"You're staring at Andromeda again."
"Am I?" Ted said, distracted, then he quickly looked away. "I mean, no I'm not."
Olivia snorted. Ted sighed. He hadn't slept last night, and he was exhausted. He'd cycled through everything that had happened between him and Andromeda, finally ending on the kiss they'd shared, her promise that they could be together. He'd let himself drift on that thought, but then the image of what she'd looked like when she left, all distraught and conflicted, and what it meant to be dating a Black came swirling back and suddenly he was hyperventilating and then the whole process started all over again.
He'd dressed quickly and run down to the Entrance Hall, waiting for her to come up from the dungeons to breakfast, but she never did. He'd checked their spot by the lake but she wasn't there either. He didn't feel right eating there without her so he'd been forced to actually eat at his house table, all the while casting sidelong glances at the Slytherin table and earning himself a few nasty stares from the students there, but she'd never shown. He'd practically run to Charms, knowing he'd see her then, but she'd completely ignored him. She'd sat in the far corner, opposite of him, and never even glanced in his direction no matter how many times he tried to get her attention.
He'd thought about trying to catch her between classes, but something about her attitude made him hesitant. Or maybe he was just bitter. If she was going to ignore him he was going to ignore her. Hadn't exactly worked out though, even in the foggy potions classroom she was still the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, and he longed to push those beautiful curls behind her eyes and have her look up and smile at him the way she done before things had gotten—complicated.
"Can't exactly blame him," Jake said. "She is stunning." Ted smirked at how closely Jake's thoughts mirrored his own, except he never would refer to Andromeda as merely, stunning. More like breathtaking, or ravaging or...
"And taken," Olivia added. "I heard she was going out with Rabastan."
Lorie sighed. "I hate her already." She lifted her head from where she was sprawled out on the desk and added; "You sure they're going out? I heard they were just shagging."
Jake made a face at Ted over his cauldron, which Ted did not reciprocate. Normally they wouldn't be able to get away with talking like this while Slughorn was here, but he'd come down with something and asked Flitwick to fill in for him. That had been a joke. Flitwick had set them on one of the simplest potions in the book and they'd all finished with 15 minutes and started going a bit wild. He'd tried to get them to study, but after a while he'd just given in, so they were enjoying the first free period they'd had since third year.
"Why do you care so much?" Ted said, glaring at Lorie. It wasn't really her fault he was so edgy, but he wasn't exactly eager to discuss what may or may not be going on between Meda and Rabastan. It made him feel like his insides were on fire.
"Because he's fit," Olivia put in, like it was obvious.
Lorie sighed again. "They all are. Why do the Slytherin boys have to be so damn sexy?"
Now this was really too much for Ted. "First, I'm sexier," Olivia rolled her eyes, "and second, he's an arse."
"Didn't he call you a mudblood the other day?" Jake said.
"Yep," Ted said, leaning back on his chair.
"Why?" Olivia asked, almost sounding like she didn't want to hear the answer.
"'Cause I freakin' ran into him while he was freakin' making out with his stupid girlfriend."
"Andromeda?" Lorie asked, sounding uncharacteristically gleeful about this, especially when she had just professed to hate the girl.
"Was it an accident?" Olivia said.
"Yes," Ted replied, a little too quickly.
Olivia smirked, looking like a fox about to catch the rabbit in her trap. "Are you sure?"
"Didn't you partner up with her one day?" Lorie said, feeding into what Olivia was doing.
"He did," Olivia said, her eyes flashing.
"Yeah, he made me partner up with Susannah, so she'd be forced to partner up with him," Jake said. Ted gave him his best murderous stare. Jake had promised he'd never repeat that, and he'd completely sold Ted out, left him to Liv's and Lorie's mercy. This betrayal ran deep.
"Why?" Lorie asked, her voice breathless, like she could barely wait to hear the answer.
Ted had been backed into a corner. He was still glaring at Jake as he said, "'Cause she ran into me in the hall and then freaked out when I touched her skin handing her books back. We had unfinished business."
