Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Andromeda didn't know what she wanted, but she knew that she couldn't do this anymore. Pretending was making her sick. How could muggleborns really be beneath them when she had never met a better person than Ted? When she had never met a more talented witch than Lily Evans? Her sisters barred of course. They had their issues, but both Bellatrix and Narcissa were formidable witches.
That gene had skipped her. She was the middle child, the unforgettable one. The one that sort of looks like Bellatrix but not as memorable. She had thought that there was nothing for her.
She had given up. Resigned herself to the fact that this was her life and it always would be. She watched while muggleborns were tortured and beaten in the hallways. Blood dripping down their faces, mixing with the tears. She had said nothing.
She had hated her life so much that nothing could fill the pain in her chest. She loved her sisters, and even her parents. But her life was hell and she was a prisoner wherever she went.
And then she met Ted. The bright light in the void. She was drowning, and she clung to him like a lifeline. His touches breathed the life back into her. Brought her skin a rosy complexion when it had been white and cold as wax.
He loved everything about her, including how broken she was. And now here she was, at the edge of the cliff.
She would never forget that conversation.
"Andromeda, a word." She had stared at Bellatrix in shock. She had left Hogwarts last year and her appearance at Hogwarts couldn't mean anything good. She had followed her sister curiously. Bellatrix's eyes burned with fury.
"I know about the mudblood. I thought it was just a phase you would grow out of but it has gone on too long. Narcissa sent me a letter. She's worried you might leave us for him."
Andromeda met Bellatrix's gaze but stayed silent. Her sister was all but shaking with barely constrained fury.
"It's him or us."
An ultimatum. She had never seen Bellatrix as angry as she had been when she found out about him. Narcissa had let it slip, scared it would tear the family apart. At least she'd had enough sense not to tell their parents. And so here she was.
She could stay with her family, her sisters, who she loved, and be absolutely miserable. Be married to her betrothed, trapped in yet another prison: a marriage to a man she didn't love. Or she could follow Ted into the unknown. Her heart ached when she thought of him. He had smiled sadly when she told him what Bellatrix had said. It didn't reach his eyes.
"I'll support whatever you decide." He had murmured.
It was barely a whisper. And then he had turned away and given her space and she had fled back to her dorm, torn between two worlds. Between dream and reality.
Narcissa and Bellatrix had come in about ten minutes after that, pretending not to notice her tears. Bellatrix had given the other girls one look and they had the dorm to themselves. She was grateful for their presence, but at the same time she abhorred it.
Tears were gathered in her little sister's eyes, threatening to fall. Her older sister's face was an impenetrable mask but even she couldn't hide the slight shake in her hands. She hated that this was hurting them. And she hated them for hurting, when they knew how bleak their lives were.
Actually, she doubted that. Bellatrix had flaunted the rules at every turn. Her only saving grace was that even she wasn't rebellious enough to go against the values that had been instilled in them since birth. Narcissa was in love with her betrothed and she thrived on the manipulation and secrecy that lived in their world.
But Andromeda wasn't her sisters. She was broken, unremarkable, weaker than both of them. She didn't know how she had been sorted into Slytherin. Surely they knew how much she hated it all. The balls, the politics, the life of being a demure housewife when they were anything but.
She stood abruptly. Her sisters' heads snapped to her. Their eyes pleaded with her but she did as she had been taught. Hide your emotions, don't let your insides show Andromeda. Her mother's voice would be forever etched in her brain.
She took in a breath.
"I love you."
She knew it wasn't enough but it was all she could give them. Bellatrix squeezed her nails into her hands so tightly she started bleeding. Narcissa let out a small sob. A tear fell down her face. She'd never wanted to hurt them.
She turned on her heel and left. To save herself. She didn't look back.
She ran down the familiar corridors, pushing through the throngs of people, all gathering because exams had ended. Her last N.E.W.T. had been this morning but it seemed years away. People shouted at her but she barely heard them.
She reached her destination, breathless. She let herself into his common room and ran up the stairs. Some Hufflepuffs protested but she didn't care. She tore open the door to his dorm.
"Ted." She breathed.
He turned slowly and she knew she had made the right decision. He felt like home.
Ted tilted his head in silent question, nervous, waiting.
She put her hand in his in reply and he smiled brighter than the sun, pulling her into a new life. A dream she had never dared to dream. A dream of love, of family, of a better future. She smiled as he pulled her away from the pain.
