Chapter Text
The first time Andromeda Black heard the word ‘mudblood’ she was nine years old. She had been allowed to sit with the grown-ups at the farewell dinner for her sister Bellatrix, who was leaving for Hogwarts the following day. Narcissa had not been allowed on the table, which made it even more of a momentous occasion. Narcissa had cried herself to sleep when their father told her she was not to eat with the grown-ups.
“You know, Andromeda, in two years’ time you will be leaving for Hogwarts as well,” said Druella, her mother. Druella was an emotionless-looking woman. For all the beauty she had, her face was always set in a void expression, and her blue eyes cut like ice. She usually sounded ever more serious and stern than she felt, but Andromeda had learnt to distinguish her real feelings most of the time, so her tone did not intimidate her. She dared not reply, however. Aunt Walburga and uncle Orion were sitting to her father’s left, and to her sister’s right. They had to voice their opinion first, she knew as much, and she did not want to be called impertinent once again, not when she was sitting with the grown-ups. Not that she liked her aunt Walburga in the least, either. Her uncle Orion was bad enough, always looking like he had an unpleasant taste in his mouth, but aunt Walburga was worse. She was very critical of Druella and her daughters. Her own son was not very remarkable in any way, a toddler of almost two that Andromeda regarded as a future mischief maker. But he was male, and he would carry on with the Black name, which Druella had failed to accomplish, three times at that, too. She did never voice that criticism: that was beneath her, but her piercing black eyes set on everything and everyone with a look of disapproval. She was very little back then, but Andromeda could never forget the face her aunt Walburga made when she was told Narcissa’s name and not a star or constellation-inspired name, as tradition dictated.
It was, nevertheless, her uncle the first to speak after her mother’s remark.
“I hope for both of them to make it into Slytherin.”
“Hope? If they do not, we shall have no option but to blast them from the family tree,” declared her aunt. Andromeda shifted uneasily in her seat. Everyone who was not blasted from the family tree had been sorted into Slytherin, alright. But she also knew that she disliked pretty much every single one of her relatives. They all looked around like everything surrounding them was beneath them, they all shared the same cold, distant expression. Oftentime, Andromeda found herself feeling quite alone, except for her little sister, Narcissa, who had an expression of wonder and fondness for beautiful things. Problem was, most of her family regarded Narcissa as a romantic airhead, and that gave her no hope.
“What if I get sorted into Ravenclaw?” Andromeda replied. She was cautious enough to pick the least-offensive House alternative.
“Ravenclaw? What, when have you picked a book, sister dear?” Bellatrix teased. She was sitting with her brand new black dress, that paired very well with her black curls and brown eyes. Andromeda could anticipate the paleness that would go over her once the pinkishness of youth left her features.
“Ravenclaw would not be optimal but it is the only acceptable option, yes,” interrupted Walburga. Andromeda had to hand it to her, even though her aunt was a terribly arrogant woman, she knew how to keep a conversation going. Her parents were never much of an entertainment during meals.
Bellatrix made a face, and aunt Walburga shot her a disapproving look. Bellatrix was aunt Walburga’s favourite niece and, thus, Bellatrix tried as hard as she could to please her. As a consequence, Walburga was the only person besides their father who could put Bellatrix in her place. “Bellatrix dear, you do not want to end up wrinkled up at fifteen. You have all the features of a true Black, you must retain your beauty.” At that, Druella let out an inaudible sigh that only Andromeda noticed. Druella’s blonde hair and blue eyes were captivating, but aunt Walburga did not approve of them, and less did she approve that Andromeda and Narcissa had inherited some of those features.
“Just don’t get sorted into Gryffindor,” Druella added, to get in her sister in law’s good graces.
“Yes,” she replied. “Those disastrous undisciplined airheads who know no shame or discreteness, always boasting about nothing.”
“They have taken some of our most respectable relatives and ripped them to shreds,” Orion agreed.
“Worst of all are those Hufflepuffs,” Cygnus added. “No respect for what it means to be a witch or wizard, no talent, no background, no respectable families.”
“Cygnus why would you even mention that heinous House. That pigsty is full of mudbloods.” Walburga sentenced. Everyone agreed heartily, and Bellatrix nodded. Andromeda did not know what that word meant, but she kept quiet as she did not want to seem less than her sister.
“Worry not, aunt Walburga,” Bellatrix said. “Dromeda is not very talented, but I am certain the Black blood will not be sorted in a House lesser than Ravenclaw, at the very least. As for me, have no doubts, I will be put in Slytherin or I am not a witch.”
