DISCLAIMER: I didn't create Harry Potter, however much I wish I had. All
characters and everything else from the books are property of JK Rowling.
However, this story is © 2004 by me.
Andromeda stayed slumped in the seat on the Hogwarts Express before the train gave a jolt and started. Two minutes later, Andromeda's best friend, Rachel Arane, stuck her head into the compartment.
"Is Andr...oh! Andi, we've been looking all over for you!" Rachel squeaked. She jumped into the compartment, pulled Andromeda up from her seat and hugged her.
"Rachel! Oh, I missed you!" Andromeda exclaimed. She looked Rachel up and down. Rachel looked exactly the same as last year—shoulder-length fiery red hair, deep green eyes, pale skin...she was also still short, like she had been last year.
"Rachel, is Andi in there?" someone called from the hall.
"She better be, we've looked over half the train," another voice added.
Two seconds later, four more of Andromeda's friends appeared in the doorway, Bethany Prewett, Laura Fawcett, Luke Vazquez, and Nick Black, her second cousin.
"Beth! Luke! Laura! Nick!" shrieked Andromeda, hugging each of them in turn.
The rest of the six-hour train ride was spent laughing, joking, talking, and playing several dozen games of Exploding Snap. Lucius Malfoy only stopped into their compartment once. When Andromeda spotted him, she secretly blew air kisses toward him. He smiled and blew one back, which made her incredibly giddy and happy.
Finally, the conductor made the announcement that they were "only fifteen minutes away from Hogwarts, and please leave all luggage on the train; it will be brought to the castle separately." Andromeda pulled her cloak out of her trunk and hooked it over her robes—it was rainy, cold and miserable outside.
"What is that?" Laura said suddenly, pointing out the window of the compartment. Andromeda turned to look out and screamed. They were passing a field south of Hogsmeade, and there was a huge shape looming out of the darkness—trudging slowly alongside the train. It was immense—Andromeda squinted through the dark to evaluate its size, and figured it must have been at least fifteen feet tall—whatever it was. Within a minute, as the shape grew closer, the other compartments caught on and noticed, and screams filled the train. Andromeda went into the aisle and spotted one of her roommates, Clare Taylor, standing in the door of the compartment next to Andromeda's.
"Clare!" she yelled over the screams. "What is that thing out there?"
"I don't know," Clare shouted back. Her blonde hair swung in her face, and she impatiently pushed it back. "It's huge, though, and headed right where the train is! I'm going to tell the driver to speed up, or else it'll get us." Her voice shook slightly. Clare waved and jogged down the aisle.
Andromeda looked down the aisle to the other compartments. Bellatrix was leaning out of one of the doors. "Scared, Andi?" she called. "Afraid the monster's going to eat you?"
"Bugger off, Bella," Andromeda said, and went back into her compartment. Bethany was on the floor, leaning her head on the seat behind her with her eyes closed. Rachel was curled like a cat on the seat behind Bethany, her already pale skin now chalk white. Laura stood by the window, her nose pressed against the glass, watching the shape grow steadily closer—now running to keep up with the train. Nick and Luke sat across from one another, both almost as pale as Rachel. No one spoke. Andromeda felt as though she were at a funeral and was hit by a horrible thought—what if Mother and Father are at my funeral this time tomorrow?
She squeezed her eyes shut as if that would make this possibility disappear. "What is that—thing out there?" Andromeda asked Laura. "Are we panicking over—over nothing?"
Laura swallowed hard. "I don't know. But this th-thing is huge and running after the train. We're ten minutes away from Hogsmeade. What then? Does it catch us? Or do we catch it?"
"We catch it," Nick said firmly. "And we all live happily ever after. Stop worrying! We're not going to die. Look, who would win? It's all of Hogwarts against one—thing. We don't even know what this thing is."
Andromeda smiled shakily at Nick. He had that same gift as Sirius—he could change her mood instantly. Although cheered slightly by that little speech, Andromeda still glanced warily about the little compartment, as though the fifteen-foot—whatever it was—could be right there among them. She took a deep breath to calm herself and said, "I'm going over to Clare's compartment to see what's going on. Does anyone want to come?"
There was silence in the compartment once more until Rachel stood and said, "I'll come with you."
Andromeda smiled gratefully; she had definitely not wanted to go discover their fate alone. "Thanks, Rach," she said, and they walked into the aisle and over to Clare's compartment. She glanced through the open door before knocking. Clare was passing a glittery notebook filled with her and Charlotte Johnson's handwriting and a quill back and forth with Charlotte, who was another of their roommates. A sixth-year Ravenclaw Andromeda didn't know by name was curled in a corner reading a Gladrags catalogue. The girl reading the catalogue was small with shiny brown hair and long manicured nails that reminded Andromeda of Bellatrix's. The only other person in the compartment was a very pretty but very young girl that Andromeda didn't recognize, with black hair in a braid and almond eyes.
"Hey Andi, hey Rach," Clare said when Andromeda knocked. "Oh, this is Julia Nord," she pointed to the girl reading the catalogue, who waved after looking up for a split second, "and this is Ella Chang." She pointed to the other girl, who flashed them a white, brilliant smile. "This is Andromeda—Andi—Black and Rachel Arane." She told Julia and Ella.
"Hi," Rachel said. Her eyes traveled over every person in the compartment before coming back to rest on Clare. "D'you know what's going on?"
Clare shrugged, but Julia ran a hand through her hair, dropped her catalogue on the seat, and answered, "I talked to the driver. He's sent an owl ahead to Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic branch in Hogsmeade. No one knows what's out there, but he says we'll be ready for it."
It was silent in the compartment for a while. Then Ella said in a loud voice, "What if it's a giant or something? They're about twenty feet tall and very tough—you can't just stun one and make it stop."
Andromeda peered out the window through the darkness. "That's not a giant," she said. "I think...I think that's a troll."
Julia scrambled to her feet to join Andromeda at the window. "My God, she's right," she cried. "That is definitely a troll."
In a matter of two seconds, Ella, Clare, Charlotte and Rachel were all pressed against the window with Julia and Andromeda. Ella gave a little whimper of fear. The troll was running quickly; surely soon he'd catch up—
"Look!" Charlotte shouted. "Hogsmeade!" Andromeda was slapped in the face by Ella's braid as everyone turned their heads, but she smiled anyway because the lights of Hogsmeade shone in the distance.
"We're saved!" Rachel laughed and fell back into a seat, her face glowing with delight and relief. Clare gave a small cheer and Charlotte did a little victory dance. Andromeda laughed and fell onto the seat Clare had been in. She landed on the glittery blue notebook Charlotte and Clare had been writing in and pulled it out from under her. "What's this?" she asked Charlotte.
