A/N: Again, many, many thanks to songbook99. Also, there is no sorting song, because my poetry skills are lacking.
"Andromeda!" Narcissa chirped, sticking her head into the room. “Do you like your dress?”
Andromeda wiggled her hand out of the back of her dress; she had been busy scratching at the tag. Since Kings Cross was a Muggle station, the whole family had to dress up in full Muggle attire. Apparently, according to Bellatrix, it was required to wear Muggle clothing under your Hogwarts robes. She had received a whole new wardrobe of Muggle-wear. And since she had worn robes all her life, she was still getting used to all the dresses, skirts, jumpers and jeans.
“The tag is itchy,” Andromeda complained, jutting her shoulder blades out in irritation.
Narcissa came to her rescue with a pair of scissors. “I think they’re quite flattering. But you can’t get anything as lovely as dress robes.”
“Thanks.”
“You should hurry up, we’re leaving soon.” Narcissa pulled a hair off Andromeda’s shoulder and left.
Now that her tag was no longer bothering her, the excitement settled back in. In a hour, she would be on the Hogwarts Express, on her way to her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
She coaxed her eagle owl, Icarus, into his cage and jumped at the familiar, scratchy voice. Marti was standing in the doorway.
“Is Miss’s things ready for Marti to bring down?”
“Oh-, yes. Thanks, Marti,” Andromeda said.
Marti bowed, clutching at her toga style rag. Then she snapped her fingers and both she and Andromeda’s trunk disappeared.
Andromeda stared fondly at her new wand (ten inches, Ivy, Dragon Heartstring) and pocketed it, before taking Icarus’s cage and going down into the kitchen.
“If only they would let us just Apparate right onto the platform! It would save us the trouble of...” Druella was saying.
“Yes, dear. But I suppose it would get cluttered with everyone just popping in...”
Andromeda took her trunk from Marti and stood next to Narcissa.
“Do you have everything? Andromeda, Bellatrix?” Cygnus asked.
Andromeda and Bellatrix nodded, but Narcissa scowled. She did not like the idea of being home all day while her sisters were off meeting interesting people and having fun.
“Come here, Andromeda,” Druella said.
Andromeda felt her mother’s vice-like grip on her shoulder and held fast to her owl and trunk. She felt the familiar sensation (for they did most of their family traveling by Side-Along Apparition) of being forced through a small tube. After a moment, her feet touched the ground and she inhaled deeply.
While they had been shopping in Diagon Alley, Andromeda had gotten her first glimpse of a Muggle (although Uncle Alphard had assured her she had seen one before, but just didn’t realize it). A man, with his young son, was stuttering hopelessly with a goblin at Gringotts, trying to exchange Muggle money for wizarding money. Druella had sniffed haughtily and headed them to another desk.
Andromeda looked around and wondered how not one of them had managed to notice that five people, with two owls and large trunks, had just appeared out of nowhere.
They were ushered quickly to the entrance of platform nine and three-quarters. Druella, Bellatrix and Narcissa quickly went through to the comfort of the wizarding world, but Andromeda had to be reminded (for she was openly staring at a woman behind a help desk who was talking into a strange, plastic object) by her father that the train left at eleven, and was promptly guided through the barrier.
Andromeda had been to platform nine and three-quarters twice before, both times to see Bellatrix off, and she always felt rather dizzy. On the platform, there were all different kinds of people. She had grown up, primarily, with her sisters, and had never really socialized with anyone outside her family, or her family’s pure-blood friends. She had never had a real friend before (or at least someone she had not grown up knowing), and all these different types of people and new prospects were making her nervous.
“The train will be leaving soon. You’d better go find seats,” Cygnus said.
Druella bent down and kissed Andromeda stiffly on the cheek. “Make Slytherin. Make us proud!” she whispered.
“I need to go find Pritchard,” Bellatrix drawled. “He owes me something.” She threw Narcissa a crooked grin and left.
Cygnus put his hands on Andromeda’s shoulders. “Have a good time, and study hard,” he said.
“Bye, Cissa! Try and have fun without us!” Andromeda said.
“Bye, Andromeda. See you Christmas!”
