An: It's the penultimate chapter! Yes, this wild wild ride is nearly over, so I'm going to take this opportunity for some shameless self-publication. If you like the way I write Bella, then please look at Look at me, or Bruises from Last night or even Protection. If you like Sirius, well, I've got quite a few of them as well (though please check the pairings, in case it's not one that you're fond of.) And finally, if you're going to miss Andromeda, check out Not a Trace of Him and if you're going to miss Andromeda and Ted, I've written a one shot called Whisper I love You. Okay, now that's out the way, here's the penultimate chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 24 – Destruction follows a fall

Her NEWTs were approaching rapidly, but Andromeda couldn't concentrate on her studies. Practice essays were given back to her with red ink splashed everywhere, even in Ancient Runes, which she'd always found easy. It was this combined with the fact that she was stumbling around the castle, looking like a ghost of her former self that had led to this meeting.

Cradling a cup of tea, she was sat opposite Professor Dumbledore, listening to him talk about his phoenix. She wasn't really paying attention so when she realised that he was watching her, waiting for an answer, she began to stammer an apology.

"It's quite alright," he smiled. "I would imagine that magical creatures aren't top of your priorities at the moment."

She half smiled and looked back down at her cup. She didn't want to be here; talking made things worse, not better.

"Your teachers are worried about you," the headmaster told her gently. "Professor Vector in particular." She didn't reply. "He tells me that you used to be very good at Runes, but now you struggle with even the basics."

Andromeda shrugged but said nothing, fiddling with a castle charm on her bracelet.

"Is all of this to do with Mr Tonks?"

She looked up sharply, her eyes widening. Dumbledore merely smiled. "I imagine the incident by the lake wasn't your idea."

"Sir, can I go?" With great effort she kept the tremor out of her voice, as she placed the cup on a nearby pile of books.

He nodded, watching her as she stood to leave. "Sometimes it takes the greatest courage to do nothing, Andromeda. But at other times, one has to act in order to achieve anything."

][][][][][][][

"Eat something." Holly pushed a plate laden with food towards the other girl. Despite the fact that this was the girl who had almost ruined her, Holly felt very concerned about Andromeda. She was wasting away; becoming an awful lot skinnier than was right, proper and attractive.

"I'm not hungry." This had become Andromeda's constant refrain at mealtimes. She would eat a little, if only to stop Holly from nagging her, but she had no appetite.

Both turned to look as they noticed a commotion at the entrance to the hall. "Oh my –"

With her eldest sister walking towards her, Andromeda hurriedly thought back over her actions over the last month, since Titus had written to her father, but she could not think of anything that would warrant a visit from her sister.

Bellatrix Black was beautiful, there was no denying it, which could explain some of the stares. However, she also had a reputation for a short temper, a large arsenal of hexes and an aura that screamed 'do not bother me, or your life will end sooner than you thought', which would explain why the students were giving her wide berth.

When she reached Andromeda, she looked her up and down. "We need to talk.

][][][][][][][

Tom was extremely tired. It was a mix of the approaching NEWTs, ignoring Ruth and trying to get Ted to smile. Ted hadn't cracked a grin or laughed since he'd come back from the hospital wing, and to be perfectly honest, it was extremely wearying. Ted used to be the happy one and Tom was the one with a touch of melancholy about him. Switching roles wasn't fair, and Tom wasn't enjoying it.

It was also hard ignoring Ruth, as they'd been friends since they were little firsties, gazing in awe at the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall. So, finally, he'd cracked and he'd started to talk to her again, helping her with revision, even sitting next to her at meals. While he blamed her for what had happened to Ted, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She'd done what she thought was right. He was pretty sure Ted would never forgive her, but that didn't mean that Tom couldn't at least be nice.

He was in this state of mind when he came upon Sirius Black accosting her. "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

It was almost comical, seeing the skinny twelve year old facing down a seventh year beater, but it was well known that Ruth couldn't hold her temper, and that Sirius knew hexes that even some of the seventh years didn't. Tom supposed it came of having Bellatrix Black as a cousin.

