The Andromeda Galaxy

Chapter One | Someone Special

Five years later...

Andromeda Black sat at the Slytherin table, wedged into a seat between Bellatrix and Narcissa, watching as the new group of first years were being sorted. She joined her housemates in cheering as a boy named Matthew Lancaster was sorted into Slytherin. While the names droned on and on, Andromeda found herself struggling to pay attention as the sorting was actually quite boring from the sidelines. With more students being sorted by the minute, Andromeda reminded herself to only cheer when she heard the word Slytherin. In third year she had slipped up, and mistakenly clapped when a girl was sorted into Hufflepuff. Although it was a small and innocent enough mistake, it had resulted in a very mad Bellatrix, and a punishment from her Father when she went home for the Christmas break. However, she was now entering her fifth year at Hogwarts, and she was determined to make it her best year yet. She had no time to mess up, and make needless mistakes like that again.

Over the summer, she had received a prefect badge, which was an honour that even Bellatrix had never been granted with. So far everything was falling into its place, and she could only hope that things would continue to do so for the rest of the year.

Finally, when 'Zouch, Gregory' was sorted into Ravenclaw, the sorting was finished. Headmaster Dippet walked to the podium at the front of the room, proceeding to give his routinely speech about welcoming the new students to Hogwarts, the seemingly never ending list of forbidden items, and other things that he deemed important enough to announce, such as Hogsmeade trips and whatnot. Andromeda fiddled with her thumbs, waiting for the man to finish his speech so that the feast could finally commence.

It was no secret that the Black family hated Armando Dippet. He had replaced Phineas Black as headmaster, and rather than follow in the man's footsteps, he chose to run the school in an entirely different manner. Dippet completely ignored the statures that Phineas had enlisted in his time as headmaster, causing him to become quite unpopular amongst the Black family. He even allowed mudbloods come to Hogwarts, which Andromeda's parents obviously did not agree with — finding it outrageous that their children would have to attend school alongside the filth. Andromeda had never questioned what her parents had told her about the man, simply believing whatever they said to be true.

"Now, I don't want to bore you all for too much longer, so without further ado... enjoy the feast." Dippet announced. He clapped his hands together, the feast appearing onto the long house tables within seconds.

"Thank god." Bellatrix said, sighing with relief as she piled food onto her plate. "I thought he would never finish."

Narcissa nodded her head in agreement. "He just drones on and on about nothing." She complained, neatly tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"I can't believe someone actually appointed him to be headmaster. The idiot let mudbloods into Hogwarts." Bellatrix shuddered at the thought. "I can't wait to get out of here."

"Well, you don't have much longer to wait." Andromeda pointed out. It was her sister's final year at Hogwarts, so she would be graduating at the end of the school year.

"Still, an entire year stuck here is torture. I'd much rather be serving the Dark Lord full time." Bellatrix twirled around a piece of her curly black hair on her finger, her voice menacing.

Andromeda's eyes flitted to her sister's left arm — where although she could not see it — she knew it was where the Dark Mark lay. She quickly looked away, choosing to stare at the food which she had fixed onto her plate instead.

"What's wrong, Andy?" Narcissa questioned, looking over at her sister in concern. "You've been quiet all evening. And you don't look all that well."