Love Among Muggles

Dear Andromeda,

Fancy a day out? I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron on the first of August.

Claire

During the holidays, Andromeda often stayed with her aunt and uncle in their impressive house on Grimmauld Place. Influential and talented wizards were frequent guests at the house, and Barb Black considered it a good way for her eligible daughter to meet suitable men in controlled surroundings. Andromeda missed little Bellatrix, now nine, and Narcissa, a year younger, but her small cousin Sirius made up for it. She'd take him to the park that she'd visited all these years ago. He loved to go rowing on the little lake, or to play with the dogs people took for walks there. Regulus would often come too, but he was a sullen toddler, prone to changing his mind about what he wanted to do at the last minute.

On the first of August she explained to her aunt that she was going shopping, and used the Floo network to go as far as the Leaky Cauldron. Under her voluminous robes she had a brief pink minidress and white knee-high boots, both borrowed from the Room of Requirement, and stashed in her magical handbag was a swing coat with three giant buttons, plus all the makeup she'd need. Over the summer term, she'd grown adept at dressing like a Muggle girl. Molly hadn't visited the mysterious room very often, claiming more pressing matters kept her away. (Claire and Andromeda privately agreed the pressing matters were probably Arthur, and hormones). Claire and Andromeda had grown friendlier, although Andromeda had explained that she couldn't mix too much with Claire outside their Muggle sessions in case word got back to her parents. Claire didn't seem to mind.

Quickly casting a spell to make herself less noticeable, Andromeda followed Claire out on to the London street. They ducked into an alley so that Andromeda could remove the spell and her robes and put on her coat. Claire had to do Andromeda's makeup; conditions weren't ideal in the alley, and squinting into a hand mirror made it impossible for Andromeda to do her own. Claire regarded her work critically.

"You've got an odd sort of face," she mused.

"Boring," Andromeda grumped. "Hair not one thing or another, eyes not blue or green or grey... a whole lot of nothing special." It was remarked upon within the family how beautiful Bella and Cissy would grow up to be, and Barb had already warned her eldest daughter to find a husband in the next few years, before she had competition from her younger siblings. It was insulting - Bellatrix hadn't even got past the 'I want a pony' stage yet.

"It's not a distinctive face," Claire admitted, "Yet somehow it's a good one. Think of Julie Christie." Andromeda considered the blonde actress, said to be the most beautiful woman in England. "Interesting," Claire commented. "Think of Diana Rigg."

Andromeda had only seen pictures of Diana Rigg, but tried to imagine her in The Avengers. "What is all this in aid of? Shouldn't we get out of this alley and go and have fun? I can't be out too long."

"Must be a trick of the light," Claire decided. "It's almost as though, when you're concentrating on someone, you look a bit like them. When you thought of Julie Christie, you looked a bit blonder, and when you thought of Diana Rigg your expression got all, well, foxy."

"Load of rot!" snorted Andromeda. "Lay on, McHufflepuff! To Carnaby Street!"

*******

They got off the bus in Carnaby Street. Claire had bought the tickets, but Andromeda had watched her carefully, memorising the procedure for paying a fare on public transport. Carnaby Street, centre of swinging London, filled Andromeda with delight. Both girls halted outside Mary Quant's boutique, and Andromeda seized Claire's arm when she saw the dress in the window. "Look! Isn't it beautiful? Even better than the ones in the schoolroom."

"If only we could afford it," Claire sighed.

"I'm going to wear a dress like that next term," Andromeda decided. "If I decide I'm going to, I bet the magic room will have one." Her nose was all but pressed against the glass in longing.

Claire nudged her. "Don't look round, but I think we're getting eyed up by some blokes."

The pair of them giggled. Andromeda was all dressed in pink and white, Claire in a lime-green miniskirt and co-ordinating argyle jumper and tights. "We look like proper dolly birds," Andromeda agreed.

"It's best not to talk to any men," Claire warned. "They're probably friendly, but I'd hate to give them the wrong idea. All the smart men come here to buy their suits. Smart young men, not boring old duffers, that is."

