Summary: Andromeda takes advice from her sister.
When Ted had gotten his Hogwarts' letter he'd been amazed. Magic was real, and he was magic too. He didn't know going to Hogwarts would bring him to a world that hated him.
Now he had to try to be friends with a girl he barely knew, who was part of the family that hated people —wizards— like him the most. Laughing at the views of an acquaintance was much easier than that of— a kind of friend. Who was now kind of his responsibility… All because he made a couple of friends last year.
She did say that she might change her mind, was that because of him?
"Hey, Edith— what do you think about Andromeda and everything?" Ted asked across the table at breakfast. It was Sunday, and he was having eggs on toast.
"I think that… she can change. I mean she seemed genuine in her apology— but I really just want to know more about her. She's still really mysterious, an enigma. " She said, waving her hands away from her face while saying " an enigma."
Edith's opinions hadn't changed since the beginning of the year. Well, maybe now she was more fascinated by her, after certain recent events. It was strange how even yesterday's Quidditch match seemed to pale in interest compared to Andromeda's antics.
"What about you, Mason?"
"She seems very troubled… I'm sure Inaya and Gwen are just happy that they're friends again."
They could be, but nothing had really changed overnight: Inaya and Gwen were eating breakfast together, trying to ignore a conversation between Bear Lanca, Oz Sherman and a Slytherin that looked pretty familiar to Ted. Inaya and Gwen kept sending dirty looks their way, but they didn't seem to care or notice.
"It's a shame we lost the match, maybe if Lufkin was still Seeker we would've won. Why isn't she on the team anyway?" Edith asked. Maybe the Quidditch match was more interesting than Andromeda's nonsense after all.
"I don't know. Marcus doesn't really talk about it." Ted said.
"Ooo, a Quidditch mystery!" Edith said.
"It seems personal. I mean has Lufkin even come to any of the games this year?"
"Who knows? But, as you said, it's private and non of our business." Mason interjected.
"That's not really what I said, but I can see where you what you were getting at-there's really no point wondering about something so private, there's no information."
"That is not at all what I was getting at, Ted."
"Mystery… " Edith whispered faintly, as her eyes glazed over.
Andromeda didn't really like eating with her family nowadays. She would've eaten breakfast with Delwy but he was at the Ravenclaw table talking to Bear Lanca and Oz Sherman.
"You know, Andromeda, Selwynn is the perfect friend. He seems so OBEDIENT and LOYAL. I almost want to steal him and replace these IDIOTS-AND he didn't even need any training! Sometimes I feel like a hippogriff-trainer having the Lestranges as friends," Bella said, obviously her and the Lestranges had had some sort of disagreement, "Where is he?"
"At the Ravenclaw table," Andromeda replied.
Bellatrix looked over at the table in question and frowned.
"Maybe some training is necessary after all…" Bella muttered, "I know! Here's some sisterly advice: trade secrets to gain trust—or blackmail! Both if possible… It'd be safer to make up a secret, so as not to give them leverage against you—but you were never good at lying."
"Thank you for the advice, Bella," Andromeda said.
Trade secrets to gain trust.
Delwy was eating with the Ravenclaws; she should probably try to make their friendship more profound.
"If all else fails the Lestranges and I could kill him."
Andromeda thought it was a joke, but it was harder to tell these days. If it was a joke, Andromeda didn't find it all that funny.
Andromeda immediately rushed over to the Ravenclaw table. She tapped Delwy on the shoulder.
He turned to look at her.
"Andromeda?" He said, very surprised.
"Yes," her eyes scanned the table nervously, she saw Inaya and Gwen and gave a quick smile to them before returning her attention to Delwy, "I was wondering, if you would like to meet later today?"
"L-like a date?" He squeaked.
She blushed in embarrassment. What is he thinking?
"No! No, no, no … Like friends—you know?"
"So we'll be doing homework?"
"No! We will just be speaking to… each… other."
Everyone at the table was looking at her, and she was all too aware of Bear Lanca almost shaking at what he was seeing.
Merlin and Agrippa… This is so unseemly. Why had she decided to do this in the middle of breakfast?
"Oh, okay… see you in the library in ten minutes?"
"Yes, all right," She said, then turned on her heels and walked away. She sighed in relief. It may have not gone well, but at least asking him was over.
She didn't see Delwy blush red and smile, but his friends certainly did.
"I can't believe that Andromeda had a boyfriend this whole time!" Edith said, animatedly.
"They aren't dating." Gwen said.
"She blushed , he blushed : they're probably dating— and I heard from Bertha Jorkins that they kissed at the Slug Club Party in January."
"Bertha's a gossip, you can't believe everything she says—or anything she says," Inaya said, "Florence Lambert, her best friend , told me so."
"Plus, Andromeda wouldn't've had the time to kiss anybody. She was too busy arguing with Gwen and I at Slug's party."
Gwen flinched slightly, and Ted felt a little guilty bringing that night up.
"You know what we could do?" Inaya said firmly, "Ask her what she's feeling. I mean we're supposed to be friends with her now, right?"
"Yeah, we'll do that… after she's done hanging out with Delwy." Edith said with a wicked smile.
"They aren't dating," Gwen said, exasperated, "If you hadn't already guessed, Andromeda's not really the dating type."
"I don't know, Dolly, maybe love's in store for her future."
"If Andromeda had love in store for this year, Mason and I would've known with our Arithmancy project." Inaya said, cleaning her glasses.
