Suzanne Twonk was laughing and Andromeda wasn’t listening. She was sitting next to Suzanne at the Ravenclaw table examining her new timetable. Her summer had passed as her summers normally did spending half her time at her house and half her time at their summer home in France (her French was getting remarkably good). It was needless to say that she was elated to be back at school to start her third year.
Just last night at the Sorting ceremony, her youngest sister, Narcissa, had been Sorted into Slytherin, much to the delight of Bellatrix and their parents. Andromeda had listened to her complain for half an hour about how drafty the dungeons were.
“Don’t you think so, Andromeda?”
“Ah- what?” Andromeda shook herself out of her daze. Suzanne spent so much of her time laughing over things that weren’t remotely funny that Andromeda had learnt to tune her out.
She was saved from Suzanne’s explanation when Letty poked her in the shoulder.
“Says here we have Care of Magical Creatures with the Hufflepuffs,” Letty said, pointing it out on her timetable.
Andromeda was very excited for the extra classes she was taking on this year - Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. Letty was also taking Care of Magical Creatures, but had opted for Muggle Studies as a second course.
“Is Theodore taking it, too?” Andromeda asked, craning her neck to see the Hufflepuff table.
Theodore was not at the Hufflepuff table. Andromeda searched the rest of the Hall and found him at the Gryffindor table, bending over his sister, Anna’s, shoulder. Quite suddenly, Anna hopped up, causing a plate of sausages to crash to the floor and hurried out of the Great Hall. Theodore quickly followed.
“I wonder what that was about?” Andromeda wondered aloud.
“What?” Letty asked, still immersed in her timetable.
“Anna and Theodore… I’m going to go see if everything’s alright… See you in Potions.” Andromeda slung her bad over her shoulder and followed the twins.
She found them by the staircase. Anna was wiping furiously at her eyes with the sleeve of her robe.
“Is everything alright?” Andromeda asked, noting the tears leaking out of Anna’s eyes. She produced a green spotted handkerchief from her pocket and stuffed it into Anna’s hand. She always carried one; it was a habit forced upon her by her Uncle Alphard (“You’ll never know when you’ll need a hanky!”).
Her friend buried her face into the handkerchief and fled up the stairs. Andromeda stared after her, confused.
“What’s wrong with Anna?” she asked Theodore, worried.
“W-we’ve just gotten a letter from Mum,” Theodore explained, trying to keep his voice level, “and Dad’s… been in a car accident.”
Oh, Merlin.
“Oh, Theodore,” Andromeda stammered awkwardly, not knowing what to say. “I-I’m sorry.”
“I’ve got to go get Anna.” He then ran up the stairs after his sister.
Andromeda nodded mutely after him.
*
Andromeda did not know a whole lot about cars. She had never actually been inside one before, but she knew that Muggles drove them, like broomsticks, and that they could go rather fast.
Judging by the fact that neither Anna, Theodore, or even William Hatch (who, Andromeda knew, was a close friend of the Sparrow family) showed up for any classes that day, she realized it meant that the result of the accident could not have been good.
Andromeda walked through the corridors, anxious, to see if she could find Anna or Theodore. If she couldn’t, perhaps she could track down Professor Dumbledore or Professor Sprout to see what had happened.
But before she had found any of the people she was looking for, someone who she had not thought to ask tapped her on the shoulder as she waited for a staircase to finish moving.
It was Thomas O’Connor, Theodore’s friend. He stood there, looking freckly and solemn for a moment. Then, “Andromeda?”
She nodded.
“Um, Anna and Theodore just left,” he said slowly. “Their da’s died.”
Andromeda put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, no.”
Poor Anna and Theodore!
He nodded. “They’re having a funeral on Friday. Theo said that if you can get permission from Professor Flitwick or Dippet, he and Anna’d like you to come.”
Her eyes widened. “To the funeral? Me?”
“I’m going, too. They don’t have a whole lot of family, so they wanted some friends there with them,” Thomas explained.
“Well “ I…” Andromeda began. “Sure. I’ll ask Professor Flitwick straight away.”
Professor Flitwick gave her permission to miss classes for that day and attend the funeral, also expressing his sincerest condolences.
