Fic: A Million Stars (Andromeda)
Now that Reveal is over, I can post this here. This piece was written, semi-anonymously, for wanderlight during big_little week.
Character(s): Andromeda
Word Count: 850
Notes: Inspired by Iona's A Million Stars. Considering my recent dearth of fic output, also submitted to 7spells for Andromeda/Ted.
i.
It was nearly midnight when Bellatrix woke her, pulling insistently on her arm. “Andromeda,” she hissed, looking pointedly at the door. She slid down from the bed, padding silently on bare feet. Bellatrix was in front of her, leading her through what seemed like miles of dark and shadowy stairs and hallways. (She felt a chill of fear up her spine.)
Finally, she slid outside, wincing as the door creaked. She froze for a moment. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and pulled at her hand. “Come on,” she said. (Bella was never scared.) A few more meters, and they flopped down in the untamed grass behind Grimmauld Place.
“Look, up there! There's my star - Bellatrix. There's Mother and Father, and Narcissa is over there.”
“Where am I?”
“Right there. There's your star, Andromeda.”
They lay there for a few moments more in complete silence. Andromeda stared up, seeing herself in that point of light - surrounded, always and forever, by her family. We are stars, she thought.
ii.
Hogwarts was huge, she thought, as she entered the entrance hall for the first time. It was hard to think of this drafty old castle as home - Grimmauld Place will always be my home, she thought fiercely.
The first children were already being called up to be Sorted, and Andromeda knew she'd be called soon. She straightened her back, trying to look cool. Blacks were never scared. (But she was, and she knew it. What if she wasn't a true Black after all? She would be so shamed...)
“Black, Andromeda!” Brushing nonexistent lint off her uniform, she stepped forward and walked across the Great Hall. So many eyes, all on her. She scanned the tables for friends, family - nothing, just a sea of unfriendly faces.
She tilted her head back, trying to look confident - catching a glimpse of the ceiling. It was the night sky! She gasped involuntarily. Breathing too fast, she looked for her galaxy. Catching sight of the familiar point of light, she breathed out, calmer and more confident than she'd been since leaving the train. She smiled.
She reached the front of the hall, sat down, and the Sorting Hat touched her head.
iii.
It was past two in the morning, and everyone else in the dormitory had long since gone to sleep. Not Andromeda.
She slipped out of bed, looking at her sisters, bathed in moonlight. Narcissa looked her age (so very young) when she was asleep, while Bellatrix looked warm, almost caring, not at all like the seductively poisonous woman she was. (Andromeda had no doubt Bellatrix was capable of killing.) Those faces - they weren't her sisters. Moonlight lies, she thought, sneaking past their beds and out of the dormitory.
She'd already cast a spell on the portrait-hole, so it wouldn't remember her, and she'd liberated one of Bella's prized shadow cloaks. In direct sunlight, it was no more than a nice black cloak, but in the shadows, it would hide her.
Taking the steps two at a time, she ran out into the courtyard. Ted should be waiting here for her - and he was, sitting nonchalantly on the edge of a fountain. Quickly, she made her way over to him, letting the cloak fall down to her shoulders.
“Andi!” His eyes lit up and he stood. “I was wondering if you were coming.”
She didn't bother responding, throwing her arms around him. Just for a moment, she saw starlight reflected in his eyes.
iv.
“Andromeda, make a speech. You know it's tradition,” Narcissa said, fingering the necklace Lucius Malfoy had given her the day before. “Nothing - you know,” she added, in a lower voice. Andromeda nodded, thinking Narcissa sounded closer to thirty-five than fifteen.
She threaded her way around the stuffed shirt purebloods, all here to pay their respects to the middle Black daughter. If this gathering was in her honor, she wondered for the twentieth time tonight, why am I not enjoying it? She clinked champagne classes with a couple she despised, and exchanged pleasantries with the woman who nearly had Muggleborns banned from Hogwarts. (She smiled sadly when she thought of the party Ted had thrown for her - all laughter, friends and a bit too much firewhiskey. Not this.)
Finally, she made it up to the podium, surveying the crowd, outlined in starlight. She tensed, realizing how final this break would be. There would be no turning back after this.
For all their faults, the Blacks were stars: yes, remote and forbidding, but they burned so very brightly. She'd lived her entire life by these familiar constellations - could she leave it all behind?
She looked up at the glory of the heavens above her, trying to steady herself. There was Andromeda, Sirius, Regulus... (Almost against her will, she remembered that she couldn't see the stars from Ted's flat.) If she went through with this, she'd have to find new constellations to chart her life by.
A stray spark off of Ted's ring (her ring, now) caught her eye. She knew then, that she already had.
