Chapter Ten
A New Year
December 1968 / January 1969
In the dark, the astronomy tower became a beacon of light, standing out from the rest of the castle. Wrapped tightly in her red scarf, gloves and winter coat, Andromeda hurried through the quad towards the entrance. The bright light emitting from each tower window allowed her to see excited groups of people mulling around inside; climbing up the staircase, climbing down the staircase, all looking for friends and a good window from which to see the midnight fireworks.
Coming through the door, she didn't instantly spot any familiar faces, so with a sigh she took to the stairs, keeping her face neutral but hoping that a friendly face would appear at any moment. Fortunately, it didn't take long. Wendy and her friends had managed to claim one of the larger windows near the top of the staircase, and the noise they were making, particularly Annette's happy squealing, was enough to draw anyone's attention.
"Andromeda!"
Wendy yelled upon spotting her, and instantly threw her arms around her neck in a large hug. Clive and Eglantine decided to join the party, so it was several minutes of excited babble before she could untangle herself from the cheerful greeting. Looking at them properly, Andromeda could see that their smiles were a bit too wide, their eyes a little too glazed.
"Have you... did you manage to get alcohol tonight?"
She asked curiously, and the smiles became wider.
"Yes indeedy"
Eglantine looked so proud of herself that Andromeda laughed.
"But how? There's so much magic in place that -"
"Oh, no-one worries about the rules too much in the holidays. Dumbledore's far too cool for that"
"I LOVE DUMBLEDORE!"
Jim draped his arm around Eglantine's shoulder. His face was redder than anyones, and Andromeda was certain that it wasn't just because of the cold.
"So a group of the boys went down to Hogsmeade earlier and convinced the barman at The Three Broomsticks to sell in bulk to us. But keep that on the down-low. He said he wouldn't do it again if lots of people came asking, but he likes us so it's allll okay!"
"Oh my gosh, Andromeda!"Wendy gasped, pushing her way in between her two friends, sending them sprawling. "We have some here, would you like any? We're so rude for not asking straight away, oh my goodness, I'm so embarrassed" Drunk, emotional tears began to well up in her eyes. Andromeda wasn't really that bothered about drinking, but she figured that Wendy could do with a task to distract her.
"Actually yes, that would be great. Do you have anything small?"
"Oh.. oh..." the drunken blonde girl mumbled as she fished through a small black cotton drawstring bag, clearly enchanted to hold more bottles. "Umm, how about this one? Firewhisky? It's in a can, so there's... less?"
"Sure, that looks good."
Andromeda took the can and opened it. The alcohol began to warm her as soon as the liquid touched her lips, which at this time of night, was a welcome relief.
There was about an hour until New Year chimed and the display commenced. The group entertained themselves by swapping every embarrassing and hilarious story under the sun. Under the influence of alcohol, these stories reached a level of an unprecedented scandalous nature, and Andromeda was surprised to learn just how many of the group had dated each other at some point during Hogwarts, especially considering that they were all single now, in the exception of Gillian who was dating a Ravenclaw whose name Andromeda barely recognised.
When it became her turn to start spilling, Andromeda hesitated. The truth was, most of the scandal she could talk about was not good content for parties. She didn't interact with her parents much, nor other students at Hogwarts, and she was absolutely unwilling to spread gossip about either one of her sisters. The family elitism and dedication to blood supremacy, she thought, was perhaps not good conversation to engage in with a group of people who did not bear a historic surname. Only people like Lucius would ever want to talk about -
Hold on. Lucius. There's always something to say about him. I have no loyalty to him. Brilliant.
With that, spurred on by the influence of firewhisky, she began to spill every dirty secret she knew about Malfoy's love life. The others, although they knew who he was, did not know any of the legendary stories about his explosive hook-ups and the even more explosive break-ups. Frankly, Andromeda had enough knowledge to go on all night, but slightly to her regret, she only got through a small percentage before the group were reacting so loudly that they were drawing unwanted attention. If anyone told Malfoy what she had said, she would be in big trouble, so she hastily wrapped up the story.
"Ah." Clive looked solemn. "I do believe, my dear friends, that" he hiccuped "we are on the end of some dirty looks"
"Should we move?" Eglantine suggested, and the group consented, giggling as they tripped their way up the stairs.
Narcissa looked around the Longbottom estate with interest. It was a lot bigger than she had imagined. She didn't know Frank very well, he was a fourth year and a Gryffindor, but he'd never given off the impression that he was particularly well-off. Evidently, Frank Longbottom was a lot better at keeping secrets than she had realised. Of course, this place was no Black Manor, but it was certainly far above the level of a Weasley or a Macmillan.
