"Andi's been very quiet the last few days…"

Narcissa turned her head to look over her shoulder at her brunette sister, plodding along far behind them with her head down, and picking off her nail polish.

"So? She is allowed her own space, Bella."

The eldest and youngest Black sisters walked arm in arm down the corridor as they spoke, just out of Andromeda's ear shot.

The raven sister frowned, a dark glint in her black eyes. "It's suspicious."

"You think everything is suspicious. And really, you're behaving the most suspicious out of all of us. What was the last message from the Dark Lord? Lu is being all weird too…"

"Lu? You call him Lu?"

Narcissa flushed red and swallowed loudly, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. "A-Anyway, you were err, talking about Andi."

"Right…" Bellatrix frowned before cackling. "I'm just saying that people, I mean people other than us, have started noticing too. We can't have any foul ups at this point Cissy. Reputation is everything. And that's all I'll say."

Narcissa rolled her eyes and smiled as Bellatrix whipped out her wand, and for no reason tripped up a second year with a hex.

"That's the second time you've repainted those today, Andi." Narcissa nodded to her at the lunch table.

"Huh?"

Andi looked up from her deep red nail polish and smiled.

"Oh I… I've just not been quite happy with the way it's been going on. That's all."

"Okay… If you say so. But you should know Bella's on your tail. She thinks you're acting odd."

"Well, you must be pleased."

"What?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow as she swallowed a mouthful of soup.

"If she's so preoccupied with me, then she won't be bothering you and Lucius all the time."

Narcissa smiled a toothy grin, one she rarely adorned in public, and even then would only share with her closest companions.

"You've got a free period after this, yeah?"

"Nah, sorry Cissy, I've got Creatures."

"Yeah, that's what I mean, isn't that cancelled?"

"What?" Andi blew on her nails to dry them.

"Didn't you hear?"

"No, what's happened?"

"Oh, Professor Kettleburn's had to go to St. Mungo's. Fire crab incident or something."

"Oh…" She tried to hide her genuine concern for her favourite Professor. She shrugged. "I'll still go down there, just to check."

The blonde frowned and scoffed. "If you want to waste a free…"

Andi bit her lip in response, not daring to say anything.

Lunch finished, Andi kissed her sister bye till dinner, then grabbing her stuff headed towards the Creatures clearing. By the time she had arrived she had picked the nail polish off of her index and middle left fingers. She frowned as she reached the edge of the trees, as she could already see double the amount of people that her usual class.

"Tom? What's going on?" She laid a hand on his shoulder and the tall, dark and handsome man turned.

"Some bullshit that all of the classes are being dumped together as the sub is only available during certain periods."

"What?" Andi groaned and threw her head back. "Let me guess, we're stuck with bloody Gryffindor."

"Not just Gryffindor."

"What do you mean, 'not just Gryffindor'? "

"Hufflepuff."

Andi looked up and her heart froze? "W-What?"

"Yep. This school is really going to the dogs. I put up with enough mudbloods in the first three years; I don't need lessons with the scum now."

Andi half leant into Tom Wilkes as he leant back against the fence. She suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable as yellow ties became more and more distinct.

He was in the Creatures section of the library. Ted was in the Care of Magical Creatures section of the library. He must study it, he must…

"You okay, Black?" He darkly chuckled, stroking her shoulder.

"Yeah… yeah fine…" But her head was spinning, her eyes darting from guy to guy, and she then thought momentarily she was wrong, he wasn't there. But then she saw someone stand up, and he was taller than the rest, standing out amongst the crowd of Slytherins.

He was smiling, laughing, light dancing in his eyes. Then he caught hers. His smile froze momentarily before vanishing and she could see his Adam's apple move as he swallowed.

He turned back to his friends and laughed again, high fiving one guy, but she kept staring and caught his second and third glances and the slight waver of his lip as he smiled at his friends twice more.

"Quiet down! Quiet down!"

"Professor Dumbledore…" Some of the students murmured as they sat, either on the gravel, grass or logs. Tom, Andi and a few other Slytherins and Ravenclaw's however stayed stood, leaning against the fence. As he rolled his eyes, Tom pulled out a pear and began to eat it, one arm still around Andi's shoulder as he did so.

