Chapter 5 : Andromeda's Cracked Code
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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.
"I can't believe you did that."
"You can't? I reckoned you knew me." He grinned, chuckling, although there was no humor in his sharply angled face. "I reckon it was the permanent sticking charm that did me in. That or blowing up the painting. Now I've supposedly got to learn proper family pride or something, so I'm stuck inside this drafty old prison becoming the Black Family Historian while everyone else is outside on this rather beautiful summer day."
Andromeda heard the distaste in his voice and it scared her. Sirius, armed with his quick wit and courage bordering on foolishness, was steering himself down a dangerous path, one that ended with a burned tapestry and broken relationships. Secretly, she admired his daring personality, but thought that he never knew when to stop, one of his worst qualities.
Sirius was headed for the river, and Andromeda wasn't about to drown with him.
"Where's Reg?" She asked, changing the subject.
His expression darkened. Staring at the tapestry, he replied, "Out with Father. Important business, apparently."
In his voice, she heard something she didn't expect to hear: jealously. Even though Sirius hated his father, he was still begging for attention. A small part inside of him still wanted to make his parents proud.
"Hey, do you want anything to drink? That wrinkled wart is cleaning somewhere, but I'm kind of thirsty. Oi!"
An old house elf appeared with a loud crack. His hooked nose wrinkled in disgust at his company, but he bowed nonetheless. "Master Sirius," he muttered. "Mistress Andromeda. You called Kreacher here?"
"Yeah, can you get us some pumpkin juice or something? Don't be too long, I know you drag your feet when I ask you for things."
Once Kreacher bowed his way out of the drawing room, Andromeda gave Sirius a disapproving look. "You know, you don't need to be that rude."
"Give me a break, Andi. He's a bloody house elf, and a nasty one at that. I'm the only one in the family he acts like that around. Rotten little thing."
"You can't expect him to treat you well if you treat him like scum, Sirius."
"Whatever. I'm not in the mood for a lecture. I've got about a million generations to memorize, remember?" His grin faded quickly.
Andromeda pulled a small piece of paper out of her bag and studied it for a minute, then sighed, lowering it to her lap. It had been weeks, and she was no closer to uncovering the meaning behind those pesky numbers.
"Whatcha looking at?" Sirius asked. He took the slip of paper from her, his bright eyes scanning through the words quickly.
"Oh, nothing. We went out to lunch a few weeks ago at this Muggle cafe and the waiter was this boy who went to school in Bella's year. He wrote this on the receipt. I've been trying to decipher it, but-"
"Andromeda."
Sirius was laughing. His amusement echoed through the gloomy house like a phantom bark.
"What?"
"Andromeda Hyperion Aquila Black!"
"What?" She repeated, shaking his shoulders as he laughed hysterically. He was definitely enjoying keeping her on the hook. "What is it? What are you laughing about?"
Sirius actually wiped tears from underneath his eyes. "It's a phone number, Andi! This poor bloke wanted you to call him!"
"He wanted me to call him? Why?"
"By Merlin, you're so clueless." The boy shook his head, grinning. "When the Muggles want to talk to someone again, they don't send an owl. They call."
"But I don't have a phone," Andromeda replied, befuddled. She remembered Ted Tonks's smile, and one spread across her own face before she could hide it. "So what do I do?"
"Do you want to see him again?"
Andromeda tilted her head in thought. "Yes, I think so. He's fun."
"Then do it!" Sirius jumped up off of the armchair, pulling her with him, then winced again at the sudden movement. Neither commented on his reaction, although Andromeda resolved to ask about it soon. "There's a payphone right outside! Here, I've got some Muggle money, go!"
She made it halfway across the hall and to the door when she turned back around. "Aren't you coming?"
"Oh, I, uh... no." He leaned casually on the doorframe of the drawing room, not putting even a toe on the hallway carpet. His stormy eyes darkened. "See, Mother's really nifty with spells, and I actually can't get out of here until she lifts the spell. Talk about punishment, eh?"
"Yeah," Andromeda murmured, looking down at her feet. Continuing that conversation would only embarrass him even more, so she simply skated over it. "I don't know how to use a phone."
"Right, right." Sirius ran his hands down his face and paced, clearly deep in thought. "Okay. You head down to that phone, for starters."
She frowned dubiously. "Sirius, what are you planning?"
"Do it."
