Chapter Seven

A Blast of Cold Air

End of Term, Winter, 1968

The snow crunched as Narcisssa, Alice and Ophelia made their way through the grounds. All three girls were heavily wrapped in scarves, hats and gloves. Not one of them had been brought up in a location anywhere near as north as Hogwarts, and as a result, they spent each winter endlessly complaining about how cold they were. This particular outing was only taking place because it was not optional. Earlier on the same day, Travers had sidled up to Narcissa in the common-room, sniffing back a stream of green fluid from his nostrils, and presented her with a parcel wrapped in ugly brown paper. She had stood there for a moment, utterly unresponsive, before he mumbled "Merry Christmas" and ambled away. Naturally, as soon as he was out of eyesight, she had sprinted to her friends to recount the event.

Presently, they were huddled together near the lake, close enough that they could see the ice patterns forming over the vast expanse of water.

"Okay, okay, we're away from the castle now, go on and open it!" Ophelia pleaded. Narcissa unbuttoned her rucksack and rooted around for the parcel, hindered somewhat by her thick black gloves. Eventually, she fished it out, and the girls gathered closer to look at it.

"Is that..." Alice started. She hesitated, and then, "Is that gum?"

"What?"

Alice pointed towards the flap on the parcel. Lining the flap, thus sticking it down, was a thick wad of discoloured chewing gum. Narcissa had never felt so relieved that she was wearing gloves.

"No. No no no no no! Why is this happening to me!" She wailed as her friends collapsed into laughter.

"You've got to open it now!" Alice giggled. "I only hope the gift lives up to the packaging."

"I can't believe this is happening. Why am I doing this?" Narcissa moaned as she gingerly pulled the paper apart.

"Cissy, we've gone over this. No-one is going to feel sorry for you when you chose to – What is that? Is it a jumper?" Alice retorted. Narcissa pulled out the large, bulky piece of fabric, and held it at arms length. The girls peered at it as if it were a magical creature. It was indeed a jumper. A bright yellow jumper, at least three sizes too big for Narcissa, made out of a very thick, scratchy material that she didn't recognise.

"Oh it's beautiful!" Alice laughed. "I bet he specially ordered it on owl delivery and everything!"

Narcissa scowled.

"It's hideous. Why would he even think to get me this? Is it his? Is it an unwanted birthday present?"

"No, no it's not" Ophelia interjected. "Look at the label. It's a women's jumper."

"That possibly makes it worse! What's this material? Do I even want to know?" Narcissa lamented, still holding the jumper as far away from her as possible.

"Not a clue."

"What am I supposed to do with it? I can't have this in my room!"

"Throw it in the lake!" Ophelia squealed. "Quick, before you catch a disease."

"I'm not sure that's allowed..." Alice muttered, but her two friends were already leaping through the snow towards the lake's edge.

"Find a big stone and throw it at the ice" Narcissa instructed. "I need a hole to get this into the water!". Both girls laughed hysterically as Ophelia picked up a rock from the bank and hurled it down at the ice. It cracked open, and Narcissa dropped the jumper into the gap. There it stayed, floating on the water's surface

"Oh no, it's not sinking!" She exclaimed, looking round to the others. "Help me get it underwater before the ice freezes over again!"

A large figure was coming out of the white mist towards them. Judging by the size, he had to either be a 7th year or a teacher, and either way they were about to get in serious trouble.

"Move" Alice demanded, and pushed the other girls apart, so that she could see the abandoned jumper. Pulling out her wand, she cried out "Deprimo!" and with a blast, the jumper sank into the murky depths of the water, causing a large wave to ripple out over the lake's perimeter.

The girls jumped back, trying to stop their winter boots from getting splashed.

"Hey!" A deep, gravely voice called from behind them. "What d'yer think you're doing out here?"

They swung round, to see that the large figure was not a 7th year or a teacher at all. It was the giant, Hagrid. He had taken to roaming the grounds to frighten students, although Narcissa suspected that he was too slow and stupid to pose any real risk. He advanced towards them.

"You three can't just dump yer stuff in the lake like that. There are creatures living in there!"

"It's the half-breed!" Narcissa squeaked. "Run!".

