Blackbird

Chapter 21

"Sorry," Ted whispered, as Andromeda scraped her toe turning a corner again. "I really thought we avoided that one."

Andromeda didn't say anything, but he imagined she was glaring at him underneath the blindfold. He should probably count himself lucky she was so good at masking her pain, otherwise her cries would've brought Filch down on them by now.

Finally, mercifully, they reached the room he'd picked out. He waited until the door closed behind them to slip her blindfold off.

He held his breath as she first blinked at the change in light. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly as she beheld his surprise, but her eyebrows quickly pinched together in confusion.

"What is it?" she said, staring at the chairs, projector, and white screen he'd set up.

"It's a movie," he said, but that only raised her alarm. Rolling his eyes, Ted led her to one of the chairs before moving behind her to start the projector.

He pushed a button, and the grainy screen appeared as white noise filled the room. Andromeda jumped, and he let out a string of cuss words as he frantically pressed one of the other buttons until one stopped it.

Andromeda looked at him, one eyebrow raised. He gave her his most dignified expression, and she snorted to hide her laugh. He couldn't help but grin as well. It was so refreshing when she behaved like a normal human being instead of a perfect little princess.

"What are these?" she asked, as he hesitantly pressed a button again. For the most part, electrical appliances didn't work at Hogwarts, as he'd discovered. Though for some reason this older movie projector did. Maybe it was because it was simpler, he wasn't sure. He wasn't going to wonder about it too much, in case that made his luck run out.

He pressed a black button that looked promising and then glanced at Andromeda.

"It's popcorn," he said, as she examined the oddly- shaped food particle, "It's a muggle food."

Andromeda smiled at him, but gingerly replaced the popcorn kernel. Ted Immediately picked it up and popped it in his mouth, flashing her a grin.

"And these." She held up the two bottles of Butterbeer. "Are these muggle foods too?"

"I didn't want you to be entirely out of your comfort zone," he said with another shrug, but she eyed him shrewdly like she didn't quite believe him. Thankfully, the movie chose that moment to actually start, sparing him the problem of answering.

Except, he'd forgotten about the five-minute overture they liked to include in movies like this.

"So, this is a movie?" Andromeda asked, her eyebrows pinched and her head cocked. He couldn't decide if this was a good thing or not.

"One of them. They're like books, so there's more than one." Of course that perked her interest. "This one was actually a book before they made it a movie, Gone with the Wind. Have you heard of it?" She shook her head. "Oh, you'll love it. It's a love story set during the American Civil War. Are you sure, you've never heard of it?"

She shook her head again, a small smile on her lips. "My parents were never fond of my reading muggle fiction, but American muggle fiction was an entirely different story."

Ted nodded, but his eyes were glued to her. She always seemed different when she brought up her parents, a little stiffer, though he'd never found a way to comment on it.

They lapsed into silence as the movie actually started. Ted couldn't help but glance at Andromeda every so often. He watched as her stiff, uncomfortable posture seemed to relax, while her eyes became glued to the screen. She watched the story unfold with an almost rabid attention, like she could almost absorb it. He was afraid she was going to notice him staring, but she never looked away from the screen, so he didn't stop.