𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡

22- Square One

"I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known"

In a way, the events that occurred over her winter break forced Andromeda to start back at square one. Before the holiday, Andromeda had been able to pretend things were perfectly fine. Now, however, Meda was sure she wouldn't be able to do that ever again, until, of course, things became perfectly fine.

The idea that her parents could shove her in the basement and not think much of it made them no parents to her. Mother and Father would never be uttered out of her mouth towards them ever again. From now on, they were the cruel Druella and Cygnus Black, and Andromeda felt no remorse towards them once so ever.

Andromeda had tried her best to stitch herself back together. For the most part, she had done a pretty decent job. Since she wasn't a certified surgeon, the emotional wounds left on her heart would create scars, but the bruises would heal with time. Her main goal was to stay as mentally strong as possible, mainly to spite her parents, yet this was quite challenging based on the fact that she had to lean on Narcissa to walk.

A day after Druella had caused Narcissa and Andromeda quite the scare in the basement, Meda woke up in her bedroom. Unable to fathom how she got up there, she wasn't surprised to find out the house elves had transported her there after getting the permission from Druella. The house elves had been quite kind to her, trying to nurse back her health to 100%.

While in the basement, Andromeda developed a head cold. Shivering in the basement for some time, Meda had been sneezing her head off, much to the annoyance to everyone around her. She also had very stiff joints from being curled into a ball for so long, which is why she had had trouble walking.

If Andromeda were a poet, she'd carefully craft her words to write a hateful poem to Cygnus and Druella. All she did instead, though, was curse them every step she took at Platform 9 3/4. Here she was, embarrassing herself in front of her peers because of them, oh, all the things she'd like to say to them...

Narcissa could tell that Meda was pissed. Who wouldn't be? Although, Andromeda had a knack for forgiving people even when they did her wrong, yet Cissy felt that their parents had done too much wrong to come back from it. She feared for their future as a family.

"Once we get on the train, I'll be okay to go off on my own," Meda said, convincing no one except herself.

Cissy raised an eyebrow at her.

"Quit lying to me," Narcissa rolled her eyes as they stepped onto the train and Andromeda nearly fell. "You can hardly walk and you're telling me-"

"Cissy! I can take care of myself now!" Andromeda whisper shouted, hyper aware that people were staring at the two sisters. "You go off and find your friends and I'll figure it out."

"Are you sure? I don't want you hurting yourself further," Narcissa bit her lip, watching as Meda leaned off her shoulder to stand up straight.

"I'm positive," Meda replied, forcing a smile onto her face as she had done a million times before.

"Okay, well, I'll check in with you later tonight or tomorrow morning before classes," Narcissa said, still unsure of her decision.

"See you later," Meda said back, watching as her sister turned to find her friends as the train started to move.

Andromeda was jolted around by the train as she was unstable on her feet. She stumbled around for a second before she decided she'd better just fall already. Before she could allow herself to fall though, someone caught her.