Mad World Mods (madworldmods) wrote in madworldrp, @ 2007-10-03 15:52:00 |
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Current mood: | anxious |
Entry tags: | andromeda black, ted tonks |
Andromeda & Ted
LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY andromedicly)
Characters: Andromeda & Ted.
Setting: The Library, because Andromeda studies obsessively.
When: October 3rd.
What: Ted takes Frank's advice and Andromeda makes an impulsive decision that will likely cause family dramatics.
She'd seen him at dinner and he'd been too distracted to give her his usual smile.
Not that Andromeda cared, of course. Ted was perfectly nice, yes, and she'd always been somewhat aware of him, even if it had taken her a few years to think of him as an equal, sorting out the prejudice she'd been born to (although she knew that some of her family's words still lingered in her heart, and she worried both that those words existed and that so many of their ideas were no longer so true to her)--but she was not obsessing over something so ridiculous.
Except, of course, that she was.
It was a simple little thing, really. The sort of thing acquaintances did. Smiles in passing, a wave or two. It was nice. Sometimes there was a 'see you later' on Tuesdays, the day of their joint patrol.
But he'd never not noticed her for quite so long, and for some reason it bothered Andromeda. Enough that she had skipped dessert and fled to the library, to drill Arithmancy formulas into her head. Because when he'd noticed her at last, there hadn't been that belated smile, while would have been fine--but just a worried, distracted sort of look, and she was instantly seeing every single bad outcome that she could imagine. It'd become important to her, that there was someone who didn't look at her and see 'Black' before everything else--but, oddly, 'Andromeda'. He didn't seem to expect from her anything at all, and it was soothing.
Maybe, Andromeda thought with unnatural gloominess, Maybe he's finally decided that being friendly to one of the Black sisters isn't such a wonderful plan.
And that was good. She wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. Right? If he wasn't talking to her, there'd be no reason for her family to be bothered enough to do anything...
Enough. Frowning sternly at herself, Andromeda bent her head once more to her neat parchment.
It wasn't that Ted hadn't noticed her, exactly, because he'd been noticing her for far longer than he'd probably admit. He hadn't meant to not smile, either, but he'd been so deep in his thoughts- not quite sure of just what he was going to do about this whole situation- that he didn't really think to smile until she had already looked away. And then he had felt kind of bad.
This...It shouldn't be that difficult, should it? Less than ten words, after all. But what if she said no? He'd end up looking foolish. Not that he didn't usually, but it was one thing for people to think he was strange and a completely different thing for her to reject him and people to hear and- oh. Somehow he found himself in the library. He hadn't really been paying attention to where he had been walking around for the last couple of hours. He was just turning to leave when he saw her.
He stopped in his tracks, silently debating with himself as to just what to do. Well. He might as well, right? Drawing himself up to his full height and taking a breath in an attempt to calm himself, if only for a few moments, he made his way across the library to approach her table.
It took several moments, but Andromeda finally looked up, recognizing that another person was standing near her; when she studied, she rarely paid attention to the world outside of herself, a skill learned from her first few summers as a student, when her rambunctious cousin came to stay...
It took another moment to set her quill neatly off to the side and to cap her ink--it wouldn't do to spill it, after all--but by the time she'd accomplished those tasks Andromeda managed to present a reasonably calm face, curiously and somewhat apprehensively turning to Ted.
So he hadn't gotten smart?
It was the first time Andromeda had ever blessed an act of foolishness, but she doubted it would be the last; but it was rather selfish, that she wanted him to keep cheating death by trying to be her friend, which Bella would hardly like, particularly after Sirius...
"Can I help you, Theodore?"
"Hi," Ted started, shifting his weight nervously from one foot to another. He watched as she moved her things, and then glanced over his shoulder, as though waiting for something to jump out at him from behind a bookshelf or something. "Um. I have a- erm. Would you mind if I sat down?"
Following Ted's glance over his shoulder, Andromeda was fairly flummoxed; was he hiding from someone?
"Oh. Um. Feel free?" Why in Merlin's name was he acting so nervous? Was he afraid of her? But no, he was looking behind him, and...well, he'd come over here.