"Uh-huh," was Olivia's only response. Ted gave her a sharp look. In addition to being her former boyfriend, they'd also been best friends since first year. He knew her well enough to know she was holding something back. She wasn't a blabbermouth like Lorie, but she spoke her mind, always. She looked up at him and he bit his lip, swallowing. He hated the way she'd always been able to look right through him. This wasn't the end of this conversation, that much was clear.
"Isn't that the day you got in that row with Amycus?" Jake's question startled both him and Olivia out of their moment, for which Ted was grateful.
"Yep," he said, not really in the mood for any lengthier explanations.
"God Ted." Liv groaned, leaning back in her chair. "Why do you have to go around antagonizing them all the time?"
"'Cause they're pricks who deserve antagonizing."
"Can we get back on track?" Lorie asked. " We were discussing whether or not miss prissy was with Rabastan or not?"
Oh god, not again. "Didn't we establish they were bastards?" Ted said, venom saturating his words. "They hex people for fun, Lorie."
"And there's something about that whole bad boy complex that just gets me jittery inside," She smirked. "Rodolphus too."
Ted rolled his eyes, not sure how much more of this he could take. He glanced around the room. He dared not look at Meda again, even though his body was screaming for it. His eyes wandered over to another Hufflepuff girl, Teresa, who happened to look up at this particular moment. He made a face at her and she grinned appreciatively before returning to her group of friends. Teresa sometimes hung out with them, but lately she'd been spending a lot of time with Susannah. Teresa was the queen of sweet people. She hung out with whoever needed a friend the most, and once she'd built them back up, she moved on to someone else. She'd been there for Lorie when her brother had gotten cancer, and now she was there for Susannah. Ted couldn't help but wonder if she was on this ridiculous Rabastan hype or not. He hoped not, otherwise he really would gorge his eyes out.
"You realize," Jake said, turning toward Lorie, "that if you ended up with either or them they would tear off your breasts, roast them, and season them with your entrails?"
Ted and Liv exchanged glances at this, lips tight and eyebrows raised, but Lorie merely exhaled wistfully. "I know, that's part of what makes them so sexy."
Ted glanced at Liv, who merely rolled her eyes and looked away. He held back a snort, but he also couldn't help staring curiously after her. He figured Liv wasn't stupid enough to moon over Rabastan, or anyone like him, but she had called him fit earlier. And he'd heard her giggling with the other Hufflepuff girls about him when they thought the guys weren't listening. Something about that made him uncomfortable. He couldn't stomach the image of Liv and Rabastan together any more than he could stomach Meda with him. What did that say about him? She was his ex-girlfriend, and he'd only dated her about six months. He hadn't thought about her that way in a long time, but still... Maybe he was just protective. Any guy would be of his best friend, right? That better be it. His love life was complicated enough as is. And speaking of his love life...
The bell rung, and the students around him picked up their bags. And who was making a beeline for the door? None other than the mysterious Andromeda.
"Hey, I'll catch you guys later," he muttered, shoving his books into his bag. Screw his 'you ignore me, I'll ignore you' game, she wasn't sneaking away from him again today.
Ted almost knocked over a few students in his haste to get to Andromeda, including a few Slytherins, who hissed as he sped past them.
He finally caught Andromeda just before she'd reached the staircase.
"Hey," he said, reaching for her shoulder, but she whipped out of his reach and stood to face him, looking mutinous, or maybe murderous. She shook her head briskly as she backed away from him. He retracted his hands, trying to stifle the lump that was developing in his throat. She cocked her head sharply to the side twice before taking off down the stairs. She'd almost reached the bottom when he realized she wanted him to follow her. He did, muttering under his breath. What the hell was she doing? This had been her idea in the first place, he hadn't even asked her. The fact that he wanted too was beside the point.
Finally she led him to some random empty room. He'd never appreciated how Hogwarts had so many of them, but they seemed to be saving his butt lately. Except this one was barely bigger than a broom closet, which sucked, until he realized how close it forced Andromeda to be to him and it became his best friend.
Not that she was in the mood to snog, she looked like he'd just tracked dog poop over her new Turkish rug. But she wasn't the only one; he had his own score to settle.
"So are you done pretending I don't exist? Or are you just taking a break?"
But Andromeda wasn't listening.
