Narcissa mentioned Ted, and Andromeda’s cheeks burned again. She wasn’t embarrassed by her relationship with him. He was wonderful, really, and she was certainly proud to be in his life. But he was a muggleborn, and a Hufflepuff and in school he’d taken classes like Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies, where she’d taken far more keenly to the finer subjects of Charms and Divination. The only point they’d had in common at school was Potions, and even there they greatly contrasted in approach. Ted Tonks loved to run and laugh and rips flowers out of the ground by their roots, courteously shaking some of the dirt off before handing them to a lady; he was practically her opposite in every way, and she couldn’t be happier with him. It shocked her, however, that Narcissa was bold enough to mention him. Here. Where there was a chance that their parents could hear! Then again, the blonde Black sister had always been braver than she was, even braver than Bellatrix. Cissa was bold, and unafraid of being so; Dromeda may have envied her sister’s boldness, but also loved her dearly for it.
Luckily, her flushed face could be played off as having been caused by the exertion from running, and not the fear and embarrassment of Narcissa’s boldness reaching their mother’s ears.

Andromeda received a strange look from the little elf struggling with her bag. She didn’t recognize him, but, honestly, she’d paid very little mind to the elves in her parents’ household while she’d lived here –and, if asked, she could probably only remember the names of the select few who had been set to serving herself and her sisters personally. Lousey, Minda, Hoster –or was it Houster? This little elf looked remarkably like Hoster/Houster, as it stood staring at her, cowering near the doorframe –were young elves unable to apparate, she wondered? She decided she's ask Jink when she returned after Christmas. Dromeda gave the young elf a small smile, and the poor thing looked horrified by it, and she frowned. Maybe she’d spent a little too much time with only her house elves to talk to… her elves, Madame Bissett, and Ted. And Ted always treated her elves well, trying to engage them in conversation, constantly inquiring about their lives and the like. He treated them as though they were human –an odd but endearing feature of his—and as she watched the little terrified creature she began to wonder if his behaviour was beginning to rub off on her.

Her sister’s cool voice started to describe the Lestrange brothers, and it did not sound the least bit winded –which really should not have surprised her, Narcissa had always been one to not waste her energy on the little races, Bellatrix was the one who had to win everything. Andromeda always fell somewhere in the middle. Dromeda grinned up at Narcissa as the blonde elegantly stepped right over her, and sat up with a little more grace than she’d had when she’d fallen. Listening to her sister compare the two brothers, the brunette could not restrain the disgusted expression making its way onto her face.

“Ugh… I’m definitely not too interested in rats,” Andromeda cringed at the thought, resting against her doorframe –half inside of the room, half out—as she thought it over, “And though cunning they may be, snakes tend to be sneaky too! And quite… cold. Although I am rather fond of [i]some[/i] snakes!” She had to be, the dark-haired witch was related to more than half of Slytherin house. The Blacks were likely related to Salazar Slytherin himself, in some way; members of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black had been married into just about every wizarding family in the world, and certainly every other pureblooded family in Britain. They’d married into practically every family in existence, even, in Auntie Walburga and Uncle Orion’s case, back into the Black family. Dromeda cringed again at that thought; the idea of a pureblood marriage had always made her extremely uncomfortable, knowing that every bloke of her status was her cousin, in some manner. That was largely what made Ted so appealing to her, and at the thought of her muggleborn boyfriend Andromeda smiled again, gracefully lifting herself from the floor she dusted off her gown and finally entered her old room, “I think I prefer badgers. Badgers are rather warm, and adorable. Some badgers. Or, maybe, just one badger,” she stated quietly, still afraid her mother might hear.

It felt a little odd, being back in the manor --almost as if she hadn’t been away from it for nearly half of the year. Her room looked exactly the same, felt exactly the same, it even smelled exactly the same, as it had for the entirety of Andromeda’s life; like plum and nutmeg and that distinctly ancient, but not unpleasant, scent of old parchment. Her dark eyes scanned the room around her, and she sighed, both comforted and concerned by how easy it was to feel completely at home again. 

Dromeda’s eyes landed back on Narcissa, and she gave a small shrug, “I don’t necessarily [i]want[/i] to marry anyone, dear sister,” she grimaced with a light laugh, “And I certainly do not want to marry the rat-ish likes of Rabastan Lestrange. Or that brute Dolohov. Or Amycus, or any of those others Mother has lined up for me. But it might not be about what I want, Cissa. Bella’s wants certainly did not matter.” Andromeda took the suitcase the little elf had been struggling with, and the moment the luggage was out of his hands the poor thing bolted back out of the door. It seemed terrified, and she wondered if her aunt had been spending some time around the manor recently, disciplining their elves for them. She watched it leave, and felt odd for feeling guilty for the creature. Setting the bag next to her sister, the brunette nudged her lightly with her elbow and a smirk, “Not all of us can get away with telling Mummy and Daddy what for, like you can.”

