"Who do you call when it's late at night?
When the headlines just don't paint the picture right"

Blankets had to have been sent by Merlin himself. The coldest of February nights were no match for the common room fire and Meda's growing pile of blankets she huddled further into. She sat next to Narcissa as she chatted with Bellatrix about her wedding.

Andromeda tried her best to give as little input as possible, making sure she couldn't possibly ruin anything. All she had been asked by her sisters was if she cared what color her bridesmaid dress would be and if she wanted to be Maid of Honour. Andromeda answered the first question with a no and the second a yes, the second answer being less sure than the first.

As if Lestrange—Lesty as Meda called him to purposely get on everyone's nerves—had heard Bellatrix and Narcissa arguing over centerpieces, he appeared by Bella's side, handing her a card and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Bellatrix, not one to show emotion, did nothing in return, focusing just on the envelope addressed to her. She scanned the outside of it long after Lesty had joined his friends again, causing Cissy to grow agitated.

"Open it, Bella," Narcissa practically pleaded.

Andromeda was also interested in seeing what the envelope held, but she wasn't about to let Bellatrix know this. The more people wanted Bella to open the envelope, the less likely she was to actually open it.

It appeared that Bellatrix felt more compliant today than she had in the past because she ripped open the envelope upon hearing Narcissa's request.

"What's it say?" Andromeda asked, pleased with how nonchalant her voice sounded.

Bellatrix scrunched her nose as she looked down at the card.

"It's a Valentine's card," Bellatrix said, sounding stunned.

Whatever spell the display of affection had placed over her, was broken quite quickly since Bellatrix threw the card in the fire. Meda nearly laughed as Narcissa's eyes widened.

"That wasn't very nice, Bella," Cissy tutted, her eyes fixed on the fire.

"When will you get it through that thick skull of yours, Cissy?" Bellatrix's placid face had returned. "We're not getting married because we're in love. We're getting married because we have to."

Narcissa didn't have a response to that and instead just shifted awkwardly in her seat. Bellatrix's piercing glare settled on both sisters.

"Toujours Pur," Bella said.

Andromeda wasn't sure whether she shivered because the February cold had finally made its way under her blankets or because Bellatrix's tone was so frightening.

"Toujours Pur," Narcissa repeated.

...

The Slytherin common room was supposed to be a safe haven for its house. A place where Slytherin students could find a common ground to employ conversation, however, more people than just Andromeda often skipped socializing there.

One of the only ways that Meda had been able to stay out of whatever Bellatrix had gotten herself into was escaping the eyes of her house in the library. Madam Pince had gotten to know her well ever since joining the Hogwarts' staff in her second year.

In fact, immediately following breakfast, Andromeda had found a place in the library for both her and Henri. Wanting to talk about the quidditch match that had taken place, Meda hadn't brought any textbooks with her, and with Henri's punctuality, this didn't prove to be a problem.

"So, Albert, who's a total knob," Henri began, not bothering to quiet her voice when students passing by glared. "Is the Hufflepuff Captain, again, total knob-"

"I get it, Albert is a knob," Meda smiled in amusement. "Does Albert get a first name?"

Henri thought about this for a moment before grinning.

"Knob," she said.

They both burst into laughter after Henri's blunt words. It was a moment before they recovered from the fit, but once they did, Henri continued to tell Meda who was on the team.

"Knob is the chaser," Henri said, looking like she had heard it a thousand times. "His friends are Garfield and Stewart, they're chasers as well." Andy nodded as she spoke. "Diana, wonderful person by the way, is the seeker. Spoiler alert, she ended up falling off her broom."

Meda gasped, "Is she alright? She went to the hospital wing, right?"

"Yeah, she was going for the snitch, and I think she ended up throwing the balance of the broom off trying to reach out and grab it," Henri spoke, miming the action of the seeker, causing her to fall off her chair right at the feet of someone who had practically appeared out of thin air.

Andromeda laughed behind her hand as Henri accepted a hand up from the ground, looking embarrassed at her current situation. The boy who had shown up had jet black hair that sat flat on his head, dark brown eyes, and was around the same height as Meda was. He had a slender build, and the way at which he carried himself like he actually liked who he was, startled Meda. She concluded that he was also a Gryffindor, and by the way they were talking, Henri and this boy were at least acquaintances.

For a brief moment, Andromeda let herself get jealous over the fact that Henri could speak with anyone with ease. If Andy had fallen in front of this boy, then she would've become a flustered mess, made a rude comment, and bolted. Yet, here Henri was doing the exact opposite of what Andy would've done, and even though she was jealous, Andy swallowed her own pride and began to admire Henri for this quality. In fact, she should be grateful because this characteristic that Henri possessed was probably one of the only reasons that they were friends.

