Someone commented on my title. Unoriginal I know, but I really couldn't think of anything, this is going to be a very long story and I haven't really planned it so I don't know what it should be called… and now I am rambling. Remind you of anyone?
My characters belong to me. J. K. Rowling's characters belong to her. Enjoy!
Andromeda didn't encounter Harry again until fifth-year Potions two days later. Snape appeared to be in a particularly unpleasant mood, and was taking it out not just on the Gryffindors, but even slightly on his own house.
'I will be putting you into Gryffindor/Slytherin pairs for today's lesson,' he snarled sadistically. 'We will be working on basic Truth Potions. Now, Draco Malfoy, you can work with… Grace Ramsbottom.' Even this mood hadn't brought Snape to be unkind to his favourite student, and he had placed Malfoy with a Gryffindor girl who was painfully shy and wouldn't give him any trouble. 'Pansy Parkinson – Ron Weasley.' Ron groaned audibly. 'Vincent Crabbe – Hermione Granger.' Hermione looked horror-struck. As well as being a mean thug, Crabbe was about as intelligent as a Flobberworm. 'Andromeda Green…' His eyes roved around the room for a worthy candidate. 'Harry Potter.'
Andromeda's eyes widened. She glanced at Harry, who was staring red-faced back. Well, at least she knew Harry wouldn't be horrible to her because of her house.
When Snape had finished putting them into mostly completely incompatible pairs, he instructed them to move to sit with their partners. Malfoy and Grace sat close to Ron and Pansy. Ron looked trapped between two particularly nasty Slytherins.
Harry came over to sit next to Andromeda. He had already opened his Potions kit and was carrying it rather awkwardly, trying to keep all of the bits in. Andromeda smiled.
'Maybe you should have closed that before you got up.'
Oh no, thought Harry. I look like such a fool now. And he was sure she had smirked. Maybe she was just another Slytherin.
He sat down nonetheless, and proceeded to remove the ingredients he'd need from the small black case. Andromeda did the same. 'I've forgotten my book,' admitted Harry quietly. 'Can we use yours? Otherwise Snape'll have my head.'
Andromeda looked horrified. 'Oh no! I've forgotten mine too!'
To their mutual dismay, Snape chose that very moment to come sweeping over to their desk. 'What's the matter?' he snapped. 'Get your books out immediately. How do you expect to do any work without them?'
'Professor Snape, me and Harry have both forgotten our textbooks today.' Andromeda flashed what she hoped was a winning smile, but Snape didn't look impressed.
'Five points from Gryffindor, Potter, and you can both have a detention. Down here at ten o'clock tomorrow night. It's unacceptable. You're in your fifth year, and you should be able to cope with bringing the right equipment by now.'
Harry groaned as soon as Snape was out of earshot. 'I was counting on finishing my Divination tomorrow night,' he complained. 'But it could be worse – it could have been Malfoy that forgot his book instead of you.'
Both Gryffindors and Slytherins packed up their equipment long before the end of the lesson – except for Harry and Andromeda, who had been working intently. Leaving the dungeons, Ron and Hermione were both complaining bitterly about their Potions partners.
'I can't believe Snape put me with her. Actually, I can. I wouldn't have put it past Snape to make an exception to the boy-girl rule and make me work with Malfoy.'
'Poor Grace,' said Hermione, biting her lip. 'She looked almost in tears by the end of the lesson. She's so quiet, she'll never stand up to Malfoy. And I was with Crabbe! He's so thick, I'm surprised he managed to make it to the fifth year. He must have failed every exam yet.'
'What about that girl you were with, Harry?' Ron asked. 'Andromeda?'
'Oh, she's OK,' said Harry quickly.
Ron snorted. 'OK? A Slytherin? Well, if you say so. But I wouldn't be surprised if she's cursed you. In a few minutes you'll burst into fur or feathers or something. Slytherins. They're all the same.'
Andromeda met up with her second-year friends as soon as there was a break. She hadn't spoken to them for a while. Sometimes Helena and the others made fun of her for hanging around with people three years younger than her, but Andromeda wasn't usually bothered about what other people thought.