"Nothing," Charlotte answered. "Just an old notebook, me and Clare were working on a story.
"Oh," Andromeda said, and tossed the book back to Charlotte. "So, Char, still going to be a professor with me? You'll still be my roommate in 'professor school', right?" she laughed.
"Of course, Andi!" Charlotte said. "Teachers all the way! Clare, have you picked a profession YET? Please, please, please tell me you have."
"Yeah," Clare answered. "I have. I'm going to be an Auror like my Aunt Carla. I'm going to miss you guys so much next year!"
Andromeda and Charlotte exchanged a look. "Clare, er, your Aunt Carla...well, wasn't she killed last year?"
There was a silence for a moment. Andromeda looked around. Ella and Rachel were watching Clare, looking very interested. Julia had opened the Gladrags catalogue again and was staring at a bright pink set of robes. Andromeda had a sudden strange urge to toss a pile of gold at Julia and tell her it was for those robes—for the ball this year. But she knew it would make Julia immensely uncomfortable and so looked back over at Clare.
Finally, Charlotte spoke up. "Andi's right, Clare. What, do you want to die there and leave us all alone?"
"I'm not going to die!" Clare snapped. "Look, can we at least wait until we get to school with Liz and Rory to talk about this? Please?"
Charlotte and Andromeda frowned and Charlotte muttered, "Whatever," and turned away from Clare.
Suddenly, the train shuddered to a halt and the driver's voice filled the air. "All students remain in your seats until further notice. Do not panic. Stay calm." You could feel the nervous tension fill the compartment. No one seemed to want to look out the window. After only about five minutes, an ear-splitting roar tore through the train and they heard the troll fall.
Clare gave another small cheer as the driver's voice filled the train again. "It is now safe to exit the train. Please leave all of your luggage in the compartment."
Charlotte made a face at Clare before stowing the notebook they had been writing in in the pink purse she had slung over her shoulder. Slowly, they filed out of the compartment—Clare, Charlotte, Ella, Julia and then Andromeda. Andromeda felt like she had butterflies dancing in the pit of her stomach. This was it—her very last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But this slightly nervous feeling was nothing to how she supposed Ella was feeling—Andromeda glanced over at Ella and smiled slightly. Ella was extremely pale and looked kind of sick. She wondered if anyone had told Ella that all she had to do was try on a hat. She supposed no one had—Ella was actually shaking and looked like she was walking to her own execution.
Andromeda flashed Ella an encouraging sort of smile as they made their way off the train. "Good luck!" she called to her. Ella waved and joined the other first years lining up to cross the lake.
Charlotte grabbed Andromeda's arm and pulled to an empty carriage. Andromeda dug her heels into the ground and paused for a moment to admire the thestrals pulling it, which she had been able to see since she was twelve, when she had seen her grandmother die.
"Andi, MOVE!" Charlotte yelled. "It's pouring out here!"
It was, too. Great buckets of rain splashed down on them as they stepped into the carriage. Claps of thunder sounded every few seconds. Andromeda shivered in her soaking wet robes as the carriage clattered up the bumpy road to Hogwarts.
Finally, the carriage came to a halt outside the entrance hall. Andromeda and Charlotte ran inside to the Great Hall and collapsed at the Ravenclaw table, gasping for breath but laughing. Clare, Liz Marcell and Rory Fawcett, Laura Fawcett's twin sister, appeared from the hall and sat down next to them. Rory and Liz were their other two roommates. Andromeda noticed all three of them were perfectly dry.
"Aren't you two ever going to learn to do a water repelling charm?" Rory asked, shaking her head disapprovingly and flipping her curly blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Oh, shut up, Rory," Charlotte laughed. Rory opened her mouth to reply, looking angry, but Liz held up a hand.
"Rory, don't. Char, knock it off." Liz said tiredly. "Please don't do this this year."
"Do what?" Rory said, looking utterly bewildered.
"Fight!" Clare said, rolling her eyes. "Like you did all last year!"
"Okay, everybody just shut up," Andromeda said. "Dumbledore's going to talk."
"I don't—," Rory began, but Clare silenced her with a glare.
"Whatever," Rory said, sticking her tongue out when Clare turned away.
"Oh, how mature," Andromeda muttered. Dumbledore stood up at the staff table and began to talk, but Andromeda wasn't listening. Instead, she was glancing around at the different house tables, especially the Slytherin one. Between five of her cousins and her sister sat Lucius Malfoy, his blonde hair shining under the lightning flashing down from the enchanted ceiling.
Lucius looked...different, somehow, sitting there with his friends. There was a kind of cold glint in his eyes that was not there when he talked to Andromeda. She saw him laugh at something that Dumbledore said, which obviously wasn't supposed to be funny, and had a sudden stab of uncertainty. What was she seeing in him? If he was a sensitive, kind person with Andromeda and a cold, uncaring person with his Slytherin friends and her sisters, who was he, really? Either way, he was being completely fake with someone.
Andromeda tore her eyes away from Lucius and looked over to the Gryffindor table for Laura and Bethany. She watched some of the Gryffindors for a while as Dumbledore went on, and then looked over to the Hufflepuffs.
Suddenly, everyone started clapping. Andromeda looked up and realized with a jolt that she must have missed the Sorting Hat's song. She gave a little groan of disappointment and smiled and waved at Ella, who was standing up by the staff table with the other first years. Ella seemed to have calmed down since Professor McGonagall had explained what they would be doing. She actually looked extremely excited as she waved energetically back to Andromeda.
Six kids were sorted before Ella—three new Gryffindors, two Slytherins and a Hufflepuff. Ella bounced up onto the stool and Professor McGonagall dropped the hat onto her head. It took almost a minute before the hat bellowed, "RAVENCLAW!"
Andromeda clapped and cheered as Ella made her way to the Ravenclaw table and sank into the seat next to her. "Great job!" Andromeda told Ella, as "Doyle, Audrey" joined the Slytherins and took the empty seat next to Narcissa. Andromeda made a face. She felt bad for Audrey Doyle for having to be sorted into a house like that. Andromeda told this to Ella, who giggled and said, "You think so, too? I've got a sister in Slytherin, Naomi. I'm actually embarrassed to be seen in public with her. I was so afraid I was going to be sorted into Slytherin with her. I guess you know what that's like," she added, seeing Andromeda glance over to Narcissa.
