Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations those characters find themselves in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way it's gotta be. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

Dorm Where You Live

After working their way through his homework for the night the two students headed out for their respective houses, though as per usual Ted refused to head back to his dormitory without seeing her as close to hers as she'd let him before threatening him with physical or magical harm. So they walked down the hallways together, Andromeda quizzing him the whole way as she tried not to think about the fact that she'd snogged the Hufflepuff earlier. Again.

She was never, ever cutting the boy's hair for him again even if he begged, Andromeda thought fiercely as she tried to ignore the fact that his closeness was making her stomach behave in a most unusual way. Like there were a hundred snitches inside, fluttering around in there like maniacs. It was a very disturbing feeling.

And it was a reaction that made absolutely no sense, Andromeda reminded herself sternly. She had walked beside the annoying Muggleborn plenty in the time she'd been stuck tutoring him. The chivalry obsessed twerp had always insisted on walking with her at least part of the way to her dorm at night. But something had shifted in their relationship in the last hour or so. Something stomach snitch inducing. And she didn't like it one bit.

Perhaps it was because she was looking for signs that the Hufflepuff was indeed in love with her. It was making her super aware of his presence, which in turn had her system acting so peculiar from prolonged Muggleborn exposure. That had to be it. It was the most logical conclusion. It wasn't like she was still reeling from those kisses they'd shared, Andromeda reassured herself. That couldn't possibly be it. She was far too sensible and Slytherin to let a few kisses affect her so seriously. And they hadn't been that great after all. Far from it in fact. She just didn't have much to compare it to and her research had already shown that Slytherin males were terrible kissers, which was why Ted's kisses had rattled her so much the first time he'd kissed her.

So intense was Andromeda's mental discussions with herself that she didn't realize how far they'd come until she realized Ted had stopped moving. Turning around Andromeda gave him a questioning look, since she had always had to send him away in the past.

"I might not be the brightest bloke in the school, Andromeda, but even I know better then to enter the snake's pit." Ted pointed out with a comical wiggling of eyebrows.

Confusion crossed Andromeda's face until she realized she was standing in the final hallway that led directly into the Slytherin dormitories. She'd let him walk her almost all the way home without a single protest on her part. Something very close to horror crossed her face at the realization of what she'd unknowing done.

And feeling brave Ted walked into the mouth of the hallway and shocked the Slytherin girl by giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Good night, Andromeda. Sweet dreams."

Black eyes flashing, Andromeda was grateful for the darkness that hid her blush. "Care to walk me to my door?" She inquired in a soft, somehow lethal tone of voice, struggling to regain lost ground.

"How many times do I have to tell you that we Muggleborns aren't nearly as stupid as you Slytherins like to think we are?" He countered, walking backward so that he could watch her as he walked back into the well lit room behind him.

"Well seeing as you can't even walk properly we can't be far off." She returned before turning around, not bothering to echo his earlier farewell as she started down the cool hallway, her steps slowing as she heard the unmistakable sound of singing, making her pause as she listened to the words echo off the rock walls.

I have often walked down this hall before;
But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.
All at once am I, several stories high.
Knowing I'm near the dorm where you live.
Are there lilac trees in the heart of school?
Can you hear a lark in any other part of school?
Does enchantment pour Out of ev'ry door?
No, it's just in the dorm where you live!

Unable not to laugh at his slightly off key singing, Andromeda shook her head and continued down the hallway once more, a smile on her lips and a swing to her step.

)

The next day when Andromeda arrived at the dungeon for a potions tutorial the Slytherin found Ted admiring his newly cut hair in a glass vial. Amused, Andromeda walked over to stand in front of the desk that rested between them. Leaning on the desk on her elbows Andromeda waited until she had his attention before she spoke. "Narcissistic much?"

Ted just smiled sweetly at her, still charged from last night's encounter. "Just admiring your handiwork, Andromeda."

"It did turn out rather well." She agreed regally.

"And there's nothing like a new haircut to have you looking at the world through new eyes."

"Because your bangs aren't in your eyes anymore." Andromeda pointed out with a very Black smirk, a thoughtful look coming into her eyes after a moment's pause. "A haircut really does that for you? Gives you a new mindset?" She couldn't remember ever seriously cutting her hair. It had always just been trimmed. But she knew a lot of girls who changed their hairstyles regularly. Was that why they spent so much time devising new ways to frame their faces?