"She was hurting him," Ruth spat back, her hand darting to her wand. "What else was I going to do?"

"Not say anything!" Sirius shouted furiously, already lifting his wand. "Have you any idea what our family would have done if they'd believed it was true?"
"I know she wouldn't still be here polluting the school," Ruth snarled.

It was at this point that Tom disarmed them, catching their wands in his right hand. "Enough."

Both turned to face him, neither wanting to back down. "Ruth, go to the common room."
Angry, but level-headed enough to realise why Tom was stepping in, Ruth left, muttering to herself and casting dirty looks back at the younger boy.

"Sirius," Tom said quietly, handing the boy back his wand. "This doesn't help either of them."

"But she was happy," Sirius insisted. "Andy was actually happy and then she" - he spat the pronoun – "went and ruined it."
Tom shrugged. "It wasn't exactly a perfect arrangement was it? Maybe it's better that it happened."

Sirius shook his head. "Look at both of them. They're walking round this castle like zombies. It hasn't been good for either of them."

Watching the first year walk away, Tom knew Sirius was right. Both Ted and Andromeda looked terrible, and they had been happier when they were together. But there was no way Andromeda would ever pick Ted over her family. She wouldn't risk everything for Ted.

][][][][][][][

"Am I your mother?" Slughorn had allowed them the use of his office, having a soft spot for Bellatrix. She'd been in the Slug Club, she was well connected and managed to use her beauty and reputation to persuade the people to her cause, whatever that was at the time.

"No." The question seemed too easy, but Andromeda knew there had to more to it than first appeared. Bella hardly ever asked pointless questions and the tone of voice that she had employed suggested that there was a point to this one.

"Then why are people writing to me?" she demanded, producing pages of parchment and dropping them on to a nearby table.

"Who's written to you?" Andromeda asked quietly, her eyes scanning the handwriting on the pages nearest to her.

"Sirius. Cissa. Titus. Even Lucius Malfoy," Bellatrix listed, frowning at her sister. "All of them worried about you, all of them asking me to do something. What exactly is going on?"

Andromeda dropped her gaze, reaching out for the parchments. She read a few lines of Sirius' scrawl, 'she's really quiet and I'm worried about her and she won't talk to me', scanned her sister's neat orderly writing, 'Bella, she's losing weight, she's getting skinnier than Lily', hurried through Titus' familiar script, 'Andromeda's not well, and I think you need to do something' and Malfoy's succinct letter that could be summed up in four words: Narcissa's worried about her. "NEWTs," she said finally. "They start on Monday, it's just stress."

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, leaning against a desk. "Stress."

"Yes," Andromeda shrugged, messing with a badger shaped charm on her bracelet. "These are important. I'll be fine afterwards."

Bellatrix eyed her sister, and whatever she saw in Andromeda's face must have been believable, because she sighed. "Tell your friends not to write to me. I have better things to do than read their scribbles." She began to walk to the door, but just as she reached the door, she paused turning back to her sister. "The NEWTs must be important to you, if that's how badly they're affecting you."

Andromeda thought about her sister's words, as she slowly walked back to the common room, the idea being to try and revise for her exams. But as she made her way to the dungeons, the summary of her thoughts stopped her dead.

She was like this because of something important to her. Ted was important to her…No…She couldn't…No, she didn't…She was Slytherin, he was muggle born, there was no way she… But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She was … somehow, unwillingly, amazingly, … in love with Ted Tonks. And he hated her.

][][][][][][][

The NEWTs had begun, and their name was scarily accurate. With practical and theoretical exams, Andromeda was spending her days in a permanent state of exhaustion. But now she was standing outside a foreign common room, waiting for someone to walk out. She was extremely lucky, in that the boy she wanted to see was the first that appeared. He looked as bad as she did. "Ted."

He turned at the sound of his name, and though he frowned, he walked towards her. "I don't really have time," he began, but she shook her head.

