Chapter Text
When Andromeda racks her memory, stretching as far back as she can possibly go, through all the years of pain and joy, her very first memory takes place in the spring of the year she turned three, in the cold hallway of the Black’s home in France, her back pressed up against the wall, leaning into Bella for some form of comfort as they watched the door to their parents room.
The door their father had given them explicit instruction not enter, or even go near.
The door behind which their mother was screaming in agony.
Five year old Bella had reluctantly wrapped her arm around Andromeda, watching the door with a stony gaze. Where Andromeda craved the comfort of warm touch, Bellatrix seemed to have an aversion to it. As Andromeda leaned into her sister’s shoulder, she felt her sister stiffening, as if the touch had somehow caused a body bind spell to turn her sister into a stiff board. Usually Bella would glare, or spit an insult at Andromeda for trying to touch her. But today she had bigger things to think about.
Their mother’s pregnancy had been a difficult one, that was no secret. Between the pain that forced Druella into bed for days on end, her nausea, which caused germaphobe Bellatrix to spend weeks locked in her room, washing her hands again and again, and the worry heavy upon their father’s face, even at her young age, Andromeda could tell that something wasn’t right. But none of them knew how bad it was until six weeks before the baby was to be born, Druella’s water broke, and she screamed for Cygnus.
For hours, Bellatrix and Andromeda let their eyes glaze over, listening as Druella screamed and wailed, as the family doctor ordered the house elves about, and as Cygnus ordered the doctor about, and, when he could spare a moment, prayed for his wife.
Years from then, Andromeda would remember that moment as the most love for her mother that her father had ever shown.
In the end, the screams quieted, the door had swung open, and the doctor flew out holding a tiny bundle in his arms, closely followed by two or three earnest house elves. Andromeda and Bellatrix scampered to their feet, anxious not to be caught eavesdropping as their mother screamed in the background.
“MY BABY! WHERE ARE THEY TAKING MY BABY?” Cygnus poked his head into the hallway, looking after the doctor, and then turned back to his wife.
“Would you hush! They’re taking her to Saint Mungo’s.” He cast a glance back into the room at his distraught wife, and shook his head, disgusted. “The house elves will care for you Druella, you’ll be fine.” And without another word, he left his wife alone, shutting the door behind him.
As he started down the hall, he cast a glance to where Bellatrix and Andromeda stood, barely hidden in the shadows. Bristling, Bellatrix thrust her arm protectively in front of Andromeda. But their father just shook his head, dejected as he trudged off down the hall.
“Another girl…”
Later that night, Andromeda and Bella would be tucked into bed by Loopsy, one of the Black family’s house elves. They heard whispers from the other elves that their mother had been transported to Saint Mungo’s after her daughter, who had been named Narcissa. Their father had locked himself in his study.
“Loopsy?” Bellatrix asked, just as Loopsy was extending her long, wrinkled hand to turn out the light. “What star is Narcissa named for?”
Loopsy hesitated.
“Loopsy thinks that’s a question better left for the Mistresses Black’s parents to answer.” She flicked the lights off, leaving the two girls in the dark of their room. “Goodnight, dearies. Loopsy is sure Master Black will be to see you tomorrow.”
As it turned out, their father didn’t come to see them the next day, nor the day after. It was several days before they saw their father or mother again, and even longer before they were finally, finally permitted to see their baby sister.
The baby- her sister! Andromeda realized with a jolt, as Druella set Narcissa in her arms for the first time- was tinier than she’d expected, all things considered. Her scrunched, pink face was nothing like the round, rosy cheeks on the baby doll Bella had passed down to her last year. Her eyes, which looked very big on her small face, were the same simple brown as Bella and hers.
Andromeda was in love. Was this how Bellatrix had felt, three years before when Druella had passed her body into her arms for the first time? She didn’t know, but she felt very grown up, no longer the baby of the family, an older sister for the first time.
Bella, less entranced by the baby, tugged at her father’s sleeve.
“Papa.” Cygnus heaved a sigh, staring down at his eldest daughter.
“Bellatrix, you are getting too old for such childish mannerisms. Say, excuse me, papa .”
“Sorry,” Bella murmured. “Excuse me, Papa, I just- what is Narcissa named for?”
Cygnus and Druella stared at her.
