Love Among Muggles

Two days after the news of Caractacus Potts' arrest broke, Claire Culpeper was in a deserted classroom, working hard from a textbook. She'd been studying Muggle lessons for a while now with the help of Professor Dumbledore and Professor Plebianus. (The Muggle Studies teacher hadn't been of much use, but Professor Dumbledore was a great help.)

Andromeda had spent ages trying to find her friend. It had been difficult to ask questions without arousing anyone's suspicion. Luckily Molly had been in the Library, and they'd had a whispered conversation behind a shelf. Molly knew all the corners of the school where a person - or, better still in Molly's opinion, two people, might spend some time undisturbed, and had given Andromeda a few possible options. Claire was in a part of the school that was a little cold and damp, and so was rarely visited by anyone apart from ghosts. After locking the door and putting confusing charms on the windows so no passers-by would notice the room's inhabitants, Andromeda pulled a chair up and sat at the desk with her friend.

"Hi, Claire. How are you?"

Claire set down her quill. She'd been writing in a Muggle book, with paper pages held together with staples. It had lines already marked in it, which Andromeda thought was a good idea - it was so easy to write wonkily on parchment. "I'm not dead," Claire said. "So I'm doing pretty good, for a Muggleborn."

"Venus told me it was someone from Goblin Liaison who'd been killed. All I could think was I was glad it wasn't Ted, and I wish he could be safe. What are you reading?"

Claire flipped up the book so Andromeda could see what it was.

"Astronomy? Where did you get that funny-looking book?" Andromeda was baffled. "It doesn't look like a library book."

"It's a Muggle book, although it's useful to wizards too. I'm going. Professor Dumbledore has agreed to help me get into a Muggle university after Hogwarts, Andromeda."

"You're leaving us?" Andromeda had known Claire was feeling unhappy and had talked about living a more Muggle life, but couldn't believe she was really going to walk out on the magical community. Andromeda couldn't imagine not being around witches and wizards, even if her family rejected her. She'd imagined living alongside the Prewetts, the Bodes, and the Weasleys - all magical families. She'd pictured herself visiting Muggle places but never actually living there.

"I'm not leaving you, I'm leaving the ones who think people like me shouldn't exist... I don't want to be part of this world, not while people like me are being killed. Can't you understand that? I'm going to do Muggle Astronomy. That way, I can still come back one day."

"You don't have to go at all," Andromeda said gently.

Claire closed her book. "While the wizards were fighting Grindelwald, we Muggles had our own war. After it we really found out what one side had been doing. First they said certain people were bad. Then they started bringing all sorts of laws about separation, supposedly for everyone's good. Then during the war they shipped them off to special places where they gassed them all to death, simply for existing. Many people had the wrong religion or race. Some were handicapped or ill. Others just disagreed with the people in charge. Andromeda, I know my history. I know what's coming for all of us, and I'm getting out. I don't want to be one of those people who disappear and die."

"I know that history too," Andromeda said, "and the evil spills over from where it started. Everyone was touched by it. You can't retreat to a safe place and wait for it to burn itself out. It's already spilling over."

"What else can I do?"

Andromeda thought. "If I were you, I'd get out of immediate danger too. But don't stop being a witch! That's the only way you can defend yourself against them. The Muggles Ted works with were lucky he was watching them - that's why they're still alive. Not because they were Muggles, but because he's a wizard. You have to tell him anything you hear."

"Being a wizard didn't do Michael any good."

"He wasn't expecting any trouble," Andromeda said sadly. "You know, I've spent every day since Christmas thinking of how to get away from home... Don't laugh, but I've opened my own bank account. Now I don't know if it wouldn't be selfish to leave, not when I'm in a good position to help Ted. Venus is starting to lean on me. She might open up a little."

Claire shook her head. "Just get out. You'll get worse than bruises if your mum finds out about Ted, and heaven only knows what your scary aunt would do. Leave your parents and go somewhere safe. I thought Ted could find out what happened to Maggie and we could clear everything up. We can't. Even if we found out who was behind it, we couldn't do anything. It's not just one victim and one attacker any more."

"I don't know what to do, Claire."

"Well, I'm getting out." Claire sounded determined, but still looked sad.

