"All the lights couldn't put out the dark
Running through my heart"

Loneliness snuck up on people quite suddenly. One moment, people and conversation were all that surrounded you, and the next, you were left by yourself to sort your thoughts from reality.

Of course, being alone was not the same as being lonely. One could be lonely while being in a group of people, and that might just be the most painful thing of all. To not connect with anyone around leads to unwelcome thoughts appearing, which could very well be the reason for loneliness in the first place.

Andromeda hadn't felt lonely in a while. She had grown up lonely though. Having always had her sisters, Andy was never truly alone, however, she never felt like anyone actually understood her.

Henri had been the first to cure her of her loneliness. This was the thing Andy would remember as the reason she trusted Henri in the first place. If Henri would stick by her on a daily basis, then they'd have to exchange what their lives had been like before each other. So, that is just what they did.

The only downfall to having Henri as a friend is that she is in a different house than her. Andromeda had no trouble with diversity at all, but she did wish sometimes that they could share a dorm and a common room. It would save her from many unwanted interactions.

Not that what was about to happen was unwanted, it was just something Andromeda wanted to procrastinate. Narcissa had joined her a little while ago by the fire slowly dying down, which left the only light to be a sea green glow from the Black Lake. For the time being, Andy had been trying to ignore her sister by revising, but she eventually got bored and looked up just as Cissy was about to speak.

"I'm sorry for snooping in your life, Meda," Narcissa spoke sullenly.

"Well, you should be," Meda replied, too tired to care that that was not the right response.

A little ashamed of her outburst, she turned her eyes from her sister to the paper about potions in front of her. Meda was nearly able to grab her quill to add onto it before her sister tried to speak again.

"I heard from Bella," Narcissa started, gaining Meda's attention with the pause. "She wants to see us over the summer."

That statement surprised her a great amount since she had assumed Bellatrix had blacklisted her ever since the fall of her engagement. The thought had hurt quite a bit—Bellatrix was her sister after all—yet she had grown so used to the idea that she hadn't thought about going to her sister's house over the summer.

"We can floo over like we did last summer then," Meda said in response. After a moment's hesitation, she continued. "What's the matter? You seem sad."

Andromeda was right, of course. Narcissa had been sniffling since she left her dorm, and there were red rings around her eyes. This time, Cissy looked away.

"I'm still your sister, you know," Meda said, desperately trying to get things like they once were. "You can talk to me."

Narcissa sighed deeply before turning back towards her sister. Her eyes were what gave away her sadness; like her sadness were plants and her eyes were the garden, it grew its roots there.

"Father is ill. He's been admitted to St. Mungo's," Narcissa said bluntly.

Andromeda wasn't sure what to say because she hadn't had any emotional attachment to that man since her younger years. After all, being physically ill wasn't the only way the man was sick.

However, once she saw Narcissa with tears threatening to fall, her demeanor changed. She reminded herself that Narcissa had only ever had her to confide in, so she needed to continue to be that role for her younger sister. It was what she deserved.

Andromeda beckoned Narcissa over to her couch, and once her sister joined her, Meda pulled Cissy into her side and ran her fingers through her hair. Her sister's breathing was rapid and she knew that tears were probably falling, so she fought to find the right words.

"I'm sure it's nothing the healers can't handle," Meda said to her sister, hoping that it would console her somehow. "You know Druella will make sure to pay for the very best."

She felt her sister's breathing slow a little.

"We can visit him with Bella," Meda offered further, even if that sounded like something she definitely did not want to do.

"Yes, that sounds good," Cissy replied, her voice now hoarse.

Andromeda didn't know in what world that could sound good in, but apparently it did in her sister's.

...

The fifth year of schooling at Hogwarts presented the students with a new set of challenges as every year does, but it brought extra to deal with as well. After taking the O.W.L.s, Andromeda found herself extremely exhausted, wanting nothing more than to let off some steam with her friends in the kitchens. On her way there though, she was called to Slughorn's office for a surprise career meeting.

She should have known this was coming. For one, Bellatrix had told her all about not showing up for hers, not wanting to tell Slughorn her actual aspirations for the future. Secondly, Henri spoke about her career meeting with McGonagall to Andy a few times.

Taking a deep breath in as she sat across from Slughorn, she gave him a hesitant smile as he clasped his hands in front of him.

"So, Miss Black," he started, leaning forward slightly. "The future awaits you. I'm sure many people have told you which way to go—as you know so many successful people—but I must ask what you have been thinking about doing."

If Slughorn meant that she's been told to become an heir producer since the moment she could understand English, then he was quite right about people telling her what to do with her future. She had guessed Cygnus might teach her more about his business when she grew older, but that was probably as much of a career as she would get under the eyes of her parents.

Before she could reply, Slughorn decided it was important that she heard his opinion. She was impressed by his self importance.

"Of course, I think you'd do well within the Ministry," he spoke thoughtfully. "You're bright enough to get as much power as you want."

Although she was flattered by the compliment, it wasn't power she wanted. Power came with too much sacrifice, and Andromeda didn't care to compromise her morals. She desired love and happiness, two things power didn't seem to care about.

"I'd like to be an astronomer," Andromeda said without a further beat of hesitation.

She watched his face grow confused for a moment before he bounced back.

