Breaking Free (Black Cousins)

New year, new friends

After the events of the wedding the Carrows decided to cut any marriage plans with the Black family as they said it was doomed to end, with Malcom gone, Druella had searched heaven and earth for a new match for her daughter, even considering matching her and Sirius together, which they both refused right away, for the time being both were free of those silly arranged marriages.
Andromeda spend her school days with students from other houses like the Prewetts, Frank Longbottom, Sturgis Padmore, and specially Ted, sometimes she would have afternoon talks with Cissy, eating candy, playing around, sometimes Cissy asked her about her being in company of students of other houses, Andi said it was out of heartbreak after Malcom left, that she found comfort in students from other houses, as Slytherins tended to be insensitive sometimes, but in reality, she dreaded being around her own house, she was afraid of them, she was afraid to drown in it and their mean ways just like Bella, she was afraid they would make her hurt Ted and her other friends who weren't up to their standards, they would convert her into their weird cult like mentality, that her family had tried to impose over her.
One afternoon, Andi asked her sister
"Is Lucius really considering joining the deatheaters?"
" why wouldn't he, just as Bella says they are actually taking action, making sure there is a pure and clear future"
" but isn't it dangerous? The Malfoy's are an even more rich and respectable family than us, if he goes through and gets caught, what will happen to you Cissy, I know Bella idolatries that man, she is too far gone, but you and Lucius can't be so reckless, I know both of you, you aren't crazy enough to join a group of terrorists"
"Oh please it is so that we don't have to live in the shadows, Andi, we could be the renowned house of Black again, without everyone else looking down at us, and why are you using such muggle words such as terrorist? those blood traitors on other houses are putting worms into your head Andi, what would mother say?"
"Maybe if you don't look down others others won't look down on you, have you thought of that Cissy"
"I have but Lucius hasn't and I actually like him and you and Sirius have messed up enough with your first choices broken up, you have to find a new match for yourself if mom won't, same for Sirius, but he spends most of his time, playing pranks and getting into trouble with those stupid friends of his, that little boy Severus, seems to be the target of most of their pranks and games, even though he is friends with a mudblood Griffindor girl"

" he likes to keep to himself a lot, I've tried to talk to the kid, but he wouldn't talk to me"

"because you're the outsider of the house just like him, he wants acceptance he wants to be with the cool kids, which is why Lucius is teaching him about the dark arts, he seems pretty interested in them according to him and good at it too"

"and I suppose his friend Lily knows nothing of this clandestine dark arts lessons"

"of course not, he still insists on hanging out with her but soon he will realize that mixing with mudbloods is a bad idea, but we won't force him into it"

---------------------------------------------

Andromeda was feeling bad about her conversation with Cissy and decided to talk to Lily Evans, to warn her, to take care of her friend

"hey, are you Lily Evans?" Andromeda asked the redhead

"yes, that's me, who are you? Lily said

"I'm Andromeda Black, you know my cousin Sirius, he is in your year and in your house"

"Sirus, yeah the one whose best friends with that git, Potter who makes fun of Sev all the time and tries to ask me to hang out with him all the time, not exactly my favorite person in the world if you ask"

"I'm not here to talk about Sirius, he is always been a trouble maker, not the kind of person I would hang out with either, I'm here to talk about Severus, I know you two are really close, but you should keep an eye on him, he is looked down on our house and it seems he is getting into dangerous things to get accepted by the popular kids on the house, he won't listen to me as I'm a little bit of an outcast too, but he could listen to you"

"why do you worry about him so much?"

"because Slytherin is a house that eats you alive, my sisters and I were brought on a house with strong believes against people like you, but when we were kids we didn't believe it that much, my sister Bella talked about how she didn't think muggles and muggleborns were as bad as mother and father said, but after her first year of school she was different, she seemed to agree with mother and father more, and every year it got worse, to the point were she believed in it even more than my parents"

"but if things are that bad, why does it exist, why do good people like Sev or you get sorted into it, how did you survive in there"

"well, Sev may have a dark side to him, as may I, growing up I didn't question my parents much and was willing to be just like them, but then I came to school and met friends, Malcom and Cordelia, they showed me a different way to look at things, together we navigated the school, and the house, but they left for America"

"why did they leave?"

"its complicated for you to understand, even for me its a little hard to think about it"

"well I am already in my second year and a really good student, one of the few who doesn't fall asleep in History of Magic, I think I can handle it"

"if you actually pay attention to history of magic, you know our relationship with muggles hasn't been easy, hence you not knowing about the existence of magic before you came here"

"well it was Sev who told me I was a witch when he saw me jumping the rope with my sister"

"that's interesting, but the point is, before that you didn't know or you heard of it but only in stories they told you as a kid, we have lived in secret for centuries in fear of showing our magic to the world and many like my family think people like you attending the school is dangerous for us and that you stole our magic, but others are more vocal about it, they are starting a revolution of sorts, attacking the government, but there is word they will start attacking innocent people, they are lead by a man who calls himself Lord Voldemort, the parents of Malcom and Cordelia are afraid he is going to start a war, so they sent their children away to America for safety unfortunately for me that means I'm alone, my parents wouldn't send me away because they want me to marry one off his followers and be a part of that, like my sister who joined them and seems to enjoy it a lot"

"that's pretty dark, a war? and your family is asking you to join this war?"

"yes, and that is why I came to talk to you about Severus, I don't want you to loose him to this war like I lost my friends and my sister"