“I’m a star, you and ‘Dromeda are constellations, Aunt Walburga is an asteroid; what’s Narcissa?” She pronounced her sister’s name carefully, making sure to hit all of the consonants. Druella stared expectantly at her husband, who cleared his throat.
“Narcissa is- Narcissa is not named for a star, or constellation.”
“A planet?”
“Nothing of the sort. Narcissa is named for a flower. Your mother’s favorite.” Druella looked at her lap, lacing her fingers as Bella, ever argumentative, shook her head.
“But you said-”
“Blacks are named for the cosmos. Yes, it is true. It is in our blood, Bellatrix. Destined for the stars. But this one-”
“Narcissa-”
“Yes, Bellatrix, and that’s enough of your interrupting, thank you. Narcissa is a girl.” He looked at his daughters, defeated. “We have had yet another girl, and we will not be able to try again. There is no heir to the House of Black. Narcissa has not destined us for the stars. Narcissa will have to remain here, in the garden, on Earth. Do you understand?”
Bella had nodded, and when Andy shook her head, Bella had swatted her, gesturing for her to nod along.
“It is a miracle enough that she survived, Cygnus,” Druella said quietly. “We are all disappointed, but Narcissa will be brought up a Black, and no less of a Black than any of our children.” Cygnus laughed.
“Children! Children!” he gestured madly at Bellatrix and Andromeda. “Some children! I asked for an heir! All you have made me are girls!” And with that, he stormed out of the room, leaving Druella and her girls alone.
That was the first time Andromeda felt it, the thing she couldn’t name, the guilt of being born, the anguish of being unable to please her family.
***
Despite everything, Narcissa grew up into a rosy cheeked, chubby armed, perfectly healthy toddler. Andromeda found she loved being an older sister, having someone to take care of. She and Bellatrix spent hours fussing over their “Cissa”, playing dress up in their mother’s room when their parents were out of the house on business as they so often were, hiding from the house elves, and, when it grew long, examining their baby sister’s platinum blonde locks in wonder.
“It isn’t fair,” Andromeda sighed one morning, as the three girls stared into the mirror in their bedroom back at the house in London. Narcissa had turned three earlier that year, just after Andromeda had turned six. Bella, now nine, and very protective of her little sisters, was plaiting Andromeda’s unruly curls into two tight braids. “Cissa’s hair is so pretty. Mine’s always messy.” Bella fastened two black ribbons around the braids, examining her handiwork.
“Pretty, ‘Dromeda. Your hair is pretty too.”
They found their parents in the hallway, looking somber.
“Girls. Are you ready to go?” Druella extended out her arms, allowing Andromeda and Narcissa to cling onto her. Bellatrix clung to their father’s arm, all three squeezing their eyes shut, preparing for the unpleasant sensation of the apparition.
Druella and Cygnus had been tense for weeks. Bellatrix had told Andromeda quietly one night that it was because their Aunt Walburga had finally had a baby, and it was a boy. Cygnus was angry that none of his children would be the heir.
Andromeda often thinks that without Bella, she would never understand her parents.
The five of them arrived at Grimmauld Place with a CRACK. Orion, a tall, stern man ushered them inside, offering drinks to the adults, barely sparing a glance for the three girls. He led them to the sitting room, where their Aunt Walburga sat holding a small bundle. Andromeda was reminded at once of the first time she met Narcissa.
Aunt Walburga was a tall, thin woman, very much like her husband in her stern manner. Andromeda had met her only once before that she could remember, after Narcissa’s birth, and she remembered feeling terrified by the woman’s cold green eyes, the kind that bore into her like she was waiting for her niece to disappoint her. Andromeda held back in fear, but today the look on her Aunt’s face was less cruel as she stared down at her son, and there were traces of something… proud.
Andromeda couldn’t remember the last time either of her parents had looked at any of them like that.
Sirius was- well, if nothing else, Sirius was loud. The second Walburga placed him in Bella’s arms, he began screeching and wailing, screaming so loudly Andromeda’s ears rang, and Narcissa hid her face in Andromeda’s arm. Walburga snatched her son back, glaring daggers at Bellatrix.
“He needs to go down,” she said as if Bella should have known, as if it were obvious. Bella shrunk back.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Walburga,” She murmured as their Aunt rushed Sirius out of the room.
And so it was that Andromeda never did get to hold her baby cousin.
A year and some later, they returned to Grimmauld Place once again. Walburga had had another child, another boy. Cygnus was even more tense this time. Some nights, after Bellatrix and Narcissa had gone to bed, she could hear him barging around the house.
