Symphony | Andromeda Black

Back To School

The Dark Lord arrived late, as usual. When they sat to eat, he asked for Andromeda and Alfred to sit together on his left side. There was no use hoping that nobody knew about the engagement; her grandfather had announced it officially. Bellatrix and Rodolphus were on his right, and her sister beamed over at her. Though it was Rodolphus' house, it was the Dark Lord who sat at the head of the table, and it was the Dark Lord who told everybody they could eat. He ate nothing himself, but watched the others with his scarlet eyes. He seemed to be slipping further and further away from being human every time Andromeda saw him. Sitting here, just a space away from him, she felt chills. He was so pale, so thin, and his eyes were so red......Andromeda blinked as she saw a small green head emerge from his sleeve, and he looked amused. "My little pet," he said, stroking the snake's head. "His name is Anguis."

Andromeda was sure he could see her hands shake. She wasn't hungry, but eating kept her attention away from her nerves. She could feel his eyes on her, and felt as though they bored into her very soul. The Dark Lord smiled a thin smile. "You have your sister's fire," he said, stroking the snake's head again. "I can see it, deep inside. You are very much like your father, but you seem to have a stubborn spirit."

Andromeda wasn't sure what to say to this, or how to respond at all. It spooked her. She wondered if he could read minds, and was sure it wasn't her imagination that his thin lips stretched wider. She had never spoken to him like this, directly, and it frightened her. She knew everybody at the table was listening to every single word.

"Thank you, my lord," she said quietly, and his scarlet eyes glittered.

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Over the coming days, his words were analysed a thousand times over by her family. They all wondered if the Dark Lord had been pouring scorn on Andromeda, if this was a veiled threat to the family. They were angry with her again, even though this time she had done all she could to please them. It seemed that she never could, no matter how hard she tried.

"Did he say anything else?" her grandfather demanded, standing by the fireplace. "Perhaps afterwards?"

"No," Andromeda said quietly. She was sitting on the sofa, hugging a cushion. "Nothing."

"She brings the family bad luck," Roseanne said fiercely. "At every turn, no matter how much we try to teach her. Alfred Travers might even call off the engagement over this."

Something burned inside her, and she wanted to yell that it wasn't her fault she wasn't charming and pretty, it wasn't her fault the Dark Lord might not like her, and she hadn't even wanted to marry Alfred in the first place. She kept her mouth closed.

Bellatrix looked amused where she was lounging by the doorway. "Of course she doesn't. The Dark Lord likes her. He hates fawning idiots like the two of you. He likes those with spirit."

Andromeda had never heard anyone speak to her grandparents like that. Bellatrix looked totally cool, almost bored even, but Sebastian had gone red in the face and Roseanne's mouth was open wide.

"You seem to have ideas above your station, Bellatrix," she said at last, her voice stiff. "Perhaps you will find the Dark Lord does not value you quite how you think."

Bellatrix just laughed softly. "I know how the Dark Lord values me, Grandmother. And trust me, you had better talk less and listen more."

With that, she swept from the room, leaving her grandparents staring after her.

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The summer was coming to an end, and Andromeda was glad. It had seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and she looked forward to going back to school, though that brought its own problems. Glenda and Lacrimosa, boys and marriage........she didn't think she had ever had a crush on a boy, beyond looking at magazines with her friends and liking the way the male models lounged casually. She wasn't sure what proper romantic love was like, never really having anything beyond a liking for those magazine boys, but she didn't think this was it. She wasn't sure she believed in proper love anymore anyway. Every single couple around her seemed trapped in misery, forced to be together whilst hating each other's guts, her own parents, and even Bellatrix, who treated her husband like an irritating dog. Andromeda wasn't sure proper love existed. There were only schoolgirl crushes, sexual lust, and eventual hatred. She lay in bed and saw her future planned out exactly.

In a year and a half, she would marry Alfred Travers, the balding, middle aged man who was old enough to be her father. They would have children together, and Andromeda would stay at home while he went to work in the Ministry, and she would have nothing to do, alone in an empty house while somebody took care of the children. She wondered if boredom was what made Druella drink. She had never known her mother to have any hobbies, and she had never worked. She didn't read books, play chess, or paint or sew or knit.

She went to dinner parties and sat in the parlour or stayed in bed. Andromeda didn't want to be like her or her grandmother, never wanted to turn so cold and hard that she hated her own children. She knew she couldn't marry Alfred. But there was no other choice, nothing else but for running away. Andromeda bit her nail so hard it bled, and she winced with the pain. She needed to talk to somebody, needed to get this off her chest, but the only person she trusted hardly spoke to her anymore, and Narcissa was turning out just like everybody else. Andromeda turned over to face the wall, and listened to the cold wind outside instead.

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When she went back to school in September for her sixth year, it was with both relief and weariness. She was of course glad to be away from her family and the cold manor, but her gut squirmed at the thought of seeing Glenda and Lacrimosa every day, to have to sleep in the same dormitory as the latter. She saw Glenda on the train, and her stomach flipped. Her friend didn't have her long braids anymore. Her hair was sleek and dark, just past her shoulders, and she was laughing with Lacrimosa, who was half hidden behind the door. Andromeda knew she had no right to care, but her stomach was still sick as she sat beside Narcissa and her friends, taking the window seat and looking out to the dark sky.

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Sleeping in the same dormitory as Lacrimosa was both uncomfortable and strangely easy, because her former friend made no attempt to talk to her. Andromeda did not know whether this made her happy or sad, but she felt uneasy relief. In October, she turned seventeen, and received something very unusual: a letter from home. It was quite stiff, but she didn't care, and put it aside quickly anyway. There was a little box with it too, and it held a small silver pocket watch. Andromeda tucked it into her robes' pocket, and wondered why she felt so flat.