I do not own a thing.

This was written for datbenik513's Seven Deadly Sins collection.

This is my view of how Andromeda and Ted first met. While she probably changed in the course of her marriage, I don't believe she was that different from her sisters at the beginning. This is my idea of how could a contact between two people who are so different come to pass.


Ted Tonks dropped his bag and leaned on the glass of Greenhouse Seven, staring in distance. None of his mates decided to continue Herbology on NEWT level, and he was never particularly friendly with the four Hufflepuff girls who did, so he was left to his own thoughts. His head was turned in the direction of the castle, and suddenly his eyes sharpened. The figure was a long way from him still, but he would have recognized the air with which she carried herself anywhere. He straightened up as he watched her, and drew a sharp breath when he realized she was alone. Obviously, none of her friends decided to continue the subject either. She, however, was not in the slightest cowed by it. She had the poise of a queen, and rightly so, because now that her elder sister graduated, she was the unchallenged queen of the school. There was no one else so clever, so powerful and so beautiful, apart perhaps from her younger sister, but over her, Andromeda had the advantage of seniority. No, there was no one to equal her, and she knew it.

She was quite close now, and Ted took pleasure in observing her coming closer still. The wonderful, thick black hair, falling down to her waist, like the night itself, contrasting with her pale face and the light blue eyes...and the figure, oh God, the figure! She was tall and slim, but still managed to have a thinner yet waist, letting her perfect hips and full breasts show, even under the robes...As she stopped not far from him, Ted realized he was never this close to her, and concentrated on enjoying the opportunity. She had a beauty mark on her right cheek, a dark spot contrasting with her fair skin, and it was driving him crazy, just as her lips, thin and slightly open...Ted curled his fists and mentally cursed his Muggle heritage. He knew for a fact he was never going to be good enough for this goddess, and it's been eating him from inside for years. Why, why couldn't he have been born as a pure-blooded wizard?


Andromeda approached the NEWT level greenhouse, her eyes catching on a lonely figure standing there. Who was that? She didn't remember seeing him around, and that was a clear pity, because the sight he presented wasn't one she would have minded seeing regularly. She saw he was a Hufflepuff, which probably explained why she'd never taken notice of him – it wasn't her habit to notice members of that house – but now she actually did, she was enjoying the view. He had very classic good looks, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, both somehow brighter than what could be seen in Narcissa or the Malfoy men. His hair was almost strawberry blonde, and the eyes were as blue as a summer sky. The lines of his face were clear and pleasant, and he was clean-shaven. As for the rest of his body, he had broad shoulders and apparently well-toned muscles, from what she could see on his arms, which were bare, his sleeves rolled up. Yes, she very much liked what she saw.

She noticed he was staring at her with a distinctly hungry look in his eyes, and she smiled a small and not very nice smile. She certainly wouldn't object, and as he didn't seem to be preparing to do something as improper as trying to chat her up, she didn't even mind his roaming eyes.

Her musings were interrupted by the arrival of Professor Sprout. "Come on in, everyone!" She called, and they followed her inside, into the hot greenhouse. "Be careful around here, these plants are nothing to joke about. Now, I want you to pair up."

Ted has been expecting it and rather unhappily looked on as friends decided what groups they wanted to form. His eyes slipped back to Andromeda Black and his admiration rose. In his opinion, there was nothing quite as humiliating in everyday experience as being left alone and unwanted as other people paired up. Yet Andromeda seemed to be completely unaffected. She watched the others with a combination of disinterest and disdain, just as if she was watching an anthill or a host of cockroaches. "Well," Sprout said, "so Miss Black and Mr. Tonks will be together, that's nice, and we can start." They really were the only two left. Someone in the Gryffindor group snorted, but Miss Black shot them such a dirty look that they quieted immediately.

Ted approached his work partner nervously. "I'm sorry." He said immediately.

"For what?" She asked, disdainfully.

"That you have to work with me." He paused. Better to have it over with. "You see, I'm Muggle-born."

An expression he couldn't understand crossed Andromeda's face. "Well," she said still in the same tone, "as far as I know, it's not contagious. Fetch the pots." He did.

As for Andromeda, she didn't really care much. A fleeting though passed her head that it was a good thing Bella was out of school already, or she'd be nagging her about this escapade – and that there was going to be one, Andromeda was firmly decided – for ages, just as she had for the ones before. Cissy, at least, could mind her own business, even though from time to time, Andromeda caught her frowning at her. Not that she particularly cared. She wasn't going to sacrifice her amusement to her sisters' sensibilities.