Giggling like small children, the girls turned and fled back towards the castle. A few minutes later, they reached the great oak doors, panting profusely. As Alice pushed it open, Narcissa glanced back to check if the half-giant had managed to catch up with them, but all she could see were clouds of white mist.

"He's gone."

"Thank god!" Ophelia laughed. "We're lucky that giants are too brutish to co-ordinate their movements properly, or else we'd be stewing in a pot in that nasty cabin by now!"

Free of the giant, and free of the jumper, they slunk back into the Slytherin common-room.

During her lunch hour, Andromeda often avoided the other students by retreating to the Quad, which was used more as a passageway than a destination. Sitting in a stone enclave which faced out over the grass, she unwrapped her Pumpkin Pasty and took a bite. She was grateful that the house-elves provided hot food at lunchtime, as it was just about the only thing keeping her warm in the icy december weather.

Footsteps echoed across the paving stones, and Bellatrix, wrapped in a thick winter cloak and scarf, came to sit next to her.

"It's really rather unsociable that you choose to sit out here, instead of with the rest of your house".

"I just don't feel like it. They irritate me." Andromeda mumbled, taking another bite of pasty, and failing to stop crumbs falling over her lap.

"Still, it's not going to buy you any social favours". Bellatrix pulled out a flask of Nettle Tea and pressed it to her lips. The girls sat in a comfortable silence. Then Andromeda remembered something which she had been meaning to ask.

"Where have you been all this term? I barely see you at all."

Bellatrix paused in consideration.

"I.. Yes. I'm going to tell you something, Andromeda, but it's sensitive information, and so you can't you around repeating it, do you understand?"

"Of course... What is it?"

"Have you ever heard of a organisation called The Knights of Walpurgis?"

"No"

"You should have. I'm sure Professor Binns briefly covers it in 2nd Year History of Magic."

"I don't remember what happened in History of Magic yesterday, let alone two years ago."

"Well that's just not good enough. You can't have your classmates out-doing you in the OWLS!"

"Bella, seriously, you're the only person I've ever met who pays attention in that class."

Bellatrix smiled reluctantly.

"Sadly, you may be right. It's all for nothing, anyway. He still calls me Grant instead of Black. But I digress. The Knights of Walpurgus developed this school of thought, which very simply put, is about the successful continuation of the wizarding community. Our society can't progress without strong wizarding bloodlines, and the integration of wizarding and muggle worlds poses a major risk to our futures. That's why they don't formally acknowledge the existence of 'muggle-born wizards'. You're a muggle, or you're a wizard. You can't be both."

"So you've joined this group?"

"... not quite. They don't... they don't really like taking students into the fold. Or women. But they let me help them on promotional and recruitment drives, so if I can prove myself, I think I stand a fighting chance of getting in. That's what I've been doing this term. Going out on house-to-house visits, trying to spread the word. Writing up reports. I can't go to the meetings, but they let me read their notes afterwards."

"And this is for extra-curricular activities? You want to be a politician?"

Bellatrix laughed.

"God forbid! No, if anything I think I'd like to be a campaigner of sorts. Politicians get lost in the lifestyle, and ultimately don't make any difference at all. I actually want to change things, and to do that I think I need to stay on the ground. It's pressure groups and the like which actually get things done, so that's the direction I'm going in."

"What do you want to change then?" Andromeda asked, rubbing her hands on her legs in an attempt to keep them warm.

"A lot! But obviously I'd have to move in baby steps. So firstly, I want Hogwarts to stop accepting muggles, alongside any other magical educational institution in this country. That way they can be slowly fazed out of the wizarding world, which feels a bit more humane than taking a hard line of segregation. That will eventually cleanse out the bloodlines, but we also need laws in place banning relationships between wizards and muggles, and ultimately wizards and muggle-borns, so that the children born are as pure as possible. I haven't finished working on it yet, but I've been drawing up several proposed amendments to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which would decrease interaction between the wizarding and muggle world."

"Well I think these Knights of Warblington are stupid not to accept you" Andromeda mumbled through another bite of pasty.

"Walpurgis. And no, they're really not. They just take things very seriously, and I need to prove my worth, that's all. Don't criticise them; the work they have been doing is really impressive."

