"What the—"She started, then she just groaned and put her head on her hand. First Lily, now him, this was the last thing she needed.

"Hey Andromeda." He grinned. "What's happening?"

"Shh," she said. She almost slapped her hand across his mouth, but thought better of it at the last second. Unfortunately, it meant she ended up rather close to him. "He can hear you."

"Who…?" Potter started, but then he thought about it. His lips spread up into quirky, crooked smile as he ducked past her and knelt down by the door. He opened it a crack and peered through.

Andromeda threw her arms in the air. She almost screamed, but that would be counterproductive. What was he doing? She wanted to grab his collar and pull him back, but she doubted she could do that silently. And the idea of touching James Potter was… weird, somehow. It was stupid, but she felt like she'd be magically repelled if she tried.

Instead she hovered over him, heart pounding as she ran her hand nervously through her hair and shuffled her feet. Potter glanced over at her and snorted. She could have slapped him.

"Shut the door," she shout-whispered. "Shut it!"

"It's all right." He was still chortling as he stood. "He's gone."

Andromeda exhaled, one hand on her forehead and the other over her stomach. She hated losing control in front of anyone, but in front of Potter it was a nightmare. Surprisingly though, she didn't feel embarrassed, especially considering that there was a Bat-Bogey hex rising under her wand tip, ready to be unleashed on the other person in the room.

"So, trouble in paradise?"

She shot him a glance. "That," —imagining bat wings grow out his face was immensely satisfying— "is none of your concern."

He did that thing where he held his hands up and took a step back, but this time he was smirking, and he winked at her. Clearly he, at least, was having the time of his life.

"So, things between the two of you are hunky-dory, eh?"

Andromeda closed her eyes, slowly, wishing he'd be gone when she opened them, he wasn't. She sighed as she headed toward the door, but he blocked her way. He folded his arms across his chest, waiting for an answer.

"They're fine." She clasped his shoulder and pushed her way roughly past him, her hand grasping the door handle.

"And how will Ted feel if he knows things between you and your fiancé are fine?"

Andromeda stopped, feeling like she'd just been hit with the Whomping Willow tree.

She turned, so slowly she probably looked like she was moving in slow motion. Her heart was hammering as she saw his smug, satisfied look.

"How did you…" Then it hit her. "Remus," she whispered, then she slammed her hands on the door.

"Woah," Potter said, his look fading. "Calm down, would you?"

"He wasn't supposed to tell anyone!"

"We don't count as anyone!" Potter's voice raised as well, he swallowed, taking his own advice and calming down. "We tell each other everything, and I mean, everything." She still didn't look convinced so he added, "Come on, it's me. I'm all for this stuff. Do you really think…?" He took another steadying breath. "Do you really thinking I'd do anything to jeopardize either of you?"

He had a point, much as she didn't want to admit it. She pressed her hands to her face, mumbling curses. She couldn't bear to look at him, so she just gave a sort of muted nod before reaching for the door again. But just as she opened it, Potter's hand slammed it shut.

"Not so fast, sweetheart," he grinned, clearly he recovered quickly, "I think you owe me an apology."

"For what?"

"For saving you from a strange moment with your fiancé, with whom everything is fine."

Andromeda took a really, really, slow breath in; and then a really, really, slow breath out. There was no way anyone could be this… she couldn't even think of the word. She didn't have time to see what Potter could or could not be. She reached around him, but he blocked her way. She stepped to the side and he stepped with her though. On the third time, she shot her hands into the air and shouted;

"Fine, I'm grateful you happened to be in this hallway at this precise moment, and decided you loathed Rabastan more than me. Thank you." That was probably the most ungrateful sounding thank you anyone had ever heard, but she didn't care. "Now if you would excuse me I—"

"Wait," Potter grabbed her arm as she tried to duck around him again.

"Let me go—"

"Andromeda, would you just…" He held on as she tried to squirm out of his grip. "Look, it wasn't just a coincidence, all right?" She pulled out of his grip, barely listening as she reached for the door for what was hopefully the last time.

"I'm here because I was looking for you, and I actually followed you from the entrance hall."

Andromeda's hand froze on the handle again. She must've heard him wrong. Potter… looking for her? He avoided her like the plague. She was a Slytherin, but one he wasn't allowed to torment, which made her useless.

She looked back toward the door, almost wanting to leave anyway. Whatever he wanted her for, it couldn't be good. But curiosity got the better of her. It couldn't hurt to hear him out, could it?

Almost without thinking, she closed the door and let her hand drop from the handle. She glanced over at him, hoping this wasn't a mistake. He looked almost, vulnerable? Was that possible? A month ago she would've said no, but after the day she'd had, she couldn't rely on any of her instincts anymore.

She swallowed. "Well?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Well, what?"

"What is it?"

"Oh," he dropped his head, rubbing his neck, "That."

She folded her arms across her chest, waiting for him to speak.

"I, uh, I actually need your help with something."

Now it was Andromeda's turn to raise her eyebrows. Potter asking her for help was a sign of Ragnarök, she was pretty sure.

He ran his hands through his hair, and when that wasn't enough he began to pace around the tiny space, not looking at her. She wondered if he'd be able to do it, ask her for help. She was leaning toward no when he burst out, "how did you do it?"

She blinked. "Do what?"

