DISCLAIMER: Most of this belongs to J. K. Rowling. Andromeda, Emelus and Graìnne Green, Helena Pratt, Janet Greaves, Holly O'Donnell and Rebecca Ericson belong to me.
Part of this story is going to be dealing with prejudice issues. So there's something I'd like to say before I start:
One of the worst things that can possibly be is prejudice. Prejudiced people are hard to spot and even harder to change. They pollute the atmosphere around them, make innocent people feel as though they have done something wrong and, on occasion, are dangerous and violent. It is prejudice that brings about horrific catastrophes like the Holocaust. Who is to say that you are a lesser person because you look different, act different or earn a smaller amount than someone else? They are bullies and nothing more. Only by developing our own balanced and acceptant views can we stop these people.
I know that didn't really have a lot to do with the story. But I felt it put an important point across, and it's something I feel strongly about.
'I don't want to dump you,' she said, but she did, or she wouldn't have been saying it. 'I want us to break up – mutually.'
'Fine,' said Harry, feeling slightly hostile. It wasn't as though he was upset – he just thought that Cho could have been a bit more sensitive.
'I'm sorry, Harry,' she said. She was obviously waiting.
'Do you still want to be friends?' he asked obligingly. She beamed.
'I'd love to.'
'You're a lovely girl, Cho.' It was true. 'I'm sorry we weren't right for each other. I hope you find someone who is.'
'I'll see you around.' She got up and walked back to the Ravenclaw table, and he returned to sit with his house.
He was surprised at how easy it had been. Although nothing much would change. For a while there had been nothing between them. I suppose, he thought, when you both know it's the right thing and the only thing to do, it doesn't hurt. Not that he'd know. Cho had been his first girlfriend.
But, for a long time, she hadn't been the first on his mind. Cho gave a last friendly glance towards Harry, but it wasn't the Ravenclaw table he was looking towards.
The object of Harry's affection was oblivious, and not just to him. Andromeda Green was daydreaming. Though not conventionally pretty, her almost-black hair, piercing blue eyes and creamy pale skin – Irish colouring inherited from her mother – gave her a certain attractiveness.
She could hear Draco Malfoy talking inanely somewhere down the Slytherin table. She hated people like Draco – intolerant, bullying, ignorant people. She thought about what she'd love to tell him. You're a git, Malfoy.
Andromeda was pulled roughly back down to earth by the thud of a fork falling onto the tabletop. Looking to her right, she saw a great deal of people staring at her. 'Oh no,' she said, dismayed. 'I said that out loud, didn't I?' She had an unhelpful habit of saying things that she had only intended to think.
Draco was looking at her intently, the familiar dots of red slowly appearing on his white cheeks. 'What did you say?'
Andromeda, though a daydreamer, was strong and stubborn, and decided to see what Malfoy would say to her. 'I called you a git.'
'Why did you call me that, Mudblood?'
A lot of people would have taken that from Malfoy, but not the daughter of Emelus and Graìnne Green. She wouldn't deliberately have started an argument with Malfoy, but she wasn't about to go back on what she thought either.
'Precisely the reason you said that – it's true.'
His cheeks definitely had colour now. 'And just what gives you the right to call me that?'
'Do we have to go through that again? You are a bigoted, self-centred, sad little boy and I don't like you. Now shut up.'
Malfoy was lost for words. 'You're not fit to be a Slytherin, you pathetic fool,' he said after a while. The words cut into the heavy silence.
Before getting up and leaving, trying to maintain her dignity, Andromeda only replied in her head. I never wanted to be.
'Only two more pieces of parchment to go,' said Hermione cheerfully, finishing a sentence of Potions theory with a triumphant flourish of her quill. Ron groaned.
'Lucky you. I've still got six. I've barely started.' He gazed despondently at the one rather pathetic and ink-blotched sheet in front of him.
'Oh no,' said Harry, slamming a book down in front of him.
'What's wrong?' asked Ron and Hermione simultaneously.
'This book hasn't got the information I wanted.' Harry was even further behind, and hadn't quite finished a chart of sun signs for Divination.
'Weird. It had plenty for me,' said Ron. However, they had different signs, so for once they couldn't produce practically identical pieces.
'I'll go down to the library and get out that book I had last week – Foreseeing and Foretelling or something.' Harry rose, exasperated, and left the common room.
As soon as he arrived in the library, Harry heard a peculiar sound, a sort of quick gasping and hiccuping. He explored the dense, almost deserted rows of books to find the source. Eventually he almost tripped over it. Andromeda Green was sitting against a shelf, facing the wall. She was crying.
Harry blushed furiously, even though she hadn't seen him yet. Of all the people it could have been! 'Are you all right?' Of course she isn't, you prat.
She whirled around, her normally pale face flushed and blotchy. 'Oh, I'm OK,' she said, hurriedly wiping her face with the sleeve of her robes. Harry felt a sudden rush of compassion and the urge to give her a hug. 'Just – well, you know Draco Malfoy.' He certainly did. 'He was being his usual self. I know how he is to you sometimes, I've heard him. I know I shouldn't let him get to me, but well, I've always been a bit over-emotional. And I've always talked too much, too – sorry, I'm really rambling.'
