"I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known"

In a way, the events that occurred over her winter break forced Andromeda to start back at square one. Before the holiday, Andromeda had been able to pretend things were perfectly fine. Now, however, Meda was sure she wouldn't be able to do that ever again, until, of course, things became perfectly fine.

The idea that her parents could shove her in the basement and not think much of it made them no parents to her. Mother and Father would never be uttered out of her mouth towards them ever again. From now on, they were the cruel Druella and Cygnus Black, and Andromeda felt no remorse towards them once so ever.

Andromeda had tried her best to stitch herself back together. For the most part, she had done a pretty decent job. Since she wasn't a certified surgeon, the emotional wounds left on her heart would create scars, but the bruises would heal with time. Her main goal was to stay as mentally strong as possible, mainly to spite her parents, yet this was quite challenging based on the fact that she had to lean on Narcissa to walk.

A day after Druella had caused Narcissa and Andromeda quite the scare in the basement, Meda woke up in her bedroom. Unable to fathom how she got up there, she wasn't surprised to find out the house elves had transported her there after getting the permission from Druella. The house elves had been quite kind to her, trying to nurse back her health to 100%.

While in the basement, Andromeda developed a head cold. Shivering in the basement for some time, Meda had been sneezing her head off, much to the annoyance to everyone around her. She also had very stiff joints from being curled into a ball for so long, which is why she had had trouble walking.

If Andromeda were a poet, she'd carefully craft her words to write a hateful poem to Cygnus and Druella. All she did instead, though, was curse them every step she took at Platform 9 3/4. Here she was, embarrassing herself in front of her peers because of them, oh, all the things she'd like to say to them...

Narcissa could tell that Meda was pissed. Who wouldn't be? Although, Andromeda had a knack for forgiving people even when they did her wrong, yet Cissy felt that their parents had done too much wrong to come back from it. She feared for their future as a family.

"Once we get on the train, I'll be okay to go off on my own," Meda said, convincing no one except herself.

Cissy raised an eyebrow at her.

"Quit lying to me," Narcissa rolled her eyes as they stepped onto the train and Andromeda nearly fell. "You can hardly walk and you're telling me-"

"Cissy! I can take care of myself now!" Andromeda whisper shouted, hyper aware that people were staring at the two sisters. "You go off and find your friends and I'll figure it out."

"Are you sure? I don't want you hurting yourself further," Narcissa bit her lip, watching as Meda leaned off her shoulder to stand up straight.

"I'm positive," Meda replied, forcing a smile onto her face as she had done a million times before.

"Okay, well, I'll check in with you later tonight or tomorrow morning before classes," Narcissa said, still unsure of her decision.

"See you later," Meda said back, watching as her sister turned to find her friends as the train started to move.

Andromeda was jolted around by the train as she was unstable on her feet. She stumbled around for a second before she decided she'd better just fall already. Before she could allow herself to fall though, someone caught her.

"Woah there, let's not get you all banged up," Jack said, grinning at her.

"Hate to say it, Jack, but I'm already all banged up," Andromeda replied, laughing nervously.

Jack moved out of the way of people trying to find their compartments. Pulling Meda over to the side, he tried to figure out what she meant by that.

"What happened?" He asked, clearly concerned.

"Oh, you know me, just clumsily fell down the stairs," Andromeda said casually, leaning against the wall.

"You're clumsy?" Jack said surprised. "You should join me in our compartment. Ted would be happy to see you."

Andromeda would be so happy to spend time with the two of them, but she knew that they sat with some other boys from their year. She winced at the thought of trying to socialize with other people her age.

"I dunno, Jack. Don't most of your friends like hate me?" Andy asked, sighing.

She really needed to find Henri.

"Ted sure doesn't, and he's really the only one that matters. The rest of them are just tagalongs," Jack said nonchalantly. "Besides, what're you gonna do, walk somewhere else? You can hardly stand up straight."

Andromeda laughed at the remark, shaking her head at him.

"I need to find Henri," Meda explained, hoping to get Jack veered off the idea she would sit with his clan of Hufflepuffs.

She really didn't have anything against Hufflepuffs. Prejudice was her family's thing, not hers. She just didn't believe that many people at the school would appreciate her company. In fact, if the boys in the compartment were the boys she briefly met in Honeyduke's, then she could really kiss Jack's idea goodbye.

"I'll go find her while you sit down with Ted," Jack suggested, giving her an unimpressed look when she started to protest again. "Look, Andy, you're in no condition to walk around on the moving train. So, you can spend time with Ted, and I promise on my new broom that I'll find Henri."

"Fine."

Jack was half tempted to carry Andromeda to his compartment, but with a glare from Andy, he just let her hobble her way through the crowds of people. He was never far behind her to make sure she couldn't fall; Jack was positive if she fell on his watch then Henri would kill him.

When they finally made it to the compartment, Andy hesitated before entering and looked to Jack for confidence.

"It'll be alright," Jack said unwavering. "I'll be five minutes tops, I promise."

"Okay," Andromeda replied quietly, nervous she was going to interrupt the Hufflepuffs.

Andy still didn't make any moves to sit inside with his friends.

