Andromeda tucked her hair behind her ear as she puzzled over the last question on her transfiguration homework. It was a bright, beautiful day, but even the fresh breeze could only do so much for her sore, over-worked brain. It's like the more she studied, the more her brain grew until it was pushing at the sides of her skull. But of course, that was ridiculous.
Still though, it was better to have a stuffed brain outdoors than a stuffed brain indoors, even if she was more likely to run into Rabastan out here.
"Hey Andromeda!" She looked up, half-annoyed, half-amused. She had wanted to avoid interaction with anyone, but she could never say no to Sirius. "There's my favorite cousin, how have you been?" He came up and plopped on the ground next to her, making himself comfortable. Apparently, he intended to stay for a while. She looked to see his entourage of friends bringing up the rear. She shouldn't have to look though, they rarely went anywhere without each other. They stopped a few feet behind their friend. Remus Lupin smiled and gave her a friendly wave, while the other, James Potter, merely folded his arms across his chest and gave her a brisk nod. He'd never much liked her. He was a staunch hater of all Slytherins and this included Andromeda, but out of respect for Sirius he never said anything to her. And there was Peter Pettigrew cowering behind him, looking at Andromeda with wide, fearful eyes. That was encouraging.
She smiled politely at Sirius's question, "All right, how about—"
"Is it true?" he interrupted.
She blinked, derailed. "Is what true?"
"That you're considering pulling a Sirius and abandoning the Black Bandwagon?"
Andromeda's eyes widened, and she blushed a deep red, "No! I'm... who told you that?"
"Narcissa."
The book slipped out of Andromeda's fingers. "She said that?"
Sirius smirked. "Well no, not really, she just said she was concerned because she found you talking to a muggleborn. She was discussing it very loudly from the bathroom. Which I know not because I was in the girls' bathroom, but outside it, installing a very persistent pair of nifflers..."
"A muggleborn?" His friend Potter interrupted, walking closer and glancing at Andromeda with lidded eyes.
"Yeah, Ted Tonks, you remember Ted Tonks, right?" Sirius said.
James cast her another furtive glance, before returning to Sirius, his mind whirring. "Doesn't he play quidditch or something?"
"Yeah, for Hufflepuff, he's their chaser, and a sixth year, like our dear Andromeda."
But Potter didn't care about any of this. "And you were talking to him?" The disbelief in his voice was almost condescending. He was clearly expecting an answer, as was Sirius.
Andromeda wasn't getting out of this one, much as she might want to. She sighed, closing the book in front of her, and resignedly explained, "Professor Kettleburn asked the two of us to help him prepare something, and afterwards I... I had a question about our charms homework."
"You had a question about homework?" Sirius snorted.
"And you decided to ask the mudblood? " Potter cut in. "Aren't they just stupid scum who don't know anything about magic anyway?"
Andromeda felt another rush of heat wash over her. Ted used to say similar things, but there was something about the way that Potter said it that drove her over the edge.
"You know who you sound like?" she said.
His eyebrows knitted, confused. "No?"
She glared at him, struggling to keep the venom out of her voice. "Narcissa."
"Narcissa?" he repeated, "as in—"
"As in my sister," she finished, almost smiling. "Narcissa Black."
James potter took an involuntary step back, nostrils flaring. "You're saying I'm a—"
"I'm saying you would've made a great Black if things had worked out a little differently."
His jaw twitched, and the barriers that kept his hatred up came crashing down. "You dare say that to me?" he snarled, stalking towards her, " you little—"
Lupin darted forward and grabbed Potter's arm. "Easy James." he placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
"Did you hear what she said about me?"
"Yeah," he said, fighting a grin. "And you deserved it. You're being a jackass."
"Don't be so quick to defend her, Remus," Sirius cut in, laughing. He clearly found James' and Andromeda's conversation amusing. "Andromeda can take of herself. Did I ever tell you guys about what she did to me when I threatened to set her Shakespeare collection on fire? She freakin' set my hair on fire."
"Really?" Peter Pettigrew finally spoke, his voice sounding squeakier and mousier than Andromeda thought possible.
"Yep, that's our Andromeda, the little spitfire."
Andromeda wasn't sure what she was doing, but the next second, she was slamming her book into her bag, swinging her bag over her shoulder, and storming off toward the castle.
"Hey Wait! Andromeda, don't get all hot under the collar, I was only joking." Sirius shouted after her.
She turned. "I'm not really in a joking mood right now."
He held up his hands. "All right. Jeez, what's got you so uptight?"
She opened her mouth, but had no idea what to say. She closed it and stared at the ground in front of her, swallowing. "Nothing, I'm just... stressed, that's all."
"Because of the engagement?"
His words hit her like a slap, and she stiffened, her eyes narrowing, but it was too late. The damage was done.
"Engagement?" Potter said, like he was sure he'd heard it wrong, and then he looked over at her. His face was contorted and pinched, like he'd just smelled something awful. "You're getting married?"
"Married?" Peter Pettigrew said, sounding almost afraid of the word.
"Yep," Sirius answered, his eyes never leaving Andromeda's face. "To Rabastan Lestrange, of all people."
"Why the hell would you want to marry him?" Potter said, disgusted.
"He's very handsome?" Remus said from behind them.
Potter turned toward him. "You think he's handsome, Moony?" His lip was still curled, but his usual overconfident smile was back in place. "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"You ask why somebody would want to marry him." He gave his friend an almost reproving look. "And in our modern society that's a very applicable answer."
"Right," Potter said, returning to Andromeda, his eyes gleaming. "So is that it, Andromeda? Is that why you want get in bed with—"
"Don't be a prat." Sirius cut him off. "It's arranged. Isn't it, Meda?"
"Arranged?" Potter said, he had apparently decided he found this topic amusing, not disgusting. "You guys still do that?"
Andromeda suddenly had the urge to throw her book at his head, or give him tentacles on his face, but instead she said. "Yes, Mr. Potter, we do. Us and barbaric ways."
He held up his hand, warding off her hostility. "Aren't you to young?"
"They're going to wait until I finish school." Why was she even answering his questions? She whirled on Sirius. "How do you know about this?"
He gave her a pretend haughty look. "I'm a seer. I just know this stuff."
Potter snorted.
"Alright fine, I got it from Regulus, but I technically beat it out of him so that counts for something." He caught potter's eye, who winked at him.
Andromeda had had enough of this. "Wonderful," she muttered, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and turning again towards the castle.
"Wait," Sirius's voice had finally lost most of its casual air. "Come on. Don't be like this." He caught her shoulder and whirled her around. "Look, I'm worried about you. How are you handling this whole ordeal? Is there..." his hand slipped off her shoulder, "is there anything I can do?"
Andromeda had never seen him like this. So serious (okay yes, his name was Sirius, but he never acted like it), caring? Caring wasn't the word. He's always been nice he just wasn't really, forward about it. Concerned? Empathetic? She didn't know, but whatever it was it caught her completely off guard.
"I... thank you," she said, meaning it, "but there's not anything to be done."
"Oh?" his charisma returned. "Not so, we could transform Rebastard into a slug, which would make a wedding difficult."
"I'd be game for that." James said, coming up behind Sirius and giving Andromeda an almost smile. It was probably the nicest thing he'd ever said to her.
"Thank you, but I'll pass. They'd probably make me marry him anyway."
"Damn, I knew I'd forgotten something." Sirius grinned at her out of a lopsided mouth. "But seriously, are you all right? Because this, well, this is pretty big."
"I—"Something had caught Andromeda's eye from across the field. Someone with blond hair was making their way along the bank, someone that looked like... Ted. It had to be, she recognized his gangly walk. He sat down, in their spot, alone, even though there were groups of people milling around, enjoying this uncharacteristically warm day before winter set in.
Her chest tightened. Ted wasn't often alone. He was usually surrounded by at least one of his friends, and every now and then she caught him in a bigger group. But not now. He was staring at the ground, so she couldn't see his face, but she could see that he was pulling up grass around him, like he always did when he was frustrated.
They never spoke to each other when others were around. They scarcely even looked at each other. But she'd never seen him look so dejected before? Was something wrong?
"Andromeda?" Sirius said.
She sighed. She shouldn't go talk to him, but she was worried about him. Maybe she could arrange a meeting when less people would be around.
"I—"she fumbled, "I'm sorry, I have to go." And she took off.
"Go? Now? Wait? What? All right." He accepted her decision quickly. "Hey Andromeda?" Apparently, she couldn't not turn when people called her name, because she did.
"They don't own you, all right? Just remember that."
His words stopped her, but there was no time to think about them. She had to do this, before she lost her nerve.
Ted didn't see her at first. Not until she was a few feet away. Somebody brushed past her, knocking into her shoulder.
'"Pardon me," Andromeda said, even though it was their fault, but whoever it was clearly wasn't paying attention to anything, not even her apology. She'd spoken softly, but Ted looked up, startled. They stood frozen, and then Ted slowly stood up. Andromeda didn't stop to think about what she was doing, she just walked forward. He didn't smile the way he usually did when he saw her, yet there was something about his eyes that drew her in. She stopped when she was a few feet from him, just close enough to touch.
"Ted, I—"
"Andromeda!" The next second Rabastan had grabbed her by the arm and had wheeled her around to face him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ted turn away as well. She prayed that Rabastan hadn't seen her speaking to him, wouldn't even notice he was there. It was an easy wish. Rabastan generally only noticed himself.
