CHAPTER FOURTEEN: SUMMERS RUNAWAY
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ALEX HATED EVERY SECOND she spent at her 'home'. Nothing had changed, it was still like walking on glass. Draco wasn't even mean to her, he just pretended she didn't exist. Sometimes she wished she were a Slytherin, her life would be so much easier. She would have to worry about Lucius being upset with her or Draco suddenly pretending like she didn't exist. She wanted her life back, before the sorting ceremony. Draco was her only friend for eleven years, you can't just get passed that.

There was a soft knock on her bedroom door and Alex turned to look. It was Draco. He looked guilty. "Um, don't tell my dad but I brought you some of my dinner."

She looked surprised. Whenever Alex would say something Lucius thought was disrespectful, she was banned from eating whatever the next meals were. It happened at least 3 times a week.

She slowly sat up as she took the food from Draco. It wasn't much, some bread, fruit, and a few pieces of whatever meat they had for dinner.

"Thank you." She said quietly as she took a bite of the bread.

Draco nodded slowly. "Mum told me to bring it up."

Of course, Narcissa was the only one who tried to take care of Alex and even give her an ounce of love. Of course, it wasn't Draco or Lucius. Draco was still standing in the doorway as Alex took her first bite. She looked up at him. "What is it?"

He bit his lip. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm just sorry."

She stared at him. "I can't choose what house I'm in Draco." She said. "It seems like you're forgetting that."

He shook his head. "You should be a Slytherin."

"But I'm not Draco and it's frankly way too late to change that." She said. "So you can either be my friend or not. Make a choice and stop changing your mind because I have real friends, who care about me."

He stared at her, she could tell she shocked him with what she said. "What? Tianna and Longbottom?" He asked, nearly scoffing.

"At least they actually care about me for reasons beyond my family." She said. "Goyle and Crabbe worship you, they aren't your friends. I was your friend."

He just stood there. "You know what? I'm not sorry for all that's happening to you, you deserve it."

She nodded. "Yeah, I didn't think you were sorry for a second anyways." She said as he turned around and left, her door shutting behind him.

The place felt so unfamiliar, she had lived here for almost 12 years and it felt unfamiliar. She wasn't wanted, nobody in this house wanted her. The people who wanted her were elsewhere. Her friends from school who had known less than a year and then the people who had known her, her entire life and raised her, they should care. But they don't. That was the unfortunate but sad truth.

Alex sat up from her bed and walked to her closet, pulling out a bag and tossing it onto her bed. She should think about this before making a stupid mistake. But no, she wasn't wanted here, they were ruining her.

She was going to run.

She didn't have a ton that she wanted to keep, her Christmas gift from Tianna and a few things she got over the years, and then her wand. She shoved them into the bag and looked out her bedroom window. She needed to wait until it was dark. She didn't know where she was going to go. It couldn't be any of her friends from school or she'd have to tell them the truth.

Then it clicked. Andromeda. Narcissa's sister was disowned because she married a muggle-born. She only knew where she lived because Narcissa went once a few years ago to try and reconcile with her sister, it didn't work, but Alex had a vivid memory of where she lived.

She took a deep breath and sat on her bed, she would wait until the sunset.

—

Night came around, the stars were high in the black sky. She grabbed her bag and put it over her shoulder, making her way downstairs. She could hear Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco in the living room. Alex's breath hitched in her throat, staying as silent as she could ask she made her way toward the front door.

She cracked open the door and slipped out into the darkness of the night. She only made it a mere 10 feet before she started crying. She knew she'd have to return at some point and she would never hear the end of it. Maybe the Malfoys would finally realize that she met something through her absence. That they did love her.

She walked for a while, her feet ached and she was exhausted and hungry. As she got to the. neighborhood, she looked around to have the house click in her mind again.

That's when she spotted their home. The lights were off and it looked like any normal family home. Not the huge, unnecessary, mansion she was used to.

She took a deep breath as she approached the front door. She hadn't come up with a plan B in case Andromeda turned her away.

She knocked on the door. They were probably sleeping and she felt bad about possibly disrupting their sleep but she didn't know what else to do.

She waited a few seconds before the door opened, it was Andromeda, or that's who Alex assumed it was.

"Alexis?" The woman questioned.

She was surprised she recognized her. "I need somewhere to stay." She whispered. "Just for a little bit."

She nodded, a soft smile on her face. "Come in." She sat, opening the door wider for Alex to come inside.

"I'm sorry." She said as she stepped inside. "I don't have anywhere else to go... none of my friends know that I'm his daughter."

She placed a gentle hand on Alex's back before leading her to the living room. "It's okay hun, stop apologizing." She said, before looking down the hall. "Ted! Dora!" She called.

Alex took a deep breath as she looked around. The place was small, but cozy and felt more... familiar. She wondered what the Malfoy's would do once they realized she was gone.

Two people came out, an older man and a younger girl. They both looked alarmed when they saw her. The one girl had purple hair and she was pretty young, obviously older than Alex but young.

Andromeda signaled to Alex. "This is Alexis... Bellatrix's daughter." She explained. Alex winced at that, nobody had referred to her as Bellatrix's daughter, it was always Voldemort's daughter if anything. "Alex this is my husband Ted and my daughter Nymphadora."

Nymphadora shook her head. "Tonks... or Dora is okay." She corrected.

Alex gave her a small smile before looking at Andromeda. "I go by Alex..." she whispered.

Andromeda nodded as she smiled again. "Okay. Alex." She said, looking up at Ted. "She ran away, she needs a place to stay for the time being."

Ted nodded. "Okay." He gave Alex a small smile before looking at Nymphadora. "Can she stay in your room, we can pull out an air mattress."

Tonks nodded and signaled for Alex to follow her. She got up, her bag still in hand as she followed her to what presumably was her room.

She looked around. There were a few band posters on the wall and some Hufflepuff things.

"You were a Hufflepuff?" Alex asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I graduated in 1991." She said.

"I'm a Hufflepuff too," Alex said. She set her bag down on the floor as Ted came in with an air mattress, he set it on the floor next to the already existing twin bed and plugged it in.

It was loud as the bed expanded, Alex just watched. She wasn't used to anything like this, the Malfoy Manor had more rooms than they ever needed. Whenever they did have guests, they just stayed in one of many guest rooms.

Despite Alex and Draco each having their own room, Alex had lost count of how many times Draco came to her room to sleep because he was scared.

Once Ted finished he gave her a gentle smile and she returned it. "Thank you." She said as she sat down on the mattress.

"Feel good?" He asked.

She nodded. "It's great, thank you."

Andromeda suddenly appeared behind Ted. "Do you have any friends that you'd feel comfortable staying with?"

She understood she couldn't permanently stay with Andromeda, they didn't have the space and she had heard things about how they were trying to stay on the down low. Taking in Voldemort's daughter wasn't going to allow them to stay on the down low. Even Alex understood that.

"None of them know that I'm... a Riddle." She mumbled. "The Malfoy's made me go by a fake last name."

She nodded slowly. "Okay," She said softly. "You need to get some rest, I'll talk with you in the morning."

She nodded and Ted and Andromeda left the room, leaving the two girls in there. Alex didn't say anything, she just laid down on the mattress. Every that had happened in the last few hours felt like a dream.

authors note

i kinda last minute decided that alex was
going to run away so yeah. andromenda made an appearance <3