What You Never Knew
Ted Tonks: The Wooing Wonder
He always knew something was different about him.
He just never suspected it was magic. There was only one incident that set him apart from the rest of his Muggle school friends, and that was the day a rather evil substitute teacher had assigned at least seven hours worth of homework. She had promptly turned into a monkey- right after Ted had protested.
His parents were afraid of him.
Most parents of Muggleborn wizards and/or witches tended to be thrilled. Arnold and Emily Tonks happened to be two of the few exceptions. When Professor McGonagall had come to the Tonks' home to explain about the Wizarding World, there had been a massive fight that nearly blew Ted's eardrums out. Finally, he had magically put duct tape over all three adults' mouths- accidentally, of course. McGonagall had removed hers first, explained about Hogwarts and Ted being a wizard, and promptly left.
The hardest day of Ted's life was going to Diagon Alley.
His parents had specifically told him, "Theodore Tonks, if you attempt to enter that blasted Wizarding World, you will never be welcomed back in this house." He had known his parents were strictly Catholic; he hadn't known they were so religious as to be against witches and wizards, including their own child. Thankfully, his aunt had been visiting around that time, and when she had left, she had taken Ted with her. When they had gone to Diagon Alley, that was the moment Ted knew there was no turning back.
He was in Hufflepuff because he deserved to be in Hufflepuff.
It wasn't that he didn't fit into any other house. It was that he was truly hard-working and loyal, with everything he put effort into. Earlier on, it was his schoolwork, Quidditch, making friends. But as his interests changed, so did what he put effort into. By the time Ted Tonks was in Fifth Year, he was the biggest player Hogwarts had ever seen.
He first talked to Andromeda Black in Fifth Year.
Everyone knew that the middle Black sister was exceptionally skilled at Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall had informed Ted that if he didn't improve soon, he wouldn't be able to take Transfiguration as an N.E.W.T. subject- and as Ted aimed to become a Healer, this news was devastating to him. So he had had to take desperate measures.
"Er… hello," he had said, much more awkwardly than usual. Andromeda Black, though shorter than most girls in her Year, had an intimidating aura to her.
She had looked up, surveyed him for a moment, before calmly replying, "Make it quick, Tonks, I'm busy."
Though this response was cold and harsh, Ted couldn't help but note that, unlike what both of her sisters would have done, she had not called him a Mudblood. Armed with this bit of hope, he pressed on, "D'you think you could tutor me in Transfiguration?"
Andromeda had looked up straight into his green eyes and stated, "No, I'm busy."
Ted suppressed a sigh, realizing that to get her to tutor him, he would have to go to drastic measures: flirting. "Are you sure?" He asked, sliding into the chair next to her at the library table and winking at her. She merely raised an eyebrow and continued scribbling her Charms essay. "Maybe we could involve some… benefits into our sessions," Ted went on, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. In truth, this idea didn't seem all that bad to him; it was well known that Andromeda was one of the most beautiful girls in school, with luscious waves of chocolaty brown hair flowing to her waist, sparkling light brown eyes surrounded by eyelashes with no need for mascara whatsoever, flawless pale skin, and full pink lips.
To his surprise, Andromeda turned to face him, her eyes seeming to bore holes through his dirty blond hair and straight into his mind. "My, my, you are most certainly desperate, I'll give you that," she had said, the slightest hint of a smile quirking at one corner of her mouth.
For a fleeting moment, Ted had thought that his charms had worked (as they had with every other girl he had used them on) and that he would be receiving tutoring sessions, but then Andromeda stood up and told him, "I can't tutor you, though. Try Macy, in Ravenclaw- I'm sure she'd be more than happy to tutor you, and have benefits." With that, she had stridden away confidently, her hips swinging.
Ted had stayed sitting for only a few minutes later before a smile crept onto his face. He couldn't be sure of it, but he thought he might have just met his match.
It was Andromeda's fault that he became known as such a womanizer.