"That would've been interesting, instead we found out that she'd study and talk to people." Mason said.
"Well, there was a probability that she'd do something astronomically stupid that would derail everything we had predicted," Inaya said, putting her glasses on her face, "But, I'm sure that's not important."
"Do you think that's becoming friends with us?"
"Or-Or it could be dating Delwy Selwynn!" Edith said.
"They aren't dating." Gwen said firmly.
"Hello, Andromeda," Delwy said, sliding into the seat in front of her, "What did you want to talk about?"
"I was thinking—"
"Wait! I got you a flower," then he pulled a rose out of his bag and put it in her hands.
"Oh, thank you," she said, the thorns had been removed so it didn't hurt to hold.
It was red and pretty, so she placed it delicately on the table next to her.
"So, I wanted to talk to you to try to make our friendship more profound."
"Taking it to the next level." Delwy said, nodding.
"Yes," she nodded, "I want to tell you a secret."
"What is it?"
She'd thought of the perfect secret while getting there. There were a few students there watching them, she didn't want them to hear so she leaned across the table and whispered the next part into Delwy's ear, hiding the side of her mouth with her right hand. Delwy's cheeks turned pink.
"I think that I am my parents least favourite child."
She drew back surprised at how amazing it felt to talk to someone. Delwy looked pained.
"Androme-"
"That was amazing ! If you want to tell me a secret feel free ," she beamed at him, and everything in his mind melted away, "I—I can not believe that I never thought to do that before! I will most certainly be doing it again."
She felt much lighter. She got up from her seat and as she walked past the table she put her hand on Delwy's.
"This was truly one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. If you ever want to tell me a secret we can organise a meeting like this. We should do this always."
As she walked away, Delwy's rose forgotten, and said it again:
"Amazing !"
Inaya, Gwen, Ted, Mason and Edith were still sitting by the lake. Andromeda went straight to them after her meeting with Delwy.
"Hello, Inaya, Gwen, company." Andromeda said, nodding her head at whoever she was referring to.
"You should call your friends by their names." Gwen song-songed.
"All right."
"Did you have fun on your date ?" Edith said.
"That was not a date. I wanted to meet with my friend."
"Okay… but do you like him?"
"I do like him, but not in the way you are insinuating: he is a wonderful friend." Andromeda said, a faint smile appearing on her face, "As a matter of fact, I think our friendship is beginning to develop to a higher level!"
Everyone but Edith seemed surprised by this. Especially Inaya and Gwen, since it had taken them years to form a meaningful friendship with Andy.
"Maybe it'll develop into something more." Edith said, and clapped her hands together.
Gwen rolled her eyes, and Inaya and Mason put their heads in their hands in exasperation.
"Well you never know—I mean I thought that I would never be able to be friends with you—or Delwy and now I somehow am!" Andromeda said, and Edith smiled, "Though, if you do not mind me asking—it seems to have slipped my mind—What is your name?"
Edith's smile dropped a little. Ted looked away from second-hand embarrassment.
"Edith Faith."
"Oh, that name is quite," Andromeda paused, she stared off into the distance as if cycling through a list. When she came up empty she said, "pretty."
Edith smiled weakly.
"Why thank you… so is... yours."
Andromeda nodded, and everyone hoped that the awkward moment would pass.
"So, you are not of pureblood? What is your blood status? You know mine, of course."
"I'm muggleborn."
"Like Tonks!" Andromeda said eagerly, "Must be what drove you together—besides your house similarities, of course."
She seemed completely unaware of the tense atmosphere that surrounded her and them under the tree by the lake.
"Of course." Edith said.
"People who are share affinities usually have better relations with each other, yes?"
"Yes," Edith said.
"Like Delwy Selwynn and I: we both are of pureblood, (even if his is less so), and Slytherin."
"Yes," Edith looked to the rest of the group as if saying: Why am I the only one talking here?
"Sometimes other perspectives are important," Ted said, saving Edith.
"However ," Andromeda started, and Ted was reminded of Edith, again, and cracked a small smile, "Other perspectives are not always appreciated."
"They are still necessary, though," Ted persisted.
The rest of the group sat uncomfortably watching them talk.
"Yes," She said, simply.
"Yes?" And he couldn't help but smile: he couldn't help his playfulness, she was just so... perplexing.
"Of course. My uncle always says 'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.'" She recited.
"Is that Proust?" Mason asked, skeptically.
"Who?" Andromeda asked innocently.
"French author."
Andromeda was even more confused.
"The quote that your uncle said, it's from Proust."
"That would make sense since he does do a lot of reading." Andromeda said.
"He reads muggle literature ?" Edith asked, incredulous.
"Yes, he always says 'Good literature is good literature, no matter who penned it.'" She looked expectantly over to Mason, with a giddiness reminiscent to that of a child's, "Is that a quote from someone?"
"No," he smiled, "I think that that's just from your uncle."
The tense atmosphere had completely dissipated as Andromeda started talking about her uncle. The grass swayed in the wind and the lake was still and calm.
This chapter isn't very long but each interaction was hard to write. In the last scene it was supposed to end tense and awkward, but the characters always found a way out of it, so I just had to leave it in. Bellatrix and Lestranges disagreement was so hard to find that I cut it.
I'm currently writing chapter 18: Hush-Hush, so is all caught up!
I was wondering if the Quidditch storyline is interesting, because I might cut it, so please leave a review about your opinion on that or anything else in the story.
Anyway, have a nice day!
