Fic Challenge 165 ("where everybody knows your name")
Title: The Name of Black
Summary: Everyone knew the name of Black.
Characters/Pairings: Ted Tonks/Andromeda Black Tonks
Genre: Gen
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 800
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Sure
If yes, your Tumblr username: N/A
Everyone knew the name of Black.
To be a Black was to be special, revered, and respected. To carry the name of Black was to hold the proper opinions on magic, to showcase the raw power of purity, to kneel when it was expected and stand above when faced with lesser wizards. To be a Black was to live in the steps of the past, to carry on the old traditions, to pass the legends and the blood on to the next generation. To carry the name of Black was a heavy burden on Andromeda Black's shoulders.
Constantly feeling as though she did everything wrong, as though she could not live up to her elder sister's ferocity or her younger sister's beauty. Shrinking beneath her mother's pitiful glances, laughing in the face of old tradition, nauseous at the thought of marrying another stuffed bird.
These Pureblood men were all the same; they had the thirst for power but not the strength to attain it for themselves. They wanted everything handed to them on the silver platters they'd been born with. Nobody wanted to live for themselves.
Andromeda craved life, felt strangled in the grey nothing she'd been raised in. She wanted to soar into the wide blue sky and experience everything the earth could offer her. To keep her head down for some boring husband, to spend all her days wrapped in tight silk robes hosting parties for people she was supposed to look down on, it was a fate worse then death.
What made them all so special, anyway? What was it about being a Black that trapped a witch in a world where everybody knows your name, where everything you do is scrutinized to be sure it is an approved action, to be sure it obeys the old laws of magic, laws so antiquated that they literally lie in dust in the ancient Black libraries? Andromeda felt no different than anybody else, and she crumpled under their scrutiny.
Edward Tonks, a Muggleborn Hufflepuff, had as much right to magic as Andromeda did. In fact, in her eyes he had more right to it, for he was using it in ways which the Black family name could never abide, fighting for equality and thriving in the world of magic. Andromeda had not noticed him in her early years at Hogwarts, having kept her nose down as was expected of her. But her eyes sought the world, sought life, and Ted was living it.
Whenever she was alone with Ted, she could run wild across the forest floor and not be looked down on, and instead admired for her boldness. With Ted she could laugh as loud as she liked, could run as fast as she wished, could fight as hard as she dared. With Ted, she could admire the way a man's hair fell into his eyes, she could listen to a man discuss politics and magic and not feel smothered or talked down to. With Ted she was an equal partner, she was a goddess of beauty and desire as well as a deep and cherished friend.
She had been drawn to him first for his differences, his fiercely glowing light in the face of the darkness of the name of Black. But she fell in love with him truly, and he allowed her to break free of the life she'd felt bonded to, the life that everyone else expected of her.
She could run away with him and her family would be furious, they would disown her and never speak to her again. To lose her sisters, her home, her place in the world, was terrifying to her. But Andromeda could see no other way.
Andromeda Black became Andromeda Tonks because she truly loved her Ted and she wanted to spend the rest of her life basking in the glow of his light. Still, being able to shed the name she'd been born with, the name that everybody knew and that she could never live up to? That, truly, was the best of added bonuses. She could never be what they had wanted her to be; it was not the life she longed for. It was hardly a life at all, to be a slave to dark ideals which made no sense to her. If Ted Tonks could cast any spell he wished and have it work wonders before her, why then should he have no claim to magic? He had charmed Andromeda's heart, and many other things besides.
And so they would live together in peace and happiness, far away from any place where everybody knew the name Andromeda had been born with. She would be an outcast to her old society, but she would be alive because of it, and would thrive in newfound anonymity.
800 words + Challenge = 32 points
Summary: Everyone knew the name of Black.
Characters/Pairings: Ted Tonks/Andromeda Black Tonks
Genre: Gen
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 800
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Sure
If yes, your Tumblr username: N/A
Everyone knew the name of Black.
To be a Black was to be special, revered, and respected. To carry the name of Black was to hold the proper opinions on magic, to showcase the raw power of purity, to kneel when it was expected and stand above when faced with lesser wizards. To be a Black was to live in the steps of the past, to carry on the old traditions, to pass the legends and the blood on to the next generation. To carry the name of Black was a heavy burden on Andromeda Black's shoulders.
Constantly feeling as though she did everything wrong, as though she could not live up to her elder sister's ferocity or her younger sister's beauty. Shrinking beneath her mother's pitiful glances, laughing in the face of old tradition, nauseous at the thought of marrying another stuffed bird.
These Pureblood men were all the same; they had the thirst for power but not the strength to attain it for themselves. They wanted everything handed to them on the silver platters they'd been born with. Nobody wanted to live for themselves.
Andromeda craved life, felt strangled in the grey nothing she'd been raised in. She wanted to soar into the wide blue sky and experience everything the earth could offer her. To keep her head down for some boring husband, to spend all her days wrapped in tight silk robes hosting parties for people she was supposed to look down on, it was a fate worse then death.
What made them all so special, anyway? What was it about being a Black that trapped a witch in a world where everybody knows your name, where everything you do is scrutinized to be sure it is an approved action, to be sure it obeys the old laws of magic, laws so antiquated that they literally lie in dust in the ancient Black libraries? Andromeda felt no different than anybody else, and she crumpled under their scrutiny.
Edward Tonks, a Muggleborn Hufflepuff, had as much right to magic as Andromeda did. In fact, in her eyes he had more right to it, for he was using it in ways which the Black family name could never abide, fighting for equality and thriving in the world of magic. Andromeda had not noticed him in her early years at Hogwarts, having kept her nose down as was expected of her. But her eyes sought the world, sought life, and Ted was living it.
Whenever she was alone with Ted, she could run wild across the forest floor and not be looked down on, and instead admired for her boldness. With Ted she could laugh as loud as she liked, could run as fast as she wished, could fight as hard as she dared. With Ted, she could admire the way a man's hair fell into his eyes, she could listen to a man discuss politics and magic and not feel smothered or talked down to. With Ted she was an equal partner, she was a goddess of beauty and desire as well as a deep and cherished friend.
She had been drawn to him first for his differences, his fiercely glowing light in the face of the darkness of the name of Black. But she fell in love with him truly, and he allowed her to break free of the life she'd felt bonded to, the life that everyone else expected of her.
She could run away with him and her family would be furious, they would disown her and never speak to her again. To lose her sisters, her home, her place in the world, was terrifying to her. But Andromeda could see no other way.
Andromeda Black became Andromeda Tonks because she truly loved her Ted and she wanted to spend the rest of her life basking in the glow of his light. Still, being able to shed the name she'd been born with, the name that everybody knew and that she could never live up to? That, truly, was the best of added bonuses. She could never be what they had wanted her to be; it was not the life she longed for. It was hardly a life at all, to be a slave to dark ideals which made no sense to her. If Ted Tonks could cast any spell he wished and have it work wonders before her, why then should he have no claim to magic? He had charmed Andromeda's heart, and many other things besides.
And so they would live together in peace and happiness, far away from any place where everybody knew the name Andromeda had been born with. She would be an outcast to her old society, but she would be alive because of it, and would thrive in newfound anonymity.
800 words + Challenge = 32 points