Andromeda pulled Claire's book across the desk and flicked through it, but her mind was elsewhere. She'd been fascinated by Muggle spy tales for some time, and had borrowed Claire's copy of Modesty Blaise and listened to her descriptions of The Avengers with eagerness. Whenever she'd been doing something risky she'd thought of Cathy Gale or Emma Peel or Modesty Blaise and felt strong. So far, she'd been safe, although what she'd learned over the Christmas holidays had made her more scared than she'd ever been in her life. "I'll see how things go," Andromeda decided. "Venus has asked me to accompany her to her father's trial. I said I'd go."

Claire shook her head. "He deserves the Kiss, but I doubt he'll get it."

Andromeda couldn't explain why, but she felt she had to go to this trial. Maggie's conviction had been a terrible mistake, but the case against Caractacus Potts was clear-cut. She wanted to see justice done. She, along with many other people, needed to see it being done.

**

The next letter Ted sent Andromeda was full of pain. He'd happily risked his own neck to save Muggles, but couldn't bear it that his own friend had been in danger and that he hadn't been able to protect him. They'd all had a hint that Michael had been at risk, and all the Muggleborns had been extremely careful at work and in all their dealings with the wizarding world, but none of them had expected danger to come for them on the streets of London.

Oh Annie, Ted wrote, it's got them all scared. I'm not surprised Claire wants to leave. Paula's thrown in her job and gone back to the Muggle world completely. Even I find myself wondering who's next. There's a bit of trouble at work - for Jack, not for me. It all hangs on a new Ministry bill. Jack's going to fight it, though.

I'm amazed you know it was Michael who'd been killed. That information wasn't supposed to be released to the public, although with so many of your fellow students having parents in the Ministry I guess it's inevitable...

Lucius, Andromeda thought with a chill. Lucius knew it was Michael Osborne. How?

Trying to prise information out of Lucius would be trickier than getting it out of Venus.

In the end, the proposed Ministry bill became the focus of everyone's attention. The Ministry were going to severely restrict the admissions of Muggleborn children to Hogwarts. It drove everything, including the Osborne murder, from the front pages. Andromeda couldn't help feeling that The Daily Prophet had its priorities wrong. She picked up one of Marlene's discarded copies of the paper in the Ravenclaw common room, sighed, and flung it back down again. Plenty of fellow pupils were working in the common room. "They need to work out what's newsworthy," Andromeda sighed to no one in particular.

"I suppose Muggleborns being excluded from Hogwarts isn't important to you?" Marlene snapped. She'd been out of sorts since news of the bill broke.

"Marlene..." Broderick Bode began.

"I'm not standing for it!" Marlene shouted, and looked round at the other Ravenclaws. She stood up. "Neither should any of you. This bill goes against everything our House stands for - the highest standard of education for the finest minds, irrespective of wealth, parentage, nationality... oh, it makes me sick that it's even got as far as being proposed."

Andromeda shrank back in her chair; relieved that Marlene's rare anger was being targeted on the Ministry and not herself.

"What can we do?" Hellebore Smith asked, setting aside a complicated rune translation. "Read them to death? Send them a poison pen essay? We're just students, Marlene."

Marlene drew out a sheaf of parchment from her bag. "I've been thinking about this for a few days. We can lobby. This is our school they're trying to change. We make Hogwarts. The school wouldn't exist without students. I've written to my parents about it, and they've been discussing it with their friends."

She began to walk around the room, distributing sheets of parchment to the Ravenclaws. From a distance, Andromeda could see that it looked as though Marlene had already drafted a form letter of sorts. She presumed that when it was signed, the writing would change to match the handwriting of the person who signed it.

A small boy shook his head when Marlene offered him the parchment. "My mum says Muggleborns make us all less magical," he said nervously.

"Watch it, shrimp," half-blood Ellen Hartley yelled across the room, laughing. Ellen was, as all Ravenclaws were, an extremely talented witch. She easily outstripped many Purebloods.

Marlene took her parchment to someone else. "No one has to write to anyone," she said. "But I discussed it with the Gryffindor prefects, and they're doing it too. So are a couple of Slytherins, although they're keeping it quiet. The Hufflepuffs are all doing it, right down to the tiniest first-year - there's one house you never want to rile!"

Marlene walked around the room, handing out parchment. One girl took extra sheets to write to her aunts and uncles as well as her parents. Marlene walked past Andromeda without so much as waving the parchment in her direction. Andromeda felt hurt but had to admit that she had no one to write to anyway. Her parents wouldn't listen. If anything, her family would be among the bill's most vocal supporters. Andromeda buried her nose in a schoolbook and pretended she neither noticed or cared.

