Love Among Muggles

The day of Andromeda's party was the darkest in the year, right on the winter solstice. She liked it, in a way: she always felt things got brighter after her birthday. The fact that it was so close to Christmas had always been a problem when she was a child as it meant she invariably got one gift 'to cover both days', but she didn't mind that so much now she was older.

Druella, her mother, flapped in first thing in the morning demanding to see Andromeda's dress robes. Even at this early hour Druella looked immaculate, with her long, blonde hair loose down her back and her ivory silk sleeping robes floating around her. It was easy to see where Narcissa got her looks. Andromeda, who wasn't interested in appealing to any of the male guests at the party, pulled her mauve ones from her wardrobe; she knew they made her look ill.

"Oh no," her mother snapped. "Those won't do at all."

With a sigh, Andromeda got out both the ones she'd bought over the summer with Claire and the ones from Gladrags. She thought they were lovely, but her mother looked at them with distaste. "That pale blue is more Cissy's colour, and who on earth wears sage green? Really, Andromeda, you could have chosen something a little brighter. You need a bit of colour about you."

Andromeda picked up the green robes. There were deep bands of cream lace around the hem, loose wrists and neck. Her pearls would work so well with the outfit. "It's a nice colour," she said, hoping she didn't sound too defiant. That would definitely set her mother's mind against the robes.

Her mother frowned. "Well, I suppose if that's all you've got... Don't girls spend money on clothes nowadays? When I was your age, I had so many robes I couldn't wear them all."

"My money always seems to go on books," Andromeda admitted. "But look, I've got some pearls - I bought them myself - that will go with them." She showed her mother the necklace that Ted had given her.

"Hmm. I suppose you can't help being such a mouse. Mousy hair, mousy personality - I've no idea where you get it from. Certainly not my family." As Andromeda silently seethed at her mother's description of her, Druella picked up the necklace. "This really is nice, though. Well done. I don't think you can wear those outfits, but I've got some robes that will look much better and match the necklace. Yes, that will do very well."

"Thank you, mother," Andromeda managed. She didn't want her mother to lose her temper on the day of the party, and kept herself cheerful by reminding herself that Druella was running her fingers over Muggle gems, bought by a Muggleborn wizard in a real Muggle jeweller's.

Druella's final comment as she left was a cheery, "Oh, and I thought we wouldn't eat until this evening, dear. There's no point in bloating our stomachs!"

Andromeda threw herself back on the bed and groaned. It was a good job her mother was such a perfectionist. She'd spend the whole day working on her own outfit and bullying the House Elves until the downstairs rooms looked perfect. Her eldest daughter, the excuse for such a grand event, would be a mere footnote. Today, as all big occasions were, would be all about Druella.

Narcissa and Bellatrix, who were being permitted to attend the party for two hours before being sent to bed, were very excited indeed. Bellatrix was keen to get to know people. "The Carrows are going to be here," she told Andromeda, "and they were great Muggle-hunters centuries ago. Do you think the family still hunts?"

"I doubt it," Andromeda said. "It's illegal." Bellatrix's face fell. "You don't have to be quite so bloodthirsty, Bella. I'm sure you'll have fun even if you can't hunt Muggles."

"Will you dance with me, Drommy?" Narcissa pleaded. "You won't spend the whole night with boys, will you?"

"I'll always have time for you, Cissy," Andromeda promised.

"We've got to wear pink," Bellatrix grumbled. "Dark pink for me and really girly pink for her. Mother says it's so we match your flowers. I'm going to spill something on my robes."

"Mother will be very angry," Narcissa pointed out. "You'll just have to be pretty for once, won't you?"

"You're both always pretty," Andromeda told them. "The Borgins are going to be here tonight, Bellatrix. You can ask Mr Borgin to tell you about his shop."

Bellatrix's eyes lit up. "The one full of magical treasures?"

"The very same."

"Maybe the party won't be rubbish," Bellatrix conceded. Then she hugged Andromeda tightly. "Happy birthday! We bought you a present." She looked almost ashamed at this display of softness.

Narcissa stepped forward carrying an immaculately wrapped gift. "I put the bows on," she boasted.

Andromeda took it and carefully unwrapped it. Inside was a purple silk scarf with a pattern of tiny owl silhouettes embroidered in silver around the bottom. "Oh, it's lovely," she said. She cuddled both her sisters. She loved them dearly, and they, at least, had remembered why their parents were making such a fuss about the day.

**

Ted Tonks was sitting with Geraldine in the kitchen of her farmhouse. Through the window he could see it was growing dark early. While the stars were coming out, he still had a few hours to kill before going to join Sky and her friends for Aneurin's little magic show. "So," Geraldine said as she sewed something, "tonight's the night?"

