When I said muggle studies, I didn't mean the Hogwarts course, since I don't think the Blacks would even allow their daughters to take that. I meant a more practical lesson. I know this chapter came out fast, partly because my boss is out of town (yeah, she travels a lot) and partly because it's short and pretty dang fluffy. You should review and maybe my other chapters will get out in a week too! (Yeah, right…..)

Chapter 13- "Life and Social Habits of British Muggles"

The only thing of note that occurred over the summer was that Narcissa was finally old enough to go to the parties. Bella and I were glad because when Cissy was forbidden to do something we got to do, she inevitably worked herself into a snit and decided she wasn't speaking to us. The silent treatment never lasted more than a few hours, but she also refused to believe that the balls were not nearly as exciting as she imagined them to be. We figured now she would find it out for herself.

Mother fussed over Narcissa's first ball for more than she had for Bella and I, which was not surprising. Cissy had always been the favorite, especially when it came to showing her off. We had never really been jealous, especially as neither of us really wanted to be displayed as a Black family status symbol. Unlike Bella, Narcissa made the pink robes work, looking like a perfect china doll when she appeared before the mirror, her hair in long golden curls nearly to her waist, and a satisfied little smile on her face. She looked somehow both younger and older. The outfit was childlike, but the confidence in her own beauty was that of an adult.

The night was hers, but it stands out in my memory as one of the more enjoyable balls, while most of them blend together in a whirl of uncomfortable gowns and painful shoes and overheated rooms. It was at our house, but the doors all around the ballroom stood open to the cool, early summer breeze, and someone had put a charm on the ceiling similar the one on the Great Hall, so that stars sparkled beyond the torches that blazed along the walls.

It was one of those balls where all of Slytherin seemed to be present, which only meant that our housemates were further impressed with our family. At these parties there were no whispers of conflict between the guests, for they were all pureblood, and in our parents' circles, all on the same side of the political battle.

As the night grew later, I was dancing with Will when I saw Bella off to the side of the ballroom, just at the edge of the hallway, engaged in a quiet, but apparently passionate argument with Rodolphus. While I watched, she shook her head vehemently, paused a moment while he said something, and then cut him off with a quick, sharp gesture of her hand. With an irritated glance around to see if anyone was looking, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the ballroom. While she didn't look terribly pleased, I wasn't quite worried about her. Anyone who touched Bella if she didn't want him to would be lucky if he didn't lose a hand. But I couldn't keep my gaze from the hallway they had disappeared down, until Will grabbed my chin and turned my face back to him.

"Better just let them go," he said, smiling.

"I know," I agreed, forcing a smile and shifting slightly closer to him. He didn't appear to mind that at all, and I decided to think about my own romances rather than Bella's.

But later that night when she collapsed into my bed at nearly half past one, still in her dress robes, I knew they hadn't slipped away just to be alone together. I could feel the magic on her; it seemed to cling to the air around her, cracking and heavy in the darkness. I turned over to look at her, but she was looking up at the ceiling, biting her lip as though to keep back a smile.

"What did you do?" I whispered.

"Shh. Go to sleep, Andy."

"Bella, we can't use magic over the holidays! You could get expelled from Hogwarts!"

She waved a hand carelessly. "Oh, don't worry about that. Rodolphus knew a charm to go around the room so the Ministry wouldn't detect it was me doing magic."

I didn't doubt that Rodolphus knew his charms well enough, especially ones that might help him avoid the notice of the Ministry, but that didn't make me feel any better.

"What were you doing though?" I pressed. "I can feel it on you."

"Really?" she said curiously, holding out a hand as though she might be able to see it. "Don't worry Andy. Just…'studying.' You do say I should study more." She turned and propped herself up on her elbow, so she was looking at me. "I can teach you, you know…"

I never answered.

"C'mon Reggie, put your hips into it!"

Regulus sighed and crossed his arms. "You're lying Sirius, I don't think this is really how muggle kids dance."

"It is!"

Bella, her head resting in my lap, glanced away from her book long enough to look at them. "You guys look like you got hit with a seizure jinx."

We were in the old night nursery, a gorgeous, old dark-paneled room that flooded with sunlight when you opened the curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows, where extra furniture was stored when there were no Blacks young enough to need a nursery. It was where we escaped from our parents, especially over the summer when their attitude was that we had disrupted their lives by not being away at school where we belonged. It had been a long, hot, and boring summer. We longed for the seaside of the summer before. I felt like I was going crazy with restlessness, but lacked the energy to actually do anything. By August, we just wanted the summer to be over. School was preferable to the monotony.

Bella had said nothing more about that night of the ball, perhaps realizing she had gone a step too far and frightened me, but she did start giving me books. They were mostly from our own family's library, and though they were about magic well beyond my level of education, they seemed mostly benign. There was little overtly dark magic mentioned, and some fascinating theories behind magic in general. When I saw Bella with dark, tattered old books, I had always been a little afraid of what I might find in them. I had never thought it quite so intellectual.

