Symphony | Andromeda Black

Appendix

Andromeda's first morning at Hogwarts was marked by a thick letter from Narcissa, and they came steadily after that. Sometimes they were stiff and short, obviously dictated by Miss Travers, but she sent proper ones too, all squashed and wrinkled, but Andromeda smoothed them out and read them anyway.

Narcissa had terrible spelling in the letters that weren't written under the watchful eye of Miss Travers. She always had done, and Andromeda had always helped her, but there was nobody to help her now. She wondered if she could read the letters she sent her properly, and hoped so. Though Andromeda loved receiving her letters, sometimes she was truly puzzled over words, for a letter from Narcissa would look something like this:

Deer Andy,

I hop you are welle

Today aunt persefonee came to visit she et a lot of cake and saide aurlia will hav a baby soon. mother said how nice for them and i am escited because i love babys.

I miss you vere much it is awfull not to hav you hear. Miss traverse is allright but she said I am a wicked litle girl and she wishs I was as cleever as you are.

Luv from your speeshal sister cissy

Xxxxxx

Dear Cissy,

Don't listen to that old woman, she's just cruel. Of course you're clever.

I miss you very much too, and I think Max misses Tom.

Love from Andy

Andromeda's first two months at Hogwarts passed very slowly. She did her best to do as her father said and worked hard at her subjects, though she couldn't bring herself to socialise much with the other girls. They realised after a while it was almost impossible to get an answer from her and eventually left her alone.

The teachers were all right, but distant, and none of the other Houses ever wanted to talk to her, especially when they knew her surname. She wondered how on earth Bellatrix had managed to make friends and then remembered her sister saying in her first year that she hated it here too.

It was hard to get through the days properly. Andromeda was sure she had never spent a day without Narcissa and missed her terribly, and her parents too.

On the Saturday after Halloween, she took desperate measures. She knew that if students were very ill they were sent home, so she devised a plan. First, she complained to Professor Moone about stomach pains. He sent her to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey told her to lie down on the bed and poked her stomach with hard fingers. Andromeda had read a book about anatomy and found it gruesomely interesting, so when Madam Pomfrey reached the spot where the appendix was, she cried out.

"Hm," said the matron, but she looked worried. "Right there?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey."

"Describe the pain for me."

Andromeda feverishly searched through her memory. "It's....sharp," she said at last. "It hurts so much."

She didn't look as convinced anymore, and Andromeda panicked a little. "It hurts so much," she said again, in almost a moan. "Honest. Like knives in my tummy."

"You can sit up now," Madam Pomfrey told her, and Andromeda sat up. One look at her was enough to tell Andromeda that she was far too skilled to believe the lie.

Her next question, however, caught her off guard. "How's school, Andromeda?"

"School?" She repeated. "It's all right. Some of it's a bit hard, but I always get my work done."

"Do you miss home?"

Andromeda's vision blurred a little. "I miss my sister," she mumbled.

"You'll see her again soon, don't worry. The holidays are close. How about the teachers?"

"They're all right. Apart from Professor Welles."

Most of the teachers were all right, most of them being helpful, with the exception of Professor Welles, who was abrupt and rather rude, and Professor Binns, who was so boring students often fell asleep in his class. Andromeda did her best to please her father and pay attention, however, though it proved hard when he started waffling on.

"I'll pretend I didn't here that about Professor Welles," Madam Pomfrey said, but she was smiling. "And the other students? The girls in your dormitory are being friendly, aren't they?"

She gave a non-commital shrug, looking down at her shoes. "It's hard to make friends."

"Of course it is. It's always hard to make friends in a new school. Perhaps I could ask some students to keep a special eye on you? The Hufflepuffs are usually kind."

"Oh – no thank you," she said quickly, blushing at the thought of being babysat like a toddler. "I'll be fine."

Madam Pomfrey said nothing else, just another "hm", then got up and fetched a jar of some brightly coloured confectionary.

"Take one," she said. "Or two, if you'd like."

Andromeda hesitated. They never got sweets at home, not even at Christmas. She reached into the jar and picked out something small and hard.

"Don't you want another?" Madam Pomfrey shook the jar.

"No thank you," she said, and hesitated before asking timidly, "Would you like one?"

The matron laughed. "Don't go tempting me. You've got such lovely manners I suppose I must."

She picked out some toffee and popped it into her mouth. "I'm supposed to be on a diet, but it'll be our secret, all right?"

Andromeda wasn't sure what to make of her. She was a young woman with a more than ample stomach, and she wore no makeup and only plain clothes. She was the kind of woman Andromeda's mother would scoff at and call a plain Jane.

"Off you go, Andromeda," she said, taking another toffee from the jar. "You don't want to be late for class. And don't let me catch you faking again, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you."

She only unwrapped the sweet when she was out in the hall, holding the hard sticky lozenge in her hand before putting it into her mouth. There was an explosion of flavours inside her mouth, strawberry, raspberry, lemon, anything she could have imagined, all with the underlying sweet taste of sugar. She thought it was one of the most delicious things she'd ever eaten, and as she went to her next class, she thought Madam Pomfrey must be the kindest lady in the world.