Ramadan
December's frost greeted them with promises of glasses of hot chocolate after snowball fights and wind that bit the end of your nose, and the two girls would eventually find themselves outside for a prolonged period of time, but at the moment they were doing something much less enjoyable. Of course, the two could never go a minute without bantering back and forth, however, they had pushed their project to the very last second, and Andromeda was serious about getting it done.
Professor Slughorn had assigned a potions project to them two weeks ago, which was far more time than they needed to complete it, but it had become somewhat of a nuisance to Andromeda and Henri. In their opinion, a potions project ought to include brewing a potion, yet it didn't appear that their professor agreed with them. He assigned them a list of questions of a potion that they hadn't heard of before—Andromeda wondered if this was because they hadn't really been listening recently—and they were to research it in the library.
This was the exact reason that the two girls found themselves under Madam Pince's watch instead of partaking in winter activities outside. Both of them were scanning the shelves for the titles that Madam Pince had written down for them—she heavily favored Andromeda, but Henri wouldn't yet admit to this—and it didn't take long for them to find exactly what they were looking for.
They had situated themselves in a distant corner of the library—Merlin forbid anyone sees them in the library together—when they started to avidly work on the project. Yet, it didn't take them that long to turn to conversation, not for the first time that day.
Previously, Henri had explained to Andromeda that this year, during December, Muslims celebrated the month of Ramadan. She had told her all about the prayers she did throughout the day, and how from dawn to sunset, she would fast.
McGonagall had made accommodations for this, making sure that Henri would be able to spend Ramadan in the castle. The house-elves had even fixed a special plate of food for Henri, charming it so that it was ready when she needed it.
Andromeda was excited that Henri was so open about speaking about her religion, Islam. Having been sheltered from outside beliefs, Andy really didn't know anything about it, but Henri was patient and made sure Andromeda understood how everything worked.
"That hijab is beautiful, Henri," Andromeda gushed. "Did it come embroidered?"
The hijab in question was violet with yellow flowers embroidered at the bottom. Henri's mum had sent it in the mail yesterday, so this was the first time Henri had been able to wear it.
"I think so," Henri bit the tip of her quill. "Mum knows how to embroider, but Mungo's has been packed recently, so I don't know if she could have found the time to do that."
Andromeda hummed in response, nodding in understanding. The great thing about their friendship was that they didn't always need to communicate with words. Often, they found themselves communicating just by looking at each other, or tilting their head a certain way, maybe even making hand gestures.
They got to work seriously after that, the desire to finish the project stronger than the desire to procrastinate. Both of them being smart, Henri and Andy completed the project not long after with a strong wish to call Slughorn a few choice words.
They exited the library with a finished project and more than a few yawns. More than a little tired, the two girls bid each other goodbye as quickly as possible and went their separate ways.
Andromeda had never gone to another dormitory before so she wasn't certain, but she thought the Slytherin common room was probably the coldest out of the four. Not temperature-wise, just in the sense that it's the least inviting. A student entering the area doesn't receive the warm welcome from Slytherin that one might get from the other three houses.
She noticed this when she got to her common room and felt a tinge of regret not asking the Sorting Hat for a different placement, yet she couldn't see herself in any of the other houses.
She was soft-spoken and took the time to make her decisions. Not once in her life did she impulsively react to the things around her, everything was well thought out. This meant she would obviously get eaten alive in Gryffindor.
Meda didn't count herself as a patient person. She might not rush her decision-making process, but when people around her weren't as efficient as she was, then she would begin to become irritated. Hufflepuff probably wouldn't be a good fit for her either then.
Although she couldn't see herself in Ravenclaw, it wasn't necessarily a terrible fit. Andromeda was clever, had lots of wit and wisdom, and creativity. This just left Andromeda to question why the hat ultimately went with Slytherin.
Due to the hat's decision all those years ago, she found herself staring back at Bellatrix in the Slytherin common room. Her sister looked curiously furious, almost like Andromeda had interrupted something, which she most certainly had judging by the faces of the other older Slytherins.
"What're you doing here?" Bellatrix asked incredulously. "You're supposed to be in bed!"
"I got caught up in the library," Andromeda said, channeling a casual manner. "Doesn't that mean you're supposed to be in bed as well?"
Bellatrix huffed out of frustration before she pinched the bridge of her nose. Sighing once more, she looked at Andromeda's face before flicking her eyes back to the chatting group of Slytherins.
"Look, Meda, you're welcome to either join us or go to bed, but you must know, once you join us you can't go back," Bellatrix said, completely serious.
"I think I'll go to bed," Andromeda replied, feigning a yawn. "I'm quite tired."
It wasn't exactly a lie, but Meda had originally planned to read once she made it back to her dormitory. Things were looking like Meda would instead stare at her ceiling and contemplate what Bellatrix was doing up this late because it certainly wasn't homework.
"Alright then," Bellatrix said, looking slightly relieved. "Goodnight, Meda."
"Goodnight, Bella," Andromeda said before she briskly turned around to walk up the stairs.