"Yeah, unfortunately," Andromeda said. She looked up to the Sorting again. There were only two people left, "Zorbaugh, Kyle," and "Santiago, Maria." Maria was sorted into Ravenclaw and Kyle into Hufflepuff.
Andromeda clapped loudly as Maria joined their table. Dumbledore stood up once more, smiled around the hall and said very simply, "Eat!"
"Yay!" Charlotte said, laughing, from Andromeda's right. The long Ravenclaw table was all of a sudden filled with dozens and dozens of dishes of food.
"I'm starving," Rory moaned, piling salad and chicken onto her plate. Andromeda took the salad from her as Rory, her mouth filled with lettuce, said, "I wonder if they've fixed your hole in the wall, Char?" she swallowed and gave Charlotte an innocent smiled.
"Fixed her what?" Ella asked.
Rory smiled again at Ella and started to tell the story, while Charlotte shot furious looks down the table. "You see," Rory began, "last year, our lovely Charlotte over here and I—did I introduce myself?" she flipped her hair, "Rory Fawcett, Ravenclaw seventh year, roommate to Andi, Clare, Liz and, unfortunately, Char. Anyway, Char and I had gotten into a little fight." she grinned. "I think maybe I read her journal or something. So she starts screaming and stuff, right? You know, 'It's my personal property, how dare you,' blah, blah, blah. So I'm just standing there, right, in the middle of our dorm and Char gets so mad she goes crazy and actually punches a hole in the wall! Filch is going to have a field day yelling at you when he finds out," she said to Charlotte, who looked positively murderous after reliving that particular memory.
Ella looked as though she was trying not to smile. "She—she punched a hole in the wall?"
"Yup," Andromeda nodded. "Just went wham—," she curled her hand into a fist and punched the air, "—and knocked a piece of the dorm wall out, clear through to the staircase."
"It's not funny!" Charlotte said hotly as they all erupted in laughter.
"Well, it's really not," Clare agreed, "Except for the part where you came running screaming into the common room clutching your hand afterwards."
"Yeah," Liz said, nodding and still laughing, "Gotta agree with Clare there."
"Sorry, Char," Rory said. "But that was pretty funny. I watched it all from up the stairs. After I had finished staring in disbelief at the damage you did, of course."
"Hmph," Charlotte said, picking at her macaroni salad. "Wasn't very funny for me when Madam Pomfrey said I broke three fingers that night."
Everyone winced. "Oooh, yeah. Sorry about that, Char," Rory said. "Didn't mean for you to...anyway, I don't know why you made such a big deal out of me reading that journal. There was only one entry, about some guy named...um..." she furrowed her brow, thinking hard, and flipped her hair again. "OH! Right. His name was Evan McGowan, or something. Who was he, anyway?"
"No one!" Charlotte said, going very pink.
"No one," Rory repeated, her eyebrows raised. "Is that why there were three pages about how much you loved him, how incredibly handsome he is, how much money he had..."
"Shut up, Rory," Andromeda said, abandoning her salad to look up at Charlotte, who was growing redder by the second. Andromeda wouldn't be surprised if she pulled out her wand and began throwing every hex she knew at Rory. Andromeda knew that that's what she would have done in Charlotte's position.
"Why?" Rory asked, leaning over Charlotte to talk to her and winking hugely. "Isn't it our business if Char has a secret boyfriend that she hadn't told us about? Who knows—," she dropped her voice to a stage whisper. "—maybe it's a Muggle!"
Charlotte choked on an apple slice and disappeared under the table, coughing. When she came up, her face was glowing red. Rory, Liz and Clare shrieked in unison. Andromeda stared at Charlotte, speechless. Liz jumped to her feet.
"CHARLOTTE ANNEMARIE JOHNSON!" Liz screamed. People in the hall glanced around and stared at them. Liz either didn't notice or didn't care, because she still was screaming as she continued, "YOU CANNOT BE DATING A MUGGLE! YOU'RE A WITCH! MY MOM DATED A MUGGLE AND LOOK WHERE IT GOT HER! KILLED!"
"Shut up!" Charlotte yelped, slapping at Liz. "Shut up and sit down! He's not a Muggle! He's not even Muggle-born! His name is Evan, okay, and he lives in America and goes to school there—Kingston Academy. I met him on holiday last Christmas. He's not a Muggle," she repeated slowly. "And anyway, what would it matter if he was?" she added.
"Then why'd you...dive under the table and stuff?" Liz whispered, ignoring Charlotte's last statement. Both of Liz's hands were over her mouth. She looked completely mortified.
"Dunno. The idea of me dating a Muggle—just—set me off, I guess." Andromeda could tell she was lying, but didn't say anything. Charlotte looked impatiently at her plate. The dinner foods had been replaced by tons of dessert food. "Is this feast ever going to be over?"
As if in answer to her question, the food vanished from the table and Dumbledore stood up again. "Class schedules will be passed out tomorrow morning at breakfast. Quidditch tryouts will be held next Friday evening at six o'clock. If you are interested in trying out for your team, contact the house captains, who are as follows: Gryffindor, Amanda Hector. Slytherin, Lucius Malfoy. Ravenclaw, Elizabeth Marcell. Hufflepuff, Lexi Carusa. Congratulations again to you, Amanda, Lucius, Elizabeth, and Lexi," he said, smiling at the four of them. "May you all have an excellent year. Goodnight!"
"You didn't tell us you'd been made captain!" Clare hissed as they walked to their common room.
"I'm sorry!" Liz cried, paling. She seemed incredibly nervous. "They sent an owl in the beginning of the summer, I completely forgot about it! Clare, I can't be captain...all that responsibility! Head of the whole team!"
"You'll be a great captain!" Andromeda told Liz, who shrugged as they walked through a secret passageway under an old tapestry. They emerged from the passage on the third floor, where they went through another passage and came out of it on the seventh floor in front of a particularly shiny suit of armor. A prefect came running up and said, "Password's 'four-point.'"
Instantly, the suit of armor stepped aside and revealed a heavy oak door, which the prefect wrenched open and held for them. "Thanks," Andromeda said. He nodded and ran in after them. They walked through a short hall, which led to the common room, a large tower room painted in blue and silver. There were a lot of overstuffed old couches and armchairs and rickety old tables. They had four fireplaces and a gigantic chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling.
Andromeda was hit with a sudden wave of tiredness. "I'm going straight to bed," she told her roommates, suppressing a yawn. "Is anyone coming with me?"
"Me," Rory said. She looked as tired as Andromeda felt. Rory and Andromeda said good night and trudged up the stairs to the top dormitory. Andromeda yawned hugely and got changed, then dropped into bed.