'How did Potions go?' Vivian Thomas asked sympathetically. He was a tall, skinny boy and the sort of ringleader of that group. 'We heard Malfoy moaning about being put with a Gryffindor girl. Were they as bad to you?'
The thing that Andromeda particularly disliked about the younger Slytherins was that Malfoy was a sort of idol to them. Though they almost always disapproved of his methods, they all admired his power and tended to take his word as gospel. 'Malfoy isn't always right, you know,' she snapped.
Vivian looked taken aback. 'You like the Gryffindors, then?'
'Not all of them,' Andromeda was quick to assert, and then kicked herself. Since when did it matter to you if people thought you were weird? 'I was working with Harry Potter, and he seems OK.' More than OK…
'Well, if you say so,' said Drusilla Simpson-Clarke, a very upper-class blonde girl who, Andromeda suspected, had a bit of a crush on Malfoy. 'But in my opinion, those Gryffindors – they're all the same.'
Harry and Andromeda met for the Potions detention ten minutes early, to be sure of escaping Snape's wrath. Typically, Snape was five minutes late.
Not seeming to be in quite as bad a mood as he had for the lesson, Snape quickly instructed them to begin cleaning out the storage boxes he set in front of them. Harry noted dismally that there were at least ten, all filled to overflowing with old Potions ingredients, some going mouldy. But he knew better than to express dismay at their task.
The pair got to work, and Snape went off somewhere. They were silent for a few minutes, until Harry gained the courage to ask, 'How are you now?'
'As opposed to the other night, I'm perfect.' She sighed. 'But there's always the same problem – I wish I wasn't in Slytherin. I feel so lonely sometimes. I have people I hang around with, but I don't have any friends. There's not a single Slytherin I'd be proud to have as a friend.'
'It must be really rough.'
'I wish I'd been a Gryffindor!' The outburst repercussed against the stone walls until the echoes faded to silence.
So do I, thought Harry. 'I don't know why you weren't,' he said out loud. 'I mean, you could have at least been a Ravenclaw or something. Being so unhappy there must mean that you don't really belong. When I first came to the school…' he hesitated. He'd never even told Ron or Hermione this before. 'The Sorting Hat thought about putting me there, too.'
But Andromeda didn't look shocked. Not even surprised. 'But it didn't,' she sighed.
'Look, Andromeda… if you ever need to talk, or just to get away from Malfoy and his lot… well, you're welcome to come to the Gryffindor common room. I'm there most of the time.' And he told her the password.
Now she did look stunned. 'You're not – you weren't supposed to tell me that.'
'It doesn't matter,' replied Harry. He was staring right into her eyes. They were the brightest shade of blue he'd ever seen, a deep, fiery electric blue. And she was staring right back.
Andromeda was staring right into his eyes. They were the brightest shade of green she'd ever seen, a deep, clear grassy green. And he was staring right back.
Harry leaned forward, his mind clear of everything but Andromeda's eyes. Andromeda was a galaxy, wasn't it? Her eyes sparkled with tiny flecks of silver, just like the sky at night. It was an appropriate name.
Suddenly the door swung open and Snape stormed in. Harry and Andromeda swung guiltily apart, and both started gabbling about the incomplete set of dragonfly parts that lay before them. However, Snape appeared not to have noticed anything strange, and said, 'It's all right, you can go now. Dumbledore says you've got to be fit for the Quidditch match tomorrow, Potter, though why games come before discipline I don't know… and it's hardly fair that Miss Green has to complete her punishment when you don't. So go away.'
They did so, getting stuck in the thin doorway and having to do an awkward little sort of dance before they could both get out. They returned to their common rooms without a word to each other.
Since that afternoon's practice, Harry had completely forgotten about the Quidditch match. They were playing against Ravenclaw, who were worthy opponents, but they'd beaten Hufflepuff (who had, in all fairness, been testing out a new Seeker, Neil Stokestone) by a very large amount, and if the worst came to the worst they could afford to lose this match. Harry decided that the best he could do for the team was to get a good night's sleep. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Harry had a lot on his mind.