Andromeda Black stood in the Hogwarts corridor, surrounded by her rather large group of friends. They were all pure-bloods, of course. Wealthy Slytherins who'd been brought up in the finest houses, surrounded by lavish décor and house-elves to do their every bidding. Every so often she threw her head back and laughed at something one of them said. The sunlight that streamed in from the nearest window caught her long, chestnut hair in a way that perfectly brought out the flecks of gold in it. Nobody could deny that she was beautiful. The most beautiful of her three sisters perhaps, for her features were slightly less harsh than those of Bellatrix and she possessed a much more classic beauty than Narcissa.
She let Radulf Selwyn, whom her mother had insisted she start spending more time with, drape his arm around her shoulders. After all he was from a respected pure-blood family and their future marriage would bring about a powerful alliance between two powerful families.
Just as Radulf was leaning down to kiss her, someone bumped into him, knocking his books out of his hand.
"Watch where you're going!" Radulf snapped, bending down to collect them. He stood up, pulling himself to his full height, and stared at the boy who'd knocked into him with a look of pure disgust. "You filthy little mudblood!"
"Oops, sorry" replied the boy, in a tone that suggested he wasn't sorry at all. "My mistake." He shook his blond hair out of his eyes and winked at Andromeda, that ever-present lopsided grin on his face. She stuck her nose up in the hair and turned away from him.
For a moment his smile faltered, a hurt look passing over his face, but it was gone just as fast as it had appeared. He chuckled. "Too good to even look at me, Andromeda?"
Andromeda turned slightly, so that she was staring straight at him. "No," she said. "I just don't have any interest in looking at you. Why would I when someone as handsome as Radulf is standing right here?" She grabbed her boyfriend's arm and pulled him closer.
The boy snorted.
"You should go, Tonks," said Andromeda, her voice cold. "You don't want to be late to class." She nodded at his empty hands. "You don't even have your books."
"How sweet," Ted said, his grin growing even wider. "You care about my well-being."
Before Andromeda could reply, Radulf had pulled away from her. "Go away, Tonks. None of us want to look at your ugly, mudblood face any longer."
"Suit yourself," Ted replied, shoving his hands in his pockets and sauntering off down the corridor in a way that infuriated them all. How dare he walk with such confidence, with such ease. It was like he thought he owned the place. Didn't he know that he was a mudblood? A Hufflepuff? Completely inferior?
"For a mudblood, he's too damn cocky," muttered Radulf, watching him go.
The rest of them nodded in agreement.
"Someone should do something about him," drawled Lucius Malfoy. He was a year younger than Andromeda and Radulf. A sixth year who currently had his eye on Andromeda's younger sister, Narcissa.
"He's not even worth it," said Andromeda. "Why risk getting in trouble over someone like that?"
"You're right," said Radulf, taking her hand. "You're always right."
"We should get to class," she said, picking her bag up off the ground.
Radulf glanced down at his watch. It was goblin-made of course. And probably more expensive than everything Ted Tonks owned combined. "Right again," he said. "The bell will be ringing any minute."
Together the group began making their way down the hallway. They were the most privileged children in the school. The wealthiest, the snobbiest, the cruelest. Everyone else moved out of their way. None of them wanted to endure the wrath of Radulf Selwyn or Lucius Malfoy. You'd have to be completely mental to seek out a confrontation with one of them.
Ted Tonks must be completely mental, Andromeda thought. Utterly and completely mental.
Of course, she thought later that evening, if Ted Tonks is mental, then I must be too.
The boy she was with pressed her up against the cold, stone wall of the empty classroom. She leaned her head back slightly and moaned, giving him better access to her neck, and he immediately began trailing kisses down it.
Why else would I be here? she asked herself, as she wrapped her legs more tightly around his waist. I'm crazy, that's the only explanation.
She raked her fingers through his blond hair and tried not to think about what her mother would do if she saw her right now. Or Bellatrix. Or Radulf. She shuddered at the thought.