She had almost fallen asleep when Rory's voice cut through the darkness in a great rush.
"Andi, does Char really hate me? I mean, I might be a little nasty to her sometimes and I just want to know."
"Nobody hates you, Rory." Andromeda answered, exasperated. She sat up and turned towards Rory's bed. "You're beautiful, and smart, and funny. Everyone loves you."
It took a while for Rory to respond. Finally, she said, "Thanks, Andi. You know, you are too."
"Thanks. Now GOODNIGHT!" Andromeda flopped back onto her bed.
Once again, she had almost fallen asleep when Rory spoke.
"Andi, do you think your family is as bad as mine?"
"Worse."
"Yeah? You really think so? Can I ask you something else?"
"Rory," Andromeda said, "if I don't get to sleep right now I am going to go crazy. Be quiet for once in your life!"
"Sorry, Andi," Rory laughed. "'Night."
"'Night," Andromeda answered, and then dropped off to sleep.
That night, Andromeda had a very strange dream. She dreamt that she had gone home for Christmas break to find the house deserted. No Mother, no Father, no Bellatrix, no Narcissa. She had run around the house looking for them but they had gone without a trace. As she sat in the parlor, wondering where they were, Rory and Laura appeared and asked her to come to Christmas at their house. Then Liz, Clare and Charlotte came in, yelling not to go with Rory because they hated her. They got into a fight with Laura and Rory and then all of them disappeared and were replaced by someone sitting on the couch. She couldn't see his face and reached over to turn it—
"Andi! Wake up!" Charlotte was yelling. "You'll miss breakfast!"
"What?" Andromeda sat up very quickly and pulled her bed curtains open. Charlotte was standing at the foot of Andromeda's bed, pulling on her cloak and looking anxiously out the window.
"We're going to miss breakfast, hurry up, Andi!" Charlotte said. "Wear your cloak. Liz went down to get her schedule already and told me we have Herbology first and it still hasn't stopped raining!" she said this all very quickly and threw Andromeda's robes and cloak at her, said, "Meet me in the common room," and walked out. Andromeda looked around the dorm as she dressed. Except for her, it was completely empty. Charlotte's hole in the wall seemed to have been repaired over the summer. Andromeda smiled as she imagined Filch's reaction to finding it. She glanced out the window. Huge sheets of rain were still falling, drenching the grounds and threatening to overflow the lake.
She slipped out of the room and walked down the curving staircase. Charlotte was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs and they walked out of the common room, Andromeda still yawning. They took the same path to the Great Hall that they had the night before. Charlotte was chattering animatedly to her, but Andromeda couldn't pay attention. She felt like she was going to collapse any second and wondered vaguely why she was so tired.
Finally they made it down to the Ravenclaw table and sat down. The Hall was nearly empty; not including Charlotte and Andromeda, there were only six others Ravenclaws at the table. Andromeda poured herself a vanilla cappuccino—her morning drink of choice since her first year. She only started to feel awake after a few sips of it.
"Here, Andi," Charlotte said and tossed a schedule to her. Andromeda picked and looked it over.
"So...today we have Herbology, double Divination—yes—," (Andromeda loved Divination class, the professor often told her she had the Sight) "—Charms, and double Potions."
"Ugh," Charlotte said. "I wish I could've quit Potions last year. Too bad we have to have it for our teaching exams...I nearly cried when Flitwick told me that in our meeting." Charlotte was an exceptionally bad Potions student. It was a good thing her family was filthy rich, because Charlotte needed a new cauldron nearly every month—so far she had managed to melt, blow up, crack or put holes in every one she'd had.
"Yeah," Andromeda said absently. "Look, we'd better get going." Lucius Malfoy was heading their way. "We're...um...we're going to be late for Herbology."
"Oh, man, you're right," Charlotte said, looking down at her watch. "All right, let's go." She stood up and grabbed her bag off of the bench next to her.
"Ah, shoot, I forgot my bag!" Andromeda cried. "I've got to run up to the dorm and grab it; meet you in Herbology."
"Andi, hurry!" Charlotte said anxiously, but Andromeda had already taken off across the hall. She ran down a corridor, under the tapestry, through the passage, through another passage, in front of the suit of armor. "Four-point," Andromeda gasped, and the armor stepped aside. She pulled open the door and ran across the common room, took the stairs to her dorm three at a time and grabbed her bag before dashing back the way she came, across the entrance hall, across the lawn, and down to the greenhouses.
Andromeda froze, three yards in front of the greenhouse that her class was in. Lucius Malfoy stood in front of it, leaning against the door. As she approached, he began walking to meet her and called out, "Professor Sprout sent me out here to get you. But then Charlotte said that you were coming, you'd just forgotten your bag, so I decided to save myself a walk." He smiled hugely at her.
Andromeda didn't move. She could not forget how cruel and cold and...well, how Lucius had seemed last night with the Slytherins. "Well, thanks," she said and walked right past him into the greenhouse, leaving him looking lost and confused behind her. She muttered an apology to Professor Sprout, who told her that it was perfectly all right and that they would be working on planting Venomous Tentacula seeds today, four people to a table. Andromeda nodded mutely and sat down at a table with Charlotte, Rory, and a Slytherin girl who introduced herself as Thia Clarkson.
Thia seemed pretty nice for a Slytherin, or perhaps Andromeda only that that because Thia didn't seem to like Lucius Malfoy much, either. Andromeda began telling Rory and Charlotte all about what had happened between her and Lucius over the summer, at the feast, and outside the greenhouse just now. Thia had no choice but to overhear.
"He's always been a great prat, Andromeda," Thia sighed, forcing a jewel-like red seed into a pot. This was fairly difficult, as the seeds had tiny sharp teeth and attempted to bit your fingers off when you touched it. It attached itself to Thia's palm and she screeched, "OW!" before continuing, "He told me he had a crush on me in fifth year, and then he turned around and dumped me to start dating my sister. My sister! Anyway, my advice would be to have nothing more to do with Lucius Malfoy."
And as Andromeda caught sight of Lucius, sniggering and pointing at a Slytherin girl with his friends, she thought that at that moment, she would have given anything to not be associated with Lucius Malfoy anymore.
But what if she had gotten too close to Lucius? Would she have to endure her entire life being confused and hurt by him?
And THAT ends Chapter Two. I hope you enjoyed it. I didn't like this chapter as much as the first one, I think I introduced too many characters and I don't know, I just don't think I did as good with this chapter. Okay well, please review and if you could offer any pointers, that'd be great. I am going to start working on Chapter Three. Hopefully it won't take me as long to finish it. Thanks for reading!! Rachelle
Andromeda stayed slumped in the seat on the Hogwarts Express before the train gave a jolt and started. Two minutes later, Andromeda's best friend, Rachel Arane, stuck her head into the compartment.
