The Boy On The Train
September 1973
The three Black sisters waved goodbye to their parents as they boarded the Hogwarts express at 11am on the first of September. Druella had pulled Bellatrix aside before the girls had boarded the train, whatever the topic of conversation had been, it had evidently left Bellatrix looking rather smug. She sauntered onto the train, her regal jawline held high.
'What did mother want?' spluttered Narcissa, when they were out of earshot from their parents.
'It's not proper to pry Cissy!' hissed Bellatrix, throwing her jet black curls over her shoulder. 'Well, if you must know, mother has asked me to become more acquainted with Rodolphus Lestrange, father and Mr Lestrange are in correspondence about our match'
'You're not actually pleased about possibly marrying Lestrange are you Bella?' said Andromeda, exasperatedly. Seventh year Rodolphus Lestrange and his fifth year brother Rabastan were, in Andromeda's opinion, highly unpleasant boys. A rumour also had circulated the school that Rodolphus had become one of the Dark Lord's supporters, who call themselves Death Eaters.
'Rodolphus is a perfectly respectable pure-blooded wizard, Andromeda, he will make a fine husband' snapped Bellatrix, throwing her sister a look of dissaproval.
'But Bella...' Andromeda said in an undertone 'They say he's-ow!' She was about to say he was a Death Eater when she was abruptly cut off from finishing her sentence for someone had knocked into her.
'Oh! Shit I'm so sorry! Are you ok?' The boy said, kneeling down to pick up the books she had dropped. He had slightly messy and ruffled up dirty blonde hair and, Andromeda noticed as a stood up and handed her her books, deep brown eyes. Kind eyes, rich with goodness. His sleeves were rolled up to reveal his relatively toned forearms - a quidditch player's body no doubt. She recognised him to be Ted Tonks, he was a Hufflepuff in her year.
Andromeda was still stunned by the shock of nearly toppling over that it took her a moment to re compose herself. She opened her mouth to speak when Bellatrix did it for her. 'Watch where you're going, you stupid mudblood!' she snarled, storming past Ted, her sisters following obediently in her wake. Andromeda glanced back, Ted didn't look hurt by Bellatrix's insult, in fact, he barely seemed fazed, his gaze was still trained on Andromeda, a look of half confusion mixed with something else, Andromeda couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Being a prefect, Andromeda had to patrol the carriages before she could sit down with her friends, she was patrolling with a fellow Slytherin prefect Corban Yaxley, who would not leave her alone.
'Looking rather fine today Black' He said, leaning against a carriage door giving her a cocky smile he seemed to be under the allusion was charming.
'Not going to happen, Yaxley' she said, rolling her eyes.
'My my, someone's in a spiky mood today' he said, smirking. Andromeda glared at him.
Once she had shaken Yaxley off her back who had offered to buy her a cauldron cake in what he clearly deemed an act of great chivalry, she joined her friends Amaryllis Parkinson, Esmerelda Avery and Prudence Selwyn. Pleased to be back with her friends and dorm-mates, the girls spent the rest of the journey laughing about Yaxley's pathetic efforts and eating Bertie Potts every flavoured beans, to disastrous results when Esmerelda got a vomit flavoured one and nearly spat it out with disgust.
'Yaxley's not that bad looking...' Prudence mused. Andromeda sniggered.
'Yes but he's an arrogant bellend' she said
'Andromeda!' said Amaryllis, although she was bent double laughing
'All I'm saying is I wouldn't mind a good snog with him' Prudence ploughed on, resulting with an eruption of laughter from the others and Amaryllis's shocked expression. 'Andromeda you should give him a chance while he's interested' she added, giving Andromeda a wink.
'Ugh! As if!' Andromeda said, screwing her face up in disgust but laughing all the same.