That night, after her aunt and uncle had left—“I know a very good potion to turn those brown locks black, Andromeda, tell me if you ever want to give it a try” Walburga’d offered before leaving—and everyone was fast asleep, Andromeda left her room and went straight to her family library. She turned on a lamplight and held it up to look at the titles on the books’ spines. There was an entire section dedicated to mudbloods and blood purity. She opened one which held the title Everything you Need to Know about Mudbloods and How to Avoid Them: the Revised Edition and sat on one of the armchairs. The library was freezing cold, but she dared not lit the fireplace, in case her parents realised she was out of bed. She became entranced by the book’s contents. She learnt a mudblood (or muggleborn) was a witch or wizard born to a muggle family, but she also learnt that magical families could have non-magical offspring (or squibs). She learnt that some muggleborns had become very renowned witches or wizards—the book specially warned the reader against the recently appointed Minister for Magic, Nobby Leach—and although everything the book said about muggles and mudbloods was written with the utmost repulsion and disdain, Andromeda was fascinated by them. She was elated to discover that magic blood could appear almost out of nowhere in a muggle family, and that those witches and wizards could be just as talented as pure-blood or half-blood witches and wizards—even though the book never quite admitted it.
She finally closed the book, but she was too awake to go back to bed. She decided to pick out the book that made her drowse off whenever her father read it to her and her sisters: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black . There was a tapestry at aunt Walburga’s house, Grimmauld place, and that had often seemed much more interesting than the book, with all her ascendants peering curiously at her as trying to decide whether she’d be worthy, and the furious blasts that appeared in the tapestry every here and there. With her newly acquired knowledge, however, the book became much more interesting. Continuously updating itself through magic, only members of the Black family could own a copy. Since the book was awfully dull, most children did not bother to look at it, and adults only read to them the parts that they thought proper. Given that the books were spellbound to keep a true and full record of all family members (even disowned ones), neither aunt Walburga or anyone else had been able to blast relatives off its pages.
As such, Andromeda learnt about Iola Black, who had been born almost a century before her, and had married a muggle: Bob Hitchens. She also learnt that Phineas Black was disowned for supporting muggle rights; that she was related to the Weasleys, through her great aunt: Cedrella Black, who’d married Septimus Weasley; and that her great uncle Marius had been disowned for being a squib. She looked at her page and her sisters’ on the book. They barely had anything written on them and yet, by the same time the next day, Bellatrix’s page would contain just one tiny bit more of information than Narcissa’s and hers: her House.
Just then, she noticed a shadow standing in the doorway and she shut the book closed in her astonishment. As the shadow stepped into the room, Andromeda could make out the face of her mother, Druella. She looked at her with what she guessed was disapproval, but no anger was there in her face, as per usual. Her mother expressionlessness was often bad, but in situations like that one, she was thankful for it.
“Andromeda, it is very late for you to be reading, you know?” She sighed. “Does this have anything to do with what your sister said at dinner about you not reading? You know that’s not true.” Andromeda looked at her mum, guiltily, her cheeks bright with the frustration of being caught. “You’re obviously not the most avid reader, but you can certainly enjoy the occasional leisurely read.”
“That’s not what worries me, mother.” Andromeda replied.
“What is it then?”
“What if I get sorted into Hufflepuff? What if I screw up and you have to blast me off the tapestry?” (“What if I think muggleborns are not so bad?” She dared not add.) Druella’s face went as close as reassuring as her infinite expressionlessness allowed her to, and it was moments like these that made Andromeda think that even though almost her entire family was terribly cold, at least her mother loved her. Probably. If she’d guessed her feelings correctly.
“I’m sure you’ll get sorted into Slytherin. Your father was, and his parents were. I was as well. Your sister Bellatrix will get into Slytherin tomorrow, and your sister will get in after you. Don’t panic.” Andromeda didn’t oversee the fact that her mother had not mentioned what would happen if she got sorted into Hufflepuff, but decided to let it go.
“What does the sorting consist of?” Andromeda asked instead, curiously.
“Oh, it’d ruin the fun if I told you, but it is nothing to be afraid of.”
“Did you tell Trix what it is really like?”
“No, I told her to be prepared, that it’s very difficult to even get through the tests, let alone make it into Slytherin.”
“She didn’t seem very worried at dinner, though.”
“That’s because I told her before I turned off her lights.” Andromeda grinned. “Now get back to bed. Tomorrow we have to leave early to be on time at the station.”