Andromeda hated the summer months. She hated the old house she grew up in. She hated the screaming, and the relatives, and her parents. She despised the cruel words, and the life she knew she had to live. Hearing her sisters talk through the wall to the room next to hers was all that kept her from crying.
‘Packin’ all my things for the summer
Lyin’ on my bed, it's a bummer cause I
Didn't call you when I got your number
But i liked you a lot ’
She clutched the torn off corner of parchment in her fingers, flipping it back and forth to hear the crisp sound it made when manoeuvred in such ways. The parchment had not left her hand all day, holding onto it desperately as if her life depended on it. She knew there was no muggle telephone at home. She knew she would be exiled if she asked for one. And she knew she would be asking for torture if anyone knew why.
(01747) 934 657 2722
Ted Tonks phone number, which Andromeda had memorised on the train back to London, after being given the small end of paper with the boy's messy handwriting on it.
“I hope to hear from you this summer,” he had said softly when he handed it to her. Their fingers brushed each other, and both of their faces flushed to a deep cherry colour. Andromeda had never felt happier. Now back at home, she held so desperately onto that happiness. It was all she had to think about until she could return to Hogwarts.
But for now, she didn't call, and she didn't unpack. She waited until the house was completely silent.
‘Slipping on my dress in soft filters
Everybody said you're a killer
But i, couldn't stop the way that i was feeling
The day your record dropped’
Once the clock had hit midnight, and the sound of its low tolls was the only thing echoing off the haunting walls, she left the warmth of her bed. She slipped on her lightest shoes to walk down the creaky stairs in the old manor as quiet as she could. Her hands brushed the railing gently, and out of the corner of her eyes she watched the sleeping portraits of her ancestors. If they had been awake, she could vividly imagine the screams and bitter things they would have to say.
She was not the favourite child of her sisters. That was Bellatrix. She wasn't the most intelligent of her sisters. That was Narcissa. Even though the portraits knew nothing of her, she could feel the judgement of every face upon the walls as she tiptoed throughout the house, and out the door into the calming freedom of the summer evening.
There was an old muggle telephone box up the street. She could see the red shimmering underneath a dying streetlamp, and walked briskly towards it. Her footsteps sounded on the broken stone streets, and splashing in puddles from the day before's rain along the way.
The slight chill in the early summer air, and the scattered raindrops created regrets of not unpacking her coat from her school trunk, but she was not going to go back for it now. Everything she had longed for was waiting in the old red phone booth.
She dropped one of the muggle coins that Ted had given her to use, into the slot, hearing it clatter against the metal as it fell. She pressed her hand against the cold metal, heart beating out of her chest for it to work. There was a sort of clicking sound, then she began to put in the numbers she knew by heart already.
(01747) 934 657 2722
She breathed in quickly, heart beating fast in her chest as she waited. The phone whirred to life, making a crackling sort of sound, then a ‘ clunk’ before she heard Ted's soft whispering voice on the other end.
“Andy, hi.”
~
Andromeda Black was in love. She knew what love felt like, and she wanted it to consume her entire being, for no other feeling in the world could make her as safe and happy.
Two summers had gone by since she had memorised Ted's phone number. Now she had memorised his smile, and the look in his eyes when he was happiest. She knew by heart, the shape of his lips when he spoke her name, and how the beating of his heart felt when she was wrapped in his arms. She knew the taste of his mouth on hers in a moment of vulnerability, and need. She knew the feeling of being loved, and wanted it forever.
She wanted him forever.
A thousand secret phone calls had happened in the middle of the night when she could sneak away to the phone box that had become a second home. A thousand nights running down the old cobblestone street, knowing that Ted was sitting and waiting by his own phone for her call. A thousand calls, a thousand “I love you’s,” and one ring.
She had memorised the look of that too. The sparkle it had when exposed to the raw white of the moonlight, and the feeling of the cold silver on her finger on those late summer nights. The way Ted's lips felt against her hand as he slipped the ring onto her finger. Everything was burned into her memory with the heat of the fire she felt for him. It burned her every day as she tried to conceal it.
Two summers, two school years, countless nights of calls until sunrise. And she kept it a secret from everyone, except one.
Narcissa knew, and even smiled when Andromeda had told her. But her smile faded once she heard Ted was a muggleborn boy.
“What will mother and father say?” Cissa gasped when she first heard. “You know they wont approve.”
“But do you?” Andromeda asked her desperately, grabbing her hand. “Do you care that he isn't a pureblood? Do you want me to never see him again simply because of his family line?”
“I- andy you know I want you to be happy,” Cissa hesitated, and touched her thumb to the shimmering ring on her sister's hand. “But I want you to be safe. You're my sister, I care about you more than anyone in the world.”
Andromeda's head dropped, looking at their hands folded together. “I'm going to marry him. I do not care what mother and father say. I do not care about this- this pure blood nonsense! Should it really matter someone's blood status, if you love someone? I love him. I've loved him since I met him, and I won't ever love anyone as much as him. Would they truly not understand that feeling?”