"Come on Cissy, stop snooping and come and say hello to everyone" Alice grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the Ballroom. Inside, the party was in full flow. Hundreds of wizards and witches roamed around the dance-floor, the tables and the wine-bar. It was truly opulent. She could spot her parents some distance away, talking with the Lestranges. Her mother really was beautiful; even amongst all the other guests she still stood out, glistening with jewels like an ornamental statue. Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared beside them. Like Frank, he was also older than them, but in the face of so many adults, the students tended to group together at events such as these.
"Kingsley! Hello! How was your Christmas?" Alice greeted him warmly.
Narcissa was surprised. Although the children had to socialise together by default, she was nowhere near as friendly with Kingsley as Alice appeared to be.
"Hello! Happy New Year's Eve!" He straightened his cloak. "Ah, Christmas was lovely, as always. I hope the same goes for you two?"
The girls nodded.
"Oh, Alice, Frank's over with his mother if you're looking for him".
Narcissa wondered why on earth Alice would bother to actively seek out Frank Longbottom. He would be around all night, so surely they could say hello later? She looked at Alice, who looked a little thrown by Kingsley's comment. "Uh.. thanks" she mumbled, looking down.
"I'll go and do that later".
The situation was now a little awkward, and Narcissa felt sorry for her friend. Social civilities were not fun at any age, especially not with such a strange family like the Longbottoms. There was a pause, and Kingsley went to speak again, but Alice cut in, eyes bright and grinning broadly.
"So Kingsley, still no hope of you joining Slug Club?"
The change in conversation was not a welcome one to Narcissa. It was hard enough having both your sisters and your best friend invited into the elite group, but it was worse having to hear them talk about it all the time. She wondered why Alice was being so suddenly tactless. Kingsley, not noticing the stony expression on Narcissa's face, laughed merrily.
"I don't think he'd ask me again, even if I changed my mind! The look on his face when I told him no... classic. It's not just you though, Longbottom and Worple have both been on my back about it."
"Then why don't you come?" Alice wheedled.
"I told you, it's too exclusive. I don't want to be a part of that."
Narcissa wondered how 'too exclusive' could ever be a bad thing. In all honesty, it irritated her that Kingsley was turning down an invitation that she was desperate to have. Thankfully, she noticed something that allowed her to break into the conversation.
"Look over there! That doesn't look too friendly..."
The three of them turned around to watch what was about to unfold. A man with a greasy mop of dark hair and piercing dark eyes was talking in frustration to the Abbott family. The Abbotts both looked incensed at his intrusion. From body language alone, the situation looked unpleasant. The group of students edged neared, trying to work out what was going on.
"That's Antonin Dolohov" Kingsley muttered to them under his breath. "I'm not convinced that he was supposed to come tonight."
Almost as soon as he had spoken, Mr. Abbott drew out his wand and pointed it at Dolohov, speaking fiercely as he did so.
"Oh my god" Alice murmured.
The Abbotts and the Longbottoms had always been affiliated, but drawing a wand on a party gatecrasher seemed like an over reaction. What happened next felt like it happened in slow-motion. Several of the Prewetts, who had been standing nearby, came to back up Mr. Abbott, just as the Malfoys appeared behind Dolohov. More and more people started gravitating towards one of the sides, causing the room to slowly split down the middle as people realised what was going on. All the while, they were talking and shouting at each other, wands being drawn every second. Narcissa noticed her own parents standing alongside the Malfoys. The rest of Alice's family were there too – her cousin Oswald was right at the front of the crowd, standing next to Dolohov. Most of the room, however, sided with the Abbotts.
The growing noise from both groups halted when Augusta Longbottom materialised between the two sides. Narcissa also noticed her son, Frank, appear besides Kingsley. Augusta coolly observed them all. Making eye-contact with Mr. Abbott, a silent communication occurred between them, which caused her to turn to Dolohov. She stalked up close to him, right in front of his drawn wand, and smiled.
"Antonin, isn't it? I don't believe we have been introduced. I'm Mrs. Augusta Longbottom, and this is my house. May I ask you to put down your wand?"
Dolohov' eyes hardened at this. Slowly he lowered his wand, but didn't go as far as tucking it back into his cloak.
"That's better now, isn't it?"
Though Augusta was acting perfectly civilised, it was clear that Dolohov's presence was not at all welcome.
"I see you've been using the occasion for a little recruiting. Let me explain to you now, that sort of mentality is not something I want promoted in my own home."
