Andromeda
6th April 1969
“Solana Lune! You can’t keep running away during each ball,” Andromeda rolled her eyes at her younger sister.
“Andy, I look like a cake,” Solana huffed, she had one leg out of her window.
“How are you planning to get downstairs? We’re on the fifth floor.” her older sister crossed her arms.
Solana looked down at the then back up at her sister giving her a grinned smile. “Could you go downstairs and catch me?”
“Get down now,”
“Ugh! Andy, I don’t want to dance with Rabastan any more!'' Solana groaned, pulling her leg from the other side of the window. “He keeps stepping on my toes!”
Andromeda shrugged. “You have ten of them–”
“Yet he steps on all of them!”
“You are such a drama queen, you’ve been spending too much time with Bellatrix–”
“Yeah, well maybe if you weren’t at school all the time,”
“Talk to me in two years when you go there as well,” Andromeda shook her head, then tilted it. “If you come back out to the ballroom you can dance with just me? I’ll tell Rabastan to go away?”
“I don’t want to go back out there,”
“Please, it’s my birthday,”
“You have other birthdays,” Solana shrugged, pulling at her dress.
“Wow! I’ll remember that when it’s your birthday,” she then frowned. “Come on, please? I don’t want to dance with anyone else, only you.”
Solana rolled her eyes. “Fine, but Andy if you step on my toes– when I learn the spell, I will turn you into a frog.”
Andromeda grinned. “And a fine frog I will make,” she held her arm for Solana to link. “This is why you're my favourite sister.”
“Mama said we’re not supposed to have favourites,” Solana said, looking up at Andromeda, lowering her voice into a whisper. “But don’t tell Bella and Cissy that you’re my favourite sister too,”
☀
6th April 1978
Solana pushed down the handle but the door was locked. She looked around for a key, but there wasn’t one she remembered how Remus had picked through Professor Sprout’s locked door with a safety pin, she pulled a pin from her hair, frozen at the door in realisation that she didn’t know how to pick a lock.
“Solana?”
Andromeda’s voice was gentle, Solana turned around slowly. She expected her sister to be angry, have a permanent frown on her face. But as Solana faced her that couldn’t be further from the truth. Andromeda looked down at her hands, staring at the hair clip.
“Were you trying to leave?”
Solana swallowed hard.
Why wasn’t she angry?
Why was she being nice?
“Are you okay?”
“Why aren’t you mad?” Solana asked.
Andromeda smiled softly, “Solana–”
“You should be kicking me out, or you should being shouting at me–”
“Solana–”
“You should be angry, you should–”
“Lana,”
That made Solana stop, her throat burned, Andromeda walked towards her, reaching for her hand.
“I can’t stay mad forever, I would have a miserable life if I did that,”
Solana’s voice came out croaky and strained. “But I was horrible to you,”
“No–” Andromeda shook her head, the two girls began to cry.
“I was– I–”
Andromeda cupped Solana’s cheek, “We were cut from the same cloth, Lana, I know what they are like, you mustn't forget that.”
“I shouldn’t of said it–”
“And I understand why you did,” Andromeda said, wiping the tears from her sister’s face, wrapping her in a hug.
Solana sobbed into her sister's shoulder. “I missed you,”
And Andromeda kissed the top of her head. “I missed you too,”
The two of them ended up on the tiled floor, their backs leaning against the cupboards, Andromeda hadn’t let go of Solana’s hand yet, she lightly stroked it with her thumb, and Solana kept her head on her shoulder.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Andromeda whispered.
“Me neither,” Solana replied, looking up at her. “I got your letter but I– I didn’t get to read it,”
“That’s okay,” she said, “It was just a little birthday message, Ted talked me into it.”
“He’s nice,” Solana said.
Andromeda smiled, “He is,”
Her eyes guided down to Solana’s hand, the giant ring glimmered in the light, Solana began twisting it around her finger. “I’m engaged to Antonin Dolohov,”
Her sister nodded. “That’s nice,”
Solana didn’t say anything.
“You’re happy, right?”
It didn’t seem like the right time to tell Andromeda everything so Solana nodded. “Yeah, I’m happy.”
“That’s all that matters,” Andromeda told her, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Your hairs gotten longer,”
“You’ve cut yours.” Solana said, it was cut just under her jawline, much shorter than how it was when she was younger.
“Well having a kid means you don’t get the luxury of long hair,” Andromeda said, running her fingers through her hair.
“Oh, your daughter,” Solana spoke softly, she looked down at her hands guiltily.
“She didn’t hear what you said that day, and if she had, she wouldn’t have understood–”
“Andy, I’m sorry–”
Andromeda tutted, shaking her head. “You don’t need to apologise anymore,”
Although she said that Solana didn’t think she could ever forgive herself for being so horrible to Andromeda.
“Does anyone know you’ve come?”
Solana shook her head. “Just my friend,”
Andromeda nodded, a small smile attached to her lips.
“Oh,” Solana said, looking up at her again. “Happy birthday, I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything–”
“You being here is more than enough, Lana,” she said softly.
There was a knock on the door then it pushed open.
“Mum! I want to see the cake dad made but he said I’m not allowed in here–”
“Dora!” Ted’s voice shouted from the hallway. “I’m sorry Drom–”
The small girl that had her mothers eyes walked towards them, Solana had sworn she had blue eyes the last time she had seen her. And this time her hair was bright pink.
“She’s a metamophmagus?” Solana asked.
Andromeda nodded, “Nymphadora this is Solana–”
Her eyes widened, “You helped me find my mum!”
Solana nodded. “Yeah, I did,”
“Can we eat the cake now?” Nymphadora asked.
