"All you will need for a rocking good time
Is a bunch of people who don't give a damn"

Freedom had interested Andromeda since she was a little girl. Everything about it appeared wonderful, being able to speak your mind, wear what you want, and make your own decisions were just a few things that had especially intrigued her.

Once, when she was in a lesson with Mrs Carrow, around the age of seven or eight, Meda asked why they weren't allowed to follow their hearts like the girls in a book she had read. Instead of thoroughly answering the question, Mrs Carrow slapped her hand, confiscated the book, and told her not to ask stupid questions.

It was then that she learned her family didn't believe in freedom.

In fact, Andromeda had soon figured out that what the word symbolized was the very thing that her family despised. At the small age of ten she had mourned her freedom.

Hogwarts had provided a little bit of a safe haven for her. Of course, Andromeda still had to be careful with what she did because her sisters were around, but it wasn't like they could watch her every moment of the day. The school gave her a slice of freedom that Meda had always so desperately craved.

Due to the fact that the freedom dissolved the moment she went home, Andromeda always mourned the end of the school year. The end of her fourth year was no different. She had just taken her exams, both practical and written for every subject. This caused her a great deal of stress since her family expected her to do extremely well, their expectations were never fair—not that she expected them to be anything except cruel. Now that the exams were over, Andromeda didn't have anything else to think about except going home for the summer.

Although, Meda had been thinking about how weird Bellatrix had been acting recently. During the day, she'd accompany Andromeda more around the castle, quickly abandoning the rule they had of pretending the other didn't exist. It made her feel like Bella knew something that she didn't, which could be anything really because there were tonnes of things that Andromeda didn't know.

Like why she was risking getting caught in the corridors with Henri when she should be asleep in bed.

However, there were several answers to that question. One, Andromeda couldn't hang out with Henri as much during the day because of Bellatrix's newly found interest in her, and Meda wanted to find a way to make it up to Henri. Her friend had confessed she had been feeling quite lonely, causing Andy to feel guilty anytime she wasn't with her. Two, Andromeda knew now that Henri would never leave her—she was just too darn loyal—yet she still didn't want to risk it and lose Henri as a friend because of Bellatrix.

So, that left them with the solution to sneak out into the corridors and talk about whatever crossed their mind.

"Seriously, Andy, care of magical creatures is an amazing course!" Henri said as they talked about their favorite classes.

"You learn about creatures that would probably eat you upon first glance and call it an amazing course," Andy replied disbelief written across her face. "I bet you'd even call a dragon cute."

When Henri didn't answer right away, Meda gasped with a wicked smile on her face and laughed from her spot in the Kitchens. They both sat on the floor surrounded by empty glasses that were once full of butterbeer, which was given to them by the generous house-elves.

"Well, your favorite class entails staring up at the sky, so if I were you, I wouldn't be talking," Henri defended, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's fair, I guess," Andromeda mused. "It's more than that though. You get to study the stars and see what their positions tell you."

She paused while trying to delve deeper into why astronomy was her favorite subject. As Andy prepared to spend a good fifteen minutes discussing this, the Kitchens door swung open, startling both of the girls. They were amused to see Jack and Ted stumble in.

"Merlin, Ted! Could've waited so I didn't fall on my arse!" Jack grumbled from the ground, not noticing the girls behind him as he got up.

"You're so dramatic," Ted scoffed. "Let's just get the-"

"Master Ted and Master Jack! How nice it is of you to see us," a house elf greeted them.

Just as Ted answered the house elf, Jack scanned the room and found Andy and Henri smiling sheepishly at him. He elbowed Ted to grab his attention from the house elf that wouldn't stop praising them. Not wanting to be rude, Ted flickered his eyesight over to the two girls for a moment and broadened his smile as he ordered what they wanted.

"Fancy seeing you two here," Jack started, striding over to the table they sat at with Ted behind him.

"Same to you, Johnson," Henri replied.

Andromeda had been caught off guard by seeing these two boys just stumble into their safe haven. She knew that they weren't the only ones who were aware of how to get into the Kitchens, but she didn't think about if anyone would interrupt her and Henri's time in there.

Not only that, but she hadn't spoken to them since she had gotten angry over them asking about her family life. Andy was sure that she was supposed to apologize, however that wasn't a taught skill in her household, so she wasn't sure how to go about that without making things awkward.

Ted sat across from Andromeda, giving her a smile that nearly made all her walls collapse while grabbing a sweet from the table. She looked at her hands where she had bitten her nails to the nail beds, suddenly determined to make amends with Ted and Jack.

"I'm sorry for freaking out in the greenhouses," Andromeda spoke, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I just don't like talking about my family a whole lot."

"No hard feelings," Jack smiled, making Andy feel a lot better.

