Crossfire: Chapter Four
Andromeda Black
After all the noise and bustle bouncing off the walls of the castle that night, the sound of her own footsteps echoing along the otherwise silent fifth floor of the Hospital Tower corridor seemed almost eerie.
The better part of Andromeda's arrival at Hogwarts had been spent shuffling first years around, either off the trains, onto the boats and into the castle, or guiding them to their common rooms and dormitories following the sorting feast. Now that all were accounted for and settled into their new accommodations for the evening, she finally had a chance to visit her favorite room in the castle.
It was late enough now that all the students had retired either to their dormitories or to their common rooms to converse with their housemates and finish unpacking their trunks. The Slytherin common room wasn't quite as clamorous as it was directly following the ceremonies of the evening, but was still packed with enough students to make relaxation nearly impossible due to the only topic anyone seemed to be discussing that night: her cousin Sirius' sorting.
Andromeda had thankfully been able to avoid most of the gossip during her prefect duties. She was sure Narcissa had to be beside herself having listened to it all night and wasn't in the mood to deal with her neurosis so as soon as she could, she slipped away with her bathrobe thrown over her arm and set out for the prefect's bathroom.
"Evening friend," She whispered to the hulking statue of Boris the Bewildered. She gave him a pat on the hand as she passed. Four doors later she arrived at her destination and after a quick mumble of this term's password, pumpkin stems, she pushed open the door and was met with a wall of hot steam.
Andromeda was surprised to see that the multicolored water in the giant pool-like bath tub had already been running for quite some time, the deep basin was almost full to the top and the mountains of bubbles that rested along the surface of the water seemed undisturbed at first glance.
Without the sunshine streaming in through the stain glass windows the only light in the room came from the candles mounted on the surrounding walls. The flickers of light added a soothing touch when coupled with the sound of the rain being picked up by the harsh winds and hurled against the glass and stone.
She waited for the sounds of footsteps or chatter and thankfully heard none.
Satisfied, she gathered all her hair to the top of her head and secured it with a clip as she kicked her shoes aside and shrugged off her robe. She loosened her tie and lifted it over her head before adding it and her sweater swiftly to the pile on the floor in eager anticipation of stepping down into the hot soothing water.
She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the storm raging outside as her fingers nimbly worked their way down the line of buttons on her white blouse. She had began to shrug it off her shoulders and move closer to the water's edge when she was interrupted.
"I suppose now would be the proper time to inform you that you have company."
Andromeda let out an undignified yelp of surprise as she tugged the sides of her shirt closer and whipped around.
Thomas Nott, who's form had until then been hidden behind a pile of foam was lounging at the far end of the tub, his arms spread out along the edge to keep him afloat. One hand lazily clutched a glass with a brown liquid she surmised to be firewhiskey after she caught sight of the bottle beside it.
His dark hair clung to the sides of his face, drawing her attention to his sharp jaw line and the droplets of water that slid from it. Her eyes followed them down to the musculature of his chest and arms, which hovered out of the water.
It took her a moment to shake herself, averting her gaze to her toes and hopping back a few feet. She replaced the gawking gaze that had no doubt been plain on her face in that moment with an admonishing one.
"Merlin, Thomas, you scared me half to death! Why didn't you say anything when you saw me come in?"
He gave a laugh and took a sip of his glass before he answered, "I figured you would spot me soon enough, and when you didn't I let you know before you got too…comfortable."
She felt the heat creep into her cheeks at his choice of words.
"Well I apologize for interrupting you and I'll leave you to your business," she replied curtly as she sunk down to collect her clothing off the floor.
"The bath is plenty big enough for the both of us and there's more than enough foam in here to keep our decency," Thomas answered quickly, gesturing at the opposite end of the basin before adding with a cheeky grin, "I'll even turn my back while you get in. I swear."
Andromeda had already been refastening the buttons and making her hasty retreat but she came to a halt, turning back around to him she raised a brow.
His eyes were on her, gauging her reaction to his suggestion.
"What if someone else comes in?" she asked.
"I can hold my breath."
"You've been drinking."
