I Won't Give Up: Chapter 1
"You can't sit there," stated Andromeda Black, a new third year.
"Why not?" Ares Carrow demanded.
"Because this is my sister's first year and I am saving her a seat beside me for after the Sorting."
"How do you know that she'll make Slytherin?"
Andromeda glared at the fifth year.
"Because she's a Black!"
Ares scowled at her but stood up to find another seat.
Even though Andromeda was younger, her name gave her quite a bit of power amongst her classmates. Or maybe they were just afraid of her sister, Bellatrix, who had gained hersel a reputation.
OoOoO
"Black, Narcissa!" Professor Minerva McGonagall placed the sorting hat on top of the blonde head of the youngest daughter Cygnus and Druella.
The Sorting Hat slid all the way over the eleven-year-old's eyes. After only a moment the tear in the old wizard's hat opened up and cried out, "Slytherin!"
The Great Hall broke out into applauds but most of them were coming from only one table.
Narcissa hopped off the stool and practically glided to the Slytherin table. She sat down beside her sister.
"Where's Bella?"
"Oh, she's over there sitting with Rodolphus Lestrange. But don't be fooled," she added after seeing the distraught look on Narcissa's face, "I saw her holding her breath as soon as your name was called and she didn't look away until she was sure you were going to be here."
"She didn't think I would make Slytherin, did she?" Narcissa grumbled.
"Bella was nervous, but she knew. We both knew."
OoOoO
"Here you are, Miss Black." Andromeda looked up from her breakfast to see her Head of House, Horace Slughorn, holding out her schedule for the year.
"Thank you," she said dismissively taking the parchment.
"You got yours too?"
Andromeda's best friend, Athena Nott, sat down beside her after kicking a scared first year out of the seat.
"Look what we've got first."
Andromeda looked at her list and groaned, "History of Magic."
"With Hufflepuff, no less," Athena added with fake enthusiasm.
Andromeda pushed the eggs around on her plate without really eating another bite.
"No sense putting it off. Let's go get our books."
And so Andromeda and Athena headed to the dungeons to gather their history books.
"You know, Dromeda," Athena said as they went up towards Professor Binns classroom, "I've got a bad feeling about Albus Dumbledore." She said the name with a sneer. "He has been here for three years and you can already tell that he's a big Muggle lover."
"In turn, that makes him a friend of Mudbloods too. It makes me sick."
Lewis Wellington, a known Muggle born, was walking by at that very moment so Andromeda made sure to let her voice carry and to let the look of loathing make it's way onto her otherwise beautiful face.
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly your biggest fan either, Black."
Both girls had heard his comment and both girls had their wands out in half of a second.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Athena demanded.
"Nothing, it was nothing."
"That's what I thought! But just to make sure you know your manners. . ."
OoOoO
Hufflepuffs and Slytherins alike had all settled into chairs at tables with their friends and had all slouched back in their seats not paying any attention to the already boring first lesson with Binns until Andromeda Black and Athena Nott came bursting into the class room, giggling.
"He'll be sneezing jelly for weeks!" Andromeda complimented her friend's jinx.
"Serves him right! The filthy Mudblood."
The two walked into class as though they owned the castle. Neither seemed to realize that they had interrupted the first five minutes of class or if they had they showed no signs of caring. They ignored Binns as he scolded them and went up to a table in the back where they began scribbling notes to each other.
Ted Tonks felt an elbow to his side which interrupted his thoughts.
"Dude!" Randy Wood whispered urgently to him. "Quit staring. She'll hex you if she sees you even looking in her direction."
"Okay, okay. . ." But he couldn't help it. Ted kept shooting glances at Andromeda Black, who was whispering and scrawling notes to the girl next to her, completely oblivious to his gaze that was resting on her.
• 9 Days Later •
'I'm going to be so late!' Andromeda was running down the corridors to the Charms classroom. She could almost see her mother now. "Don't run," she'd say. "It's not lady like."
The world could be in the middle of an fiery apocalyptic end and all Druella Black would be concerned about is acting like a proper, pureblood lady.
Meanwhile, all Andromeda was concerned about was not being late.
She rounded the corner, crashed into something hard, and fell to the ground. She snapped angrily at the person who got in her way.
"Watch where you're going!"
She hastily began scooping up all her parchment that had spilled out of her arms.
"Sorry," said a soft voice. "Here, let me help."
"No, you've done enough–" But her voice died out when she looked up into a pair of gentle blue eyes. They reminded her of the sky, just after an early sunrise. She blinked back to reality. Ted Tonks was holding out to her, most of her Charms essay.
"Thanks," she said awkwardly.
"Anytime. And I'm really sorry about that."
"Oh, um. . . That's fine. Just watch where you're going next time," she added harshly.
And with that, Andromeda continued running in her attempt to get to class on time.
OoOoO
"Miss Black, you are late," squeaked Flitwick.
"Sorry Professor!" Andromeda shuffled into class and her eyes swept the room for an open spot. Athena was sitting with William Parkinson and the only other open seat was next to Leo Canton who was a Gryffindor.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Sit down."
"Yes, sir," Andromeda muttered under her breath.
She quickly sat down next to Canton and shot him a 'try-to-talk-to-me-and-you-are-dead' look.
It only took a few minutes for Andromeda to get so bored she was ready to fall asleep because they were only discussing theory at this point of the year. Her mind wandered to her collision in the hallway with Tonks. He seemed very polite and almost like someone that she would not mind getting to know. Andromeda almost regretted the fact that he was a Mudblood. But there was no use thinking on that because it was't going to change.