While Bella and I read and Narcissa gave herself a manicure, Sirius was teaching Reggie a muggle style of dancing, which he had apparently learned from someone in Gryffindor. They were without music- wizarding music was no good for any dancing popular after 1800, and we didn't know muggle music, nor would we have been allowed to listen to it. It didn't really matter, as Reggie seemed to lack both a sense of rhythm and any coordination whatsoever.

"Why bother learning muggle dancing anyway?" Narcissa asked, holding out her hands to examine her work. "It's not like you're ever going to dance with muggles."

"I might."

Bella snorted. "Yes, I imagine Auntie and Uncle would be just wild about that." She seemed to be just making a comment, but I didn't feel up to dealing with yet another fight between them. I threaded my fingers into her hair and she glanced up at me, and sighed, and brought her book back up, letting it go for the moment. Perhaps as a result of my unspoken request, or perhaps simply because she was feeling too lethargic to bother.

There was a knock at the door, and Uncle Alphard stuck his head in. "I'm going to run some errands in Diagon Alley, and you lot won't stop complaining you're bored. Anyone interested in coming?"

"No, it's too hot. I'm too tired," Bella yawned.

"Nah, I don't have any money anyway," Sirius agreed.

"We'll go next week to get our school things anyway," Narcissa agreed.

"I want to go," I said, pushing Bella off of me, and Reggie agreed he wanted to as well, so the three of us flooed to The Leaky Cauldron. Having his own errands to run, Uncle Alphard said he would meet us back there in two hours. Reg and I went to Fortescue's to get ice cream, because it really was very hot.

"Want to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies?" he asked me brightly. I rolled my eyes.

"Decidedly not. You're big enough to go on your own," I added when he frowned and hesitated. "Just keep an eye on the time so you're not late when we meet Uncle Alphard."

He nodded and ran off toward the Quidditch shop, and I went on sitting outside Fortescue's, watching all the people passing. It was a bright, sunny day and getting close to school starting again, so Diagon Alley was crowded with people buying their school things. I saw several people from school and even chatted for a few minutes with James Potter, but I was alone and starting to get bored when someone sat down next to me. I didn't even have to look to know who it was.

I gave him a look. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Andy. I'm fine, thank you for asking. Why yes, it is lovely weather we've been having."

I raised an eyebrow.

He held up an armful of bags. "School shopping. Books and potions things. Have you gotten your books yet? There are some really interesting spells we're going to be doing in defense." He glanced around somewhat hesitantly. "Where's the rest of the Toujours Pur clan?"

Somehow, the family motto spoken by him made me uncomfortable. "At home mostly. Reggie's around."

"I didn't think they let you lot out alone."

I forceddown a smile. "Nor do they. I came with my Uncle Alphard, but he thinks my parents' rules are stupid."

"I think I like this Uncle Alphard guy." He glanced at his watch. "You hungry?"

"What?"

"Lunch, Andy. It's a meal people eat around midday. It's half-past one. I'm going to get lunch before I meet my parents. They took my brother and sister to get their school things."

In fact, though I had just had ice cream, I did rather want something more substantial to eat. I hesitated, but he said encouragingly, "They have really great sandwiches…"

"Where?"

"Only about a block down from The Leaky Cauldron."

I had started to follow him, but I stopped suddenly. "You mean, in muggle London?"

"Well, it's not far it's…" he paused staring at me. "Hang on, you've never been in muggle London, have you?"

"Well…I mean, not technically, but we…I…"

"Well, then it's time you tried it."

"No way."

He gave a little shrug. "Well, I guess if you're too scared…" he taunted.

"Oh please Ted, do you think me an idiot? I'm not falling for that."

He appeared to consider his odds of winning an argument with me, and the decided to rely on force instead and seized my arm and pulled me through The Leaky Cauldron to the door that led out onto the London street. I knew it was how people got to Diagon Alley from the muggle world, but I'd never had any reason to go beyond it, we simply flooed or took a portkey to Diagon Alley. Ted still looked disbelieving as we stepped out of the pub into the busy chaos of muggle London. I bit down a wave of sudden panic at being surrounded by so many muggles, stepping out of the sheltered wizarding world I had never left before. Traffic streaked by and everything seemed suddenly loud and bright and overwhelming. I took a deep breath, and Ted touched my arm gently.

"All right Andy?"

I nodded, thinking how stupid it would sound to admit that I was overwhelmed by it all. It was really no more crowded than Diagon Alley, but the traffic flying by was foreign to me. Because of who I was and the family I had been born to, I had been raised to think the entire world was at my fingertips, that it was mine to take. I had never realized how limited the world I knew was.