The Tonks boy came back, and Andromeda gave him a long look from underneath her heavily-lidded eyes before turning to her work. He kept his sleeves rolled up, and it was an opportunity to watch his muscles from close up, which she very much appreciated. She was transfixed by his hands and forearms and she watched him repotting the plants, doing very little herself. Than she watched his face, and his eyes as they darted to her every so often. She smiled a lazy smile and reached out for a pot that, incidentally, was at the other side of him, brushing his bare forearms with her hand. He turned his head sharply to look at her, and her smile widened as her eyes almost closed, and she pulled her hand back, slowly, oh, so slowly.

His breath caught in his throat. "I-"

She put a finger to his lips. "Shh," she said. "Aren't you...hot?" Her voice was deeper, huskier, and he could only nod.

"Well, so am I..." she stuck her hands in the soil of the closest pot and continued, "but I don't want to stop working...would you roll my sleeves up for me?"

He gulped and nodded again, cleaning his hands with a quick spell and moving to her, hesitantly touching the hem of one of her sleeves and starting to pull it up. "Yes," she murmured, "a bit further up..." He was transfixed by her pale, slim hands and by his fingers brushing over her skin. He rolled the sleeve all the way up to her shoulder, then moved to the other one, holding his breath with anticipation. She let him rest his fingers on her shoulder for a couple of seconds, then smiled again and said with a raised eyebrow: "Well, repotting waits."

Ted was confused. He was also undeniably aroused, which in itself was confusing. He'd admired Andromeda Black for years and had had quite a number of erotic fantasies about her – something he was rather ashamed of, since it felt so much like sacrilege – but still, he wasn't precisely a virgin and he never imagined such a fleeting contact with a woman, any woman, could have such a profound effect on him. The cool soil was pleasant on his hands as it helped him regain some sort of balance, at least until he looked at Andromeda again and saw those unbelievable eyes and lips. It was hot in the greenhouse and her robes were sticking to her figure, leaving little to his imagination. Perspiration was running on her skin and as a drop found its way down to her mouth, her tongue darted out and she licked at it. He almost groaned.

The end of the class was at the same time a relief and a disappointment, and then, as they were leaving, she turned to him and whispered: "I feel I haven't quite understood how repotting of Venomous Tentacula works, Ted...do you think you could perhaps explain? I'll bee in the Eastern corridor in fifth floor after dinner," and then she left.

Immediately after returning to the castle, Ted darted to the first bathroom he could find, locking the stall and putting a silencing charm on it before lifting his robes. He washed his hands with cold water after finding the small relief he could, but he still was restless for the rest of the day. He was plagued by visions of her slender arms, heavily-lidded eyes and half-open lips, and the light touches...he lost Hufflepuff 15 points during the afternoon's Charms for not paying attention.

He wanted to watch her during dinner, but she never came, and so he left for the Eastern corridor alone. She wasn't there yet, and he spent some minutes anxiously wondering whether he'd been stood up, when he heard behind him her unmistakable husky voice: "Good evening...Ted."

He turned around. She approached him, until she stood very close, and then she just looked at him. He didn't know what he should do and so he just stood, getting lost in her eyes, and when she said: "Kiss me," it never even occurred to him not to listen.

She kissed him back, too, and rather more demandingly than he started, and he was lost in the sensation. It was unbelievable, intense, passionate. When he buried his hands in her hair, however, she pulled back a little. "Careful," she whispered, and his hands quickly returned to her back as she joined her lips with his again.

After a while, she removed one of her hands from his back and murmured a spell, leaving him clad only in his pants. She stepped away and looked at his chest for a while, then said curtly: "Take of your pants."

"But...someone will come," he dared to protest nervously, at the same time really wanting to listen to her.

"No one will come here, I took care of it. Now remove them."

He simply couldn't resist her, and so he obeyed, feeling her eyes on him the entire time. "Good," she stated as he stood in front of her naked, her eyes roaming over his body. She licked her lips and took something out of her pocket. Apparently, it was a shrunken bed, and now she put in on the floor and resized it. "Undress me," she commanded, and that was something he obeyed gladly, relishing the feel of his fingers brushing against her and then the sight of her body, first in her underwear, and then when he unclasped her bra, her breasts, oh God, oh God...his hands were shaking badly as they approached the hem of her knickers, and she watched as he pulled it down, almost not managing to control himself when presented with the sight and the smell of her arousal, too, but still not daring to do anything more and desperately wanting to, feeling he would go crazy with desire if he couldn't do something, anything, soon.

She stepped out of her knickers and over his head, making him groan aloud, and went to lie down on the bed, beckoning to him. "I trust," she said, her voice almost a purr, "that you know what to do?"


Later that night, Andromeda was lying in bed and mentally reviving the evening. He had been good, both with his fingers and with his tongue, good enough that she allowed him to actually enter her later, which she did very rarely on the very first meeting. Oh yes, he was very good. She must arrange for a repeat performance soon. She predicted Herbology tutoring would be quite a fixture in her timetable this year. She felt asleep with a lazy smile on her face.