Chapter Nine

Good Manners

December 1968

Over the christmas holidays, the castle was far more tranquil than any other time of year, mainly due to the lack of students and the heavy fall of snow. With wisps of snowflakes still lining her window, Andromeda finished her letter to Bellatrix, telling of her arrival back at Hogwarts. Tucked up under her thick bedsheets, she reached out into the draw in her bedside cabinet, fingers just able to slide an unused silver envelope closer towards her. When it was properly within her grasp, she picked it up and carefully sealed the parchment inside. It was already evening, so she decided to leave posting the letter until the following morning, when Odysseus would be far more willing to fly the long journey back home, or wherever else Bellatrix had gone.

Just then, her stomach gave out a loud rumble. Sighing, she reluctantly climbed out of bed, the wind from the draughty dormitory making her shiver involuntarily. Dinner would have already been served, but there would be plenty left over; the house-elves didn't seem to recognise that the student population plummeted over the winter months and continued determinedly making the same amounts as always.

Arriving in the Great Hall, she was surprised to see that the four long tables had been replaced with just one. She supposed it made sense, but it threw up a rather pressing problem. Knowing that it was highly unusual for esteemed bloodline students to spend the holidays at school, due to the rigid social demands placed upon such families, she hadn't expected to be familiar with anybody present. Perhaps prematurely, she had come up with a back-up plan – to bring a book and sit as far away as possible from everyone else, trying to look busy. This plan was now unachievable, thanks to the students all being pushed together in the centre of the hall. She stood by the entrance, watching the crowds of unfamiliar faces tuck into their suppers.

"Andromeda!"

She heard the voice but couldn't identify the speaker. She scanned the table, confused.

"Andromeda! Over here!"

Leaning out from the row of benches, and waving her arm out for attention, was Wendy Slinkhard, the hufflepuff girl from Slug Club. Andromeda walked over to her, wondering what she wanted.

"Do you want to come and sit with us?" Wendy asked, smiling up at her.

"Pardon?"

"Oh no, don't worry at all if you've already got somewhere to sit. It's just that there are hardly any slytherins here in the holidays, and the ones that are here are usually seventh years revising for early NEWT examinations. So if you want to sit with us, you're more than welcome."

Andromeda stared at her, trying to work out when the punchline was going to arrive. She had barely spoken to Wendy in her entire life, not even at Slug Club parties. Why was she being so nice? Andromeda observed the rest of the group, trying to spot a contained snicker, but the other girls and boys were mostly focused on eating, with only a couple watching the conversation in mild interest.

"Thank you. That's... that's really kind of you, Wendy" Andromeda murmured. Although she still suspected that there may be a catch, she did need somewhere to sit, and if she had learnt anything from being a Black, it was that one must never behave rudely. Wendy looked delighted and instantly moved up to make space for Andromeda next to her.

"Did you come back today?"

Andromeda nodded, loading spoonfuls of stuffing onto her plate.

"That's a shame, christmas day was absolutely amazing. Professor Sprout managed to pull in a favour and get this wizard to come in and perform. He was some sort of... Christmas Tree Charmer. He could make them do all these tricks and dance and change shape, it was really cool."

Andromeda felt like she should say something in return, but drew an enormous blank. As she silently panicked, Wendy, not noticing a thing, continued on chattering.

"Oh, I should really do some introductions, shouldn't I? Everyone, this is Andromeda, my friend from Slug Club."

Friend? Andromeda just about managed to keep her face neutral, but if Wendy was being genuine, she was beginning to feel rather guilty. To date, she would never have referred to Wendy as a friend.

"This is Eglantine" She said, pointing to the girl opposite, with a short mop of dark curly hair. "And Jim, and Gillian, and Clive, and Annette." she listed, cheerfully poking each one as she named them.

"Hi Andromeda, good to meet you" Eglantine chirped. "They're serving Eton Mess for desert, so you'd better hurry with your main meal if you want any, or else Clive will eat it all."

"Oi!" Clive exclaimed, flicking a chickpea at her. With that, it seemed that Andromeda had been absorbed into the group as if she had been there since the day they were sorted. Clive did indeed manage four bowls of desert, much to her astonishment and Eglantine's amusement, and Wendy ended up being peer-pressured into explaining to Andromeda that her hair was only blonde due to a ton of professional enchantments, as she had rather foolishly bought some 'discount' hairspray off a black-market seller, which had instantly stained it bright orange, much to the horror of her mother.