“ Another boy! Another one, and we had to go through three pregnancies, for what? For three girls! Useless girls, who will never be able to amount to anything close to what their children will become!” Andromeda was used to this by now, to the idea that she was less than what her parents needed. But it never stopped hurting, the way she couldn’t do anything about it, despite how much she wanted to. She could never be enough for her parents.
Aside from being a girl, Andromeda often wondered if there was something else wrong with her. Somehow, when it came to her parents, she was always doing the wrong things. She couldn’t keep quiet during family suppers, despite her mother’s frequent reminders that children were to be seen and not heard. She sang out in French while her mother was trying to teach her to read in English. Her accidental magic would explode at the worst moments possible, at dinner parties when Narcissa made her laugh too hard, sending sparks flying into the faces of the guests, at night when she had a nightmare about the dark, and woke to find the light bulbs bursting with so much light that the glass shattered from the heat. And one summer day, just before Bellatrix turned eleven, when Andromeda was just nine, her mother confirmed these fears.
Bella had gotten her Hogwarts letter that day. It was the most proud Andromeda had ever seen her parents. Andromeda and Narcissa had danced around their sister, begging for her to read it over and over aloud.
“ Laissez-moi voir! ” Andromeda had said again and again. “Let me see, Bella!” But Bellatrix wouldn’t let go of the creamy parchment. Finally, when she couldn’t take it any longer, Andromeda reached out and grabbed the paper from Bellatrix. She watched in horror, as if the world had gone slow-motion as it tore down the middle, making a horrible ripping noise. Bella stared at her, seething.
“Bella, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“MAMAN!” Bella shrieked. Andromeda shrunk. Druella came into the room looking disgruntled.
“Bellatrix, you know better than to yell.” Bella shook her head furiously.
“Maman, Andromeda tore my letter!” Druella’s eyes hardened as she focused on Andromeda, and she was reminded of Aunt Walburga, all those years ago, and how afraid she had been.
“It was an accident,” Andromeda whispered. Druella took out her wand.
“Andromeda, you must learn to control yourself.” Andromeda had a pit in her stomach. She glanced around, trying to meet her sisters’ eyes for support, but Narcissa was staring purposefully at the floor, and Bellatrix had her arms crossed, and her face stony. “You will apologize to your sister at once.”
“I’m sorry, Bella,” Andromeda said, voice quivering. Bella barely glanced at her. Andromeda spurred with rage. It was an accident! Why couldn’t Bella see that?
“Sorry for what?” Druella said, her voice icy.
“I’m sorry I tore the letter. I know it was important to you.” Bellatrix rolled her eyes, turning away. Fire burned in Andromeda’s stomach. Why was she being so stubborn?
“And I’m sorry,” she continued, voice growing louder. “I’m sorry that you’re such a tattletale!”
“ Lacero!” Her mother’s voice screeched from behind her. Finally, Andromeda saw Bellatix’s face change, in an instant any traces of stoniness gone, replaced with terror.
“NO!” Bella screamed, and Andromeda felt a fresh, sharp agony creeping across her calf. Her mother had hurt her. Her mother. She had half expected it from her father, but her mother? The pain crept up her leg, and she fell to the ground. Bellatrix dropped to her knees after her. “Maman, please, you said you wouldn’t hurt her!”
“She had to learn a lesson, Bellatrix!” Druella snapped. “This is how she will learn it!” Andromeda felt her leg. Warm, sticky blood had begun to drip down onto the pristine carpet. Druella cast a glance at the stains. “Be sure to clean that up.”
And with that she was gone.
Bella held Andromeda’s hands in hers.
“Don’t cry, ‘Dromeda,” She whispered, wiping the salty tears off of her cheeks with her thumbs. “It won’t hurt for long.” Andromeda looked up at her sister, any traces of anger gone from both faces.
“I really didn’t mean to, Bella.”
“I know you didn’t. I’m sorry I told, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” She trailed off. “I thought she would never hurt you.” A horrible thought struck Andromeda.
“Has she done it to you?” Bella didn’t answer. She helped Andromeda up, and carried her all the way up the stairs like a child, Narcissa trailing behind. They were nearly the same size by then, but she never once complained.