The words "Ted" and "womanizer" were all too often heard in the same sentence, but nobody knew the real truth. For one thing, Ted was a virgin- he hadn't "made any girl a woman," so to speak. Also, everyone assumed Ted just did what he did with girls for the fun of it- this, also, was untrue. Actually, ever since his first encounter with the guarded Andromeda Black, he had been trying to impress her- and for whatever reason, his hormonal teenage mind thought that the way to do this would be to date almost every girl in his Year and the Years directly below and above. He didn't realize that his goal all along was to make Andromeda jealous until she had caught him snogging a girl in a deserted corridor and her fists had clenched at her sides.
He saw his parents once- just once- after he left with his aunt.
It was purely coincidental- his aunt was sick in bed, and Ted had driven to the neighborhood supermarket to buy the ingredients to make her chicken soup. He had just been thinking about how his friends would laugh at him if they saw him doing this- "acting like a House Elf," they'd say- when an all-too-familiar maternal voice had rounded the corner, pushing a grocery cart. Both Ted and his mother had stopped in their tracks when they had seen each other. Ted glanced down, and saw a boy who couldn't be older than four sitting in the cart, looking like a miniature version of himself. He swallowed back the tears the threatened to swell up, reminding himself that 16-year-olds did not cry. Nodding curtly at his mother and younger brother, he had quickly paid for his groceries and gone home. He never told his aunt what had happened.
Becoming Head Boy was the biggest surprise of his life.
It was completely unprecedented- sure, he was reasonably intelligent, an alright bloke, and good at getting people to listen to him, but he hadn't even be a Prefect! Plus, he had had more detentions than he could count- usually for snogging in the corridors after hours. Then, he discovered that the Head Girl was none other than Andromeda Black. And that he would be required to spend hours on end with her discussing their Head duties. Suddenly, Ted had a sneaking suspicion that Dumbledore was trying to play matchmaker.
He very nearly never got Andromeda to go out with him.
Ted and Andromeda got together on their last day of Hogwarts, after their graduations ceremony. The two had been on good terms for months- civil outwardly, close but secret friends in reality. While Andromeda's family was chatting with the Malfoys over matters Ted was sure he'd rather not get involved in, he had gone to find the brunette, only to find her crying behind a tree.
"What's wrong, Dromeda?" He had asked concernedly, using his affectionate nickname for her.
Andromeda sniffed. "I- I don't want to leave. Hogwarts is m-more of a home than my house had ever been! My family… they want me to support the Dark Lord, and hate M-Muggleborns, and be the pureblood wife everyone expects me to be. But I don't want to be who everyone expects me to be!"
Ted had sunk down next to her and casually put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "What do you want, then?" He had murmured quietly, his voice soothing, squeezing her close to him.
She had turned to him, stared deeply into his eyes and then, all of the sudden, leant forward and kissed him.
The two were married a year later, and Andromeda was all too happy to leave her horrid family behind.
The Snatchers didn't just kill him because he was a Muggleborn.
One of the Snatchers who had finally captured Ted had been Rabastan Lestrange. He had been in an arranged engagement with Andromeda before she and Ted had eloped and, apparently, held a grudge towards the Muggleborn for that reason for over two decades. Their conversation was short when they spoke for the first time in their lives.
"How's Black, Mudblood?" Rabastan had leered.
"She's fine, thanks, as far as I can tell," Ted had responded coolly. "Oh, and by the way, she's not Black anymore- she's Tonks."
Rabastan had scowled, cried out, "Avada Kadabra!" and then Ted had known no more.
Ted Tonks had always been a player. But Andromeda Black was truly the off-limits girl of her era: gorgeous and intelligent, from one of the richest, oldest pureblood families there was, guarded and haughty to an extent. Marrying Ted took her away from her family; the beliefs she had grown up with; everything she knew, she had willingly left behind- all for Ted. For him to have accomplished that- no matter how long it took- made him a true Wooing Wonder.
Thanks to Pixiebookworm for suggesting Ted!
Hope you liked this chapter, and my interpretation of Ted! The way I see it, he had to have been really good at wooing for Andromeda to fall so hard for him that she left behind everything she knew. And you know what they say- "Practice makes perfect"! I sort of see Ted as the Sirius Black and/or James Potter of his day.
Please review! Suggestions still welcome!
-Joelle8