|
|
Post by Druella Black on Oct 2, 2008 21:15:41 GMT -5
"Well, that's your own fault, girl. Don't blame me because you haven't eaten yet. I suppose you've been moping about over your pitiful breakup with the mudblood, have you? You should be relieved. You honestly have no idea how scandalous your behavior was. You would not have been able to show your face in any decent wizarding society again. And worse, you would have humiliated the entire Black family. As it is, the scandal is going to be difficult for us to overcome, and you were the victim!"
She studied her daughter with narrowed eyes. "I suppose you fell in love with him, did you? I saw his picture in the Prophet... I'm not oblivious to his attractions. You should have at least had the good sense to carry on your affair secretly, while marrying a good, proper pureblood."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 2, 2008 21:32:44 GMT -5
"What?" Andi gasped, shocked. She moved over and sank down onto the arm chair across from the couch. She couldn't even grasp what her mother was saying. "Are you telling me I should have had an affair with him?" She shook her head. "No, you know what? I don't want to know. And I definitely don't want to know if you've done the same thing. Yuck."
She shuddered in horror and changed the subject. "Anyway, mother, of course I knew the scandal I would cause. I didn't care. I don't mind being ostracized. I pretty much was all my life, by you and Daddy. It's nothing new to me. I didn't set out to ruin this family, though. I just think you all need to open your minds a little. Ted... well, I thought he was a good man. Maybe I was wrong. I don't know. But I don't regret giving my heart to him."
|
|
|
|
Post by Druella Black on Oct 2, 2008 21:41:57 GMT -5
Druella sighed. "You really are impossible," she said. "Honestly, I don't know why I even bother. Your actions affect the family, you know that very well. I had a hard enough time explaining things to my friends in the Witches' Auxiliary when you decided to become an auror! But this... this is even harder to forgive, especially with the public nature of your disgrace. And if you are to salvage your reputation, and ours, you must marry as soon as possible. I understand you have expressed some interest in marrying Rabastan Lestrange?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 2, 2008 21:44:15 GMT -5
Andi sighed. Damn... she should have known that little slip-up would come back to haunt her. "I'm not going to marry Rabastan. I just said that... I don't know why I said that. I just blurted it out. Besides, I am quite certain Rabastan has no desire to marry me, or anyone else."
|
|
|
|
Post by Druella Black on Oct 2, 2008 21:51:34 GMT -5
"Well, that is too bad," Druella said. "Because that is the only way you'll be welcomed back into this family. You will marry Rabastan Lestrange. If he will have you. You may not be as pretty as Bella or Cissa, but you are a Black, and if he knows what's good for him, he'll have you soon enough. I care not what happens after that... maybe you can see if your little mudblood friend minds being your little pet. But you must marry Rabastan. In fact, I expect to hear word of an engagement by Christmas. Otherwise, your disownment will be permanent, and we will blast your name off of the family tree. Is that clear?"
She stood up from her seat and moved towards Andi in a menacing manner. "You will use your obvious charms and best persuasive methods, and you will convince him of the wisdom in marrying you. If you fail, you will be as good as dead to me and the rest of this family!"
With that, she turned and walked briskly out of the apartment, rudely brushing by Molly as she went.
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 3, 2008 5:52:16 GMT -5
"Lovely seeing you too!" She called down the hall. She had a bad habit of doing that.
Molly immidiately went back into the apartment.
"Oh, Andi... don't you dare marry Rabastan."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 3, 2008 8:05:28 GMT -5
Andi turned to Molly, looked at her for a minute... and burst out laughing. "Oh, Molly... you know me better than that, right?" she said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "I have no intention of marrying Rabastan. I never did... I just said that in anger at my father. And any lingering thoughts I might have had of ever considering marrying him just went right out the window. Don't you know that all my life, I've listened to whatever my mother said... and immediately turned around and did the exact opposite?"
She sat down on the sofa with a genuine smile on her face. "I actually hope word gets back to him and he decides to ask me, because it would give me the most perverse pleasure to look him in the face and turn him down!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 4, 2008 8:06:56 GMT -5
Molly laughed.
"Ah, I wish he would. Rabastan could use the humiliation. In fact, I hope he asks you in front of every important wizard." It would serve him right. It would serve them all right.
"I'm really sorry, Andi... your Mum... is hard to handle. I didn't want to leave you alone with her, but she's frightening."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 6, 2008 22:04:33 GMT -5
Andi sighed heavily. "My mum is more than just hard to deal with. Just go ahead and say it, Molly. She's evil. She knows exactly how t find every person's weakness and exploit it. It took me a long time to figure out how to handle her, but I've finally become immune to her insults and manipulations. I know who I am, and I'm not going to let my mother make me doubt myself. In fact, I think a visit from her was just the kick I needed. Now I know what I need to do."
Standing up, she headed toward the kitchen with renewed energy. "I'm going to make some breakfast now. Do you want anything, Mols?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 7, 2008 1:56:25 GMT -5
Molly shook her head, slightly awestruck. Druella's appearance had been good for Andi, just now how she had intended.
"No thank you, Andi. I'm not really hungry. Do you want me to make something?" She asked.