***
Bella left for Hogwarts that August. Andromeda and Narcissa had stayed up all night with her the night before, and cried, knowing they wouldn’t be permitted to cry the next morning when Druella and Cygnus took her off to Platform 9 ¾. They sat together and told stories and played games in a whisper, a newfound fear of their parents deep within each of them.
Andromeda found herself wondering how long Bella had been harboring that fear on her own.
After Bellatrix left, things got worse.
Narcissa was growing so fast, her magic getting stronger every day. Their parents- tense as they ever were, grew more and more stressed. She worried for her sister at Hogwarts, who she had yet to hear from- was she having fun? Had she made any friends? Was school really any better than home?- But she worried even more for Cissa. Accidental magic was loud , and if there was one thing their parents couldn’t stand, it was either of them disrupting the peace.
Andromeda became acquainted with the Lacero curse more and more with each month that passed while Bellatrix was away. Her legs became stained with the raised marks and painful scars her mother and father left behind, and she found herself staring some nights at Narcissa’s perfect, porcelain legs, unharmed and unscathed. She vowed to keep her sister’s skin unharmed for as long as she could, wondering for the millionth time how many times Bellatrix had done just what she was doing. Wishing she could ask her. She grew acquainted with her father’s heavy blows, the way her face would bleed after his heavy rings connected with her cheeks. Without Bella there to protect her, she found herself facing what she realized Bella had been facing for years, for longer than she could even remember- the brunt of her parents' anger.
At least with Bella, it never seemed like they hated her. Bellatrix had been the perfect daughter as far as Andromeda could tell. She spoke gracefully, nodded along when their parents talked about politics, agreed no matter what. She was obedient; no matter what their parents ordered her to do, she would do it. Andromeda was different. She talked too loudly. She didn’t understand the pureblooded politics they were so invested in. She couldn’t seem to do the right thing, no matter how many times their parents told her to do it. If they punished Bella, it was because of their pent-up anger, or because she was protecting another one of them. When they punished Andromeda, it was because she deserved it. Because she had disappointed her family.
After four months spent taking every curse and blow, protecting Narcissa from their father’s wrath, and doing, Andromeda realized with a jolt, as Bella had done alone for the past eleven years, Andromeda was bursting for Bellatrix to return. She needed a big sister, now more than ever, someone to tell her that she would be okay. But when Bellatrix returned that winter, she was… different.
Her sister arrived in the living room with wild eyes, and a fixed glare on her father, who kept a heavy hand on her shoulder. She sneered at their mother, and didn’t flinch when her father raised a wand on her for her impertinence. Andromeda was used to it by now. So was Narcissa, but they both still shuddered as their father brought the wand down, grabbing her wrist hard enough to bruise, dragging her off to his study. Andromeda knew how those fingers felt around her wrist now, and the part of her that was angry at Bellatrix for leaving her to figure this out alone battled with the part of her that longed to fight their father off, to drag Bella to their room, keep her safe.
In the end, the anger and fight in her both succumbed to fear, and she sat with Druella and Narcissa alone at Dinner, pretending not to hear the screams coming from the study.
That night, they met in Bella’s bedroom again. Andromeda and Narcissa, now both well-versed in healing, bandaged Bella’s wounds, held ice packs to her bruises, whispered comforting words to her until she was ready to talk.
“Hogwarts is… different,” She whispered, for fear of being heard. “It’s big, and confusing, but… warm. Personally, I think it’s too warm,” She added, with the air of an eleven year old girl who assumes she knows everything. “‘Dromeda, you’ll love it. It’s the perfect place for you.” Narcissa tugged at her sleeve.
“What’s Slytherin like, Bella?” Bellatrix laughed, and Andromeda loosened her posture, seeing her sister relax, smile like she used too.
“It’s great, Cissy, I can’t wait for you to come join me. The dungeons are nice and cool, and there are so many respectable wizards-”
“Respectable?” Andromeda interjected.
“Pureblooded,” Bellatrix nodded. “Committed to blood purity, just like Mother and Father always say.
“Oh,” Andromeda stared at her hands. She was never quite sure what to make of the pureblooded ideology her family was so adamant about. She knew her blood was better for being pure, of course, her parents had beaten that into her since she could speak, but to never socialize with any wizards outside of the Sacred 28?
It just seemed impossible.
