Blackbird

Chapter 49

Lucky for her, social gatherings were not few and far between. In fact, it seemed to Andromeda there were far more gatherings than usual. Of course, the purebloods all had much to talk about, and she didn't mean her wedding.

"Did you hear about that Auror who went missing? An auror?" One of the lady's beside her gasped.

"It's not like the others either," Another fawned. "He wasn't a mudblood, or even a half-blood. He was pure."

"Didn't make him any less of a blood traitor," her own mother said. "Did you here what he did too Davin Nott? Just because he decided to teach those muggle pigs a lesson..."

"Can we really afford to be divided though?" The first lady said. "There are already too few of us as it is. And if the rumors are true about what's happening to those who are disappearing..."

Andromeda did her best too tune them out as she scanned the crowd for Rabastan. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in their conversation. She was. But family came first, she was going to figure out what was going on with Bella before she did anything.

Finally, she spotted him, lurking in the far corner, looking as uncomfortable with the choice of conversation as she felt. She couldn't blame him. There had been other disappearances, of course, but they had all been muggles or muggleborns, and none of them had been ministry officials. Everyone believe the elusive Lord Voldemort was behind it, and if he was going after the ministry, then he was even more of an extremist than they all feared. To be honest, Andromeda wasn't sure she believed this Lord Voldemort was a real person. Of course, his very name sent a chill down her spine, but no one had ever seen him or knew who he was. What if he was just a symbol, a way of uniting the purebloods together and giving them someone to blame for their own heinous acts?

On another occasion she might have shared some of this with Rabastan, but she had a whole lifetime to talk with him about this matter, she wanted to resolve things with Bella now. She sidled up to him as subtly as she could, trying not to draw attention to herself. He stiffened when he realized it was her standing next to him, but he followed her lead and didn't so much as glance in her direction.

"Library?" she whispered.

He tensed, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. She would have thought he'd jump at the chance to meet with her. After a moment he nodded, and she relaxed.

They took a different route, just so no one would suspect they were heading somewhere together. She beat him, giving her just enough time to take a few calming breaths before someone cleared their throat behind her. She whirled around, and there was Rabastan.

Despite everything they had been through and every lie she had told him, her heart lifted at the mere sight of him. It occurred to her that though she would never love him the way she loved Ted, there was a part of her that wondered what would have happened if Ted had never come into picture. Things would have simpler, and she still would have learned to love Rabastan, in her own way. But dwelling on that was no use.

"It's good to see you," she said, smiling. She wanted to embrace him, but after a couple months of little physical contact, she found herself hesitating.

"You as well," He smiled. It looked like his usual smile, but there was something off about it. And he didn't open his arms or step closer to her, like he was expecting an embrace. Almost subconsciously, she folded her arms across her chest, mirroring his stance. The joy she had felt at seeing him had turned into something stiff, and awkward. But it was to be expected, she supposed, things would be better after the wedding. Until then, she could focus on getting what she needed from him.

Thank you for meeting me," she blurted out, "I just... I really needed someone to talk too."

She saw his eyes darken in concern, and his whole body seemed to open up. "Are you all right?"