"Nice of you to join us, Ms. Black." Andromeda blushed as she quickly shut the door behind her. It's bad enough to be called out for being late by any teacher in front of the whole class, but somehow Professor Flitwick's squeaky voice made it all worse.
"My apologies, Professor," she said. Like any teacher, her polite, calm tone immediately soothed him. He merely rolled his eyes as he returned, somewhat airily, to his instruction. She planned to sit in her normal seat near the back of the classroom, only to find it was taken by another student. Repressing the desire to slump her shoulders she quickly scanned the room for an empty seat, but the only available one was in the far left, next to Ted Tonks. He looked up, probably feeling her stare. He scanned the classroom as well and, coming to the same conclusion she had, returned his attention to her. His lips curved up into another one of those smirks as he lifted his hand and patted the seat next to him.
Her cheeks filled with heat and she immediately stared at the ground to hide the blush that was sure to follow. Her mother had told her to never stare at her feet, it was a sign of weakness, of submission. And the Blacks did not submit to anyone. But she couldn't look at him! No, it had nothing to do with that, it was just that she couldn't let him see her, not that it would be a problem if he saw her it's just that she—
She forced herself to stop, and look up. She bypassed his face as she did, focusing instead on the wall above him as she went to her seat. The moment she sat down she focused her attention forward, refusing to even glance at him. But it wasn't enough to block out his voice, whispering,
"How was the scenic route?"
Her cheeks inflamed again, and she almost screamed in frustration. How many times could a person blush in a few minutes? One would think until the previous blush wore off, there would be no room for more blushing. They would be wrong.
She tried to focus on the lesson, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't ignore the person next to her. It was like she was hyperaware of his presence and every cell in her body wanted to glance over at him again, no matter how often her mind told it no.
Except she couldn't resist. She opened her book and bent down into it, pretending to be searching for something, when really, she was glancing at him over the top of the cover. He didn't notice, as he was too busy making his quill dance across his desk.
It's funny how you could know someone for years and yet never noticed certain things, like how his skin reminded her of the pleasant yellow hue of sunlight. His whole demeanor seemed to scream sun, even his ever-present smile had a lightness about it.
"How's the view from down there?"
She let out a tiny gasp and straightened as she slammed the book closed, while Ted chuckled. Her slamming was pretty loud, loud enough to cause the people around them to look at her in alarm, but a majority of the class was already moving and talking, so they didn't notice anything. That was fortunate, but it also meant something was happening, and since she hadn't been paying attention, she didn't know what it was. She supposed she should ask someone, and she had an idea which someone, it was just...
"We're supposed to be getting partners, to you know, practice what we've learned."
She looked over at him. He pressed his lips together and smiled toothlessly. She smiled, a nervous smile that by the time she turned away had turned into a grimace. She started towards Susannah, a shy Hufflepuff girl she usually partnered with during these things, only to find that she was partnering with someone else, another Hufflepuff boy. She glanced around, everyone else seemed to have a partner, which left...
She slowly turned back to face Ted, like a prisoner might turn to face the firing squad. He just looked at her. He wasn't smirking, but she could tell it was taking considerable effort on his part. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, and when she didn't he took the initiative.
"Did you need something?" he leaned forward like she'd said something, even though she hadn't. "A partner?" he straightened, "Yeah sure, I'll be your partner. Jeez, you just can't seem to stay away from me, can you?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Are you sure it's me? You seem to have a habit of cropping up in my path." She almost regretted it, almost. Angering the person she was no supposed to work with probably wasn't a good idea, but his lips spread into a grin and he chuckled.
"I knew there was something I liked about you." He looked up at her again, and somehow, his whole demeanor seemed to brighten. "Shall we?" he indicated to an empty space in the classroom where they could practice. Andromeda nodded and followed him numbly, feeling like the floor had been pulled out from under her feet and she was now expected to walk on air.
