Written for Cheeky-Slytherin Lass' 100 Characters Competition. Prompt 45: windy.
Characters: Andromeda Tonks with great mention of Ted Tonks.
I do not own Harry Potter.
….
One could say that the Black family had lost a daughter, yet could not stand to gain a son.
No one could understand why sweet, kind, obedient Andromeda Black had decided to leave everything behind for a Muggle-born wizard. No one understood that to Andromeda, status wasn't everything.
The first introduction of Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks was an accident. It happened on a windy day in Sixth year, when Andromeda had overslept and was late to Herbology class. She crammed all of her books and work into her bag, making it heavy for her to carry as she rushed through the halls. She managed to get outside and on her way to Herbology when she suddenly remembered about an essay she had worked hard on and was horrified that it was now crumpled under heavy weight. She stopped to fish it out of her bag when the bottom ripped and books and all clattered onto the cobblestone.
Andromeda threw her broken bag off her shoulder and knelt down in an effort to pick everything up when a gust of wind swept through. The paper she had slaved over for days was now dancing in the wind, drifting away from her. Panicked and stressed, she watched the paper get farther and farther away from her until it blew around a corner.
What luck! Andromeda thought to herself, as tears sprung to the corners of her big, brown eyes. All that work, only for it to blow away from you!
She remained on the floor and picked up the rest of her things slowly, dejected. She'd now miss half of Herbology; most likely receive detention for being late, and no longer had the essay that would bring her grade up to where she wanted it.
Tears flowed down her cheeks as she made no move to collect herself. She was now all alone with a split book bag, wallowing in self-pity. She did not hear the footsteps behind her.
"Excuse me?"
Andromeda sat rigid, horrified that someone had found her crying. She scrambled to grasp her wand and when she did, shot up from the ground. She pointed her wand into her intruder's face.
"Hey, there's no need for that," the young man who had come up on her, said gently, his voice calm and mellow. He slowly moved her wand away from his face as Andromeda watched him carefully.
"I didn't mean to startle you. It's just that I found someone's report, and I thought it belonged to you," he said, holding out a crumbled piece of parchment paper.
Andromeda recognized it as hers. "I-it does," she sniffed and quickly rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. "Thank you."
She noticed the man was only a few inches taller than her and had a slimmed frame, and that his blue eyes sparkled as he smiled at her. His fair hair was tousled from the wind. He wore robes of the Hufflepuff house.
"Do you want help with that?" he asked, seeing that her things were still on the ground.
Andromeda hesitated. She shouldn't have been needing help from anyone, especially from someone of another house. Her father taught her better…
"Yes."
The man crouched down and took out his wand, pointing it at the broken bag. "Reparo," he announced and within seconds the bag had stitched itself back up. The man hesitated before laying a hand on one of her books and placing it in the bag. All Andromeda could do was watch him. She was captivated by the way he slowly dusted off every paper and cover before neatly placing into her bag. All the miscellaneous items like bottles of ink and quills were placed in last onto the top of the platform that the book spines made.
He carefully picked the bag up from the bottom and held it. "You have to be careful cramming all the weight into a bag like that. It's easier if you balance the weight with organizing." When Andromeda just stared at him, he asked, "Do you want me carry it to class for you?"
The thought at having a boy, let alone a Hufflepuff carry her things to class would make her sisters laugh. She suddenly didn't care.
"C-can you?"
"Of course." He placed the bag onto his shoulder and outstretched his hand. "By the way, I'm Ted Tonks." He smiled and his blue eyes sparkled again.
"I'm Andromeda Black. Nice to meet you." She smiled back and shook his hand, wondering how ridiculous she looked, with the wind whipping her wavy hair back and forth.
"Well Miss Black, where are you headed?" Ted asked, slightly dusting himself off.
"Herbology," she replied.
Ted smiled again. "So was I. C'mon lets go then." They walked besides each other, and when they got to the greenhouses, Ted handed her things back.
"I'll talk with the Professor, he'll understand."
He opened the door for her, and Andromeda quickly scanned the room to see if Narcissa or Bellatrix or anyone of her friends were there. They were not. The class was too busy trying to work with their alien-looking plants to notice that they had walked in.
The old professor lumbered over. "Miss Black, you're late to my class again-" he started, looking over his small glasses with squinty eyes, but Ted cut him off.
"Actually Professor, uh, she was helping me with something. You see, my bag broke and she was just helping me fix it-"
"Very well, Mr. Tonks. Now please, both of you go take your seats," the professor said, not wanted to hear the very long explanation his prized student would tell.
As the two walked away, Andromeda stared at him in disbelief. "You just lied for me. Why?"
With a twinkle in his eye, Ted responded, "It's not everyday I get to escort a beautiful girl to class."
Andromeda beamed.
No one knew that from that point on, Andromeda would be lost in Ted Tonk's sparkling blue eyes.
….
AN: Well this just gave me a wonderful idea to write about Ted and Andromeda's relationship. Yay!