“Andy…” narcissa sighed, “you don't know that, maybe you could- there's a chance you may love someone else…”
She smiled weakly, letting go of her sister's grasp. “I love Ted. And Cissa, I love you too. Please, say you'll forgive me.”
Narcissa closed her lips as a single tear fell. She did not say a word, but hugged her sister in her arms tightly as if it was the last time she would ever feel safe in an embrace.
“I'm sorry, Cissa,” Andromeda whispered.
‘Caught up in my dreams and forgettin’
I've been acting like armageddon, ‘cause you
Held me in your arms just a little too tight
That's what i thought’
~
Andromeda only saw Ted when he was able to come to her village and visit. They met up secretly in the middle of the night, walking freely through the village. Each time, Andromeda wished it would last forever, and the sun would never rise again. She wished everyone would stay in their slumber for eternity, so she could be with him just as long. Living in an eternal darkness would have been worth it if Ted was with her for it to light the way.
Andromeda and Ted spoke as frequently as they could on the phone, but the times began to appear more often where Ted did not pick up, and days where there was too much risk for Andromeda to sneak out to the phone. Cold and lonely days, feeling as if the world would end if she had to go another moment trapped in her life without Ted.
She longed for him, and softly pressed her lips to her ring, reminiscing how Ted would kiss it. It was all her imagination could do to keep her from missing him too much. Pretending he was there, and filling her head with fantasies of a different kind of life. A life where she was free, and loved in every way she dreamed about so desperately.
For a while, Narcissa knowing her secret was enough. Despite her being a few years younger, she could tell how much her sister loved the boy of muggle descent. She knew they were made for each other.
Andromeda Black was in love, and there would never be another soul in the universe that lit up her eyes the way he did. No soul could create such closeness through the crackling sound of a midnight phone call. No soul could replicate that love.
~
The days after Andromeda finished school grew darker, and even harder to endure, as her mother began to talk of a betrothal. Bellatrix had already gotten engaged to Rodolphus Lestrange earlier that year. He was a cold man, as was every one that her mother had in mind for Andromeda. Bellatrix had completed her duty as the oldest daughter. Marry a pureblood. It was the only job the three Black sisters had.
Now it was Andromeda's turn. She wanted nothing less than to run away. Not just to the phone at the end of the road, but further, and to never return to the cruel family.
Her mother had chosen for her, who she was to marry. There was no possibility in the matter whatsoever, not even in which pureblood she was to give herself away to forever. Andromeda refused to let his name poison her lips, or her thoughts. He was an evil being forced upon her, and she did not have to know him at all to realise it.
The engagement had been finalised before she even learned of its existence. Before she had met whatever pureblood man her mother and father deemed fit, and before she had a chance to stop things before it got too late. She knew, it was too late to undo it.
Andromeda went to Narcissa as soon as she had heard the news. Tears stained her face as she touched her bare finger, having to hide her ring in the hours of daylight to avoid the secret escaping to anyone else’s knowledge.
“Andy, it's okay, we can figure out how to stop this.” Narcissa spoke softly, stroking her sister's hair off her face, and wiping her tears onto her own velvet sleeve. There didn't seem to be a way to comfort Andromeda at all.
She shook her head, pulling away and rummaging through a box of small items. “Even if there's any way I could get out of marriage i- i can't stay here Cissa. I can't stay here locked up without him, knowing that there's another way. I just can't.”
“Another way to what, andy?” Narcissa fought, pulling away from her sister with pained eyes.
Andromeda's expression lightened, and she let out a breath. “Another way to live, Cissa. We don't have to live this way. Not with all the pureblood rules, and mania, and the heirs, and the family lines. I don't want this cissa. I want to be happy.” She was crying now, her voice weak and breaking.
‘Summer was meant for lovin’ and leavin’
I was such a fool for believin’ that you
Could change all the ways you've been livin’
But you just couldn't stop’
“Can you not learn to be happy here?” she shouted, lips quivering and hung open. After a moment, she regretted all the words that slipped from her mouth. “Andy i'm sorry i-”
She shook her head, “I've only ever been happy here for one reason.”
‘The day i saw your white mustang
Your white mustang
The day i saw your white mustang’
Narcissas eyes watered, and her hands that were clenched into fists, released and grabbed onto her sisters. “Don't do this.” she pleaded again.
“ I'm sorry,” Andromeda whispered, squeezing her sister's hand before leaving silently. Every word she felt was an apology. She was done living life that way. She refused to apologise for love.
~
At dinner she announced it. She refused the engagement, and she confessed her own secret that she had been holding onto since she first fell in love.
Everyone's faces turned into anger, except Narcissas. Hers was sadness, mourning, and pain. The screaming started. Then the arguments. And then the ending.
“You will leave this house.” her mother commanded sternly, slamming her goblet down on the table, and got up to leave. From the doorway she whispered quietly, “You are a disappointment and a disgrace to your family.”
Andromeda watched her go, and then stood up to leave the room herself. She could hear both of her sisters behind her, clamouring and running after her.
“Andromeda, wait!” Bellatrix called after her. “Andy stop, listen to me!”