"You can join me."
A frown pulled at her lips as she mulled that over.
"You know very well you could loose your badge for that."
Thomas sunk a little further down into the water so only his head was visible bobbing along the surface but the threat of losing his prefect status didn't seem to vex him much at all.
"Well, you would be the only one who could make that happen, but I'm hoping that you'll just hop in here and share a glass with me rather than continue to be stuffy."
"I am not stuffy," she huffed indignantly which drew a rather pointed look from her companion. She heaved a sigh and gave the door one last longing look before she narrowed her eyes at Thomas and muttered, "Oh all right, turn around."
Just as he said he would Thomas turned his back to her, folding his arms along the edge of the bath and resting his head on them. As she dropped her pile of clothes back on the floor and continued undressing she could feel her heart pound in her chest and the blood rush in her ears.
Despite the innocent pretenses this was about the most risque situation she had ever put herself into and she began to wonder exactly why she was agreeing to it in the first place.
She tip toed over to the edge of the shallow end of the bath and slipped in. Instantly she gathered up a floating pile of foam and arranged it carefully to avoid any kind of accidental exposure.
"All right then?" Thomas called, still keeping his back to where she had come to rest. She peered across the basin, and hesitated for a moment as she drew in the defined musculature of his back and the way the water dripped down off his shoulders. He shifted for a moment, uncomfortable with the silence before asking again, "Andromeda?"
"Oh, um...right, yes I suppose it would be alright for you to turn around now."
Thomas turned and settled back against the wall of the tub, eyeing her with a knowing grin before setting his head back and letting his eyes close with a relaxed sigh. He seemed comfortable enough with the intimacy of the situation, cool and collected.
"Relax," he muttered and he gave his nearly glass of firewhiskey a push. The glass slid quickly along the marble, seemingly floating on the water that had collected there before it came to a stop against Andromeda's waiting hand. "Isn't that what you came here to do?"
She nodded tensely and offered him a strained smile as she lifted the glass and pressed it against her lips. She inhaled tentatively and had to subdue a cough in her chest as she jerked a bit in surprise at the fumes wafting off his liquor.
"Careful there, Black, it's strong," he warned but his tone betrayed his amusement.
Andromeda defiantly tipped the glass and her head back. The contents poured down the back of her throat, hardly running over her tongue. She swallowed hard and breathed out in an effort to lessen the burning that spread from her throat to her chest as the liquor slid down.
"It's awful," she hissed.
Across from her, a dark laugh sounded from Thomas' throat.
"Merlin, what do they teach you in that family of yours? I think every young lady should be able to drink whiskey properly," he teased.
Thomas gripped the bottle and gestured for her to watch him. He held the bottle out in front of him, swirling it gently with his wrist before tilting it back. He let the brown liquor coat the side of the bottle before he held it to his nose and breathed it in.
"If you don't try to suck it in through your nostrils you can tell it smells sweet." He gestured to his glass with his free hand and she slid it back to him and watched as he poured it with an expert hand and sent it back to her.
Andromeda eyed it uncertainly. The uncomfortable burn was still present in her chest and she cleared her throat to relieve in preparation for a second try.
Against her better judgement she copied his actions and let the thick liquor coat the edge of the glass as she tilted it and hesitantly breathed in. Amidst the overwhelming scent of the alcohol she picked up some familiar undertones.
"Cinnamon," she ventured, closing her eyes and inhaling again curiously. "Maybe some vanilla?"
"Maybe," Thomas answered with a shrug, as he watched her intently. He put his lips to the bottle and took a small sip before setting it back down. His tongue rolled it around his mouth experimentally before he swallowed and grinned at her.
"Why don't you try it again, but not like a barmaid polishing off a bottle this time."
She followed his suggestion with much more pleasant results and Thomas seemed pleased enough with her reaction. Though Andromeda noticed that with the second sip her body felt as though it was flushing with heat and a heavy haze seemed to press in on her senses.
"There you are, I'm sure you'll impress just about any gentleman in your father's sitting room with that technique. Just don't tell him who taught you or I'm afraid he'll have my head."
