A/N: Yes, another story! I got hit by this idea and Tedromeda majorly a few weeks ago and so this gem began! I apologize now for what I'm sure may possibly seem like a very slow first chapter, but I promise it will get better as I keep going! As always, any and all feedback in the form of reviews and the like are appreciated and will help both me and the story grow. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any of the characters of aspects of the Harry Potter universe, and I in turn give all rightful credit to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
A loose curl slipped out from the pile of caramel brown hair piled on top of her head and grazed the papers resting in front of her. It fell across one of the star charts spread across the Slytherin table in the Great Hall and blocked part of the constellation she was trying to examine. With a quiet, slightly frustrated sigh to herself, Andromeda tilted the chart to the right just enough that the eastern horizon was entirely visible once again, along with Cetus.
Of course, this seemed far simpler of a solution than simply tucking her hair back.
She'd had nearly a month to familiarize herself with the constellations since the year had started, not to mention the entire summer spent poring over her textbooks. But still, if there was one thing Andromeda strived for, it was perfection: if it could be committed absolutely into memory, she would be damn sure it was. After all, Blacks didn't fail.
They were perfect.
Better.
And Andromeda could not-would not-be any different.
Her eyebrows narrowed in concentration over her doe eyes as they skimmed over the paper, and she tilted it again to study both Ursa Major and Minor. Under her breath, she muttered names of stars at a rapid pace though her lips barely seemed to move at all.
Polaris is directly above Ursa Minor.
Suddenly, the long, oak table on the Slytherin side of the Great Hall began rattling as a group of girls in third year rose and began to busily collect their bags to leave. Andromeda's eyes shot up and sent a glare in their direction, to no response.
Honestly, what was the point of being a Prefect if nobody showed common respect?
A low whistle sounded from behind her ear, and despite the jolt of surprise that went through Andromeda's body at the realization that someone was close enough that she could feel their breath, she did her best not to jump. Finally, she tucked the stray hair behind her ear and tilted her head just so, enough that she could get a sideways glance at the newcomer and discover who it was.
"Amycus." Her tone was clearly full of indifference before turning back to her studying, moving the stray goblets that had come her way during the commotion away from her work. Despite her mother and father's clear attempts to 'subtly' ask her to befriend the boy they hoped to marry her off to after the end of the year, Andromeda simply could not bring herself to find pleasure in his company. If she was feeling like giving out vain compliments, then of course, she could say he wasn't the worst company in the world. But after awhile, his clear approval for Tom Riddle's growing forces and the acceptance of the growing blood war became a bit tiring. No, in fact, it became exhausting.
As if she didn't get enough of that at home.
Amycus was attractive enough, she could give him that. His hair, black as her own, was clearly very well tended to, and he had eyes green enough to make any other girl in their House and surely the others question if they'd ever seen anything so bright or so clear. He had a bone structure that surely seemed to be unfair, it was so perfectly sculpted by genetics, and the fact that he clearly had the build of a Quidditch star helped, as far as physical appeal went.
But his personality.
Honestly, it would be a miracle to make it through a lifetime with him.
As it was, spending more than five minutes in his presence at a time seemed worthy of detention graced with Filch's approval.
"Hello, Andromeda." Amycus replied coolly, sliding comfortably to sit on the bench next to her.
Fine, his voice wasn't entirely unpleasant, either.
In principle only, of course.
"Surely you can find other place to sit in order to get your breakfast." Andromeda didn't even glance up from her star charts, "As I'm sure you can see, I'm trying to study."
"Is that any way to speak to your future fiance?"
For a girl who had gotten fairly good at picking up on sarcasm, it was nearly impossible to tell if she detected any in his tone or not. Her eyes shot up towards him in a glare, two black eyebrows arching at him, daring him to say anything else of the sort. Daring him to ruin her morning with his incessant, self-assured, annoying bloody attitude.
Amycus rose his hands in mock surrender and slid away from her on the bench, far enough that she could no longer feel his body heat radiating onto her, but still close enough that his elbow repeatedly hit her arm as he moved, collecting food and pouring pumpkin juice.