“No,” she sighed in response, throwing the doors of her wardrobe open. “I love him Bella, you have to understand that. No pureblood man that mother and father ever force me into marrying someday will ever feel the same as this. I love him.”
Bellatrix huffed out a breath, closing the door to the wardrobe so she could see Andromeda's face. “Andy, you're throwing away your entire life if you do this. There's still time we could- we could go find mother right now and tell her you've changed your mind. You'll stay here, and the three of us can find a way for you to get out of marrying someone mother chooses for you.”
“Bella…” Andromeda warned, and looked down shamefully.
“Do you really want to lose everything for him? A muggleborn !” she screeched, “Andy please, i- Cissa, will you convince her, please, she can't do this, it's absurd!”
Narcissa was sitting on the edge of Andromeda's bed, and looked up at her weakly. “I-” she choked out, and could not muster up another word.
Andromeda grabbed Bella's hand, and led her to sit down next to narcissa. “Cissa already knows. I told her the night we arrived back home from hogwarts." She turned to her other sister now, putting a hand on her cheek and brushing aside her brilliant white hair. “Do you forgive me yet?”
Narcissa began to sob, falling into her sister's arms. “Andy, please don't go.” she begged and cried like a child.
“Bella, Cissa… I'm sorry." Andy whispered softly, kissing the top of Narcissa's hair. “I have to leave.”
She stood up, and reopened her wardrobe, tossing clothes into her school trunk, along with a black velvet box filled with small things. Nestled inside of it sat the parchment with Ted's phone number on it. She packed it all away, and latched the trunk shut, looking up at her sisters. Both of them had looks of misery on their faces, and Andromeda was sure she looked just as upset. Her eyes felt red from crying, and her throat sore from the shouting.
Bellatrix was holding Narcissa in her arms, comforting her as they watched andromeda.
“One day you’ll realise why I have to go.” Andromeda promised. She reached for Bellatrix's hand, but Bella pulled away.
“Andy,” Cissa whimpered. “ Please, stay,” she begged once more, a stream of tears dampening her face. “For us?”
Andromeda shook her head, eyes watering and blurring the room away.
Her lips quivered as she pleaded one more time, “ For me?”
‘The day i saw your white mustang
Your white mustang
The day i saw your white mustang
You're white mustang’
Andromeda sighed, choking back more tears from falling, “You're why I stayed, cissa. Now I have to leave,” she said with a heavy breath, “For myself.”
She left the room silently, carrying her trunk behind her. The portraits on the walls shouted bitter hateful things at her as she descended the stairs, but she refused to let her eyes wander towards them.
Her mother stood by the door, eyes dark and angry. “You will need us. You can't survive without this family.”
“I wouldn't survive if I stayed, Mother.” she replied sternly.
Her mother lifted her chin, and spat at her, “Where will you go?”
“Anywhere but here,” Andromeda whispered. At her words, her mother stepped aside, and Andromeda left the house for the final time.
As she walked down the road, dragging her trunk behind her she burst into sobs. Just as she reached the phone booth, she collapsed onto the ground. There was a single coin left in her pocket to pay for a call.
She left her trunk outside the booth, shuffling inside and roping the coin in. she put in the only phone number she knew, and waited as it rang.
“Hello?” a female voice on the other end asked.
Andromeda's heart surged, “Mrs Tonks, i- is Ted there?” she asked weakly, hoping she was hiding the fact that she had been crying.
Mrs Tonks sighed, clicking her tongue. “Oh Andromeda, I'm sorry, he went out a few hours ago. I'm not sure where, he just said it was urgent.”
“Oh,” she cried silently, sinking to the ground and holding onto the phone with tight knuckles.
“Can I take a message for him from you?” she asked, her voice calm and soft.
Andy nodded although the women could not see her. “Just let him know I called,” she said quietly. She didn't quite hear Mrs Tonk's last words before the line went dead. She hung the phone back up on the machine, and sat on the floor again. Her knees hugged to her chest, she cried, thinking of her sisters, and of ted.
‘And you're revvin’ your revvin’ it up
And the sound it was frightin’
And you were gettin’ a part of that
You're gonna hit me like lightning’
She sat for what felt like hours, but the darkness was no teller of time. She was moments from falling asleep, exhausted from crying when she heard a car pull up outside. Its lights flashed into the booth, casting dancing patterns of golden rays across the red inside.
“Andy?” a man called out.
Her heart was beating through her throat as she stood up, eyes red and tired, she saw Ted standing outside the booth.
“Ted,” she sobbed, running out of the phone booth and jumping into his arms. She clung to his neck, and he kissed the back of her head. His arms were strong, holding her and warming her in the chilly night air.
“Im here, i've got you.” he whispered, and held her for a long while. Once she could let go of him, Ted grabbed her trunk and put it in the back of his car. The white paint of it seemed to shimmer in the moonlight, as he led Andromeda to the passenger side. He kissed her ring once they were both sat inside, the engine revving quietly, and drove off, leaving the phone booth, and the cobblestone, and the old wretched house behind.
‘White mustang
You're white mustang
The day i saw your white mustang
Said you're a wild mustang’