She didn’t want to dwell too long on the subject of marriage. It was just about all her mother talked to her about now, and it was certainly the only thing Bellatrix ever mentioned in her letters, although her older sister’s words had been strangely becoming less about finding a proper match and more about building strong alliances. Bellatrix’s concerns seemed oddly militaristic, especially for a recently married woman. She was treating the whole ordeal like war, and it was certainly alarming. Andromeda popped open the clasps on the suitcase she’d lifted onto the bed, knowing she had another three she needed to sort through and unpack [s]half of which were filled with things she really did not need to bring[/s]. A neatly wrapped parcel caught her eye the moment she opened the bag, “Oh! I also have a surprise for you!” the brunette sister gasped; she’d nearly forgotten about it, and it really was the first thing she should have taken care of upon arrival. Dromeda carefully handed Narcissa the parcel, unfolding the cloth she’d wrapped it in to keep it safe from her other belongings. She grinned down at the brilliant silver gown she had made especially for her sister. Of the three sisters, Andromeda was the one who most worried about modesty; of not appearing too haughty, of not seeming too proud of her own person over others, but Dromeda could not help but to be exceedingly proud of this. The fabric moved like water, and folded as it was the gown looked almost like a pool of pure silver inside of plain cotton wrapping, but when worn draped perfectly to the frame, and moved with as much fluidity and grace as she had always associated with her little sister. The brunette was incredibly proud of her handiwork, and for a moment could not bring herself to feel guilty for it. “This isn’t even your Christmas present… no, you’ll have to wait for that one! See, this is what you get when you have a sister who is learning from one of the finest seamstresses in the world, and who literally has nothing to do for most of her day. I can sew, I can read, I can eat –obviously,” she sighed sadly, smoothing the fabric on the sides of her gown down flat. She feared the increased inactivity of being such a homebody was starting to get to her, “and I can sleep… that’s really it. Sometimes Ted drags me out to the market, even after Jink has gone for me. He seems to think I need to experience more of the world, apparently it’s a crime to stay at home so often!”

Andromeda left the gift with the blonde and continued removing items from her bag as she gabbed. She probably should have been more concerned with prattling a bit less, but it had been so long since she’d truly spoken to her sister that Dromeda found it difficult to stop speaking once she’d started. She’d just started on summoning objects from a second bag, shuffling between necessities and needless bits of cloth from her tidying, when she found the flowers Ted had given her earlier in the afternoon. The brunette went quiet for a moment, before sending the bouquet to an empty vase she kept beside her bed. 

“He sends his love,” she remarked rather offhandedly, reaching over to feel the soft petals of the once pitiful looking plants. Among all of the almost obscenely bright flowers there was a single white daisy. Andromeda removed it, handing it along to the blonde. Ted [i]had[/i] said one of them was for Narcissa. “Oh, and insists that I just must get all of the latest, juiciest Hoggywarts gossip from you. Real life is so terribly boring, you see, nothing like life back at old Hogwarts at all!” She enthusiastically sat back down next to her sister, “You’ll see! You’ll begin to miss the mess inside of those castle walls, all of the drama and activity. The real world is not quite like that, not at all” Andromeda sighed sadly for a moment, before drawing herself back from the foolish bit of nostalgia. It was silly, really, but with Bella’s marriage and her own misadventures outside of Black Manor, Dromeda was starting to miss the bit of herself she’d left at school. As was Ted, she remembered, and smiled again, returning to her unpacking, “he wants details on the House Cup and Quidditch games, and on which professor accidentally set fire to a student first; his priorities are a little… odd. [i]I[/i] am more interested in how you are doing. Do I need to dig up my old Arithmancy notes for you? If it’s Ellipsoid teaching the class I can get you the correct answers for all of his exams, for at least the next term; the man’s used the same exact tests for the past decade, it’s a wonder anyone manages to actually fail his class.” Andromeda scoffed; she might have been missing the antics of Hogwarts, but she certainly did not miss the needlessly boring Arithmancy class. “And how is Lucius?” She asked with a smirk, raising an inquisitive brow and waving a scarf teasingly at Narcissa.