Symphony | Andromeda Black

Apologies

Madam Pomfrey came to check her hand after a while. When she pulled the blankets off Andromeda she saw that Glenda had pulled her curtains shut.

"You two," Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "Best friends one minute and tearing the heads off each other the next. I hope you didn't say anything too terrible."

"I did," she said shamefully. "I think I really insulted her. But she said stuff about my family too."

"You'll have to work it out."

After a while, Andromeda took out the chessboard and tried to play by herself. Needless to say, it wasn't much fun. As the knights started bickering, she slumped back in her chair.

"Um," said a small voice. "Can I play?"

Andromeda scowled at Lacrimosa. Scowling wasn't really something she was taken to doing, but she wasn't Cygnus Black's daughter for nothing. "Why?"

"I just want to play, that's all."

"Fine then," Andromeda said grumpily, pushing the pieces off the board and began setting them up again. "It doesn't mean we're friends."

"Of course not," she said, and the old Lacrimosa was back for a moment. "Like I'd want to be friends."

She sat down in the chair opposite Andromeda and took control of the white pieces. It was a while into the game before Lacimosa spoke.

"I'm sorry for ripping your book."

"So you've said," Andromeda poked a pawn so it moved forward.

"I didn't know it was....you know, that important to you," Lacrimosa moved her own piece.

"It is. My friend gave it to me, and he's dead."

"My father's dead," she said quietly. "I wouldn't like anyone destroying his things either."

Andromeda looked up from the board. "Why are you doing this? Why are you acting so weird?"

Lacrimosa was looking down at the board, but Andromeda saw her blush red. "I just....feel bad. I know I was acting like an idiot all last year and – and –"

She bent her head even more, until she looked like a squashed paper doll. "I was kind of jealous," she mumbled. "Of you and Glenda. That's why I said all that horrible stuff."

Andromeda blinked. "Oh," she said, not really sure how to respond. For something to do, she moved another piece, but she wasn't watching what she was doing. Lacrimosa had set the game up in such a way that she swept the board a mere fifteen minutes into the game, until Andromeda's king threw his crown down.

Andromeda stared in shock. "You're good."

Lacrimosa cleared her throat. "My father taught me. Didn't yours?"

Andromeda shook her head. "He doesn't play chess. Nor does my mother."

"Or mine. She's got this boyfriend now, anyway."

"My mother had a boyfriend. Well, kind of. He died."

"I wish my mother's boyfriend would die," she murmured, then pushed her pieces off the board. "Another game?"

Lacrimosa won the next three games. Andromeda, who had thought herself rather good, was incredibly outmatched.

After that, it was time for dinner. Madam Pomfrey checked on them and said to great dismay that they'd be leaving the Hospital Wing that evening. Glenda's curtains were still closed, but Madam Pomfrey yanked them open and told her to stop moping. She came out to eat with them, avoiding Andromeda's eye. It was quiet.

"I'm sorry I said all that about your father," Glenda mumbled at last, scraping the bowl with her spoon. "And your family."

"I'm sorry about what I said about yours," she mumbled back. "And for pulling your hair like that. I won't say that word again, not if it's bad."

Glenda smiled hesitantly at her. "Are we friends again?"

After dinner, they took out the cards and all three of them played together. When Madam Pomfrey saw, she shook her head, but smiled and gave them all some toffee.

When they came out of the Hospital Wing that evening, they went towards their common rooms. Later on that night, Andromeda was still there, trying her best to catch up on work she'd missed. The only other person still up was Narcissa,  doing some homework by the fire. Andromeda tried to help her, but she waved her away. "Don't you need help reading the questions?"

"No. Professor Chambers wrote them out simple for me. She says I'm just dyslexic."

"You're what?" Andromeda said, still suspicious her sister was being made fun of.

"It's a condition, Andy," Narcissa explained. "Professor Chambers told me about it. She has it too. It means the words get muddled up, and I just need a little bit of help. So Father was wrong," she added defensively. "I'm not stupid."

"I knew you weren't," she said, a little faintly. "Anyway, what about your new friends? Do they help you?"

She shrugged. It was remarkable how shy and frightened she had been on the first day. Now it seemed like she'd lived in Hogwarts all of her life. "Yes. They're all right," she put down her quill and bit her lip. "Andy, I think Bellatrix is writing letters to someone."

"She writes to Mother and Father," she said dismissively, going back to her own work.

"Someone else. I came down last night and she was here on her own, writing one. She hid it when she saw me," Narcissa paused. "Do you think she has a boyfriend?"

Andromeda thought back to the previous Christmas, Bellatrix and her friends laughing over a letter. "Maybe," she said, and she didn't like how twisted her stomach felt. "Well, she is fifteen. Grandmother says that's old enough to get married."

"Grandmother would almost say you're old enough to get married, and you're thirteen. You know what she's like. Even Mother says Bellatrix is too young to get married. And if she has a boyfriend, why is she keeping it a secret?"

Andromeda didn't like the idea that lurked in her mind. Narcissa was obviously thinking the same thing, nibbling her lip hard. "You don't think it's a mudblood?"

"No," Andromeda said, but she didn't really believe her own words. "Bellatrix wouldn't. Not a – one of them."

She felt guilty thinking about saying the word when she had promised Glenda not to. Narcissa had an irritating habit of voicing Andromeda's deep down worries, so deep down she didn't want to think about them. Now, in a hesitant tone, she voiced one.

"Unless she's writing to....him."