Love Among Muggles

Andromeda returned to her parents' grand house in Warwickshire. She'd always thought of the place as home, but never her own home. Her parents were just people she happened to share a gene pool with, but Bellatrix and Narcissa were special to her. Bellatrix was a strange little girl, forthright and idealistic. Her current heroine was Genevieve Gaunt, who had burned down Muggle London to protect witches and wizards from the plague.

Narcissa, on the other hand, was a quiet little thing, usually trotting along in Bellatrix's shadow and doing what her older sisters told her to. Andromeda had once heard their mother refer to Cissy as "a dunce - a pretty little idiot." Narcissa wasn't stupid, though, just rather easily distracted and too gentle and fearful for the real world. Afraid of the dark, scared of being carried away by Muggles, too frightened even to hold Andromeda's wand when she was permitted to. (Bella, on the other hand, had snatched it before Andromeda had even finished showing her how to hold it.)

Watching the girls play in the sunshine, Andromeda wished she'd had someone closer to her own age as a child. Perhaps she wouldn't have been as lonely. Now she was doing things she knew would displease her parents. They'd be angry if they found out about her day out in Muggle London. She hoped her sisters would understand, when they were old enough to. She loved them, and truly believed that they loved her as much.

She unrolled the letter she'd received that morning.

Dear Andromeda,

I have to get my schoolbooks for next term. Fancy me in Diagon Alley on the 23rd?

Claire

When Andromeda explained to her mother that she was meeting a friend in Diagon Alley, Barb looked sharply at her, as though trying to work out what Andromeda might be up to, but happily for Andromeda she was unable to read minds. She handed Andromeda a bag of Galleons. "Don't go spending it all on books," she warned. "Your aunt said you looked a fright at the Ministry party - Merlin only knows why she let you out in those mauve dress robes."

Probably because they're the only ones you've ever bought me, Andromeda thought. "I could do with a nicer set," she admitted.

"Well, I don't have time to go shopping with you. Your father is getting involved with some like-minded friends, people who share his political point of view, and being here to support him is rather more important than buying robes. Use some of this money to get yourself something nice. Eye-catching, that is. You're coming of age this December, and we'll probably throw a party."

"Yes, mother," Andromeda agreed, with a genuine smile.

******

Andromeda met Claire in the bookshop. Whatever her mother said, books were her priority and she'd buy the dress robes with whatever money she had left over. She had plenty of money anyway; she could probably get three new outfits if she wanted. Like any good Ravenclaw she preferred to think of her NEWTS.

"You're not taking Muggle Studies?" Claire looked crestfallen. Despite not needing the information within (and it being completely out of date), she had the required NEWT-level volume, entitled Flappers, Vamps and Bright Young Things: a Guide to Muggle Youth under her arm.

"It clashes with Arithmancy, and there's no way the parents would let me take Muggle Studies instead of that."

"I thought you might be considering getting involved with Muggle Liaison," Claire said, slyly, pretending to browse along a shelf of Haynes car manuals.

Andromeda looked wildly around, hoping no one who knew her parents was within earshot. There were only a few witches and wizards nearby, however, and she doubted too many people from her parents' set would venture into the Muggle books section at Flourish and Blotts. "SHHH!" she hissed, desperately. "Um, how did you know?"

"You looked absolutely dumbstruck when Ted turned up at Muggle Studies Club. I thought it was horror," Claire admitted. "I thought you were appalled at his Muggle clothes. Then, when he bumped into us in that café, I knew. It was all over your face. You're worse than Molly for going cow-eyed at a chap you like. And Maggie said..."

"Maggie? Is that his girlfriend? The Minister's secretary? I know he has a girlfriend, I saw him with her at the Ministry party." Andromeda acted as though she was deeply engrossed in Five Get Into A Fix as a shop assistant looked in on them, wondering what all the hissing and whispering was about.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend," Claire told her. "Maggie... it's kind of a secret." She looked sternly at Andromeda."

"Oh, come on, you know enough secrets about me! I can't go tittle-tattling."

"Well, she's kind of got her own girlfriend."

Andromeda clamped her hands over her mouth in shock, and her comment came out muffled by her fingers. "I didn't know girls could have girlfriends!"

Claire shrugged. "Where I come from, they don't know girls can be witches. Girls can be anything they want to be. Anyway, you see, she can't be Ted's girlfriend. She told me that Ted is sweet on some completely unsuitable, too-pureblood-even-to-think-about, witch. Ted told me something different. He can't stop thinking about some minx in a pink dress who he met on Carnaby Street."

