Part 2

3rd Person POV

"Edward Tonks," her father said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of folded paper. Andromeda opened her mouth to speak, her mind searching for the name to see if she recognized it. "Muggle Born into a muggle family and lives on a farm. He helps work on it during the summer just so his family can continued affording his education in the muggle world," her father read. Andromeda listened, hoping this went somewhere.

When her father stopped and looked up at her, his face had darkened.

"Should I know if that is?" Andromeda asked. Her father suddenly stood abruptly from the couch.

"Is it true?" her father asked in a darker tone. He began walking towards her and Andromeda took a careful step back. He raised the folded paper, his eyes flaming. "Ted Tonks? Is it true?" he asked her. Andromeda's eyes widened at the name. Ted, her father was talking about Ted.

"Ted Tonks?" she whispered, her courage fading as her father seemed to grow at every step he took towards her.

"Did he ask you on a date, ask you to do anything of that sort?" her father asked.

"It was more of a friendly meeting-" she whispered to herself, but her father lost it at that. He whipped a hand around, slapping the girl across the face. She let out a surprised whimper at the stinging in her face, falling to the ground in more surprise than pain.

"Answer me!" her father said. "Your sisters informed me that he asked you, and you said yes?" her father asked. He looked like he was about to kick her as she laid on the ground, but her mother quickly interfered, grabbing Cygnus by the arm.

"Go to your room, Andromeda, you are grounded," her mother told her. The fearful girl quickly got to her feet and ran to her room. She huffed as she got to the stairs, staring up at the dark corridor leading up to her bedroom.

"Kreacher will clean the windows," the voice suddenly said. Andromeda turned to look down the equally dark hallway to see Kreacher, the house elf walking down the hallway, a bucket of water being tugged behind him. The elf must have not seen her until coming into the slight light of the lantern nearby. "Ah, Master Andromeda, what can Kreacher do for you?" he asked her. The small elf never seemed to age, still seeming like the young elf they had gotten when she was born, but a bit more cranky. The elf had connected well with Regulus who stayed with them during the school year for transportation reasons.

"Is Regulus here?" Andromeda asked. Her younger cousin wandered around the property on his free will while going to Hogwarts. He had been ordered to come home every night, though, for her own parents were afraid he would run away.

"Master Regulus is in his room, would Master Andromeda want Kreacher to escort to Regulus's quarters?" the elf asked her. She shook her head, patting the top of his bald head.

"Thank you Kreacher," she told him, walking down the dark hall towards his room. She raised a hand to his door, but wasn't sure if this was such a good idea.

"Some commotion comin' from down there, did one of the Black sisters finally strike the old man's last nerve?" Regulus asked from inside his room. The door slowly opened, revealing the boys messy room. He was sitting on his bed, a book in his lap as he seemed to scratch his head. the boy was handsome, to be fair, resembling his older brother, Sirius Black. He had messy,inky black hair and shadowed eyes. Just as dark eyes filled his sockets and pale skin ran across his entire figure. He wore black like her parents, but not a suit. More muggle looking clothes like lose black pants and buttoned up black shirt with only two buttons fastened.

He finally looked up at her and his eyes slightly widened, his joking face disappearing. Standing up from his bed, he closed his book and made his way over to his older cousin. For being about three years younger than her, he was a great deal taller than her, about half a head to the boy where she was up to his lips.

"Did he... hit you?" he asked quietly.

Kreacher watched from the doorway, the elves eyes widening as well as he listened in on the conversation.

"Ah... um... no it was just from school," she said, realizing her father had made a mark on her cheek. Before she was able to try and cover up, he shook his head, snatching her hand.

"You don't have to lie, I've been hit, too," Regulus said. Andromeda looked up at her younger cousins eyes and saw hurt flash them at the memory. But he shook his head at her curious expression. "But that is a story for a different time, we need to get you cleaned up," he told her. Her expression quickly turned confused as he walked to a door across from his head where a bathroom lay.

"Ready for what?" she asked him. He turned back to her.

"I'm assuming you wanna," he began, before quickly putting a hand to his mouth and stage whispering, "sneak out."

She rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

"But being the good baby cousin I am, I'm gonna clean you up first to make sure that does not get infected," he told her with a slight smile, turning back to the bathroom. He opened the mirror to reveal a medicine cabinet and begun taking out products. He waved her into the bathroom where he began to run cold water over her slap mark. Now looking at herself in the mirror, she realized how bad the wound really looked compared to how it felt. The stinging had continued, but it didn't hurt uncontrollably.

But by the time Regulus was done applying different ointments to it, the mark had slightly faded. Hopefully Ted wouldn't notice in the darkness.

"Alright, hopefully your prince charming doesn't mind a bit of a bed head and some wrinkly clothes because I don't think you'd fit into anything of mine nor would the boy want to see you in a different guys clothes," Regulus said with a smirk. Andromeda looked up at him in concern.

"Regulus, why do you know how to cover up rashes and marks so well?" she asked him. Regulus winced a bit, his happy emotion fading.

"Like I said, a story for another time. Maybe if you actually came to see me sometime you could find out?" he told her. Andromeda wasn't sure if he was teasing but guilt quickly flooded her eyes and she realized she really never did see her cousin much.

"I'll have to do that sometime, Regulus," she told him. He nodded and the two stood in confronting silence for a few seconds.

"But tonight's not about me, is it? Its about you and your king of the mountain!" Regulus said with a grin.

"Never say that again."

"Don't worry, it sounded better in my head."

Regulus ushered her out of the bathroom and toward his window. Pushing it open, he realized it was pouring rain outside.

"Huh, your prince charming really picked a nice beautiful, clear night," Regulus said, his head stuck out the window as he let the rain hit his cheek. Andromeda stared as lightning struck the ground somewhere out in the woods and the sound of thunder rumbled from above.

"What am I doing, I can't do this," she whispered, biting her lip as she sat down on his bed. Regulus must have realized her hesitation because he came back into the room to look at her. Sighing, he let his walls fall as he walked towards the bed.

"Hey, ah, I'm not exactly great with all this 'sirius'-" he began, a joking expression coming to his face. Andromeda raised an eyebrow at him and he stood back up straight. "Sorry, I just... I've never been in love or felt affection like this to or from another person. But, I have talked to Ted before and he sounds like a good guy," Regulus told her with a smile. She looked at him with a small smile.

"You think so?" Andromeda asked. Regulus smiled and nodded.

"Now, worth going out into the pouring rain after being grounded by your parents, I don't know, it's a tough choice, but that's kind of your 'thing' isn't it?" Regulus asked. Andromeda smiled, taking one of his sweaters out of his closet.

"Is decision making really anyone's thing?" she asked him. He shrugged but nodded in agreement. She swung the sweater around her neck and let it drape over her arms.

"Alright, how do I get down?" she asked him. Regulus smiled and pushed the window open even farther.

"The store down the street should have flew powder and a fireplace, it's just about a block and it'll be a tavern, the candles still lit even in the rain," Regulus told her, pointing towards the street she could vividly see through the rain.

"And how do you know this?" she asked him. Regulus grinned and pointed down to the ground below.

"There's a small loop hole down there, you're just gonna have to trust me, okay?" Regulus asked her. Andromeda bit her lip, staring down at the plain looking grass.

"You're sure?" she asked. He nodded in confirmation. She bit her lip before stepping on the window, slipping her legs through so she was leaning on her stomach.

"Thank you, Regulus," Andromeda said to him. The boy gave her a smile. A real smile.Not one of those hidden ones he'd been making all night. A real one.

"No problem, cous, I'm glad to be of some usefulness," he told her. With that, she slipped from the window, free falling to the arm. Andromeda had to cover her mouth with her hand, bite her tongue and clench her fist all at the same time to resist screaming. This was it, Regulus had tricked her and she was about to die. She squeezed her eyes closed and cold suddenly overcame her. The rain stopped for a moment and suddenly, she was back out, water pouring on her head. Regulus was cheering from his window, waving his fist in silent triumph.

Andromeda gave him one last wave, holding his sweater over her head and making a run for the gravel road in the distance. Her heels were soaked with water and so was the rest of her clothing. With every step she was placing her foot into a puddle of water in the grass. She soon made it to gravel, but instead of water puddles there were mud puddles. But she kept running, spotting the slightly glowing lanterns just a few meters away. the tavern was a small wooden shack, kind of like what muggles call cabins. 