"Did you need something?" Deciding it was best to simply ask again, Andromeda frowned, trying to think of what he could possibly be thinking.
"I have a question," he announced as he pulled out a seat and sat down across from her. Well. He did! He wasn't afraid of her. Just of the possibility that she'd say no. "And, um. I was wondering. The masquerade?"
He heard a shushing from the other side of the room and he looked over his shoulder to see Madame Pince glaring at him. "Sorry," he mouthed before turning back to Andromeda, leaning forward a little.
"Well, Iwaswonderingifyou'dmaybeliketogowithme.
The first rush of words were lost on Andromeda--she was still untangling the sounds when he began speaking again, and then she couldn't help the way her mouth fell open just a little, and the way her eyes widened--that he thought they were friends wasn't worthy of shock, of course, becuase she'd thought the same thing. Even if she hadn't wanted to ask because that would be...well, what if they hadn't been?
But he--liked her? And--she'd been complimented before, she knew she had, but it'd never felt quite so honest (even if it had also never been quite so awkwar), and Andromeda knew she was flushing even as she finally connected what his question was.
The dance? Of course they couldn't go together, Cissa would see and be scandalized and Reggie didn't need added stress, and someone would tell Bella and her parents and then there would be--
"Yes."
--and she was already answering before her brain caught up. And--oh, wait, she was still talking.
"--thought we were friends too, but I didn't want to ask if we were, because you can't ask that sort of thing, can you, and I'm not really pretty compared to Bella and Cissa, but it's nice you think so, I suppose--"
She cut herself off, much as he had, trying to remember what she'd said inbetween. Andromeda had the feeling she'd mentioned that he should never not smile at her at dinner because he'd made her worried, and something about how he had kind eyes.
And this is why Narcissa is the poised one, Andromeda told herself, looking at her hands as she wished she could disappear without anyone noticing her casting the spell. Why on earth why she babbling? And why wasn't she babbling about the important things, like 'oh, sorry, but my family would kill you, you know, and I rather like you so I don't think this is such a great plan'?
He was already half out of his seat when she answered, and he froze. Yes? Had he heard her right? He sank back down in the chair, almost stunned. And she kept talking and he was listening, blushing faintly when she half-scolded him (he quickly agreed). The blush deepened when she mentioned his eyes and he glanced down at his own lap.
"Yes? Really?" Why, oh why was he still stuck on that?
"I--That is--" Andromeda opened and closed her mouth several times before trusting herself to speak--and then shut up after speaking. "Really."
Kind eyes. I really must ask Dyan for speaking topics. If she'll still speak to me after this. But they were best friends; surely Dyanthus wouldn't let this matter...enough to hurt. Would she? It would be...
"I. Should I meet you there?" And should she check into Mungo's now or later? Because surely she'd lost all her senses if she wasn't taking back her agreement for his own good. Her own good.
"If that would be easier?" Ted wasn't really sure. "I mean. I- well, I wouldn't mind going o get you, but I'm not so sure how your housemates would take it..." He bit his lower lip. "Or we could meet somewhere before going in?"
She'd said yes. Wow. Suddenly, he smiled- he couldn't help his almost stupid grin. Oh Merlin. He'd actually asked her and she had said yes and now he had a date- he really needed to talk to Josh or Frank or somebody. One of his friends. But later. He was still with her right now.
"You shouldn't come to get me!" Andromeda assured him hurridly--she wasn't certain how her housemates would take it, either. "Um. That is. I'll come to get you, how's that? I know where the Hufflepuff entrance is, so I'll just wait outside...say, ten minutes before it begins?"
And she'd deal with the rest of it--the inevitable rest of it--later, when she'd recovered the function of her brain.
"Yeah, that works. I'll be there." His smile widened and he suddenly leaned across the table to kiss her on the cheek before he stood. "Well. Um. I-I'll leave you to your studying, then. I'll see you in Transfiguration tomorrow?"
Andromeda could not even muster a reply--though she managed a small nod--as Ted left her to her studies. Instead, she stared, completely floored, after the other prefect, touching her cheek wonderingly as she came up empty on regrets.
Though her family was certain to change that...