She quickly darted her way through the dimly lit dungeon corridors until she eventually made her way to the nearest staircase. Andromeda raced up the stairs to the castle's basement, then, checking that nobody was looking, she took a sharp right towards the kitchens and knocked twice on the door, then twice again, as Ted had instructed her.
Andromeda did not quite know what it was that Ted had planned for his Christmas gift to her, all he had really said was that it would be in her best interests to forgo from eating any dinner before meeting him. She had done exactly that and whatever it was she really hoped he was planning on feeding her something substantial, as she was really rather hungry.
The door suddenly flung open and she was greeted by a small, yet boisterous looking house-elf, who looked quite fat by their usual standards of body mass and weight. The elf suspiciously peered outside the door past Andromeda to check that nobody was watching.
"Follow me, Miss," he whispered, ushering her into the kitchen which was surprisingly empty. She had assumed it would be full of house-elves washing up after dinner.
"It's Saturday night, Miss," he said, perhaps having noticed her eyeing up the vacated room. "We're all on classroom cleaning duty... the Headmaster will have my head on a spike if he finds out I'm doing this and not up in the Transfiguration suite."
Andromeda suddenly felt very guilty that Ted had talked this poor Elf into helping arrange this little date-night for them. Before she could ask the Elf how Ted had roped him into helping them out he directed her to a narrow corridor, then towards a further door-way down the hall, which appeared to be a spare room that the Elves had within the kitchen, most probably for storage.
You would never have guessed that it was a storage room though as it had been magically decorated to look like an old-fashion muggle Italian restaurant, with a red and white table cloth dressing the table that Ted sat at. He was dressed very smartly and she could smell his aftershave mixing in with the smoke emitting from the large candle that sat at the head of their table.
Andromeda made her way towards the vacant chair that was opposite Ted, yet before she could do so he bolted up to pull out her chair for her.
It was a very odd gesture and not one that she was used to within wizarding circles, but it seemed that it was a very polite thing to do in muggle culture and she appreciated the strange quirk and seriousness with which Ted took it. She kissed him softly on the lips before sitting down and placing a napkin on her lap.
"May I int'rest you in some wine, Miss?" the podgy Elf asked politely.
"Err-
"Wotcher Toby! We'll have a bottle of your finest red please," Ted replied jovially.
"Very good, sir… and would you like your starters now too, Mister Ted, sir?"
"Yes, yes that would be smashing, mate, cheers," Ted said to their apparent waiter, who Andromeda noticed seem to brighten up a bit at being addressed as Ted's mate. Toby plodded off as quickly as he could back to the main kitchen.
"How on earth did you manage to get a house elf to arrange all of-
"Good evening, Andromeda, love. It's very nice to see you too. How have you been for the last few weeks?" Ted interrupted in a sarcastic tone.
Andromeda was very taken aback and left momentarily speechless. She assumed he was being sarcastic, but she could tell from the undertone in his voice that he was not too impressed that they had barely seen each other since the school year had returned.
"I'm only joking 'Dromeda!" he said, as a smile returned to his face. "How'd I get Toby to sort all this out for us? Well, what can I say? We're pals," he said, as if there was absolutely nothing strange about a student forming a friendship with a house-elf who works in the kitchens.
"And how exactly was it that you became…pals… with him?" Andromeda enquired, perhaps not wanting to know the real answer.
Ted looked at her and seemed quite pleased that she had asked, almost as if he was relishing in having an excuse to tell her the story.
"Well, funny you should ask that actually… long story short, I caught him drinking the dregs from a couple of cans of Coke in our common room one night. Anyway, we got chattin' and it basically turns out the little fella bloody loves himself a fizzy drink. We've been trading muggle fizzy drinks and kitchen snacks for some time now," he said with a mischievous grin.
"You mean to say, he did all of this for a fizzy drink?" Andromeda asked incredulously.
Ted scoffed.
"You're having a laugh!" he cried.
"Do you know how much trouble I had to go to for this?" he whinged. "His favourite one that I've given him to try is Irn-Bru… and well… you can buy it in one of the shops in the village just out of Hogsmeade. So on the last Hogsmeade trip I sneaked out to the muggle village and bought a massive multi-pack of them for him… 12 cans! That set me back a few bob! I've told him he mustn't drink them all in one go, I'm not sure if an Elf could overdose on Irn-Bru but I'm sure he'll give it a good go."
Ted then spent several minutes attempting to explain what exactly Irn-Bru was and what it tasted like, before Toby eventually appeared with a bottle of wine and two glasses. After he had finished pouring them both very generous glasses of the Hungarian merlot, the Elf then clicked his fingers and two plates of beef carpaccio, which was littered with olives, walnuts and gorgonzola, appeared onto their plates to much fanfare.