She moved to follow Andi into the kitchen, though, and sighed. "What exactly do you need to do, Andi?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 7, 2008 12:39:10 GMT -5
"No, that's OK, Molly," Andi said, moving over to the refrigerator and getting out some eggs. "I can do it myself. In fact, you don't even have to stay if you don't want to. I think I'm feeling a little better now. It's a funny thing, but my mum can intimidate everyone else in the world, but she doesn't intimidate me anymore. Seeing her just makes me more determined. I have to throw myself into my work, so that I can continue to make my mother ashamed of me. I don't want to be let back into the family... I'm happy with being disowned. And although I highly doubt he'll even ask, I promise you I won't be marrying Rabastan Lestrange, not ever. In fact... I don't think I'll ever get married now."
She carefully avoided the reason why she was sure she would never get married, which was, of course, because she still wanted Ted. And if she couldn't have him, she'd rather remain celebate for the rest of her life, left with the memory of the brief moment of happiness she'd had with him. In time, her heart would harden and the pain wouldn't cut so deep, but she could never love anyone else the way she had loved Ted.
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 7, 2008 23:28:43 GMT -5
Molly should have been thrilled with everything that Andi was saying, but she was still a little worried.
"I want to stay, Andi," she said, leaning against a counter in the kitchen and watching her cousin. "If that's all right with you. Just for a little while. I'm supposed to go see Arthur later, though."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 8, 2008 21:51:55 GMT -5
Molly was right to worry. Although she was feeling better for the moment, it was mostly just a reaction to her mother's own peculiar brand of harassment. She still ached inside, and at the thought of actually leaving the apartment, a feeling of panic rose up inside of her. But at the moment, none of those things were on her mind. All she was thinking about was getting something to eat.
But even making eggs was painful, as she remembered silently how she had made him eggs in her apartment, because he'd had no food in his own. She carefully decided to make scrambled eggs, instead of over-easy. It didn't stop the memories from coming, though.
By the time she was finished making the eggs and toast, much of the energy that had come from the encounter with her mother had vanished, and she was nearly shaking as she sat down to eat. She could feel Molly's worried eyes on her, and she found she couldn't quite look at her best friend.
"I'm sorry, Molly," she said at last, rubbing her head, "I know I should be stronger than this. But... I really thought this was going to last. I feel like I had this whole future imagined in my head... with him... and it's gone now. I wish... I wish you knew him better, so you could understand how wonderful he was, and why I loved him so much."
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 16, 2008 4:10:16 GMT -5
"Andi, listen to me. You ar the strongest girl I know. We don't always have to be strong to be strong. Sometimes our strength is expressed in being vulnerable. Sometimes we need to fall apart to regroup and stay on track. We all have days when we can't be the fighters, Andi, when we can't focus on being responsible. Part of being strong means we give ourselves permission to fall apart when we need to. So don't worry about falling apart, Andi, because today, I'm here to focus on being responsible and all of that other stuff so that you don't have to. And we're going to be all right. I know you... you'll pull through. It's okay if that doesn't happen today or even tomorrow."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 16, 2008 15:41:22 GMT -5
Andi managed a weak smile. "Thanks, Molly. I needed that. I just... I don't feel very strong right now. I just can't believe that I let a man bring me down like this, you know? I used to laugh at girls like this. But somehow... he became everything to me. I'm not even sure when it happened. I was fine while he was away on business. But sometime after he came back... I don't know. I lost my heart to him."
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 17, 2008 1:21:58 GMT -5
"And all he had to do was something stupid like smile at you the right way one day, huh?" She asked, her eyebrows going up and she nodded. "I think our hearts would explode if we could pinpoint the exact time we fell in love with someone. It's okay that he got to you. I just wish he had been the one, Andi. You deserve someone really great. And we'll find him, but in time. Right now, it's mourning Ted time. You deserve your time for that as well."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 17, 2008 23:34:11 GMT -5
Andi sniffled. "Thanks, Molly. I... I really appreciate your being here for me. I don't know what I'd do without you. I just wish..." She sighed heavily and began to rub her forehead. "I know you didn't really care for him. You didn't know him. I wish you could have known him... and that he was really who i thought he was. I don't know... I still can't quite believe I was wrong about him. I'm a good judge of character usually... aren't I? I mean, I got involved with Rabastan, which was dumb... but at least I had no illusions about him. I knew who and what he was and did it anyway. This was different... I can't believe I was so wrong."
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 22, 2008 15:25:41 GMT -5
"You are usually an excellent judge of character, Andi," Molly said, agreeing with her cousin. "Sometimes people are really good at hiding who they are. Or sometimes they just catch our attention enough that we ignore what's telling us that they're the wrong kind of person. Who knows? But it's okay, Andi, and we'll get through this. It is not your fault."
|
|
|
|
Post by Andromeda Tonks on Oct 22, 2008 16:05:12 GMT -5
Andi sighed softly "I can't... I just can't think about this anymore. I just keep thinking that there's something here that doesn't quite fit... but I don't know if it's just that I want to believe in him so badly that I'm reaching for any explanation."
She took a few bites of her eggs, but she still felt like she was forcing herself to eat. "Let's talk about you for a while, Molly. You said you were meeting Arthur tonight? How did that happen?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Molly Prewett on Oct 22, 2008 16:26:39 GMT -5
Molly sighed. She knew Andi needed the change of subject, but she was still worried for her.
She wasn't going to tell Andi that she was going to end things tonight with Arthur, so she settled for the story of how they got there.
"We talked for a while after you and Ted left us that night, and he said he'd send me an owl, and he never did. Anyway, I ran into him at the Ministry when I was meeting Gideon, and then... I don't know. Things happened, and we're supposed to meet at Puddifoot's tonight."
|
|