She was going to a Muggle funeral on Friday. As of late, her mother’s voice had stopped intruding into her thoughts, but it could not resist as Andromeda prepared to do something so heathen.
Muggles in mourning! it cried scornfully. The less of them there are, the better off wizard kind will be!
It seemed as if ignoring her family’s values was a choice she was faced with daily. She loved her family very much, and Anna and Theodore wanted her support. But was attending the funeral of a Muggle man whom she didn’t even know just too much?
*
On Friday morning Andromeda got ready and slipped into a black dress Suzanne had lent her, which was just a bit too big.
She bid Letty goodbye and made her way to meet Thomas in Professor Flitwick’s office, where they would then Floo to the Sparrow’s.
Andromeda was nervous. A new, horrifying thought had occurred to her last night. How much did Anna and Theodore’s family know about their world? Did they know about pureblood families? What if, when she arrived, everyone backed away from her as if she were about to attack them, like first year Muggle-borns backed away from Bellatrix?
And her family… Great-great Uncle Herbert was the cause of Muggle funeral; he didn’t attend them! Narcissa’s voice sneered inside her head as she knocked on the door to Flitwick’s office.
“Come in!”
Andromeda entered the office. Both Professor Flitwick and Thomas were in chairs by the fire, holding cups of tea.
“Hello, Miss Black,” Flitwick said gravely, laying down his cup.
“Sorry I’m late,” she apologized, blocking out Narcissa. “I had a bit of a…” What’s a delicate way for putting ‘I had cold feet about coming to my friend’s dad’s funeral because my whole family hates Muggles with an undying passion? “…wardrobe problem.”
“That’s quite alright,” Flitwick squeaked. “Are you ready, Mr O’Connor?”
Thomas nodded.
“Here you are then.” He handed them a pot of Floo powder. “Be sure to offer Miss and Mr Sparrow my condolences.”
Thomas threw a handful of Floo powder into the fire, which sprang up emerald green and stepped into it. He said the address clearly before vanishing.
Andromeda copied him. Soon she was tumbling out of a fireplace into a dusty room. She brushed the soot off her dress and tucked her hair behind her ears in an effort to look presentable. But this effort went unnoticed, as she seemed to be in an attic.
She spotted Anna. Her eyes were very red. All thoughts of Muggles and purebloods were driven from her mind.
“Anna,” she said softly, awkwardly laying a hand on the taller girl’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry about your dad.”
Anna swept her into a hug. “Thanks for coming, Andromeda.” She offered Andromeda back her hanky.
Andromeda shook her head. “Keep it. I’ve got more.”
Anna led Andromeda and Thomas down a flight of stairs (the attic being the only place a Floo connection had been installed) to a room with several rows of seats.
Andromeda sat next to Thomas near the back and Anna went to join her brother and mother in the front row.
It was a very different experience and, and it reminded Andromeda of something Professor Dumbledore had told her during one Transfiguration class after Letty had accidentally turned her leg into a wooden paddle: your experiences help make you what you truly are. A man did most of the talking, mentioning God at frequent intervals. At one point, near the end, a small group of people sang a slow, mournful song that brought Andromeda close to tears.
Soon, it was over, and the coffin was carried out to the long, black car. Andromeda watched as everyone filed out towards the graveyard, many of them teary-eyed.
Why did it matter that most of them were Muggles and she was a pureblood witch? She was so stupid to think that it might. It didn’t matter that she could make sparks shoot out of a piece of wood when somebody that was loved had died. Andromeda shook her head, as if shaking off her ridiculous thoughts, and joined them silently as they left the house.
She met Theodore and his mother on the way out. Mrs Sparrow was a tall, pretty, black woman, who looked remarkably like Anna.
“You must be Andromeda,” she said, rather thickly. “Theodore and Anna have mentioned you in their letters.”
Andromeda nodded. “I’m very sorry about your husband, Mrs Sparrow.”
“Yes, so am I…” Mrs Sparrow said sadly. “It was so good of you to come.”
Andromeda offered her a timid smile. “It was no trouble at all.” And that was the truth.
Breaking the Mold by Thoth
Chapter Notes: So sorry that this has taken ages. My muse has decided to come back from vacation and I'll be updating more frequently! Scads of love to songbook99 and miss padfoot for help with this chapter:)