"Now, I know this may be unexpected and hard to take for some students, but until Professor Kettleburn returns in the new year, Professor Grubbily-Plank will be substituting, but because of her Head of House commitments and her classes with the younger years, she will only be available during, what was originally the Slytherin's and Ravenclaw's lesson. So everyone will be have lessons together till the end of the year-"

And that was when the shouting began, Gryffindor's at the Slytherin's and they were dishing it back just as much. Two Hufflepuff girls attempted to diffuse the argument but that failed miserably and they sat back down in defeat.

"RUBBISH!"

"THAT'S RUBBISH!"

"We're not working with mudbloods!" Tom yelled into the uproar.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING MUDBLOODS, WILKES?"

"FUCK OFF, MOODY!"

"Tom, stop it!" Andi slapped his chest but he already had his wand out and threw a curse at the back of the Gryffindor's head.

But quick on his heels, he spun, blocked it and sent another back, hitting Tom square on in the chest knocking him, and Andromeda, backwards over the fence and landing with a hard crunch against the gravel.

It was like those slow motion moments in films. That was the only thing looking back Ted could compare it to.

"Alastor Moody! Detention!"

"I'll teach him to curse someone when their back is turned! Pathetic scum!"

"Alastor!" Dumbledore yelled and the Gryffindor grumbled and stuffed his wand back into his pocket and picked up his bags and books and headed towards the exit of the clearing.

Andi raised a hand to her forehead feeling dizzy as she sat up, her other hand however was being held by someone else's. Her vision blurry and her senses muddled, she assumed who it was and didn't care none the less.

"Tom, I told you, Moody's a fast one, you've got to watch him-"

"Mr Tonks! Take Miss Black to the hospital wing, Mr Humes, Mr Kipps take Mr Wilkes there too. Now as for the rest of you, sit back down, get out your textbooks. The lesson is about to begin, and with only two weeks left of term and your mocks in January, I wouldn't waste your time…"

Mr Tonks?

She rubbed that point between her eyebrows before opening her eyes and she saw that Tom wasn't holding her hand, he was struggling to sit up next to her but… Ted. Ted was holding her hand.

Ted is holding your hand.

There was then a mumbled sentence from behind her that was from Tom.

"Don't you touch her you filthy mudblo-" but there was another crunch of dead weight again as another spell his face causing him to fall unconscious to the ground.

"Got your back, Tonks." Moody winked, hiding his wand again before slapping Ted's back on his way out.

"Thanks Al." Ted chuckled as he half shook his head and smiled that crooked smile Andi hadn't seen in four years. "Can you stand, Andi?"

"I think so…" She murmured as she pulled herself to her feet .

The two Ravenclaw boys who were enlisted to carry Tom's body to the hospital wing groaned as they lifted his dead weight. No matter how skinny or toned he was, dead weight was the worst. Andi took one step and stumbled and she felt strong arms slip around her waist and hold her steady. At any other point, she would have been analysing every move of his, decoding what his fingers on her hips meant, and how they would normally make her feel. And probably slap him for laughing. But the back of her head was throbbing and it was sending pain through her whole body, and she knew even after this passed, she would have the most horrific headache.

"Watch ya-self, Miss Black. I can carry you if you want."

"Don't be stupid, Ted. You aren't strong enough." She took another step and nearly fell again, her head spinning.

He whisked her into his arms and laughed.

"I think you forget I'm not the short skinny 12 year old still."

She didn't say another word. The effort was too much, both in speaking, and processing that she was having a conversation with Ted.

Next thing she registered was that Madame Hyperon was giving her a potion as she sat on the edge of a bed, holding a cold compress on the back of her head where it had connected with the ground.

"Is Tom going to be okay?" She asked, still fuzzy.

"Yes, the hex didn't cause any damage, it was more the fall. Keeping him in overnight may be required but for the minute, he should be ready to go by the end of the day."

"That's good." She murmured as Matron walked away and indeed went to attend on Tom.