Andromeda was very impressed as it was certainly a bit more upmarket than you would usually expect from a Great Hall feast. She wondered if maybe the elves were trained to cook fancier food for specific faculty members on request.
It did not take too long for them to get through their starter and first glass of wine, after which Toby soon appeared to give them a re-fill on their merlot and with a click of his fingers took away their empty plates and replaced them with two dishes filled with Spaghetti Bolognese. The pasta was garnished with large helpings of black pepper, parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of parsley leaves.
They chatted whilst they ate about fairly innocuous and normal things, such as how their studies were going and what their plans were for Christmas when they went home to see their respective families. Ted's main excitement hinged on his parent's Christmas dinner, which seemingly had the best of both worlds. There was the Turkey roast with all of the typical British trimmings you would come to expect, but they would also feast on food native to his Mother's Polish homeland, such as fried carp, pierogi and herring.
She thought it all sounded very lovely and wished that she could spend Christmas with Ted and his family.
Christmas in the Black household was usually quite a dreadful affair.
Whilst her Father and Mother's wealth would always ensure the three Black daughters had very lavish and expensive gifts, there was not much in the way of festivity and merriment. They would often host her Aunt and Uncle, who would of course bring along their two young sons, Sirius and Regulus, which would no doubt lead to quarrelling between the two sets of parents once enough fire-whiskey had been consumed.
Her cousin Sirius was very much a wild child who seemed to live to antagonise his parents. At their last family Christmas he had disappeared alongside his younger brother for the best part of an hour, before eventually emerging having dressed poor Regulus in Cissy's school clothes, even putting his hair up and adorning his face with her makeup. It was safe to say his Mother and Father had been absolutely furious, although Narcissa and Andromeda had certainly seen the funny side, especially given his hopeless attempt to tie a bra on.
Andromeda smiled as she recalled the bizarre sight of Regulus dressed so androgynously, then just as she was finishing up the last of her Spaghetti as graciously as one can possibly eat the cylindrical pasta, Ted commented on how they were like a real life version of Lady and The Tramp, which was apparently a muggle animated movie for children. He explained how it was about a rich, well-kept lady dog falling in love with a common street mutt. She did not approve of him referring to himself as a homeless stray dog, but the story did at least have a happy ending as the homeless stray moved in with the rich, loving family of the posh dog.
Andromeda feared that their love story would not quite have such a happy ending.
Toby eventually appeared to take away their plates again, offering them more wine, Andromeda hesitated as she was already feeling a little bit tipsy after two glasses, but Ted talked her round by arguing they may as well finish the bottle. It did make sense and she wondered if they didn't finish it whether Toby himself might tuck into it, which was no doubt an awful idea. It was one thing getting him into fizzy drinks, but alcoholic ones would be a disaster.
The carpaccio and spaghetti had put quite a dent into her stomach and she had not anticipated the possibility of a third course, but the tubby Elf soon emerged with two small dishes of Tiramisu. Andromeda had never had any Tiramisu before, but the creamy coffee-flavoured Italian dessert filled with mascarpone, Marsala wine-soaked sponge and large dollops of cocoa was so delicious that she even asked Toby for his recipe, which almost made him faint with embarrassment.
It was not long after they had finished the last scraps of their Tiramisu that Toby nervously warned them that they only had 10 minutes left, as that would be when the rest of the Elves would return to the kitchen and begin preparing the next morning's breakfast.
The last forty-five minutes had absolutely flown by.
Perhaps the wine had played a part in that.
Andromeda rose from her chair and felt slightly light-headed, but managed to compose herself relatively quickly. Ted stood up and they walked over to the side of the room nearest to the door.
Toby took his cue to leave them to have some privacy before they would be forced to part ways.
"I have had such a lovely time tonight, Ted. I did not know what to expect when you said you had an early Christmas present for me, but I must say you really have outdone yourself," she said, barely noticing that she had begun nervously playing with the silver ring she wore on her ring finger.
"What can I say? I aim to please," he replied, before smiling suggestively at her as they moved closer together, close enough that she could smell the wine on his breath.
"I hope my Christmas gift to you is as well received. I would very much like to please you," Andromeda remarked, which raised an even bigger grin from him.
They were very close together now. So close that not only could she smell his breath, but she could also feel its warmth as it brushed against her face.
"You don't have to get me anything, love. I prefer giving to receiving anyway," he whispered whilst staring into her eyes and leaning in towards her.
"You should reserve your judgment on that until you have let me give you something," she replied softly, although she was not quite sure if it was her talking or the wine.
"And what is it that you are planning on giving me exactly?" Ted asked, before winking suggestively at her.
"What is it that you most desire?" Andromeda asked, as their lips almost began to touch.
Ted raised his eyebrows very suggestively at her.
Suddenly she could not control herself anymore and took him by complete surprise by forcefully pulling him towards her and locking him into a deep embrace...