"I'm just saying! You don't need to be an adult or a man to be worthy of them. I think you're pretty spectacular just as you are."

At this, Bellatrix fake-vomited, but was smiling.

"Oh Andromeda, if only everybody had your excellent judge of character. I'll just have to break in the traditional way, from the inside."

The bells in the clock-tower began to chime, signalling the end of lunch. As the noise reverberated around the deserted quad, the girls packed away their belongings and stood up. Andromeda pulled a wooly hat down over her head, and turned to her sister.

"I've got to go, I have astronomy and the stairs are a nightmare. I hope everything works out with this group – keep me updated on how you're doing? I never see you enough."

Bellatrix sighed.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But Christmas is coming up soon, and you know how it works, we'll spend the whole holiday trapped in that house, so lots of time to catch up."

"That's one way of putting a positive spin on it, I suppose". They started walking towards an exit archway. "Oh, did I tell you? Narcissa wants to put a wager on the house-elf turnover this season. She says she's worked out a formula. She's pretty confident."

"We might as well take her up on it. At least there will be one thing to entertain us at home."

Stuffing 'Moste Potente Potions' into her bag, Andromeda glanced at the vinyl that was currently resting on her bed. Very reluctantly, she carefully added it to the bag, relying on the fact that the other girls in the dorm were too busy gossiping about Augustus Rookwood and his new girlfriend to ask what she was doing. The vinyl had lived with her in the Slytherin dormitory for almost a month. The first time she had gone to renew the book since borrowing Edward's music, she had told him that she hadn't had much time to listen to it, and needed more time to appreciate it. The next week, she simply said that she had forgotten it. By the third week, she knew that he knew that she was unwilling to return it any time soon, but all he did was laugh and say that he hoped the vinyl wouldn't fall prey to her horrible hoarding habit. In actuality, she had been secretly playing the disc on repeat since the day he had lent it to her. However, it was now the final week of term, and she knew that she should return it before the christmas holidays commenced.

Knowing that the library would be empty of other patrons by five past eight, she didn't rush her journey through the castle, instead choosing to have a proper look at the portraits on the walls as she passed. It may have just been paranoia, but she could have sworn that several of them payed increased attention to her in particular, but none of them said a word, so she resolved that it must just have been a figment of her imagination.

Edward was aimlessly swinging in circles on the library desk chair when she came in. He grinned at her and put his feet down, bringing himself to a standstill. Andromeda noticed that his hair had grown slightly longer, and as a result was increasingly curly. It made him look like the teenage boy equivalent of one of the cherub paintings on the ceiling at home.

"Hey guess what?" She said, walking over to the desk and reaching into her bag.

"Oh don't tell me. You've finally finished with hoarding my music?" He joked, climbing to his feet.

Upon hearing this, Andromeda couldn't resist. She released her grip on the vinyl in her bag, and instead brought out the textbook, looking as innocent and bemused as possible.

"What? No. I was just taking out the book. Did I need to bring back the disc today? Was that important?"

Edward looked a little taken aback, but if he was annoyed by her, he didn't show it. She put the book on the table in front of him.

"Oh, no, it's just, I don't know, with Christmas and all-". He looked so uncomfortable that she couldn't help dropping the act.

"Ted, chill. I was kidding, I have it here" she laughed, bringing it out her bag and passing it over to him. At this point he did breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good, because I really love that song and I was trying really hard not to get mad at you for stealing my music for the holidays!"

"Oh yeah, like you're the kind of person to get mad at anyone"

He smiled, turning the disc over in his hands.

"Fair enough."

Andromeda thought that considering how easy-going he had been about her extended music loan, she might as well be honest about the record.

"I.. I thought the song was brilliant, if you're interested. I actually played it a lot."

He glanced up, looking surprised by her admission.

"Really? You thought so?"

"Yes, I did. If I'm going to be really honest, when I realised that I needed to give it back, I went down to Dominic Maestro's in Hogsmeade to get my own copy, but they hadn't heard of The Zombies. Are they a new band?"

Edward chuckled, but he sounded slightly short of breath. He rubbed his temple.

