Warning: I probably should have done this earlier. This story is rated M because there's a lot of cussing, drug use, alcohol use, violence (more so later on), and possibly sexual shenanigans. If you've survived this long in the story without running away screaming because I've robbed you of your innocent thoughts then I think you'll survive. This public service announcement is over.
Chapter 7
Crime and Punishment
It was the first week back from Christmas break and I was sitting at a hidden away table deep within the Hogwart's library. It had been raining all evening long, and instead of focusing on my Ancient Runes essay I was watching the warm light refract off the racing raindrops that dotted the windowpane.
I was snapped out of my reverie when someone casually dropped into the seat across from me. "What do you want Somerset?" I brusquely asked.
Sitting across from me was the seventh year Slytherin, Niall Somerset. He came from a family which was considered a pillar of pure-blooded society and I'd known him most of my life. Leaning forward in his chair he gave me a charming smile and loosened his tie. "Well, well, well if it isn't little Andromeda Black."
I rolled my eyes at his smug tone, "You're not getting to your point."
"All in due time. So I heard the most interesting rumor today which I knew I just had to share with you right away."
I still wasn't sure what Niall was getting at but I felt a sense of dread solidify within my gut. "What is it?" I asked uncertainly, the caustic tone of earlier completely gone from my voice.
"I see I have your attention." He leaned back in his chair bringing his hands up to rest behind his head. "So it seems that little Andromeda did something naughty over break. Something that Mommy and Daddy Black wouldn't be too pleased about."
My eyes narrowed at his mocking tone. "You're bluffing."
"I have it on good authority that you skipped out on the Malfoy's Ball and instead went to Hestia Jones' party. And if memory serves me right, aren't the Joneses considered blood-traitors. Tsk tsk. I never thought you had it in you."
"Obviously you want something Somerset so spit it out, I don't have all day."
He looked around cautiously to make sure there was no one around. Spotting a pair of Gryffindors studying at an adjacent table he lazily got up. "Follow me."
Looking around at the numerous open books scattered around the table I looked up at him, "Can this wait?"
He shrugged lackadaisically, "Nah. Hurry up though I don't have all day."
Rolling my eyes at him I quickly packed up my belongings and followed him until he stopped at a tapestry of the sorceress Ilyith. He pulled it aside to reveal a passageway. I walked in and he followed me, allowing the tapestry to fall back into place. He then leaned back on the wall and pulled out a small satin bag from his pocket along with some rolling paper.
"I thought you were in a hurry." I snapped.
"You are such a stick in the mud Andromeda. Will you relax, I just want to roll a spliff."
"Um… yeah, no you're not. I have better things to do with my afternoon than watch you light up and then get caught with you while you're smoking pollen, thus getting expelled."
"Fine, whatever," He slipped the rolling paper and bag back into his pocket, "I'll wait until you leave."
"Thanks." I muttered sarcastically. "So why am I here?"
"Well obviously because you couldn't subtly rebel against your parents and now I can use that to my benefit." He replied in such a cheerful tone that it worsened my already black mood.
So I simply glared in response. Niall straightened up a little, "Alright, here's the deal you fucked up. And yes I could rat you out to Mommy and Daddy Black but I much rather create a symbiosis with you. You see this news of you partying with non-purebloods comes on the heels of a rather sticky little situation I find myself in."
Typical Slytherin. I was about to be blackmailed, but as Niall continued talking my interesting was being piqued. "Stick situation? Sounds like you fucked up as well."
"Yeah," he shrugged, "What can I say. No one is perfect."
"What happened?"
"Well I kind of have a secret myself that I'd rather not have become common knowledge. You see I…" He paused at a loss of words.
"I'm…" He stopped again.
"You're what?"
"I play for the other Quidditch team if you catch my drift."
My eyes widened, "Really?" I paused and really looked at him. "I honestly would've never guessed."
"That's because I'm subtle. Unlike you."
"Touché. So why tell me your big secret?"
"Because over break my parents walked in on me in a broom closest with Hayworth Wilkes and they didn't see anything per say… but they've become suspicious."
"I knew he was gay!" I exclaimed, delighted that my own suspicion had been confirmed.
"That's nothing to get excited about, everyone knows Hayworth is gay. His mother is just living in denial. She actually thinks he's going to marry Heather Rosier."
"Well that'd be perfect since there have been rumors about Heather's sexuality ever since last summer when she was found in a compromising situation with Denver Burke."
"Please, Heather isn't really gay. She might have snogged a girl once or two but it's so obvious that she's just experimenting."
"Whatever you say. So what does your homosexuality have to do with me?"
"Well you're single which probably means your parents have been on your case about getting a boyfriend, and I'm technically single and my parents are starting to suspect. So let's pretend to date. That'd please Mommy and Daddy Black and maybe convince my parents that Hayworth and I were really just trying to find a broom."
"I'm sure that's exactly what you were doing."
"Sod off."
"You're the one who dragged me here."
Niall smirked, "So are you in or are you out?"
"Do I even have a choice?"
"Nah, because then my alternative is actually attempting to woo a girl and thus lying to her about my true intentions. And well that's just a lot of bad karma that I rather not attract."
I quickly thought over his proposition. It would get my parents off my back about finding a possible future spouse. The longer I didn't show any interest in anyone the closer my parents came to arranging my marriage. I also wasn't romantically interested in anyone so having a fake boyfriend wouldn't interfere with anything.
"Fine I'll do it. But I refuse to snog you in public. You always smell like a bleeding ashtray."