It was a good thing none of them knew. She'd never told a sole. Never told anyone that all those times that she was supposedly off studying on her own, she was really here. In this empty classroom. With Ted Tonks. Letting him press his filthy mudblood lips against hers. Letting him put his filthy mudblood hands on her bum.
Yes, she thought. Insanity is the only explanation for this.
Andromeda wished more than anything that she didn't have to sit right behind Ted in Potions class. She was sure that it must be bringing her grade down. After all, how could she possibly concentrate on how many times she'd stirred her potion or how many beetle eyes she'd added with him right there? With those damn arm muscles of his that flexed every time he stirred his potion. With that impossibly soft hair of his that curled around his ears, just begging for her to run her hands through it. It was really quite infuriating. Perhaps she could ask Slughorn to let her switch seats…
Ted hated seeing her with Radulf. He hated it more than anything in the world. Hated seeing them walking down the hallway, hand in hand. Hated seeing them laughing together, sharing some private joke that Ted didn't know. He hated seeing them kiss. He hated the fact that she wasn't entirely his. That he had to share. Hated that there was no way they could ever be together. Really together. He hated that they'd never be anything more than a stolen glance across the room, a secret kiss in an empty classroom, something that had to be hidden, something that she was ashamed of.
There was a large crowd of people gathered around on the school lawn when Andromeda passed by on her way to class.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" she heard them chant, as she pushed her way through, dreading what she would find. Praying that it wasn't actually…
Radulf and Ted. There they were, right in the middle of the circle of students. They seemed to have forgotten that they were wizards, because they were both on the ground, rolling around, throwing punches, spewing insults.
"Stop it!" Andromeda shrieked. "Both of you, stop it!"
Neither of them did of course, and Andromeda looked on anxiously. She couldn't tell who was winning. They were both strong, equally matched in a fight like this. After a moment, when it became obvious that there was no end in sight, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She hurriedly pulled out her wand out of her pocket. She gave it a flick and they both went flying in opposite directions.
Andromeda stood in between them, watching as they both stood up, and dusted themselves off. The crowd began to disperse, disappointed that there had not been a more epic ending to the fight, that there was no clear winner.
For a moment, Andromeda didn't know what to do. They were both hurt. They were both staring at her. They both needed her.
She almost went to Ted. Because he was looking at her with those blue eyes of his, in that he always did. In that way that made it seem like he could see into her soul. Past her hard, outer shell. Past her prejudices and reservations. Like he could see her for who she truly was—just a girl who loved a boy.
But, then she looked over at Radulf and everything her mother had ever said to her came rushing back. She was a pure-blood witch. She was a Black. And she had a duty. A duty to her family. A duty to herself.
So she walked over to Radulf. She had to choose him. She had to be a good girlfriend. She had to marry him. She had to raise little pure-blood children with him. She had to.
"I thought I told you to ignore him," she said, when she had reached him. He wrapped his arm around her and they began walking back towards the castle. "I told you that he wasn't worth it."
"I know," replied Radulf. "But he was asking for it. I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off his face."
She led him back to the Slytherin common room, where she cleaned him up, healed his wounds. She played the part of a good pure-blood girlfriend. Except her thoughts were somewhere else.
They were always somewhere else.
Ted paced around the empty classroom, the words he'd heard her say swirling around in his mind.
I told you that he wasn't worth it.
She'd said them. He'd heard her. She'd said those exact words to Radulf. He knew that they had to pretend. Pretend that there was nothing between them. But the way she'd said that statement had hurt him. She'd been so casual. Her face had been so empty, like it didn't hurt her at all to say those words, like she said things like that all the time.
She'd said that he wasn't worth it without even a flicker of emotion. Maybe she'd meant it.
He looked up when she walked into the room, surprised that she'd even bothered to show up.
Andromeda cringed when she saw the look he was giving her. It was cold and angry. So different than his usual easy-going grin.
She tentatively stepped into the room.
"What are you doing here?" he muttered.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "This is when we always meet."
"But why?" he asked. "Why do you meet me? You don't even think I'm worth it."