It was far later than she realised, when they finally climbed up from the table. The hall was now almost empty, with most groups returning to their various common-rooms soon after eating. It occurred to Andromeda that this group could easily have done the same. After all, every single one of them was a hufflepuff. She was suddenly struck with the thought that they had probably remained in the great hall for her benefit. Why they were being so unnaturally kind, she didn't know, but walking alone back to the dungeons that night, Andromeda resolved to make more effort with Wendy in future.

The next morning, after posting her letter, Andromeda didn't really feel like sitting alone in the empty slytherin common room. Instead, she decided to make the walk out to Hogsmeade, despite the snow, and purchase some items for the new year. When she arrived, she found that most of the stores were relatively empty due to the lack of student patronage, and as a result, the shop-keepers were far more eager to speak to her, having been left alone behind the counter all day. Over the next few days, she discovered far more than she'd ever imagined about the little wizarding village by the station. One of the young train drivers had been secretly dating three of the shop-girls at Gladrags Wizardwear without any of them realising, which had ended in disaster and a huge plague of purple toads. The lady at Tomes and Scrolls had held her in conversation for almost two hours on one occasion, worrying about a wayward son who had run off to america in pursuit of vampires. The kind old couple at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop even invited her in for tea, taking the opportunity to ask her whether she could provide any explanation for the unheralded slump in sales that financial quarter. Unfortunately, she hadn't a clue as to why so many students had stopped buying quills, but they still sent her away with over a dozen stationary items, several tins of biscuits, and an invite to drop in any time.

Feeling good-natured and content, she walked by herself back in the direction of the castle. Passing the little quaint train station, she could see the Hogwarts Express puffing away towards London. This was immediately followed by a small group of students appearing by the main entrance, mostly alone or in pairs. Aware that the ministry would never identify an under-age use of magic in the only wizarding village in the country, they all took out their wands to perform weight-reduction spells on their luggage, in order to make the journey back up to school unaided.

Call it fate, call it irony, call it incredibly bad luck, but just as Andromeda was on the pavement directly outside the station, one of the last travellers exited the archway. It was Edward. Whom she hadn't spoken to since that unfortunate event before christmas.

Andromeda hoped, she knew probably in vain, that he hadn't picked up on her sudden switch in behaviour when they had last met. Perhaps if it were only she who felt awkward, it wouldn't be quite as bad.

When Edward saw her, he froze. The trunk he was wheeling behind him did not, and it careered straight into the back of his legs, the impact of it nearly knocking him straight off his feet. With an oomph, he managed to regain his balance just in time, having to use his whole body in order to counteract the force of the luggage. He ended up in a crouching position, the trunk leaning precariously against his back, and various smaller bags loaded on top of it now hanging over his head, obscuring his face. Andromeda snorted.

"You know, some people would think to charm their luggage before getting off the train."

"Point duly noted" said the pile of bags.

"Not soon enough, it seems"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, maybe a little help here?" the pile grumbled, and Andromeda, laughing, drew out her wand. With a simple spell she transfigured the luggage into an enormous white rabbit, which was about the size of Edward's torso. He looked at the rabbit, eyebrows raised.

"This wasn't exactly what I was expecting", he commented, as the rabbit snuggled into his arms.

"Yeah, but I thought this would be more fun. You can undo it when we get back to the castle"

"So now I just have to casually walk through Hogsmeade carrying a giant mutant bunny-rabbit, as if it's a totally normal thing to do"

"That's the general plan, yeah"

He shrugged, and they set off towards the castle. Edward readjusted the snoozing rabbit in his arms as he spoke.

"I thought you were going home for christmas?"

Despite everything that she had done, Edward was still trying to be polite. Her guilt began to reach an entirely new level.

"I did. But I got sick of it pretty quickly, and they let me come back early."

"Oh okay, how long have you been back then?"

"Only a couple of days. It's been relatively quiet, to be honest." she paused. "Somehow I've ended up spending most of my time with shop-keepers and hufflepuffs"

"Hufflepuffs!?"

The jubilant way Edward in which had spoken instantly rung alarm bells in Andromeda's mind. He sounded like a five year old on his birthday. She had witnessed this type of behaviour before.

"For the love of Merlin, you're one of them, aren't you?" she grumbled, but he was already grinning from ear to ear, an expression of almost fanatic excitement plastered on his face.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that tone of voice" he said, "but yes, and proudly so. Who were you talking to? Do you know their names? Or I think could probably know them from just a description. Tell me!"

"You guys are way too keen on each other. It's disturbing."