Ted and Andromeda made their way over to a secluded corner. He turned to face her, his wand raised. She automatically raised hers in response, before realizing she still didn't know what they were doing. She stared at Ted, hoping he would take pity on her. He just smirked at her, a smirk that she was really starting to hate, and let her squirm for a bit before saying,
"We're supposed to be working on the silencing charm, you know like we did with the Ravens last year? Only this year we're doing it on each other, because that's more advanced, apparently, I don't know." His voice grew quieter. "Between you and me, I think Flitwick's fallen off his stack of books one too many times if you understand my meaning..." He twirled his hand around his head to emphasize the point.
Andromeda couldn't help it; she giggled, and immediately forced herself to stifle it to avoid any more awkward stares from their classmates. She took a deep breath, pulling back, pulling in. She needed to detach herself, before this got any weirder. She focused on him, yes, but without any sort of, spark. He seemed to sense her change in demeanor. A muscle in his jaw twitched and when he spoke his voice was uncharacteristically formal.
"Do you want to start?"
She just nodded, raising her wand. "Silencio."
He opened his mouth. "And...nope, sorry, didn't work."
She tried again, and again, but no matter how hard she tried, she just wasn't successful. She ran her hands through her long dark hair in frustration.
"You're just not properly motivated.," Ted said. "You need more encouragement." He cleared his throat. "So, is bumping into people your preferred way of getting attention? Because it seems there are other ways that are more effective and less embarrassing." He paused, looking thoughtful. "But then, of course, it does give you an excuse to have some one-on-one contact with them." His eyes narrowed. "Unless of course said person is a Mudblood, and said girl happens to be a bigot—"
She felt a rush of heat all throughout her body, and without thinking she shouted, "Silencio!" The words seemed to rip from some hidden corner of her body. His mouth opened and closed several times but made no sound. He tried to say something else in congratulations before realizing his mistake. Instead he gave her thumbs up. There also seemed to be something else in his face, but she couldn't quite make out what it was. Something...wary? Excited? Thoughtful? Whatever it was, it made her uncomfortable.
She almost left him like that, as a way of repaying all the obnoxious things he'd said and done to her today, but in the end she couldn't do it.
"Resonus."
He massaged his throat. "Thanks." He smirked again. "See? All I had to do was make you angry—"
"You succeeded Andromeda?" Came the greasy voice of one her classmates, Amycus Carrow. He turned towards the two of them. Amycus had pale skin, startling blue eyes and chin-length grayish-brown hair. He was one of those people who might have been attractive, if he learned to comb his hair and wasn't leering all the time.
"I don't know how you can concentrate with the stench." He glanced over at Ted. His leer twisted his face into some ugly shape. Andromeda stiffened, but Ted just raised his eyebrows.
"You're one to talk, Carrow."
Amycus's nostrils flared. "What did you just say, Tonks?"
"You heard me."
Amycus looked like he was inflating; it was quite alarming, actually. "Remember your place, Mudblood, or perhaps I need to remind you..."
"Come on over here and I would be happy to oblige you." Tonks said, his voice still had that calm, almost bored quality, but Andromeda could see him fingering his wand by his side. Her breath caught. "Especially if it involves sticking that wand of yours up your big, harry, A—"
"Are you threatening my brother?" His twin, Alecto, cut in. It always amazed Meda how much she looked like her brother despite the difference in gender.
This time Ted didn't say anything, but his eyes flickered up toward the Professor. Amycus followed his gaze and turned back, sneering. "Looking to the professor to protect you, Tonks?"
"No, I just don't want him to be the one to have to pick the pieces of you off the floor after I'm done with you." His smirked returned. "He's one of my favorite teachers, you see."
Amycus's eyes bulged, Andromeda thought he was going to start screaming, but he managed to keep his voice at a whisper. "You insolent, rotten little as—"
Ted raised his wand and said, "Silencio!" Like Ted's, Amycus's mouth continued moving before he realized what had happened, only there was something more comical about it this time. Andromeda stifled her snort.
Considering neither Alecto nor Amycus were very bright, Andromeda doubted they'd mastered the basic charm yet, much less it's reversal. The two of them shuffled away, casting Ted dirty looks as they went to find someone who could restore Amycus's voice.
