AN/ Hi, this is my round three submission for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition! I have never written about these two characters before so I'd love to know your thoughts :)

Thank you to my team, the Appleby Arrows, for beta-ing and being there to bounce ideas off!

Chaser 1

Appleby Arrows

Round 3, Season 9

Prompts: Chaser 1: The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde: Write about someone whose beauty is only skin-deep.

(plot point) a wedding

(setting) nighttime

(word) whisper

Word Count: 1716

Andromeda couldn't sleep. She was currently in the spare room of Mr and Mrs Tonks' muggle house, and it was nearing midnight. She should be in bed trying to get rest, but instead, she sat at the dressing table, staring at her pale reflection in the mirror.

When she was younger, she had imagined her wedding to be vastly different. For one, it featured a man with a surname like Malfoy, Nott, or Greengrass. Never a Tonks. Tonks was certainly not part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Tonks was a common name, for she was marrying a muggle-born.

This was the main reason why everything was so different to how she had fantasized about it as a young girl. She never thought she'd be spending the night before her wedding in a room painted sunshine yellow that contained a strange muggle contraption that Ted had assured her wasn't dangerous, that he had explained was an electric sewing machine. No rooms in the Black Manor were painted sunshine yellow.

She would have instead been in her luxurious bedroom, the familiar dark drapes around her four-poster bed and no doubt in the company of her once-beloved sisters. As she was marrying a muggle-born, her family had disowned her. She did not doubt that her Aunt Walburga had already blasted her likeness from the family tapestry – all that remained of her existence in the family was a scorch mark. She would have been wearing white silk dress robes with intricate lace details and exquisite family jewels, but instead, she was wearing a simple knee-length muggle white dress – it was all they had been able to afford – that was currently hung up on the wardrobe door.

Andromeda knew that, although it wasn't how she had pictured it, the fact that it meant in return she was going to have a life with Ted, she was quite happily able to let go of childhood dreams. There was no shouting or hatred in the Tonks household, no judgement or coldness, only friendliness, warmth, and love. She yearned to be a part of that. She wanted to raise her children in a family filled with adoration, not status.

The only sadness that was keeping her awake at this moment was knowing that her wedding meant the loss of her sisters. Bella and Cissy. She had visions of the three of them reuniting in the future when there was less unrest in the world. Surely, they would see how much she loved Ted and how he returned the sentiment. She wasn't naïve, she knew this was a foolish hope. Perhaps it would take the death of her parents, she thought morbidly, knowing that the hatred and ignorance had trickled down from them and her older relatives.

Her sisters should be with her, Bellatrix, in particular. She loved both her sisters, but she and Bella, her older sister, had a special bond. They were only a year or so apart in age and had several years together before Narcissa came along to complete the trio of Black sisters. Cissy had always trailed along after them, much to their annoyance as children. Even not considering the age difference, Cissy was unlike her sisters with her pale blonde hair and blue eyes.

Bella and herself though could almost pass for twins. Andromeda looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Whilst they looked vividly alike, if Andromeda squinted, she could almost see Bella staring back at her, the differences were what made Bella startlingly beautiful and herself not. Where she had light brown hair, Bella had long shiny, black curls. They had the same dark eyes but her own were wider, missing the sparkle that Bella's had. Their features were remarkably similar, but Bella's seemed sharper somehow – eyelashes longer, jaw stronger, hair thicker. Bella carried herself with an air of confidence that Andromeda herself had never had, which aided in her captivation. Andromeda suspected Bella held herself this way due to her pureblood beliefs that she was better than everyone else. Andromeda, who had always been uncomfortable as their family had drilled this into them, had never stood as proud.

She had always been in awe of her older, beautiful, strong sister and had felt protected by the thought she would always be loved by her. How wrong she was, she thought bitterly. Now, on the eve of her wedding, she needed her sister's confidence more than ever. She needed strong whispers into her ear that she was a beautiful bride, that she was making the right choice, that she would be a good wife.

The last time Andromeda had felt nerves like this, it had resulted in her being awake late into the night. It was the night before she first ever boarded the Hogwarts Express. Bella had crept into her bedroom, snuggled under the covers with her, held her hand and whispered about all the wonders of Hogwarts and Slytherin house until she had finally fallen asleep.