"Well someone needs to take a stand, with all that's been going on." Dolohov challenged. "It's people like you who should be defending our culture, not harping on about the benefits of integration'.
Augusta stood perfectly still, considering this. Behind her, Mrs Abbott clenched her teeth in rage.
"I think, Mr. Dolohov', Augusta began, 'that in future, you should consider long and hard about whether it is acceptable to arrive uninvited to a private social event, in order to use it as a means to stir hatred amongst our own communities. I think it would be best if you left."
Dolohov stared at her. After a moments silence, he turned to leave, muttering under his breath as he did so.
"Filthy mudblood lovers are going to get what's coming to them"
Without a seconds hesitation, Augusta raised her wand. Dolohov spun round and fired a spell straight towards her, which she expertly blocked. However, this one action was enough to send the room into outright bedlam. Spells were fired in all directions, with nobody really knowing who was attacking who. Narcissa shrunk back towards her friends as Alice grabbed Frank's arm, stopping him from entering the battle zone. Kingsley turned round to the group.
"We've got to get out of here. Frank?"
This distracted Frank from attempting to search out his mother in the crowd.
"Right. Yes, of course. Follow me, I'll take you up to my room."
Quietly and efficiently, he lead them out of the chaos and up towards the higher floors of the Manor.
Andromeda followed the group of Hufflepuffs up the staircase towards the classroom on the highest floor. It amused her to spot Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout amongst the people she encountered on the way up. Clearly, the teachers didn't maintain the same level of professionalism during the school holidays, as she was fairly certain that they must have noticed the fairly drunken antics of some of the students nearby.
The astronomy classroom had been cleared so that the students could all mill about without having to manage their way through the usual assortment of tables and chairs. She noticed that the entire ceiling had been charmed into being transparent, so that everyone could see the firework show. She wondered why it hadn't occurred to anybody to make the charm a permanent feature. It was an astronomy classroom, after all, and would save everyone the hassle of fighting for a good position by one of the windows.
Her attention was drawn away from the ceiling by a sudden influx of people in her group. The Hufflepuffs were slowly expanding to not only the fourth years but people from all other years as well. Edward was amongst them, and as she saw him, he glanced up and caught her eye. A little hesitantly, he smiled and waved at her from across the room, and she followed suit. Wondering whether he had arrived with that girl Tara, Andromeda cast her eye across the room, but the girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Ten minutes to the New Year!" a voice rang out across the tower, and the room exploded with drunken cheers.
Wendy materialised by Andromeda's side, and tugged her towards the others.
"Come on, let's find a good position!"
Allowing Wendy to pull her through crowds of spectators, Andromeda found herself wondering what Bellatrix was doing for the New Year celebrations. She still hadn't heard from her, and although she wasn't worried, she did hope that she had found something nice to do. Taking another swig from the can of firewhiskey, Andromeda turned round and found herself face to face with Edward.
"Hi!"
He launched at her, pulling her into a bear hug. She was a little shocked at this, having expected the same awkwardness as earlier in the day, but the large grin on his face indicated that it wasn't just the fourth years who had managed to get hold of alcohol. She relaxed, supposing to herself that his over-friendly drunkenness was probably preferable to a less comfortable alternative.
"Hey! Are you okay? Having a good time?"
"The best time, Andromeda. I can't believe this is your first new years at Hogwarts!"
"I know." She said, laughing at his excitement.
"It's just... you've never seen the fireworks before! It's really sad!"
For a moment, he looked so dejected on her behalf that she actually felt a bit bad for never coming before.
"Well, at least I'm here now? That's good, right?"
"Right!" he agreed. In the build-up to midnight, more and more people were attempting to get into the top floor of the tower, meaning that the room was getting ridiculously full. It was getting so loud that she could barely hear herself speak. People were brushing past each other all the time, and Andromeda ended up using Edward to steady herself against the crowds of students.
"I didn't know so many people came back during the holidays"
"What?"
He yelled, unable to hear through the frantic chatter of the room. She jumped onto her tip-toes and leant in to talk into his ear.
"I didn't know so many people came back in the holidays!"
"Oh" he said, finally understanding. "Yeah, you're really missing out. It's basically just one big holiday camp"
"What?"
It was his turn to lean into her ear.
"It's like a holiday camp"
"Five minutes to midnight!"
