A friendly ride

Disclaimer: J.K Rowling was the one who created the Harry Potter universe. I only own the story and some characters.

Andromeda

Days seemed to run by till the moment where Bellatrix and Andromeda had to go to Hogwarts. The morning of the first of september arrived to Black Mannor like lightning in a storm, sharpenning the looks and ears of the family and filling the house with the noise of the house elves while they dragged the girls´s trunks. Their father had already leave for the Ministry as always, but he didn´t lose time on going to Andromeda´s bedroom to remind her of what they had talked.

"A Black is not like other wizards, we are better. And you shall not be the one who brings disappointment to our name. Remember that, Andromeda."

He left her room after he pronounce his threat and let her imagine how bad the punishment might be if she didn´t fulfill the expectations they had on her. The knot in her stomach was always present as she dressed and went out with her mother and older sister to Kings Cross, barely having the time to say goodbye to Narcissa.

Like other years the station looked like a hotbed of families that were ready to say goodbye to their children so they could begin a new year at Hogwarts. Druella Black took them to a corner and stared at the blood traitors and muggle borns with disgust, grabbing her daughters´s shoulders as if she believed they would infected them with their equality ideals just by looking at them. Bellatrix looked like a younger versión of their mother and she looked she might have been thinking on all the damage she will cause them if one of them dared to speak to her as an equal; Andromeda wanted to have that expression too but her exictement made it impossible for her to focus on those few wizards that were not pure bloods or had treasoned the firm ideals her family respected.

When the moment of departing was coming her mother postioned herself in front of them with her perfect blond hair shinning and her brown eyes cold and despicable. Andromeda tought her mother must have been very beautiful when her father met her but now everything was hidden in a facade of coldness that she never shut down.

"I hope you know very well that I will not tolerate a single bad report from both of you, it is not proper of a lady to be recognized as some desorganized always talks good of you when he writes your father and I, continue like that and you might become a prefect next year" She told Bellatrix and Andromeda couldn´t help but to notice that there was some shining proudness in her stare. She turned around to see her and she had already recovered her usual coldness "Don´t overstep the rules, don´t misbehave with your professors and on top of everything don´t you dare to speak with those ugly mudbloods and blood traitors. Go."

The two sisters started to walk down to the train and Adromeda whitnessed the first and only time her sister ever helped her, cause she was the one who pulled her trunk up. The happiness didn´t last howewer because as soon as they were into the train her sister turned around and left her to sit with her friends in a vagon. But that did not bother Andromeda, who wanted to distance herself from Rodolphus Lestrange who had a lunatic air surrounding him and make her feel terribly scared.

She walked throught several compartments until she found one that was completely empty and decided to enter there so no one will bother her. Her nervousness was eating her alive and she didn´t want anyone disturbing her and wanting to become her friend, because she knew that she could only hang out with families that bring some sort of benefict to her own or in the contrary she was going to disappoint her parents. And Andromeda shake at the thought of disappointing her father at the first chance.

The train started to move and she only stared out the window and allow her to dream of how Hogwarts would be. She had never asked Bellatrix and didn´t dare to do it with her parents because curiosity was not well received in her house, so she let herself consume about incredible thoughts of the things she was gonna discover: The food and the classrooms and the classes and the ghosts that roam around the castle distracted her so much that she didn´t notice there was already someone sitting in front of her.

"I must be very lost. When did I allow you to sit here?"

"You didn´t but I asked more than three times and you never answered with a no."

Andromeda stared with anger at the boy. Didn´t he knew who he was talking to? "I also never said yes so you shouldn´t be here. Have you never learned any manners?"

"You were the one who never answered! I did not know the train was yours, princess. Does my lady want me to bring her soup?"

"You are being impertinent!"

The boy snorted and Andromeda resigned herself to ignore him. If she couldn´t throw him out then she will make him leave by not paying attention to him, she was not in the mood to deal with some brute barbain. The boy also thought the same and just limited himself to look at his hands while she looked throught the window, but he couldn´t keep the silence for so long. That stranger seemed to have the necesity of talking about anything.

"Are you a first year too?" Andromeda kept staring at the landscape "Do you know how long the ride will be? I am ready to arrive! I heard there is some kind of spirit that lurks in the corridors and that there are secret passages, Is that true? Must be impressing. They also say that the castle has thousands of staircases that move alone and change their positions, but I hoped that´s just a lie because I am quite clumsy and I´m sure I will get lost very fast. What do you think?"