Deciding not to question him, Andromeda ran down the steps of 12 Grimmauld Place and out onto the sidewalk. From there, she found the payphone. She eyed it with concern. All of those buttons looked rather confusing...
"ANDROMEDA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
She startled at looked up at the house with wide eyes. Sirius had stuck his head out the drawing room window, a wild grin on his face as the wind whipped his long hair around.
"You're mental! Completely mental!" She yelled back, although she couldn't help laughing. "What do I do now?"
"JUST PUNCH IN THE NUMBERS! ONE BY ONE!"
Giggling, Andromeda began to punch in the numbers with extreme caution, as though the machine might eat her.
"YOU'VE GOT TO PICK UP THE PHONE FIRST, ANDI!"
She grabbed the phone hastily, nearly dropping it, and re-punched in the numbers. Her heart began to beat double-time as a metallic ringing filled her ear.
"CHARM HIM! YOU'VE GOT THIS!"
She was still laughing when the ringing stopped and a pleasant voice replaced it.
"Hello?"
Startled, Andromeda dropped the phone with a scream. It fell like a man bungee-jumping, springing back up by the cord seconds before plunging to his doom. A few Muggles passing by gave her odd looks as she sank to the sidewalk, laughing uncontrollably from nerves.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HE'S STILL ON THE LINE!"
Andromeda fumbled for the phone, then quickly hung it up. She stared up at Sirius, who stared right back down at her.
"THAT WAS BLOODY TERRIBLE!"
"I'm sorry!" She yelled back although she cracked up. "I don't do the whole dating thing a lot!"
"TRY AGAIN, THEN COME BACK INSIDE AND TELL ME HOW IT GOES!"
"Wait, where are you going?"
"THAT WAS PAINFUL TO WATCH THE FIRST TIME! I'M NOT PUTTING MYSELF THROUGH IT AGAIN!"
He slammed the window shut with a smirk. Despite being surrounded by so many strangers, Andromeda felt oddly alone.
She played with the telephone cord, wishing she could borrow some of Sirius' Gryffindor courage. The idea of calling Ted after that... no wonder her parents couldn't get a decent man to court her. She was hopeless when it came to men.
Holding her breath, Andromeda punched in the numbers for a third time.
"Uh, hello?"
"Ted?" She asked quickly, too quickly. After taking her voice down to its normal octave, she continued. "This is Andromeda. You know, from the cafe?"
"Oh yeah, Andromeda. The tall Canadian girl with the lunch order, right?" She could hear the warm smile in his voice. "I'm surprised. What's up?"
"I'm just, um, calling you. That's what you wanted me to do, right?" Stupid, stupid, stupid. "What see you surprised about?"
"I'm sort of surprised that you called, honestly. It's been a month."
"Oh." Andromeda bit her lip, glad that he couldn't see the furious red blush coloring her cheeks. "It's a long story. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. I hope that doesn't make you think I'm horrible."
"No! Course not, I'd never think that," he said hurriedly. "Okay. Are you down to go out sometime?"
"Yes! I mean, yes, I am."
"Great!" The enthusiasm in his voice made her laugh, although he tried to cover up his obvious excitement. "So I'm completely swamped this week with studying and work, but I'm free Friday night."
"So am I," Andromeda said eagerly.
"You are? Okay, I can pick you up after work, where do you-?"
"No!" She exclaimed, cringing. "You don't have to pick me up, it's really unnecessary. Can I meet you somewhere?"
Andromeda shuddered at the very idea of Ted Tonks calling on her at the summer house. What if her sisters saw him? What if her parents found out? Kind as he seemed to be, there was no denying who he was and where he came from. The last thing she needed was to be caught with him.
"Uh, yeah, that's fine, too. You can just meet me at the cafe, I get off at six. That okay with you?"
She nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her. "Perfect."
"Perfect," Ted repeated. "Friday it is. Any specific requests?"
"Not a single one," she said, laughing. He no doubt remembered her peculiar way of ordering food. Many found it off-putting. Many found Andromeda herself off-putting, come to think of it. "Surprise me."
"One surprise coming up. See you Friday, Andromeda."
"Friday."
Andromeda hung up the phone, and a strange sensation flowed through her. A mix of pride and excitement, something glowing and warm.
When she looked up at 12 Grimmauld Place again, Sirius was back at the window, watching her intently.
Beaming, she gave him a thumbs up and spun around right there on the sidewalk out of pure giddiness, her skirt swishing and her eyes shining.
hello! what did you guys think of this one?
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