The 'I' in Family

Chapter 11: The different ones

Author's note: Age time! I suck at ages but: In the first part, Bellatrix is in her fourth year and Andromeda in her first (obviously). For the second part, Andromeda is currently seventeen, Narcissa and Lucius are in their fifth year, and Sirius along with the other marauders are in their first.

September 1, 1965

Andromeda caught her older sister's eye from where the former was sitting on the chair at the front of the room. Every eye in the room was on her, of course; she was being sorted, and while she knew where she was going her heart was still pounding as the hat was placed on her head.

Hmm...

Andromeda almost jumped before she realized it was just the hat talking to her. She could have sworn Bellatrix smiled a bit at it before her original expression was resumed: the face of an older sister watching Andromeda carefully, seemingly neutral but there was a threat behind her eyes.

The nervous muggleborn boy who she'd run into on the train by mistake wasn't watching her like everyone else. His eyes were trained on the ground, and Andromeda could tell he was nervous. He was tall and had dark brown hair— nowhere near as dark as the Black family hair that almost everyone in her family seemed to have (with the exception of Narcissa, of course) but it was still dark.

Do we have a rebel?

Andromeda frowned. "What? I'm not a rebel," she thought to the hat.

Really? Do you not consider yourself one? Because I can tell you aren't the formal one like your older sister.

"You remember Bella?" Andromeda thought.

I remember everyone. But you are different from the rest of your family. You would do well in Hufflepuff, perhaps, as you love your sisters very much, and you'll respect people even your parents don't want you to respect...

"I'm not a Hufflepuff," Andromeda thought. "I don't want to be one. I want to be a Slytherin. Like my family." She couldn't imagine what might happen if she was sorted into Hufflepuff... or worse, Gryffindor...

As if the hat could read her mind (well, he could) the hat said, And I see Gryffindor...

"No!" Andromeda thought, and it took a lot of self-control to not blurt it out.

Fine then. I see you want to please your family... then you shall go to—

"SLYTHERIN!"

Andromeda sighed in relief and stood up as the hat was lifted. The threat behind Bellatrix's eyes was reduced and she smiled pleasantly at her younger sister as Andromeda walked over to the table and sat down next to her.

"Congratulations," said a boy around Bellatrix's age who was sitting across from her. He held out his hand. "Lestrange. Rodolphus Lestrange."

"Andromeda Black, but you knew that already," Andromeda said with a smile.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, and Andromeda quickly added, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I do believe I've seen you before," said a boy to his left. This boy was younger than him but older than Andromeda—most likely a second year. He looked a lot like Rodolphus.

"I'm Rabastan Lestrange," the boy said. "His younger brother."

"Come to think of it, I do believe I've seen you as well," Rodolphus said. "It's very likely we've seen each other at a gathering of some sorts. Our families are quite close."

"Yes, they are," Bellatrix said.

Why didn't you recognize Bellatrix? Andromeda wondered. She wanted to ask but she had to remain formal, even though she hated that. It took some self control not to ask.