Cherry Wine - ON HOLD

5 - Andromeda's Cracked Code

Chapter 5 : Andromeda's Cracked Code

*

Andromeda hurried down the streets of London, a bright smile on her face as she wove her way through the crowds. Normally, nothing would excite her so much that she was rushing to get to Grimmauld Place of all places, but she could barely contain herself.

Muggles didn't notice the domineering house appear out of nowhere. They didn't notice her slip through the black metal gate and skip up the stairs. They didn't hear the door swing open or click shut.

"Hellooooo!" Andromeda called, not bothering to mask her joy. Even the stark coldness of her cousin's house couldn't put a damper on her mood. A few portraits from the Middle Ages turned to look at her, frowning at her volume. "Anyone home?"

"Mum's not, and you're lucky for it. Missed her by fifteen minutes, you did." Sirius' voice rang out from the drawing room, bored and haughty as usual. "Just me. Oh, and Thing is somewhere."

Sirius was lounging on a stiff armchair that was most certainly not meant to be sat on in that way. He tilted the olive-green chair back so far that he could look at his older cousin upside-down, and grinned devilishly.

"Welcome to the worst place to spend a Tuesday evening."

"Thanks," Andromeda said, plopping down on the closest couch. The quick movement caused at least half of her curls to fall out of place. She began to dig through her bag, searching quite intently until she fished out a flier and thrust it into his hands. "Look at this!"

Sirius' gray eyes scanned the parchment with interest. One of his eyebrows shot up. "Curse-Breaker, huh? You mean those people that get shot by poison arrows trying to find treasure underground?"

"More or less. Gringotts is hiring new ones," Andromeda exclaimed, snatching the paper back from him. "I had the grades for it back in school, they travel all the time, and it's like translating runes, but better!"

"Sounds like it's right up your alley, my dear." Sirius reached up to run a hand through his hair, then winced. The involuntary reaction was not lost on Andromeda, although he tried to hide it by faking a yawn.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just... I threw out my arm yesterday is all. Moving furniture upstairs."

"What are you doing in here, anyway?"

Sirius glanced around the room with obvious distaste. "Ah. Well, I've been tasked with memorizing the family tree. Absolutely glorious work, let me tell you."

"Memorizing the tree?" Andromeda looked confused. She unclipped her hair, letting the rest of her long curls cascade down her back. "Why are you memorizing the tree?"

"It's a lovely story, really. Long story short, I may or may not have replaced the family crest painting in my bedroom with a signed Led Zeppelin poster. James sent it last week, he and Pete and Rem saw them together the night of your father's party."

Sirius looked thoroughly downcast at this, the glee leeching from his expression. When it came to his emotions, there was no predictability. While Andromeda didn't have the slightest clue who Led Zeppelin was, her younger cousin clearly did, and missing them put him in a sour mood.