Ted nodded. "Yup. Getting someone for breaching magical secrecy should do wonders for the department's image."

Geraldine held out her work. "How's that?"

Ted looked carefully at his shirt. Geraldine had carefully stitched a patch inside it along the seam, so Ted could carry his wand without it being seen. "That's not bad... I'll have to rip the stitches to get my wand out in a hurry, though."

Geraldine shrugged. "In an emergency, what does a ripped shirt matter?"

**

Andromeda bathed and washed her hair in preparation for the party. Her mother had made it plain that one House Elf, and one only, could be spared for about fifteen minutes, so if Andromeda needed help with her hair, she would have to do everything else herself. That wasn't difficult, though. With dozens of bottles of expensive bath oils and potions to choose from, and her own private bathroom to get ready in, Andromeda didn't find it a chore.

As she dried herself off, the scent of roses still filling the air as the gently pink water emptied from the tub, she glanced over the many toiletries in her bathroom. As a child she'd had a child's room close to the top floor of the mansion, where the nursery and schoolroom were, and she'd shared a bathroom with Narcissa and Bellatrix. When she was fourteen she'd been given her current room, complete with its own bathroom. I'll be giving all this up for Ted, she thought.

She rubbed her head vigorously with a towel. Stupid Annie, she scolded herself. Venus Potts dates Pongo Bulstrode because she wants luxury. You date Ted for love. Would you trade love for a lavatory?

No, she thought, but I hope I have time to stash a few bottles of bath oil somewhere before I leave here.

Once in her bedroom, wrapped in a silk dressing gown, Andromeda clapped her hands to summon the House Elf. Melly, her favourite, answered. "Hullo Melly," she said. "We need to do something with my hair."

"Mistress Druella is already telling Melly that," the elf replied, laying a confection of cream and gold brocade and gold tulle on the bed. "Miss Andromeda's hair is like a child's I am hearing. Make her look like a young lady, Melly."

Andromeda laughed. Melly carefully began plaiting her hair, drying it as she positioned it. Claire had once shown Andromeda a picture of a line of Muggle women in - what was it called? - a hair salon. They'd had strange helmet-like things over their heads to dry their hair. Andromeda was grateful for Melly. The elf's nimble fingers turned her hair into a plait encircling her head. Melly then whipped out a pot of powder and a very large brush. "Is that Midas Touch? Where did you get that from?" Andromeda asked. The hair-tinting powder was extremely expensive, and notoriously hard to obtain as its manufacturers liked to keep it exclusive.

Melly looked alarmed. "Is not... Is not Mistress Druella's Midas Touch, oh no. Mistress Druella's hair is naturally golden blonde." The elf brushed gold highlights onto Andromeda's head hurriedly and put the offending pot out of sight.

Andromeda had never suspected that her mother tinted her hair. "Come on Melly. What colour is mother's hair really?"

"Is golden blonde," Melly insisted, fixing pearl-ended hairpins around the plait.

"Okay... What colour isn't mother's hair?"

"Mistress Druella's hair is most definitely not grey," Melly told her. "Now, those is your robes, and you is to stick to white wine and champagne because if you is spilling red wine or punch on them, Mistress Druella is using the Bruising Hex. I is having to go now, because I is having many important things to do."

Melly Disapparated with a crack. Andromeda picked up the forgotten jar of Midas Touch with a smile. Melly Apparated into the room once more. "I is forgetting something," she explained, looking around. Her eyes fell on the jar. "I is not needing that, but you is not needing it either," said the elf, holding out her hand. "Please."

Andromeda fought down a giggle. "I take it Mother doesn't need it at all." She handed over the jar.

"Mistress Druella is certainly not needing it RIGHT NOW," the elf stated, and vanished once more. Ah, Melly, Andromeda thought. I'd like to see you playing politics against Lucius' father. I have the funny feeling that if you took it seriously, Abraxas Malfoy would lose.

**

Ted wandered down the hill to meet Gladys, who called herself Sky. He wondered how Andromeda's birthday party was going, and whether she really was wearing the necklace he'd given her. Maybe I should have gone to the party, he thought. Even if her parents pitched a massive wobbly, she's of age. They can't keep her at home any more.

**

Andromeda stood in the mansion's massive entrance hall, waiting to greet 'her' guests. The House Elves stood unobtrusively behind her, waiting to carry away cloaks and travelling clothes. The door was open, but carefully placed Charms kept the cold out. Someone had already arrived, possibly by Apparition straight into the house as none of the Black sisters had seen him. Bellatrix, who was not averse to a bit of eavesdropping when no one would tell her what was going on, claimed there was 'a man in father's study, but he can't be very important because I didn't recognise the voice.'