Walking next to me, Ted was juggling his bags trying to make sure none of the book titles were visible. I supposed that Standard Book of Spells Grade 4 and Defensive Magical Theory might look a bit odd to the average muggle on the street. The dizziness subsided slightly as we turned down a quieter side street, and stopped into a restaurant a few doors down. It was surprisingly cool inside, and full of the sounds of clinking silverware and cheerful conversation. Aside from the fact that trays were being carried rather then levitated, it might have been a café in Diagon Alley.

"Is there a cooling charm in here?" I whispered to Ted.

He smirked and pulled out a chair for me. "No, it's called air-conditioning."

As some of my panic died down, I started to feel wonderfully dangerous and wild. Even Sirius had never snuck away into the muggle world before. I started to understand what so fascinated Sirius about pushing back against the family. It was exhilarating and almost addictive.

"See, not quite the uncivilized barbarian muggles you expected, is it?"

"Mother and Father would have a stroke…" I said, thinking aloud. And that was mild compared to what Bella would do.

"They'll never know," he reminded me.

"Your parents don't mind not coming to Diagon Alley?" I asked.

He shrugged. "They figure I can manage to get school things on my own," he said carelessly, but I couldn't help but notice he made a point of not meeting my eyes when he said it, looking at a random spot beyond my shoulder. "They came with me to Diagon Alley before my first year, when we got my wand and everything. But you can imagine how most of the people there react to muggles."

I felt almost as though I ought to apologize for my entire world, and yet I knew that my own family would do much worse than just look askance at muggles. They'd see it as an opportunity to try out some new curses. I looked down at my hands. I had always simply assumed that muggle-borns who discovered they were going to Hogwarts were thrilled with their luck. It had never occurred to me that their families might not be. He always spoke of his family like they got on brilliantly.

He seemed to think he'd said too much, for he quickly changed the subject to talk about classes, and we spent the rest of our lunch talking about school. Knowing that deep down he was interested in the same things I was, I allowed the conversation to slip into the things I had been reading that summer. I looked up finally, and found him looking rather troubled. As I trailed off hesitantly, he shook his head slightly.

"Blood charms…that's really dark magic, isn't it?" he said, looking me straight in the eye, as if a challenge.

"No…it's not really. It can be used for protection too. I think Malenkov was right on that…there isn't good or bad magic, it's all just magic. Whether it's good or bad depends on what you mean to do with it."

He continued to frown, playing with his napkin, but it pleased me slightly that he was actually giving some serious consideration to what I had said. Usually, because I was a girl and because I was young, people dismissed my opinions on important things. When he looked back up at me, his brown eyes were serious.

"I'd love to know the possible benevolent use for cruciatus…" he said quietly.

I didn't know what to say to that, and so I was grateful when he changed the subject again, and devoted the rest of the lunch and our walk back to The Leaky Cauldron to telling me funny stories about his muggle neighbors and the stories he came up with to cover up that he went to Hogwarts. Malenkov had been right about one thing- he did make me laugh.

We were nearly back to The Leaky Cauldron when he stopped suddenly at the people waiting outside.

"Oh, my parents…"

They were looking around vaguely, and I realized they couldn't really see The Leaky Cauldron on their own. They were standing in front of the muggle book shop next to it, and I thought with some curiosity about muggle books, I decided that would have to wait for another time. Instead, I turned my attention to his family, who looked perfectly nice and normal. I wasn't sure what I had expected, but aside from the muggle clothes they might have been an average family in Diagon Alley.

The woman, his mother, turned and seemed relieved to see him. "Oh, there you are Teddy. Did you get everything you needed?"

I caught his eye and mouthed "Teddy?" and he started to turn an interesting shade of red.

"I really didn't consider the embarrassment potential here," he muttered under his breath.

"Is this one of your friends from school then?" she went on.

"This is Andromeda Black, she's in some of my classes," he said quickly, as though wanting this to be over. "Andy, this is my Mum and Dad, and my sister Jessica, and that's Michael."

His sister, about sixteen, was quite pretty but looked rather put out. His brother was a smaller version of him. I was unused to people not reacting to my name, but they didn't seem to see anything significant about being called Black, and it took me a second to digest that. All four of them were, however, looking at me avidly and it was hard not to shrink back under the gaze of interested muggles. It had never occurred to me that as strange and exotic as they seemed to me, I must seem equally odd and mysterious to them.

"Andromeda? What a pretty…and unique…name that is."

"It's very nice to meet you, Ma'am," I said, and as we had been taught all our lives, looked her in the eye and shook her hand when I spoke. It slipped into my mind that my parents had never intended the good manners and commanding presence to be used with muggles, but I tried to push that though away as soon as it appeared.

"Oh, such nice manners," she said approvingly, beaming at me. "It's so nice to meet some of Teddy's friends from school."

