A/N- I was fortunate enough to make it through to the third round of the Diversity Competition on the HPFC forum, so this is my entry. This is the first time Ted and Andromeda meet in their first year at Hogwarts. Please don't be too hard on Andromeda; she's never met a Muggle-born before. Enjoy :)
Quite the Team
Andromeda groaned inwardly as Professor Slughorn read out who was to be her partner for Potions this term; Ted Tonks.
She hadn't spoken to the fair-haired Hufflepuff boy before, but she knew him to be Muggle-born and that was enough to tell that she never wanted to. She remained calm and dignified as she stoically made her way over to the bench they were to share, as was expected of her, but inside she was seething. She was reminded of her mother's parting words on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters; Remember, Andromeda, you are a Black, and Blacks do not associate with mudbloods and filth.
It was bad enough that they let filth like that into the school, but forcing Purebloods to carry them through their classes was ridiculous. And Andromeda felt sure she would be doing just that. The boy probably hadn't even heard of Potions until a few weeks ago. He would be ignorant and vile and she would be left to clean up after him, if she wanted to stand any chance at getting a good grade.
"Hi, I'm Ted," the boy said enthusiastically as he stumbled over to her with a broad smile.
"Andromeda," she muttered, sweeping the ingredients towards her before he could send them flying.
"That's a weird name," Ted said as Andromeda bent down to light a fire underneath their cauldron, more to avoid looking at or talking to Ted than because she actually needed to. "Sorry, I mean, it's a really nice name, just a bit unusual is all." Andromeda began to crush some scarab beetles and wondered vaguely when the boy would stop talking to her. "Er...Andromeda... is there anything you want me to do?"
She looked up to see that he was still smiling stupidly at her. With a sigh, she scanned the recipe for the easiest task she could find.
"Here, cut all these mistletoe berries in half and then put them in the Salamander blood to soak," she said imperiously, hoping that this was something he couldn't mess up too badly.
She was proved wrong seconds later as Ted somehow managed to flick a berry across the room.
"Sorry, sorry," Ted squeaked, dashing to fetch it under Andromeda's glare. He returned to their cauldron, biting his lip apologetically. "Sorry, I'm dead clumsy. I knew I'd be rubbish at Potions."
Despite herself, Ted's obvious insecurities made Andromeda felt a twinge of sympathy for him. She supposed it wasn't his fault he had been admitted to Hogwarts, and with his reduced magical ability due to his Muggle parentage, of course he was going to struggle horribly. And after all, he did seem to only be trying to help.
"Give me that then," Andromeda said, indicating the pot of mistletoe berries, "and you can start doing the write-up." She hesitated, remembering what she had been told about Muggle-borns' intelligence. "You do know how to write, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Ted replied, his eyes widening in surprise. He looked a little offended so Andromeda flashed him an encouraging smile as she handed over the ink, quill and parchment, before hurriedly glancing around the room to make sure none of the other Slytherins had witnessed this wholly inappropriate display of warmth.
To Andromeda's surprise, Ted was in fact perfectly capable of answering the questions on the potion which Professor Slughorn had set, and even managed to find answers to a few Andromeda had found tricky.
She began to wonder if she had been mistaken about Ted's blood status. He might have been a little tactless and clumsy, but he was actually rather sweet and not at all like she had pictured the feral Muggle-borns her mother had warned her about.
"So, Ted, what do your parents do?" she asked, as she meticulously chopped the final ingredients and added them to the potion.
"My Dad's a taxi driver and my Mum works in a bank."
"Gringotts?" Andromeda asked hopefully.
"No, NatWest."
"So both your parents are Muggles then?"
"Yep," Ted replied with a smile, clearly unaware of what that made him. "I never even knew magic was real until I got my Hogwarts letter. I knew I could do odd stuff, but I thought someone was playing a trick on me when I got accepted to a school of magic."
Andromeda just stared at him, feeling half disgusted, half confused. Ted was so ignorant of the magical world, he was the worst kind of Muggle-born filth, and yet aside from that he seemed... normal. Andromeda was sure that if he had been a pure-blood, they would quickly become friends, but of course that was completely out of the question.
"Well, well, well," Slughorn's voice boomed from behind her, causing Andromeda to jump. "This is just the colour and consistency I'm looking for." He ladled a little of Andromeda's carefully prepared potion from the cauldron and allowed it to pour back in in a thin stream. "And let me have a look at your written work." He picked up Ted's parchment and read through the answers with an impressed smile. "Full marks! Excellent work Miss Black, Mr Tonks."
As they were packing away, Ted turned to Andromeda with a wide grin. "It seems we make quite the team," he said and Andromeda couldn't help smiling back. But then she seized control of herself, grabbed her books and walked quickly from the classroom without another word, not looking up when Ted called after her. She did not stop until she reached the Slytherin Common Room, where she knew the Hufflepuff boy could not follow her.
She was a Black and she would not associate with filth.