( quick note: this chapter contains the n word. this is a tough scene and i wanted to make it as realistic as possible. this is a horrible word and please never use it outside the world of fiction. thank you :) )

Andromeda and Narcissa went back to school in September, and there was no denying how people looked at them. The younger ones were terrified, the older ones mostly in awe: they knew that they were Bellatrix's sisters, and Bellatrix was earning herself even more of a reputation . Andromeda had not spoken to her sister or so much as sent a letter since the dinner party, and her stomach churned. She sought out her friends, who were sitting with two boys she had never seen before. Andromeda gave them an awkward nod, and thankfully they didn't react any differently.

"It was the only free carriage," Lacrimosa hissed at her behind her magazine.

"Pureblood?" she asked quietly, hating herself but needing to know.

Lacrimosa shifted uncomfortably. "I think so."

Andromeda sat beside the taller of the two, whom she knew as a Ravenclaw. She had never sat so close to a boy before and wondered what she should do. She knew what girls in books did. Girls in books would giggle and toss their hair and smile charmingly, but she could do none of those things.  She sat stiffly beside  and as the train pulled away, he took out a paper bag of toffees and offered them to her.

"No thank you," she said politely.

He shrugged, and took one, passing the bag around. 

"Good summer?" the other boy asked. He was a Slytherin too, maybe in the year ahead. He was smaller than his friend, but vaguely familiar; she wondered if she had seen him at one of her parents parties and relaxed.

Andromeda shrugged, though Glenda immediately started talking about South Africa. Andromeda envied her. She wished she could talk so freely in front of strange people. Lacrimosa, too, was quiet, but joined the conversation when the boy beside her asked about animals there, and Glenda told him about the snake that had made its way into her uncle's house in a stifling hot day in July. Andromeda burned with awkwardness, feeling left out of the group, but Glenda said, "Anyway, we got it out in the end, but it was harmless. Did you have a good summer, Andy?"

Andromeda wished she could tell her about Bellatrix, but she couldn't with the boys here. 

"Fine," she murmured.

"Lacrimosa?"

"It was all right. I'm glad to be back."

"Me too," the boy beside her said. "It always gets so boring at home."

The boy across the carriage was looking at Andromeda for the first time, his head cocked, and she saw the spark of recognition in his eyes. 

"Hold on, I know you, don't I? One of the Blacks. Narcissa?"

"Andromeda," she looked down at her lap.

"Oh right, yes. Narcissa is the little one," his voice was more than a little condescending. "I'm Sebastian Greengrass."

"Mortimer Carrow," the other boy nodded. 

They both looked expectedly at the other two girls. 

Ah, Andromeda thought with a little amusement. This is where we measure up our surnames.

Lacrimosa looked up from her magazine. "Lacrimosa Rowle."

"I'm Glenda Viljoen," Glenda was cheerful, oblivious to the silent ritual that was taking place.

Sebastian looked up quickly. "Viljoen? You mean that mudblood lover at the Ministry?"

Andromeda felt rather than saw Glenda tense.

"Excuse me," she said coldly. "That's my dad."

Mortimer laughed at first, clearly unsure if she was joking, then to Lacrimosa and Andromeda. Lacrimosa looked steadily back at him. Andromeda dropped her gaze to her lap. the train rattled over the track, the air inside the carriage thick with tension.

"No way," Sebastian said quietly, then looked to Glenda, his eyes glinting. "You love muggles too, then, Glenda? Got a soft spot for scum?"

Glenda looked right back at him, her gaze steady. "I think you should find another carriage."

"We were here first," his hand went casually to his pocket, where Andromeda could see the slight bulge of his wand. "I'm not inclined to share a carriage with mudblood lovers. I think, in fact, that it's time you all learned a lesson."

Andromeda knew he wasn't joking. His eyes were a steely blue, but there was a little glint in there, a glint she had seen before. It was cruelty.

"Glenda," she said softly, reaching for her friend's arm, "I think we should go -"

"I'm not leaving," Glenda shook her off. "I have just as much a right to be here as him."

A small sneer came to the boy's face. "You aren't fit to lick my boots, Viljoen. Not only are you a nigger, you're a mudblood loving nigger."

Glenda's eyes were burning into his, and she was almost shaking with anger. Lacrimosa got up quickly, put her hand on her friend's arm.

"Come on," she said, looking at Sebastian in disgust. "We're going."

As her friends had said, there were no more carriages. They ended up sitting against the wall at the back of the train, Max's cage wedged against the door. 

Glenda's eyes brimmed with tears.

"Don't think about it, Glendy," Lacrimosa's voice was fierce. "He's not worth wasting your time over."

"The way he talked about my dad," Glenda's voice was thick with anger and tears. "He called us scum. He said -"

"I know what he said," Andromeda's voice was quiet. "Don't listen to him."

Glenda looked at her with wet eyes. "Do they all talk about us like that, Andromeda? The pureblood families?"

"No." she said, which was only partly true. "Of course not."

"My mum and dad left South Africa because of this," she said softly, looking at the wall. "I didn't think it would be here too."

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When they arrived at the castle, they were subdued. When they ate dinner, it was without talking, and Lacrimosa finally spoke.

"You should tell a teacher, Glenda. About Greengrass."

Glenda shrugged. Since the incident on the train, her anger had disappeared: now she was quiet, tired and unlike her usual cheerful self.  "What's the point?" she said dully. "They never do anything. Not in SA, not here either. People like him always win."