Blackbird

Chapter Ten

"I'm fine. I just..." she breathed, then smiled up at him, "I'm sorry it's been so hard for us to find each other." He smirked, taking her hand in his, and then he lifted his other hand and stroked her cheek.

"Then let's not waste another second."

Like she expected, her led her to the center of the dance floor, where everyone could see them.

Unlike Ted, he knew to place his hand on her back, except he used it press her against him. She looked sharply to the side, choosing instead to watch the couples that were twirling around them. She saw Narcissa with the Slytherin Seeker Torin Flint. Her sister made a face at her before gesturing to Rabastan. Reluctantly, Andromeda looked back to her dance partner. Rabastan was looking at her, a smile on his lips, which were now right next to hers. She quickly looked down, while still being able to watch him out of the corner of her eye. The smile slipped off his face a little.

"I'm sorry I kissed you."

She looked up, but meeting his gaze was still too much and her eyes quickly turned over her shoulder.

"You don't need to be sorry," she said. She wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that he was, either. Did that mean he didn't like it?

"But I am." He sighed. "The boys asked me why I was paying so much attention to you, so I lied and said we were going out. And then they asked me to prove it." He looked down a little. "I still haven't told anyone we're engaged."

"Me neither," Andromeda said. "I mean my sisters know, but no one else."

"I told Rolf," Rabastan said. "He doesn't understand why I want to keep it a secret though."

But Andromeda did, and he seemed to sense that.

"To be fair though," he said after a pause, smiling again, "It's not like I minded kissing you. That much." She made a face at him, almost without thinking.

"It wasn't completely deplorable for me either," she said, and he grinned.

"May I interrupt?" Came another, purr-like voice. Rodolphus Lestrange was standing next to them.

"Of course." Rabastan nodded to his brother, gave her another smile, and then left.

For the third time tonight, someone held their hand out to her, though for the first time, she took it with trembling fingers.

Rodolphus didn't hold her nearly as close as Rabastan, or even Ted, but there wasn't a certain firmness to his grip, making her feel like she was more in his grasp than any of the others.

"So, we're to be family soon."

She nodded, forcing a smile, which he didn't return. She wasn't sure if he meant that as good thing anyway. It was more like a statement of fact, without him giving his opinion on the matter one way or another.

He didn't say anything else. Perhaps that was all he had to say. She couldn't bear to look at him anymore than Rabastan, which is how she ended up gazing around at the couples again. There were a lot of Slytherin's around her: Lucius Malfoy and Luciana Nott, both the Carrows, Dolores Umbridge, who was dancing by herself, Andromeda noted, and Bellatrix and Evan Rosier. Bella caught her stare, but her gaze quickly drifted to Meda's partner, Roldophus. She raised her eyebrows, and then made a face at Meda. Andromeda bit back a chuckle. It was moments like those where Bella felt like the lovable older sister she remembered and not...

"Rabastan seems to care for you," Rodolphus's voice surprised her.

"Yes. And the feeling's mutual." She almost winced at how forced that sounded, even though she was not sure it was forced.