Gwen had also received a letter to the party, and was getting herself ready while Ted waited in the common room.

"You know that those aren't wizard dress robes, right?"

"I already have fancy clothes, I'm not going to buy two sets for the two worlds I live in, Edith, that would be insane,"

"It'll certainly give an impression to Slughorn…" she teased.

"Leave me alone, Faith," he retorted, good naturedly.

"Sorry, I took so long, Ted!" Gwen said coming down the stairs from her dormitory.

"You look really good, Dolly," Edith said with a smile.

"Thanks! I thought the dress might be too much," she smoothed, as if trying to make it less voluminous.

Ted took her hands in his and looked her in the eye.

"You look great, but we're going to be late,"

"Are you a poet now, my good sir?"

"Nothing gets past you, Lady Gwen. Now we must get to the party before ten,"

"The party's at nine, ya bozo…" Edith scolded, "Now get there before it's too late!"

"Let's away, before the witch decides to slay!" Ted yelled, and Gwen let out a loud laugh.


She just couldn't get it right, it was impossible. Beauty is pain, her mother's voice rang in her ears. Pain is temporary as is beauty, why waste time on something so trivial? she thought back.

Her hair wouldn't stay up, no matter how much she brushed it or tied it up, it was never right , never perfect.

What would Bella do? she thought, She would just leave her hair unbrushed and blame it on the house-elves. Thinking about what Bellatrix would do never helped.

What would Cissy do? She tried the other sister. She would do it perfectly, and if she couldn't she'd get someone else to do it, or use magic…

Magic! Beauty spells of course!

She picked up her wand and pointed it at her head and said:

"Capillus pro Fair,"

Her hair went up and styled itself perfectly.

She was almost done getting ready. Narcissa couldn't help her because she was busy with Kerry. She had friends.

She put on the night sky dress that she'd gotten from her former-friends at Christmas. Maybe it would send the message that they could be friends again, tell them that she was ready to hear their apology. She pinned her white bird brooch on the dress. She looked radiant, and Delwy had told her so when he saw her.

"Thank you, Delwy. We should go,"

He offered her his arm and she took it, as they walked out of the common room to the party.


The party was beautiful, all dim light and pretty tablecloths. There weren't many chairs, as if it was designed to keep people moving and talking. The Buffet sat at the edge of the room, littered with food the house-elves had made.

Gwen awkwardly stood sipping her drink, as Ted talked to Gwenog Jones about Quidditch strategies.

"I can't miss this!" he'd said, and now she just stood next to him feeling out of place.

"I see you've already met Miss Gwendolyn Fawley and her plus one. Mister…" he trailed off for Ted to complete his sentence.

"Tonks. Ted Tonks."

"Muggle-born?"

"Yes?"

"I knew I didn't recognise that name, and your robes. Are they muggle made? No matter! Miss Fawley is of course the grand-daughter of former Minister of Magic Hector Fawley. I'm sure she's as eloquent as her grandfather."

"I assure you she is," Ted said.

"Isn't that a delight ! Best be getting back to festivities, enjoy yourselves!" he said then left to talk to other students and past favorites.

"Why did old Gramps need to be a politician…" Gwen grumbled.

"Miss Andromeda Black and Mister Delwy Selwyn! Glad to see you're acquainted!" Slughorn boomed from across the room.

"Good evening, Professor," Andromeda said.

"It's so wonderful to have you here! If you need anything come ask me,"

Andromeda could see Gwen out of the corner of her eye. She didn't want to rush and talk to her. Gwen was wearing a large orange and yellow dress, it looked good on her, but Andromeda knew that if Narcissa ever saw it her face would be as green as her Slytherin robes.

"Ted, did you see? She's wearing the dress Naya and I got her,"

"Yes she is," Ted said. She looked really pretty wearing something that wasn't her school robes. Not that she didn't look pretty in her school robes! Or that he thought she was pretty at all!

It was just nice to see her in something more unique.

"I'll just go get a refill of my drink," Gwen said.

"Er... yeah, okay…" Ted said.

She has left the muggle-born, time to go converse with her, Andromeda thought. She looked determined.

She told Delwy she was going to go to the buffet, but he probably hadn't noticed since he was so enthralled in conversation with Eldred Worple, the author of Blood Brothers: My life Amongst the Vampires . Sanguini, Worple's vampire friend, kept looking around the room with a hungry look and glazed eyes until his friend shook him out of it.

She made her way to the buffet without getting side-tracked, but when she got there she heard an obnoxious voice she knew all too well:

"This potion that I'm theorising could revolutionise so many things! I think it would be interesting for us to collaborate in the future, or for you to mentor me. I'm very interested in potioneering as you might of heard from Professor Slughorn, or as you would know him Horace-"

"No, no, he was always Professor Slughorn to me," said Damocles Belby, inventor of the Wolfsbane potion, "And this potion you are theorising involves magic that is too rare to put faith in,"

Then he left followed by Oz Sherman yelping:

"But- but Mr Belby!"

" Ugh, Oz Sherman," Andromeda said in disgust, but found that she wasn't the only one saying those words.

She turned to see Gwendolyn.

They both looked uncertainly at each other. It was such a familiar action, but after everything that had happened between them it felt somewhat foreign.

"How are you finding the party?" Andromeda asked.

"It's all right," Gwen said.

"It seems that both of our companions have left to discuss pointless things with more acclaimed people,"

"At least they aren't talking about things as pointless as whatever Sherman was on about,"

"How is he even in attendance? Professor Slughorn has strange tastes but not that strange,"

Gwen smiled but didn't laugh.

"Are you talking to me out of obligation or because you want to?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Andromeda said.