"Here, I'll go in with you," Jack said, not giving Andy enough time to stop Jack from opening the door.

"Johnson! We were wondering where you had gone off to," said one of the boys after the door had opened.

They hadn't seen Androneda yet due to her trying to stay out of the compartment. Jack rolled his eyes at her as he responded and pulled her into the compartment.

"Prewett! I just ran into a friend here," Jack gestured to Andy, who gave an awkward smile to the boys.

"Dromeda?" Ted asked, a bit stunned she would agree to come in here with Jack. "How're you?"

"No time for pleasantries, lad, I've got to run and find Moreau for her," Jack interrupted Ted, pulling Andy gently so that she was sitting on the bench next to Ted.

Ted didn't even get the chance to ask Jack why Andy wasn't finding Henri herself before Jack whisked himself away.

At first, things were awkward. Andy realized in those moments that Jack was the buffer between them and without them they really didn't know how to interact. Yet, Andy wanted to try, so she started to make an effort, even if she was hurting inside.

"So, what're your friends' names?" Andy asked for Ted, trying to speak quietly to not catch the attention of his friends too much.

"Ah, well, that one there is Scott Prewett," Ted said, pointing to the one closest to the compartment door on the bench across from them.

Andromeda tried to burn the part of her brain that Druella and Cygnus had developed with all this pureblood nonsense. However, it had stuck through and Andy knew this because, when Ted said the last name of Prewett, their entire family history jumped out to her.

Scott Prewett had fluffy, dark brown hair that Druella would say is too long for a boy. The air around him spoke of casualness and ease, Andy immediately growing jealous of the way he could merely exist without radiating anxieties off his skin.

"And the other two?" Andy asked, thinking for a moment she was looking at one person and their clone before realizing that clones existed.

"The one in the middle is Thomas Rettman, I think, and the other is probably Logan Rettman," Ted said with an unsure look on his face, making Andy laugh.

"You don't know which is which?" Andy asked giggling.

"It depends on the day honestly, am I feeling like a good person or am I annoyed at the world?" Ted joked, causing Andy to laugh even harder.

"What's so funny?" Thomas—or maybe Logan asked, irritated for some reason.

"Me, obviously," Ted replied, flicking his nonexistent hair behind his shoulder. Andy laughed behind her hand.

"Well, I don't like that she's here," One of the twins said, and Andy rolled her eyes. "It's not like we invited her in anyway."

"If it matters that much, then I'll have you know that Jack invited me here," Andy spoke up for herself.

"Jack doesn't speak for all of us. He makes friends with the wrong sort all the time," the other twin jumped in.

Looking hurt and confused, Andromeda turned her gaze to Ted. He appeared extremely annoyed.

"Would you two quit being pricks? Dromeda is a very nice person, and I'm sorry you two are too blind to see it," Ted said angrily. "And why the hell would you say that about Jack?"

"He likes to collect Slytherins, you know that better than anyone," the first twin scoffed. "Your friendship nearly ended in third year when he spent all his time with Greengrass."

"That's ancient history," Ted rolled his eyes.

Andromeda really wasn't sure what was going on. She had no clue Jack had a tendency to befriend Slytherins, but maybe that was a load of rubbish the twins were making up. Although, she felt that Ted would've called bullshit on whatever they had said if it weren't true.

The argument couldn't continue though because the man of the hour had returned with Andromeda's knight in shining armor. Henri looked as though she had run to the compartment because her hijab was about ready to fly off her head. She looked ready to both murder someone and cry.

"Oh my Merlin, Andromeda I've been so worried," Henri said, causing Ted to look confused. Andy was taken aback by the use of her full name since it was Henri who was so adamant about nicknames in the first place.

"Why would-"

"C'mon, let's go to the loo," Andromeda said, stumbling out of her seat.

As they walked to the restroom, Meda saw Henri wipe a tear from the corner of her eye, but she didn't bring it up. It was probably best to let Henri deal with her emotions by herself because Andy wasn't sure she would be any help trying to comfort her.

Henri had an arm around Andromeda, providing support for her friend that was desperately needed. Henri might have been small in size, but she was very physically strong, due to all the lifting she had done for quidditch.

They made it into the loo and thankfully nobody was in there. Andromeda wasn't really sure what happened to her, but a rush of emotions washed over her and she sank to her knees on the floor. Henri was about to remind her how dirty the floor probably was, but then she saw Meda's expression.

The raw emotion pictured on Andromeda's expression could only be described by a painter who had been to hell and back—one could simply not express the emotion with their creativity if they had not been the place mentally that Andromeda was.

Henri sat on the ground beside her, pulling Andromeda into her chest so that she could be properly comforted for once in her life. The walls Andromeda had tried so desperately to rebuild had broke once again, the water held behind let loose down her face.

"Why do they have to be so cruel?" Andromeda cried, and Henri knew exactly who she was referring to.

Henri didn't respond simply because she didn't know how to. She didn't have any experience with family issues and how to comfort Andy in this situation because her and her mother had only ever had small arguments. Sure, Henri couldn't remember meeting her father, but she was sure he wouldn't ever cause her the pain that Andy was going through.

