Andromeda was late to Defense Against the Dark Arts, by a whole seven minutes. Professor Scrimgeour stopped his lecture as she slipped into class and said, his voice clipped, "Late is not a good look on you, Ms. Black."

Andromeda blushed. "Sorry Professor, It won't happen again." She wasn't sure why she said that, as she was certain it would. She'd been in class a whole ten seconds and she already wanted to leave based on all the stares she was getting. Scrimgeour just gave her a long look before resuming his lecture.

Glancing around, she saw the only available seat was next to Amycus Carrow. He realized the same thing. His eyes narrowed and he made a show of moving his body as far away as possible as she sat down next to him. She could feel the daggers he was glaring into the side of her neck, but she didn't dare look over at him. With Scrimgeour here, he couldn't do much more than glare.

She tried to focus on Scrimgeour's lecture. He was teaching them advanced blocking techniques to some of the more grisly hexes and curses. It sounded incredibly important, but she couldn't focus. She could hear her housemates giggling and whispering next to her. She had no way of knowing if they were gossiping about her, yet she was almost certain they were.

A few minutes later she jumped as a note started trying to burrow it's way into her elbow. She could hear her housemate's whispers suddenly cut off as she grabbed it, and she had a sick feeling in her stomach, but human nature and curiosity got the best of her and she opened it up anyway.

It was a sloppy drawing of two people, she assumed her and Ted, engaging in some rather crude acts. Her faced flushed so hot she could have sworn it blistered. She flicked her wand and the note burned, but that didn't stop her housemates from sniggering.

"Pipe down back there!" Scrimgeour hollered. He glowered at her classmates for a moment longer before continuing. "As I was saying, as important as practical applications are, the only way to safely practice these techniques are with blunt objects, instead of curses. Break up into pairs, and be careful! Make sure to aim for your partners chest or legs, and not the head."

Andromeda ended up paired with Magdalena, which was more than she could have asked for. Except, she had no idea how she going to focus on stopping the heavy metal disks from colliding with her midsection when the Slytherin boys were mimicking the crude gestures on the note whenever Scrimgeour wasn't looking.

Surprisingly enough, as she settled into the rhythm, she found that the blocking spell came easier to her than she anticipated. In fact, she and Magdalena were fairing far better than her housemates, much to their chagrin. Even the Gryffindors looks impressed, though she doubted they would say as much.

As she successfully stopped the disk several meters from her face, she felt and odd rush. Maybe she could survive seventh year after all.

Magdalena let out a piercing scream. Andromeda turned to see three metal disks pelting for her from different directions. She lifted her wand, even though she'd be lucky to stop one in time, when all three disks stopped in midair. Everyone turned in shock to see three Gyffindors— Mary McDonald, Fabian Prewett and his twin, Gideon Prewett, the head boy— with their wands outstretched.

"What is this madness!" Scrimgeour came down on the Slytherin boys plus Alecto, who seemed to be the culprits. "Are you trying to set a record for the fastest detentions?" He was practically shaking with fury, but he got control of himself long enough to say to the others. "Class dismissed, but not for you six. You're going to explain to me how you've made it to your Seventh Year without learning to follow simple instructions."

Andromeda didn't dare look at her classmates as she gathered her things and fled to the door. They already hated her, now they would blame her for getting them into trouble and losing that many house points too.

She now had some time to kill between classes. She was almost certain Ted had Potions this morning. If she made her way to the dungeons she could maybe catch a moment with him before their next class.

"Hey, Andromeda!" She paused, whirling around to see her three "saviors" running toward her. She stiffened with apprehension. She could understand Gideon wanting to speak to her about prefect matters, but why were Mary and Fabian coming with him?

"Impressive spell work today," Gideon said. "A pity your housemates couldn't handle it."

"Yes, well…" Was this why Gideon had come, to make small talk? "I'm not exactly their favorite person."

"Their loss," It was Mary who said that, giving Andromeda a warm smile. Andromeda stared at her. She and Mary had not had much interaction in their seven years at Hogwarts. She'd distinctly heard Mary call her "Simpering purebred scum," before. Apparently she'd changed her tune.

"Right, well," Andromeda had no idea what to say, but it seemed they were expecting her to say something. "Thank you for your help today. I'll see you around."

"What you're doing with Ted amazing," Gideon said. "Inspiring, even."

Andromeda blushed, and kept trying to edge away. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss her love life with Gryffindors. She could barely do that with Sirius.

"We meant it," Fabian continued. "Our cousin, Alice, she told us what happened to you two last year. To comeback from that, it's incredible."

She felt a sick pit in her stomach. She tried not to think about that night, when Ted was tortured. If had been far from an incredible experience for her.

"We think a lot of people would be inspired by your story," Gideon said, "If they got a chance to hear it."

The pit in her stomach hardened. What did he mean by that? And who, exactly, did he plan on telling hers and Ted's story too?

"We're having a meeting tonight," Mary said. "For muggleborns and supporters. You and Ted should come."

"You wouldn't have to do anything," Gideon caught the mortified look on her face. "Just listen."

Her instinct was to say no, as that sounded like an invite for trouble, and her life was problematic enough, but she feared if she said no, they would keep trying to convince her.

"I'll talk to Ted," Andromeda said finally. It wasn't a commitment, and it gave her the out she finally needed to get away from this bizarre conversation. A year ago she no one would have dared invite her to something like this, and she wouldn't have dared consider it. The world had been turned upside down.