"What the hell are you thinking, Ted?" She hissed, spit flying. "You can't talk to me in public like that."
"Ted?" he repeated, "Huh, so you actually did remember my name, I wasn't so sure."
Her mouth closed abruptly, audibly, as she closed her eyes shook her head and said through clenched teeth, "Ted—"
"I was beginning to think that I had actually turned invisible, only everyone else could see me so I knew that wasn't the case."
This wasn't how he'd pictured their reunion. There was no, 'whoopee, we finally get to be together.' But now that he was in stride, he just couldn't stop.
"Ted I—"
"Do you make a habit of this? Kissing guys and then ignoring their existence, 'cause it's kind of like the kid version of a one night—"
"Damn it, Ted!" She screamed, forcing him to be silent. "Why can't you just listen for once?"
He took a step back, feeling strangely small and skinny. "I'm sorry." He apologized, for the first time. What had she done to him? He'd never apologized for anything before in his life. But she was right.
Andromeda seem to relax a little, the tightness had disappeared from her shoulders and neck and she no longer looked like a hungry bear about to demolish him.
"No, I'm sorry, I just... I really want this to work."
"Yeah," Ted chuckled nervously, glad that she seemed to have forgiven him so quickly. "Me too."
A stiff silence fell between them. Ted smacked his lips together as he tried to keep from staring at Andromeda's mouth. He was painfully, agonizingly aware of her proximity. It was impossible, but he swore he could feel the heat coming off her skin. She blushed under his stare, opening his lips to say something but instead looked away from him, focusing on his chest.
He folded his arms around his chest because he couldn't stand the emptiness. He wanted, needed to wrap her in his arms. Assure him that this was real, really real. Andromeda Black was his, all his...
"What's going on between you and Rabastan?"
He'd asked her this once before and she'd refused to answer, but everything Liv and Lorie had said was burning around inside him. And as much as he wanted to hold on to his own moments with Andromeda, he couldn't get her kiss with Rabastan out of his head, couldn't forget the way she'd melted into him. Huh, imagine that. He couldn't forget the worst moment of his life.
Andromeda sighed, taking a step away from him. "It's... difficult to explain."
That was not what he wanted to hear. 'difficult to explain' was synonymous for 'complicated,' and no guy wanted to hear that about the guy his girlfriend made out with. Ughh... even in his head it sounded horrible.
"Try." He ran his hands roughly over his own elbows to keep from reaching out and grabbing something and shaking it, most likely Andromeda.
"We're..." she seemed to be struggling to find words, "our parents want us to be together, and Rabastan at least is trying to appease their wishes."
Ted raised his eyebrows. Her story made sense, but it seemed like there was something she wasn't telling him. Uncharacteristically he decided not to pursue it.
"And you're not?" he asked instead.
She gave him a scathing look, well, have scathing, half...
"I'm here, aren't I?"
He smirked, he couldn't help it. "You sure are."
And just like that, they were right back where'd they started, unconsciously leaning in, lips softening as they closed the distance...
"So what are you going to do about it, Rabastan, I mean?"
Ted you idiot! His mind seemed to scream as Andromeda leaned back, looking flustered. What the hell are you thinking? He couldn't help but agree with his mind, he had the worst timing. But he couldn't just let this go. Regardless of what Andromeda said or did Rabastan was always there, like an overly attractive dung beetle Ted wanted to squish with his feet but couldn't.
At least, not yet.
"I... I'll end things, but I can't do it right away." She sounded pleading, her eyes wide, "It'll take time. Is that... is that all right?"
No. Of course it wasn't. It wasn't anywhere near all right, but he wasn't going to fight her on it, not anymore. Maybe he was too tired, tired of waiting more like, Andromeda was so damn close...
"I... I need to go, I promised—Narcissa I would meet her for lunch. But I'll... meet me in our spot. All right? Midnight."
Ted was still stuck on the leaving part, but maybe it was best. He needed time to think this all over. "All right."
"All right," she said again, blushing. She turned to leave, and then hesitated, her shoulders rising and falling. Then before he had time to blink she whirled around, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. He met her warm, brown eyes before she left, the door clanging loudly behind her.