The boy seemed to realise that Andromeda was in the library with Henri and gave her an awkward smile. Andromeda attempted her best smile too and came up with a smile that probably should've been much friendlier, she didn't miss the look Henri gave her.

They said their goodbyes not much after that and Henri resumed her spot at their table. Andy looked down at the table, tracing the cracks in the wood and ignoring the amused look that Henri was giving her.

"He asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him," Henri started, scanning Andy's face for anything and she watched as Andy deflated.

"I'm gonna have to go alone now," Andy complained, pouting as she spoke.

"If you weren't so intimidating, then you could get a date too," Henri offered and Andromeda burst into laughter.

"Someone will come around and love my intimidation methods," she replied, trying to wink at Henri, but failing so that she just blinked.

The two girls sat in the library chatting about every subject they could think of before Madam Pince kicked them out for the night. Deciding that Andromeda would go to the Gryffindor tower and before Hogsmeade the following week, they went to bed trying to devise a plan to sneak Andy into Henri's common room without anyone snitching to McGonagall.

For the next week, the professors assigned a healthy amount of homework—despite whatever the students told you—and Andromeda found that she was rather pleased with herself, which only happened every once in a while. On every assignment, Andromeda had gotten praised by her teachers, causing her to beam with pride when they handed them back to her, especially when she was given her astronomy homework back.

From a young age, taught along with etiquette and a plethora of other subjects, the House of Black strived for its members to know and understand what their names meant. Meda was quite grateful for these particular lessons now because Andromeda had much more than a handful of knowledge in astronomy.

Her professor, Professor Harry, told the class that they could choose to write about the history of any constellation or star of their choice. Andromeda, of course, chose to explain her own constellation. She was not surprised when he gave her full marks for the assignment.

Henri, on the other hand, struggled through the week. Quidditch took up almost every hour of her life that classes didn't and she had had to try her utmost best to complete her homework. It appeared like she failed this though because Flitwick gave her detention after she "left her homework in her dormitory" two days in a row.

It just so happened that the detention was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip. Andromeda was disappointed that she didn't need to sneak into the Gryffindor common room, but she did her best to improve her mood and went to Hogsmeade anyway.

Stalking around Hogsmeade by yourself proved to be a more difficult task than Andromeda had thought. Recently, she had been trying not to leave herself alone with her thoughts, but as she watched other students flit around her like she were a plague, it was harder to avoid the bad ones.

In a moment of either desperateness or rebellion—Andromeda could never tell what her motives were these days—she entered the blissful world of Honeydukes.

She had never actually been inside the shop since her mother always said that they didn't need the extra weight that the candy was to bring. Andromeda's head nearly exploded by all the different types of candy—she had had no idea that there was so much. Distracted by all the colors and noise around her, Meda didn't notice that there was a Hufflepuff standing in her way. When she bumped into the Hufflepuff, she managed to send all of his candy to the ground.

Flustered, she jumped into action and chided herself while picking up the candy.

"I'm so sorry," Andromeda said genuinely, forgetting the rules her parents had taught her about apologies. "I wasn't watching where I was going and-"

"Be careful or she'll hex you," a Hufflepuff from behind him said.

Andromeda clenched her jaw and took her eyes from the handsome, sandy blond boy in front of her and set them on the flushed, curly-haired brunette.

"If you keep acting like an arrogant sod, then you'll be the one who gets hexed," Andromeda said coldly, watching as the boy's eyes widened as she and the knocked down boy stood up.

She desperately tried not to think about how much she was acting like Bellatrix right now.

"Everyone just calm down," another boy walked into her field of vision. "Nobody needs to hex anyone."

Andromeda saw the group dynamic change as this other boy stand beside the sandy blond one. It was clear to her that these two were much closer than the rest. They stared at each other for a short moment before the sandy blond boy tried to speak up.

"My name is-"

"No need for formalities," Meda said curtly. "I'll just get out of your hair."

And with those words, Andromeda turned to leave with building anxiety in her chest. She had acted like a complete idiot, first running into the poor boy, and acting like an arse to people he probably cared about. Then, she proceeded to brush off his try at communicating like normal people.

The worst part about all of it was that Andromeda couldn't get him out of her head. His dark brown eyes looked so kind, not even flinching when she threatened to hex the boy behind him—maybe he and this other boy weren't friends? She nearly had a heart attack when he started to speak, his voice was so smooth.

She would stop thinking about him. She had to, but first, she gave herself a few minutes to dream about how soft his hair probably was.

...

Author's Note:

Song: 929
By: Halsey

I've been waiting to publish this chapter for ages because I wrote it forever ago and I absolutely love the characters. I promise you'll like them too.

I want to make it clear I do not share any of the same views as Druella. She's literally everything I despise and I think that candy is amazing and that we should all eat more of it.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy xx