"An astronomer! My, oh, my, that's not what I'd expect from you," Slughorn replied, chuckling for no real reason. "I could get you some fantastic contacts, but I'm sure you don't need those! After all, you are a Black!"

He laughed heartily and she forced herself to laugh with him. The quicker she got out of his office the better.

It took her a half an hour, yet she had managed to leave Slughorn's office at a reasonable time. Andy nearly ran to the kitchens, hoping to Merlin that she wouldn't be stopped by anymore inconveniences. Her wish had been granted as just a few minutes later, she was greeted by a body slam hug from none other than Jack Johnson.

He was pumped up on his old friends adrenaline and chaos, a deadly duo when it came to him. With a grin from ear to ear, he pulled her further into the kitchens, dodging the house elves.

"How's good ole Slughorn doing?" Jack asked as he followed a house elf into the oven room.

"Oh, you know, still drunk on his own presence," Andy replied, causing Jack to laugh.

"When I first met you, I'd have never thought something like that would've come from your mouth," he said as they reached where Henri and Ted stood helping the house elves load things into the ovens.

"Why's that?" She asked, grabbing a cookie from a nearby house elf who had offered.

"You were all business," Jack shrugged. "You just didn't look like you would be able to crack a joke."

"Well, I sure proved you wrong, didn't I?" Andy said smugly.

"Yeah, and it's a good thing too," Jack responded quickly. "I don't hang out with pushovers."

Andy shoved Jack's shoulder after the remark a little harder than she had intended. This sent Jack flying backward into Ted, who dropped a glass bowl full of batter in order to catch Jack. Ted glowered at the two of them.

"No fret! No fret!" Said the head chef house elf.

The house elf pointed his finger at the mess and cleared it without waisting another second. He continued what Ted had been doing by transporting the bowl to another house elf.

"Let's get out of their way before we wreck any more havoc," Henri suggested, pulling Andy out of the oven room by her arm.

Andromeda glared at Jack like he had caused the situation.

"Nice going guys, now the house elves will probably spit in our food or something," Ted said as they sat at the Hufflepuff feast table.

"They wouldn't do that," Andy scoffed. "At least not in my food, maybe Jack's though."

"Hey! That wasn't completely my fault-"

"No offense, but I really don't care whose fault it is," Henri interrupted, amusement in her eyes as she saw the silent conversation happening between Ted and Andy. "So, how was our favorite teacher?"

"Oh, I don't know, I didn't see McGonagall," Andy replied smoothly. They all laughed. "Slughorn was doing fine though, if you really wanted to know."

"Interesting," Henri hummed. "What'd you tell him?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, rolling her eyes as Jack accidentally fell off the bench. Ted helped him up, causing her to smile.

"What did you tell him you wanted to do with your life?" Henri clarified.

It shouldn't be that difficult to answer that question to someone who you called your friend, but Andromeda had feared being judged by her peers for so long that she couldn't help but be guarded. She fought through that quickly enough to answer without raising any suspicion though.

"Oh! I said I wanted to be an astronomer," Andromeda said, clearing her throat.

"That's cool, Andy!" Henri smiled, an idea popping into her head. "Race you to the cookies, Johnson!"

As if the cookies mentioned were a lifeline, Jack and Henri ran back into the oven room, shoving each other out of the way so that they could be first. Andy and Ted laughed from their seats.

"What did Slughorn say?" Ted asked, drawing her attention back to him.

"Huh?"

"When you said you wanted to be an astronomer," Ted said, smiling softly when the confusion melted from her face.

"He seemed surprised," Andy spoke easily, Ted's presence had that effect on her. "Before that he had gone on and on about me being perfect for the Ministry, which I guess is a compliment, but I've never been interested in that line of work."

"Really?" Ted said, watching as she raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I just thought since your family-"

"Here's the thing, Ted," Andy spoke gently, a little timid about opening up about her family. "My family has too many ties to the Ministry, and I don't want to be caught in the ties. If I get trapped like that, then I know I'll never escape."

She really couldn't believe the words were coming from her mouth so easily, but one look up to Ted's eyes would remind her why they were. She trusted Ted, and that was that.

"Do you know how many members of my family are astronomers?" Andy asked, a bittersweet smile on her face.

He shook his head no, while doing so reaching out for Andromeda's hand and pulling it into his. She smiled in thanks for his support.

"As far as I know, there are zero," she said, pausing for a second to close her eyes. "I've always loved astronomy and I've never wanted what my family has, so becoming an astronomer is the perfect fit."

"Sure sounds like it," Ted offered in reply. "I'm positive you'll be a great astronomer."

"Do you even know what an astronomer does?" Andy teased.

"Not really, but I'm sure you'll tell me," Ted shot back quickly.

Andromeda took great pleasure in telling him all the details of the career she saw herself taking in the future. When she was done, he shared he wished to own a bookstore stocked with both muggle and wizard books alike so that muggleborns like him didn't feel so far from home.

Their two friends giggled like children as they watched the two converse happily over a plate of cookies. They schemed different ways to get the two together by the time the end of summer rolled around.

However, life had different plans.

...

Song: Lights Up
By: Harry Styles

I am really sorry this update took so long! Time really flew by without me knowing!

I cant wait for the summer chapters, which—luckily for me and you—start next chapter! See you there!! 😉

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy xx