Blood
blood [bluhd]
noun, 14. recorded and respected ancestry; purebred breeding
"You're celebrating," he notes, leaning against the wall next to her. She doesn't reply, instead taking a long drag from the cigarette she's holding. She always comes out to smoke, because her younger sister would be outraged if she saw. Narcissa would be outraged by a lot of things she'd done, if she knew.
"Why are you here?" Andromeda asks after a moment. Ted shrugs, pushing his floppy dark hair out of his face.
"Why are you here?" he says, sitting down beside her. "When does Andromeda Black ever come up to the infamous Astronomy Tower?"
She tilts her head and bites her lip. The letter flashes before her eyes again, and she stares into the dark sky, wishing she could forget it. "Never," she says with a little laugh. "Except for lessons."
He's looking at her strangely, and she notices that he's holding a bottle in his hand.
"You're drunk," she says.
"I'm not," he argues. To his credit, he sounds coherent. "You're high."
"I'm-" She stops short, shaking her head. He's making her smile, dammit. How does he do it? He's looking at her, thoughtfully, as though he's trying to see right to her soul.
"Dromeda? You okay in there?" Ted says.
She chews on her lip some more. It's funny how he skipped the generic 'Andy' and called her 'Dromeda' the first time they'd properly spoken. "I - yeah. I am."
"No you're not." He frowns.
"Well, if you knew, why did you ask?" Andromeda snaps. He doesn't even flinch at her tone, just raises an eyebrow. "Sorry. I didn't mean to - that was rude."
"S'all right," he mutters. "Your - your lip's bleeding."
"Oh. Is it?" She presses her lips together, trying to lick them as subtly as possible.
Ted sighs and pulls a paper napkin from his pocket. "Here," he says, holding it out to her. It looks to Andromeda like a white flag, a peace offering. She blinks at it, bringing the cigarette to her mouth again. Ted gently takes her wrist and guides it away, dabbing lightly at her lip with the napkin. This close, she can smell his familiar woody scent, like he's spent the entire day in a forest of crisp-smelling pines. This close, she can smell the sweet alcohol on him. He pulls away suddenly, frowning.
"Did you get all of it?" Andromeda says, feeling oddly disappointed. She puts out her cigarette, not looking away from him.
"I - yeah, I - I think I did."
"Okay," she says, and before she can convince herself not to, she closes the distance between them and kisses him, hard. Hooking a finger in the knot of his tie, she tugs him closer until they're pressed up against each other. He does not object, his arms slowly wrapping around her waist, deepening the kiss.
Ted Tonks is something of an enigma to her, a quiet, unassuming Hufflepuff at first glance. Until he opens his mouth, and that cheeky smile comes out, and he winks at you like you share a secret, just the two of you. Until that mouth is on hers, and Merlin, it feels better than anything she ever did to get away.
She can faintly taste the blood now, metallic and at odds with the smoke and the Firewhiskey. It occurs to her then that he is tasting it too, her supposedly pure blood is in him, with his supposedly dirty blood. She doesn't know much about his blood, but his scent and his taste and oh God his lips are undoubtedly better than any pure ones she's ever seen before. He trails slow kisses along her jaw and she sinks her hands into his hair. This is familiar, this is right. Though it's supposed to be wrong.
Her fingers fumble for the buttons of his shirt, scrambling to loosen his tie. His hands skim her thighs, slipping under the hem of her skirt-
"Andromeda?!" someone shrieks, and they jump apart. Her hand jumps to her mouth, but there's no hiding the evidence now. She looks at him in horror, and then at the intruder.
"You - him - how could you?!" Narcissa says shrilly.
"Cissy - Cissy, please," Andromeda says desperately, and she wishes it wasn't happening, not now, not with him right there. She knows what this will come to and the truth hits her like a punch to the gut. "Not now - we'll discuss this later-"
"He's a Mudblood!"
"He's-" Andromeda bites back her argument, avoiding Ted's hurt gaze.
"Stay away from my sister," Narcissa says to him, her pale eyes narrowing coldly.
Andromeda gets to her feet, stepping away from the edge, away from Ted. "Can we please do this later?" she says, practically begging. Narcissa does not answer, still glaring daggers at Ted, who calmly returns the stare. Digging her nails into her palms, Andromeda makes her choice. "It was - I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I was just confused and…" She glances involuntarily at Ted, but he looks away from her. She can sense the disappointment coming from him in waves. "It doesn't mean anything. Just a… a one-time thing." Narcissa nods, apparently satisfied. Andromeda feels a sudden rush of anger - she wants to wring her skinny neck. She bites her lip again, and tastes the blood.
"I had better not - this can't happen again." Narcissa turns and walks away, her footsteps in time with the rapid thumping of Andromeda's heart.
"It won't," Andromeda calls after her quickly. "I told you. It doesn't mean a thing." Maybe if she says it enough, it will be true.
"Doesn't it?" Ted says quietly. "It certainly wasn't a one-time thing, Andromeda." She turns to look at him, perched there at the edge of the tower, his arms crossed over his chest. His tie is loose, his hair mussed - she is stamped all over him. But it could've been any other girl. It should've been. This is what it feels like, she thinks, to break a heart.
"No. It doesn't. It never did," she says, careful to keep her tone casual. She doesn't mean to, but she sounds cruel to her own ears.
Ted nods. "Right. See you around." And then he is painfully quiet. Andromeda slips away, the silence still echoing around her, and it's the sound of her own heart breaking.
A/N: This is an ancient one-shot off my tumblr, but I thought you guys deserved something after so long, ha. Maybe I'll continue this sometime!