Andromeda felt like she was glowing with happiness. Suddenly she knew why Molly blushed so often when she talked about Arthur - it was because her heart started racing and her blood was dancing through her entire body. "We should go out in London again," Andromeda said.

"Well, not today," Claire told her. "Are you all right? You look peaky. Hey, it's lunchtime. Do you fancy an ice-cream?"

"I definitely do. It's too hot today."

They paid for their books, and Andromeda arranged to have hers delivered to her Aunt and Uncle's house on Grimmauld Place as she always stayed there the night before catching the Hogwarts Express. Then they walked together down Diagon Alley. The sun beat down on the stones, and all the wizards and witches they passed were in lightweight summer robes. Sitting down at a table outside the ice-cream parlour and ordering two knickerbocker glories was exactly the right thing to do. A few other Hogwarts students had had the same idea; Andromeda's housemate and fellow Muggle Studies Club member Hellebore Smith nodded at them both in a friendly manner, so they joined her. Hellebore was engrossed in a complicated book on rune translation; dollops of lemon ice cream dotted the page.

Andromeda went into the parlour to use the Ladies'. The loos were through doors right at the back of the room, which was also full of witches and wizards seeking a break from the sun. When she came back through the door Walden Macnair, a Slytherin sixth-year, was leaning on the wall waiting for her. "Black," he said, "You ought to know you're eating with a mudblood."

Andromeda blinked at him. He was talking about her friend, her first proper friend and the one who'd brought her more friends. "I know she's Muggleborn."

"Your mother's going to be furious," he pointed out. "And little Lucius will be so disappointed." He smirked at this.

"Little Lucius is barking up the wrong family tree," Andromeda told him. "As for Mother being angry, she constantly tells me that the problem with Muggleborns is that they don't know how to be proper witches and wizards. I can set her a good example. Mother will be thrilled; she's very keen on charity work and promoting wizarding culture."

Macnair, never the brightest candle in the box, considered this. "So you're teaching her how to be a good witch?"

"She's doing everything I do." Andromeda neglected to mention that she was also doing everything Claire did.

His face fell. "Oh, okay. Just... don't let any of her Muggle nonsense rub off on you. You're probably wasting your time, though; the most that sort can do is imitate us." Macnair sidled off again to join his own little gang of cronies who were eating their ice creams inside, in a little patch of gloom.

Andromeda returned to the table outside. Hellebore was so caught up in ancient languages that she probably wouldn't have noticed a hungry hippogriff charging down the middle of the road. Claire fell on her own ice cream and devoured it without looking up. Andromeda's eyes fell on Ted, who had been sitting with Claire but stood politely as she arrived.

"Hullo, Annie," he said. "Claire invited me to meet her during my lunch break. I didn't know you were going to be here - I'll go, I don't want to embarrass you."

"No," said Andromeda, "Please stay. I'd like you to."

"More ice-cream," Claire mumbled, and ran inside the shop. Ted and Andromeda sat together, not quite knowing what to say.

"It could be awkward for you," Ted pointed out gently. "People like you aren't generally seen having a good time with people like Claire and me."

"It's going to have to happen sooner or later," Andromeda told him. "I think... I think I'd like to spend quite a lot of time with you, Ted Tonks. I'd like to get to know you better." She loved his serious, taking-care-of-things, expression as much as she did the cheeky chap with the sharp suits and the twinkle in his eye. She was never quite sure which Ted she'd find herself talking to next: safe Ted or slightly dangerous, flirty Ted.

He grinned and lowered his voice. "Let's meet somewhere more fun - I'll take you out in Muggle London next time you're in the city."

Andromeda considered this. "Proper Muggle, mind you. I don't want to risk being seen." She winked at him.

"You're all right, Annie," he told her.

She grinned. "I'm better than all right. Hey, do you ever visit Hogsmeade?"

"Haven't been there since my schooldays."

"Well, how's about you come to see me next Hogsmeade weekend? It'll be fun. Go on, live a little. I can't wait until the Christmas break to talk to you again."

"Your parents will have my head on a stick," he laughed.

"Sticks for two it is, then," Andromeda agreed.

They grinned at each other. My first date! Andromeda thought. Okay, not a lovey-dovey date, but it's a date. This could be the start of something wonderful. This time, she knew, the happy times could last forever.