Andromeda Black closed her eyes. She knew everyone expected her to be in Slytherin, and she really wanted to. Her mother, Druella Rosier, had high hopes on her second daughter. Andromeda's older sister, Bellatrix, was a Slytherin third year now.

"Black, Andromeda!" called Professor Minerva McGonagall.\

Andromeda gulped. She sat on a stool, and felt the touch of an old, battered, hat. She heard a tiny voice inside her head.

'Ah...' it was the voice of the Sorting Hat. 'Andromeda... "Black", is it?'

'Yes,' Andromeda thought. 'Please do put me in Slytherin.'

She heard the Hat chuckle. 'Slytherin, eh?' it said. 'You'd do well in Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor.'

At the sound of 'You will do well in Gryffindor', Andromeda almost jumped off the stool. She frantically thought, 'No! I'm a Black; I belong in Slytherin.'

'You know, there can always be a change. You might be THE one!'

'No! And my name to be...' Andromeda shuddered. She didn't dare finish the sentence.

'Then... you might...' the Sorting Hat stopped abruptly.

Andromeda's eyes widened in fear. She saw a black haired first year grin at her, and flinched. What? She turned away, closed her eyes, and waited for the Sorting Hat to Sort her.

"SLYTHERIN!" shrieked the Sorting Hat.

Andromeda sighed with relief. She returned the Hat to Professor McGonagall, and quickly went over to the Slytherin table. To her surprise, Bellatrix was glaring at her.

"Andi!" Bellatrix hissed. "You almost were a Hatstall!"

Andromeda froze. No way! "Really?" she stuttered.

"Yes." snarled Bellatrix. "It shouldn't take that long! I was Sorted to Slytherin in a heartbeat!" snarling, she turned away.

Andromeda felt slight disappointment. She made in into Slytherin, after all, right?



Andromeda sat, admiring the Great Hall. Professor Dumbledore and the staff were sitting there, and Andromeda wished she had a peaceful life, able to laugh like them! She knew Bellatrix wanted to be a Death Eater, and expected her sisters to wish that too. But being a Death Eater wouldn't give her a peaceful life, nor a safe and steady and cozy life. She wouldn't join the 'Good Side'. There was no Good Side after all. Maybe just neutral and stay low? Pretend to be bad at magic?
But surely Bellatrix would know if Andromeda was good at magic or not. Bellatrix would try to recruit her... what would she say then?
Sighing, her head about to burst from the dilemma, Andromeda spotted a black owl waiting impatiently in front of her. It was the Blacks' owl.

"Hi," she said, then froze. A red envelope. In the owl's beak was a crimson envelope.

"A Howler?" murmured Bellatrix. "It's for being a Hatstall, Andi!" She snarled. "Go! Don't be an embarrassment here."

Whether Bellatrix said that to not embarrass 'Bellatrix Black' or 'Andromeda Black', Andromeda was thankful for Bellatrix's help.



"Thanks, Bella," she whispered, and clutching the red envelope tightly, she walked out of the Great Hall, trying to look casual as ever.

"Where are you going?" called one of the Gryffindors.

"Red envelope?"

"Howler!"

The Gryffindors began to laugh. Andromeda reddened.

"Colour of your envelope, Andromeda Black?" grinned another.

Andromeda gritted her teeth. She pulled on her bright brown hair, tried to ignore them, and hurried off to her dorm. Once she was in the dorm, she carefully opened the envelope.

"ANDROMEDA BLACK! YOU ALMOST BECAME A 'HATSTALL'? I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! YOUR SISTER WAS PUT IN SLYTHERIN IN A HEARTBEAT!" screeched Druella Rosier's voice. Andromeda cringed. "YOU MUST WRITE A SINCERE APOLOGY TO EVERYONE IN THE BLACK FAMILY! YOU HAVE PUBLICLY BROUGHT SHAME UPON YOUR ANCESTORS, FAMILY AND EVERYONE!"

Andromeda sighed. It was true. She did. She walked away, hoping to see a kitchen.


EDWARD

Edward Tonks, no, Ted Tonks, didn't expect to see the Slytherin girl to walk past him.

"Hi," he said as friendly as he could.

She snarled. "You Mudblood," she muttered. Then her eyes widened. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

She had insulted him... Mud-blood then apologised. Ted shrugged. At least she apologised, unlike some girl in the third year, who looked surprisingly alike this girl, who had insulted him, and shoved past him.

"Are you a Muggle-born in the first place? Sorry, it's just the first insult that came in my mind," said the girl. "My name's Andromeda Black."

"I'm a Muggle-born, and my name's Ted Tonks."

"Is Ted a nickname?"

"Yeah."

"Then is Theodore your real name?"

"Edward."

"Oh. Okay," Andromeda responded.

"I heard the Howler. My friend told me about Howlers."

"You could hear it?" asked Andromeda, turning crimson.

"Um... yup. I think the people in the Great Hall did too."

"Wonder why I can still hear you," muttered Andromeda. "Well, nice to meet you. If anyone calls you a Mudblood, well, it's just a really offensive term for a Muggle-born."

"But you said it too."

"I told you I was sorry!" Andromeda snapped.

"I just thought you looked to nice to call me offensively." Ted said.

Andromeda rolled her eyes, but Ted spotted her cheeks were flushed. Flushed with pleasure. "You're in Hufflepuff, right?"


ANDROMEDA

"Yes, I'm in Hufflepuff. Professor McGonagall said I was a Meto... something?"

"A Metamorphmagus?" asked Andromeda. Then she realised Ted's face was like the student who had grinned at her during Sorting. "So that's why your hair's brown now!" she said.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Can you turn your hair purple?" asked Andromeda eagerly. Then she realised, with a jolt, that this was all so childish for a Black.

But Ted had already taken action. "Sure."

Andromeda giggled. "I-" Blacks weren't supposed to talk with Muggle-borns. "I have to go."

"Wait! Is something bothering you?"

"I..." Andromeda realised this was her last chance to confide in someone about her worries. Her mother and father would scoff, her sister, Bellatrix, would snort, and Narcissa wouldn't give her good advice, and she wouldn't be a good listener anyway, and Narcissa didn't seem to understand Andromeda's troubles. Sure, Andromeda and her cousin Sirius had something in common, but Sirius was much to young and immature. "Yes, I do."

"What is it? You can tell me," Ted offered, but Andromeda was already spilling the beans.

"I'm from the House of Black, and the Blacks are one of the Sacred Twenty Eight. Do you know them?"

"I know."

"Okay, anyway, so I'm not allowed to talk to Muggle-borns, because we're really strict when it comes to blood. We have to marry purebloods, and we... we have to act royally and... we have to be in Slytherin... we have to be better than anyone, if we marry none-purebloods, well... our names are removed from the family..." Andromeda swallowed.

"It's' going to be all right, Andromeda. You got in Slytherin, you act kinda haughtily, just don't talk to me and get friendly with some pureblood you're all set!"

"I will be friends with you," insisted Andromeda. She felt like herself around Ted. It was... it was... it was probably because Ted was a Muggle-born, right?

-

I didn't know what Ted and Andromeda's ship name was (and I was lazy to google it) so I just called it Tedromeda :)