Andromeda use to feel like she was invisible. She'd give anything to feel that way again. She couldn't keep track of the different ways people looked at her. With pity. With contempt. With disgust. And those in Lily's little army— with reverence. If Ted had been by her side it would have been easier, but she needed to accept that Ted was gone and move on. Or she'd never make it through the months to come.
But no matter how often she told herself that, she couldn't stop her gaze from traveling to Ted in every class. Every moment in the Great Hall. It didn't help that Ted was doing the same thing. She knew he felt the same way she did, but none of that mattered. They'd tried, and they failed. Love didn't always win.
So when Ted bumped into her and whispered, "Check the spot," she was too terrified to say anything back. He'd told her right before Potions, and she'd never been more tempted to miss class, but Slughorn was one of the few teachers who didn't look at her like she was a waste of talent. He still encouraged her, praised her, prepped her for her N.E.W.T.S.. He made her believe she'd have a life after Hogwarts.
But as soon as class ended, she moved as inconspicuously quickly as she could to the tree by the Great Lake. Her fingers trembled when she reached into the hole, and her heart stopped when she felt a note there. Her hand was shaking so badly she almost couldn't get it back out, but somehow she managed to both remove her hand and open the note.
All it said was, Midnight?
She started shivering, before she forced herself back to reality. Ted was looking for closure. They hadn't really gotten any. Sure they'd agreed to fight Voldemort together, but that was it. And with a baby on the way, they couldn't just walk out of each other's lives forever. Even without the child, they'd been such a big part of each other's lives, they needed more than just avoidance to move on.
Her thoughts did their job, they grounded her. But they also left her with a hollowness no amount of closure could fill.
Like always, midnight couldn't come fast enough. Only instead of the excited nerves of a girl waiting to meet her crush. She felt only crippling dread. No matter what she knew needed to happen, she wasn't ready for this moment. She never would be.
The air felt particularly chilly as she made her way down to Ted, like the weather had forgotten it was supposed to be spring and was pulling them back into winter. And had the way to the Great Lake always been this dark? It seemed lighter when she and Ted used to meet. That felt like a lifetime ago.
In another moment of déjà vu, despite Andromeda being early, Ted had beaten her there. As he turned toward her her pulse quickened. She wondered if it would ever stop doing that.
She stopped when she was a few feet from him. The space between them felt endless, but she dared not come any closer. The look on Ted's face told her he felt exactly the same way, and she felt her heart break all over again.
"Andromeda—" he said.
"Wait—" she said, or more pleaded. "I know what you're going to say. But I just have to say this first." She could see he wanted desperately to talk first, but out of respect for her he only nodded.
Her heart pounded so hard she could barely hear, but if she didn't say this now she might never get another chance. "I want you know that I don't regret this. Not one bit. I'm sorry that I hurt you and I'm sorry about what I've done. But I loved you." Her voice caught on the word loved. She knew it was lie, she loved him still, and she probably always would. Ted must know too, but he didn't call her out on her lie. "I loved who I was with you. And I love who I am because of you. And I… I just needed you to know that."
The words had left her in a whoosh, like a breath of deep night air. But now that those words were gone, she didn't know what to do.
Ted didn't say anything. He just stared at her. Then before she could figure out what to do next, Ted knelt down and pulled out a ring from his pocket.
Andromeda's mind stopped. Her heart stopped. Everything stopped. Her jaw fell open at the scene in front of, unable to process any of it. And certainly not able to process the words that came out of Ted's mouth.
"Andromeda Black, will you marry me?"
In all their years together, Andromeda had never dreamed of this moment. She never thought they would last, so what was the point of dreaming about it? But now here it was. Right in front of her.
"I—I thought—"
"I love you, Andromeda," Ted said. He still knelt a few feet from her, but the look on his face, the intensity of his voice made her feel like she was wrapped in his embrace. "I'll always love you. And I don't want to spend another day without you."
She thought about everything he'd said. Everything she'd said. Every reason why they didn't work. Why they needed to both walk away. And then she thought of their first kiss. Their first date. Everything they'd lost. Everything they'd sacrifice. Everything they'd overcome just to be together. They'd jumped off that ledge together and landed in a new, beautiful world. And she couldn't give that up.
"Yes," she said. She wanted to laugh and cry and scream for joy all in one moment. "Yes, Ted I'll marry you."
And just like that, the dark cloud that had been hanging over him ever since they'd broken up dissipated. And before her stood her sunshine again. The next thing they both knew they were in each other's arms, their lips pressed together in an explosion of joy and passion unlike anything Andromeda had ever experienced. She could say, with absolute certainty, that this was the best moment of her life.