Andromeda looked at the men out of the corner of her eye anyway. She was slightly nervous of them, these rough Muggles in their sharp suits, speaking in strange ways. These Muggle might have the sharp claws and teeth her mother had always warned her about - but it would be nice to be nibbled by one, if not bitten.

They browsed round the shops for a couple of hours, and stopped for coffee in a real coffee shop, not one where Claire had to pretend to be the waitress. Andromeda had never been anywhere with a chrome counter before. It was like nothing she'd ever seen; yet everyone around her took it for granted. "You know," said Claire, stirring her coffee, "You must be the first pureblood witch ever to set foot on Carnaby Street."

"Probably," Andromeda agreed. "The others prefer the pureblood social whirl."

"You have such a pretty life, all those balls and tea parties and shooting parties. It's like something out of a magazine."

Andromeda harrumphed. "It's not all it's made out to be. Unless, that is, you like seeing the same old faces and doing the same old thing. It's a little world where you can't invite the Bulstrodes to the same event as the Notts, the Burkes and Whitbies are only invited to the more private parties as they're too disreputable to be seen with publicly, and the Prewetts, Macmillans and Weasleys are right off the social register for everything except large gatherings of all the families. Very glam. Very small."

"Well, it sounds glamorous."

"What's more, you know exactly who's going to marry whom, what job they're likely to do, where they'll live twenty years on..."

Claire grinned. "Who are you going to marry?"

Andromeda shook her head. "Not boys again! I've never seen one I..."

The doorbell rang as a group of new customers came into the shop. "Golly," said Claire, "it's Ted. Remember your practice?" Without waiting for Andromeda to nod, Claire went over to him to say hello. Andromeda surveyed the young man who'd spoken to their club at school. Today his suit was grey, with black shoes, tie and hankie. Star-shaped cufflinks adorned his white cuffs. Claire appeared to be inviting him and his friend over. The friend was far better looking, but somehow he didn't have Ted's presence. Andromeda swallowed and tried very hard to think of Brigitte Bardot.

"...And so I came into town with a schoolfriend," Claire was saying. "You remember..."

"Annie," Andromeda supplied. "Annie Black." She winced as the words came out of her mouth; her accent was all wrong. Too Hogwarts.

Ted sat down, cup in hand. "Annie Black? I've met some Blacks, but you can't possibly be a relation of theirs."

His friend laughed, "She's too posh for you to know any of 'er relatives, Ted."

Andromeda blushed, and Claire carried a rattling conversation about how she'd won a scholarship to a private school and Andromeda was in her year, which Andromeda did her best to follow. I'm as bad as Molly, she thought, willing her complexion to return to normal. Is this how she feels when she's with Arthur? Oh, get a grip, 'Annie Black', Molly's dating Arthur. You're not dating anyone, certainly not a handsome wizard with no parentage worth knowing about.

"You're a shy one," Ted said quietly to her, as Claire continued to charm his friend.

"I don't have much to say," Andromeda replied. "I've never been here before, and it's all a little much... I think you might have encountered my uncle at work, although he's not in your department."

He understood instantly. "I thought as much. Annie Black, out where her parents can't find her? You're living dangerously."

"At least I'm living," she told him. "I'm sixteen. Not a baby."

"True, true. But stick to coming here in the day, okay? You're too green to come out at night."

This wasn't the conversation she'd expected to have with the loud, jocular man she'd seen at school. She'd expected him to laugh at her, or mock her for playing at being a Muggle. He actually seemed concerned for her welfare - or was he? "You don't want me around... people?" She'd nearly said 'Muggles'.

"Well, you'll make things difficult for me if you slip up."

She looked into his eyes. "Then make sure I'm safe."

His jaw dropped for a second, and then, laughing, he said, "Annie Black, I think you'll be dangerous wherever you are."

Claire finished her monologue and suddenly squealed, "Oh, is that the time? An-Annie, we have to get the bus back. Ted, Ian, it's been lovely to meet you both."

"Well, I've got to get moving, too," Ted told Claire. "There's some drinks soiree at work on Midsummer's Eve, and I need to get something sharp to wear. The staff are bringing their families - there might be a pretty girl there!"

His friend laughed, but Andromeda hoped the message was for her. It was time for her to tell her uncle and aunt that she really would love to meet some of the Ministry staff socially...