“No,” said her father immediately, just as she’d known he would.
“I want to marry him,” she said simply.
“You are betrothed to another, and he’s a Muggleborn,” he spat, “both of which make the arrangement entirely unacceptable “ “
“Unacceptable or not, I should be able to decide for myself who I want to marry,” said Andromeda placidly, staring him right in the eye.
“You “ will “ not “ marry “ Tonks!” her father thundered, banging a fist on the wall.
Her mother took a different approach than her husband. “Andromeda, I thought you liked Lucius,” she said, stepping towards her middle daughter with a very motherly-look on her face. “I thought you were happy together.”
Andromeda’s heart pricked with pain, but she voiced none of this internal wound and said instead, “Ted has shown me what happiness really is. Mother, I don’t want to marry Lucius, and I’m going to wed Ted.”
“We’ll disown you!” her father roared.
“Cygnus, that’s taking it a bit too far,” said her mother, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Andromeda will come around soon. She just has wedding jitters, that’s all.”
“I do not,” Andromeda objected hotly.
“See here,” said her father, looking at her through beaded, narrowed eyes, “you are going to wed Lucius Malfoy and that’s that!”
Andromeda stared at him levelly for a long moment. “Fine,” she said quietly. “Then I’ll leave.” And she turned on her heel and marched out of the study, directly to her room to pack.
Behind her she could hear her father shouting, and her mother telling him: “She’s not serious dear, calm down.” Although she didn’t sound totally certain herself anymore.
Andromeda marched to her room and began haphazardly throwing some of her possessions into a large bag. She had not put in very many when Narcissa appeared in the doorway.
“Are you leaving?” she asked in a sniffy voice.
Andromeda paused for a moment, her hand hovering over her bag, a hairbrush clutched in it. Was she really about to leave? She wouldn’t miss her parents much; they had never truly cared for her, but her sisters . . . and was she truly ready to be disowned? But, no, she could not back down now, she had been mentally preparing herself for this turn of events, and she would now follow through . . .
“Yes,” said Andromeda shortly, resuming her packing.
“You and Lucius aren’t wed yet,” said Narcissa, sounding scandalized. “You can’t go live with him! That’s “ that’s just not proper!”
“I’m not going to Lucius’ place,” Andromeda replied tersely.
“Then where are you going?”
“I “ I’m not totally sure. Most likely to Ted Tonks’.”
“Wasn’t he that Hufflepuff in your year?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t go live with him either!” Narcissa cried. “It’s “ that’s not “ you’ll be disowned!”
“Fine,” said Andromeda sharply, zipping up her bag and jerking it into her hand. “As long as I do not have to hear anymore about the greatness of You-Know-Who, and all about our special, ‘pure’ blood . . .”
“Andy,” Narcissa whispered in a small voice, “what’s gotten into you? You . . . you’re just going to walk out on us all?”
Andromeda paused in the doorway and faced her sister, engulfing her in a tight embrace. “I’m sorry, Cissy. But I have to do this, for all of us.” She swallowed, gave her sister another quick squeeze, and then fled down the stairs towards the door. She could hear her parents shouting at her as she made her trip towards the door, but she ignored them, and slammed the front door soundly behind herself to make a point.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Andromeda whirled around. Lucius was standing on the sidewalk in front of her house, watching her with a bemused expression and looking as orderly and impeccable as ever, in starch contrast to the disarray tumbling around inside of her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked waspishly, as she descended the front steps. Her knuckles were turning white, she was gripping her luggage case so hard around the handle.
“Your parents sent me an owl about five minutes ago,” Lucius said, raising one blonde eyebrow. “They said that I should come over immediately, that it was urgent. They gave no specifics, just said you were acting rashly and I should bring you back to your senses, calm you down.”
She shook her head. “I’m acting perfectly sane, actually,” she declared, as she began lugging her weighted bag towards the sidewalk.
“Obviously,” said Lucius, his lip curling as he looked from her to her bag, which was dragging on the pavement it was so heavy with her many things.