"Do you mind?" She snapped after a moment, gathering her papers and shoving them with nearly no regard for how they would be crinkling, back into her bag before rising and stepping away from the table. "Believe it or not Amycus, but not every girl in this blasted house is willing to turn into a sodding idiot in your presence."
"Easy." Amycus raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, fork and knife in hand. "Andromeda, I'm only eating."
"You're only being a pain." She said, her voice close to a snarl as she began shoving her way as easily as possible towards the large, oak doors leading to the entrance hall. 'Enjoy your blasted eggs."
In her haste, she was completely oblivious to the curious set of eyes watching her from the Hufflepuff's table.
The library was a much darker, and much quieter, place to study than the Hall had been.
And better yet, it was absolutely not on Amycus's radar.
Andromeda had found her familiar corner in the back, buried behind bookshelf upon bookshelf and piles of misplaced books. It was so isolated that it was easy to pretend as if nobody else was ever there, even the librarian herself. Here, she could scatter as much of her work as she wanted to on the table in front of her; here, she felt comfortable enough to take the knot that had begun to give her a headache even before Amycus out of her hair, letting the toffee colored waves cascade down her back and over her shoulders instead.
Astronomy no longer seemed as difficult a topic as it had been, and Andromeda let out a resigned sigh as she realized this before beginning to tuck the papers back into her bag. She wa fairly certain she had every other class under control for the time being, but she wasn't ready to leave, just yet. Mornings were always her favorite part of the day, when she had two hours after breakfast all to herself, before resigning herself to class. When she was free to hide away from the world and those who only associated with her due to title or expectation. When she didn't have to hide.
And the library, certainly, was one of the best places she could think to do that.
"I was wondering where you'd run off to," a quiet voice spoke up, pulling Andromeda's attention from pretending to dig through her back. Looking up, she watched as her younger sister slid into a seat at her table. "You'd already gone from the Hall when I'd gotten there. Amycus again?"
Andromeda allowed herself the chance to let out a sigh, looking up towards Narcissa with a look somewhere between shame and relief; shame, for having not learned to get along with him yet, and relief that her sister seemed to understand.
"He finds it funny to get people's skins, Andy. Don't let it get to you like this, it can't be healthy."
It was true, Andromeda knew that much. The boy who was soon to be her betrothed had always had a tendency of finding humor in either annoying or torturing others, depending on their affiliation or their blood. Even so, that didn't mean that she had to put up with it, looming engagement or not.
"Most days I think he enjoys it with me more than others." She admitted with another sigh. "He doesn't even try half the time, he just opens his mouth or shows his face and I get the urge to hex him."
A small, amused grin twisted onto her sister's face, despite the sympathy she could see in Narcissa's blue eyes. "Do try to learn to get along with him. Mother and Father would want you to."
"Mother and Father haven't given me much choice in the matter." Andromeda muttered to herself, leaning against the small, round table that separated them on her elbows. "I've no clue how Bella does it with Rodolphous every single day."
At that, Narcissa's grin became a smirk, and Andromeda could see the laughter she was holding back. It was no secret in their family that their eldest sister and her new husband weren't particularly fond of the other. Of course, as far as appearances went, they did a fairly decent job, in public at least. And neither Andromeda nor Narcissa had ever seen the pair go to true blows other than verbal when in their presence; in fact, whenever Bella and her husband were around, Rodolphous was quite pleasant to the both of them, despite the uncomfortable feeling Andromeda always secretly got in his presence. Even so, it was obvious that their engagement, and later their marriage, wasn't something either of them went into with positivity.
Andromeda wasn't sure her sister ever went to anything with positivity.
Unless it involved some form of cruelty towards another.
"I'd imagine she does it for the same reason you and I will with Amycus and whomever Mother and Father choose for me," Narcissa said, her voice much steadier than Andromeda ever found hers when the topic came up. "Protecting the Black family line's purity is of utmost importance."
Andromeda chose to keep her mouth shut on the matter, and instead simply nodded, tucking a strand of her hair out of her face. The topic of their family and their determination to keep the line pure was a sore one, especially so since Sirius had abandoned the family's beliefs altogether. He'd been marked a traitor, and had barely returned home since, if he could help it.
