Hi. Wow. I have not been on here in foreveerrrr. It's ridiculous. I barely remember how to use FF and now I feel all self-concious even though this is the internet. Wow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter :(

This is the final chapter, do enjoy!~

Andromeda had been fighting with her sisters more often than usual in the past year. Her mother, although displeased, insisted that it was a phase, but Andromeda was frightened that maybe this would never be resolved. A little voice in her head whispered maybe, just maybe, she wasn't meant to belong here and this was the world's way of showing it. But she crushed it and smothered it and refused to listen to her deepest fear being told to her. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind there was a murmur, a suggestion, that she wasn't meant to be.

Ted Tonks, the Hufflepuff that courted her in her sixth year was still asking her out after numerous rejections However harsh her words and rejection were, it all seemed to bounce off of him, and he would respond with a wave and a grin as if it had never happened. She had almost, dare she say it, grown somewhat fond of him, and though she rejected him would spend continued hours in his presence. Of course, if her sisters or parents ever found out she could kiss her Black family tree position good-bye. Dear Aunt Walburga was quite fond of blasting people off of the moth-eaten old tapestry. Privately, Andromeda thought she was quite insane. It was a wonder that Sirius hadn't run away from home yet.

With Rodolphus and Bellatrix happily married, and her parents pushing her to marry soon as well, her hours at home were growing more harried. But when Ted Tonks got on one knee in the snow, it was only her rigid Black upbringing that kept her from gaping unattractively like a fish.

"Andromeda Black," and it was the first time she had ever seen him so solemn. His earnest brown eyes stared at her steadily, and his mouth didn't even have a hint of a smile. "Will you marry me?" She had no idea how to respond. Did he even know marriage protocol? Had he even talked to her parents first? Of course he couldn't have. She berated herself for her stupidity. Her mother would have jinxed him on the spot. She could see the resolve in his eyes wavering as her silence dragged on into the cold winter air, her breath coming in puffs of condensation. Out of impulse, with no reasoning or rationale whatsoever, Andromeda gave a quick jerk of her head, her long brown hair bouncing slightly on her back.

She felt slightly sickened by the wide grin that spread across Ted's face. After all, it wasn't as if she nodded because she loved him. Was it? She was a pathetic excuse for a human being, or was it her subconcious deciding to surface? Trying to probe her inner thoughts only brought woeful confusion, and she drifted along haplessly in the wake of Ted's happiness.

She faced the double doors of the Black mansion, suddenly a stranger in front of her own house. Or had it happened slowly, gnawing at her heart? The ornate serpentine designs seemed to evoke a sentiment in her, Andromeda was well aware that she may never see the inside of this house again. She pushed the doors open and took a deep breath, steeling herself. Her mother was sitting in a high-backed wooden chair, rigid and stern even when relaxed, peering at some thick, dusty tome. Druella Black née Rosier looked up as soon as her middle daughter entered and immediately knew something was wrong.

She stood up with all the regality of an empress, her hair pulled back in a charcoal and iron streaked bun, making her features stand out.

"Andromeda?" It was less of a question and more of an order to explain herself.

"Mother..."

Her two sister's walked into the drawing room, 19 year old Narcissa smiling as a 23 year old Bellatrix laughed raucously. However the laughter and smile died as they saw the look on their sister's face. Bellatrix's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she studied her plainer sibling's worried features. Narcissa's porcelain face was kept carefully blank, but there was a shrewdness in her icy eyes that made Andromeda think she knew.

"Explain yourself!" The order was revealed for what it was with a harsh cry from Druella Black.

"Mother I... was proposed to...by Ted Tonks. And I accepted," her whispered words were greeted with silence. They seeped into the room like poison, absorbed by the expensive and ancient furniture, down the hall and up the stairs, until it seemed like the whole house was waiting with bated breath for the reaction of her family. Bellatrix's mouth was set in a snarl, her face alight with fury. Narcissa was as calm and stonily still as a statue. Their mother's features twisted scarily and in one sweeping motion she moved forward and grasped her daughter's upper arm in a bruising grip. Andromeda gasped in pain as her mother shook her violently.

"You wicked, wicked child! You will go to that filthy Mudblood this instant and tell him that you were deranged! How could you ruin our purity?" Every syllable shook with cold rage. Andromeda would have much rather braved the hot fury of her sister than this icy ire. She cast a quick glance at Bellatrix's animalistic expression. Maybe not.

"Mother, please try to understand," she bleated vainly. She knew it wouldn't work. The only reason that she was even here was to pay her respects because she knew that she would never be welcomed back. She might as well be dead for all the notice she was going to get after this; even the dead were paid more attention.

"Andromeda." Said a deep voice suddenly and a tear slid down her cheek.

"Father." Cygnus Black had walked into the room and his mere presence had immediately commanded calm.

"Druella what is going on?" The three sisters were silent as he addressed their mother. As Andromeda looked at him a choked sob escaped her lips. Looking into her father's face she could pick out features shared by each of her sisters, and herself. Bellatrix had his dark eyes, heavy-lidded and expressive. Narcissa looked more like their mother, but something in his small narrow nose spoke of the blond. And Andromeda, Andromeda could see herself in his heavily-set jaw, somewhat stubborn and peculiar. She saw also a pensiveness that might also be echoed in her own personality.

"I said yes to the Muggle-born," she whispered strickenly. Her mother's steely gray eyebrows rose higher and her thin lips, so like Narcissa's, were pressed together even more.

"I see." Said her father. "And this is your final decision?" Cygnus looked, if anything, weary. Andromeda inclined her head in affirmation, another tear sliding down her freckled cheek.

"Then you are no longer welcome here, Andromeda." And so she left, for there was nothing more for her here.

Almost ten years had passed, and Andromeda still relived that distant past from time to time. She remembered the times when her surname brought respect, reverence, and even fear into those lesser than her. Sometimes she would lay beside Ted, and look into his kind face and feel revulsion. They had a little girl now, a beautiful girl in whom she could still see Narcissa's fine bones and Bellatrix's full lips.

And it killed her inside. But she had learned to accept this life, which she had attained out of impulse, and, she secretly suspected, a need to be different. To stand out amongst the outstanding, maybe even for attention. But she was happy, she decided, fingering her mahogany locks. She had her own family to worry about and take care of. The past was but a distant dream. The future was where the uncertainty lay.

"In each family a story is playing itself out, and each family's story embodies its hope and despair." - Auguste Napier

A/N: So... you like? Do be a dear and review and tell me! (: