Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The 365 prompt challenge: 113. Emotion - Love

The Insane House Challenge: 149. Pairing - Andromeda/Ted

Word Count: 714

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ted asked again. He opened the door to his flat, inviting Andromeda inside.

"I'm fine," she promised, shrugging out of her coat.

"Your entire family is going to know about us by tomorrow morning."

"Let them know. I don't care. We're nineteen. We can do what we want."

"They're going to disown you."

"I know."

"And you're not at all upset?"

"Cissy can be nice. And I'll miss Sirius," Andromeda said thoughtfully, sitting down on a couch. She really would miss Sirius, and would feel bad about leaving him to deal with their dreadful family. It did worry her, but she believed he was strong enough to make it until he was seventeen. Maybe she could sneak a few letters to him.

"I mean, I get the whole not liking them for their prejudice thing, but not caring that they'll cut you off completely?" Ted questioned her.

"I'll still have you."

"You will."

There was a minute of silence, and the two of them sitting next to each other, fingertips touching. They'd thought they couldn't possibly run into a Black in the middle of Muggle London, but they were wrong. Her aunt, Walburga, had been there, and Andromeda didn't want to know why she'd been there. She could only imagine it had something to do with hating Muggles. She'd made eye contact with Andromeda briefly, and seen her with Ted, who was very much a Muggle-born, and not Andromeda's arranged groom.

"Sometimes I wonder if that's why you like me." Ted's confession cut through air, his voice cracking. "So that they'll disown you. You like being a rebel, don't you? So what better way than to date a Mudblood."

"I don't- I wouldn't- I've never called anyone a Mudblood, Ted," Andromeda sputtered, pulling her hand away. The spitefulness in his voice stung, and she wondered how long he'd questioned her motives.

"I know. But still…"

"You really think I'm that petty?" Andromeda stood up, stepping away from the couch. "If you were a pureblood, I'd just ignore most of my family. I don't like them. They don't like me. They've got some pretty screwed up ideas, and might even resort to incest to keep them. That's not why I'm dating you."

"But you see it as an advantage."

"No, I don't. I see it as a byproduct of our relationship that's bound to come at some point in my life. I'm training to help Muggle-borns and their families learn about magic, for Merlin's sake!"

"Then tell me why you are dating me," Ted challenged.

Andromeda bit her lip, tears springing to her eyes. She could easily see this becoming a bad fight, even breaking them up. Ted's promise from just a few minutes before seemed to be falling about. How much longer would she have him for?

The words sprang to her mind instantly, and she pondered if they should leave her lips. But they had been dating for two and half years now, and she was surprised they hadn't said it earlier, and she really couldn't think of anything else to say…

"I'm dating you because I love you!" she blurted out. Ted just looked at her, and she could see every emotion on his face as he processed her words. His silence stretched on and on, pulling Andromeda into the worry that she shouldn't have said that at all.

"I'm sorry for thinking you didn't," he said, after an eternity of waiting. And then he stood up and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her tight, and ending it much too soon. "I love you too," he whispered.

Then the tears did come, though Andromeda thought they had already passed. And she was laughing and crying and they were kissing each other and she felt light again. And for a few moments, she forgot about being disowned and abandoning Sirius and reveled in the fact that they loved each other and had admitted it, and nothing, not even her family, could ever change that.