful – did I tell you, I managed to fix his spots, but he's so dirty that they came straight back! And then on a social level, urgh, he just doesn't comprehend that girls are, I don't know, real people who exist in real life. He just stares at me like I'm a marble statue, and doesn't seem to realise that conversation is usually expected in a relationship. I do all the legwork, Alice. Why am I doing all the legwork? I don't even like him!"
Alice laughed and handed over face cream and a mirror from her bedside cabinet. "Then why are you with him?"
"So I could have something that Bella and Andromeda don't have! I don't know what I was thinking, this has all been an awful mistake. But that reminds me, where were you last night? I waited up for ages, and you never came!"
"Cissy, you can't just get yourself a boyfriend to one-up your sisters. That's not how it works"
"Well it did! ….for about three days. Maybe two. One. Anyway, you didn't answer my question"
"Oh, right. I was at Slug Club. It went on till quite late."
"Really? Past midnight?"
"Oh.. was it really that long?"
"Yes! Why is he so keen to hang out with students? Doesn't Sluggy have any friends his own age?"
Alice laughed, but Narcissa could have sworn that a different expression had momentarily flickered across her face. Something that looked a little like... relief? But why would Alice be relived at anything? She must have imagined it. She climbed off the bed and padded barefoot over to her closet.
"Well you still need to tell me what happened. I'm really hoping for a story where Andromeda accidentally sets the room on fire, or something of similar entertainment level."
"Of course she didn't, stop wishing mean things on people."
"Fine, fine. Get dressed, you're going to spend the day helping me avoid Tarquin."
"I don't understand why you can't just dump -"
"-It's the principle, Alice! The principle!"
Alice rolled off the bed, landing with an undignified thump, and crawled over to her own closet. "Cissy, I'm trying to say this in the nicest way I can, but you really are an idiot."
A few days later, Andromeda found herself heading for the library again, her progress significantly hindered by her copy of 'Moste Potente Potions', which somehow seemed to be even heavier than before. Finally staggering through the entrance, she was immediately caught off-balance by a hand which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and was now tugging her towards the check-out desk. A now-familiar voice in her ear muttered 'Madame Crouch is still around. Look normal"
She turned and scowled at him. "Perfect" he chuckled, and took the book from her, placing it onto the desk and flicking through to the logging page. "Are you returning or renewing?"
This threw Andromeda for a moment; she had only really come back to the library because he had told her to, not because she had any particular intentions concerning the book.
"Uh... renew"
The boy reached for the stamp. "So it's a good book then? For your project, I mean. Of course it's a good book, otherwise I wouldn't have.." He trailed off, looking a bit lost, and stamped the form in place of ending his sentence.
"Actually, no..."
He glanced up. "What? … then why are you taking it out again?"
Andromeda shifted a bit, not sure where this sudden twinge of guilt had come from. "No, it's just..."
"...You haven't got round to reading it yet, have you?"
"I've been busy!" She hissed at him, becoming vaguely aware that there were other students nearby.
He laughed and handed the book back to her. "Nice work ethic you've got there."
"At least it's better than your customer service. You haven't even thought to tell me your name!" Andromeda silently congratulated herself on dropping the subject of his name into the conversation without looking interested, then subsequently wondered why she was doing so.
"What? Haven't I? Oh, that's awkward. Sorry" They stood there for a moment, facing each other.
"So your name is...?" Okay, maybe less smooth this time around.
"Oh, right, of course. Edward, Edward Tonks. Except my friends call me Ted, so there's that too."
"Alright, Edward-slash-Ted Tonks. Thanks for the info. I'll try and remember that next time" She turned, book in arms, and headed swiftly out the library.
"Okay, good. Wait, what do you mean you'll try and remember that next time?"
Andromeda heard the protest from behind her, and turned round to see his mock-affronted expression from the check-in desk. She smirked, and continued walking, listening as he called after her.
"I can't believe you said that! I gave you the best book of your life, and in return you'll try to remember my name! That's betrayal, right there. Betrayal."
She laughed, without turning back, and headed onwards to the revolving staircases.
A/N: Thank you for getting this far! As always, please follow or favourite if you like the story, otherwise it will get lost forever amongst everything else on this site, and that would be sad, because I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters.
So, any thoughts? Comments? Please leave them below, I love them like Neville loves cardigans and they are always welcome :) Also, I'm still in the process of introducing characters into the story; who interests you the most so far? Who do you want to hear more about? Let me know!