"Is Andr...oh! Andi, we've been looking all over for you!" Rachel squeaked. She jumped into the compartment, pulled Andromeda up from her seat and hugged her.
"Rachel! Oh, I missed you!" Andromeda exclaimed. She looked Rachel up and down. Rachel looked exactly the same as last year—shoulder-length fiery red hair, deep green eyes, pale skin...she was also still short, like she had been last year.
"Rachel, is Andi in there?" someone called from the hall.
"She better be, we've looked over half the train," another voice added.
Two seconds later, four more of Andromeda's friends appeared in the doorway, Bethany Prewett, Laura Fawcett, Luke Vazquez, and Nick Black, her second cousin.
"Beth! Luke! Laura! Nick!" shrieked Andromeda, hugging each of them in turn.
The rest of the six-hour train ride was spent laughing, joking, talking, and playing several dozen games of Exploding Snap. Lucius Malfoy only stopped into their compartment once. When Andromeda spotted him, she secretly blew air kisses toward him. He smiled and blew one back, which made her incredibly giddy and happy.
Finally, the conductor made the announcement that they were "only fifteen minutes away from Hogwarts, and please leave all luggage on the train; it will be brought to the castle separately." Andromeda pulled her cloak out of her trunk and hooked it over her robes—it was rainy, cold and miserable outside.
"What is that?" Laura said suddenly, pointing out the window of the compartment. Andromeda turned to look out and screamed. They were passing a field south of Hogsmeade, and there was a huge shape looming out of the darkness—trudging slowly alongside the train. It was immense—Andromeda squinted through the dark to evaluate its size, and figured it must have been at least fifteen feet tall—whatever it was. Within a minute, as the shape grew closer, the other compartments caught on and noticed, and screams filled the train. Andromeda went into the aisle and spotted one of her roommates, Clare Taylor, standing in the door of the compartment next to Andromeda's.
"Clare!" she yelled over the screams. "What is that thing out there?"
"I don't know," Clare shouted back. Her blonde hair swung in her face, and she impatiently pushed it back. "It's huge, though, and headed right where the train is! I'm going to tell the driver to speed up, or else it'll get us." Her voice shook slightly. Clare waved and jogged down the aisle.
Andromeda looked down the aisle to the other compartments. Bellatrix was leaning out of one of the doors. "Scared, Andi?" she called. "Afraid the monster's going to eat you?"
"Bugger off, Bella," Andromeda said, and went back into her compartment. Bethany was on the floor, leaning her head on the seat behind her with her eyes closed. Rachel was curled like a cat on the seat behind Bethany, her already pale skin now chalk white. Laura stood by the window, her nose pressed against the glass, watching the shape grow steadily closer—now running to keep up with the train. Nick and Luke sat across from one another, both almost as pale as Rachel. No one spoke. Andromeda felt as though she were at a funeral and was hit by a horrible thought—what if Mother and Father are at my funeral this time tomorrow?
She squeezed her eyes shut as if that would make this possibility disappear. "What is that—thing out there?" Andromeda asked Laura. "Are we panicking over—over nothing?"
Laura swallowed hard. "I don't know. But this th-thing is huge and running after the train. We're ten minutes away from Hogsmeade. What then? Does it catch us? Or do we catch it?"
"We catch it," Nick said firmly. "And we all live happily ever after. Stop worrying! We're not going to die. Look, who would win? It's all of Hogwarts against one—thing. We don't even know what this thing is."
Andromeda smiled shakily at Nick. He had that same gift as Sirius—he could change her mood instantly. Although cheered slightly by that little speech, Andromeda still glanced warily about the little compartment, as though the fifteen-foot—whatever it was—could be right there among them. She took a deep breath to calm herself and said, "I'm going over to Clare's compartment to see what's going on. Does anyone want to come?"
There was silence in the compartment once more until Rachel stood and said, "I'll come with you."
Andromeda smiled gratefully; she had definitely not wanted to go discover their fate alone. "Thanks, Rach," she said, and they walked into the aisle and over to Clare's compartment. She glanced through the open door before knocking. Clare was passing a glittery notebook filled with her and Charlotte Johnson's handwriting and a quill back and forth with Charlotte, who was another of their roommates. A sixth-year Ravenclaw Andromeda didn't know by name was curled in a corner reading a Gladrags catalogue. The girl reading the catalogue was small with shiny brown hair and long manicured nails that reminded Andromeda of Bellatrix's. The only other person in the compartment was a very pretty but very young girl that Andromeda didn't recognize, with black hair in a braid and almond eyes.
"Hey Andi, hey Rach," Clare said when Andromeda knocked. "Oh, this is Julia Nord," she pointed to the girl reading the catalogue, who waved after looking up for a split second, "and this is Ella Chang." She pointed to the other girl, who flashed them a white, brilliant smile. "This is Andromeda—Andi—Black and Rachel Arane." She told Julia and Ella.
"Hi," Rachel said. Her eyes traveled over every person in the compartment before coming back to rest on Clare. "D'you know what's going on?"
Clare shrugged, but Julia ran a hand through her hair, dropped her catalogue on the seat, and answered, "I talked to the driver. He's sent an owl ahead to Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic branch in Hogsmeade. No one knows what's out there, but he says we'll be ready for it."
It was silent in the compartment for a while. Then Ella said in a loud voice, "What if it's a giant or something? They're about twenty feet tall and very tough—you can't just stun one and make it stop."
Andromeda peered out the window through the darkness. "That's not a giant," she said. "I think...I think that's a troll."
Julia scrambled to her feet to join Andromeda at the window. "My God, she's right," she cried. "That is definitely a troll."
In a matter of two seconds, Ella, Clare, Charlotte and Rachel were all pressed against the window with Julia and Andromeda. Ella gave a little whimper of fear. The troll was running quickly; surely soon he'd catch up—
"Look!" Charlotte shouted. "Hogsmeade!" Andromeda was slapped in the face by Ella's braid as everyone turned their heads, but she smiled anyway because the lights of Hogsmeade shone in the distance.
"We're saved!" Rachel laughed and fell back into a seat, her face glowing with delight and relief. Clare gave a small cheer and Charlotte did a little victory dance. Andromeda laughed and fell onto the seat Clare had been in. She landed on the glittery blue notebook Charlotte and Clare had been writing in and pulled it out from under her. "What's this?" she asked Charlotte.