Andromeda was resolved into sniffles, and it seemed she could think much clearer without tears running from her eyes. She decided it would be much better to tell Henri exactly what had happened than to drag on this whole experience further. It wasn't like Henri was demanding answers, but Andy wanted to explain her cryptic last letter to Henri if it was the last thing she did.

From top to bottom, Andromeda went over every painful detail of her holiday. She shared the bad, the ugly, and the even worse. Henri took it all in, offering comfort when needed and offering insults towards certain family members other times.

"This whole thing with Carrow makes me never want to get married," Andromeda sighed when she finished relaying the tale of her break.

Andromeda was grateful nobody had barged into the loo while she was having her breakdown, that most likely would've been her last straw.

"Then don't," Henri replied simply. "Just don't do it in spite of your family." Henri took Andy's hand in hers. "They have enough control over your life. Don't allow them to have any more."

...

When they had left the loo, they had returned to find no twins and a very disgruntled Jack and Ted. Scott sat quietly in the corner reading a book, looking completely serene.

The girls didn't question the tension in the air and they didn't question why Andromeda's face had gotten three times puffier. It was almost like a truce.

Time had flown by while Andy took a nap in the compartment on Henri's shoulder. They left the compartment as quick as possible, Ted carrying Andy's trunk while she walked in between Henri and Jack, who both acted like they were her bodyguards.

She felt safe for the first time in ages. Flanked on both sides, Andromeda didn't think she could be better protected. Henri turned into her own guard dog ever since Andy had initially told her about her home life, and Jack wasn't one to argue with Henri because he'd rather not get smacked in the face.

Ted climbed onto the carriage first, thankful it was empty like Henri had requested. He then turned around to help Andy up the stairs, ignoring the way grabbing her hand made the tops of his ears burn red. Jack winked at him when he sat across from where Ted was next to Andy.

"How were your holidays?" Andromeda asked the group.

Ted grew quiet at the thought of his family for a reason only Jack knew. Jack cleared his throat to get Andy's eyes off of Ted's dimming face.

"Mine was bloody brilliant," Jack said with a forced grin. Who could really smile when his friends were sad? "I helped my dad build a treehouse in our backyard for my siblings. They went berserk when they saw it."

Andromeda smiled at the thought of two little ones running towards Jack with their arms wide open ready for a hug, innocent to the thought that people out in the world could be cruel and hateful.

"I wish I had younger siblings, I don't think I'd be so lonely then when my mum's not around," Henri said thoughtfully as the carriage grew quiet.

Ted smiled sadly along with Andromeda. She itched to ask him what was wrong, but she knew she couldn't tell him the truth behind her own feelings, so he didn't owe her anything.

Their short carriage ride to the castle was over as quickly as it began. Henri and Jack were the first two to step out, the latter helping Andy out as well. Almost simultaneously, when Ted jumped out of the carriage with his luggage along with Andy's, Andy's legs gave out and she fell on the ground. Embarrassed, she tried to get up before Henri made a big deal of things, but her friend's reflexes were quicker than her own.

"Oh my Merlin, Andromeda! Are you okay?" Henri said, crouching down to Andy's level on the ground. "Does anything hurt worse than before?"

"No, I'm fine-"

"Tonks! Get over here!" Henri nearly yelled to grab Ted's attention.

"I'm literally right behind you, Moreau. What do you need?" Ted said, concerned that Henri had freaked out this badly since she was usually a picture of calm.

"You're going to carry Andy up to the castle-"

"What!?!" Andy and Ted said at the same time, both searching Henri's face for an explanation.

"Just do it, Edward," Jack said, receiving a punch to the arm from Ted for using his actual first name.

"Are you alright with this, Dromeda?" Ted asked, looking directly into Andy's eyes.

"Yeah, I guess so," Andy said, her voice coming out quiet and small.

Awkward could not even begin to describe how they both felt as Ted carried Andy bridal style to the castle. Her face lit up bright red the moment he started carrying her, and his was the same. She giggled and then hid her face in his chest.

She was pleasantly surprised to discover that he smelled of a warm summer day, if it was possible for a person to smell like that. Andy tried not to make it obvious to the others that she was having the time of her life now that she wasn't walking around, but it was hard not to enjoy herself while she was in the arms of Ted Tonks.

"Andy, you can tell me to back off, it's your right, but I really think you should go to the hospital wing," Henri whispered to her as Ted set her down on the floor of the castle.

The two boys went into the Great Hall for the welcome feast. Andromeda watched them go with a smile.

"No, you're right, I'll spend the night there," Andy replied.

The amount of conflicting feelings Andromeda had at the moment could almost be comical. How could someone be angry and happy with the stars all at the same time? Andromeda herself wasn't sure and that was how she existed. Her life was a confusing one, especially to her, but she'd make it work. She always did.

...

Song: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
By: Green Day

Um, there's only seven chapters after this one in this act??? How did that happen?

I promise there will be happier chapters soon! I can only write so much sadness lol.

I'm so excited with where this story has gone and where it will be going soon. I'm so happy that people take the time to read it. 💛

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy xx