Blackbird

Chapter Eight

Lucky for Ted, he had Friday afternoons off. And it was also lucky he happened to know the Slytherin sixth years last class of the day was Care of Magical Creatures, meaning Andromeda would be coming in from the outside.

He buried his face in a book as they came up the steps, trying to peer inconspicuously over the cover. There were several sixth year Slytherin's he'd rather not discover him lurking about.

She came in toward the end, but she wasn't alone. Another brown-haired Slytherin girl was with her. Magdalena. Magdalena also tended to keep to herself, and he couldn't recall her ever calling someone a mudblood. And she'd smiled at him and Lorie on more than one occasion, so she probably hadn't done it on accident or because she was admiring herself in the mirror behind them. He decided to risk it.

He stepped out in front of Andromeda. "I need to talk to you."

The color drained from her face, while Magdalena raised her eyebrows. Clearly, not being a psychopath didn't mean she didn't understand the implication of Ted talking to Meda. She glanced between them with a slight frown, before saying, "I'll leave you to it." She gave Ted a polite smile before continuing toward the great hall.

Andromeda watched her friend go, before turning to him. With a glance around the hall, they rounded the corner and moved inside an unused classroom.

"You needed to speak with me?" Her voice was polite, but clipped. For some reason, that set him off.

"What's the matter, going to be late to a rendezvous with Rabastan?"

Andromeda stiffened, but she didn't deny it either. His stomach lurched, but he kept a lazy grin on his face as he said. "Are you still angry at me for insulting the pretty boy?"

"Yes, actually." She looked like she was speaking against her will, but she couldn't stop herself. "What were you thinking? Provoking them like that?"

But Ted didn't feel like answering her question, mostly because the answer was he hadn't been, thinking, that is.

"What's going between the two of you anyway?" He tried to keep his voice nonchalant, but it seemed his efforts had been for nothing, as Andromeda swelled like a balloon.

"That's none of your business."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really? And how would he feel if he knew you were meeting with me a few times a week?"

He eyes widened. "You can't tell him."

"Why?" He swallowed the acid taste in his mouth. "Because it will mess things up for the two of you?"

She shook her head. "It will mess things up for you." There was something about the way she said that that made him uneasy, but he didn't want to feel uneasy. He wanted to be angry.

"So what? You'll giggle and smile when we're alone, but as soon as other people are around I go back to being vermin?"

She let a long sigh. "What do you want me to do, Ted?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Be honest."

She shook her head. "You don't know them like I do."

"Looks like I don't know you like I thought I did either." She sucked in breath, her brown eyes darting up to him. No matter how many times he saw them, his heart still skipped a beat every time.

"What did you think was going to happen?"

Funny, he'd asked himself that same question before.

"Clearly, I wasn't," he said. Funny, he'd thought that same thing earlier too, to another one of her questions. What a funny conversation they were having, complete with the feeling that his insides were being devoured by worms.

She folded her arms across her chest. "What are you saying?"

His heart thudded at her proximity, his mind spinning as he tried to absorb everything about her. His lips felt dry, but he still managed to say, "find someone else to be your back-up boy." And then he left her alone in that room.