Chapter Text
Being the way she was, quiet and generally aggreeable, Andromeda could scarcely believe the amount of fury that rose inside of her when she heard the announcement. How dare they? Druella Rosier Black had never been warm, affectionate, or maternal in virtually any way, but for some reason, Andromeda Black never thought she could hold this amount of loathing towards the woman that gave birth to her. But really. Rabastan Lestrange? He was her brother. He was like her brother. Andromeda couldn't marry him, couldn't imagine having his children. To make matters worse, nobody had thought it would be important to so much as tell Andromeda.
She supposed if she'd been given a warning, any warning at all, she might have been able to accept that the betrothal wasn't too awful. After all, he was a friend of hers, and not as terrible as many of the other aspiring Knights. And as the knight went on, she eventually came to the sensible conclusion that she just wouldn't have any children. She hadn't exactly accepted it, she imagined it was impossible to accept such a surprise, but Andromeda decided that she'd just have to come to terms.
"Ro!" Somebody called from a ways behind her. She immediatley adjusted posture and turned, finding the hard, black eyes of her now-fiancee. Relaxing a bit, Andromeda shook her head in greeting as he sat down, "You didn't know." He stated simply and she frowned, shaking her head once more.
He was silent for a long time, and when she looked at him, she found she couldn't read his expression, "Rab, it's not you." she sighed, though it was, indeed, partly the idea of marrying him that had her so on edge, "I just don't know. I don't...I can't...I'm just a little bit tired of having every decision made for me." Black eyes flashed up to meet gray, "You understand, don't you?" He gave a little shrug and she bit her lip, about to open her mouth but deciding she wasn't going to try and justify the initial disgust she'd felt when she'd heard his name at the engagement announcement.
He stood silently, stiffly, and looked at her, opening his mouth as though about to speak, before shutting it with a minute shake of his head and turning around.
"Well that one's a dud, eh?"
Andromeda turned and found her sisters sitting across from her at the white-clothed table. Bellatrix, 17 years old, proud and fiercely beautiful with that jet black hair overflowing over her shoulders and the steely dark eyes fixed on her, now filled with humor. Their younger sister, 15 now, was far softer, blue doe-eyes and sweet pink lips that were framed by her pale golden locks. Narcissa had always been the most beautiful, having inherited their mother's light coloring. Bellatrix looked like a female version of their father, all darkness and severity. Andromeda didn't know why she seemed to look so different from her sisters. Of course, everybody said she could be Bellatrix's mirror image, but there was something...different about them. She'd analyzed picures, her own reflection, over and over. There was just something missing from Andromeda. She had the same facial shape as Bellatrix, but her hair was a tiny bit lighter, and her eyes were a soft gray that had been inherited from another Black ancestor. She was like a faded version of Bella, and it scared her sometimes.
Actually, that was a very good way to describe just about everything about Andromeda's life.
"Ro. Earth to Ro. Did you hear me? I said he's a dud. Just like his brother."
"Oh, Bella, come now, he's not so awful."
"Cissy, you're only saying that because you like his hair, and I refuse to allow you to be so incredibly shallow."
"Oh hush you. Looks are just the inside reflected outwards."
"Great Zeus, I hope that's not true." Andromeda chimed in, earning an eye-roll from both of them.
"But as I was saying," Bellatrix shot Narcissa a look, "He's rather boring. I mean, at least Rodolphus knows how to have fun. Rabastan's a bit of a doormat, if you ask me."
"Well then it's a good thing no one asked you. Isn't it, Bellatrix?" Black, grey, and blue all flashed up in fear to their father, who was wearing an entirely unreadable expression. He gave each of them a steady glare before focusing his eyes on his wife across the room and nodding, "I think it's time we went home."
Cygnus Black's estate was large and dark, complete with gargoyles and a gate. Of course, to the girls, it didn't seem so frightening. It was just home, and that was that.
They'd gone shopping with the house elves the previous night, and each girl entered their room, went over their supplies for school once, and fell into bed. Narcissa fell asleep the moment her pretty little head hit her silken pillow, unburdened for the most part. Bellatrix fell asleep after planning out her final year at Hogwarts, just how to bring the inspirational ideas of the Knights of Walpurgis to school with her. But Andromeda...Andromeda lay awake for hours, wishing for things to be simpler. Wishing that, for once, she could follow her heart.