"Out by tonight? That's good, won't be missing his date then."

"Date?" Andi frowned, completely baffled now.

"Well, he's your boyfriend isn't he? The way you were leaning into his chest and his had his arm around your shoulder and how he jumped to your defence when I held your hand."

She shook her head. "Why did you hold my hand?"

"So he is your boyfriend…" Ted stood up and went to walk out.

"No, Ted, he isn't actually. Just a friend."

Ted turned an cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

He remained stood, shoving his hands deep in his pockets as he surveyed her.

"You didn't answer my question."

"What?"

"Why did you hold my hand?"

Ted bit his lip, smiling slightly and did a quick spin on the spot, pulling his hands from his pockets and making a jazz-hands like gesture.

"No idea."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "No idea? So… the urge just hit you." She made her own jazz-hand like gesture, pulling the compress from her head. She winced after a second and then he was suddenly sat in-front of her, taking a new flannel from the bowl of ice cold water, wringing it out and then lifting his hand to press the cloth to the back of her head.

"About there?"

"D-Down a bit…" She whispered. He moved the cloth as so and smiled.

"Yeah. I guess the urge just hit me."

"Ted-"

"I just hate seeing you get hurt… Do you remember, at the end of first year, when you fell over in DADA when we were practising and you scraped your knees so badly and I ran straight to Madame Hyperon and got you bandages and all sorts."

"I can't believe you remember that…" she half giggled. "You looked like a mummy by the time you got back you were so tangled up. And Professor had already healed them."

He laughed too. He looked at her face, moving from eye to eye, then her nose and down to her lips, and whether he meant to or not, he moistened his own lower lip with his tongue as he did so.

"Mr. Tonks, I think you better head back to class." Madame Hyperon raised an eyebrow as she disappeared off into her office.

Ted sighed and went to stand. He passed Andi the flannel he was holding and, again, licked his lip.

"Andi…"

"Don't Ted… Please… just don't."

She looked down at her lap, pressing the cloth to her head again and sighing. She was too fuzzy to register anything properly right now. The butterflies in her stomach, they were from her dizziness surely. Or the potion she had just had. Yes. That's what it was.

"Okay." He whispered after a moment before nodding. He stood and turned to leave.

Andi sighed and swung her legs up onto the bed and sat back, closing her eyes, listening to his fading footsteps.

The tears she could feel prickling the inside of her eyelids were from the pain still coursing through her head. They had to be. She had no other reason to cry. No other reason.

She then felt a weight beside her as the mattress dipped.

"You awake then, Tom?"

"That's the second time today you've called me that…"

Her eyes shot open and she half gasped.

"Are you sure he isn't your boyfriend?" He said sarcastically, rolling his blue eyes.

"He definitely isn't-" She murmured but he cut her off, with his lips.

The kiss was the most passionate one she had ever felt.

Ted wasn't the only guy she had kissed. The rest had been at parties or functions, more when the pure-blood aristocrats had had one too many Firewhiskeys and had dragged her off in failed attempts to woo her. Bella was always there, to curse them when they got too forceful or rough, not that she couldn't handle the situations herself.

But this passion was different. It wasn't alcohol fuelled or sex-driven; it was gentle in its approach. It was full of… she couldn't explain it… but, yearning.

Her hand fell from her head, dropping the flannel with abandon, as her fingers snaked their way up his chest, one hand taking hold of his tie, the other continuing up to his hair. Their mouths opened and she moaned at the contact of tongues as he pulled her closer his fingers again on her hip, the other tangling in her hair.

He brushed over her grazed scalp and she pulled away screwing up her face in pain.

"Sorry." Ted whispered.

And with his words, the reality hit her and she shuffled back, like she had after her first kiss from him. Her hands shot to her lips, her fingers shaking.

"No… I… I'm sorry…."

He was smiling. He was so happy.

"Why should you be sorry?" He raised a hand to graze her cheek but she caught it and pushed it away.

"I can't Ted…" her lip wavered. "N-nothing's changed."

And so very like before, so very like four years ago, his smile vanished.