"Just because we value house allegiance over individual gain"

"That's not what slytherins- we're not getting into this. Wendy, anyway. Wendy Slinkhard, who goes to Slug Club, and essentially her gang. Eglantine... Clive... Jill? Gillian, and... Annette and Jim." She finished reeling off the names, surprised and rather proud of herself for recalling them all.

"Oh, they're in the year below" Edward confirmed, sounding a little disappointed. "But from what I know, they're all very nice." For a split second, he hesitated, but Andromeda still spotted the pause. "They were nice to you, weren't they?" It wasn't what she had expected him to say. After all, she was getting the distinct impression that all hufflepuffs were incapable of being anything but nice.

"Yes, they were. More than I probably deserved".

By this time, they were close enough to the castle to see the handles on the large front doors. The rabbit was now curled in Edward's arms like a giant baby, and Andromeda realised that she'd paid absolutely no attention to the reactions of the people passing by.

They entered the castle, and a girl whom Andromeda vaguely recognised, she suspected from the Halloween Ball, appeared out of one of the corridors. She saw Edward instantly and squealed, rushing over to draw him into a hug. This hug, in Andromeda's opinion, lasted several more seconds than was appropriate.

"Ted!" this intruder squealed, flicking her pig-tails so that they nearly batted him in the face. "You're back! I missed you!"

"And I missed you too, Tara" he laughed, but Andromeda folded her arms, waiting for this girl to say whatever she had to say.

"You better be coming to New Years tonight" She said, cheerfully poking him in the chest.

"Of course, what else would I be doing?". He turned to Andromeda. "You're coming too, right?". Although she thought the passing of the New Year was obviously unavoidable, Andromeda quickly figured that they must be talking about some sort of Hogwarts event.

"I haven't been here over New Year before, remember. What happens?" She asked, targeting her question very directly at Edward.

"There's a tradition – because there aren't too many of us, we all get to go up into the Astronomy Tower to watch the fireworks."

"Yeah, it's beautiful, you should totally come" Tara added on, unnecessarily.

Andromeda considered the situation. She hadn't really thought about her New Year plans, apart from sending notes to Bellatrix and Narcissa, and it would be nice to actually celebrate the event, rather than sleep through it alone in her dorm. On the other hand, she figured that Edward and Tara were close, as were a significant part of hufflepuff house. She didn't particularly fancy acting as the 23rd wheel in their celebrations.

"I'm not sure" she finally told Edward. "I might, but I think I have some other things I need to do". It wasn't the smoothest excuse, but she thought it would do.

"Well, if you see the light and decide to come, people usually start going up there around 10pm. It's the best known secret event of the year" Tara chirped, casually putting her arm around Edward's shoulder. He didn't respond to her touch, but neither, Andromeda noticed, did he disdainfully push her away.

Andromeda smiled, deciding that she was done with this conversation.

"Well, I don't know just yet. Maybe I'll see you later, but if not, have a happy new year." she said curtly. She started to leave, but after a few paces an afterthought crossed her mind, and she briefly turned back. "Make sure to look after that rabbit for me!" she called, grinning, and then left the hall. The surprised and confused expression she saw on Tara's face as she turned back to leave was well worth the additional comment.

Later that evening, Andromeda sprawled herself out on one of the couches in the slytherin common room, taking advantage of its rare state of emptiness. Flung across a nearby armchair was a light grey dress, with a white collar and pleated skirt. In term time, most students spent the entire day in uniform, not seeing the point in wearing a second outfit for the evening, but there was a general consensus that uniform in the holidays was inherently wrong. This day, like most days, Andromeda had lived in her red winter coat, which buttoned up and went down to the knee, alongside a matching red beret. As a result, her actual clothes were thrown together without much thought, but if she were to go to the New Year's event, she'd need to wear something more stylish. Like the grey dress.

That is, if she went to New Year's event. She let out a sigh of frustration. It had been bothering her all afternoon. It would definitely be a miserable passing of the new year if she didn't go, and she didn't really want to remember 1969 as the year she began alone in her school dormitory. However, going to the astronomy tower would also mean having to address the Edward issue. She had been putting off thinking about it all holiday, which she was now regretting. From the moment she had been invited to the celebrations, she only had seven or so hours to make a decision about him, which wasn't nearly long enough.

Going to this event would probably mean speaking to him. Speaking to him would suggest that she intended to continue speaking to him. Continuing to speak to him would... probably cause trouble, she supposed.

Okay, let's think about this logically, removing all emotion or bias, she told herself. What are the facts of the situation?