She gasped when she heard him use her words against her. "Ted, you know I didn't mean that. I have to say things like that. I can't let any of them suspect…"
"Why not?" he snapped. "Why can't you just come clean with them?"
"I just can't!" she replied. Didn't he understand? Didn't he know who she was? She was a Black. She couldn't ever tell anyone about this.
"Well, then, I can't do this anymore!" he snarled.
"What?" she asked.
"I don't want to be your dirty little secret anymore, Dromeda. I don't want to be the mudblood that you're ashamed of. The one you only kiss when nobody else is around. I don't deserve that."
"But…"
"You're selfish, did you know that? You want everything. You want the perfect pure-blood husband and the perfect pure-blood family. But you want me too. You want me to be the guy who's always around. The guy you go running to when you're bored. Your little mudblood secret."
Tears were running down Andromeda's face. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was selfish.
"That's all I am to you, isn't it?" he continued. "Some mudblod you can have a little fun with." He laughed bitterly. "I was so stupid. I thought you were different than the rest of them. But I was wrong."
He pushed past her and hurried out the door, leaving her standing there alone. In that empty classroom where they'd spent all those nights.
She let out a sob, burying her face in her hands.
What had she done?
Andromeda now wished more than ever that she didn't have to sit behind Ted in Potions class. It hurt so much, seeing him right there, knowing that she would never touch him again. She would never again feel those strong arms of his wrap around her waist. She would never again be able to run her hands through his hair.
Ted hated seeing her with Radulf now more than ever. He thought that it had been hard sharing her. He thought that it had been hard being her secret. But this was even worse. At least back then he still got to touch her. He got to hold her in his arms. He got to kiss her. It might have been in secret. It might not have been as often as he liked. But at least he had gotten to. Now she was completely Radulf's. Now he would never get to touch her again.
Andromeda stood in front of the mirror in her room. In a few minutes she would be heading downstairs and saying "I do", bonding herself for the rest of her life to Radulf Selwyn.
She adjusted her veil, wishing that the man she was thinking of was the man waiting for her downstairs, and not the man she hadn't seen in over a year.
"You look beautiful, Dromeda," said her younger sister Narcissa.
"Stunning," agreed her older sister Bellatrix.
Andromeda turned to look at them. "I… I can't do this."
"What?" gasped Narcissa. "But you love him."
"No," she murmured. "No, I don't."
"What are you talking about, Dromeda?" asked Bellatrix.
Andromeda pulled her ring off her finger and tossed it at Bellatrix. "Give this back to Radulf for me, Bella."
She removed the veil and goblin-made tiara from her head and gently placed them in Narcissa's hands. "Here, Cissy, you can wear these when you marry Lucius."
Both girls stared at her, shocked expressions on their beautiful faces, clutching the items she'd given them.
"I need to go do something," Andromeda said. "Tell Randulf I'm sorry, but I won't be marrying him today. I won't be marrying him ever, actually."
Before either of her sisters could stop her, she had turned on her heel and disappeared.
Ted hadn't been expecting anyone, so when he heard the knock on the door of his flat one Sunday morning in August, he was a little surprised.
"Coming," he called, hurriedly buttoning his shirt as he made his way to the door.
He almost pinched himself when he pulled it open. Because there was no way that this wasn't a dream. There was no way that Andromeda Black was actually standing in his doorway wearing a wedding dress. There was just no way.
Except this wasn't a dream, Ted realized. This was actually happening. Andromeda Black was standing in his doorway. She was as beautiful as ever, with her soft, creamy skin and her wide, brown eyes. Her chestnut curls glistened in the sunlight and her white dress hugged every curve perfectly.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he replied uncertainly.
"I was supposed to get married today," she said.
"I can see that," he replied.
"But I couldn't."
"And why is that?" he asked, daring himself to hope in a way he hadn't allowed himself to in more than a year.
"Because I don't want you to be my dirty little secret anymore," she replied. "Because I just want you and nobody else. Because I love you."
He nodded slowly for a moment, "Well, then," he said, taking a step back and opening the door a little wider. "Why don't you come on in?"
So she did.
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