With a nervous smile, she wheeled her trolley towards the train. She had to search for a while before she found an empty compartment. With the help of Narcissa, who had seen her struggle and came over, her trunk was secure. Once in her compartment, she leaned out the window to talk to her sister.
“Who are they talking to?” she asked, craning her neck to see her parents.
“The Malfoys.”
“The ones with the son? Lucius?”
“Yes,” Narcissa smiled fondly. “Remember they always throw those Yule Parties?” She had to shout over the sound of the whistle.
The train slowly began to move. “Bye, Cissa!” She waved.
As the train sped up, the platform and her family fell into the distance. With a glance out into the corridor, she slid the compartment door closed and sat down.
Andromeda sat still for a moment. What now? The best thing for her to do was read, and wait to see if she would have to share the compartment with anyone. She fished around in her trunk for her Charms book and began to read. But she had not been reading for five minutes when the compartment door slid open and a girl appeared on the threshold.
Andromeda could not help but stare, because she had not seen anybody quite like her before. The girl had the most unusual hair she had ever seen. Some of it was in wild curls, some of it was straight, but it all stuck off in every direction, creating a large, auburn mass. The clothes she was wearing were colorful and bright, and her cheeks were tinged pink.
“Hallo. Is anyone sitting there?” the girl asked breathlessly.
“Um... no,” Andromeda said timidly.
“Do you mind if I...?” She indicated the seat across from her.
“No, go ahead.”
While the girl put her things out of the way, Andromeda chewed on the inside of her cheek nervously. She then decided that she got nervous about the silliest things and forced herself to stop.
Finally, the girl sat down across from her. “Hi, I’m Letty Branstone.” She stuck out her hand expectantly.
“Oh, um, Andromeda Black,” Andromeda said, shaking her hand.
“Andromeda? Wow, do you have any nicknames or anything..?” Letty asked with a laugh.
Andromeda laughed and scratched at her chin. “Yeah. It’s a bit long, but there really isn’t anything else...”
“Don’t worry,” Letty glanced around. “My full name’s Letitia!”
They fell into silence and Andromeda took the moment to look at her again. Letty’s cheeks were still slightly pink, so they must always be like it. Her mind began to wander. What if Letty blushed? Would it look the same, and then people wouldn’t notice? Or did she turn red all over?
Letty broke her out of her thoughts. “Are you a first year?” she asked.
“Oh, um, yes.” Andromeda directed her eyes away from her new acquaintance’s pink cheeks.
“That’s great, me too! What House do you think you’ll be in?”
Andromeda took a moment to look outside. They were passing rolling hills, but the sky was turning steely grey and it looked like it was going to rain. “I don’t really know... Ravenclaw, maybe?”
She thought back to her conversation with Uncle Alphard. He had said she would make a good Ravenclaw. But then the stiff voice of her mother pushed itself into her head. “Make Slytherin. Make us proud.” What if she didn’t get sorted into Slytherin? She didn’t fancy herself very cunning.
“Yeah. I don’t know either. Probably Ravenclaw, a lot of my relatives are there, but Gryffindor sounds good too,” Letty said. “I’ve got a brother in Ravenclaw, and another in Hufflepuff.”
Then the conversation turned to family, which Andromeda was eager to hear about. She didn’t know what her mother would do if she made friends with somebody who was Muggle-born. Thankfully, Letty’s parents were both magical.
“I have three brothers. Liam, he’s a fourth year Ravenclaw, Llewellyn is twelve and is in Hufflepuff, and Luke is ten, and doesn’t start Hogwarts until next year,” Letty explained.
Andromeda tried to imagine growing up with three brothers. Growing up with Narcissa and Bellatrix was rather calm. There was rarely any fighting, except when Bellatrix would cast spells on her things, as they each had their own of everything, and the Blacks kept a strict watch on their children.
“I have two sisters,” Andromeda said, when she felt it was her turn to share. “Narcissa and Bellatrix. Narcissa is two years younger then me, and Bella is two years older. She’s in Slytherin.”