First to arrive officially were Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy, both carrying broomsticks, which the House Elves whisked away along with their travelling cloaks. Lucius' hair was messed up from the flight and his cheeks were pink, and for once Andromeda was struck by how human and good-looking he could be. Abraxas kissed her hand; Lucius, not to be outdone by his father, kissed her cheek. As they made polite conversation, Druella appeared and whisked the elder Malfoy off.

"Well!" exclaimed Andromeda. "That's nice of her! I've no idea what's going on in the study, but it's some sort of party-within-a-party."

Lucius looked at her curiously. "You don't know?"

"No, I don't - do you?"

Lucius nodded, but seemed reluctant to say more. Then he spotted two small faces peering at him through the balustrade on the floor above and changed the subject as he ran up the stairs. "Golly, it's the tinies. I can't remember the last time I saw them - it must be a year, at least. Hello, you two."

"Hello Lucius," Bellatrix said.

Narcissa looked thunderstruck. Staring hard at Lucius' blonde hair and handsome young face, she asked, "Are you a prince? Have you come to save us from the Muggles?"

As Andromeda and Lucius laughed, Bellatrix slapped Narcissa on the arm and said, "You are SO stupid! That's Lucius Malfoy, you idiot. You can't have forgotten him already. He's a wizard." She turned to Lucius. "Don't listen to her. Her head's full of stupid fairy stories."

As Narcissa's lower lip trembled, Lucius squatted down to be at eye-height with her, took the rose from his buttonhole and tapped it with his wand to duplicate it. "Any wizard worth the title would defend a beautiful witch from Muggles," he said. He gave her a flower, and then took Andromeda's arm. "Let's get a drink," he suggested.

"Oh, yes. There's champagne in the ballroom. And lots of other things, if you'd prefer anything else." As they left the girls behind at the top of the stairs, Andromeda smiled warmly at Lucius. "You've made a conquest there. She'll spend the next week talking about you - although she might not be so impressed when the duplicated flower vanishes in a few hours."

Lucius smiled regretfully. "Then you'll have to forgive me being without a buttonhole - the flower I gave her was the real one."

Andromeda was incredibly touched. Very few people took the time to be kind to Narcissa. Gentleness wasn't a praised trait in the Black family, and it showed her a different side to Lucius. "You know, it's hard for her, being the baby, especially with Bellatrix being such a little minx. I sometimes think if Cissy weren't so pretty, people would forget all about her. Bella was actually listening at the study door earlier. I told her, father will smack your bottom if he catches you!"

Lucius looked horrified. "She was listening tonight?"

"Only for a bit, and she didn't hear anything. What's the problem? Why won't someone tell me what's going on?"

"Maybe later," Lucius said softly. "You know, Andromeda, you've had some unsuitable friends. Our parents are talking politics. Your allegiances are suspect."

Andromeda drank her champagne faster than she intended to, and snorted, "So they've got a politician in there. What, old Mulciber's too radical for me after I ate an ice cream with a Muggleborn? Some crusty git from the Wizengamot sees me as tainted?"

Lucius grabbed her face roughly and forced her to look him in the eye. "Don't joke about it. Times are changing. Life is going to be hard for those suspected of being Blood Traitors. Your family and friends have given you the benefit of the doubt, Andromeda. Don't reject their generosity. Don't be a fool."

He let go, and they stared at each other in silence. Finally Andromeda said, "No wonder Mother always tells me not to talk politics at parties."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. But please, don't joke about this. It won't do you any favours."

Andromeda took a deep breath. "Mother's going to go loopy. I invited Molly Prewitt tonight."

Lucius sighed, and then looked thoughtful. "The Prewitts are a very old family, and if she's involved with the Weasleys, at least she's marrying pureblood, even if they are thorough disgraces. We can make excuses. There's nothing to say Molly won't meet anyone rather more suitable here tonight. And your mother's invited so many people she'll be lost in a sea of bodies, plus he won't be leaving your father's study. No, we can make this work, but really, you should have known better. Her family are appalling - no standards at all."

"It's very good of you to help smooth things over," Andromeda said.

Lucius walked back towards the door of the ballroom. "Tonight should be a great night," he said. "It would be shame if it got ruined over someone as insignificant as Porky. Come one, your other guests will be arriving soon. You'd better be ready to greet them."

**

Ted was bored with Aneurin's display of 'magic'. He'd dragged the whole commune, plus Ted, all the way up into the hills to a deserted mining village for at least an hour of mumbo-jumbo. It was cold and damp and very dark. First came a session of 'summoning the spirits'. As no Firewhisky or even a bottle of good old Muggle gin materialised, Ted considered the chanting a wasted effort. Any first-year at Hogwarts could have done more after a single Charms lesson, with no nonsense about spirits.

