Chapter Five:
Bellatrix swept into the common rooms and rushed to Andromeda's couch, sitting next to her. Her rage was reflected in her eyes; she was too angry to even glare. "You broke up with Evan Rosier?" she demanded.
"Yes!" Andromeda hissed back. "He expected me to be a people pleaser and I will not do that for anyone! If I'm going to have a boyfriend, he'd better respect me."
"Oh come on, Andromeda," Bella said, disgusted. "That's so pathetic, no one needs that."
"I do," insisted Andromeda. "It may be fine for you because Rodolphus and you always both manage to get your way, and maybe it's fine for Narcissa to be Lucius's pet, but I want someone to be my equal and my friend if he's going to be a boyfriend."
Bellatrix glared now. Her anger mounted. "EQUAL? FRIEND? Who cares, Meda?! No one has time for that, you know, nobody cares about being an equal or a friend."
"I do care, Bella," Andromeda said softly. "I don't know why it matters, but it does."
"You'd better marry a pureblood," growled Bella dubiously. "Else you two won't be equals."
"Of course, Bella. You already knew that I would."
Bellatrix gave her a doubtful look. "I've heard rumors, Andromeda. About you and mudbloods consorting."
Andromeda forced a sarcastic laugh. "Come on, Bella, I thought you'd know better. Jealous rumors made up by jealous people. Come on, I hate being around mudbloods. They're such idiots."
Bellatrix gave her another long look, but she decided that for now her sister was trustworthy. She stood up and hooked her arms around Rodolphus, and Andromeda looked away as the long snogging session started.
A second year came over to sit next to her next, watching her with cautious eyes. His black hair fell in his eyes, dark brown eyes that were round and rich as chocolate. He was quite a strange sight, but definitely a unique kid.
"Severus Snape, right?" Andromeda asked with a sigh, leaning against the back of the couch.
"Yeah." The boy stared at her. "You're one strange person, Andromeda Black. I've never seen any girl leave Rosier like that."
"I'm not in the mood for explanations, lectures, opinions, or anything like that, so say what you want to say and hope I don't explode," Andromeda advised.
The kid started to smile a little. "I really wasn't going to say anything. My next advice: be careful. No one seems to be planning on a congratulatory party for you; rather, a funeral."
"I should've figured. Thanks for the warning, kid." She stood up and stretched. "Good night."
Andromeda walked upstairs quietly, not bothering to make any sort of conversation among her roommates and lying down in her bed, examining her day.
Somehow, as she examined the course of her day, it all seemed to center around Ted Tonks. Her mind constantly flashed to when she had spoken to him, where, and why. He had told her that she was beautiful, even with a scowl on her face. That makes three nice things he's said/done for her.
1. He called her beautiful.
2. He had brought her a chocolate frog on the train.
3. He brought her soup, walking up all seven floors, because he knew she had skipped lunch judging from the events in the Great Hall.
These kindnesses completely baffled her. No one was so nice to her, at home, at school, or otherwise. She always had to do things for herself; go ask the house elves for soup, go buy her own chocolate frog, convince herself that she was beautiful when she looked in the mirror. Rather, she convinced herself she was fine with not being beautiful.
But he said she was beautiful. Somehow, she wasn't quite sure how, but when he said she was beautiful, she believed him. Despite him being a mud - no, a muggle - he was a person that she liked and trusted immediately.
"I can't," she murmured to herself. She couldn't like or trust him. She had to hate him.
But she couldn't. Her heart could only tie itself in knots when she saw him, and her chest could fill with that compelling feeling to smile. Everyone else could think she hated him. But she knew she didn't.
Satisfied with this conclusion, Andromeda allowed herself to drift to sleep, only to be awoken early in the morning for her next school day.
One thing to realize here, that Andromeda hasn't, is a quote that says "The longer you hide your feelings for someone, the more you fall in love with them."