From Opposite Sides

Andromeda Black wasn't sure why she allowed Ted Tonks to give her a Charms lesson. Yes, she'd accepted his assistance grudgingly, but she was open to new experiences. Even if he turned out to be Muggle-born. Most of the Hufflepuffs were. She shuddered at what her family would think of that. Personally, she couldn't see why they hated them so much. As far as she knew, Tonks wasn't any different from her, a pure-blood. She never said any of this aloud, of course.

At seven o'clock, she made her way from the dungeons to the fourth floor with her boyfriend, Rupert Thompson. From the corner of her eye, she saw the Tonks boy waiting down the hall.

"I'll meet you back in the common room later," she told Rupert. They kissed goodbye, and she walked over to Tonks. He nodded to an empty room on the left-hand side, which they entered. The room had gray walls and housed only a few chairs.

"First, thanks for giving me permission to help," Tonks began. "I know it was unexpected. We hadn't even spoken to each other until yesterday. But you know how Hufflepuffs are, always going out of our way to be nice! I've got a habit of treating strangers like friends."

Andromeda shrugged. "I don't mind, really. I'm just grateful that someone offered to tutor me." Tonks blushed a little. "It would be completely embarrassing if this spell was on our N.E.W.T. exams and I failed at it."

"Can't argue with you there," said Tonks. "Now, I thought that we should return to doing partner work. We can go back and forth, practicing the spell on one another. That way, I'll benefit from this just as much as you."

"Makes perfect sense," Andromeda agreed. "You can go first."

Tonks aimed his wand at her. "Ready?"

"Ready."

"Hairus Elongus!" In amazement, Andromeda watched her hair flow down to the floor, covering her shoes. Tonks stopped the growth, and he seemed quite pleased with his work. "Wow. You would give Rapunzel a run for her money with that hair."

"Who?" Andromeda had never heard of anyone called Rapunzel before.

"Oh. I should've realized that you don't know about her. She's a character from Muggle fairytales, and she's got extremely long hair."

Andromeda pressed a finger to her chin. "So you are a Muggle-born. I wondered."

"Yeah, I am," Tonks admitted. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," she said, half-lying. She hoped that her face wasn't betraying her. Mum and Dad would die of shame if they knew who she was spending time with... "Reverse the Charm, if you please."

"Hairus Shortus," he said confidently. Andromeda's hair shrunk back to her usual shoulder length within seconds. Pure-blood or not, magic never ceased to astound her.

She eagerly declared, "It's my turn. Hairus Shortus!" A second later, she realized the mistake that she'd made. Tonks' hair receded into his skull, quickly turning him into a bald teenager.

"No! Stop! Stop it NOW!" Tonks commanded, flustered.

"How?" she asked in a panic.

Suddenly, Tonks took her by the hand, lowering her wand and preventing himself from losing any more hair. Goose bumps crawled up her arms. Automatically, she knew, that wasn't supposed to happen.

Tonks' forehead sparkled with sweat. "Sorry. Had to do that," he said breathlessly.

Andromeda argued sourly, "You could've just told me to put my wand down." What's Tonks playing at, acting nervous around me, when he saw me kiss Rupert earlier?

"We can call it a day if I disturbed you that much," Tonks muttered sullenly.

"Tonks, that's honestly the best idea I've heard from you," she replied with a sneer.

His hand was still on top of hers. Slowly, but surely, he moved it back to his side. "I'll just go, then." He ran silently out of the room.

Andromeda sat down. The nerve of that boy! It only took her a moment to see how ridiculous she was being. I shouldn't even think about this, she reminded herself. I shouldn't be thinking about him. Just forget what he did today.

But for whatever reason, she couldn't.