"No offense but I'm gay. I have no desire to kiss you. Let's set some ground rules, first the most physical contact we'll have will be holding hands and maybe some flirtatious touching. Oh and if you tell anyone that I'm gay, I will accidentally let it slip to your parents about where you were on New Year's Eve."
I rolled my eyes and moved towards the exit of the hidden passageway. But before I left I turned around. Niall had pulled out his bag of pollen and was starting to roll a spliff. "How did you hear about me being at Hestia's party anyway?"
Niall looked up at me, briefly distracted from his illegal contraband. "I'm shagging Royce Smith and he was at the party."
"But aren't you also shagging Hayworth?"
Niall smirked, "I never said I was monogamous."
"Whore."
"And proud of it." I couldn't help laughing a little as I walked out. I heard him call out to me as I let the tapestry fall back into place, "Lovely chat, my sweetest darling; my sunshine, my oxygen."
So word of my new "relationship" spread throughout the school within record time, and it made me wonder who exactly Niall had trusted to be such a gossip. Many Slytherins had come up to me in the common room and between classes to congratulate me on such a fine catch.
My sister had rushed towards me the second I had walked into the common room after dinner and given me an uncharacteristic hug. "Why didn't you tell me that you and Niall Somerset where about to become official?" She practically whined. "He's so cute! Mother and Father are going to be so delighted to hear that you've caught yourself a Somerset. Although you better watch out, Mother is totally going to start planning your wedding. And you should've seen the look of Ceres' face when she heard. She's had a crush on Niall for years."
I wanted to laugh when I heard about Ceres' disappoint, if only she knew the truth. Narcissa continued to badger me for the details of Niall and my relationship which I, much to her disappoint, refused to reveal.
The next morning the school was abuzz over Niall and I. Everyone was speculating how long we'd been hiding our tryst from everybody and how long we'd last as a couple. As I walked by the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, Royce Smith had sent me a conspiratorial wink and it made me wonder how much of a secret Niall's sexuality was. I made a note to try and pry the names of his other flings out of him while he was high on pollen or something.
But the oddest reaction was Ted's. We had rounds that night and he was uncharacteristically quiet. An awkward silence had descended upon us as we walked through the emptying halls as curfew approached.
"Ted," I began hesitatingly, "Is everything alright? You seem a little… off."
Without stopping he shrugged nonchalantly but didn't reply. I stopped in the middle of the hallway and gave him a quizzical look but he didn't even seem to notice. I rushed to catch up with him and tried to start a conversation to mask the suffocating silence. "So I started reading some of the Ancient Greek muggle philosophers that you suggested. I've gotten through a few pages of Plano."
"Plato."
"Oh," I mirthlessly laughed, "Yeah… silly me."
Had this been how our conversations had gone for Ted in the beginning when I'd been: acerbic and not very talkative, or warm, or even moderately likeable? Merlin only knows how he stuck around. I'd been dealing with the cold shoulder for only thirty minutes and I was already prepared to give up on this whole thing.
We continued walking in silence for another five minutes until he suddenly turned around to face me. "Niall Somerset? Seriously?"
I froze not quite sure what to say, "Um… yeah…" was my eloquent reply.
"You know Dromeda I thought you were smarter than that."
I'm ashamed to admit that I bristled slightly at his accusation, even though Niall and I were actually not in a relationship. "Shove off Tonks," I threw back without considering the absurd direction this conversation could take.
"Oh it's Tonks now that I insulted your precious dignity."
"That's right it's Tonks. I don't have to put up with any of your condescending bollocks."
"Condescending! That's rich coming from you."
"You never seemed to complain about it before when you were running around trying to get me to become friends with you."
"Whatever." He snapped back and I felt like I'd won that round. "Somerset is such a wanker! I thought you were better than that. I can't believe you're selling yourself off to a pretty little rich boy who is as dumb as a bludger just because of his name or looks."
In all honesty, although I considered Niall a borderline friend, one that was not to be trusted of course, I couldn't really argue with Ted's description of Niall. I was guilty of thinking all those things about him at one time or another.
Before I had to come up with a disingenuous defense for my fake boyfriend, Niall rounded the corner, immensely angry. "Tonks! Who the fuck are you calling as dumb as a bludger? At least I have the good breeding not to go around and try to fuck up other people's relationships."
"Good breeding, please, you mean inbreeding."
Niall turned towards me, "Come on Andromeda, I don't have to put up with anymore of this shite." He harshly grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him.
I reacted without thinking and resisted, "Merlin Niall let go! I need to finish my rounds."
"I need to talk to you now," and he pulled a little harder.
"Ouch Niall, stop, you're hurting me." Niall let go but not before Ted threw all of his weight into a punch and hit Niall squarely in the jaw.
"Fucking tosser." Ted muttered underneath his breath as he stormed off without even throwing a glance in my direction.
I stood in complete shock besides Niall who had been knocked to the ground by the force of the punch. Niall was gingerly touching his jaw trying to evaluate whether or not he should go to the hospital wing. "Fucking jealous prick." He grumbled as he lifted himself off the floor. He turned towards me, still nursing his jaw, "I need to talk to you."
A/N: Yes this is a very short chapter however if we look on the positive side of this situation, it didn't take me five months to update. I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to stick with my longer chapter lengths or make them shorter. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed Ted's jealousy. And please review! Reviews are what keeps this story alive, and lately I've been wanting to write a Katie/Oliver story but your reviews keep me focused on this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter universe. They all belong to J.K. Rowling who has the wealth to prove it while I on the other hand am a humble broke college student.