“I’m leaving,” she said curtly, as explanation.
“Where to?” he inquired with mild interest.
“To “ to Ted Tonks’ place,” she said, glancing at him.
His brow creased.
“He and I are going to get married,” Andromeda said tartly.
Lucius started to chortle, but stopped very quickly when he saw how serious she looked. “But “ what “ why “ Andromeda . . . what about “ what about us?”
Andromeda looked down carefully at her baggage, not meeting his eyes. “There is no ‘us’ anymore. I am marrying Ted.”
There was a thick silence. She dared a glance up at him after several pregnant seconds. He was looking at her with shadowed eyes, suddenly seeming quite bedraggled despite his smooth appearance. “So this is why you’ve been distancing yourself from me?” he asked in cool tones. “Because you have eyes for someone else? Because you’ve fallen in love with a Mudblood?”
“Don’t call him that,” she snapped, although what she really wanted to say was, ‘No, I didn’t fall in love with him. It’s just that I can’t love you anymore.’
“I’ll call him what I want to,” he replied swiftly, stepping towards her so that they were now maybe a foot apart. She flinched, as though expecting him to strike her. “Why didn’t “ why didn’t you “ “ Lucius inhaled ruggedly, running a hand through his hair and musing it slightly. He did not seem accustomed to dealing with his emotions running so crazed inside him. “You’re engaged to me,” he said flatly. “And your parents will disown you if you marry that filth.”
“Let them,” she hissed.
His eyes rested on hers resentfully; she could see him calculating his next tactic. Sneering at the situation hadn’t worked, and neither had his insults or his harsh words of truth to her; he was running out of options. So he went for the other thing he knew how to do well: cockiness.
“You can’t really leave me, can you?” he asked, his mouth contorting into a snide smile.
“Can’t I?” she replied evenly.
“You won’t be able to bear being without me,” he predicted, voice laced with vanity. “Give it a day, maybe a week . . . you’ll be crawling back to me, and you know it.”
She was apathetic to his words. “All I know, at this moment, is that I will do no such thing.”
“Come on, Andy,” he drawled, and she couldn’t tell if he thought her just having a few ‘wedding jitters’ like her parents did, or if he was truly scared she was leaving. “This is silly. Let’s go out and get a drink, that should clear your head.”
He presented his hand towards her with a flourish. She reached for it, something she never did; and for a fleeting moment she saw satisfaction and triumph flicker in Lucius’ gray eyes “ but it faded the next instant. For Andromeda had not accepted his offered hand. She had dropped her engagement ring “ the ring he had given to her “ into his palm. Then she lowered her arm back down to her side and looked up at him resolutely.
It was then that Lucius seemed to realize that he had run out of tactics. He looked beaten, torn; he stared down at her, his eyes reflected with a mixture of anger, confusion, hatred, and “ heartbreak. She almost lost her resolve right then and there and hurled herself into his arms, sobbing that she was sorry and begging him not to work for You-Know-Who, because then everything would be all right, then they could be together and everything would be perfect. But it wouldn’t be all right, nor perfect. A relationship between them would never work. He would never see her views on the matter of Muggles and half-bloods, and she would never see his. But telling him this again would only provoke more fruitless arguments. No, she had to make her reason for leaving Ted, and not the equality issues. Because she had to face facts: whatever had happened between her and Lucius before was now behind them both.
He took in another uneven breath. “Andromeda . . .” He lifted one hand, lowered it again. Then he raised the hand back up and moved it towards her, cupping one side of her face with his palm. He performed this gesture in such a helpless way, his eyes searched hers as though a lost child. He was so weak and so thrown for what to do that he was nearly breaking down right in front of her; it was so unlike the Lucius she usually saw . . .
“Andy,” he whispered, “why?”
It took every ounce of her strength and will to wrench her face away from his hand. “Because I love Ted.”
There “ she had said it. She had spat out the words. And before she could have her own breakdown, she Disapparated on the spot.