It Started on the Train

27

After we ate, we sat around the fireplace, and Andromeda told us a bunch of funny stories about her, Narcissa, and Bellatrix when they were kids.

"Lucius used to have this little ponytail before his hair as long as it is now because it looked weird down at that length. By the way, the ponytail look did not work for him, don't tell your father I said that Draco. So, one night he didn't bring Cissy back home on time, and Bella was always crazy overprotective, especially when it came to Cissy and Lucius, so she grabbed him by the ponytail and dragged him over to the couch. But she had her wand in her hand because she had just used it, and she accidentally singed off half of his ponytail."

Draco and I were laughing hysterically at imaging young Lucius with a burnt ponytail.

"Alright, well you should both probably get to bed. It's almost midnight, and you leave tomorrow, so get a good night sleep."

"Thank you again for letting us stay here." I say as I walk down the hall to my room.

"No problem at all."

...........................................................................

I woke up in the middle of the night. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, I decide to get up and sit over by the fire for a while.

When I get to the living room however, Andromeda is already there.

I try to back away before she sees me but it is too late.

"Addilyn, you don't have to go because of me. Come over here." I walk over and sit in a chair next to her.

"Can you not sleep either?"

"I rarely can. Especially with everything that is going on nowadays. I prefer to sit out here and read."

"I can see the appeal. This room is quite calming."

"I fashioned it to look something like the room I grew up in. Bella would always scream in her sleep when she had nightmares, too proud to find someone to help her, but Cissy. Cissy would crawl into my bed if she had a nightmare. She would tell me about it, and I would make jokes. Help her feel better. Sometimes she would cry, and I would pat her on the back, and tell her it was going to be okay. Then finally, she would fall asleep once she felt better. She never grew out of it. She had nightmares quite often, but I never minded it when she would wake me up in the middle of the night. In fact, it was one of my favorite things. We would talk for hours. She and I were always close."

"She misses you."

"Hmm?" Andromeda turned to me, as if she had just remembered I was still there.

"Narcissa. She misses you a lot."

"She does." We both turn to see Draco leaning against a the wall.

"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" Andromeda asks.

"No don't worry. I couldn't sleep. But my mother, she does miss you." Draco comes over, and sits on the arm of my chair, and puts an arm around me, gently rubbing my back. I rest my head on his side and put a hand right above his knee.

"She does?" This seems to brighten Andromeda up a bit.

"Yeah. Sometimes, when no one was around, she would tell me stories. She said you would make them up for her when she couldn't sleep. She kept a picture of you in her bedside table, but when I was at an age when she and I were the only ones that went into my room, she moved it in there. She wanted it there so that I could recognize you, even if I couldn't really know you."

Andromeda smiles widely, seemingly happy that her little sister still cared about her.

"Dromeda, I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Did you know my father?"

"I did. Amory Hale. Narcissa and he despised each other for the longest time, but then one day, Cissy was getting pushed around by another kid, and Amory stood up for her. Amory believed in peaceful solutions, as does Cissy, but Bella would have hexed the kid, and I would have knocked their lights out. But Amory lectured him, and when that didn't work, he hexed him. After that, they became very good friends. I didn't know him near as well, but he was a good man."

I smile at this. My mother and my father seemed polar opposites. It feels bittersweet. It's nice to know that my father was a good person, but it hurts to think about the childhood I could have had instead of what I had. No friends. No one.

I've blocked out everything I can, but sometimes hazy memories come back to me as nightmares.

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Trying to stop the Dark Lord."

"I thought as much. He was always a fighter. People seem to think Hefflepuffs are weak, but he was never one to stand aside and let things happen.

"He was a hufflepuff?"

"Yes. And true one to the very core."

I don't know him at all, but somehow it suits him. The one picture I've seen of him that was with my letter, he had a certain twinkle in his eye.

"Anything else either of you would like to know about your families?"

"I want to hear more stories about my father and his ponytail." Draco laughed.

Andromeda did as was requested, and even found some pictures of Lucius and Narcissa from when they were younger, and Lucius's ponytail definitely did not suit him.

...........................................................................

We ended up falling asleep there in the living room. Draco was laying out on my lap, because it seems like a bad idea to try to balance on the arm of a chair while asleep.

We wake up early the next morning though, because I have to get to the Burrow.

"Seriously thank you so much for letting us stay here. It was a pleasure to meet you both."

"I was great to meet you too. And it is also great to see my nephew for the first time in years."

Ted and Andromeda hugged us goodbye, and we set off back into town.

I wrap my arms around him tightly.

"How long do you think you will be gone?"

"Until we can destroy all the horcruxes I suppose."

"That could take years."

"Here." I hand him a piece of parchment. It was completely blank. "When you write on this piece of parchment, it appears on mine, and then clears completely when I respond. That way at least we can communicate."

"I'm still going to miss you. If I can help, please tell me."

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too. Stay safe."

"Now what fun is that?" He chuckled slightly.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

I kiss him deeply, pulling him closer. I might die before I see him next. I don't want to think about that possibility, it doesn't do any good to wonder. So I am just going to make these last moments last.

We call cabs, and go our separate ways. He goes back to the Malfoy Manor, and I go to a place near the Burrow, walking the remainder of the way.

Here comes the adventure.