author_by_night

So there's a fic I've had three friends,

steampenread over the past few years, but despite revisions I never reposted for various reasons. I've decided if I don't, I never will. It was originally meant to be a gift for

vegablack62, so if you're reading this, wherever you are... this WIP's for you.

I realize there's probably a few Americanisms, and several 2012isms. That's why I'm posting it as well - I want honest feedback. Even if you're not on my flist. (Not sure how revision will work yet.)

Title: Once (Part I)

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairings: Andromeda/Ted, Alice/Frank

Summary: Every story starts somewhere. There was one point at which the wheels began turning, a moment when everything changed. Once is about the Order before it was the Order, one of the worst Death Eaters when she was a young girl, and four friends who will sacrifice anything for each other - even the truth.

The Governess

September 1957

Augusta Longbottom was proud to be one of wizarding United Kingdom’s few Governesses.

She wasn't a traditional Governess, for her teachings were not limited to one child; rather, she operated more like a muggle school marm, or the way they had been when her grandmother (a muggleborn) had gone to muggle school.

Augusta had bid farewell to a number of her students in June; the only remaining of her original set were nine year old Edgar Bones, eight year old Amelia Bones, and her ten year old son, Frank.

Augusta was concerned for Frank; his closest friend, Gunther McKinnon, had been one of the students to go to Hogwarts. While Frank got on with Edgar and Amelia well enough, they had one another to play with. It was Gunther Frank saw the most over the summer; it was Gunther Frank always invited over when he wanted something to frolick in the snow with.

But Augusta was more concerned about her three new students.

She was less concerned about Alice Grayson; Augusta knew her parents – not well, but she had come across them at a number of social occasions, and they had been a few years ahead of her at Hogwarts. Her only concern was that Alice seemed like she might be a bit of a timid learner, something Augusta had limited patience for.

Augusta's greatest concern was that two of her new students were Bellatrix and Andromeda Black.

Druella Black had made it very clear that Augusta ought to feel honored that she had been selected to teach two of her children. They were her jewels, and although Druella knew Augusta was, as she had put it, “soft when it comes to muggles,” she also knew Augusta was intelligent. So under the condition that Augusta would not “spew simple-minded thinking”, Druella had surrendered her daughters. Augusta wondered whether or not it was also to get the Ministry of Magic off their backs.

Augusta was not scared of the girls, of course – she knew she could give them as good as they gave. The same went for their mother. What she dreaded was their bigotry showing – for instance, one of them using a terrible word, and having to explain to the parents of the other children that their little angel now knew the “M word.”

Still, Augusta also knew that anyone else could only do more harm those little girls, so even though she knew their family was not to be trusted, even though she knew Andromeda was only five (and thus a year under Augusta's normal age requirement), she had agreed to take them in. Sure, Augusta had agreed not to spew any garbage to them, but perhaps she could steer them away from the bigoted propaganda, little by little.

As soon as Augusta got her students settled, she walked down the steps, into the hallway.

Sally Grayson was waiting, her hands on the shoulders of a slightly plump girl with long black hair.

“You must be Alice,” Augusta said with a smile.

Alice nodded shyly.

“What do you say to Mrs. Longbottom, Alice?” Sally asked.

Alice took a deep breath. “Thank you for teaching me today, Mrs. Longbottom.”

“You are very welcome,” Augusta replied. “Sally, will you be collecting her at three?”

Sally nodded. “Yes.”

As she hugged Alice and walked out the door, Druella apparated with two small girls.

“You two be good,” Augusta heard Druella say, “or else.”

“Or else,” the two girls recited.

They walked up the steps, and Druella disapparated.

They looked at Augusta, and curtsied.

“I'm Bellatrix,” the taller child said. “This is my baby sister, Andromeda.”

Andromeda rolled her eyes. “I'm not a baby.”

“You act like one,” Bellatrix snapped.

“Enough,” Augusta said sharply.

Both girls went quiet.

“We are going to go upstairs, where the other children are,” Augusta said. “You three will all introduce yourselves.”

“Two,” Andromeda corrected.

“No, look,” Bellatrix said, pointing at Alice. “Who is she?”

Alice looked at her shoes.

“She's a fellow student,” Augusta said. “Follow me.”

Augusta led her students into the room, stopping them at the blackboard.

“Hello, class,” Augusta said.

“Hello Mrs. Longbottom,” Amelia and Edgar chimed.

“Today we have three new students,” Augusta told them. “Girls, why don't you introduce yourselves?”

