Chaser 3
Appleby Arrows
Round 5, Season 9
Word Count: 1769
Prompts: Selfishness
(Word) Dangle
(Object) Bottle of wine
(Dialogue) "You think you're so clever, don't you?"
A/N Thank you so much to DaughteroftheOneTrueKing and ScarlettWriter91, without whom I would still be struggling to finish this story.
Ted Tonks couldn't believe that he was looking at wedding rings. He knew he was being selfish in asking Andromeda to be disowned by her family in order to be with him.
The clerk came over, a ring in his hand. Ted knew then and there that that was the ring for Andromeda. Now for the proposal.
Andromeda was doing her best to sneak through the dungeons without being caught. She had done this more times than she would ever admit, so she liked to consider herself somewhat of an expert at it. It was pitch black, seeing as it was nearing midnight. She'd learned a long time ago that this was the best time to wander the hallways without getting caught because Filch would be asleep by now, and the prefects would be finished with their rounds for the night. In her hand was a disguised bottle of wine that she was hoping to trick a certain someone with.
When she got to the front doors, she quietly mumbled a spell that allowed her to walk through the doors. She smirked but didn't stop her trek to the greenhouses.
The door to Greenhouse Three was already slightly ajar when she arrived, and there was a low light at the back of the structure. She silently closed the door behind herself and joined the person in the back of the greenhouse.
"What took you so long?" Ted asked, standing up. Andromeda could tell he was concerned. "Were you caught? Is someone onto us?"
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "No one caught me, and from what I can tell, no one is onto us, either."
"Not even Narcissa?"
"Not even Narcissa. You give me zero credit, I'm better than that."
Ted sighed with relief. "Then what took you so long?"
Smirking, Andromeda held up the bottle of wine that she had disguised to look like a bottle of butterbeer. "I was acquiring this."
He raised an eyebrow. "You were late because you snuck into the kitchens for a bottle of butterbeer?"
Her smirk grew wider. "Do you really think I would risk getting caught by Lord knows who for only a bottle of butterbeer?"
"Fair point. So, what's really in the bottle?"
Andromeda tapped the bottle with her wand, revealing its normal state. "This. Care to share a glass with me?"
Ted looked at her with a mixture of awe and exasperation. "How did you sneak that from wherever you got it? And where did you get it?"
"Oh, you know, from Professor Slughorn's private stock."
"You didn't."
"I did."
"But how?"
Andromeda smiled mischievously. "I may or may not have brewed a Sleeping Draught, and I may or may not have slipped it into his tea during my detention with him this evening."
"You think you're so clever, don't you?"
Andromeda snatched her bottle of wine from his hands. "As a matter of fact, I do. How do you think I've been able to sneak around the school without getting caught by my evil sisters?" She placed a quick peck on his lips to prove her point.
"I did, at one point, wonder that, but then I began to learn what's in that bag of tricks of yours."
That earned him a punch in the arm. "Everything I do I learned from my family. That's how they get away with all of their wicked schemes."
His smile faltered. "Let not talk about your family right now." Andromeda easily agreed.
Sirius just so happened to be looking at the Marauder's Map when he saw Andromeda and Ted in Greenhouse Three together. That wasn't the first time he had seen the two of them together. He had never asked Andromeda about it out of respect for her, but he decided that he would confront her about it the following day.
Sirius grabbed a surprised Andromeda by the arm and dragged her to a secluded corridor, where he knew people would not overhear them.
"What was that for?" Andromeda huffed as she pulled her arm away from her cousin's grasp.
"We need to talk."
Andromeda glared at him. "About what?"
"About you and Ted."
Andromeda's eyes widened. "How did you-"
"The Map."
"I knew I should have cut that thing to shreds after I finished using it," Andromeda groaned. "What am I to give you to buy your silence?"
Sirius frowned and shook his head. "You don't need to bribe me, Andi."
"I don't?" Andromeda asked, quite clearly surprised.
"No. I will do anything to protect you, and if that means keeping my mouth shut about you and Ted, so be it. I just want to know if you're just leading him on for a bit of fun and rebellion, or-"
"I'm not!" Andromeda yelped, then quickly lowered her voice. "I'm not. I-I'm in love with him, Sirius." She looked down at her feet nervously, because that was the first time she had ever said the words aloud. She hadn't even told Ted yet that she was in love with him.