"Do you ever breathe?"

"You can talk! Great, I thought you were some kind of statue."

The boy got her dizzy and she coulnd´t catched some things he blurted out. Was this a prank her sister made? Had she paid this boy to disturb Andromeda to make her understand that she needed to be away from her during the school year? If that was it then the message was clear, now what she wanted the most was for the boy to leave as fast as he had arrived.

Before she could answered him that she didn´t want to established any kind of conversation with him and for that mattered she wanted him to exit as soon as he can but a fat witch arrived with an enormous trolley full of candies "Do you want something, sweetings?"

"What do you like? I invite" Andromeda looked at him as if a second head had came out of his neck and was spitting fire "Come on! I owe you that, just tell me what you want and I´ll buy it. If not I will buy you something according to my suspicions."

Her mouth was unable to move so she could pronunce a logic sentence. Never someone different from her parents had bought her something and they only did it when they needed to show other families how much money the Black family had to gave her daughters the best. Was this strange kid, who she barely knew, talking seriously when he said he was about to buy her something? The answered to that came when the boy stood up and gave the trolley witch enough money to acquire three chocalte frogs, four Fizzing whizzbees, and five pumpkin pies. Just when the trolley witch close the door to their compartment the boy turned around and handed her the three chocolate frogs.

"Do you like them? You Never answered but they look delicious, nonetheless I bought these other things in case you don´t like them. Do you prefer pumpkin pies? Or would you like to…"

"Do you always talk so much?" Andromeda started to undone the package to one of her chocolate frogs. Her parents weren´t fond of buying them sweets and it was very rare that they let them consume them.

"Only when I am nervous, my parents always say that I tend to babble a lot and that´s why I scare people off. Am I doing that with you?"

A hint of a smile tried to get to Andromeda´s lips "Not really"

The boy smiled and opened one of his Fizzing Whizzbees. Andromeda stoped to look outside her window and direct her attention to Morgana who was smiling openly at her from her card. Thinking of saving it for when she arrived to the school she concentrated in the boy who bought it. He was blonde but not the platinum kind like her mother or Narcissa, it was more sandy like and it was messy. He also had blue eyes that reminded her of summer days.

"Do you have a name?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do! I´m Andromeda."

"Like the star?"

She snorted at the boy´s comment "It´s a galaxy, idiot"

"I´m sorry, galaxy. I´m Edward, but you can call me Ted. If I had friends I´m sure they would."

"If I had?" Andromeda observed him with attention while admiring the way the boy sit like as he was melting in the chair "You are not one to hang around people? Or do you frighten them?"

Ted smiled and bite down at his Fizzing whizzbees "Both options are incorrect, my dear Dromeda. I´m very selective with those who surrunded me. And not many can handdle this" He pointed at his body with a movement that made him look like an eel being electrocuted. This time Andromeda couldn´t help but laugh "And you? What´s your reason for not having friends?"

"What makes you believe I don´t have any friends? And don´t call me Dromeda."

"Well the compartment was empty, there is no other girl sitting here to talk with you about girls stuff and it seemed to me that you were trying to put a hole in the glass as if you had lasser vission. Forgive If I say you look like a loner, Dromeda."

"Why do you suppose my reasons are?"

Ted seemed to really think the question "They are afraid of you or you secretly love silence. Am I right?"

"I am, too, very selective with my friends"

"Does that mean that I passed the prove?"

"Did I?"

They both smiled and Andromeda tried to remember a time in her life where she felt as relax like this with someone. It seemed as if Ted´s happiness was contagious to those who were near, and by some strange motive she couldn´t understand why she liked that.

"In which house do you want to end up?" The question was blurted out unintentionlly, as if her brain wanted to see how appropiative the boy was for presenting him to her parents.

"I read a lot about them in 'Hogwarts: A history', but I don´t really know in wich I will be better at. I guess I really don´t care that much. You?

The answered arrived like some kind of mantra she had been muttering all her life "Slytherin. It would be a honor being part of that house" And my parents will murder me if I don´t go there, she thought of telling him, but at the end she keep it to herself.

