The platform was suddenly full of first-years and their parents kissing them goodbye. Andromeda looked around and discovered that even her cousin Sirius, who would be starting his first year at Hogwarts, had arrived and was just about to hand his mother his huge bag through the door of the Hogwart's Express. And the Malfoys were there, she discovered, speaking to their son Lucius through the open window of one of the train's compartments. Andromeda made a mental note to stay away from that specific part of the train during the journey.
Instead, she went to look for her sisters, who had discovered their various classmates and left her with all their luggage and the three owls - again. She strolled towards the front of the train where a huge sign said: Platform 9 3/4, Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. Wherever had Bellatrix and Narcissa gone? There was no way she would find them in this crowd, and she was certainly not going to take their heavy trunks onto the train all by herself. Andromeda sighed and turned, attempting to find any of her classmates. But it was no use. The platform seemed deserted of fifth years, though crowded with people on the whole.
Then, suddenly, Andromeda perceived voices and an unusual amount of noise, coming from the back of the train. Strictly speaking, it came from exactly the direction into which Bellatrix had previously disappeared. There was an uproar and Andromeda heard her elder sister's sharp voice, clearly penetrating the many-layered buzzing: 'CAREFUL, YOU LITTLE SHIT!'
A group of students was gathered around the spot were people were entering from King's Cross Station. Some where laughing, other were shouting instructions. On the floor, Andromeda saw with some surprise, lay Bellatrix, next to a small boy she could not remember to have ever seen before. They had obviously bumped into each other, which, of course, would have enraged Bellatrix to no extend.
The boy was lying sqarely on top of the much bigger girl, who was seizing his shoulders, shoving him aside in an attempt to straighten up as quickly and elegantly as possible. She was seething. Andromeda saw her rubbing the dirt from her hands and then position herself over the boy, who was still on all four, making every effort to scramble up before she started shouting.
'WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?' yelled Bellatrix over the voices and the laughter of the other students. 'Stupid little idiot! Can't you watch where you're going?'
'I...' the boy was obviously confused. 'I didn't think-'
'Whatever,' growled Bellatrix, soothing herself as quickly as her outburst had come, realizing that raging at this boy was probably not worth the trouble, as he seemed to have no intention to shout back, let alone start a proper fight. She straighened her black robes and looked down at him with unmistakable disgust on her face. 'Who are you, anyway?'
'Snape,' said the boy timidly, 'I'm sorry.'
'Sorry Snape, ey?' grinned Bellatrix. 'Well, you shall be forgiven for once. Is this your first year?'
The boy nodded.
'Very well then.' Bellatrix turned around and looked at her sister. 'Where's the luggage, Andy?'
'Where you left it,' replied Andromeda, still starig at the boy, who had started to throw his belongings back into his open trunk.
'I am not sitting in a comparment with Morgana McGonagall again,' said Bellatrix. 'And I am not going to sit wherever that arrogant Bram Figg might have positioned himself this time.'
'Sit wherever you like,' replied Andromeda coolly, 'I am going to the front. The Prefects have their own compartment.'
'I forgot you'd be wanting to sit with the other nerds,' sneered Bellatrix. 'Very well, then. I'll go and see where Cissa has gone. See you patrolling the train, I suppose.' And she was gone in a heartbeat.
Andromeda rolled her eyes to the wooden ceiling of the station and shook her head. Bellatrix could be a real nuisance. She suddenly wondered where the boy named Snape might have gone and was pleased to find him only seconds later when he was trying to heave his trunk through one of the narrow doors of the Hogwarts Express. He had a thoroughly unpleasant look about him, but Andromeda decided that he would be needing some help nevertheless.
'Hi there,' she said, arriving behind the boy's back in her usual sudden manner. 'Need a hand?'
Severus Snape whirled around, nearly dropping all his belongings, and stared at her in what seemed to be a mixture of surprise and anger.
'What - no!'
