From Opposite Sides

Just Another Day

Ted was hard at work studying for his N.E.W.T. exams in the common room when a second year Hufflepuff boy came up to him.

"Ted Tonks, right?" Ted nodded. "There's a Slytherin girl outside our entrance who wants to talk to you. Andromeda Black, I think she said her name was."

Ted's face lit up. She came to see me? A girl actually came to see me? Wow. This was a first.

The girl he met outside the common room looked incredibly upset. He'd never seen her this way before, almost... vulnerable. Before then, she'd always carried an air of confidence wherever she went. Something must have happened with her and Rupert, he thought. I have to remember not to look too excited...

"I hope you're happy," Andromeda spat. "Rupert broke up with me."

Ted frowned in a confused manner. "I'm sorry to hear. But where do I come into this?"

She scoffed. "Like you don't know!"

He still didn't comprehend her words. "No, I don't know."

"He did it because of you. Because he hates anyone who makes friends with a Muggle-born."

Ted felt a surge of anger rise inside him. "What is it with Slytherins and hating my bloodline? I have magic, just like you do."

"Maybe Rupert has a point," she replied. "Maybe our friendship isn't good for me, and you're contaminating my outlook on things. Those lessons were fun and all, but honestly, he's not wrong. I don't know what got into me when I said yes to your teaching offer." Andromeda turned to leave.

"Hang on for a moment!" Ted pleaded. "What did I do-"

"Just go away. I never want to see your filthy face again." Each word she used was injected with venom. After saying this, she kicked her heels and walked off.

All of a sudden, studying sounded like the worst thing in the world. Ted headed to the boy's dorm. Good thing none of my roommates are here. He tried to hold back tears. That didn't last long.

"It's just another day, nothing in my way;

I don't wanna go, I don't wanna stay,

So there's nothing left to say."

-Keane

Days, then weeks, went by. They might as well have been an eternity for Andromeda. Her Hogwarts days were winding down, but that wasn't the only reason for the slowing of time. Stupid Ted Tonks kept popping up into her dreams. And his image seemed to follow her everywhere. She knew she'd been vicious to the sweet boy. Still, there was nothing she could do about her family rules.

In the Great Hall, she kept resisting the urge to look over at the Hufflepuff table, until one day, she sensed a pair of eyes watching her. Ted. Andromeda couldn't fight it any longer. She glanced at the other side of the Great Hall. Those eyes... They pierced all the way into hers. Oops. Can't let him know that I'm watching him. Andromeda went back to eating. I really hurt Ted's feelings, she thought sadly.

I'll make it up to him tomorrow.

When Worlds Collide

Ted boarded the train to leave Hogwarts for the last time, but he wasn't in the mood to see anybody.

He sat alone in a compartment, wondering where the future might lead him now that his school days were over, wondering why he'd bothered to tutor Andromeda Black in the first place. Love can either make you crazy or make you regretful, and Ted was both. A moment after the Hogwarts Express took off, he noticed that someone was peering into the glass door of his compartment. His stomach dropped a mile. Not her. Anyone but her.

"I know you probably don't want to talk to me," Andromeda said warily, opening the door, "and I know the horrible things that I said, but can I come in to apologize?"

Ted thought it over. There she goes, reeling you in again. A strong young man wouldn't let her come in. But I've never been that kind of guy, have I?

"Sure," Ted eventually replied.

She sat down in the seat across from him. Andromeda sighed, and then she began her apology. "I didn't mean any of what I said. You have to understand that I come from 'The noble house of Black'. We've been pure-bloods for centuries. My mum and dad raised me to think that Muggles and Muggle-borns were useless, but deep in my guts, I always knew it was wrong."

Ted knew she wasn't kidding. She seemed truly upset by her family values. "When I met you," she continued, "it became clearer to me that the family ways were outrageous."

Andromeda moved to sit right beside him. Ted's heart was now beating out of control. This isn't happening!

"You're probably the kindest person I've met in a long time," she went on earnestly. "But, going back to my family, talking to Muggle-borns in a friendly way would give them the grounds to punish me. I had to make sure that my younger sister Narcissa hadn't noticed us together, and lucky for me, she didn't. I've been completely petrified because I'm doing just what the Black family doesn't want me to do: making friends with a Muggle-born. That's why I was so terrible to you. I'm risking everything just by being here."

Ted was glad that Andromeda had the courage to explain herself. He'd started to assume that she hated him specifically. He was still getting used to life in the Wizarding world, and he'd never heard much about the prejudice some pure-blood families carried. All he'd known was that the Slytherins would pass by and call him "Mudblood", for no reason. Every time, it had struck him as utterly stupid.

"I guess you'd be in loads of trouble if your parents knew that we were friends," he realized out loud.

Andromeda took his hand. "Yeah. I would." Now it was Ted's turn to feel goose bumps.

She leaned in to kiss him gently. Ted gave her a questioning look. "Are you sure?"

She answered with another kiss. He kissed her back this time, lacing his fingers through her raven hair. When they broke apart, they just smiled at each other. Andromeda laid her head on his shoulder, he put his arm around her, and they stayed like that for the rest of their final train ride home. Ted couldn't believe this beautiful girl was his. He thought Andromeda Black was insane to choose him. For now, though, he would just go with it.

"So where you gonna go;
Who you gonna call,
When you know it's time to play the game?
What's your mystery?
Who's it gonna be,
When you know it's time to play her game?"

-Kevin Max