Narcissa was clingy in her first few days. Andromeda tried to be gentle and told her to go and make her own friends. Her little sister was so used to Andromeda being her only friend at home that she was scared of the other students at Hogwarts.

"You can't just keep following me around, all right Cissy?"

She was horribly aware that she sounded like Bellatrix to herself a year before, but Narcissa nodded, though she looked depressed.

Andromeda needn't have worried for her sister. She was so bubbly and cheerful that it wasn't long before she saw her sitting with other Slytherins from her year, and she seemed to have made friends. As October began, a flu started making its rounds of the castle. It became commonplace to see students with steam coming out of their ears from potion, but it was too late for she and Glenda who were confined to the Hospital Wing along with others.

Eventually most of the students recovered and left except, unfortunately for them, Lacrimosa Rowle. She wasn't so loud, being sick, but she called them names and laughed at their games.

Thankfully Madam Pomfrey let them sleep next to each other, and they played games like wizard chess, which Glenda was teaching her how to play. Andromeda was secretly pleased with the fact that she was better at it, often winning. Glenda was distracted too easily, and failed to see the trap until it was too late. They played cards too, games like wizarding snap, Lacrimosa often watching through her curtain. They ignored her.

Glenda was asleep one windy night, and Andromeda was flicking through her sketchbook.

"What are you reading?" Lacrimosa asked, and took it from her.

"It's my sketchbook. Give it back."

"Ooh, is Andy drawing all her baby drawings?"

She pulled the pages roughly, and Andromeda couldn't stand to see her being so rough with Augustus's book.

"Give it back!" She yelled, and pulled it off her, but Lacrimosa was still holding the book. With a horrible ripping noise, the sketchbook broke apart so Lacrimosa was left holding a large chunk and Andromeda only a few pages.

Lacrimosa stared at the pages in her hand, but then when Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, she hid them quickly behind her back.

"What's with the noise, girls? What's going on?"

Blood thundered in Andromeda's head. She wanted to get Lacrimosa in trouble, but she knew the teasing would only get worse if she snitched to a teacher. The other girl was tense, but Andromeda forced herself to relax.

"Nothing, Madam Pomfrey."

"Nothing! You were making noises like a couple of squawking hens. You girls," she shook her head. "It's nine o'clock now, anyway. Bed."

They hopped back into bed, and Madam Pomfrey took Lacrimosa's temperature, and then Andromeda's.

"Still high," she said, and put her cool hand to her forehead. "Another day or two, perhaps."

Obediently, they said goodnight and Andromeda lay down and shut her eyes. Madam Pomfrey's shoes squeaked over to her office, and she put out the light, the only sound gentle breathing in the dormitory. Andromeda was still furious. The pages she held were torn and twisted, but she smoothed them out as best she could. Augustus' present, the one thing she had from him, was ruined.

A bed creaked, and then there were soft footsteps before somebody poked their head through Andromeda's curtains. Lacrimosa. She didn't look as mean as usual. Her pale forehead was pinched with worry, and she looked like a little girl in her long white nightgown, her hair loose.

"What do you want?" Andromeda said coldly.

Lacrimosa hesitated. "It was nice of you to not tell."

Andromeda didn't answer, trying to fix pages.

"I didn't mean to rip it. I'm sorry. I just wanted to look."

"You didn't ask. It's special to me. My friend gave it to me before he died."

"Oh," she murmured. There was a rustling noise, and then she proffered the sheets. "The drawings are good," she said, rather meekly. "I'm sorry if I ripped any. Maybe you could fix them with spellotape."

"Maybe," Andromeda said stiffly, taking them from her. "Thanks."

"Night then."

Andromeda didn't answer.

The next morning, Glenda helped Andromeda spellotape her book.

"She said sorry? Lacrimosa?"

"Yes," Andromeda carefully taped the spine. "Maybe it's a trick."

Lacrimosa had been strangely quiet that morning, the curtain of her bed half shut. After breakfast, Andromeda and Glenda decided to play cards, but Glenda hesitated when she saw Lacrimosa looking through her curtain. Her eyes were unusually red.

"Do you think we should ask her if she wants to play?"

"Lacrimosa?" Andromeda said incredulously. "Are you mad?"

"She was nice to give you back your sketch book."

"After she ripped it," she said bitterly, as the cards shuffled themselves.

Glenda got up from her chair. "Lacrimosa? Do you want to play?"

She sniffed. "Like I'd want to play with you two."

Glenda shrugged. "Fine. Suit yourself."

She sat back down and they played Snap. Glenda was good at the game and won twice in a row, and then they played Old Maid instead.

Lacrimosa had come out of her bed and was sitting in a chair at the edge of her curtain. When she saw Andromeda dealing the cards, she asked, "What are you playing now?"

"It's called Old Maid," Glenda shuffled her cards. "You can play too, if you'd like."

Andromeda glared at her friend. The last thing she wanted was to play cards with Lacrimosa Rowle. But to her surprise, the other girl accepted, and Glenda explained the rules. Andromeda sat still, her heart sinking as Lacrimosa and Glenda laughed together. She was silent throughout the rest of the game, and when Lacrimosa went back to her bed for lunch, Glenda poked her as she took a bite from her sandwich. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," she said stiffly, poking her soup with her spoon. "Why don't you go and sit with Lacrimosa? She's clearly your new best friend."

"What? Oh shut up, Andy, you're my best friend. I was just being nice to her, that's all."

"She's never nice to us," she mumbled.

"Well she gave you back your book. And she said sorry."

"Oh big deal," she said, a little bitterly. "People say sorry all the time when they don't mean it. Just because she said a few words doesn't mean she's not still awful. For all you know she could be a mudblood lover."

She was only searching for something to say, using an insult her sisters often used. She had heard the word so much that it meant little to her. But Glenda stiffened like she'd just used the worst insult imaginable.

"That's a horrible word, Andromeda. Why would you say that?"

She stared at her friend, confused. "It's just a word. My father uses it all the time."

"Well then your father's horrible."

Andromeda put down her spoon, her face hot. "Don't you dare say that!"

"I will, I will! He canes you and he says horrible things like that. My father says that's a disgusting word."

"Well I think your father's stupid!" Andromeda said, even though she had liked him. "He's awful and I bet he's a mudblood lover too, and -

Glenda's cheeks were getting very red. "I wouldn't expect much more from a Black! I thought you were different-"

"Don't talk about my family like that!" Andromeda almost screamed. Lacrimosa was peering out through her curtain, mystified. "I bet yours isn't half as pure! My family is the purest and the oldest, and –"

"Your family is a joke!"

Andromeda saw red. She reached out and yanked at Glenda's braids. Her friend shrieked and hit her. The soup went flying, spilling over the bed and burning her hand, but she didn't care, at least not until Madam Pomfrey pulled her away from Glenda. She was red in the face and looked unusually angry.

"What on earth are you doing, making that noise?"

Hot tears spilled down Andromeda's cheeks. "She was saying things about my family!"

Tears shone in trails down Glenda's face. "She said stuff about my dad!"

"You're supposed to be friends. Make up. I won't have any silly fighting in my Hospital Wing."

She made them shake hands, even though Andromeda was still seething. Then she put a thick paste on her slight burn, and Andromeda lay with her back to Glenda, silently furious.

Not only had Glenda made friends with Lacrimosa, but she had said all those awful things. And Madam Pomfrey had been angry with her, even though Andromeda had thought she was her friend. She pulled the blankets over her head, although it just made her face hotter.