'No you aren't,' said Harry quickly, aware that his face rivalled Ron's hair. 'Look, if he's really bothering you – I don't mind staying with you for a while.'
'Are you sure?' Andromeda asked. Harry noted that she looked very grateful, and said, 'Of course.' What he didn't say was result!
Harry Potter was really nice, thought Andromeda. Neither Madam Pince nor any of the (admittedly few) students perusing the racks of books had thought to check that she was all right.
He lowered himself onto the floor beside her. 'I came to get a book for Divination,' he explained. 'I suppose you know what Trelawney's like.'
'What, all gloom and doom?'
'Yeah. She has a special penchant for predicting my death.' Andromeda chuckled – Professor Trelawney had told her she was due to be attacked by the giant squid and fall to her death through a trick staircase, among other things. 'Anyway, our homework is on sun signs – and they tend to be depressingly positive. So the book I already had didn't have the right stuff in it.'
'We haven't gone onto those yet,' Andromeda offered, pleased at how well they were getting on. 'We're still way back on hieroglyphics and their hidden doom-filled meanings.'
'I was glad to finish those,' Harry said. Andromeda noted that a tuft of hair was sticking up on the side of his head, and suppressed a giggle. That was really endearing.
'Don't blame you,' Andromeda replied, and then the conversation ran out. She racked her brains to come up with something. 'So… how do you get on with the other Gryffindors?'
'Oh, they're great,' Harry replied enthusiastically, glad to get back to talking. 'Do you know Ron and Hermione? They're my best friends, and the other Weasleys are great too. There's no one I don't get on with.'
'You're lucky,' said Andromeda wistfully. 'I hate being in Slytherin.'
'Yeah,' Harry pondered. 'I never would have thought you'd be a Slytherin. Are they all as bad as Malfoy?'
'Not all. There are a few girls in the sixth and seventh years that are OK, I usually hang around with them – and a group of second years, three boys and two girls… but other than that, they're all pretty rotten. Even my friends aren't all that great. Most Slytherins have a mean streak in them. I suppose they're the worst in the school.'
'Not all of them,' Harry was quick to correct her, and Andromeda noticed that his earlier blushing had returned. 'You seem fine to me.'
That was much too forward, thought Harry furiously. She'll think you're an idiot now. But, on the contrary, she was smiling pleasantly. 'Thank you.'
'So you don't have a great time of it then?'
'Definitely not.' Harry felt very sympathetic.
'When I used to live with the muggles – you know – ' She nodded. 'Well, I went to a muggle school, and everyone pretty much hated me there. It's fair to say I really didn't fit in. So I – well, I – er – I know what it's like.'
Andromeda nodded, still smiling. But then an expression of horror crossed her face, and she leapt up. 'I'll see you later!' And she was gone.
Harry got up and looked around. Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and the other two fifth-year Slytherin girls had entered. He sighed.
Rushing back to the dungeon common room before Pansy and her gang could notice she'd been crying, Andromeda looked downwards and tried to make out she was yawning as she entered. 'Where have you been?' demanded a loud voice immediately. It was Helena Pratt, the leader of Andromeda's sort-of friends – the group of sixth- and seventh-year girls she'd told Harry about. 'After you mouthed off at Malfoy, you just vanished. What happened?'
Andromeda seated herself with Helena and the others, Janet Greaves, Holly O'Donnell and Rebecca Ericson. 'Nothing much – just went to the library. Divination homework,' she said, recalling Harry's mission.
'Didn't find anything?'
'What makes you say that?' Andromeda was suspicious.
'Well, you haven't brought any books down.'
'Oh, no. The one I needed was checked out.' She hoped that sounded feasible, but she didn't have to worry – she'd always been a good liar. To her relief, the subject was changed to a seventh-year Ravenclaw boy she didn't know, and she was able to relax a bit. Thankfully, Malfoy was nowhere in sight.
Rushing back to the Gryffindor common room before anyone had time to notice his red face, Harry smoothed down his hair and felt a large tuft on the right side. Oh no… I bet she noticed that. 'Where have you been?' demanded Ron almost immediately.
'The library,' Harry said quickly.
'Didn't find anything?'
'What makes you say that?' Harry was suspicious.
'Well, you haven't got that book you needed.'
'Oh, no. The one I wanted was checked out.' He could feel the colour returning to his face, but hopefully Ron hadn't noticed it. To his relief, the subject was changed to an upcoming small Arithmancy test of Hermione's, and he was able to relax a bit. Thankfully, his face felt normal temperature again.
I know that a lot of this didn't make very much sense. I started it a bit into the fifth year because a) I didn't want to do all the before-they-get-to-Hogwarts business and b) I needed to have Harry and Cho break up after a couple of months. And as for Voldemort - I know everyone would be a lot more worried and everything, but it's artistic licence, OK? I just didn't want to bring him into it yet. THIS WILL CONTINUE!