'You are going to drop that. Let me carry it,' she said, maintaining a cheerfully polite voice as she spoke. Always polite, her parents had taught her, to people who are as yet unknown factors within the wizarding society. But Snape was not only an unknown factor. He was frankly rude. His black eyes narrowed and he jerked back when Andromeda tried to seize his trunk, making her stop and stare at him, not knowing whether she ought to be offended or not.
'I said I don't need any help,' he snarled. 'Get off!'
Andromeda backed away. 'Fine,' she snapped. 'I was just trying to be polite.' And she turned, ignoring the shattering sound behind her, which meant, of course, that the boy's trunk had landed on the ground after all.
***
The other Prefects had already taken their seats when she arrived at the front of the train.
'You're late,' said Julia Brown, the newly elected Headgirl when she entered the compartment. 'I have just told the others that there is a bit of time left before we start patrolling the corridors. The little ones seem to have safely boarded the train - that is a good start.'
'Would you stop calling them "the little ones",' sneered Bram Figg, Ravenclaw Prefect and, incidentally, semi-professional goal keeper for the Whilbourne Wasps. 'It sounds haughty.'
'Well, perhaps,' said Julia, 'but they are ever so small. I can't remember whether we've been so small during our first year, can you?'
'You have,' retorted Bram and the other Prefects laughed. It was no secret that Julia had never made the six feet eight inches she had used to aim at. Andromeda smiled and sat down. Bram gave her a broad grin and settled down himself, at the seat next to her. She felt her face flush. She liked Bram. It was not a secret either. She opened her mouth to say something intelligent, but at that very same moment the door of the Prefects compartment flung open and a boy stumbled in. The same boy, in fact, with whom Andromeda had already had one unpleasant encounter today. This time, however, Snape was very white in the face and, astonishingly, on the verge of tears.
'This is the Prefects' compartment,' snarled the other Ravenclaw Prefect, a girl called Luciana Perks, giving Snape a derisive look. 'What do you want?'
Snape said something, but Andromeda did not catch his words. Nor, apparently, did Luciana.
'Speak up,' she snapped indignantly. 'I cannot understand a word.'
'They said I should go in here,' answered Snape in barely more than a whisper. 'They said that I couldn't... that they needed the compartment for themselves.'
'They?' enquired Andromeda curiously. 'Who are they?'
'Some of the older ones,' whispered Snape. 'Gryffindors, I think. Wood, Flint, Storkins... and a younger one. They call him Potter.'
'Storkins!' said Andromeda testily, 'Yes, I know that one. I'll speak with them. I -'
But at that moment the door of their compartment opened again and in came Lucius Malfoy. A sneer was playing around his lips, as usual, and he was looking around as if he had lost something he would prefer to not find again.
'Looking for someone, Malfoy?' snapped Luciana Perks again. 'Or have you changed your mind all of a sudden? I thought you said you weren't going to give up on your cosy appartment at the back of the train just because a stupid bunch of teachers saw fit to admit you into the ranks of the more privileged students...?'
'Yes, that's what you told me back in Camden last month,' said Andromeda grinningly. 'What is it, King Lucius, that made you leave your throne room?'
The Malfoy ignored her as thoroughly as possible.
'I am told this compartment has been blessed with the presence of a boy named Severus Snape,' he said, throwing a derisive side-glance at Andromeda, his eyes resting on the very person he was looking for. Luciana Perks nodded.
'This is him.'
Malfoys sneer became more pronounced. 'I shall take him with me, if you don't mind. I have a very comfortable compartment at the back of the train where I am sure we shall find some space for himself and his trunk.'
Andromeda considered for a while. 'Right,' she said finally. 'You can take him. Saves us the trouble of dealing with this. My, I daresay you start living up to your Prefect duties.'
Malfoy smirked. 'You have no idea just how much of a guardian angel I can be if I want to.'
Andromeda forced herself not to roll her eyes and merely nodded. 'Yes. I am sure of that.'
'Come,' said Lucius finally, looking at Snape, who did not hesitate to follow the fair-haired Slytherin out of the compartment and towards the back of the train. Andromeda sank back into her seat. This was the nicest she had ever seen Lucius Malfoy. But did she like it?