"A good haircut does. A bad one is seriously depressing. Like the time my mother accidentally gave me a buzz cut. Those were dark times. Dark, dark times. Especially since I magically re-grew it overnight, but my mum insisted on shaving it off so that people wouldn't get suspicious. She'd taken me to the barber to try and have him fix it, so everyone knew."

Andromeda patted the back of her head, never before so glad to feel its length and thickness. The image of Ted bald was now in her head and Andromeda winced at the thought. It wouldn't suit the Hufflepuff in the least.

"And now you know why I always put off having my hair cut by anyone." Ted continued with an overly tragic look on his face. "Though now I know to come to you the next time it gets too shaggy. You are my Haircutting Queen."

"I'm yours?" Andromeda repeated, a single black brow arching at the very idea.

"Uhmmm…next question, please?"

Considering how to properly punish him it occurred to Andromeda that he was a big fan of her hair. Or at least he'd indicated that that time in Hogsmeade that he found it most appealing. "Maybe I should get a haircut." She all but purred, watching his face with inner glee. "I've never tried short hair before."

"Don't you dare cut your hair, Andromeda!" Ted's smile curved into a fierce frown, straightening to his full height as he stopped just short of wagging his finger at her. "You can't, I forbid it."

"You forbid it?" Andromeda repeated with a mixture of shock and heat, straightening to HER full height as she dared the boy to try and order her around. "Who are you to forbid me to do anything? I'm Andromeda Black, I will do anything I want and no one, much less a Muggleborn is going to stop me."

That she didn't want to cut her hair wasn't important, she'd hack it off herself just to spite him if it came to that.

Marching around the desk Ted stood up on his tippy toes so that he was slightly taller then she was. "Don't you cut your hair or else."

"Or else what?" Andromeda challenged, heart pounding in her chest. She wasn't used to people standing up to her. It was a rather invigorating experience.

Since it was ludicrous to think he could ever harm her, both because she'd kick his ass and because of his feelings for her, Ted had to think hard to come up with a threat that would even faze her.

"Or else I'll add a witch to my comic book series with your name and have very bad things happen to her." Ted warned her sternly, though there was a definite sparkle in his cobalt eyes. "The quill is mightier than the wand after all."

Gasping at the unexpected threat Andromeda's hands went to her hips. "In what universe is the quill a better weapon than a wand? Have you been bribed into eating strange, possible toxic things again? No one with an ounce of intelligence would prefer a quill to a wand if under attack."

"Actually, I was paraphrasing a somewhat popular phrase Muggles use. And I'm not saying that in a battle to the death I'd take a quill over a wand. Of course I'd take a wand. Even a mountain troll would probably have the sense to take the wand, not that it would know how to use it. What I meant was that you could jinx me good now for making you mad and after a short while everyone would forget that fact and talk about something else. But if I were to make a comic involving you, well then that comic could, if liked well enough, continue to circulate for years until people all around the world know Andromeda Black as a character in my comic book, as opposed to you you."

"Or I could just blind you before you made said comics and that would be the end of that."

"That would be mean. And you wouldn't do it."

Andromeda raised an eyebrow at the certainty in his voice. "Oh really? And just why wouldn't I, pray tell?"

Ted smiled at her sunnily. "Because you're not really as mean as you want other people to think you are. And we're friends."

It was one thing for her to sort of think of the Hufflepuff as a friend and an entirely different thing for him to state it like it was an undeniable fact. One part of her itched to curse him just to prove that she was still as strong and superior as ever, but Andromeda found herself ignoring that side of her nature with surprising ease. Because she really didn't want to hurt him, the Slytherin realized. And why did she lash out at him so often? Staring at him Andromeda wondered why she was so afraid of letting her guard down where the Hufflepuff was concerned. It wasn't like he could manipulate her even if they were friends, her mental superiority would never allow that to happen. Plus he was a terrible liar and didn't seem to have a truly mean bone in his body.

The same definitely couldn't be said about her, but he didn't seem to mind that.

He really wasn't the sharpest talon in the owlry.

