Once Tom was well down the steps, Andromeda could have strangled Ted. The room itself was dingy, and cramped – squeezing his beaten suitcases and a tiny bed, a tilted chest of drawers that looked as if magic was the only thing keeping it standing and a door Andromeda figured was to the restroom. Her luggage was now scattered on the bed and she looked positively murderous in the doorway while Ted sat on one of his rather large suitcases.

"We're in trouble," she said as kindly as she could muster.

"Tell me about it. I mean, Molly Weasley thinks we're engaged! That woman is notorious for being a gossip –"

"No, Tonks," she groaned, rolling her eyes, "How the bloody heck are we to sleep in this tiny space?"

Tonks smiled sheepishly at his misjudgement of the issue at hand, then looked down at the twin-sized bed in deep concentration.

"You can sleep on the floor!"

"What?" She placed her hands on her hips as if to immeadiatly shoot down his idea.

"Er, right. We'll just unpack for now, get some dinner, then figure out what we're to do once we've had food."

So the two began to unpack – which took Ted very few minutes of tossing slacks and sweaters and t-shirts into the very top drawer. He topped Andromeda by about four or five inches, so he cautiously worked over her blond head as she slowly pulled out skirts and dress slacks and gloves and sweaters of the finest materials.

"Did someone overpack?" Tonks called after 20 minutes of Andromeda loading her clothing in the bottom drawers. He was lying on the bed with his hands behind his head as Andromeda sat at the foot of it, piling her clothing neatly and carefully into the bottom most drawers.

"No," she called bitterly, "these are my winter clothes."

"Yes, and I always bring a set of dress robes and a very-nice green dress to spend Christmas in an inn."

"I wasn't intending on staying at an inn," she said, fingering the smooth material of the aforementioned green dress.

"Mummy and Daddy Black left their oldest at the train station?" Tonks scoffed.

"N-no." Andromeda said, and Tonks wished he could see her features. Instead he saw her shoulders rise and fall with an intake of breath before she continued again, "So why are you at an inn for Christmas? Mummy and Daddy couldn't leave you muggle hovel long enough to pick up their youngest?"

"No," he said simply, eyeing a crack in the ceiling, "My parents died about four years ago."

She turned around to face him, study him to see if he was lying. She instead saw his ribs poking out of his t-shirt because his stretched position on the bed, then she stood up and saw his blue eyes held truth to them. He quit looking at the ceiling long enough after she had stood to lock eyes with her, but instead she broke their eye contact.

"I'm not hungry." She said.

"Suit yourself!" He responded, sitting up on his elbows before rising. Of course, in the lack of space between the bed and the wall, he found himself in very close proximity of Andromeda. She was breathing through her nose, with her head bowed toward the ground as he slid past her as fast as possible.

"Sorry," he mumbled an apology before stepping out the room.

When he returned, Andromeda was fast asleep, her back to him and her front side so close to the wall, he bet her knees were touching it. Her hair was down from its traditional knot she wore it in at the nape of her neck and it flowed past her shoulders, shining in the dim light. Instead of the silky night gown he'd always envisioned her wearing (because silk seemed fit as nightwear for an upper crust family the Blacks were), she wore a long sleeve t-shirt.

Tonks yawned loudly and changed into long pyjama bottoms (for the room was quite cold) and climbed into bed beside her, slowly and softly, attempting to not touch her. He was so close he could feel heat radiating off her. She felt his breath on her neck and turned, in her deep sleep, and snuggled toward his chest. He froze, but then relaxed - realizing there was no where else to go. Sleep settled over him

The next morning, Adromeda awoke to find herself unspeakably freezing. Of course, her immeadiate reaction was that warmth was to the left, and so in her half-sleep crazed self had gone towards the warmth. Which, to her suprise, happened to smell alot like cottony laundry when Minnadite would pack it in their drawers before nestling a spice in the middle. And then there was the undertone of peppermint, and a softness of fabric and ...

Andromeda's eyes shot open and she found herself facing a sleeping Ted Tonks. She was so close to him, her comfort was pushed aside by a forced disgust. This was Ted Tonks she was in bed with, not some...

Always being an eternal early riser, her body clock had awoken her at what the clock atop the dresser claimed seven thirty. So she slowly changed into her clothes, descended the steps in hope of finding breakfast. Something told her this was going to be a long day...

Author's note: er, yes, I am well aware I ended the last three paragraphs with ellipses. Oops. I'm v. tired (it's five til noon.. I swear I'm insane) and so, brain waves aren't really reaching the shores. Um, not much in this chapter. Coming soon, Andromeda will get a chance to wear that red dress and Tom and his wife will put the two through unspeakable embarrassment. And then... Christmas! Yay. I dunno when I'll be updating next ... but, reviews make chapters come faster. Did I mention that already? Hm. ::falls to sleep on keyboard::

Review, please!