When Aneurin brought out a long, slender piece of wood, however, Ted sat up. It looked a lot like a wand: not of a high enough quality to be made by Ollivander, but serviceable.

Aneurin waved it, recited a long stream of gibberish and set a cardboard box on fire. The hippies all clapped and cheered. Aneurin bowed, and repeated the process, this time igniting a piece of wood.

Gladys, who was sitting next to Ted, whispered, "that's absolutely amazing. I had no idea he could do that."

He can't, thought Ted. He's not a wizard. Ted tried to look around the room without being noticed, to see if there was anyone new in the room. No, it was just the hippies.

"That's the only thing I've learned," Aneurin announced, "but it's pretty impressive, I'm sure you'll agree. Come on up and have a look for yourselves."

As Sunflower and Gladys-Sky fussed adoringly over Aneurin, Ted examined the burning box. He was disappointed not to catch a wrongdoing wizard, but he knew he was hot on the trail of one. The box was definitely on fire, and he'd heard the word 'incendio' somewhere in Aneurin's babble. Luckily for the hippies, all the mumbo-jumbo was heavy enough to hide anything serious, so they wouldn't need memory alterations - not this time, at any rate. "Can I have a look at your stick, Aneurin?" he asked.

"It's a wand," Aneurin said smugly. "Of course, only those of us with the gift can tell the difference between a wand and a lump of wood." Ted, clearly, was excluded from having the potential to have the gift.

"Indeed," Ted agreed, picking the wand up. As the chunk of burning wood popped and everyone turned to look at it, Ted gave it a quick swish. Nothing happened. There was no evidence of a core. As Ted had suspected, it was merely a stick that looked like a wand. Someone had somehow embedded a couple of Charms in it. From time to time the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts boys would show him things they'd confiscated - dolls that snarled to scare Muggle children, or disappearing socks. Those things were the opposite of this, though, in that they depended on the unwillingness of most adult Muggles to believe in either vanishing clothes or evil playthings. This wand was designed to play on Muggles' credulity.

"Groovy," Ted said to Aneurin as he handed it over. "You were right, though, it didn't do a thing for me."

Aneurin, sick of Gladys' fawning and keen to fob her off on Ted, smiled. "Well, my teacher's going to visit us all in a few more weeks. Why don't you come along? You might learn something."

"I'd like that very much indeed," Ted said, with honesty.

**

Andromeda's party was a raging success. Bellatrix was already charming elderly Mr. Borgin with her interest in the strange and gruesome artefacts he'd seen over the years, and many boys, eager to impress the older girls, were dancing with Narcissa because the older girls thought she was such a cutie.

Molly, plate laden with delicacies, grinned at Andromeda. "I'm glad I came. Arthur didn't want me to come. He thought it'd be awful. All snobs and suck-ups." Her vivid emerald-green robes were dramatic, but Andromeda had wanted to hug Molly for choosing them because it meant the older guests accepted her presence much more readily. Quite a few of the younger ones liked Molly, too, so her friend's presence wasn't the faux pas Andromeda had expected it to be.

Andromeda laughed. "Have you seen what Jezebel's wearing?"

Molly nodded. "I thought she'd forgotten to put a bodice on her robes. Opal has been looking daggers at her all night; I think she's planning to steal the limelight somehow. Hey, look, there's Jessie Pucey! Mind if I abandon you for a bit?"

"No, go ahead."

As Andromeda watched people of all ages having a good time, she felt happy to be a part of their lives. It was so kind of them to come and celebrate her birthday with her. Not for the first time, she wondered whether she could have sneaked Ted or Claire in. These people were being so nice. Surely most of them would have been the same towards a Muggleborn?

"Andromeda!"

Andromeda was surprised to see her mother. "Hello mother. Thank you so much for organising it. I don't think I could have dreamed of a more perfect night."

Druella smiled, taking in her eldest daughter's temporarily golden hair and beautiful borrowed dress. For once, she actually felt proud of Andromeda. "Well, it's only going to get better. Come with me. We've a very special guest I'd like you to meet. And don't forget to curtsey!"

Andromeda followed her mother to the study, keen to discover who the mysterious politician was. Only the very best families were being admitted to see him. She felt a thrill at being invited to join the elite.

The study was heavy with the scent of burning herbs and a dozen people's cologne. As Andromeda curtseyed, her father announced her in a proud voice. "My Lord, may I present my eldest daughter, Andromeda."

Andromeda rose, and took the death-pale hand of Lord Voldemort.