Ted glanced over at her, his smirk returned. He was looking at her like this was their victory, even though she hadn't done anything. He probably expected her to smile or laugh again. But Andromeda couldn't focus, her heart was still racing from their fight, and all she could see was the sparks flaring from Amycus's wand when he threatened Ted. He may have been kind of dull, but she had no doubt he'd make good on his threats. So instead she cast her eyes to the floor, not caring that it looked weak. She just couldn't afford to look at Ted any longer.
She could still see him though, at least from the shoulders down, so she saw the way his shoulders slumped, and the light seemed to disappear from around him. She didn't keep staring at the floor, but she didn't look at him either, at least she tried not to. They passed the rest of the class like that, in this uncomfortable, still silence. It was probably only a few minutes before class ended, but it felt like hours. Professor Flitwick's ringing, "class dismissed!" was a voice from heaven. She needed to get out of there, right now. The day was only half over, and she already felt like collapsing from exhaustion. She grabbed her book and shoved it into her bag, but in the process, she knocked the quill off her desk and it rolled out of reach. She heaved a sigh, a part of her still wanted to leave, regardless, but that quill was special. It was one of the only gifts her father had given her.
She ambled around her desk, reaching down to pick it up, but someone else beat her too it. For the second time that day she found herself standing up to see Ted Tonks. She wasn't going to participate in any more of this awkward staring business; at least, she told herself she wasn't going to.
He looked at her quill and whistled. "That's a fancy quill." She didn't wait for him to hand it to her, she was done. She snatched it from his fingers, ever so careful not to brush against his skin again. Ignoring his surprised gesture, she turned to walk away from him.
"Sorry, I threatened your friend."
Andromeda stopped. "Amycus isn't my friend." She probably shouldn't have said that, especially since Ted appeared at her shoulder a moment later, and when she walked out, he followed along beside her. She cringed but didn't say anything. It was bad idea, but what was she supposed to do about it?
"Are you all right?" Ted's voice cut in again. "You seemed kind of distracted when we...ran into each other earlier."
Really? Andromeda mused; I wonder why that would be. "I'm fine."
"You sure?"
No. "Quite sure, I was just...flabbergasted with homework and gathering my books and everything."
He clicked his tongue, she could tell he didn't believe her, but before she could say anything else to convince him, he said,
"Flabbergasted?" She didn't miss the mocking tone in his voice.
"Flabbergasted," she said, "is a perfectly good word."
"Eh, I don't know, it makes me think of flobberworms."
"Flobberworms? The only similarities they have are the f and the b." Why she was continuing this bizarre conversation? She should stop, and get away from Ted. But he'd made fun of the way she spoke! She couldn't let him get away with that.
"It makes you sound like a prude."
"The opinion of someone whose own vocabulary is limited and coarse at best." She kept thinking Ted was going to turn on her the way he had Amycus, but he still had that stupid smirk plastered all over his face. And her, what was she doing? Sure, he was irritating her, but was she really angry?
"Coarse and limited? Goodness, you sure know how to make a man feel insulted." He emphasized this point by feigning a wound to his chest, but he still couldn't stop himself from smirking.
"Words are a powerful instrument, Mr. Tonks, you should learn to wield them." He made a face at her, and though she was blushing, she held her ground.
Or she intended too. They'd reached the great hall, and people were staring at them and whispering.
She automatically took a step back, away from Ted, but he wasn't where he'd been before. She looked over to see him walking away from the great all, towards the entrance hall. She knew she should just let him go, just let him walk away, but...
"Where are you going?"
He looked over at her, his expression unreadable. "The lake, I like to eat out there, it's peaceful."
"Oh." She didn't know what else to say.
He was silent for a moment. Then, "you want to come?"
His question surprised her, but then, it didn't. She allowed herself to think about it. It would be nice, not having to sit among her sisters' friends, knowing she didn't really belong. And she loved the lake...but like always, there wasn't really a choice, there was only one way.
"No, I can't."
His shoulders tightened, and he let his gaze drop. "Right."
And then he turned around and made his way out the door. She watched him go, and then made her way inside, ignoring the knot of disappointment in her chest.