"It must be nice knowing what you want. I can barely choose what to wear."

Andromeda knew that going to Slytherin wasn´t a personal choice, it was more like a thing her family expected of her and she would be a disapointment if she didn´t fullfil it. The only one who was in a different house was her Uncle Alphard and nobody in the family have already forgiven him for such treason to the honorable Black name. Whole generations were made in the snakes house and if she couldn´t keep it, How would she mantein her promise of not bringing disgrace to the noble house? "You can´t decide in which house you will be in. That´s the sorting´s hat work, you can only guess your personality treits."

"Does that mean that you are cunning and ambicious?"

"Are you suggesting I am not?"

Ted raised his hands and dedicated a smile to Andromeda that she had never seen "I just say that 'Galaxy'isn´t the name many would relate with someone who wants to be the richiest."

"Oh really? Well Edward is a joker´s name"

"And Andromeda is a stars name!"

"It´s a galaxy! And it´s better than Bellatrix."

She realized what she said before she could stop her tongue to spit it out and worry came to crashed on her. Nonentheless Ted took it with humour "Bellatrix? Is that a warrior´s name?"

"She is my sister"

"Your parent´s choose really extravagant names. Do they have like a book or something where they pick them up? How do you want to name your children? Vulpecula? Vilma?"

"It´s still better than Edward! And they have a meaning."

Ted seemed interested with that, leaning in with his elbows so he could be closer with Andromeda in a way that made her notice some freckless that were spread across his cheeks "Really? What is it?"

"Black´s are powerfull and we expect the best. Our names come from the shinnest stars that covered the universe because we possess an unique light for being brighter than the rest."

"So Andromeda´s the most brilliant galaxy then?" She nodded proud "Just for asking, How big is your ego?"

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When the train stopped at the Hogsmeade station Andromeda and Ted were the last ones climbing down, basically because she had to taught him how to tie his tie. The two of them walked in the cold night and observed the black sky that was shinning without a moon. Andromeda couldn´t explain her bubling happiness of being near the castle, about to see with her own eyes the magnificent place that would be her home for seven long years.

It didn´t went long till an enormous man who had horrible, wild hair that would have gave her mother a heart attack appeared and told them to share a boat by four people so they could go. Ted forced her to run and she ended up sitting with a chubby boy who had long teeths like a rabbit and a girl with black shinny hair. She didn´t even bother for asking their names because it was obvious that they were never going to speak again.

What lighten their trip were the occasional comments from Ted who seemed genuinely surprise for what he saw. She lost count of how many times she heard him yelped with exictement.

"There is a giant squid!"

"And you are going to meet him soon if you don´t control yourself"

Ted couldn´t help but laugh and Andromeda noticed that the other children looked at him as if they thought he was going to be capable of throwing himself if someone dared him. Soon they saw the various towers of the castle that reminded Andromeda of those nights when she walked around the gardens of her mansion, forgetting for a while that she was a gilr whose destiny was already decided. The boats arrived to the harbor and they dismounted so they could walk towards the enormous doors of the castle where a four feet tall giant could enter.

They were greated by a professor that seemed estrict, with long black hair that was held in a bun and wore a green tunic. Andromeda knew her name for all the times in wich Bellatrix spoke lower of her Transfigurations professor, because Minerva McGonagall loved to punish her and on top of it all was the head teacher from the house that had the biggest amount of mudbloods and blood traitors.

Professor McGonagall looked at them and then turned around to greet the giant.

"I hope none of them gave you trouble, Hagrid"

"Not at all, professor. Enjoy the feast!"

McGonagall nodded and receive the little children that were going to be sorted in a few moments. They walked until they arrived to an empty room where professor McGonagall arranged them. She didn´t even need to speak louder or asked for silence.

"You are about to enter the Great Hall were you going to be selected into one of the four houses from the school. From now on, your houses will be like a family, you will sleep in your common rooms and assure or rest them points all throught the year for trying to win the house cup at the end of the term. I´ll be back in a few minutes to take you there."

"House cup? This just keeps getting better and better!"

Andromeda looked at Ted with new interest. Bellatrix always talked about how Slytherin had been winning since four years ago leaving almost every other house behind for almost 1000 points of difference "No one ever told you about the competion?"

Ted denied "I must have been distracted during the part where they mention it in 'Hogwarts: A history'. Wait until I tell Gina about all this!"

