Love Will Tear Us Apart

DIVINATION CLASSROOM

In the following weeks, Andromeda began distancing herself from her sisters more and more and began spending as much time with Ted as she could steal. It wasn't just the fear of accidentally revealing her new-found relationship with Ted that made Andromeda withdraw from her sisters' constant attention to her, but she had also become almost physically unable to listen to their hateful beliefs.

Andromeda knew the secret now; muggle-borns, half-bloods, even squibs, were just as human as she was, just as important and just as magical. The blood that ran in her veins may have been handed down to her from wizards alone, but it didn't make her pure. Hate dirties everything in its path, like mud at the bottom of a river.

"They just don't know..." Andromeda told Ted a few weeks after their Hogsmeade visit.

They were walking by the Black Lake, hand-in-hand, occasionally stopping so that they could stoop to pick up particularly pretty rocks, skipping the ones they didn't wish to keep. Every once in a while, one of them would stumble on the precariously shifting pebbles, which cascaded down the embankment in the form of miniature avalanches, but they kept hold of each other, hauling the other up so they were able to stay level.

"We were all raised the same way, even Sirius, though he figured it out a lot earlier. As far as my sisters are concerned, anyone that isn't pureblood is dirty. They're not even human to people like Bellatrix and my parents. But take Narcissa for example, she's scared of mud-... I mean people with muggle parents." Ted smiled bemusedly at this. 

"She thinks they're dangerous or diseased because that's what she's been told." Continued Andromeda. "Bellatrix despises them but, well, she's always been a bit more highly strung. My point is that, for centuries, that's what our family has believed. They're not going to change their minds now."

"But you did." Ted mused.

"Yeah I did..." Agreed Andromeda, smiling gently.

"So, Miss Dromeda Black joins the 'thems' eh? Or is that rude? I mean, obviously you're not a mudblood, you're pure and lovely and all of that, but I mean your mind, you're good. You're not like your sisters, I, um..."

"Ted, it's okay. I don't like that word but I have joined you. Even it is as a 'them' instead of an 'us'. Whichever team you're on, I'm on."

"Glad to hear it." Ted swung their hands up to his face and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of Andromeda's. 

"You know, I've been trying to work out if I knew it all along but was just too scared of what my sisters' would say or if it was you that made me realise that we're equal."

"You may not have known explicitly, or like your sisters, you chose not to believe. But the difference is Dromeda, you are inherently good. You have a good heart, a kind heart. You want to believe that everyone is your equal because you want to treat them that way. I don't say this to upset you, but I'm not sure your sisters have the same capacity for acceptance and love that you do."

"Narcissa maybe, the love part at least. But Bella... I don't know. Sometimes she gets this look in her eye, like she's crazed. It makes my skin crawl and I wonder just what she's capable of. And I worry that if no one dispels her hatred that she'll keep going until she explodes."

Ted released her hand so that he could loop his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to his side and pressing a tender kiss to her hairline. "Don't worry about it now Dromeda."

"I'm not worried." She assured him. "In fact, for the first time in my life, I feel completely at ease."

Ted smiled but stopped walking, his face becoming serious as he turned to face her. "I want you to know, I won't ever pressure you to tell your family about me, or about us." He promised her solemnly. "I recognise how dangerous it is for you, and that you'd probably lose everything if you told them. I guess what I'm really saying is that, this is your decision Dromeda. If this lasts, which for the record I really hope it does, then it will be up to you to decide between us. If it was up to me there would be no need to choose, but as it is, I'm not willing to give you up just because your sisters want you to stay pure. Having said that however, if you tell me to go because you need to put yourself and your family first, I understand that to. I-..."