"Is disappearing off the face of the planet a habit of yours?" His hand slid up her arm. "Because you do it brilliantly."
"I've just been busy studying," Andromeda said, Rabastan had reached her shoulder and gripped it firmly, sending shivers down her spine and making it difficult to breath.
"That's not what Narcissa said; she said you were hiding out in your dorm room all day," Rabastan continued. It seemed he could tell what affect his touch was having on her, as he moved his hand to her should blade, pulling her in closer.
"Are you avoiding me, Andromeda? Because it sure seems like it."
A few people snickered. Rabastan was surrounded by his usual gang of boys. His brother, obviously, as well as Lucius Malfoy and Lester Yaxley, who were both leering down at her. Behind them stood Antonin Dolohov, who looked bored. Evan Rosier was also a usual member, but Andromeda could guess why he was absent.
She went red. "I'm not, I just..." she realized what she needed to do, she pulled out a breathless tone. "I can't think clearly around you, Bastan, and I needed some time to clear my head." That got the reaction she wanted. He grinned as his hands moved down her back, toward her waist. She pulled her hands out of the way, so he wouldn't notice what she was holding.
"So, did you need something?" she said, mostly because his hands were continuing to drop, and that was making her uncomfortable.
"Do I need a reason to see you?" She gave him a stern look, at least as stern as she could muster.
He glanced around his friends, like he was looking for a confirmation of some sort. They nodded at him, smirking. He returned to her.
"I just... there's something I wanted to do, before the dance tomorrow."
She shivered at his words, but she didn't have time to prepare herself, as the next moment his lips we on hers.
Andromeda couldn't help it, she gasped. His lips were like honey, soft and tantalizing. His hand slipped passed her cheek and down her neck, forcing her to arch up into him, his other hand pressed her hips firmly against him and then dragged up her body, aligning it with his. She forgot her reservations; she forgot her fear of him. All she knew is that she would do anything, anything to be kissed like this again.
And then something hit her sharply from the side, and she stumbled, falling out of Rabastan's grasp. Someone had knocked into her, someone with long, shaggy blond hair. Ted. She stared at him before the reality of the situation washed over her. She tried to catch his eye, but he wasn't looking at her, his eyes focused on Rabastan.
"Sorry," he said, his voice tense.
"Sorry?" Rabastan repeated, chuckling darkly. "You'd better be sorry, mudblood."
Ted's brow darkened, but he chuckled as well. "Is that how you talk in front of your girlfriend?"
Oh no. Andromeda thought, oh no. It was one thing to get entangled with Amycus, he was too stupid to fight back. But Andromeda had seen these guys in action, and she knew exactly what they were capable of.
"Tonks, isn't it?" Rabastan continued, while Andromeda felt the rest of the Slytherins coming up behind them, forming a sort of semi-circle around the three of them. "Your smart-ass reputation precedes you."
"Rabastan," Ted acknowledged. "Your bastard ways precede you."
He was dead.
She felt a few of the boys' hiss behind her, and she shot a glance at Ted, hoping he would notice her, and stop this.
Rabastan stepped around her. "I hear you have a habit of sticking your mudblood noise where it doesn't belong."
"And I hear you have a habit of sleeping with more than one girl at a time. Is it true you're once got three of them in the same bed?" He looked at Andromeda as he said this, and she realized what he was implying. Her face burned. She stopped worrying about protecting him, and instead focused on not killing him herself.
"Why, are you jealous, little mudblood? Bet the only girls you get are those smarmy little muggles, can't be very satisfying can it? But then, I supposed you are a muggle so what's the difference—"
Lucius and Dolohov were pulling their wands. She needed to act before this got out of hand. She sprang forward, placing herself firmly between Ted and Rabastan and forcing them to back away.
"That's enough." She briefly glanced between the two of them before turning toward Rabastan. "Look, just let it go, all right? This isn't worth wasting your time. And look at me." She wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling warmly, "I'm fine, so just drop it." That might've been enough, but just in case she added, "don't let him spoil our first kiss."
Rabastan still looked furious, but she could see him warming up under her touch. He brushed his hands across her hair.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to stop this epic romance." Ted said, trying to smirk but failing. She glared at him, hoping her take the hint and leave, and the boys around her tensed again.
Another Hufflepuff boy came up behind Ted and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Let it go."
Ted looked like he would rather swallow stink sap, but he let himself be dragged away. His eyes found hers one more time, somehow looking dark despite their vibrant blue tone, before he allowed himself to be led up to the castle.
The boys around her muttered something, while Rabastan put his arm around her waist. Her heart fluttered, but only part of it. The other part of was still stuck on the look Ted given her. He'd never looked at her like that before, like his eyes burned away her skin. Like he hated her.