They ate more sweets, making easy conversation about what their summers will look like. Andromeda talked briefly about Bellatrix's future wedding, suspecting that preparing for that is about all she was going to be doing. She left out the part where she would spend most of the dog days of summer trying to skirt away from the eyes of her mother.

Henri explained how she usually spent her time biking around the town she lived in, hanging out with her old friends from primary school. Her mother had very little time off, so coming by a vacation in her house was rare.

"Our mums use us as free babysitters," Jack groaned, covering his face with his hands.

After seeing the confusion on both of their faces, Ted laughed and started to explain what Jack said further.

"We both have little siblings, so we give our mums a break over the summer," Ted said.

"How many siblings do you have?" Andy asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, Davina is two years younger than I am," Jack responded, looking like he had to do math to figure it out. "Sawyer's five years younger than her and Kennedy is two years younger than Sawyer."

"You have three sisters?" Henri's eyes grew wide.

"Sure do," Jack smiled. "None of 'em beat Ted's little sister, Bobbie, though. She's an angel."

"Bobbie's the cutest little thing. She's four," Ted smiled too. "Alfie is five. He's the most chaotic thing you'll ever meet."

"Your families sound lovely," Andy spoke, trying to keep the note of jealously out of her voice.

A minute later they excused themselves to order a rather large batch of butterbeer. Andy wondered if they were stocking up for the summer.

"Are we going to see each other this summer?" Henri asked casually, but Meda could see the hesitation to ask the question in her eyes.

Andromeda longed for a reasonable family at times like these. It was perfectly normal to go to a friend's home, yet duty was held to a higher standard than happiness was. Henri being a half-blood did not help the situation either, her parents would never let her spend time with her.

Summer days would have to creep by without the company of people Andy actually enjoyed being around if she wanted to stay under the radar.

"There's no way I'll be able to sneak out," Andy spoke her thoughts aloud. "Asking them just isn't an option, I'm sorry, Henri."

"Don't apologize!" Henri said quickly. "We'll be able to write to each other, right?"

"Yeah, as long as we can use your owl," Andy said, getting a confirmation when Henri nodded. "We might be able to meet up at Diagon Alley when we get our school books-"

Andromeda didn't get to roll out their plans completely to Henri since Jack came bounding in with bottles and bottles of butterbeer levitating out in front of him.

"Let's go party!" Jack yelled, making Ted laugh as he strolled behind him.

"Hufflepuff is hosting an end-of-year party," Ted explained and shook his head in disbelief as Jack attempted to levitate the bottles out of the Kitchens. "You're welcome to come, if you'd like to, of course."

Henri and Andromeda shared a look, excitement creeping onto the former's face while hesitation became drawn on the latter's. Pouting upon seeing the hesitation on her friend's face, Henri whooped when Andromeda's resolve broke.

All four of them started to walk the short distance to the Hufflepuff common room. Henri and Jack walked slightly ahead of the other two, chatting excitedly about who knows what.

"You'll have fun, I promise," Ted said seriously, with a small smile on his face.

"I'm holding you to that," Andromeda replied, a grin creeping onto her own face.

She wasn't sure when it happened, but whether it was when they walked into the Hufflepuff common room or way before that, Andromeda seemed to have made the decision to try to enjoy herself before the summer greeted her.

The party was like nothing she had ever seen or experienced before. Students crowded the commons area with beverages of their choice in hand. As they belted out lyrics to a song that Meda didn't know, Andromeda couldn't help but feel out of place, yet the three she arrived with stuck by her side.

Like Jack's inner dancer was summoned, he let out a loud whoop when the next song started to play, and pulled Andromeda out into the large group of people with him. Instead of panicking or freaking out on Jack, Andy went with whatever was going on and laughed as Jack dramatically sang the lyrics.

"Well, shake it up, baby, now
Twist and shout,"

The tune was definitely as unfamiliar as the atmosphere around Andromeda was, but, oddly enough, she still felt comfortable with how open she was acting. If she had the choice, she would've pressed rewind back to this moment before things had gone bad again.

"Come on, come on, come, come on, baby, now
Come on and work it on out,"

Lyrics slipped from everyone's lips like they were the cure for the drought of freedom that Andromeda lived through. She didn't mind this so much though, it was better than what could've been.

...

Song #1: Party Tattoos
By: Dodie

Song #2: Twist and Shout
By: the Beatles

Am I in love with Dodie? Why yes, of course, I am.
Am I in love with the Beatles? Why yes, of course, I am.

There's only five chapters left of this act!! Whaaat?? It feels like just yesterday when I finished the trilogy. Proof that time just keeps rolling.

Next chapter is when the summer starts! Get ready for some ~drama~ !!

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy xx