"Nothing," Charlotte answered. "Just an old notebook, me and Clare were working on a story.
"Oh," Andromeda said, and tossed the book back to Charlotte. "So, Char, still going to be a professor with me? You'll still be my roommate in 'professor school', right?" she laughed.
"Of course, Andi!" Charlotte said. "Teachers all the way! Clare, have you picked a profession YET? Please, please, please tell me you have."
"Yeah," Clare answered. "I have. I'm going to be an Auror like my Aunt Carla. I'm going to miss you guys so much next year!"
Andromeda and Charlotte exchanged a look. "Clare, er, your Aunt Carla...well, wasn't she killed last year?"
There was a silence for a moment. Andromeda looked around. Ella and Rachel were watching Clare, looking very interested. Julia had opened the Gladrags catalogue again and was staring at a bright pink set of robes. Andromeda had a sudden strange urge to toss a pile of gold at Julia and tell her it was for those robes—for the ball this year. But she knew it would make Julia immensely uncomfortable and so looked back over at Clare.
Finally, Charlotte spoke up. "Andi's right, Clare. What, do you want to die there and leave us all alone?"
"I'm not going to die!" Clare snapped. "Look, can we at least wait until we get to school with Liz and Rory to talk about this? Please?"
Charlotte and Andromeda frowned and Charlotte muttered, "Whatever," and turned away from Clare.
Suddenly, the train shuddered to a halt and the driver's voice filled the air. "All students remain in your seats until further notice. Do not panic. Stay calm." You could feel the nervous tension fill the compartment. No one seemed to want to look out the window. After only about five minutes, an ear-splitting roar tore through the train and they heard the troll fall.
Clare gave another small cheer as the driver's voice filled the train again. "It is now safe to exit the train. Please leave all of your luggage in the compartment."
Charlotte made a face at Clare before stowing the notebook they had been writing in in the pink purse she had slung over her shoulder. Slowly, they filed out of the compartment—Clare, Charlotte, Ella, Julia and then Andromeda. Andromeda felt like she had butterflies dancing in the pit of her stomach. This was it—her very last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But this slightly nervous feeling was nothing to how she supposed Ella was feeling—Andromeda glanced over at Ella and smiled slightly. Ella was extremely pale and looked kind of sick. She wondered if anyone had told Ella that all she had to do was try on a hat. She supposed no one had—Ella was actually shaking and looked like she was walking to her own execution.
Andromeda flashed Ella an encouraging sort of smile as they made their way off the train. "Good luck!" she called to her. Ella waved and joined the other first years lining up to cross the lake.
Charlotte grabbed Andromeda's arm and pulled to an empty carriage. Andromeda dug her heels into the ground and paused for a moment to admire the thestrals pulling it, which she had been able to see since she was twelve, when she had seen her grandmother die.
"Andi, MOVE!" Charlotte yelled. "It's pouring out here!"
It was, too. Great buckets of rain splashed down on them as they stepped into the carriage. Claps of thunder sounded every few seconds. Andromeda shivered in her soaking wet robes as the carriage clattered up the bumpy road to Hogwarts.
Finally, the carriage came to a halt outside the entrance hall. Andromeda and Charlotte ran inside to the Great Hall and collapsed at the Ravenclaw table, gasping for breath but laughing. Clare, Liz Marcell and Rory Fawcett, Laura Fawcett's twin sister, appeared from the hall and sat down next to them. Rory and Liz were their other two roommates. Andromeda noticed all three of them were perfectly dry.
"Aren't you two ever going to learn to do a water repelling charm?" Rory asked, shaking her head disapprovingly and flipping her curly blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Oh, shut up, Rory," Charlotte laughed. Rory opened her mouth to reply, looking angry, but Liz held up a hand.
"Rory, don't. Char, knock it off." Liz said tiredly. "Please don't do this this year."
"Do what?" Rory said, looking utterly bewildered.
"Fight!" Clare said, rolling her eyes. "Like you did all last year!"
"Okay, everybody just shut up," Andromeda said. "Dumbledore's going to talk."
"I don't—," Rory began, but Clare silenced her with a glare.
"Whatever," Rory said, sticking her tongue out when Clare turned away.
"Oh, how mature," Andromeda muttered. Dumbledore stood up at the staff table and began to talk, but Andromeda wasn't listening. Instead, she was glancing around at the different house tables, especially the Slytherin one. Between five of her cousins and her sister sat Lucius Malfoy, his blonde hair shining under the lightning flashing down from the enchanted ceiling.
Lucius looked...different, somehow, sitting there with his friends. There was a kind of cold glint in his eyes that was not there when he talked to Andromeda. She saw him laugh at something that Dumbledore said, which obviously wasn't supposed to be funny, and had a sudden stab of uncertainty. What was she seeing in him? If he was a sensitive, kind person with Andromeda and a cold, uncaring person with his Slytherin friends and her sisters, who was he, really? Either way, he was being completely fake with someone.
Andromeda tore her eyes away from Lucius and looked over to the Gryffindor table for Laura and Bethany. She watched some of the Gryffindors for a while as Dumbledore went on, and then looked over to the Hufflepuffs.
Suddenly, everyone started clapping. Andromeda looked up and realized with a jolt that she must have missed the Sorting Hat's song. She gave a little groan of disappointment and smiled and waved at Ella, who was standing up by the staff table with the other first years. Ella seemed to have calmed down since Professor McGonagall had explained what they would be doing. She actually looked extremely excited as she waved energetically back to Andromeda.
Six kids were sorted before Ella—three new Gryffindors, two Slytherins and a Hufflepuff. Ella bounced up onto the stool and Professor McGonagall dropped the hat onto her head. It took almost a minute before the hat bellowed, "RAVENCLAW!"
Andromeda clapped and cheered as Ella made her way to the Ravenclaw table and sank into the seat next to her. "Great job!" Andromeda told Ella, as "Doyle, Audrey" joined the Slytherins and took the empty seat next to Narcissa. Andromeda made a face. She felt bad for Audrey Doyle for having to be sorted into a house like that. Andromeda told this to Ella, who giggled and said, "You think so, too? I've got a sister in Slytherin, Naomi. I'm actually embarrassed to be seen in public with her. I was so afraid I was going to be sorted into Slytherin with her. I guess you know what that's like," she added, seeing Andromeda glance over to Narcissa.
"Yeah, unfortunately," Andromeda said. She looked up to the Sorting again. There were only two people left, "Zorbaugh, Kyle," and "Santiago, Maria." Maria was sorted into Ravenclaw and Kyle into Hufflepuff.