I was trying very hard not to giggle at "Teddy", as they asked me politely about my family and about Hogwarts. I couldn't help but notice his little brother was staring at me intently. Not just politely interested, but fully gawking at me. He spoke abruptly.

"So how rich are you?"

"Michael, hush! What a thing to say! Mind your manners."

"I was just wondering…"

"That's enough Michael," his father said.

"Well, Ted is always talking about how pretty and rich she is, so I wondered-"

"Mike, shut up," hissed Ted, turning a deep shade of red, and definitely not meeting my eyes. I felt myself blushing as well. Pretty?

"Andromeda really has to get going," he said a little desperately, pushing me toward the door. "Her Uncle is waiting for her…"

"It was nice meeting you," I said politely. "And thank you for lunch…" I had been embarrassed to realize I had no muggle money, so he had paid for lunch. I added, "See you at Hogwarts…Teddy."

He cut me a look as the door closed, and I heard his mother say, "What a nice girl, you could pick up something about good manners from her…"

I was still smiling as I stepped into the dark little pub, but my smile faltered, and then fell away completely as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and I found myself faced with Regulus. A half-finished butterbeer in a slightly shaking hand and staring at the plain wooden door I had come through as though it were the yawning Gates of Hell.

"W…w…were you in muggle London," he gasped.

I took the butterbeer before he dropped it. "Reg, listen…"

"That's…we're not allowed…it's…" he stammered.

"Reg listen," I said firmly, summoning my best, most commanding voice. He was still shorter than me, not yet having hit that growth spurt that had sent Sirius towering over us girls. I leaned down to exactly his level, face to face. "You can't tell anyone. As far as you know, I spent the entire day in Diagon Alley."

He shook his head softly. "But Andy, you…"

"Listen to me Regulus," I said sharply, almost frightening myself with the sharp edge of my own voice. "If you tell anyone that I went into muggle London, I'll just tell Bella that you're telling nasty stories about me."

He blanched. I didn't miss the irony of the fact that the one person who would be the most enraged by my adventure in muggle London was also the one who might protect me from Reggie telling. He was more afraid of Bella than anyone, and he understood the order of people in my sister's life. She might have taken him under her wing since he had started Hogwarts, but she would believe me first.

"Swear that you won't tell Reg," I said, almost a little alarmed by how easily I could imitate Bella's command, her clipped, bitten off words that indicated when she wasn't kidding.

He looked at me with wide, frightened eyes, and I felt bad, but didn't back down.

"I swear, Andy."

"So, interesting afternoon?" Sirius said conversationally, coming into the library where I was curled up in the corner of the couch, on the pretense of reading. Really I had just felt like being alone.

"Not particularly," I lied easily.

"That's not what Reg says," he replied.

I threw the book down on the couch. "He told you?"

A grin spread across his face. "Reg didn't say a word. I can't believe you fell for that one. Oldest trick in the book, Andy. But you just confirmed there's something worth telling."

I glared at him, and so he went on. "You had a funny look when you got back, and so did Reg, so come on, spill."

I picked up my book with great dignity, and tried to ignore his grin. He continued to stare at me until I finally got tired of it. "Take a hint Black, I have nothing to tell you," I said irritably.

"I could ask Reg," he said softly. "He says it was just a boring afternoon in Diagon Alley, but you know Andy, I can crack Reggie like no one else."

I chewed on my lower lip and thought. I had scared Reggie, but I couldn't help but realize that his influence on Reggie was not unlike how I felt about Bella. There was a point where I couldn't refuse her, and I imagined that between Sirius and Regulus there was the same thing.

"Don't make this a big thing, Sirius," I finally said, almost pleading.

"Is it worth being a big thing?" he returned.

I looked down at my book, and decided to tell him. I thought I could trust him, and I wasn't so sure about Reggie now. He was slowly becoming Bella's, while Sirius was definitely becoming his own man.

"I went into muggle London…" I said quietly, not meeting his eyes.

The effect was rather amusing- the Gryffindor rebel gasped.

"Alone?" he whispered.

That was the thing. A certain morbid curiosity about the muggle world was perhaps rather vulgar, but not necessarily a terrible crime, but being friendly with a muggle-born was entirely a different thing. Sirius correctly read my silence.

"You weren't alone." It was a statement, not a question. "Who were you with?"

"Sirius, it doesn't matter."

"Humor me then, I'm curious."

I sighed, and he looked at me shrewdly. "It was Tonks, wasn't it?"

I gave a strangled sort of gasp. "Reg did tell you!"

He gave me a bemused sort of look. "No, he really didn't. I just understand two important things about you Andy- you love a challenge, and you respect people who challenge you."

He stood, leaving me puzzling over that comment, and leaned into me, whispering, "I won't tell Darling, and I'll see to it Reg doesn't either…on the condition that next time we manage it, you show me around muggle London…"