"Gina?"

"My sister. I assure you she will go mad when I tell her about everything that happens around here!"

Andromeda perfectly understood Gina and was jealous that she had someone like Ted to explain her everything before she came to the castle. She wondered how long would it be until she meet the boy´s sister and if she also had that charming personality that made her brother especial.

"When she will come?"

"Gina? It´s not possible. They told us that the letter arrive when you were eleven and she is already fourteen and she doesn´t have any magical ability by the way."

Andromeda felt pity for the girl and put her hand on top of Ted´s shoulder as a way of giving him confort "I´m sorry that you have an Squib in your family."

"Squib? Professor Wilson called her different. Isn´t it muggles?"

"Is time to enter. Go on!"

Her stomach twirled at Ted´s confession. Andromeda felt sick and she didn´t knew if it was with the boy because he dared to speak to her as if they were equals or with herself for being so naive. What would her parents say if they found out she spoke with the boy? What would they do to her if they discovered she laugh with him? How much hate would her family show her when they knew she had received him food? Bile was climbing inside her throat and she thought she was gonna throw up. She couldn´t let them know. She wouldn´t let them know.

But most importantly she would keep Ted away. She was a Black and mudbloods were nothing more than repulsive creatures that should not exist.

On top of a chair there was an old hat that Andromeda recognized as the Sorting Hat. Her heart was beating against her chest every time she felt Ted move beside her, a part of her wanting to scream at him to back off before her older sister realized what he was and told her family. But at the same time other part of her that was surely infected told her to keep him close, wanted him close before she had to erase any track of him.

"Albernathy, Susan!"

Why did he have to be a mudblood? Why couldn´t he be a blood traitor?

"Ambrosian, Jack!"

Could Bellatrix find out that she talked with someone like him on the train? Would the kids from the boat tell her about it? Andromeda´s head hurt just by thinking what her sister might do to her for laughting with a filthy mudblood.

"Annuet, Ernie!"

She wouldn´t talk to him. She couldn´t talk to him. Never again.

"Black, Andromeda!"

She walked with fast steps but without losing the grace and proudness that her mom and sister had, more to get away from Ted than to actually arrive. She felt her legs trembeling and she was sure she was going to faint. The last thing she saw before professor McGonagall put her the hat was Ted smiling at her from the line of kids and couldn´t help to feel better at that simple gesture.

´What do we have here? You are a particular child, that is true. You have pure blood and a wish to show that you are better than what it´s expected from you, you are talented and Slytherin would help you on your way to glory…but you are also smart. Your inteligence is amusing and well used you could help a lot of people and Ravenclaw values that. Where should I put you?´ Andromeda felt her heart collapsing. If she didn´t went in Slytherin she could well say she was already dead, her parents would only allow her home to throw her a crucio and then kick her out. She could not be a traitor, she would not give Bellatrix the pleasure of fulfilling her biggest fantasie ´That´s it! I´ve got it! But between the two of us you would have been a good Ravenclaw.´

"Slytherin!"

Andromeda got up quickly and a little dizzy but smiling and walked towards the table that received her with screams and applauses. She didn´t even look at Ted while she started to make her way and it wasn´t long when her sister pushed her onto one chair and smiled at her proudly for the first time, as if Andromeda was the new trophy to show off. That fact made her believe that the Sorting Hat had made the wrong choice.

The kids kept walking and their names resounded all around the hall. There were a few Gryffindors and Ravenclaws until they called ´Tonks, Edward´ and Andromeda did everything she could to disimulate that she wanted to look where would he end up at. She cursed herself when she she saw that the Sorting Hat had barely touch his head when it send him to Hufflepuff, being unable to explaing why she was so happy for that inferior boy.

"Why is that boy looking over here? Just by sitting in his table he realized how useless his house is?" Exclaimed Rabastan Lestrange provoquing the laughs from all their group of friends.

Bellatrix nonetheless noticed something the others ignored " But he is looking at little Andromeda!" Andromeda tried to think an excuse good enough to give her sister who was looking intendly at her.

"He is just some nasty mudblood who tried to talk to me at the entrance. It looks like there are some people who can´t understand what they role is"

The answer pleased her sister but for some unexplainable reason Andromeda felt dirty for saying it.