In the first two weeks since she'd come back she'd gone from being a social pariah to a warrior, and she wasn't sure which one she hated more. When she'd gone to sit next to Ted and left her blood status behind, she'd thrown herself into the spotlight, and now she had no idea how to escape.

She and Ted had their own fan club. People gave them thumbs up in the hallways. Girls giggled and cooed every time they held hands or kissed in public. One Gryffindor girl even asked Andromeda to sign her broomstick.

Perhaps it would not seem so hell-ish to her if she thought she deserved it. But every time someone called her brave, she wanted to curl into a ball in her room and never leave. She was no hero. She was just a survivor.

Ted seemed to be taking it better than she. Whenever people asked them personal questions: what their first kiss had been, how they'd first gotten together, how Ted had reacted to her engagement; he would look them square in the eye and lie. He told a group of Hufflepuff girls their first kiss had been after she'd saved him from a horde of spiders in the forbidden forest. Then he'd told another group that their first date had been to illegally make Polyjuice potion so they could impersonate Bella Black and her then Beau, Evan Rosier. Andromeda thought she would die of laugher of that one.

Except, when word got around to Narcissa Black, she'd gone mad. She'd stormed right up to Ted and tried to hex him into oblivion. It took four of Lily's "Muggle defenders" to pull her off.

Lily had been there too, beaming like the whole situation was a dream come true. And maybe for her, it was. The ranks of Muggle defenders had more than doubled since Andromeda's "true colors" had been revealed. And more and more seemed to be joining every day. True to her word, Lily encouraged them all to keep a close eye on Ted and Andromeda, to keep anything from happening to their "heroes." She'd also given Andromeda a couple charms that kept her roommates from hexing her in her sleep, which had happened the first three nights after she'd joined the Hufflepuff table.

Andromeda was grateful, but couldn't help but feel like her luck would run out. It always did. She'd find a way to screw this up, and then all hers and Ted's newfound defenders would turn on them and throw them to the wolves. Or Snakes.

Besides, neither Lily, her defenders, or even Ted could protect from the one thing she really wanted protection from: Rita Skeeter.

Andromeda though she'd be safe in the owlery. She went their every Saturday to mail a letter to her uncle Alphard. He'd made her promise she would check in every week so he knew she alright. She'd kept most of the truth from him, but considering the insults and attacks had gone down, she felt less guilty about it. At least she had that positive outcome.

She had just sent the letter off and was watching the owl float away when a voice behind her said, "I thought I might find you here."

Andromeda whirled around, and found herself facing a rather smug Rita. Immediately Meda's eyes narrowed.

"Are you going to lock me up in here the way you did in the bathroom?" Meda seethed. She hadn't told anyone, not even Ted, how Rita had wrangled that information from her, if only because she didn't want to give Rita the satisfaction of knowing she'd tattled. But now, Meda saw no reason to hold her hostility back.

Rita didn't rise to the bait. "Believe it or not, I did you a favor. You're Hogwarts little darling, thanks to me."

Meda's eyes narrowed. "And telling everyone I shagged Rabastan? That was a favor to me as well?"

"It worked, didn't it?" Rita seemed unaffected by Meda's hostility, but her voice grew colder. "It gave you the push you needed. To show everyone how you really felt about the muggleborn."

Andromeda stared at her. She couldn't figure out if Rita was just really good at twisting the narrative, or if she actually believed she was the hero in this situation. Meda also decided it wasn't worth it to figure out.

"Don't expect a thank you," Andromeda hissed, before starting passed her.

"The only thing I can't figure out is why," Rita said. Andromeda gritted her teeth but didn't stop. Rita didn't have her locked in this time,

"You obviously love each other. So that isn't the issue. And Ted's no virgin. And I my experience once boys get a taste, they won't go back to waiting."

Andromeda froze. She should keep going. A conversation with Rita never ended well, but she couldn't make her feet move.

"You didn't know?" Rita's eyes widened, but already the satisfied smile crept over her lips. "I assumed he would have told you. He and his first girlfriend, Olivia Caudwell, "gave" their virginity to each other. And then stayed friends after they broke up. Isn't it miraculous?"

Andromeda shook her head. She wasn't surprised Ted wasn't a virgin; she'd already guessed as much. And she shouldn't be surprised Ted and Olivia had dated, but she was. She was also surprised Ted had never told her.

"So what gives?" Rita used Meda's shock to press her advantage. "Why won't you take the plunge? It's not like your reputation could get worse." She didn't say, thanks to me, but she might as well have, with the smug look that crept up into her face.

"That's none of your business," Andromeda hissed, and this time she didn't stop. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to miss Rita saying, "He's not going to wait forever, Andromeda. None of them do."

She slammed the door to the owlery shut behind her. She knew she shouldn't listen to Rita, but that didn't stop her words from ringing in Meda's ears anyway.