"It won't take long," she promised, gripping her bag handle so tightly her knuckles turned white, and although he didn't look particularly impressed, he followed her slightly down the corridor.

"What do you want Andromeda?" he asked. He didn't sound exasperated, or annoyed, just tired, which she hoped was from their exams and not her presence in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, she met his gaze. "I love you."

This raised a smile from the man opposite her. "I don't think so."

"Look at me." Where once her voice would have been imperious, now it was imploring. "I can't sleep, I can't eat."

"That's called guilt," he told her seriously. "Don't confuse it with love."

"Ted." A shade away from begging, she was trying to make him understand. "I'm sorry for what Titus did, but please. I miss you."

"I miss you too." The words took him by surprise, as if he hadn't intended to let them slip out. He shook his head, then pushed the blonde hair out of his eyes. "People in love don't do what you did. If you actually loved me then you'd have stopped Titus."

"I didn't know then," she protested, but she paused, and regained her composure. "What can I do to prove that-"

"I don't know." Ted shrugged. "Maybe you can't."

As he turned away and left her alone, she began to formulate a plan. Like most plans made by the lovesick, it was stupid and potentially embarrassing. However, she'd made her choice. If being without him made her like this, then she didn't want to ever be without him again. She could deal with her family later.

][][][][][][][

The exams were almost finished and only the Defence Against the Dark Arts and Divination exams were left. It was on this sunny day in June that Andromeda put her plan into action. It wasn't a well thought plan; she was pretty sure even Sirius would reject it as too idiotic, but it was the only one she had. She'd thought about what would happen after this breakfast, and for some reason she didn't care. Everything she'd ever been told had fallen down, and suddenly her family didn't seem so scary.

She took a deep breath, cast sonorus on herself, and stood on one of the benches.

"Hi."

The entire hall turned to look at the mad girl addressing them. Not everyone was there, some of the NEWT students were taking the opportunity for a lie-in, but the important people were there.

"What are you doing?" Narcissa hissed. She had had just about enough of being embarrassed by her sister, and she wasn't prepared for it to happen again.

Andromeda ignored her and continued, "Most of you won't care about what I'm about to say, so I'm sorry for disturbing you. But I have to announce something."

Ted was watching her curiously. There was no way that she was about to announce what he thought she was about to announce. No way. Though, if she did, he would have to believe her, because this kind of reckless stunt was exactly what people in love did. Stupid things like agreeing to keep a relationship secret and spending ridiculous amounts of money on a charm bracelet. These were the things that people in love did. So it looked like she'd found a way to prove herself to him.

"I'm in love with Ted Tonks." There were giggles and furious whispers and scandalised gasps, and one or two of the teachers looked like they were about to come and stop her, so she continued hurriedly, "And he didn't cast a spell on me, and he's muggleborn, but I can't help it." She flashed him a quick smile. "So, yes. That's all I wanted to say. Oh, and if anyone casts so much as expelliarmus on him, you'll have me to answer to." She smiled sweetly. "And I know just as much as Bellatrix does." This last part was aimed at the Slytherin table, and then she stepped down off the bench, a wide grin spreading across her face. As her sister hyperventilated, Andromeda began to walk towards the Hufflepuff table, but she was stopped by Sirius throwing his arms around her.

"I knew you were my favourite for a reason," he exclaimed, squeezing her so tightly she felt like she couldn't breathe. "Though I wish you wouldn't give James ideas. He's infatuated with Lily, and now I have a feeling I know what his latest plan is."

Andromeda laughed, and ruffled his hair. "Sirius, no offense, but I have someone to speak to."

"Right, of course. Yes." He grinned at her, stepping back. "But," he added, growing serious. "I'll protect you from Bella."

Walking across to Ted, Andromeda couldn't bring herself to focus on him, so when he was already standing when she reached him, it surprised her. Finally looking at his face, the first thing she noticed was his wide grin. "You got your smile back," she said happily.

"Yeah," he shrugged, smiling widely. "So did you."