Later that evening, Broderick Bode drew Andromeda aside. "What is it with you and Marlene?" he asked. "She's really taken a dislike to you since Christmas."

Andromeda thought for a minute. Had Marlene also had a close brush with Lord Voldemort? She didn't think so, but the solstice had been a pivotal time for many people. Broderick was kind, and she felt she could trust him. "She thinks I don't like Muggles," she said finally. "I think she believes I don't think much of Muggleborns either."

"You're not friends with Claire Culpeper any more," Broderick said, careful to sound neither critical nor approving. "You've been different since Christmas too."

Andromeda smiled. "Yes, I am. I'm just careful. Broderick, you saw my family at Christmas. You can see how things are going. If I hang around with Muggleborns, they'll be noticed by my parents and their friends, and that can't be good for them." She drew in a breath, trying to explain. "I don't want the people I'm closest to to be hurt because of me."

"So Marlene's got it wrong? You should tell her."

"No... Broderick, it's better if she thinks I stand for everything she doesn't."

"Why? People are going to hate you."

"Trust me," Andromeda said. "Please. If she hates me, it'll be good for me."

**

Marlene's letter-writing scheme rapidly became popular, with about half the pupils at Hogwarts writing letters to their parents and members of the Wizengamot. Andromeda was one of the few not writing letters in the Library one day when Lucius joined her. "Might be a good idea if you skipped lunch today," he said cheerfully.

Thinking he, like her mother, thought she needed to lose weight, Andromeda turned to him angrily. "I'll eat what I like, thank you very much," she snapped.

He chuckled. He's growing up so fast now, Andromeda thought. Last year there was still something of the little boy about him - but he's not going through that awkward phase. He's becoming a grownup. "I just thought I'd warn you," he grinned. "I heard Goyle and Carrow discussing something. Your prefect's ruffled some feathers. She's made herself some enemies."

Andromeda was immediately suspicious. "Lucius, have they done something to the food?"

Lucius just smiled. "It'll be hilarious. You have to meet me here tomorrow to tell me how it all worked out. The Hospital Wing won't be able to cope."

Andromeda tried to look amused, because that's what Lucius expected. "I have to go to lunch, or people will think I did it."

"Stick to the cheese and salad, then," Lucius advised.

Despite Andromeda telling her classmates how delicious the Stilton and caerphilly were, the spring day was rainy and cold and most of her classmates tucked into the pork stew and chicken casserole at lunchtime. A few of the younger pure-blood pupils followed her lead and ate the cheese and salad, but most chose the hot options.

Gritting her teeth, Andromeda met Lucius the following day. "It's vile," she said. "Even when I can get into the house loos, I really don't want to." There were too many pupils in Ravenclaw for them all to be admitted to the Hospital Wing, so anyone not seriously ill was being quarantined in Ravenclaw's tower.

"Tell me McKinnon got it worst," Lucius begged, his face shining with joy.

"No, some little girl in the first year. Food poisoning can kill, you know - her parents might have to be called."

Lucius shrugged. "Ah well."

"Lucius..." Andromeda sounded wheedling. "How do you know so much? I mean, you knew about this - and you told Venus that Michael Osborne was the person her father killed."

"Oh, I'm in the right place at the right time," Lucius said. "Goyle can't keep a secret for toffee. Father knew about Osborne, of course. He hated him, the man was incompetent and had no manners - but what could you expect from a Mudblood? Anyway, he was thrilled that Potts bumped him off. He knew about it from the time of the arrest. He's got connections."

"My parents never had much to do with him," Andromeda said. "Potts, I mean. He's a bit vulgar, isn't he?"

"It hasn't stopped your Uncle Orion employing him." Lucius laughed, and then noticed Andromeda's startled expression. "Oh, you didn't know. Well, he won't be using him any more. Lots of people used Potts for odd jobs. Venus used to give herself such airs..."

"Lay off Venus."

"Oh, Andromeda. Venus may be a Bulstrode one day like she's always telling us, but she'll marry Pongo. She's caught a falling star if ever there was one. Pongo's brother, now he's the better man, but he's got that wretched half-blood girlfriend. Pongo will get the seat in the Wizengamot because no one can trust his brother. Fool! Anyway, don't waste your time nurturing Venus. She'll never be worth the effort you're putting in."

Andromeda stifled the urge to yell at Lucius. Feeling that she was every bit as manipulative and sneaky as he was, and not very pleased with herself for it, she told him, "You have no idea how much time I'd be prepared to spend on someone who could be useful."