Forbidden Fate

Chapter Thirteen: The Sorting Ceremony

Andromeda and the others filed into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. It had been unnaturally warm out outside, but Andromeda felt a chill nonetheless. The sky above them was hazy with fog.

She sat at their table with Derrick and waited impatiently as the first years filed in. Derrick was craning his neck to see, as if trying to memorize all the new faces.

"Nice to see that you're taking your Head Boy duties seriously," she commented dryly.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Actually, Priscilla and I have a bet going on. We're trying to predict who the new Slytherins will be."

Across the table, Priscilla hadn't taken her eyes off the first years, muttering under her breath.

Andromeda rolled her eyes as the Sorting began. Normally, she didn't pay attention to it, instead more focused on the upcoming feast, but this year was different.

After the Sorting Hat sang yet another familiar song, McGonagall called out, "Black, Sirius!"

Sirius came forward jauntily, not even blinking as he tugged the hat over his head. Andromeda waited in agony for what had to be over a minute--typical, only Sirius would argue with the Sorting Hat--when it called out, "Gryffindor!"

The Great Hall erupted in noise. Even the teachers looked shocked. There had never been a Black in recent memory sorted into Gryffindor. Andromeda burst out laughing. This was wonderful! She clapped the loudest she could. For his part, Sirius went down to the Gryffindor table in a daze, only after McGonagall prodded him along. For once he had nothing to say!

The rest of the family wasn't taking it well. Bella's knuckles had gone white from clutching the table, her furious eyes firmly fixed on Sirius. Sitting farther down the table, Cissa was ranting to her friend, who nodded sympathetically. But however confused the Slytherins were, the Gryffindors were confused even more.

Andromeda did her best to finish watching, concentrating mostly on Sirius's new House. The next Potter heir got sorted into Gryffindor, naturally. She felt sorry for them both.

She couldn't remember the names of the other two Gryffindor boys, but one received tumultuous applause from the teachers for no apparent reason. The other looked like he hardly belonged in Gryffindor, being so mousey- like.

A redhead named Lily Evans and a blonde girl named Dorcas Meadowes smiled widely when they were put in Gryffindor. The loudest clapping came, oddly enough, from Ted. They both waved to him and Andromeda raised her eyebrows.

"They must be Muggleborn," she thought. "That's how he knows them."

Finally Derrick nudged her. "You might want to try and pay attention to those in your own House! Look, here's someone. I'll bet on him."

Priscilla turned up her nose at the small, frightened looking boy with dirty black hair. "I hope not! Go ahead and bet, Avery."

"Slytherin!" the Hat yelled. The boy skulked over to the table, receiving less-than-welcoming looks from the other first years.

Priscilla groaned as Derrick made another nick on his parchment. "I'm going to be rich; I'm going to be rich..."

"Oh shut up," she snapped back. Andromeda hid a grin.

Dumbledore made his usual slightly insane words of welcome as they all ate. But she could tell not everything was quite right. The teachers were whispering throughout the whole meal, giving each other worried, nervous glances.

The next day at breakfast, she found out why.

Ministry of Magic Employee Mysteriously Disappears

September 1970.

The Ministry of Magic recently reported that Clemens Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Catastrophes, has been missing for several days. He has not been seen at his house or any Ministry location, worrying family members. This past year Bones made enemies among high standing and prominent families, such as the Blacks and Malfoys, for his controversial plans to have Muggleborns take even greater roles in wizarding politics. Mr. Malfoy, an influential member of the pureblood community, believes "Mr. Bones does not belong as Head of that department and only seeks to destroy the world we work to protect." However, he adds, "If I receive any information as to his whereabouts, I will notify the Ministry immediately." Millicent Bagnold and other Ministry officials have refused to comment, only assuring the public that they are doing their best to "come to the bottom of this and rectify the situation."

Andromeda threw the "Daily Prophet" down on the table in disgust, almost forgetting to toss a coin to the school owl who delivered it to her.

"If the Malfoys don't have any information about where Bones is off to," she thought, "Then I'm Muggleborn!"

Was this what her father meant about "what was going on in the world"? Now it made sense that he knew before anyone else--he was probably in on it!

Andromeda twisted around to signal Ted at the Hufflepuff table. He was joking with his friends, totally unaware that the "Daily Prophet" just reported something odd, something possibly sinister.

"Tonight," she mouthed to him. "Let's meet."

He nodded, bemused.

~~~

In the Room of Requirement, Ted ran over to Andromeda, tripping over his own robes in his hurry. Not exactly the grand meeting he'd planned on having! She laughed and mock-fell on the ground beside him. They hugged each other tight and kissed.

"We must be the only two people in this school who are glad that summer's over," Ted said when they broke apart.

"I wish it had never begun!"

"Last year was nice, wasn't it? Now you have your cousin to worry about..."

"What, you don't think Sirius can take care of himself?" Andromeda teased. "Gryffindor, I ask you...he's going to be getting some cursed letters soon, if he hasn't already."

"He'll handle them. You must be very proud. He's a great kid."

"Wait until you're on the receiving end of one of his pranks, and then tell me what you think of him!"

They fooled around some more, but then Andromeda pulled out a paper and gave it to him.

Before Ted could ask, she said, "It's an article I saw this morning that I think you should read. I want to hear your take on it."

Ted saw the title and became apprehensive right away. The more he read, the tighter his stomach become. He set it down gently a minute later.

"Mr. Malfoy's lying," he said tensely. He still hadn't forgotten what Lucius Malfoy did to him and Kirley in his first (and last) game of Quidditch.

"That's what I thought! Is the Ministry completely naïve, or...?"

"Or are they deliberately covering up? I wondered why the teachers were so tense yesterday."

Andromeda looked him straight in the eye. "We have to tell ourselves that it's nothing to worry about. Bones is just absent-minded and went on holiday in Assyria without telling anybody."

Ted wrapped his arm around her. "I'm sure that's it. He'll turn up next week completely addled and wondering what all the commotion was about."

Even as he said that, he knew it wasn't true. It didn't reassure him any more than it reassured Andromeda.