◤ ❝I'm going to tell you a story because the history you grew up learning is not always clear. Your parents shield you from the bad parts. They've given you a hero without the whole truth. As young witches and wizards, you will face many temptations in the future. Not all of them will be the urge to cheat on your exams or to go after the one you love. Obligations will be set about what you are supposed to do. Decisions will be put into your hands that you will have to make a choice on. You are so eager to learn about the History of Magic, but you must see that the history has not always been kind. I once knew a girl whom your parents would have shielded you from. She was a bad part, a piece in history that many people might see better off erased. But without her, you only get a fraction of the truth. She is the rest of the story.❞◢

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PROLOGUE:     BEFORE THE END

July 8, 1996

               𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚 𝐄𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐬 sat silently at the long table, brown eyes stoic to kept herself composed in the room of darkness. Her hands were flat on her thighs, a black robe covering up the fact that the woman next to her was digging her sharp nails into the exposed skin between her skirt and her socks. The idea of giving a woman such as Bellatrix Lestrange the satisfaction of seeing her cower was more painful than the pool of blood that was seeping into her clothing, and because of that, Andromeda refused to move. 

She knew what the witch was trying to do. She wanted to see her break, to prove that introducing a sixteen-year-old into an organization that was less than suitable for children had been a terrible idea—that, no matter who her father might have been, his daughter would not live up to his legacy. It also didn't help that she shared a name with the sister who went off and disgraced their family by marrying a muggle-born. She wasn't sure if Bellatrix could smell the blood—if any of them could smell the blood—but she wasn't going to take the chance of turning her head to see how many others were looking in her direction.  

Even though the number of people sitting at the dining table decreased greatly, where thirteen people were now missing from their chairs and only a handful of the inner circle remained, that didn't change the atmosphere that thickened the longer they sat. Andromeda knew what she had entered, what she would be standing up for, and who she was fighting with, but the tightness in her lungs couldn't help but bring doubts. Doubts, as her father had told her often, were what got people killed. A solidified position was stronger than one that's core was rotten. That was why she quickly dismissed her thoughts and instructed herself to take longer inhales. Her father was the reason why the pain slowly cascading down her leg did nothing but trigger a growing distaste for the Lestrange woman, her jaw tightening and eyes flaring in anger. He was also the reason why she was even in the current situation in the first place.

She had to give condolences to the boy in front of her, who caught on that she would not be redirecting her attention away from him the moment that they sat down across from one another nearly twenty minutes prior. Andromeda would be lying if she said she hadn't chosen the spot on purpose, finding a tsunami of comfort staring into the grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. He was the only thing positively familiar to her, and quite frankly, the only person in the damn room that would feel anything if they spontaneously decided she was of no use and killed her. She would never admit that, though. 

Just as she would never admit that she could see the fear in the grey color as easily as he could see it inside of her brown. Spending nearly sixteen years together would give anyone the ability to see through their counterpart, and with two Slytherins that could assess and deflect emotions better than anyone else in their school, it was also toxic. Draco and Andromeda knew that their open sight of one another would have them dead before it had them praised. Knowing each other's fear was no less than a weakness and a way to get them both obliterated by everyone around them.

"We are here today to speak about the aftermath of the events that happened at the Department of Mysteries, as I am sure you have noticed many absences this evening." 

The voice was omniscient, an underlying tone beneath the false mourning that Draco and Andromeda immediately noticed. Once again, they said nothing and listened as the darkness continued to speak around them, Bellatrix's fingers digging deeper unknowingly from excitement. 

"We have lost a number of loved members to Azkaban, and it is with my deepest sympathy that I say goodbye to one of my most loyal, Alastiare, who was murdered by our enemy while trying to fulfill our mission. It is only a blessing that his daughter could be here with us today, continuing more glory for her family by deciding to join in our fight against Harry Potter and all others who deny my name."

Draco watched as Andromeda's eyes grew colder against his own, narrowing her attention stricter on him at the specific words used. It was unnerving, as he had seen the brunette in front of him through past years with a wide grin more often than he saw such bitterness. He knew it was because of the stares that she was getting from the few Death Eaters at the table, from their teacher Severus Snape to his own aunt, each ranging from a thick disapproval to a sinister excitement. 

She didn't say anything at all to the voice's sympathetic remembrance of her father, only blinking slowly at Draco to show that no one around them understood how they felt. They both lost their father in different ways to the same cause, both felt the same festering resentment at the sound of their classmate, Harry Potter's name, but nothing Draco felt would compare to how much Andromeda wished death upon the boy. Potter had not just sentenced her father to a life in a cage, but he had taken away her father's possibility to do anything ever again.

Bellatrix removed her hand hastily out of nowhere, and Andromeda didn't realize why until she felt a cool finger find way to her cheek. Instinctively, her jaw loosened to prevent from looking disloyal to his words, but that didn't stop her from widening her eyes only a centimeter in surprise. The hand was too cold; chilling to the point where she believed for a moment that this person had to have just evaded a blizzard, but she knew that it couldn't be. It was the darkness that called to her earlier, praised her for her induction into the fame and glory of being a monster like so many others. Draco flickered his eyes up to their lord before they returned back to Andromeda's face—or, rather, the thin, pale nail on her skin.

"We are in a war. A war that has been fought once before, and a war that we will win. Our friends in Azkaban will see victory because, this time, we have the advantage. We have opportunity—" the hand slipped from her face slowly, nail even more rigid than Bellatrix's and sharp enough to slice the smallest of cuts onto Andromeda's cheek. More blood. She remained still. "—to use our newest members in a way that they will not see coming. I was only a student when this began, and it's only appropriate to pass along the honor to the two that I know will exceed my expectations. Severus, what are the strengths of our dear Draco and Andromeda? Surely, you must have seen their work in the classroom."