'Hmph, honestly you're so lucky Andromeda, all the boys love you, I mean you are utterly beautiful of course... wish I could trade my awful frizzy mop of mousey hair for your elegant dark curls!' she said, softly running her hands through Andromeda's hair. 'You could have anyone you want'
Prudence talked about this sort of thing quite frequently, appearance, boys and sex. Not like she'd done it, none of them had, Prudence was just slightly more experienced when it came to that area of expertise. And she was a big flirt. Andromeda was barely interested in boys. She'd never had a proper boyfriend before, merely snogged a couple of them in the past at various Slytherin common room parties. Partly because the selection of them she was surrounded with were either nasty bullies who tormented first years or creepy pervs who made crude jokes and inappropriate comments. And it was no secret that some of the older Slytherin boys were already in league with the Dark Lord. In addition to this, Andromeda saw boys as a waste of time. Especially now she was in sixth year and starting her NEWT studies, she would much prefer to focus on that than run off to the astronomy tower to do god knows what with some boy.
Prudence had clearly come to the complete opposite decision on this matter, as she was confidently telling the other girls her plans to stop messing around with childish activities and 'get to it'. Amaryllis was speechless with shock, while Andromeda just laughed.
'I'll be sure to check the broom cupboards on my prefect rounds' she said, amused.
***
The blistery and spiteful air of the Scottish Highlands was colder than that of warm southern England, Andromeda felt the hairs on her arms stand up on end as she hurried to get on a carriage up to Hogwarts where the warm feast would be waiting for them in the great hall. They piled in, students breathing sighs of relief at the warmth inside and taking their seats at the four long house tables to await the sorting. The sorting hat gave a series of cryptic words about impending tough times ahead, advising all students to stay vigilant, which could only be alluding to the building tensions of a Wizarding war. Dumbledore then gave a short speech, Filch reminded all students that the forbidden forest was out of bounds, and the feast began.
It was good to be back at Hogwarts. Secretly, Andromeda loved her lessons and studies. Especially potions. She thought she might like to become a healer someday. She'd never broached this particular notion to her parents however, that would not receive the reaction she'd like. Her mother believed that a woman should be educated, but not intent on pursuing a career. 'Marriage and children is your duty, continuing the Toujours pur line of the House of Black is your duty.'
She sat up late in the Slytherin common room that evening, her and Amaryllis cosied up on the emerald armchairs by the fire. Prudence and Esmerelda had gone up to bed, something she was grateful for. She loved her friends, however Prudence did tend to talk a lot, and Esmerelda could be rather judgy and snooty. Amaryllis Parkinson was a quiet and sensitive girl, with short golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes, contrasting to Andromeda's dark long curls and green eyes. Amaryllis was very insecure about herself, as much as she tried to hide it. She lacked Prudence's confidence, although Andromeda thought she was beautiful, her features were soft and welcoming, where Andromeda's were sharp and harsh. She looked so much like Bellatrix that people often got the two of them mixed up, Andromeda had experienced first years running away from her with fear in the hallways. Bellatrix ruled over the school. Nearly everyone was scared of her. When the three sisters would walk together around the halls of Hogwarts, they'd be treated like royalty. Hushed whispers, people parting to let them pass. The Black sisters had a way of carrying themselves with such dignity and poise, such confidence in their regal beauty.
She remembered back to on the train. The memory of Ted Tonks surfaced, she pondered how he had not appeared scared of Bellatrix, how he had not immediately run away scared despite knocking into the notorious sisters of the House of Black. How he had treated them so normally... I'm a Black. She told herself. He's just a mudblood, he doesn't know where he stands. That was what her family would say. Although even while she told herself this, there was a part of her that knew, she didn't fully believe it all. There was something so refreshing about the way Ted had treated the situation so normally, no special treatment for Andromeda Black. Still, she couldn't help but feel irritated by it. Who did he think he was.
