𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡

38- His Every Eyelash

A/N: You all were supposed to get this chapter days ago, and I swore I published it, but alas, I come back to my last update being on Christmas. Oh well. I guess, here it is now!

...

"The way you make time disappear
I hope that I find you, my dear"

Andromeda would be lying if she didn't admit that she was nervous for the pending arrival of a certain letter. The multitude of things that Quinn could say in the letter was what weighed her down.

She worried that she had crossed a line somewhere, maybe Quinn's kindness to younger Andy didn't extend to older Andy. Quinn was well into her adult life now, and she was probably really busy. (What she didn't know is that Quinn had become so bored with her life that Andy's letter was the most exciting thing to happen to her in weeks.)

Not only that, but Andy had yet to tell her friends about Quinn. It felt different somehow. She didn't have many good memories from her early years at Hogwarts, and Quinn is in some of the only ones she has. In a sense, she had been protecting them from everyone else for so long that it didn't feel natural to share.

However, it seemed that Quinn herself would tell them about her letter.

At the Hufflepuff table, Andromeda ate breakfast next to Ted, across from Henri and Ben. They loaded English muffins with jam, drinking pumpkin juice as the sun rose outside.

"And then we made these rainbow bracelets," Jack held up his arm and pulled Henri's up too while she held a fork stabbing sausage.

Andromeda smiled at the rainbow braided bracelets as Henri pretended not to care, but she could tell it meant a lot to have someone she could talk about her sexuality with that actually understood. As much as Andromeda could sit and listen, maybe offer some advice, she didn't have the same experiences as Henri did in that respect.

Their focus shifted from their friends latest self discoveries when Ben sat down at the table next to Henri. With a quick kiss on the cheek to Henri, he began to fix himself a plate of eggs without noticing the subtle shift in the group.

Andromeda had questioned Henri a few nights ago about him, asking why her friend had become less smitten. Henri cited that she still cared for Ben a great deal, but the novelty had worn off and revealed some incompatibility.

"It's not that I don't care for him—I do, a whole lot," Henri whispered, swallowing thickly. "It's just, I don't feel like I can be as open with him as I can with you three."

Her words circulated Andy's head as an owl dropped a letter onto her plate. She flipped it over, not noticing Ted's eyes watching her curiously. Nearly gasping, Andy had to read the return address more than once to make sure she wasn't making it up.

Quinn McKinnon
100 Hollow Lane
London, ENG

"Who's it from, Andy?" Jack asked, his voice muffled as he spoke through food.

Henri elbowed him and gave him a napkin.

"Quinn!" She answered, excitedly tearing into the envelope.

"Quinn?" Ted asked to no one in particular. "Do you know a Quinn?"

Henri shrugged in response as Ted and Jack continued to look bewildered. Andromeda ignored her friends' confused looks and read the letter through a few times.