Secretly, Andromeda often wished she had the bravery to do that for herself.
But she couldn't. She would never be able to.
Toujours pur.
"Do you have class this morning?" She asked suddenly, changing the subject altogether, something for which she was almost certain Narcissa was grateful for as well.
"I do." Narcissa nodded, "In fact, I should probably head off in that direction soon enough. The walk to the greenhouses isn't necessarily short. You're off until right before the lunch break, aren't you?"
Andromeda nodded.
"I'll save you a seat at the table. Don't drown yourself in fantasies of the stars." Narcissa said with a smirk and wink towards her sister as she rose and left the quiet space, leaving Andromeda on her own once again.
Alone again, Andromeda a relieved, and albeit stressed and tired, sigh that was more like a groan and ran her hands over her face at the table, allowing her head to rest there.
Sometimes she wondered how she'd managed to make it this long.
Or how she would continue to.
After a moment, the quiet noise of someone clearing their throat resonated through the library. Peering through a space on her fingers, Andromeda noticed that the noise came from someone standing directly in front of her table.
Someone she didn't know.
But she recognized him, certainly. From class, or around the castle, she wasn't sure. He wasn't from Slytherin House, that was obvious enough. Even without the yellow and black emblem on his robes, or the tie, she'd have known that much. If he was in Slytherin, he wouldn't have bothered getting her attention before inviting himself to sit.
If he was in Slytherin, she doubted he'd have had nearly such a nervous stance about him. He seemed to transfer weight from one foot to the other more than she could keep count of, and he'd run a hand over the back of his neck in a nervous manner just as many times..
Immediately, she straightened up, studying the boy curiously. "Yes?"
He cleared his throat again, nodding towards the chair that Narcissa had so recently vacated. "D-Do you mind?" He stuttered.
Merlin's beard, why was he so nervous?
Andromeda shook her head, gesturing towards the seat. "By all means."
Watching the boy sit down was nearly more painful than watching him stand around so nervously. It was almost as if he'd forgotten how to walk, stumbling over his feet as he sat, nearly falling onto the floor in the process. Really, it was a miracle his bag hadn't split in half before he'd set it on the table. It was a miracle he hadn't managed to break a bone.
"Are you alright?" Andromeda asked before she could stop herself, leaning forward slightly on her elbows again, "Excuse me for saying it, but you're acting...odd."
His eyes shot up to meet hers, and his expression took one similar to an animal that had been caught out in the wild suddenly. "Oh! Y-Yeah, I'm alright. Absolutely."
Nodding slowly, Andromeda leaned back, proceeding to pull one of her textbooks from her bag. Her intentions of studying had long since faded, of course. But perhaps the boy would calm down a bit if she seemed to be busy.
But Merlin, she couldn't manage to distract herself from his fidgeting as he clumsily got himself situated.
"I'm not going to jinx you, if that's what you're worried about." She said in a quiet voice, glancing up from the random page she'd opened to in her Potions text. "Nor will I bully you."
The boy blinked several times, not seeming to have processed her words entirely. "I didn't assume you would."
"No?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow and shut the book, leaning slightly against the table again as she watched him curiously. "Then I can't imagine why else you would be acting so strange. Unless of course, you naturally are this clumsy and this nervous all the time."
He blinked several times once again, and Andromeda couldn't be sure if it was due to trying to process her words again or if he had some other sort of problem that was keeping him from understanding her.
"Andromeda, isn't it?"
The words came out so suddenly that they nearly caught her off guard.
No, they did. They did catch her off guard.
"I am." She said slowly, nodding. Very slowly, Andromeda reached a hand across the table, an offering. "Though I'm afraid we've never had the pleasure."
"Ted." The boy offered, reaching a hand across the table towards hers. His hand was warm,but not nearly as sweaty as she'd been bracing herself for. It was nice, really. Nicer than she had expected. "Ted Tonks."
"It's nice to meet you, Ted Tonks." She said, a polite smile on her face.
"Nice to meet you, Andromeda."