"Well then, if we're friends, you can't draw a mean comic about me so the argument is mote." Andromeda announced coolly, unaware of how happy she'd just made the boy by not denying that they were in fact friends. "But just to make it clear, us being…friends…doesn't mean I'm going to start being nicer to you. My personality has been cemented over seventeen years and I have no intention of changing for anyone. And I will hurt you if you add me to your comic."

"Uhmmm." Ted looked off to the side, knowing how easily she read his expressions. Not to mention he was a horrible liar and they both knew it well.

Andromeda's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'm already in your stupid comic, aren't I?"

"There's no character named Andromeda in my comic."

"First thing in the morning I want to see all the comic strips involving a character based on me. You'll have them ready for me or else." Her tone of voice said it all.

"Yes, ma'am."

)

Ted had to stay up late copying every one of his comic drawings, fearing what Andromeda might do to the originals if she didn't like the strips. Since the character he'd based off his dream girl was very similar in looks and demeanor to Andromeda Ted held no hope that she wouldn't recognize herself in the comics. The best he could hope for was that not all her humor was as dark as her eyes. And of course he had to fine tune some things, knowing she'd be looking at them. He didn't want her thinking his rough copies were the best he could do.

Needless to say he didn't get any sleep that night and annoyed his roommates quite a bit.

The next morning, with much yawning and apologies for yawning, Ted handed out a file folder containing the comics he'd drawn since he'd gone home for Easter. He was showing her all the work he had available and the Hufflepuff saw no reason to tell her that he had loads of comics back home involving her.

Taking the folder Andromeda's eyes narrowed as she flipped through the artwork briefly. "And this is all of it?"

"Everything I have here at Hogwarts."

Which meant she'd been right to assume that he would have more at his place of residence, Andromeda thought as she stored that information away for later consideration. She'd deal with that somehow if it became an issue. "Fine then. I'll see you tonight as usual."

Ted nodded, smiling away as he tried to hide how worried he was about what she'd think of his work. "See you then, My Fair Lady. Have a good day."

"My Fair Lady?" Andromeda repeated, not sure how to take his new habit of referring to her as his. She really was going to have to find a way to break that habit of his if it continued. Bad things were likely to happen to him.

"It's a musicale and film. The song I was singing last night is from it. You don't have a lot in common with Eliza Doolittle on the surface, but you've got a similar mean streaks."

"Hmm." He really had to stop comparing her to fictional characters she didn't know. It made her itch to find out more about the people which wasn't possible since they were from the Muggle World and not her own. It was very, very irritating.

Ted smiled as he rocked back on his heels. "Yup. Though I gotta say, if at the end the doctor had demanded you to tell him where his slippers were you'd have bewitched them to smack him upside the head until he got a concussion."

"That sounds about right." She agreed with the faintest of smiles. "Now we should head inside before we are late for our breakfast."

"And breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Nodding her head in agreement, Andromeda turned and headed into the Hall for breakfast, the folder tucked under her arm and Ted walking at her side until they split up to go to their mutual tables.

)

As soon as she had some free time Andromeda found a quiet place to sit and began to read through his comics. Against her will the Slytherin girl found herself smiling and even laughing at the outrageous antics of Martin Miggs. He really was the most stupid of Muggles, she thought with a shake of her head, becoming fond of the character despite herself. He had a charm about him, as his creator did, that kept him from being too irritating in his foolishness.

In the comic her name was Analise, and she was a witch who lived next store to Martin Miggs. The Muggle was hopeless infatuated with the woman, having no idea that she was in fact a witch. A lot of bad things happened to Martin as a result of his clumsy attempts to court the cool, very disinterested Analise White.

Not the most original last name, Andromeda thought with a roll of her eyes, even as she silently admitted to liking this cartoon version of herself. Not that she had any intention of telling the Hufflepuff that.

But she would allow him to try and have his comic published, Andromeda decided once she'd read all the strips. And she would even read them if they were published, to find out if Analise ever decided to really give the irritating Muggle what was coming to him, consequences be damned.

Though she couldn't understand how even a Muggle could end up living in a town full of witches and wizards and not try to come up with crazy ways to explain the magical things that occurred around him.

The townspeople had a lot of fun at Martin Miggs's expense.

And who could blame them?