“Up here?” Alice whispered.

“No, in the ‘loo,” Bellatrix snapped.

Alice looked terrified.

“She's just being bossy,” Andromeda assured her.

“I'll go first,” Bellatrix said. “My name is Bellatrix Black. My Daddy works at the M-M...”

Bellatrix paused, and then continued. “The Meatery of Magic.”

“Don't you mean the Ministry?” Amelia asked.

“No, the Meatery!” Bellatrix insisted.

Augusta cleared her throat. “Thank you, Bellatrix. You may choose any seat.”

Bellatrix sat down, but not before scowling at Amelia.

“Okay – Andromeda, it's your turn,” Augusta said.

Andromeda smiled. “My name is Andromeda Black. I'm Bella's sister. I also have a little sister named Narcissa. She's the cutest baby in the whole wide world. My bedroom is almost the size of this classroom. And when I grow up, I want to be a bus driver!”

“A magic bus driver,” Bellatrix emphasized.

“Yeah,” Andromeda said. “And that's all!”

Andromeda sat down next to her sister, who whispered something to her.

“Alice?” Augusta asked.

Alice took a deep breath. “I... I'm Alice Grayson. I like ponies and dragons and I want a puppy but my Mummy won't let me have one, and when I'm really nervous I talk and talk and...”

Alice's face went pink.

“That's... nice, dear,” Augusta said with a sigh she could not hold back. “You may be seated.”

“Next to me!” Andromeda announced, waving her hand in the air and pulling a chair on the other side of her.

“See? It was easy,” Bellatrix told her.

Alice smiled slightly, and Augusta looked at the three girls.

They were an odd set, to be sure, but maybe if they stayed together and learned from each other, the school year would run smoothly after all.

The Sorting

September 1962

Alice was in awe.

The ceiling looked like the night sky, covered in stars; Alice barely heard the hat's song as she gazed at it, mesmerized.

“My God,” she whispered. “Bella, isn't it lovely?”

Bellatrix sighed impatiently. “Alice, please. It's not like Mrs. Longbottom didn't already show us a picture of it.”

Alice rolled her eyes.

She wasn't sure what else she had expected; after all, following Bellatrix Black was bound to result in being made into a minion. Indeed, Bellatrix had made Alice her servant the entire train ride. Alice paid for the snacks; Alice asked the driver ten times when they'd be there, and was the one who got called, the tenth time, a “silly little girl.” Not to mention the fact that Bellatrix had sneered at the muggleborn boy asking how to get onto the platform.

Still, Bellatrix could be nice, and she was the closest thing Alice had to a sister, especially now with Andromeda, who was a little prissy but still much nicer, still at home.

“I hear Slytherin's the best house,” Bellatrix was saying. “Aunt Walburga's friends with the Head of Slytherin.”

“Right,” Alice said absently.

“Your family was also in Slytherin, right?” Bellatrix asked.

“Well, Dad was in Ravenclaw,” Alice admitted.

Bellatrix shrugged. “Better than Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, if you ask me. Gryffindor's the worst.”

“Mrs. Longbottom and Frank are Gryffindors, and they're nice,” Alice said quietly.

Bellatrix gave her a look. “Mrs. Longbottom told me the dead vulture comes back to life to scare naughty little girls when I mocked Frank for getting into Gryffindor. And was daft enough to think I'd fall for it.”

Actually, you did, Alice thought to herself.

“Black, Bellatrix!”

Bellatrix winked at Alice, and sat on the stool as though it was a throne.

The hat took a moment, and then announced “SLYTHERIN!”

“No surprise there,” Alice heard someone next to her mutter. She saw that it was the boy Bellatrix had been mean to, and wondered how he knew about the Houses already.

“Grayson, Alice!”

On her way to the stool, Alice realized her palms were sweaty. She went to wipe them, and bumped right into the stool, falling onto the floor.

The entire Great Hall burst into laughter.

“I – I'm sorry,” Alice muttered as she sat on the stool.

A boy at the Gryffindor table gave her an understanding smile.

And she knew instantly where she belonged.

What is Easy, What is Right

November 1963

A year later, Bellatrix still could not believe that Alice was a Gryffindor. And that was not the worst of it.

Bellatrix had always known Alice was a little soft. Mr. and Mrs. Grayson had always disapproved of Druella's use of the term “Mudblood”, and Alice had been upset when Bellatrix had sneered at that muggle boy.

But youth and the need for friendship had blinded Bellatrix to the truth: they were two very different people.

