Love Will Tear Us Apart

GRIMMAULD PLACE

Half term passed Andromeda by in a daze. It was as though she wasn't really there, and in a way she wasn't. She had left her heart with Ted, but her body was back in her dark family home with her sisters and the rest of their family.

When her father announced that Andromeda and the rest of her immediate family were going to visit his sister Walburga for some of the holidays, Andromeda naively hoped Sirius might be at Grimmauld Place with them. But, as she should have expected, he had either remained at school for the break or had gone to stay with his friend James and his parents for its duration.

He did, however, send her a letter which flew in through her open bedroom door, she was staying in Regulus' room while he had fixed a rocking hammock in the dining room which, using magic, could be put up and down within seconds, and almost hit her directly in the face. 

Sirius informed her that he and Ted had arranged a way for the latter to communicate with her through Sirius, so that if anyone should find the letters they would see Sirius' name at the top and would not automatically suspect that Andromeda was having any relations with persons below her status. Although they might wonder why Andromeda was the only Black still talking to Sirius, but they would cross that particular bridge when they came to it.

The rest of the letter told her that Ted had gone home to spend time with his parents and that he was missing her every day. He then recounted a rather amusing story about his father's run-in with a beach ball and a lawnmower, which Andromeda didn't fully understand, but could sense through his re-telling that Ted had found it hilarious. By the end of the anecdote, she found herself mirroring the smile that must have played upon his lips whilst he was jotting it down and the thought thrilled her.

She had just enough time to read the letter through twice before it burst into flames and neatly tidied itself, now ashes, into her bedroom fireplace. It was just as well that it caught fire when it did, because a moment later Bellatrix and Narcissa burst in through Andromeda's bedroom door, making her jump back with fright, landing on her four poster bed with a thump, and informed her that they were going to Diagon Alley the next day to replenish their school supplies.

"Have fun." Andromeda said sulkily, picking a book off of her shelf and sinking down into her window seat, searching the skies for any other mail that might come her way. 

As happy as reading Ted's words and thinking about him going about his days in his usual jolly way, she found her mood crashing at the prospect of having to wait until the break was over to sneak some time away with him again, and her mood was not improved by the general dismal atmosphered that the Black house tended to breed.

"Don't be silly. You're coming too." Narcissa said, as though her sister were being particularly dim. "Daddy said I can get some brand new dress robes, what do you think about pink? Y'know to complement my hair? You'll have to get purple of course, and Bella maybe a deep emerald or something. We can see what they have when we get there-..." The youngest of the three girls prattled on.

"I don't need anything new." Interrupted Andromeda, flicking the pages of her book stroppily. Her sister's preoccupation with her looks and the way others saw her wore thin on the best of days, but Andromeda was even less in the mood to pacify her indulgences than usual.

"When has that ever stopped you?" Retorted Bellatrix impatiently. "It's not as though you have to pay for it. Besides, you must be running low on quills or parchment or something like that."

"I picked up what I needed when I last went to Hogsmeade." Said Andromeda blandly, reminiscing on the trip with a pang in her chest. "Besides, it's not as though we have to do everything  together."

As soon as the words had left her lips Andromeda knew they had been a mistake, one step too far. She had pulled at the tight lead Bellatrix held her and Narcissa on a little too hard, and now she would face the consequences.

Bellatrix physically recoiled at Andromeda's words, her upper lip curling into a sneer. "I don't know what's gotten into you the last few weeks Andromeda, but I don't like it." She snarled. Narcissa took a step away from her eldest sister, pretending to look out of the window at a raven that had landed on a tree nearby. 

"If you're up to something," Bellatrix continued. "Sneaking around behind our backs, seeing people you ought not to be seeing, doing things you ought not to be doing, then you had better tell us now before we find out by ourselves. Deception is not  tolerated in this family, and you know that. Or shall I tell Mummy and Daddy that you ignored us the whole train journey home? Or that you've been talking to Sirius again?" 

"I'm allowed to talk to my own cousins, Bella." Andromeda snapped, not daring to ask how her sister knew that she and Sirius were communicating again. At least if her sister ever found one of Ted's letters she wouldn't be too surprised at seeing Sirius' name on the envelope.

"Not ones that are blood traitors." Bellatrix bit back.

The two sisters glared icily at one another for several moments before an idea popped into Andromeda's head. She softened her face and evened her tone, before saying sweetly, "You're right, I'm sorry. I think I'm just stressed with all my schoolwork. There's so much to do before term resumes. I will go with you tomorrow, it will be good to get out of the house."

Narcissa turned back to the conversation with a relieved smile on her face, half-dancing back to Bellatrix's side.

"I'm glad you've come to your senses." Said Bellatrix smugly, her self-satisfaction making Andromeda feel nauseous. "Besides, it's half-term now. You ought to be relaxing, we all should. I truly feel as though we can actually let our guards down at home, in a way we never can at that school, even in my own bed I feel like I need to have my wand at the ready when we're at Hogwarts. Don't you agree?"

Narcissa nodded enthusiastically, though she looked unsure. Andromeda ignored the question and focused instead on her sister's advice that she ought to relax more. "I'll try." She said simply, pretending to turn back to her book, tracing her index finger down the page, as though she were looking for her spot from which to resume reading.

"Are you coming down for dinner?" Narcissa asked Andromeda gently. "I'll braid your hair afterwards if you like. It's so long now, I'm so jealous..."

"I'll be right down, Cissy." Andromeda promised.

When her two sisters had disappeared from the doorway, Andromeda shut it quickly with a swish of her hand and hurried to her trunk. 

She pulled out a quill, ink and parchment and quickly scrawled a message to Ted, via Sirius, telling him that she would be in Diagon Alley the next day and would likely be able to ditch her sisters in order to see him... But only if he wanted to, she added hastily, before folding the letter in half and sending it spinning off into the air with a flick of her wand.