{andromeda} what happened?!

[tedtonks]

I WAS YOUNG
AND I WAS PROUD, AND I'M SORRY

If anything, their friendship had been short. And for whatever reason it was, Ted was sure that it was going to last. Perhaps it was because he actually had feelings for her, and he'd let his fantasies run away with the pixies.

It had all come crashing down at the Halloween Ball. She'd said it, plain and simple: it was nothing. He was nothing to her.

Ted was snapped back into reality as the quill between his fingers snapped in half, like a small twig. He rolled his eyes and stared down at the inky mess smeared all over his Defence Against the Dark Arts notes.

He'd chosen to sit far up the back of the classroom away from Andromeda. It didn't stop his eye from wandering, however. As he zoned out from what their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was saying - where was Dawlish, anyway? - he often found his eyes wandering over to where Andromeda sat, small and alone.

Why couldn't he let this go? He wasn't one to get riled up over something. Was it because she had meant something to him? He couldn't forget the warmth of her touch or how her smile seemed to make his stomach do flips. This was silly.

The bell rang and the teacher let them go for the day. He folded his ink-stained parchment in half and shoved it deep into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he ran out of the classroom in despeate attempt to find - or, was it follow - Andromeda. He needed answers, and this seemed to be the only way he was going to get them.

He looked over his shoulder and spied her half-way back down the corridor. Thinking quickly, he pulled himself into the broom closet and left the door ajar, so he could see her as she walked past.

As she approached, Ted took a deep breath. It was now or never. Just as she was passing, the door opened and Ted reached out to grab her, pulling her into the closet with him. He barricaded the door so she couldn't escape.

"Look, I know you don't want to see me, but I need to know what happened," he'd never heard himself sound so fierce before. He studied her face, trying to remember everything about it, just in case this was the last time he would ever get to talk to her.

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[quof]

She tried to concentrate, but everything was cloudy. It wasn't the first time she'd been in class with him since that night, but somehow being Defense Against the Dark Arts felt worse than being anywhere else.

The seat next to her was empty, as she had expected it to be, but somehow the sight of it made her stomach clench. She kept her hair over her shoulder so it would hide her face, but she couldn't stop herself from peering over at him every so often. He looked agitated, and there was a slump in his shoulders that hadn't been there before.

Was this her fault? Was it because of what she said? No...she had to force the thoughts away, she had no right to think he cared about her anymore, or that he was even thinking about her. She couldn't change what had happened and reminiscing about it wouldn't help.

But she knew she was eating her own words. Today, like every other day, as she passed by the window on her way down to lunch she would stop and stare out at the lake. Every time she passed their spot her eyes were drawn there. She couldn't just pretend this whole thing hadn't happened, and that she didn't miss it, as much as she might want too.

She waited until Ted had left before gathering her things had exiting. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, she was too confused. Which was why she was totally caught off guard when someone grabbed her by her arm and pulled her into the broom closet. it was Ted. For a moment she couldn't breathe, nor could she take her eyes off him. She hadn't been this close to him since the ball.

She flinched at his voice. He had never spoken to her like that, which shows that he must really hate her.

And he wanted to know why. She didn't know how to answer his question, but his proximity was making it too hard for her to think so she backed against the wall and forced herself to look away.

What should she she tell him? She could give him the same excuses she had given Bellatrix a couple days ago, but she owed him more than that. She owed him the truth. But what was the truth? She'd betrayed him, did it matter whether she had lied a little in the process or not? The end result was still the same.

"I told you." She said, still unable to look him in the eye. "I made a mistake." But her voice quivered and even she could hear the lack of conviction. She sighed and her shoulders slumped as her eyes drifted toward the door. She almost felt as if she were close to tears, but that didn't make any sense.

[tedtonks]

For a brief moment, Ted and Meda were pushed up against each other, neither one of them looking away from the other. He wanted to say so many things to her - to find out why this had all happened - but his mind came up blank. She smelled so good and all Ted wanted to do was wrap his arms around her once again.

As soon as the moment had come, it was over. Andromeda was lined up against the back wall of the closet, unable to meet Ted's eyes as he asked the question. Ted pressed his lips into a hard line. She used the same words as she had the night of the Halloween Ball. It had all been a mistake - but, from the way that she didn't meet his eyes, and the way her voice quivered told him that something wasn't quite right.

"Why don't you say it to my face, then?" he asked, trying to lock their eyes together.

"Look, Meda," Ted said with a sigh, finally finding what he thought were the right words to say. "If you really don't want to be friends with me, then nobody is forcing you," he said, taking a step in closer to her, closing the small gap between them. The same yearning feeling to hold her spread through Ted's stomach. "But I think both you and I know that this," he gestured to the both of them, there together in the small cupboard, "isn't a mistake."

And without feeling the need to find any more words to explain their complicated situation, Ted leant forward and pressed his lips to Andromeda's.

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[ ooc: if it's too much, let me know <3 ][/font]

[quof]

What did he want from her? There was nothing she could give him. She couldn't just explain away everything she'd done nor tell him why she'd done them. She should just leave before she hurt him again. But when he told her to look at him her eyes snapped back up to meet his. Their was an intensity in his eyes she hadn't seen before. She couldn't speak, and when he came closer she couldn't breathe. But neither could she look away again, something about the way he was looking at her held her in place. And before she could get a grip on what was happening he was kissing her.

Her entire body reacted, stiffening in shock. A thrill raced up her spine and without thinking her lips parted, slowly. Her body relaxed into him, though her heart continued to hammer. Her hands lifted and she placed them on his chest. She let the kiss deepen, though she was scarcely aware of what she was doing.

Then something, somewhere in the back of her mind screamed at her to stop. She pulled away, gasping.

"No," She said, breathlessly at first, but then more fiercely. "No I made the mistake of thinking I could for once do what I wanted without having to worry about the cosequences. That I could be with who wanted." She had pulled away, but her hands remained firmly planted on his shoulders. She wanted him to understand, she needed him to understand.

"But I can't. I just can't." She felt tears, but she forced them away, she couldn't cry, not yet. "That person who talked with you at the lake and danced with you at the ball, " She paused, choking back her emotions. "She can't exist. I can't be that person," However much I might want to be. She didn't say that part, but she was sure her eyes did. She couldn't stop the tears now, and they began spilling over cheeks. She finally looked away, unable to stand him seeing her like this. Her hands slipped to her sides. She should leave, she knew she should, but she couldn't move. All she could do was breathe as she tried to hold herself to gether.