"About what?" Gwen asked.

"I am ready to hear it,"

"Ready to hear what?" Gwen asked, confused.

"Your apology," she said, simply.

"What?!" Gwen almost yelled before remembering where they were.

"Is that not what you are intending to do?"

"No! Of course not! I have absolutely no intention of apologising!"

"Why?" Andromeda asked, confused.

"Why ?!" She yelled, and Ted heard, "We just wanted more friends Andromeda! That's not a crime!"

"Lying to me about who you are associating with is. You should have told me,"

"We didn't know how you'd react, we thought that you might share your family's views," Gwen said. Ted tried to make his way to them.

"Is there anything wrong with my family's views?"

"Yes! There is so much wrong with your family's views! Your family is filled with lunatics!"

"You can not say that!"

"Why?!"

"You can not insult someone above your station! You can not insult the House of Black!" She all but shrieked.

Maybe it was because she had yelled but Gwen had never seen the similarity between Andromeda and Bellatrix's appearance until now, and it was terrifying.

The people around them turned to see what was happening. The party noises drowned out most of their screaming though. Andromeda still felt completely empty when she saw the hurt on Gwen's face.

"Gwen let's go," mumurmed Ted.

He brought her out of the party. Gwenog Jones asked them what was wrong but Ted said that Gwen was feeling a bit under the weather.

Andromeda followed after them. The party was still in full swing.

Slughorn was entertaining some of his past favorite students. Delwy Selwyn seemed to be talking to Oz Sherman about something, she'd have to deal with that later.

There were so many sounds and it seemed to take an eternity to get to the other side of the room. How Gwen and Tonks had done it earlier was a mystery to her.

When she crossed the door into the hallway the first thing that struck her was the lack of light.

Everything seemed blue, whereas inside every color could be seen under the bright magic lights, here there was only dark dark blue.

Next was the sound inside had been so loud, and here it was quiet besides a sound she wished she'd never have to hear.

"Shh, Gwen it's okay, it's alright," Ted comforted the sobbing girl.

She had her head on her knees, and it reminded Andromeda of when they were younger and she used to comfort her or at least try.

She made a step to get closer, and Ted's head turned and he glared at her.

"Get lost, Black,"

"I just want to talk to my fri-"

Gwen let out a strangled sob.

"Go to the dormitory and see Edith, I'll deal with her okay,"

She nodded. He looked at her with so much care and affection, it seemed so foreign to her. It must be love, Andromeda thought.

Gwen got up and scurried away, leaving Ted Andromeda alone in the hallway, Tonks and Black.

"Why are you like this, Black?"

"What are you referring to?"

"What did you hope to accomplish by talking to Gwen?" He said, trying to imitate her speech.

"I desire to be friends once more,"

"But isn't she a blood-traitor friends with mud bloods and other blood-traitors?"

"Well, yes."

"And you still desire to be friends?" He said with bitter amusement.

"Yes," she said confused by his demeanor, she placed a hand subtly on her wand.

"But isn't that against your family's views?" he continued with that slightly teasing tone that was beginning to irritate her.

"What a terrible lot they are …" he mumbled.

"What of it?" She asked, innocently, ignoring his grumbling, then continued, full of hope, "I want to be friends with them, not you . She could have a change of heart. Beliefs are not set in stone."

" Beliefs are not set in stone… " he chuckled.

"What do you find so funny?" She finally let the irritation into her voice.

"Oh, nothing, Black," he said, "You better be getting back to the party…"

"I have no desire to," she said.

"Why?" He smiled a more real smile and she found it terribly irritating.

She looked into his eyes confused by what he found funny, must be some weird muggle custom, she thought .

He looked back expectantly.

"That room is filled to the brim with imbeciles," she said suddenly, and he laughed.

She certainly liked that sound more than when he talked. It was loud and melodious. It filled the hall, her ears and sounded better than any other laugh she'd heard at home or parties.

That was strange.

"Why are you laughing ?" She whispered as if that would lower how loud he was being.

"What you said was funny," he says as if it was obvious, as if he wasn't calculating it.

He'd probably put a charm on his laugh or something so as to pull her in. If he thought he could get her to betray her family like that he was as mad as Dumbledore! That must be how he got her friends, with his pretty laugh and tricks.

"You are so strange, Tonks. I don't understand how they could pick you over me," she wouldn't let him know that she was onto him. She needed an edge.

"Ah, the old Black is back,"

He was speaking again in that way so her irritation came rushing back.

"What is that supposed to mean?.

"Goodnight," he sing-songed.

He started walking off and waving back at her. He was going to leave her alone in this hallway. Right before he was going to turn the corner, laughing lightly again, she blurted:

"What you said before was false, you know?"

Why was she still talking to him? It must have been the laugh again.

"Which part?" He played along and walked back to her.

"That my family are a terrible lot, just because we have different views does not mean that we are terrible. No one is harmed by thoughts,"

"It isn't just thoughts, though, is it? They are actively doing things to stop mine and others' existence based on something as ridiculous as blood," he said, exhausted by her.

"No they are not,"

"Yes, yes they are," he sighed, "Honestly, Black are you wilfully ignorant or naive ?"

Then he left her alone in the hallway.

What does that mean? She thought.

She replayed the words:

Honestly, Black, are you wilfully ignorant or naive ?

She did so again and again…


This is one of my favorite chapters! I like the party, Andromeda's annoying and clueless, Ted's amused, and Gwen cries, it's fantastic! And it's the first actual appearance of Oz Sherman. Now how did you feel about the chapter? (I feel like Dora the Exploradora!) Why don't you review?