Andromeda clapped loudly as Maria joined their table. Dumbledore stood up once more, smiled around the hall and said very simply, "Eat!"
"Yay!" Charlotte said, laughing, from Andromeda's right. The long Ravenclaw table was all of a sudden filled with dozens and dozens of dishes of food.
"I'm starving," Rory moaned, piling salad and chicken onto her plate. Andromeda took the salad from her as Rory, her mouth filled with lettuce, said, "I wonder if they've fixed your hole in the wall, Char?" she swallowed and gave Charlotte an innocent smiled.
"Fixed her what?" Ella asked.
Rory smiled again at Ella and started to tell the story, while Charlotte shot furious looks down the table. "You see," Rory began, "last year, our lovely Charlotte over here and I—did I introduce myself?" she flipped her hair, "Rory Fawcett, Ravenclaw seventh year, roommate to Andi, Clare, Liz and, unfortunately, Char. Anyway, Char and I had gotten into a little fight." she grinned. "I think maybe I read her journal or something. So she starts screaming and stuff, right? You know, 'It's my personal property, how dare you,' blah, blah, blah. So I'm just standing there, right, in the middle of our dorm and Char gets so mad she goes crazy and actually punches a hole in the wall! Filch is going to have a field day yelling at you when he finds out," she said to Charlotte, who looked positively murderous after reliving that particular memory.
Ella looked as though she was trying not to smile. "She—she punched a hole in the wall?"
"Yup," Andromeda nodded. "Just went wham—," she curled her hand into a fist and punched the air, "—and knocked a piece of the dorm wall out, clear through to the staircase."
"It's not funny!" Charlotte said hotly as they all erupted in laughter.
"Well, it's really not," Clare agreed, "Except for the part where you came running screaming into the common room clutching your hand afterwards."
"Yeah," Liz said, nodding and still laughing, "Gotta agree with Clare there."
"Sorry, Char," Rory said. "But that was pretty funny. I watched it all from up the stairs. After I had finished staring in disbelief at the damage you did, of course."
"Hmph," Charlotte said, picking at her macaroni salad. "Wasn't very funny for me when Madam Pomfrey said I broke three fingers that night."
Everyone winced. "Oooh, yeah. Sorry about that, Char," Rory said. "Didn't mean for you to...anyway, I don't know why you made such a big deal out of me reading that journal. There was only one entry, about some guy named...um..." she furrowed her brow, thinking hard, and flipped her hair again. "OH! Right. His name was Evan McGowan, or something. Who was he, anyway?"
"No one!" Charlotte said, going very pink.
"No one," Rory repeated, her eyebrows raised. "Is that why there were three pages about how much you loved him, how incredibly handsome he is, how much money he had..."
"Shut up, Rory," Andromeda said, abandoning her salad to look up at Charlotte, who was growing redder by the second. Andromeda wouldn't be surprised if she pulled out her wand and began throwing every hex she knew at Rory. Andromeda knew that that's what she would have done in Charlotte's position.
"Why?" Rory asked, leaning over Charlotte to talk to her and winking hugely. "Isn't it our business if Char has a secret boyfriend that she hadn't told us about? Who knows—," she dropped her voice to a stage whisper. "—maybe it's a Muggle!"
Charlotte choked on an apple slice and disappeared under the table, coughing. When she came up, her face was glowing red. Rory, Liz and Clare shrieked in unison. Andromeda stared at Charlotte, speechless. Liz jumped to her feet.
"CHARLOTTE ANNEMARIE JOHNSON!" Liz screamed. People in the hall glanced around and stared at them. Liz either didn't notice or didn't care, because she still was screaming as she continued, "YOU CANNOT BE DATING A MUGGLE! YOU'RE A WITCH! MY MOM DATED A MUGGLE AND LOOK WHERE IT GOT HER! KILLED!"
"Shut up!" Charlotte yelped, slapping at Liz. "Shut up and sit down! He's not a Muggle! He's not even Muggle-born! His name is Evan, okay, and he lives in America and goes to school there—Kingston Academy. I met him on holiday last Christmas. He's not a Muggle," she repeated slowly. "And anyway, what would it matter if he was?" she added.
"Then why'd you...dive under the table and stuff?" Liz whispered, ignoring Charlotte's last statement. Both of Liz's hands were over her mouth. She looked completely mortified.
"Dunno. The idea of me dating a Muggle—just—set me off, I guess." Andromeda could tell she was lying, but didn't say anything. Charlotte looked impatiently at her plate. The dinner foods had been replaced by tons of dessert food. "Is this feast ever going to be over?"
As if in answer to her question, the food vanished from the table and Dumbledore stood up again. "Class schedules will be passed out tomorrow morning at breakfast. Quidditch tryouts will be held next Friday evening at six o'clock. If you are interested in trying out for your team, contact the house captains, who are as follows: Gryffindor, Amanda Hector. Slytherin, Lucius Malfoy. Ravenclaw, Elizabeth Marcell. Hufflepuff, Lexi Carusa. Congratulations again to you, Amanda, Lucius, Elizabeth, and Lexi," he said, smiling at the four of them. "May you all have an excellent year. Goodnight!"
"You didn't tell us you'd been made captain!" Clare hissed as they walked to their common room.
"I'm sorry!" Liz cried, paling. She seemed incredibly nervous. "They sent an owl in the beginning of the summer, I completely forgot about it! Clare, I can't be captain...all that responsibility! Head of the whole team!"
"You'll be a great captain!" Andromeda told Liz, who shrugged as they walked through a secret passageway under an old tapestry. They emerged from the passage on the third floor, where they went through another passage and came out of it on the seventh floor in front of a particularly shiny suit of armor. A prefect came running up and said, "Password's 'four-point.'"
Instantly, the suit of armor stepped aside and revealed a heavy oak door, which the prefect wrenched open and held for them. "Thanks," Andromeda said. He nodded and ran in after them. They walked through a short hall, which led to the common room, a large tower room painted in blue and silver. There were a lot of overstuffed old couches and armchairs and rickety old tables. They had four fireplaces and a gigantic chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling.
Andromeda was hit with a sudden wave of tiredness. "I'm going straight to bed," she told her roommates, suppressing a yawn. "Is anyone coming with me?"
"Me," Rory said. She looked as tired as Andromeda felt. Rory and Andromeda said good night and trudged up the stairs to the top dormitory. Andromeda yawned hugely and got changed, then dropped into bed.
She had almost fallen asleep when Rory's voice cut through the darkness in a great rush.