***
Her first lesson of the year was her favourite- potions. The class was much smaller than it had been before, not everyone had chosen to take NEWT level potions. She made the short journey from the Slytherin common room to the potions classroom and was greeted enthusiastically by Professor Slughorn. 'Miss Black! What a pleasure it is to see you continuing on with potions!' He boomed, gesturing for Andromeda to take a seat. She chose a bench at the back of the classroom, where she hoped she could work alone and without disturbance. She lay her pewter cauldron and ingredients out, opened Advanced potion making to the page of contents. She hoped no one would sit next to her, working with a partner was not included in her plan to succeed in her studies. She looked up to the chalkboard and awaited instruction from Slughorn, when the door swung open and none other than Ted Tonks from the train sped into the classroom looking flustered.
'Sorry I'm late Professor' He said, flashing Slughorn a charming smile.
Slughorn beamed back. 'Not to worry Mr Tonks! Do take a seat. Lets see... ah, at the back there next to Miss Black' he said, gesturing towards Andromeda.
Ted turned his head sharply and locked eyes with her. He stared for a moment then smirked and sauntered over to her bench. Andromeda was fuming, she had been intent on sitting alone, which did not include sharing a workbench with a certain Hufflepuff boy who didn't know his place. 'Hello again' he said, smiling widely at her as he took his seat and began to unpack his things.
'Good morning' Andromeda said rigidly, not smiling.
'Sorry again about knocking into you on the train' he said, running a hand through his dirty blonde locks carelessly. 'Your sister Bellatrix is quite the ray of sunshine' he added, sarcastically.
Andromeda scowled at him. 'Don't talk badly about my family' she snapped.
Ted held his hands up in a kind of mock defeat. 'No harm intended' he said. Andromeda sighed and began to read Slughorn's instructions on the chalkboard. They were brewing Draught of Living Death. Andromeda made a significant effort to focus on what she was doing. She avoided looking at the boy beside her. Although she could hardly help it when Ted's potion was bubbling in a most unusual way and was a repugnant shade of orange instead of the intended green. She sent side long glances at the potion, now bubbling violently it looked about to explode. Her perfectionism got the better of her and she dropped the roots she was cutting, leaning over to Ted's potion. Ted looked totally lost, he clearly couldn't seem to fathom what was wrong with his potion.
'You forgot-' Andromeda started, grabbing a handful of flies. 'The lacewing flies' she added, as she threw them in and stirred the potion with her wand, in a twice clockwise and once anti clockwise motion. The bubbling settled and the colour started to fade from orange into a deep forest green, alike Andromeda's potion.
'Thank you' Ted said, those brown eyes surveying her with surprise.
'It's a simple step to miss really...' muttered Andromeda, brushing off his thanks and turning her attention back to her own cauldron.
For the rest of the lesson Ted talked a lot. Andromeda either replied with a one word answer or told him to shut up, although truly she didn't particularly mind. It was kind of entertaining, listening to him talk. Why ever would he choose to talk to her this way, what gave him the nerve? She was still intent on not avoiding looking at him, she did not want to appear like she was allowing herself to associate with him. Although, she did steal the rare glance at him when he was occupied, watching his calloused hands flicking through the pages of his book. A beater's hands, she recognised, as she remembered that Ted was a beater on the Hufflepuff quidditch team.
When the lesson ended, Andromeda hurried off to the library to study there for her free period. She hastily packed away her things and sped out of the room.
'Hey! Andromeda' came a voice, followed by hurrying footsteps. Ted. What was he doing following her! If anyone saw her fraternising with his sort...
'I'm busy- got somewhere to be' she hissed as he caught up with her. She quickened her pace.
'Hey! wait-' he called.
'Leave me alone' she said, louder than she'd intended. 'I can't- I shouldn't' she stammered.
Ted laughed dryly. 'Ah yes, I get it. Wouldn't want to be seen with a mudblood now would we Black?' he said, a challenging but jokey edge to his voice.
'Oh just fuck off Tonks' she said, storming down to the library, her shoes clicking on the flagstones. He didn't try and follow her this time. Good.