Andromeda rolled her eyes but smiled fondly. “Of course,”
“Not just yet, wait in the living room,” Ted told them all, they followed his order and headed out of the kitchen.
Andromeda and Ted’s living was just as inviting as their hallway, pictures hung up on the wall, her eyes caught the only moving picture up on the wall, the paper was crumpled and torn but she could clearly see that it was of all four sisters the last Christmas they were all together.
Solana stared at it as she got closer.
“That’s the only thing I have left,” Andromeda walked beside her. “I didn’t even have my wand. I went straight to Ted’s parents house, they let me stay there while we saved up for a house,”
Her eyes flickered over to another photo, the same couple in the hallway were holding a new born Nymphadora.
“That’s Rosemary and Lewis,” Andromeda said, “They’re lovely,”
“I’m glad you weren’t alone,” Solana said.
Andromeda turned to her younger sister, “Lana, you are okay, right?”
Solana nodded, perching a convincing smile on her face. “I’m good Andy,”
The lights dimmed down, and Ted walked in holding the cake, the room glowed from the candles.
“Happy birthday, my love,” he said, kissing Andromeda’s cheek.
“I can’t believe you made this yourself,” Andromeda smiled brightly.
“Yes, yes of course I did.” Ted nodded, glancing at Solana for a millisecond.
Andromeda furrowed her brows, looking between her husband and sister, “You did, right?”
“Of course I did, right Solana?”
Solana nodded. “I watched him make it myself.”
“Edward Lewis Tonks” Did you make my sister whom I’ve not seen in nearly five years lie to me!”
Ted stared at her in disbelief. “Wow, you two really are sisters.”
“I can’t believe you!” Andromeda shook her head.
“Can I blow out the candles?” Nymphadora asked, tugging her mother’s jumper. “Please?”
Andromeda smiled warmly, “Of course, Dora,” she bent down to pick her daughter up.
Solana stood away, watching the family laugh as Nymphadora blew the candles out with the help of her mother.
A small pit opened up in her stomach.
She would never get this.
She would never have this.
A part of her was jealous of Andromeda. Jealous of how brave she was to leave, jealous of how she wasn’t alone, jealous of the fact she had somewhere to go.
Solana had nowhere to go.
No one to go to.
She held back tears as she smiled at them.
Jealous of how happy they all were.
☀
It was pitch black by the time she left Andromeda’s house, she had a piece of cake wrapped in tissue to give to Remus as a form of apology for taking so long. She rounded the corner and saw the sign for THE RED LION.
As she entered it smelt of stale beer, she now felt very guilty for making him stay here for hours.
She looked around, searching every table but couldn’t see him, she walked over to the bar, hoping he hadn’t left.
“Hi, have you seen a guy in here? He’s got like brown hair, sort of shaggy–”
“The dart boy?” the barman questioned.
“Pardon?”
He pointed over to a dark corner, she saw the back of Remus watching a burly man play darts.
“Thank you,” she said, walking towards the two.
The burly man narrowed his eyes as he patted Remus’ shoulder after his go. “Okay boy, if you think you’re so good,”
He had his back to her but she could sense Remus’ smirk, Solana took a seat at the table behind them, she didn’t want to throw off his concentration.
The burly man sat down, smiling gleefully as Remus fumbled with the darts, but it was as if Solana blinked and all the darts were back on the board.
“How the fuck have you managed that? A double fucking bullseye!” the burly man stared in astonishment.
“Luck and skill,” Remus grinned.
“Well I’ve never been beaten by a child before,” he said, holding his hand out to shake Remus’.
“You can thank my grandfather for that,”
“Let me go buy you a drink, we’ve not betted anything, so I’ve lost nothing but my dignity.” Burly man said, getting up and patting him on the shoulder, he gave Solana a quick wink as he walked past her.
“Lana!” Remus said, surprised, he looked down at his watch.
“Sorry I took so long–” she began.
He smiled at her and shook his head. “I came prepared,” he said pointing at the pile of books next to him. “And then I met Paddy. How did it go?”
“She didn’t kick me out,” Solana said, taking a seat next to him.
“That’s good,” he nodded.
“She was… she was nice to me, I never expected her to be nice to me after what happened.”
“I told you she wouldn’t be mad,”
“Yeah I know but– I had visions of her slamming the door in my face, I even told her she should be shouting at me but she didn’t,”
“You’re too hard on yourself, you know that,”
Solana looked down at her hands, “Oh, this is for you,” she said, handing him the cake. “I prefer chocolate but this is vanilla sponge.”
“I prefer chocolate as well,” he said, unwrapping the cake, splitting it in half and handing her some.
“I got it for you,” she said, shaking her head.
“And I’m sharing it with you,” he told her, forcing it into her hand.
Solana rolled her eyes but ate the cake anyway.
“Tastes like magic,” Remus laughed.
“Yeah, Ted burnt the first one.”
“Right, got you and me a pint and a drink for your missus,”
Remus almost spluttered the cake out. “Missus?”
Burly man looked at Solana with a confused look on his face.
“Oh we’re not–” she began, “We’re not together.”
“My bad, I saw the ring and thought I knew everything, too bad. He’s a good dart player,”
Solana twisted the engagement ring around her finger, she slowly sipped the drink, cringing at the sweetness.
“Should we get back?” Remus asked once they had finished.
Solana nodded.
“Do you wanna call the Knight bus?”
“Oh, I forgot my wand at school,”
Remus shook his head. “You never have your wand on you,”
“I’m just forgetful, that’s all,” she said, wondering whether she would ever get her wand back.