star child

Narcissa knew this was coming eventually. She should have told her sisters herself, really, but she didn’t look forward to this conversation, however much she had prepared for it. 

“Honestly? I don’t know.” That was the best answer she could come up with, at least as far as her sisters went. When people started asking, as she knew they eventually would, she would make up something else, but she wouldn’t lie to her sisters. “ A Malfoy is a good match, of course, I couldn’t ask for any better.  But I don’t know Lucius. He has an ambiguous reputation to say the least, and I don’t know how to feel about that. Or him. Guess I’ll have  to get used to him, won’t I?”

Andromeda nodded as her sister spoke. Lucius was a good match; the Malfoys were a highly-regarded pureblood family and the pairing certainly made their parents happy. “I wish I could help you there, I don’t know that much about him either. A reputation isn’t always the truth, at least.” He was better than some other potential suitors their parents could have stuck her with, that was for certain, but Andie still worried for Narcissa. She didn’t want her sister to simply ‘get used’ to someone. “Have you talked to him at all yet? About this?”

“Well that’s kind of them,” she snorted sarcastically. “I think that means they’re trying to make sure to find a distant enough cousin that your babies don’t come out with extra fingers,” Bellatrix chuckled. “Oh Merlin, yeah. That was totally my fault. I’ve never seen someone so upset over a bowl.” 

Her nosed crinkled in disgust, “We better be past that. I’m apparating to Russia if they put me with someone we’re even barely related to.” Andie’s tone was joking, but also... Their family history didn’t give her much hope. “You would’ve thought we’d murdered someone. That probably would have been better, honestly, I still hear about it sometimes.”

“I asked if you were okay. You looked like you were about to fall asleep.” Sybill chuckled lightly. “Do you maybe wanna take a break? We can come back to this another time.” Honestly, she could do with a break as well. But she didn’t have a reason for one other than she was just bored of working on her homework.

“Oh - Yeah, no, absolutely, I’m okay! Maybe the slightest bit tired.” Andie laughed, closing her book. Not looking at tiny letters sounded wonderful. “A break sounds great. None of the words I just read made any sort of sense.”

His eyes went wide with a genuine smile. “Queen Margaux? Didn’t attack anyone? Are you sure you had the right cat?” he asked in disbelief. He thought for a second about her question, trying to think of some sort of answer that would satisfy her. “I mean, nothing’s really changed for me? I’ve haven’t lost a game of chess or gobstones yet, herbology still sucks, I’m still single… breakfast was good this morning, I guess?” 

“Unless someone else has an awfully tempered hairless cat, though I’m pretty sure I’m alone in that category. I was pretty shocked too.” Andromeda stopped walking for a moment, acting as if she was deeply considering whether or not she should accept Ted’s answer. “Major development, breakfast was good. That works!” she laughed and carried on walking, “Hopefully lunch will be another major development, then. ...How have you gone this long at school not losing once?” 

Ariel shook her head at the sight. The Slytherin girl seem like she was not ready to get up and go to bed. Unless… “You’re snoring, Black. You sure you don’t want to go to bed?”

“I don’t snore.” she answered, though she didn’t actually have any proof of that and was now quite self-conscious about whether or not she did, in fact, snore. “No, there’s time for that later. Now there’s lots of schoolwork, unfortunately due tomorrow.”

“It’s more broadly speaking, I guess. At least this year hasn’t been boring for one second.”

“You’re not wrong about that. I don’t quite know if I’d put it in the total shit-storm category yet, but one more thing will certainly push us there.” She opened her mouth to continue, but stopped herself just as quickly - she was about to admit that a shit-storm year might even be fun, but realized how god-awful that would have made her sound considering what the year had consisted of thus far. “Speaking of.. Have you heard any news regarding you-know-what?” 

“Oh god, please don’t mention exams,” he begged, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Ted absolutely had more on his mind than exams, but that minor stress was incredibly unnecessary on top of the major stress he already had. “I can’t handle it on top of everything else.” His tone was joking, but there was definitely a bit of truth to his words. He then shook his head. “’Major developments?’” he repeated with a slight chuckle. “No, since when do I have any major developments? Like ever?”

“Never to be mentioned again.” she mimed locking her mouth with a key. She was just as glad to not think of exams any time soon - besides, they still had time, didn’t they? “Oh, come on, everyone has major developments. Even if they’re small to everyone else. My cat managed to accompany me to class and didn’t attack another cat - or person - once. A major development to him and me, small to everyone else. You don’t even have one of those?” 

Bellatrix took the letter from her sister and scanned over her mother’s cursive writing. “Wow,” she said when she’d finished. “All that in one letter,” she remarked. “I am surprised they haven’t saddled you up with anyone yet though. At least you know they haven’t forgotten,” Bella chuckled. “God I can’t imagine her sending a howler, that would be publicly admitting her daughters aren’t perfect.” 

“Yup.” she responded, popping the ‘p’ at the end of the word. “They made sure to emphasize they didn’t forget me. They’re just finding ‘a good fit’ - what does that even mean?” Andie rolled her eyes, “Imagine the shame of not having perfect daughters. Oh! Remember that Howler last year? When she found the broken china bowl?”

“We will,” he promised her. “I just don’t want you falling asleep while we do.” He laughed before nodding. “Lunch break, perfect, let’s go,” he said, packing up his things into his bag and throwing his bag over the shoulder. He let her lead the way, walking right next to her. “So besides being more tired than I think I’ve ever seen you, how are you?”

“Suppose that wouldn’t help you much, would it?” Andromeda quickly - but neatly - threw her books into her bag. She was certain she wouldn’t fall asleep anytime soon, as long as she kept moving in some capacity. “Just you wait until exams. I’m alright, otherwise - how are you? Any new major developments in the life of Ted Tonks?” She wasn’t going to bother him about her parents, and the only other exciting thing happening to her at the moment was between her, Hestia, and the ghosts. Besides, the way things were going at school, every day she found herself increasingly worried about her Muggleborn friends - Ted especially.