Sirius smiled and gently rubbed Andromeda's shoulder. "Just be careful, okay?"
"With Ted? He couldn't hurt a fly."
"No. With our family. You know how they are, Andi, and I know you know exactly what will happen when they find out you're in love with a Muggle-born."
Andromeda sighed. "I'd rather be disowned by them because I fell in love than join their ranks and be placed into an arranged marriage when I had true love and the opportunity to make the world a better place in which to live."
Sirius held his hands up placatingly. "You don't have to explain it to me, Andi. I completely get it. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into if you choose to be with Ted."
"If I choose Ted? There's no question that I will choose him over our lovely family."
It had been a week since Sirius had pulled Andromeda aside and given her his advice, and the couple's graduation was to be the next day. Classes had already finished, so Andromeda and Ted were enjoying the day by the lake in a secret spot they had found about a year after they started dating.
They were chatting about their upcoming plans for after Hogwarts. It wasn't an unusual topic for them; quite the contrary, actually. They talked about their futures often. They talked about what jobs they wanted to go into, where they wanted to live, and the like. One thing they never, ever talked about, however, was what their relationship would become after they graduated from Hogwarts. Both of them were terrified of how the conversation would end.
Ted suddenly cleared his throat, and Andromeda held her breath. "Andi, I know we've never discussed where we want our relationship to go," Ted began as he laced his fingers through Andromeda's.
Andromeda, who was afraid of where this was going, could do nothing but hum in response.
"I'm in love with you, Andromeda. I've given this a lot of thought, and I know your family will disown you, but I want to be with you. Forever." He pulled a small velvet box from his pocket and opened it, revealing a simple silver ring with a small diamond in the center. Andromeda couldn't help but think that he picked the perfect ring for her.
Andromeda stopped breathing altogether.
"Say something, Andi."
"I-I don't know what to say."
He squeezed her hand. "Then say yes."
Pulling her hand away from Ted, Andromeda buried her head in her hands and groaned, "You can't dangle a proposition like this in front of me, Ted. If I choose you, I will lose my entire family. But if I choose my family, I lose you."
Ted tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Andromeda shook it away. "I will be your family. Please, Andromeda- all I have ever wanted is to be with you."
Sirius backed Ted into a literal corner, poking his wand into Ted's throat. "How dare you make Andi choose between you and her family. Do you know how selfish that is for you to do?"
Ashamed, Ted looked anywhere but at Sirius. "She doesn't like her family. And neither do you, for that matter."
Sirius pushed his wand deeper into Ted's skin. "Be that as it may, they're still our family. They may have done many terrible, terrible things, but we still love them. So I say again: how dare you make Andi choose between you and her family."
"I'm trying to give her the future she wants and needs."
"No. You're trying to steal her future away to get the one that you want and need."
"The future I want and need is the same one that she wants and needs!"
Andromeda's hands were shaking more than they ever had in her entire life. She now knew what her decision was going to be.
It was the day of Andromeda's graduation, and her entire family, not to mention the entire school body, was there. If she was to go through with the plan that she had come up with to tell everyone her decision at once, she was going to walk out of the ceremony with far less people than she walked in with.
Andromeda had already walked across the stage, accepted her Wizarding equivalent of a diploma, shaken hands with all of the professors, and sat back down in her seat on the lawn. Now she was just waiting for Ted to walk across the stage, and her hands became sweatier with each new name that was called.
Finally, McGonagall called, "Ted Tonks!"
Andromeda took a deep, calming breath to steel herself as Ted took the stage. She stood up just as Ted accepted his diploma, figuring that this was the perfect moment. She couldn't believe she was about to do this; it was such a far cry from her usual calm, composed demeanor.
"Edward Tonks!" Andromeda shouted, drawing everyone's attention. "I have an answer to your question!"
At first, Ted looked perplexed, but then realization dawned upon his face, followed by trepidation. "Which is?" He shouted back.
Andromeda smiled, feeling powerful in this very simple, yet very damaging, act of rebellion. "Yes! I will marry you!"
Gasps could be heard from the entire crowd, but none louder than those from her family.
A wide smile spread across his face. He jumped off the stage, ran to her, and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. After a moment embracing, he pulled away and immediately placed a long, searing kiss on her lips.