Andromeda was momentarily distracted by the disembodied voice, but it was only when she turned back towards Edward that she realised just how close they had managed to become. Between the alcohol, the noise and the constant rush of people, they were practically squeezed together, hands still on each other's shoulders from where they had been leaning in to talk. Edward appeared to notice this at the same time as her, because he too suddenly fell silent. They looked at each other for a moment, until Andromeda's broke eye-contact to check whether they were already being observed. He took a step back.
"Well, I should probably go back and find the others before midnight. Have... have a happy new year, Andromeda."
"You too. I'll, um, see you later"
"Yeah, see you."
With that, both of them moved off in different directions. Fortunately, Andromeda spotted Wendy and Eglantine instantly and went to join them. Clive materialised out of a nearby crowd, clutching more bottles.
"Look what I got! Here, help yourself"he said, passing them around.
"Two minutes to midnight!"
"Happy new year"
Frank announced dully, checking his watch. The group had been huddled up in Frank's room for what seemed like an eternity. Alice, Kingsley and Narcissa sat on the bed, whilst Frank paced up and down, picking up items from his desk distractedly, then putting them down again.
From up in Frank's room, it was impossible to hear whether the commotion from downstairs had ended or increased. It had taken all three of them to stop Frank from going downstairs to try and find his mother, who he knew would be in the midst of the fighting. Whilst he had argued that she would be left undefended, especially due to the absence of his father who was abroad on work duty, Kingsley had rightly pointed out that she could more than handle herself, and anybody who even attempted to take her on was clearly a fool and had no chance of beating her in a duel anyway. Nobody mentioned that their own parents had taken different sides at the beginning of the confrontation.
The day before term started, Andromeda entered the library, carrying a now-familiar book in her arms. From the desk, Edward looked up from some paperwork, surprised to see her.
"Hi" Andromeda dumped the book on the table with a thud. "So someone had a pretty wild New Year's."
Edward groaned. "Don't remind me. It's taken until now to fully shake off the headache."
"When I saw you, I think you were already pretty far gone"
Edward laughed, putting down his quill.
"Yeah, I remember that." he paused, uncertainly. "I wasn't that bad, though, was I? I mean, I didn't do anything... I wasn't.."
"You weren't an incoherent mess, if that's what you mean?"
"Oh. Yes. Yes. That's a relief."
"What do you mean, it's a relief? It's a pity! I would have loved to have seen you totally drunk. It would have provided me with enough blackmail material for the rest of the year!"
"Oh well remind me never to let you see me in a state of vulnerability. Besides, when would you ever need blackmail material against me? I'm always supremely nice to you."
"No you're not. You have poor customer service skills."
"How dare you. I'm the best library monitor this place is ever going to get."
"Right, you keep telling yourself that."
Edward raised his eyebrows, pulling 'Moste Potente Potions' towards him and reaching for the stamp. Suddenly, he paused, stamp held aloft.
"You didn't renew this book last term."
"I know."
"So why..."
"When I came back to Hogwarts, I asked Madame Crouch to get it from the Restricted Section for me. I thought it might be easier to do things properly this time round."
"Oh" Edward was still staring at the book. "Good."
"Look, I even got a fresh copy, see?"
Andromeda flicked the pages over to the registering card. The only name on the loan list was her own, newly written in the librarian's handwriting.
"That's.. good." Edward seemed to be a little confused, but he nevertheless stamped the new date onto the card. "So are you actually planning to read it any time soon?"
"Whoah, don't get any crazy ideas now" she said, laughing. "But I'll get around to it, promise. It feels like too much of a waste to have a clean edition and not do anything with it."
Picking up the book, she began to leave. His voice rang out from behind her.
"So I'll be seeing you next week for your renewal then?" She glanced back.
"Yes, I suppose you will be. Unless you get fired for your substandard work first"
"Very funny"
A/N: I genuinely can't believe how long it has been since I last wrote a chapter for this story. All I can do is apologise - I'm at university so it's probably best to expect work from me in the holidays, as I'm always horribly busy during term-time. Since I last wrote this, however, I did see that some of you were asking whether I'd be continuing, which was really lovely of you, thank you! It's rather surprising but really pleasant to discover that I actually did have readers, and wasn't just publishing this story into the voids of the internet! As always, comments are always really welcome - some of you have been leaving really long, analytical feedback which I love. In terms of updating, I can sadly not guarantee that it will always be that frequent, but I do have a structure for this story and would like to see it through, so it will get updated when I have the time. Rather than check on ff regularly, I'd recommend that you revisit the page occasionally to see whether more chapters have been added, or even better, follow the story so the emails will let you know if anything's been happening. Thank you for reading everything so far!