As they emerged from a tunnel, it had already begun to rain. The rhythmic patter on the window was lulling Andromeda to sleep, but when Letty began to talk about Quidditch, she had to shake herself awake, and give her two cents on the Falmouth Falcons.
A considerable amount of time had passed, and Andromeda and Letty were in the middle of a game of Gobstones, when the compartment door slid open. It was an old wizard with a trolley full of food.
“Anthin’ off t’trolley?” he wheezed.
Andromeda looked at her selection. She was quite hungry, so she bought a lot of Liquorice Wands (which were her favorite) and a few Chocolate Frogs. The wizard left and they sat back
down.
“Do you want some gum? It’s Drooble’s,” Letty asked, her mouth half full with a Cauldron Cake.
Andromeda looked at the gum. Her mother had never let any of her children chew gum; she thought it was a repulsive habit. Andromeda had only really had it once, and only then it had been a flavorless pink piece Bellatrix had smuggled into the house.
Since she had never had Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, and it was said to actually be the best, she ignored her mother’s ever sounding voice in her head and took the offered piece.
It tasted delicious, like raspberry, and when she blew a bubble (which was patterned with red and pink stripes) it broke free from the rest of the gum and began to float around the compartment.
While they were laughing at the fact that a bubble was stuck to Andromeda’s shoe, the compartment door opened once again.
Three people stood in the doorway. Two of them (the girl and one of the boys) were very tall and dark. They looked to be in some way related. The other was a short, pasty boy with chubby cheeks and brown hair. They were all wearing their robes.
“Hullo, are you first years?” the tall girl asked.
“Yeah, both of us!” Letty said, happy at the prospect of meeting new people.
“Us too,” the tall boy said. “We wanted to go around and meet some of the other first years.”
Andromeda chewed on her gum in a way that would make Druella gape in horror. “I’m Andromeda Black,” she greeted, offering her hand to the short boy.
Then there was quite a lot of handshaking and introductions. The two tall ones (who happened to be twins) were Anna and Theodore Sparrows, and the other boy was William Hatch.
“Did you two and William just meet?” Letty asked. She was evidently enjoying the extra company.
“No, we’ve known William for ages,” Theodore said.
“Our parents are friends,” William put in.
“You two should get your robes on. We were just up front and the driver said that we’ll be there soon,” Anna said.
“See you in Hogwarts!” Theodore said, shutting the compartment door behind him.
With much hooting from Icarus, he was getting jostled around quite a bit, they hopped into their robes and pressed their noses up against the window, trying to see through the thickly falling rain. After a while, Andromeda cried, “I see the station!”
The conductor’s voice echoed through the train, telling them to leave their luggage in the compartment. Soon the Hogwarts Express rolled to a stop, and all the excited students spilled out onto the platform.
Andromeda stayed close to Letty and held her arm up to shield her face from the down pouring rain.
“Now what?” she yelled to Letty over the buzz of the crowd.
But her answer was given in the form of the largest man she had ever seen. “Firs’ years!” he boomed. “Firs’ years over ‘ere!”
Letty grabbed her elbow and they pushed their way towards the large man. Soon they were crowded around him with the rest of the first years. Andromeda blinked up at him in amazement, wondering if she had come across a bad Engorgement Charm.
“Firs’ years are lucky,” the man, who said his name was Hagrid, said. “Ye get ter go across the lake!”
“I wouldn’t call us lucky,” Letty whispered, and Andromeda nodded in agreement; it was really raining quite heavily.
They followed Hagrid up a hill, then to the edge of a vast, dark lake. A little fleet of boats floated before them.
“Four ter a boat!” Hagrid called.
Andromeda and Letty piled into a boat with two blonde girls. She saw a flash of pink in the boat ahead of them, and, with a jerk, all the boats began to glide across the water.
The trip across the lake was not an easy one. The rain poured down and the waves rocked the boat. One of the blonde girls got a little sick. Then, lights appeared in the distance.
“There it is!” the other blonde girl cried.
Although the heavy rain impaired her vision, Andromeda saw that Hogwarts was very big, had many towers and turrets, and a large grounds. The nervousness of being sorted began to gnaw away at her stomach.