She hit her head back against a cushion, staring at the cobweb covered rungs on the ceiling.

Fact no. 1) Edward is a muggle-born.

Fact no. 2) Many people believe that supporting muggle-born wizards is wrong.

Fact no. 3) Included amongst these 'many people' are my entire extended family.

Fact no. 4) There isn't anything wrong with Edward. Apart from his lack of co-ordination and his obsessive love of hufflepuff.

The truth of the matter, she thought, is that if I carry on talking to him, some people are going to have a problem with it. But will they have a problem with it? If they did notice, would they even care? It's just talking to someone...

...and if there's one thing I know, it's that one should always be polite. Everyone would understand that – it's better to talk to a muggle-born than to cause an embarrassing scene for no reason...

… but is that all it's going to be?

The thought had been lingering at the back of her mind for some time now and it was the worst possible thing to consider. Thinking about it made it real, and so far, a permanent state of denial had been working out pretty well for her.

Is that all you want it to be?

Oh, it turned out there was a worse idea to consider. Andromeda put her hands over her face and scrunched her eyes shut.

It wasn't that she didn't like him, she just didn't like like him. He was nice; he made her laugh. It was more of a.. a like situation. She liked being around him, but that didn't necessarily mean that she liked him. As in, she liked him a lot, but liking him wasn't the same as liking him. In fact, it was probably a different sort of like altogether. Some like wedged in between several different type of likes. And yes, maybe she did likehim, a little.

But there wasn't anything wrong with that.

I wish I had Cissy here, she thought to herself. I mean, I wish I had Cissy or Bella here, she quickly amended, and then felt guilty for her initial response. However it wasn't the time to think about that. That was a completely different issue.

She was willing to admit, in private at least, that she enjoyed spending time in his company. He was fun and friendly and easy to talk to, apparently even when she had previously been very rude. Although Hogwarts was her home, the other students were just as distant as her distant relatives. He was a person who she actually felt comfortable talking to, which admittedly, she could do with. People like that were especially hard to come by, and muggle or not, she got on well with him.

Although on the surface, she felt reasonably sure that she wouldn't be doing anything wrong, some level of her conscience was still murmuring away at the back of her mind. You're just going to make things harder for yourself. Burying her face into the cushion, she vainly attempted to block out the running commentary in her head.

Soon enough, she found herself disturbed by the flapping of wings against her head and Medusa pecking at her ear.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. What is it?" she grumbled, pulling herself upright to confront the demanding creature.

Narcissa's owl hovered above her, a letter tied around her leg. Andromeda untied it and unwound the rest of the string.

"Okay, got the letter, now scram" she told the owl.

She opened the letter, correctly guessing that it was from her sister.

Dearest Andromeda,

Happy New Year!

Sorry about the early arrival of my letter, but I have to send it now as I'm going out tonight to a party with mother and father, and shan't be able to do it later. I am dreadfully upset that both you and Bellatrix abandoned me, especially before the cousins went home. I had to play hours of quidditch with them in the freezing cold and now I am bruised all over.

However, the times are no longer so bad; I am seeing Alice at the party tonight and she has offered to let me stay at hers a while, so I will be spending the rest of the holidays with the Selwyns. The party itself is being held by the Longbottoms, which I hear our parents aren't too happy about, as apparently they've become rather liberal. However, Augusta Longbottom knows everybody there is worth knowing, and thus we're still attending. Naturally Frank Longbottom will be also there, as well as Goyle, Shacklebolt and Malfoy, so at least I will have a few people to talk to aside from Alice.

Andromeda, I can almost guarantee that as you read this, you are alone in slytherin, avoiding the rest of human civilization. Please go out tonight and do something fun. You are far too boring and you need to stop being so anti-social. It's a new year, so go out and do something new. I only say this because I love you.

Write to me at the Selwyns and tell me how you celebrated new year.

I shall know if you're lying.

Lots of love from your favourite, most beautiful and most talented sister,

Narcissa

Andromeda could almost hear Narcissa's voice ringing out as she read the letter. Finishing it, she raised her eyebrows and tucked it back into the envelope. Fine. Almost without thinking, she stood up, picked up the grey dress, and marched into her dormitory to get ready.

A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you liked the chapter - I've had to split it in two because of how long it became, so the actual New Year will happen next in the next update. Thanks for getting this far, and please review/follow/favourite as you see fit, all three are welcomed! As you'll have noticed, I've been introducing some new characters in this chapter, so please, if you have any thoughts on what you'd like to see with these new hufflepuff characters, do let me know.