He whirled around to face her. He was clearly trying to keep his face impassive, but his eyes were wide and there was a nervous twitch in his jaw.

"Get Ted to like you. I mean, he used to hate you right? You were a stuck up Slytherin girl whose sister was a complete and utter—"Andromeda went bright red at the word he used to describe her sister, but she decided to let it slide.

"I… I don't think I'm the person to talk to about this." She gulped, the awkward tension was nearly suffocating. "You should really ask Ted. Most of it was his doing."

"I did." Potter said, his eyes were bright and he sounded out of breath. "He said to talk to you."

Andromeda blanched. "Oh, well…" She had no idea what to say, and no idea why Ted thought she had the answers. He'd always been the one reaching out to her, and she'd been the one who pulled away.

Speaking of which… it only been a couple of days since she'd last seen him, other than the time when they passed in the hallways and had to completely avoid eye contact. She missed him. She hadn't realized it until now, but it was an empty void in her stomach than was slowly pulling more and more of her in. She'd left a note in their spot, but she hadn't checked to see if he'd replied back.

"Is this about Lily?" She said to distract herself.

Potter gave her a withering look. "No, it's about your sister."

He didn't exactly hide his feelings for her; Lily, not her sister, so almost everyone knew about the love feud that went on between the two of them.

"Which one?" Andromeda asked, making her voice sound sickly sweet.

He tilted his head back, meeting her gaze. If she wasn't much mistaken she was a glimmer of respect flit in his features, but a moment later it was gone as he said, "Can you help me or not?"

That was a good question. She ran a hand through her hair, letting a long breath out. This was so far out of her comfort zone. Beyond that, she still had no idea what she could say. What if she gave him bad advice? She didn't want to give him another reason to despise her, but Ted had told him to come to her. Maybe it didn't mean anything, maybe he just didn't want to deal with Potter either, but it made her feel warm regardless. Someone believed she could do something, and she wanted to live up to those expectations. Or at least try to.

"Well, I'm definitely not Lily's favorite person. And the feeling's mutual," she started. "So I can't pretend to know what will speak to her, but…" She took a deep breath. "Ted believed things about me that weren't true. Things I didn't want to be true. And they made me angry but, he believed them because I didn't give him anything else to believe. Because I lived up to them. And it wasn't until.." Her voice was shaking, but she forced it to stop. "It wasn't until I started being honest with him, and myself, that he started seeing me how I wanted him to see me." She paused, seeing if any of this was making sense.

Potter was quiet. He was leaning against the wall next to her, staring straight ahead, but when he realized she had stopped talking he looked over at her. His face was unreadable, she couldn't tell if he liked her response or not, until he said;

"So, basically, when you stopped acting like a prat is when he stopped believing you were a prat."

Andromeda blushed, not sure if he was making fun of her or not. She'd never been a concise person exactly.

"So, if I want Lily to stop thinking I'm a big-headed prat, I have to stop acting like a big-headed prat."

"Yes, I suppose, maybe, I don't know." She wished she hadn't said anything, but she'd already given him the loaded gun, so there was nothing she could do.

"But I'm not a big-headed prat, she's just too thick to see that I only mess with people who deserve it."

Meda opened her mouth to take her words back, to say she was sorry, he was right, it was a stupid notion, when she realized that he wasn't challenging her. He wasn't even talking to her really, he was talking to himself.

"Maybe you're right," she said. "But if she feels that way, then you're doing something to make her feel that way."

"What?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't pay that much attention to you."

He gave her a sort of weak, half-hearted smirk. They were silent for a few moments before he got up.

"Right, well, this was… this was…" She could tell he was looking for a non-insulting word to describe their meeting. She appreciated his effort.

"This was… insightful, but I should be taking off." And now he was the one reaching for the door.

"They're not always wrong."

And now he was the one pausing, the one slowly turning around to face her.

"What are you talking about?"

Andromeda hadn't even realized she'd said something, or really that she'd said it out loud. She swallowed again, her throat feeling almost tight. "Ted, Lily, they're not always wrong about us. That there's something wrong with what we're doing. And if we really want to be with them, we have to become someone they can be with."

He looked at her like she'd just turned green and sprouted antlers, and she realized she'd probably said this all too quickly to be comprehended. She took a deep, calming breath as she prepared to try again, but then he asked:

"What if it's the other way around? What if they're the ones doing something wrong?"

She just shook her head. "You can't fix them, just yourself. And if they care about you enough, they'll meet you halfway."

She heard him breath, then he said, "I guess the difference between you and me is Ted will." And then he left, slamming the door behind him. But Andromeda barely heard his last comment. She sunk to the floor, so lost in thought she forgot where she was, or that she had class in a few moments. She wasn't really sure why she said that, or where it had come from. They're not always wrong… Ted had been wrong about her, many times. "You're not who she says you are, not anymore." He meant that she didn't think she was better than him, than anyone else. But he'd said something else about her once, something she'd never forgotten.

"You just hide Andromeda, and you think if you bury your head in the sand everything will turn out all right."

She had to blink back the moisture that was gathering in her eyes. That was what she was doing now, wasn't it? Hiding from the reality she was facing. She was never going to do anything about Rabastan— she was too terrified to. And everything was not going to turn out all right. It was like she was racing down the track toward the bridge. Only there was no bridge. Just a large, gaping hole in the earth that she would tumble off into oblivion.