Alice was nice to the muggleborns – too nice. She asked them how cars worked, how planes flew. She even admitted to Bellatrix that over the summer, she'd visited a muggleborn friend and listened to a muggle band named “The Mosquitos” or something like that.

Bellatrix didn't like it. Being a Gryffindor wasn't great, but it was acceptable apart from the rivalry.

For one reason or another, the talking to Muggleborns was what really bothered Bellatrix. It bothered her even more than it bothered her own mother. Bellatrix didn't think muggles belonged, and technically muggleborns were really muggles, right? They were freaks imitating the powers Bellatrix had inherited.

“I wouldn't put it that way,” Andromeda said as they walked down the hall, after Bellatrix voiced this opinion for the hundredth time. “You make it out like they're...”

“Like they're what?” Bellatrix asked.

“I don't know,” Andromeda said, “like they're evil or something. I mean, I guess they’re a bit strange, taking pictures that don't move, but...”

“Who's taking pictures that don't move?” Alice asked, coming up from behind them.

“Your muggle friends,” Bellatrix said, looking at Alice in the eye.

“Bellatrix, if this is another 'you're-conspiring-with-muggleborns' talk, I'm not in the mood,” Alice said. “Didn't Mrs. Longbottom teach you anything?”

“Yeah, she always said they were okay,” Andromeda pointed out.

Bellatrix smiled, and raised her voice as though she were speaking to a five year old child. “And Alice, dear, if your friends like you so much, why do they always seem to talk to one another more? That's not very nice!”

Alice looked uncomfortable for a moment. “They're... closer with each other, I guess.”

“And can't even be bothered to include you?” Bellatrix asked. “Andy-”

“Don't call me Andy, Bella,” Andromeda interrupted.

“-and I never leave you out,” Bellatrix finished.

“It's not leaving me out, they're just – Tracy and Darla are best friends, the way the three of us are best friends,” Alice explained. “It's that simple.”

“Darla Higgins,” Bellatrix said. “That's her last name, right? Andromeda, wasn't that the last name of a notorious witch hunter? I wonder if he's her Great-Great Grandpop?”

“Don't!” Andromeda gasped.

“Hey Darla,” Bellatrix called as Darla coincidentally passed. “Do you like fire?”

Darla raised her eyebrows. “I...”

“What do you think of burning us in it?” Bellatrix taunted.

“That's enough,” Alice said firmly.

Darla just laughed. “Us as in you? Because you know, Bellatrix, I've always wished you'd go to hell.”

“Darla, don't bother,” Alice told her friend.

“I don't mean that kind of fire,” Bellatrix said. “I mean witch hunts. I hear your ancestors liked burning us? I bet they'd burn you too, if they knew you were here...”

“ENOUGH!”

Bellatrix almost jumped as she looked at Alice.

Never in her life had she heard Alice – sweet, innocent Alice – yell that loudly. Never in her life had she seen Alice look so angry.

“You leave Darla alone,” Alice hissed. “She can't help who her family may or may not be any more than you. And I'm willing to bet someone in your most ancient and noble family was a muggleborn.”

“Oh, Alice, you really did let Mrs. Longbottom brainwash you,” Bellatrix said snidely. “Fortunately for you, it wasn’t your dunglicker parents – that’s what Mum was afraid would happen.”

“Shut. Up.” Alice's face was red, and her fists were clenched.

Bellatrix realized she knew what argument to use.

“You’re a Gryffindor. Isn't Gryffindor all about doing the dignified thing?”

For a minute, Alice didn't say anything. Finally, she smiled.

“You're right, Bellatrix,” Alice said. “It is about doing the dignified thing.”

Bellatrix sighed in relief.

“And there's nothing less dignified,” Alice continued, “than using a word like dunglickers.”

Alice locked Darla's arm into hers, and they stormed away.

“Well,” Bellatrix said as she watched them, “that's her loss... hey, where’re you going?”

Andromeda had begun following them, slowly but surely.

“Andy, wait,” Bellatrix said, hurrying after her sister and finally grabbing her arm, so Andromeda was forced to look at her. “Where are you going?”

“You know, I don't really get muggles, or Alice’s fascination with them,” Andromeda said. “But right now, I have a lot more respect for her than I will ever have for you.”

Alice had stopped, letting Darla continue on without her; Andromeda caught up with Alice, and they locked arms just as Alice and Darla had moments before.

Bellatrix smiled wryly, and made her way in the opposite direction, ignoring the sickening feeling in her stomach.