She cleared her throat and began to speak.
Character(s): Andromeda
Word Count: 850
Notes: Inspired by Iona's A Million Stars. Considering my recent dearth of fic output, also submitted to 7spells for Andromeda/Ted.
i.
It was nearly midnight when Bellatrix woke her, pulling insistently on her arm. “Andromeda,” she hissed, looking pointedly at the door. She slid down from the bed, padding silently on bare feet. Bellatrix was in front of her, leading her through what seemed like miles of dark and shadowy stairs and hallways. (She felt a chill of fear up her spine.)
Finally, she slid outside, wincing as the door creaked. She froze for a moment. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and pulled at her hand. “Come on,” she said. (Bella was never scared.) A few more meters, and they flopped down in the untamed grass behind Grimmauld Place.
“Look, up there! There's my star - Bellatrix. There's Mother and Father, and Narcissa is over there.”
“Where am I?”
“Right there. There's your star, Andromeda.”
They lay there for a few moments more in complete silence. Andromeda stared up, seeing herself in that point of light - surrounded, always and forever, by her family. We are stars, she thought.
ii.
Hogwarts was huge, she thought, as she entered the entrance hall for the first time. It was hard to think of this drafty old castle as home - Grimmauld Place will always be my home, she thought fiercely.
The first children were already being called up to be Sorted, and Andromeda knew she'd be called soon. She straightened her back, trying to look cool. Blacks were never scared. (But she was, and she knew it. What if she wasn't a true Black after all? She would be so shamed...)
“Black, Andromeda!” Brushing nonexistent lint off her uniform, she stepped forward and walked across the Great Hall. So many eyes, all on her. She scanned the tables for friends, family - nothing, just a sea of unfriendly faces.
She tilted her head back, trying to look confident - catching a glimpse of the ceiling. It was the night sky! She gasped involuntarily. Breathing too fast, she looked for her galaxy. Catching sight of the familiar point of light, she breathed out, calmer and more confident than she'd been since leaving the train. She smiled.
She reached the front of the hall, sat down, and the Sorting Hat touched her head.
iii.
It was past two in the morning, and everyone else in the dormitory had long since gone to sleep. Not Andromeda.
She slipped out of bed, looking at her sisters, bathed in moonlight. Narcissa looked her age (so very young) when she was asleep, while Bellatrix looked warm, almost caring, not at all like the seductively poisonous woman she was. (Andromeda had no doubt Bellatrix was capable of killing.) Those faces - they weren't her sisters. Moonlight lies, she thought, sneaking past their beds and out of the dormitory.
She'd already cast a spell on the portrait-hole, so it wouldn't remember her, and she'd liberated one of Bella's prized shadow cloaks. In direct sunlight, it was no more than a nice black cloak, but in the shadows, it would hide her.
Taking the steps two at a time, she ran out into the courtyard. Ted should be waiting here for her - and he was, sitting nonchalantly on the edge of a fountain. Quickly, she made her way over to him, letting the cloak fall down to her shoulders.
“Andi!” His eyes lit up and he stood. “I was wondering if you were coming.”
She didn't bother responding, throwing her arms around him. Just for a moment, she saw starlight reflected in his eyes.
iv.
“Andromeda, make a speech. You know it's tradition,” Narcissa said, fingering the necklace Lucius Malfoy had given her the day before. “Nothing - you know,” she added, in a lower voice. Andromeda nodded, thinking Narcissa sounded closer to thirty-five than fifteen.
She threaded her way around the stuffed shirt purebloods, all here to pay their respects to the middle Black daughter. If this gathering was in her honor, she wondered for the twentieth time tonight, why am I not enjoying it? She clinked champagne classes with a couple she despised, and exchanged pleasantries with the woman who nearly had Muggleborns banned from Hogwarts. (She smiled sadly when she thought of the party Ted had thrown for her - all laughter, friends and a bit too much firewhiskey. Not this.)
Finally, she made it up to the podium, surveying the crowd, outlined in starlight. She tensed, realizing how final this break would be. There would be no turning back after this.
For all their faults, the Blacks were stars: yes, remote and forbidding, but they burned so very brightly. She'd lived her entire life by these familiar constellations - could she leave it all behind?
She looked up at the glory of the heavens above her, trying to steady herself. There was Andromeda, Sirius, Regulus... (Almost against her will, she remembered that she couldn't see the stars from Ted's flat.) If she went through with this, she'd have to find new constellations to chart her life by.
A stray spark off of Ted's ring (her ring, now) caught her eye. She knew then, that she already had.
She cleared her throat and began to speak.