𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡

8- A Demanding Bozo

"Choose your words 'cause there's no antidote
For this curse"

All Andromeda ever wanted to feel in her life was free. She wanted freedom from the chains that her family had put on her since birth, freedom from their standards and their way of life.

Wanting to be free while your constellation was called The Chained Woman was poetic in a way that Meda hated. It made her feel like it was her fate to be chained to the hell that her family had created for her. That her fate was to become a housewife, produce an heir, and become her mother.

Now, thinking that was enough to cause herself to panic about her future, so she decided to veer her thoughts away from the fact that she would have an awful decision to make in the future.

Herself or her family?

As a Black, it is engrained into your brain from a young age that family always comes first, no matter what. If something brings dishonour onto the family, then you're not allowed to do it. This ideology was problematic for Andromeda because it upheld things that she didn't agree with at all.

The much scarier option was to choose herself, and while this would be the obvious option to many, Andromeda didn't know if she had the bravery to do so. Leaving her family would be seen as selfish and stupid, however, it could create a beautiful life.

The very thought of getting disowned sent a shudder through Meda. Not yet. She desperately tried to focus on the pages in front of her and not the quidditch players out in the sky.

Fifteen minutes passed and she still was revising for the exams that would grace her with their presence in a few months. Deciding it was probably okay to look out the window again—after all, she had made it a whole fifteen minutes—Andromeda watched the quidditch players fly around happily.

Ravenclaw had just won the quidditch cup over the past weekend, so three out of the four houses—you can probably guess which is absent—dictated their own tournament that combined the different houses' players together and separated everyone onto different teams. Henri was on a winning team at the moment, this was about all Meda could tell, except for the fact that they all looked free up on those brooms.

Their smiles would more likely than not be etched into Andromeda's memory permanently. She wanted to be as free as them.

...

Thoughts perturbing her sleep, Andromeda revised more than she slept these days. The only downfall to this was that the professors could tell; maybe it was because of the dark eye bags under her eyes or maybe it was because she was nudged awake every so often by her seat partner. Whatever the circumstances, McGonagall asked her to stay after her transfiguration class.

Immediately doubting herself, Meda jumped to the conclusion that her last essay she turned in was rubbish. Trying to undo her mistake, she jumped ahead of McGonagall and started to speak.

"I swear I can do better on my essay!" She rushed out, anxiety written on her face. "I understand it's in my best interest to put my best foot forward before exams."

She only paused to take a breath, not even stopping when McGonagall looked like she wanted to interject.

"That's why I've been revising tirelessly!" Andromeda explained. "I need to get excellent marks-"