"No, no, they're not. I'm not surprised you couldn't find it in Maestros, or anywhere else for that matter, seeing as.. well, it was an easy enough mistake to make, I guess. A band name like The Zombies is pretty misleading."

Andromeda wondered where he was going with this ramble.

"But they... uh, yeah. They've been around for a while but they're a muggle band so I got the music from home it's fair enough that you couldn't get it in Hogsmeade they don't really play that sort of thing but yeah, that's what it is.

From this nervous cascade of words, Andromeda only really picked up on two phrases. Muggle band and got the music from home. Oh. She hadn't seen this one coming.

"Oh, so.. it just never occurred to me that you were a mu-" Mudblood. The word was on her lips, but she was looking straight into Edward's worried face and she just couldn't bring herself to say it.

"-Muggle-born. That you were a muggle-born". The room felt quiet.

"Yes, well, that I am."

It was rare for there to be a moment of silence in their conversations. Usually, the banter between the pair meant that the silence of the library didn't register. Today, the silence was so loud that it was deafening.

Andromeda's thoughts were all over the place. She didn't especially hate muggles or mudbloods, but she knew that her place in society was not alongside them. And Edward – she liked him, but now he was different. Dangerously different. As much as she wanted to suppress it, one thought kept on popping up in her head. She liked him, yes, but in recent weeks she had been wondering whether she was had reallybegun to like him. Maybe she had, maybe she hadn't. Either way, it didn't matter now. He was a mudblood. You're lucky you found this out now, rang out a voice in her head. Or else it would have been far too late. She tried to ignore it.

"So it's a muggle band, then? I suppose that makes sense". Why would it make sense? She chided herself. They were a band like any other. But she needed to say something, anything, to stop this painful silence.

"Yes". Edward's monosyllabic answers really weren't helping.

"Right. Well. I thought the song was... nice. Thank you."

He looked pale.

"You're welcome."

Another silence.

"Well, I guess I should be off then. Really should start packing my trunk for Christmas."

She turned and tried not to run for the door. The room felt suffocating, and even though she had been polite, she knew that Edward must have sensed her change in demeanour. She felt shaky and awful, and just wanted to get away and crawl up under her bedsheets for the rest of the evening. If not the rest of her life.

"Wait -". Without thinking, she turned round at the sound of his voice. He looked smaller, somehow, with this increased distance between them. He held up 'Moste Potente Potions' in one hand.

"- Don't you need to renew your book?"

She paused. Knowing what she was about to say made her feel a little sick.

"No thank-you. I think.. I think I'm done with that now. Thank-you".

With that, she practically flung herself out of the door. On the way back to the dorms, she barely noticed a thing around her; even the noise of the school was drowned out by white noise ringing in her ears. After an eternity, she reached the girl's dormitory and went straight to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Looking in the mirror, she noted that her eyes were thankfully still dry, but she had developed dark eye-bags and her cheeks were sallow. She splashed water over her face, and then swilled some of it, hoping to remove the sickening taste in her mouth. It wasn't much use.

When she came back into the dormitory, the other girls were looking at her worriedly. She realised that storming past them into the bathroom wasn't the best way to avoid attention.

"Are you okay, Andromeda?" Morgance asked quietly. Andromeda forced herself to take a breath and compose herself.

"Yeah, I just thought I was going to be sick, that's all. But it was nothing. False alarm."

"Okay, good. Do you need us to get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine, I promise. I might just go to bed now in case anything gets worse."

"Okay, we understand. We'll try to keep as quiet as possible."

The evening wore on, and the four other girls whispered to each other in the darkness as Andromeda pretended to sleep. Even when they too eventually went to sleep, she stayed awake, staring at the fabric ceiling of her four-poster bed. It had not been a pleasant day. However, the holidays were almost upon her, and all she could do was hope that time away from Hogwarts could do her some good.

A/N: Hello! Sorry it's been a while; I left to go on holiday halfway through writing this chapter, but it's done now! I noticed I got a fair few follows and favourites last week, so welcome to any new people. As always, more are welcome. Please leave a comment if you can - I find it so much easier to write regularly when I know people are reading/enjoying the story, so let me know you're out there! Sorry about Ted and Andromeda this chapter, I felt so mean having to write that. But as they say, the show must go on...