"Well thanks to you I'm sure I'll be a spectacle at the next Christmas party," She answered dryly before an undignified snort escaped her at the thought of leaning up against one of the black leather armchairs in the midsts of her father's conversation and downing one of their crystal glasses full of whiskey before offering her opinion on the issue of the day.
"Aren't you always?" Thomas replied quietly. His expression was unreadable, serious if anything.
"You've been quite the charmer today, Thomas. I'm sure Isabella wouldn't approve of such comments," she challenged.
The thought of the tall lithe Isabella Greengrass and her reaction were she to find out that Andromeda had spent the evening sharing a bath with Thomas Nott made her smirk.
Isabella certainly was no great fan of hers and had no problem making that as clear as day. It wasn't that she was openly hostile or spoke anything particularly hateful to her. For the most part she had a tendency to ignore Andromeda's presence and when she did acknowledge her it was usually while she was peering down her nose with smug satisfaction that she had again convinced herself she was better than a Black sister. It wasn't much different than how she addressed anyone that possessed a lesser blood purity than her own.
But all that aside it was common knowledge she had done pretty much everything in her power to dig her claws firmly into Thomas and wasn't about to let him shake free, despite his reputation for his wandering eyes and varying interests.
"Doesn't really matter to me what she approves of or what she doesn't. That's not any of my concern," Thomas countered, looking as though he was curious as to why she would suggest otherwise. Andromeda must have looked unconvinced because he added, "Shall I ask you what that Muggleborn Hufflepuff boy would feel about you and I sharing a drink in the nude?"
Andromeda wasn't sure which aspect of that comment she should reply to first; the notion that Ted Tonks and herself had some sort of intimate relationship or the latter comments about their current situation so instead she sputtered indignantly while she took another sip of the whiskey and tried to gather a fitting response.
"That's not very proper talk, Thomas Nott," she replied in the most serious tone she could muster though it didn't sound very convincing in her own ears, especially with the hiccup that escaped directly afterward. In fact it drew a laugh from her companion that made her cheeks redden again.
"Hmmm, shall I apologize then?" he asked slyly as he slipped away from the edge of the tub and disappeared beneath the water.
Andromeda's breath hitched in her throat. She sunk down in the bath and pressed her shoulders back against the side of the tub as her eyes scanned the foam filled water that had until that point been separating the two of them.
Perhaps it was the effects of the whiskey clouding her better judgement but she didn't jump from the bath and scramble away as she probably would have done with a clearer head. Instead, she just waited.
The top of Thomas' head emerged a few feet in front of where she had remained. His blue eyes scanned her expression and flashed with what she could tell was amusement, though nothing below his nose was visible beneath the water to confirm.
"What happened to keeping our decency?" Andromeda chided as she tilted her head up in the water.
"Don't worry, princess, I didn't peek," he assured her with a cheeky grin. "Just retrieving my glass. I think that might have been enough for you."
"Probably for the best," Andromeda agreed. She followed his lazy movements as he swam closer.
One of his hands came to rest on the stone edge beside her head and his face was right there in front of her. The amusement that had just been there was gone, replaced with a lingering, hungry gaze. They were so close, almost touching.
He leaned in and Andromeda's eyes closed, she parted her lips and waited expectantly for his own to brush across them. Something biting in the back of her head told her that she certainly was not acting like herself, that she was dangerously close to becoming one of the girls she watched Thomas take in and churn out and chastised in her own head. But the fluttering in her chest and the excitement of such a spur of the moment kind of decision was enough to push all of that back.
"We'll just have to work on that tolerance of yours, love," he breathed in her ear.
The splashing water brought her back to her senses as Thomas jumped out of the tub beside her. She almost turned, but remembered the state he was in and whipped her head back forward instantly.
"What…?" she sputtered as she listened to the sound of his heavy, wet footsteps trailing back toward the door.
"Enjoy the rest of your bath, Andromeda. I'll be seeing you."
The heavy entrance to the prefect bathroom slid closed and Andromeda sank beneath the water to silence her self deprecating groan.