No Interest in Gossip

Ted Tonks knew a lot, he just preferred to stay uninformed unlike the rest of the population at Hogwarts (or so he told himself). He didn't like divulge in all the gossip like everybody else, unless it involved somebody directly close to him, and even then he tried his best to stay out of it unless it wasn't true. After all, ninety percent of the time the gossip that floated around the halls was indeed false.

He was now a Hufflepuff seventh year, surprisingly prefect and an all round purposely ignorant person who happened to be patrolling the corridors with the good looking Head Girl that wouldn't talk to him. He had gotten stuck with her after his fellow prefect fell ill and ended up in the hospital wing and all the other prefects didn't want to replace her, leaving him to patrol with the very capable, yet extremely quiet, Head Girl.

From the rumours that Ted had heard - not that he listened to them anyway - she was supposed to be fairly talkative. Apparently she was dating Rastaban Lestrange, happily dating him at that, or so the rumours went. And as ignorant as Ted was, he knew that it was probably her boyfriend's influence that caused her not to talk to him because he was, after all, a muggleborn. He looked at her, she looked a lot like her older sister that he had been at least two years older then him. Ted wondered if she was as evil and cunning as her sister, not that he would know what Bellatrix was actually like since he really didn't listen to the gossip.

"So Andromeda," he said, trying his best to sound charming. "How did you exactly land here, with me, doing patrols?"

The girl raised one perfect, dark eyebrow but other then that showed him no response. He stopped for a second and frowned at her. She couldn't be that anti-social could she? Ted shook his head; there was no way that Andromeda Black would be anti-social. After all, he had heard that the Black sister threw the best parties during the summer, but of course you had to be pure-blood to get into them.

"I thought Head Girls were supposed to be nice," he told her out of the blue. "And it's not very nice not to talk to people."

Her step flattered and she turned to look at him. "And pray tell, Ted Tonks, whatever shall we talk about."

Ted shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "Do you have any sisters?"

She coughed at looked up at him with her wide brown eyes. "Is that the best you can do?" He shrugged again and she smiled lightly at him, her cool façade slowing fading. He wondered if she was cool and heartless like all the other Black's in the school, minus the one in Gryffindor of course. "Well I suppose you already know that I have two," she said after a moment, "what will all the gossip that floats around the castle about us and all."

"I don't listen to the gossip," he told her, himself - yet again - believe the lie. But he could tell that was wasn't thoroughly convinced. "I have no interest for it."

"Really," she said coyly. "Have you heard about my boyfriend?"

Ted nodded eagerly. "Rastaban Lestrange, right?"

Andromeda laughed lightly, a smile graced her face like Ted had never seen before. "How would you know that if you didn't listen to the gossip?" She asked him.

"It's common knowledge," he replied wittily. "Everybody knows."

"Well obviously," she laughed. "Everybody believes the gossip, because I would never date Rastaban Lestrange."

"What?" He asked stunned. "But everybody -"

"Gossip isn't always right," Andromeda said, as the rounded the last corner of their patrol.

Ted shook his head. "I could have sworn -"

She laughed again and looked him straight in the eye. "You're not as ignorant as you'd like to think, Ted Tonks."

And then Andromeda Black skipped off happily, leaving a stunned Ted behind.

---