The boats bumped against the shore and all the fist years (slipping and sliding in the mud) followed Hagrid through the grounds and to a pair of large oak doors.
“Everyone ready?” Hagird asked.
There were a few half-hearted ‘yes’s’ and one queasy sounding ‘no’ from the blonde girl who had gotten sick in the boat. Despite their answers, Hagrid pushed them into Hogwarts.
The Entrance Hall was very large, bright and warm. It made Andromeda feel very small and wet.
She began to wonder if the Black family lived in a very different way from the rest of the world upon seeing a tall man in aqua robes, buckled boots, pointed hat and the longest silver hair she had ever seen, striding towards them.
“Ah, first years! Welcome to Hogwarts! I am Professor Dumbledore, the Deputy Headmaster,” he greeted happily.
“Sorry we’re late, Professor. The lake was rough,” Hagrid explained.
“It’s quite all right.” Professor Dumbledore peered out at them from behind half-moon spectacles. “We are all ready for you now. Follow me, if you please!”
They followed Professor Dumbledore across the Hall and through a door. Then they were led through the Great Hall, and told to stand in front of the staff table. While everyone else marveled at the ceiling, Andromeda scanned the Slytherin table for Bellatrix. Once found, Bellatrix gave her a reassuring smile that only made her more nervous.
While she had been looking for her sister, Dumbledore had placed a stool and a tattered old hat in front of them. Andromeda looked expectantly at the hat; Bellatrix had told her it was supposed to sing.
She listened while the hat sang about brave Godric Gryffindor, ambitious Salazar Slytherin, just Helga Hufflepuff and intelligent Rowena Ravenclaw. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, waiting for it to be done.
After the hat was done, the Hall burst into applause and Dumbledore cleared his throat for silence. “When I call your name, please step up and be Sorted,” he said. “Alderton, Damon!”
Andromeda watched eagerly as Damon Alderton sat with the Sorting Hat on his head. It wasn’t long before the hat shouted, “Ravenclaw!”, and he scurried away to his new house mates.
“Applebottom, Anne-Marie!”
The other blonde girl who she had shared a boat with, put on the hat and became a Hufflepuff.
“Black, Andromeda!” Dumbledore called.
Andromeda started at the sound of her own name and quickly went up and sat on the stool. The hat slipped down over her ears and she was plunged into darkness.
“Hmm, a Black, eh?” a voice sounded in her ear. She jumped once again. “Well, usually Blacks are true born Slytherins, but there have been some exceptions. Let’s take a look inside your head.”
Andromeda waited as patiently as she could for the hat to finish. Then, finally, it spoke. “Now, I know you would hate to disappoint your family, but you belong in RAVENCLAW!”
The hat was plucked from her head and she was pushed towards the Ravenclaw table, which was cheering loudly. After sitting down next to someone who looked vaguely familiar, she craned her neck to spot Bellatrix, but she couldn’t see her.
She didn’t have time to dwell on why she felt strangely relieved, because after “Bobbin, Olivia!” was sorted into Hufflepuff, it was Letty’s turn.
The hat was on Letty’s head for quite some time. Finally, after a good two minutes, the hat shouted, “RAVENCLAW!” and Andromeda cheered loudly. It would be great having somebody she already knew in her House.
Letty plunked down on the other side of Andromeda. “This is excellent!” she said happily.
“Congratulations, Letty,” the boy on the other side of Andromeda said.
Andromeda could now see why he had looked familiar. He and Letty looked uncommonly alike, and they both shared the same unfortunate hair.
“Andromeda, this is my older brother, Liam,” Letty explained.
While Diggory Catchlove became the first Gryffindor, Andromeda and Liam were being introduced.
The Sorting went by in a whirl of names and Houses. Anna and William went to Gryffindor, but Theodore got sorted into Hufflepuff. Finally, Andromeda watched as Bellatrix clapped when Dorset Pritchard became a Slytherin, and Dumbledore took the hat away.
The Hall fell silent as the Headmaster, Professor Armando Dippet, stood. “Welcome to Hogwarts!” he wheezed.
And Andromeda smiled, glad she was finally here.