Severus Snape was three seats down from Draco and silent as ever, but the space between them could not have been far enough away. It was wrong. The circumstances felt vile, that the teacher who watched them grow up for five years was now sitting alongside them in a matter of the Dark Arts like they were strangers. A man whom Andromeda always believed was great was now battling on the same field as she. Equals in evil and destruction, masked by something more. They had no idea what their teacher, their mentor, was going to say of their names in an entirely different setting outside of Hogwarts. It was not new knowledge that Snape favored them both inside and outside of the classroom, relinquishing them from years of spite and punishments directed Potter's way, but neither knew if that favor was enough to keep the Dark Lord interested in their membership as Death Eaters. 

"Mister Malfoy is above sufficient in his classes with the aid of his quick-wit and has developed a talent with his wand, my Lord. Miss Erebus is both familiar with Incantation and wandless magic, although it shows that she favors learning more without her wand than with it. Both were shown the Unforgivable curses while under the assistance of Crouch Jr. their fourth year; I'm sure they are more than acquainted with how to perform them. I believe Alastiare indulged his daughter's interests in being Legilimens before he passed, as well. That, of course, is not confirmed."

Severus turned his eyes to her in suspicion at his last statement, voice dull and void of any interest in their talents. For the first time since sitting, Andromeda dropped her eyes from Draco to turn to the man, blatantly letting herself show anger at his reveal of so much information. Her ability to perform Legilimency was meant to be a secret shared between herself and her father, who—despite how many might have perceived his actions—had always been more loyal to his daughter than to his Lord. 

He had been teaching her the skill since last year, when it became obvious that she was one of the best in her class at wandless and nonverbal magic. Andromeda refused to remember the conversation she had with him when they fought over which to learn first: Occlumency or Legilimency. Alastiare, out of fear for his daughter's mind, wanted to have her learn the former. She, out of stubborn determination, had wanted to read people better than she already could. Sitting before the Dark Lord now, she wished she had followed his instruction and learned Occlumency first.

The teenagers could feel Voldemort's eyes on them, stinging their skin through the fabric of their clothing, but even they were smart enough not to look directly into the irritated pupils. Now, he knew about them. Beyond what information their fathers had divulged to their Lord in the past, he knew about what was truly important. Their strengths, and how they seemed to differ from each other in certain areas and mixed well in others, and their nearly-concealed weakness that would not have mattered to anyone else but one person: they still had compassion. They still looked upon each other for comfort. Draco and Andromeda were no less than strong family friends by his design, just as they would look upon their mothers, Narcissa Malfoy and Celicia Erebus. They could still be ruined by an emotion that a Death Eater would have already swallowed down with acid and ashes. They were still only teenagers, and that was something that Voldemort knew had to be stripped away if they were to be anything close to loyal.

Something seeped into Voldemort's mind based on his inspection of the two sixteen-year-old's, a festering indifference about how compliant the children of two Death Eaters were. He did not know how willing the two would be to stretch their lengths of deceit, or how well the two would be able to complete a task that even his oldest followers would struggle to accomplish. To put it simply, he didn't see Andromeda Erebus and Draco Malfoy being of substantial use to him if they had compassion—or, at the very least, nothing to challenge the lengths they were willing to go because of it. 

"Then, it will be no problem for the two of you to complete your assignment when you return to school at the end of break. It is in your best interests, I think, to remember how important your place has just become in the fight for purity... as you both are the sight of what's truly right when standing so closely to someone as impure as Harry Potter."

It was on that day, just shy of three weeks after the Second Wizarding War was officially declared, that the smallest hints of compassion living inside of Andromeda Erebus and Draco Malfoy slowly drained away, dripping messily onto their toes and bloodying their footsteps as they walked. 

  ❝ Let's begin. ❞

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Author's Note:

Before this story begins, I want to quickly talk about Andromeda, seeing as she obviously has affiliations with the Death Eaters and will continue to throughout the book as she becomes one herself. This story was not created to romanticize their mission or what they stood for, but to give a different outlook on the "organization" that delves deeper than what we saw in the books/movies. I've always thought that the Death Eaters were interesting—whether that be in a good or bad way, seeing as they all accepted the same ideas of blood purity and Voldemort's hierarchy of power. They got to that place of being controlled by the darkness from some choice or reason, and this is the beginning of the downfall of a teenage girl that used to have some sort of hope, but slowly loses it and her humanity. This story is not meant to diminish their cruelty by turning it into a love story, as that is something I've seen happen in these types of stories.

Andromeda Erebus in this story is not good by any means, just like all of the supporters of Voldemort's beliefs. Even though there are good aspects to her character that come from her loyalty to family, she still makes wrong decisions. She's been blinded by supremacy her entire life, alongside Draco, and that taints her view on many things. She has interests in the Dark Arts, believes in vengeance (that will come into play with the Furies mythology), and has a hatred for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that stems from more than just her allegiance to Voldemort. So, please, just a fair warning that she participates in acts of genocide and creating a dictatorship under Voldemort's rule—whether that is with willing participation or hesitant acceptance, you'll see in the future. 

Little Things:

  •  In Greek Mythology, Erebus was the personification of darkness and silence, born from Chaos (pronunciation: er-uh-bus). 

• Andromeda shares a name with Bellatrix and Narcissa's sister, Andromeda Tonks (formerly Black). As their sister was a traitor by marrying a Muggle-born, sharing a name with her is one of the reasons why Bellatrix dislikes Andromeda.

  •  Pronunciation of Alastiare: Alas-tee-air.

 • Pronunciation of Celicia: Cel-liss-ee-uh

 • Pronunciation of Romy: Rome-ee