Closed


"You were with him again tonight, weren't you?"

Andromeda froze in the passage leading to the Slytherin common room, eyes falling immediately on the person who had spoken. He was sitting with his back to her on a couch; she could tell, however, who it was.

"What are you talking about, Rodolphus?"

The man, now seventeen, soon to be out of Hogwarts and into the Dark Lord's servitude, stood, turning toward Andromeda. Her breath caught and she was tempted to take a step back. He glowered at the girl, crossing his arms across his chest. This seemed to accentuate his burly build, as he probably intended it to.

"What, you think no one knows, Andromeda? That you're running around with that filthy Mudblood?" Rodolphus spit the word out.

Inwardly, Andromeda cringed. However, she tossed her hair, rolling her eyes at Rodolphus, in a show of irritation. "I think no one knows what exactly? If I don't even know what you're talking about, then how could anyone else?" She entered the common room, making for the girl's dorm. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. It's rather late, you know, so you should probably do the same. Unless, of course, you want to sit around and accuse other people of, what was it, 'running around with filthy Mudbloods'?" She didn't want to say the word, but knew it would be suspicious of her not to.

Rodolphus cleared the distance between the two quickly, and grabbed a hold of her wrist, jerking her back around toward him. "If you think you're being clever, you aren't," He hissed, face inches from Andromeda's. She jerked her wrist out of his grip, glaring at him. "If not with him, then where were you?" His mouth curled into a smirk; he didn't expect her to be able to come up with anything.

"Honestly, Rodolphus, I didn't realize a girl had to explain herself when she just wanted some alone time." The lie rolled off her tongue easily and she began massaging her wrist, hoping for an air of nonchalance. "If you'd kindly not throw me around like some kind of rag doll, that'd be appreciated."

"You're lying to me." Rodolphus snapped, grabbing her again. "You were with Tonks."

"Let go of me." She tried to release herself from his grip, but it only tightened. She cried out in pain. "Let go of me!" Andromeda screamed.

For a moment, everything seemed to hold its breath, till Slytherins, from their dorms, came down to the common room, taking in the scene. No one made a move to stop Rodolphus as he continued to hold onto Andromeda, who was gritting her teeth in pain. A few tears began to leak out, until finally, he let her go. She collapsed to the floor, cradling her wrists in her lap. She blinked away the last of her tears, looking at the damage; blood dotted where he had sank his nails into her skin, and the area was turning red. Vaguely, she wondered if the area would bruise.

Everyone was frozen in place, staring down at Andromeda. She looked up to see Bellatrix and Narcissa in front of the crowd of girls. Bellatrix looked on, her lips pursed slightly as if contemplating something, while Narcissa looked panicked, torn between running to her older sister and staying with everyone else. Andromeda didn't give her time to decide before picking herself up off the floor.

No one tried to stop her as she walked by them, head held high. Their eyes lingered on her wrists and they stepped back from her, clearing the way. Andromeda said nothing to her assaulter, nothing to her sisters, nothing to her friends.

What was there to say?

She entered her dorm, crawled into her bed without undressing, and closed the curtains around her bed. She closed herself off from her world, from everyone she cared about, everyone she thought cared about her. She lay in bed and cried, heart yearning for the boy who was probably falling asleep with a smile on his face, having enjoyed a pleasant evening with the girl he loved.

Andromeda closed herself off to everyone but Ted Tonks and cried herself to sleep.


-Reels