Suddenly a loud crack, whipped through the air, her body tensed. She held a breath but didn't hear anyone else in the house stir. It must have come from the street side; the other bedrooms overlooked the Tonks' small back garden lawn. She rushed to the window and saw a dark figure beyond the front garden gate. Not wanting anybody else waking up and intruding, she quickly raced through the house and down the garden path.

"Bella," said Andromeda breathlessly, closing the gate behind her and standing face to face with her sister.

At nighttime, flooded by moonlight, her sister was striking. Her luminous alabaster skin clashed against her dark, green silk dress that hugged against her body like liquid, a soft black cloak hanging from her shoulders. Andromeda felt suddenly frumpy in her future mother-in-law's spare dressing gown wrapped around her. She heated as her sister's head cocked to one side as she was assessing her with her dark eyes.

"Dromeda," stated Bella, at last. "You need to come home."

"It's too late for that, Bella," sighed Andromeda. "Mother and Father won't accept me back now anyway."

"Yes, they will!" exclaimed Bella. "We will say the Mudblood had powers we didn't know of! You were enchanted, defenceless. It wasn't your fault. With our blood, you will still be able to find a suitable future spouse, if that's what you desire. Once the fuss has died down, of course."

"They would kill Ted," cried Andromeda, clutching the front of her robe tight to her chest. "If they suspected I'm here against my will, he would be hunted down."

"I would do that for you," said Bella earnestly, her hands resting on Andromeda's shoulders. "You are my beloved sister."

Andromeda wrenched herself free from her sister's grasp. "No."

"No?" questioned Bella quietly.

"No," said Andromeda firmly. "I'm not enchanted, Bella, I love Ted. I wish there were a way I could still be a part of our family as well, but I know as soon as the wedding is over tomorrow that will never happen."

"How can it?" spat Bella acidly. "You will be a traitor. Worse than a filthy Mudblood."

Andromeda flinched. At that moment she no longer saw the beauty in her sister's face that she had always coveted. Her features had twisted and distorted alongside her dark words, and Andromeda had never seen such ugliness.

"How can you say that to your own sister? It's me, Bella," begged Andromeda.

"You are no longer any sister of mine, traitor," said Bella coldly. "It's not a good time to be a traitor either, Andromeda."

"What do you mean?"

"You know the Dark Lord grows stronger," warned Bellatrix, her eyes alight. "Sides are forming, and you've found yourself on the wrong one. Whilst I've never found myself wistfully thinking about my own prospects, I was always excited for your wedding Andromeda. You have a much better temperament to be a wife than I do, and you could have had an excellent match. Instead, your wedding is nothing but a method of declaring your Mudblood loving ways; it's marking you as a target."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a statement of fact," sneered Bellatrix. "I won't actively seek you out, I will privately grant you that grace, but I won't stand in the way of orders." She lifted her left arm, the cloak falling to her side, and on her inner forearm was a black winding snake protruding from a skull.

Andromeda's heart sank. As Bellatrix claimed, her own wedding had marked which side she was on, the new ink on her sister's arm clearly marked her for the other. Permanently.

"We must both do what we think is right," swallowed Andromeda.

"This is farewell, then. If we ever meet again, it will be because I've been sent," warned Bellatrix darkly. "I can't deny that I might even enjoy it."

With another loud crack, she was gone, and Andromeda finally let the tears fall from her eyes.

"Dromeda," called Ted, running from the house. "What are you doing out here in the dark? It's nighttime, you should be in bed."

Noticing her tear-stained face, he immediately enveloped her with his strong arms and pulled her close to his chest. "What's the matter, my love? Is it the wedding? If you need more time-"

"No," interrupted Andromeda, wiping her face and looking up at him. "I love you, Ted Tonks, and I want to marry you tomorrow. I was just… saying goodbyes. And maybe realising my perception of beauty has changed."

"Is that you saying kindly that you're marrying me for my sense of humour?"

Andromeda unwillingly cracked a smile. "Of course not, but beauty does fade. You'll have me laughing forever."

"Your beauty will never fade, my love," smiled Ted. He pulled her in closer again, his mouth nearly pressed against her ear as he whispered sweet nothings to her.

Andromeda had a small smile at the thought that she had someone new to whisper that everything would be okay, and for a small moment, she felt that it really could be okay. She didn't correct him like she usually did when he called her beautiful. Not because she felt beautiful but because she finally recognised that beauty was only skin-deep. She knew that he wasn't referring to just her face.