When Bella wasn’t with her sisters, she had a wild look in her eyes, and a violent streak. She was quick to anger, and quicker to snide remarks. She refused when Druella glared and told her to take her elbows off the table. She fought back when Cygnus tried to drag her off to his office, tearing her best dress, and scratching claw marks into his face. When they went to visit their cousins at Grimmauld for Christmas Dinner, she found and killed a mouse the house elves had missed during cleaning, and chased Sirius with it, cornering him and holding it up to his face until he cried. Walburga had found them in the library, Sirius with tears sliding down his face as he shrunk back in fear, Bellatrix holding the mouse by its tail, closer, closer, closer to him…
Walburga laceroed Bella three times across her leg for bullying her cousin, and Sirius once for crying. Andromeda winced when she saw his tiny legs, four even scars across his calves. Sirius was only four. She hadn’t faced the Lacero curse until this year, but there was her little cousin, toddling around with those same sickening scars. Andromeda was reminded of her older sister, of how long she’d been facing her parents’ wrath alone. She caught Sirius alone in the stairwell later that night, and taught him to bandage himself up, remembering the learning curve it had been for her to learn without Bella there. Who had taught Bella? She asked herself for the billionth time.
“Does it hurt a lot?” She asked Sirius. Sirius shrugged, his eyes filling with tears again. She felt a pang in her heart for him. He was already so sensitive. How could he survive growing up within the House of Black? Her parents were cruel, but Walburga and Orion were unhinged, malicious in the shameless way they disciplined their boy. She dug within her pockets, and found a chocolate frog. Bella had brought one for her and Narcissa each, back from the Hogwarts Express, or she’d never have anything of the sort. Druella wasn’t big on sweets. She handed it off to Sirius, who’s eyes lit up as he hastily unwrapped the treat.
“ Thank you Andy” he mumbled, mouth full of chocolate. Andromeda laughed at the nickname. ‘Dromeda , she was used to, but Andy was new. Andy was… sweet.
“Don’t tell,” She said, and he nodded as if he understood. That night, in the staircase, she found an ally in the little boy with the scars and the love for chocolate. Another tiny thing, too disobedient, too weak for this family, not at all cut out for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
That January, Bella went back to Hogwarts, and a few nights later, Andromeda stayed up all night to celebrate her tenth birthday. It had become a tradition for her; the late nights were the one time she could get peace from the rest of her family, the one time she could do things her way. She had her own room in the house now, Narcissa just down the hall, and Bella’s empty room just next door. She could do anything she wanted. And she did.
Quietly, she sat on her bed and ate the assortment of snacks she’d stolen and saved up for weeks- chocolates and pasties and cookies that her mother would never let her eat. She counted the minutes and seconds, humming Happy Birthday quietly to herself, too quiet to be heard by anyone else but her. At midnight, she beamed and giggled to herself, kicking her feet. She was ten.
Her actual birthday was less fun than the night before. Being up all night made her exhausted, but she couldn’t let it show to her parents, not unless she wanted them to know how she had spent her night, and risk punishment. She sat at the dinner table that night, trying not to drift off as her father lectured her.
“You will be going off to school next year, Andromeda,” he said as the house elves brought out the platters of food- sausage and stew, bread and cheese and soup. “It is important to us that you represent our family in a respectable manner.” Andromeda half-listened, her mouth watering as she reached for three slices of bread. She caught her mother’s eye from across the table. Druella shook her head. Andromeda put the bread back, and instead served herself a small portion of stew, picking at it more than she ate. Her mother had always had strange, nonsensical rules about food- don’t stuff yourself until you’re full, don’t clear your plate, don’t pile your plate so high; bread isn’t a good food, sweets aren’t fit for young girls, it is improper for young ladies to gorge themselves, otherwise they get ugly, and you don’t want to get ugly, do you Andromeda? - and Andromeda had long since learned to take tiny portions, eat even less, make peace with the ever present hunger.
“When you go to school, I have no doubt that you will find your place in Slytherin, just as I did, your mother did, and both of our parents did. You will make top marks, and acquaint yourself only with the most respectable of your peers- no mudbloods or blood traitors. Only the purest blood for the Blacks, Andromeda. Toujours Pur, understood?”
“ Oui, Papa, ” Andromeda mumbled, picking at her food. The scent of the stew, still warm and spicy, made her stomach growl. It took everything in her not to reach for more, more, more.
“Speak up, girl,” Cygnus growled. “Do you understand?”
“Oui, Papa. Je comprends”
“Repeat it back, Andromeda. Toujours Pur. ”
“ Toujours Pur ,” Andromeda whispered. Her skin was crawling, though she didn’t understand why.
