Symphony | Andromeda Black

Fine

Andromeda had begun to be worried there was something wrong with her, but a few days after her fourteenth birthday, she started her first period, and immediately wished she had never wished for it. She wanted to be a child again, wanted everything to be the same, wanted Bellatrix to be happy and herself to be ignorant, but that could never happen again. Times were changing, and they were changing fast. It was approaching the end of nineteen sixty six, and the wizarding world was uneasy.

Glenda didn't seem to know much about it, and was happy with spending most of her time flipping through magazines and listening to music. Her friends did so too, but Lacrimosa and Andromeda had a whispered conversation late in the dormitory.

"She doen't know about him," Andromeda whispered. "Not really. Nobody in her family's been hurt by him."

Lacrimosa shivered. "She's lucky. He....I'm not sure if it was him that killed Father, not personally, but it was because of him. And it's because of that that I don't think I want to support him."

This whisper was light: it was almost blasphemy to say such a thing in Slytherin House.

Andromeda wriggled uncomfortably. "But it must be good," she said slowly. "Eradicating muggleborns, keeping magic pure...."

"Maybe," Lacrimosa said, but she didn't sound convinced. She picked at loose sequins on her quilt. It was quiet in the dormitories of Slytherin House, but sometimes at night, you could hear the eerie swell of the water, or perhaps the noise of an unidentified creature. Andromeda heard one now, a low vibration through the glass, and shivered.

"Have you ever met him?"

Lacrimosa twirled a blonde curl around her finger. "No."

"I have," she murmured, nibbling her fingernail. "Once. He came to our house for Christmas dinner."

Lacrimosa's eyes were large in the gloom. "What was he like?"

"Tall. His face was....strange. Almost blurred," she swallowed. The memory of that night was dim, but his face shone in her head. "He looked right at us. He went into the dining room, and he called Bellatrix in."

Lacrimosa bit her lip as one of the other girls snored gently. "Is she really a proper Death Eater? Only they have to –"

"Kill somebody," Andromeda murmured, and her stomach churned. "I know."

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

It was a wet evening. Max was dozing on the windowsill of the library, and Andromeda was trying hard to do her essay for Transfiguration, but her head was too muddled to concentrate. She gave up, putting her head down on the table and taking a deep breath. It was peaceful in here, hardly anybody around, and then she heard the soft sounds of plastic shoes against stone. Madam Pomfrey. She walked up to the desk and asked Madam Pince about a book, and when she saw Andromeda looking at her, she smiled at her. Andromeda could only muster a weak one in return, and when the matron had collected her book, she came over.

"Are you all right, Andromeda?"

Andromeda wondered how to voice all the thoughts that buzzed around her head, how to say something like I'm all right except my sister killed my friend's father, and I'm also terrified about how the Dark Lord wants me to be a Death Eater, and oh yes, Mother's gone even more funny in the head and won't talk at all now.

She wasn't sure which version of Druella she preferred, the snappish ice queen or this new one who wandered around in clouds of cigarette smoke and drank wine all day. She wished she understood her mother, but it was even harder to now. Cygnus had apparently completely forgotten about his two youngest daughters, focusing totally on Bellatrix, and Andromeda would have been lying if she had said she wasn't jealous that she wasn't his favourite anymore. As for Narcissa, she didn't need Andromeda at all anymore, didn't even trail after her like she'd done for the first few weeks of first year. Now she was always surrounded by a group of giggling girls, popular and pretty.

"Yes," she said. "I'm fine."

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Their first Hogsmeade trip happened in early November. Andromeda had no money, but to her embarrassment Glenda insisted that she let her buy things for her, and left with several bags of sweets for both her and Narcissa. She wished she could pay her friend back more than anything. She knew there was piles upon piles of gold in their vault in Gringotts, but her parents hardly ever gave their children so much as a knut. That evening, she said goodnight to Glenda, and Lacrimosa went to bed early. Narcissa was sitting in the common room, alone, unusually for her. She was watching the water through the round glass windows, which filled the room with a faint green glow. Occasionally, a dark shadow would pass, and in their first year Andromeda remembered how she had delighted in pulling faces at the grindylows, who fully returned the favour. Andromeda sat down in the chair, dropping the bag in front of Narcissa.

"These are for you," she told her.

"Thanks. Don't you want some?"

"Not really. Share them with your friends," Andromeda yawned, then looked down at Narcissa's parchment and her careful round little letters, and thought with a stab of guilt about the long essay she had yet to complete for Transfiguration.

Narcissa looked around the common room, then lowered her voice. "Have you seen Bellatrix lately?"

"Bellatrix?" Andromeda repeated, and frowned as she tried to remember. "I....she was at breakfast."

"I haven't seen her all day. And she missed school yesterday."

Andromeda swallowed, then looked around quickly, noting the loud fourth years by the fire, where they were examining items from the joke shop. "There's nothing to do, Cissy," she said quietly. "We can't stop her."

Narcissa hesitated, and the fourth years whooped and laughed as something banged violently. "Would you join, Andy?" She asked at last. "Become a Death Eater?"

There was a sour taste in her mouth. "Would you?"

"Yes," Narcissa said, with no hesitation. "If Father wanted me to. But you didn't answer."

"Yes," she lied. "I would, too. Of course."

Narcissa seemed to relax in her large chair.