Love Will Tear Us Apart

HOSPITAL WING

The large doors that separated Andromeda from the inside of the hospital wing creaked open slowly upon her approach, and she slipped through them as quickly and as quietly as possible. The ward was hushed, preparations for the night shift well underway, though almost all of the patients were awake. Andromeda walked down the middle of the room, searching the face of the inhabitant of every bed.

"I wondered if you'd come to visit me, Andy." Ted's voice startled Andromeda and she whirled around to see him sitting up right in one of the beds ahead of where she was, a white cast on his leg. "I didn't dare hope, one of the deigned Black sisters by my bedside, well I never! But I did wonder." He continued, smirking at her.

Andromeda wandered over to him and sunk herself down in the chair that sat beside his bed. "You really mustn't call me that." She scolded gently, looking at his leg.

"Would you prefer Andromeda?"

"Well... No." She replied uneasily.

"Dromeda then? How does that sound?"

"It'll do for now... What happened?"

Ted rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. "Some idiot third-year sent off a spell that rebounded and ended up hitting me instead of him. All the bones in my right leg gone just like that, poof! You should have seen the way I fell down it was actually quite comical." He chuckled.

"Did it hurt?"

"The spell didn't, I didn't have anything there to feel the pain, not like when you break a bone. But the growing them back, that's proving to be most unpleasant. Still, I'll be back in the dormitory in a few days, then walking around with nothing to support me and attending my classes again by next week."

"Almost like magic." Andromeda quipped.

"Dromeda Black, was that a joke?"

It was Andromeda's turn to roll her eyes. "Just because my house colours are green, it doesn't automatically impede my personality."

"Well sure, some Slytherins are hilarious. I've never met a member of the Black family that was though. Except maybe Sirius, but then he's not like most Blacks."

"No, he certainly is not."

"Though apparently neither are you."

"I beg your pardon." Andromedaa bristled.

"Well I don't see the infamous Bellatrix attending to any mudbloods. I've never even heard of Narcissa so much as looking at one of us when we speak. And yet little Andromeda, the middle Black sister, the golden girl, is sitting beside me, practically mopping my brow and whispering words of comfort."

"Hardly. But then, I don't really think my sisters are the nurturing type, even amongst purebloods...

"But you are." Ted pressed.

"I didn't come here to compare myself to my sisters, or to you for that matter. I simply came to thank you for helping me up the other day. I appreciated it."

"Anytime Dromeda."

"Right... Well, now that I've done what I came to do, I ought to return to my common room and to my sisters. They'll be wondering where I am."

Ted smiled, shaking his head. "I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"I knew you were here in secret. Tell me, are you ashamed that you're lowering yourself to speak to a mudblood or are you just scared of what mummy and daddy will say." He said bitterly.