***
The next year was harder. Bella got in trouble at school for hexing some muggleborn students, and was suspended for a week. Andromeda got angry with her, and Bellatrix told her parents Andromeda was a mudblood lover. Andromeda spent a week locked in her room without food, and meanwhile, Narcissa met the end of her father’s wand for the first time. Andromeda would have vomited if she'd had anything in her to throw up when she’d come out of her room and seen the bandages wrapping her baby sister’s perfect legs, the ones she had spent so long protecting. Then, Bellatrix went back to Hogwarts, and nothing felt so scary anymore.
Sometimes Andromeda hated herself for how much she loved the quiet in the house when Bella was gone.
Bellatrix came home the summer after her second year with wild, unkempt curls that her father hated, and her mother threatened to cut off if she didn’t do something about it. She scoffed at her father, vanished her mother’s hair with wordless, wandless magic, and cackled as she took every last Lacero. Even without a real understanding of magic, Andromeda and Narcissa knew that Bellatrix was powerful. More powerful than their parents knew what to do with. Andromeda told Bellatrix that night she thought their parents were scared of her, and Bellatrix slapped her across the face for saying so, then laughed so loudly she woke half the house, and took every Lacero so Andromeda wouldn’t have to.
Sometimes, Andromeda hated how much she loved having Bella there to protect her again.
When her Hogwarts letter came in the mail that July, Bellatrix and Narcissa gathered around her, reading over her shoulder.
“You’ll be in Slytherin with me, I’m sure you will be, ‘Dromeda,” Bella beamed. “I can’t wait for you to come, you’ll love my friends, I’ll show you around the castle…” She trailed off. “It has been so long since we’ve spent time together.” Andromeda smiled. She hoped she would be in Slytherin too, for her family’s sake, but her stomach often turned with the fear that she might not be. If she wasn’t cut out for her family, how could she ever expect to be cut out for Slytherin?
“I can’t wait until we’re all at Hogwarts,” Narcissa pouted. It would be three more years before her sister could join them at school. Andromeda’s stomach twisted to think of what would become of her baby sister in those three years, with the girls who had protected her for so long out of the house.
Andromeda ruffled Narcissa’s pin straight hair.
“It won’t feel too long, Cissy. Soon enough, we’ll be off on the Hogwarts Express together.” Narcissa looked up with wide, blue eyes.
“Swear it?” Andromeda’s throat closed. The two years she’d lived in the house without Bellatrix had felt like a millennium. She knew it would be an awful wait for Narcissa, all alone without her sisters.
“I swear,” She choked out.
That night, she laid alone in her bed, kicking her feet with excitement, unable to sleep. In just a few weeks, she’d be at Hogwarts. A whole new world opened up to her, new friends, new room, new classes. She could be anyone she wanted, eat anything she pleased, with no one to tell her it was too much.
She couldn’t wait.
When the day came, the three girls repeated their tradition of sneaking into Bellatrix’s room, and staying up all night to say goodbye so they wouldn’t embarrass their parents by getting emotional the next morning. Andromeda found herself wondering if she would ever miss her childhood home, despite everything she endured in it. She wondered if her parents would ever write her. She wondered if they’d allow Narcissa to write her.
Andromeda woke up in the morning too excited to be tired. She tried not to look Narcissa in the eyes as she hugged her goodbye, terrified that her sister would see the guilt in her eyes. Cygnus apparated her and Bella to the platform, and with an iron grip, gave them one last lecture through gritted teeth about not embarrassing the family.
“I want to hear you say it,” He said in a low voice, and Andromeda felt herself cowering under his gaze.
“ Toujours Pur ,” Bella said, holding eye contact with their father. Cygnus nodded.
“And Andromeda?” Andromeda closed her eyes.
“ Toujours Pur ,” she whispered. Cygnus straightened.
“I will see you at Christmas. Make us proud.” And with that, he disapparated away.
It was with big smiles and laughter that Andromeda followed Bellatrix onto the train, dragging their trunks behind them. She greeted Bella’s friends with a smile and firm, boyish handshake, just as her mother had taught her not to do. As the train jolted forward, Andromeda’s heart lurched. She thought for a moment of Narcissa, miles away at home, and growing further with each moment, but pushed the thought away. Today, she was going to Hogwarts. Today, her life was finally starting to look up.