"Andi, does Char really hate me? I mean, I might be a little nasty to her sometimes and I just want to know."
"Nobody hates you, Rory." Andromeda answered, exasperated. She sat up and turned towards Rory's bed. "You're beautiful, and smart, and funny. Everyone loves you."
It took a while for Rory to respond. Finally, she said, "Thanks, Andi. You know, you are too."
"Thanks. Now GOODNIGHT!" Andromeda flopped back onto her bed.
Once again, she had almost fallen asleep when Rory spoke.
"Andi, do you think your family is as bad as mine?"
"Worse."
"Yeah? You really think so? Can I ask you something else?"
"Rory," Andromeda said, "if I don't get to sleep right now I am going to go crazy. Be quiet for once in your life!"
"Sorry, Andi," Rory laughed. "'Night."
"'Night," Andromeda answered, and then dropped off to sleep.
That night, Andromeda had a very strange dream. She dreamt that she had gone home for Christmas break to find the house deserted. No Mother, no Father, no Bellatrix, no Narcissa. She had run around the house looking for them but they had gone without a trace. As she sat in the parlor, wondering where they were, Rory and Laura appeared and asked her to come to Christmas at their house. Then Liz, Clare and Charlotte came in, yelling not to go with Rory because they hated her. They got into a fight with Laura and Rory and then all of them disappeared and were replaced by someone sitting on the couch. She couldn't see his face and reached over to turn it—
"Andi! Wake up!" Charlotte was yelling. "You'll miss breakfast!"
"What?" Andromeda sat up very quickly and pulled her bed curtains open. Charlotte was standing at the foot of Andromeda's bed, pulling on her cloak and looking anxiously out the window.
"We're going to miss breakfast, hurry up, Andi!" Charlotte said. "Wear your cloak. Liz went down to get her schedule already and told me we have Herbology first and it still hasn't stopped raining!" she said this all very quickly and threw Andromeda's robes and cloak at her, said, "Meet me in the common room," and walked out. Andromeda looked around the dorm as she dressed. Except for her, it was completely empty. Charlotte's hole in the wall seemed to have been repaired over the summer. Andromeda smiled as she imagined Filch's reaction to finding it. She glanced out the window. Huge sheets of rain were still falling, drenching the grounds and threatening to overflow the lake.
She slipped out of the room and walked down the curving staircase. Charlotte was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs and they walked out of the common room, Andromeda still yawning. They took the same path to the Great Hall that they had the night before. Charlotte was chattering animatedly to her, but Andromeda couldn't pay attention. She felt like she was going to collapse any second and wondered vaguely why she was so tired.
Finally they made it down to the Ravenclaw table and sat down. The Hall was nearly empty; not including Charlotte and Andromeda, there were only six others Ravenclaws at the table. Andromeda poured herself a vanilla cappuccino—her morning drink of choice since her first year. She only started to feel awake after a few sips of it.
"Here, Andi," Charlotte said and tossed a schedule to her. Andromeda picked and looked it over.
"So...today we have Herbology, double Divination—yes—," (Andromeda loved Divination class, the professor often told her she had the Sight) "—Charms, and double Potions."
"Ugh," Charlotte said. "I wish I could've quit Potions last year. Too bad we have to have it for our teaching exams...I nearly cried when Flitwick told me that in our meeting." Charlotte was an exceptionally bad Potions student. It was a good thing her family was filthy rich, because Charlotte needed a new cauldron nearly every month—so far she had managed to melt, blow up, crack or put holes in every one she'd had.
"Yeah," Andromeda said absently. "Look, we'd better get going." Lucius Malfoy was heading their way. "We're...um...we're going to be late for Herbology."
"Oh, man, you're right," Charlotte said, looking down at her watch. "All right, let's go." She stood up and grabbed her bag off of the bench next to her.
"Ah, shoot, I forgot my bag!" Andromeda cried. "I've got to run up to the dorm and grab it; meet you in Herbology."
"Andi, hurry!" Charlotte said anxiously, but Andromeda had already taken off across the hall. She ran down a corridor, under the tapestry, through the passage, through another passage, in front of the suit of armor. "Four-point," Andromeda gasped, and the armor stepped aside. She pulled open the door and ran across the common room, took the stairs to her dorm three at a time and grabbed her bag before dashing back the way she came, across the entrance hall, across the lawn, and down to the greenhouses.
Andromeda froze, three yards in front of the greenhouse that her class was in. Lucius Malfoy stood in front of it, leaning against the door. As she approached, he began walking to meet her and called out, "Professor Sprout sent me out here to get you. But then Charlotte said that you were coming, you'd just forgotten your bag, so I decided to save myself a walk." He smiled hugely at her.
Andromeda didn't move. She could not forget how cruel and cold and...well, how Lucius had seemed last night with the Slytherins. "Well, thanks," she said and walked right past him into the greenhouse, leaving him looking lost and confused behind her. She muttered an apology to Professor Sprout, who told her that it was perfectly all right and that they would be working on planting Venomous Tentacula seeds today, four people to a table. Andromeda nodded mutely and sat down at a table with Charlotte, Rory, and a Slytherin girl who introduced herself as Thia Clarkson.
Thia seemed pretty nice for a Slytherin, or perhaps Andromeda only that that because Thia didn't seem to like Lucius Malfoy much, either. Andromeda began telling Rory and Charlotte all about what had happened between her and Lucius over the summer, at the feast, and outside the greenhouse just now. Thia had no choice but to overhear.
"He's always been a great prat, Andromeda," Thia sighed, forcing a jewel-like red seed into a pot. This was fairly difficult, as the seeds had tiny sharp teeth and attempted to bit your fingers off when you touched it. It attached itself to Thia's palm and she screeched, "OW!" before continuing, "He told me he had a crush on me in fifth year, and then he turned around and dumped me to start dating my sister. My sister! Anyway, my advice would be to have nothing more to do with Lucius Malfoy."
And as Andromeda caught sight of Lucius, sniggering and pointing at a Slytherin girl with his friends, she thought that at that moment, she would have given anything to not be associated with Lucius Malfoy anymore.
But what if she had gotten too close to Lucius? Would she have to endure her entire life being confused and hurt by him?
And THAT ends Chapter Two. I hope you enjoyed it. I didn't like this chapter as much as the first one, I think I introduced too many characters and I don't know, I just don't think I did as good with this chapter. Okay well, please review and if you could offer any pointers, that'd be great. I am going to start working on Chapter Three. Hopefully it won't take me as long to finish it. Thanks for reading!! Rachelle