Andromeda quickly jogged up the large steps, spitting out some rain water as she quickly swung the door open and walked inside, closing it behind her. Water dripped from the sweater as she lowered it from her head to her side, squeezing out some of the water onto the ground. Inside the tavern, a large group of people were drinking and cheering even at this time of night. Then, a spark of green caught her eyes and Andromeda spotted the fireplace where people were using the flew system to get around instead of outside in the rain. 

"Hello, deary, what can I do for you?" a woman suddenly said. She was wearing a rusty brown apron with a plaid shirt underneath as well as a pair of jeans and working boots. Her light brown hair was pulled into a braid and laid against her back. 

"Can I use your fireplace by chance?" Andromeda asked her. The woman smiled and stared down at her. 

"Your Ted's date, aren't you?" she asked. Andromeda wasn't sure how this woman knew ted, maybe by friend? She didn't have his brown eyes for hers were a dark blue.

"Yes, do you know where he is?" Andromeda asked her. The woman smiled and nodded, waving for the girl to follow her. The woman dropped the tray off at the table of drunken folks before leading Andromeda into the back room where a few other servers were.

"He told us you were coming and he told me to formally apologize to you about the weather condition," she told the girl. Andromeda let out a sigh of relief, thankful the woman didn't say he had ditched her. But Ted didn't exactly look like the type to stand someone up.

"He also told me you were going to a different place than he had promised," she told her, walking over to the sink and beginning to wash a few dishes. "He had one of his friends create a port key just for you," the woman told her. "Audrey, would you get these while I get the ring?" she asked a different girl resting in the room. A girl with pink eyes nodded and waved her wand at the sink, making the scrubbing brush float in the air, beginning to wash the dishes on its own.

The woman walked over to the other side of the room, opening a drawer and taking out a black case. She flipped it open, revealing a golden ring with the most beautiful white gem in the middle. It reflected rainbows onto the ceiling from the lights above. 

"The gem is a portkey, but not the band," the woman told her, slipping the ring onto Andromeda's finger. The girl stared down at the gem and bit her lip, her eyes moving down to her soaked figure. She could image her hair was a mes as well as her face. The woman must have noticed her insecurities because she laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

"Hon, you don't need to worry about that, Ted will appreciate that you came, he loves company, though he normally doesn't get the attention he wants," she told Andromeda. The younger girl nodded and the woman stepped back, giving Andromeda room to teleport. 

"Thank you," Andromeda said to her. The woman gave a simple nod, her finger twining with the other hand in front of her body as the girl touched the gem. She felt the same floaty feel as when she had jumped out of Regulus's window, but this time, she kept her eyes  opened. The area she was in was light, pink, wavy strands flying around the room. They looked like blood in water, the strands, and Andromeda felt her hair floating above her shoulders, her dress doing the same. The feeling in this place was more comforting and warm, but suddenly she was tugged out, landing on her knees in a new place. 

"Woah, there," he said with a smile. A hand was outstretched to her and she quickly took it, getting to her wobbly feet.

"Am I late?" Andromeda asked him with a slight smile. She stumbled, not sure if she liked the floaty area better than gravity, but Ted did have to grab her shoulders to steady her.

"Sorry, I just found the port key to be the easiest way," Ted said. "Sorry if it made you nauseous or-" he began but she quickly put a finger to his lips.

"Stop worrying so much, I'm fine, just a little wet," she told him. Ted nodded, staring into her eyes for a few moments before quickly taking his hands off her shoulders. 

"Anyway, I brought you here because I actually came here as a child," he told her. "On my own, of course."

Andromeda's eyes finally looked around the area he had brought her. The lighting was a blue-y teal color, weeping willows hanging their leaf-y branches down and creating a sort of room around them. There were many of them, actually, all on different islands, separated by the small teal river which ran between them. All of the small rivers seemed to be sprouting from a larger spout in the rocks behind them. A large rock wall was behind them, a small, calm waterfall falling from the top where more trees and plants lay. At the top of the area, the moon laid in the center of the sky, staring down at them. 

"Ted, how did you find this?" Andromeda asked, twirling around the look at it all. Ted smiled at her reaction, his hands twiddling with excitement behind his back. He had never shown anyone this area before and he was glad she was enjoying it. Leaning down as she stared at the sky, he cupped some water and threw it at her, not sure if it was the right thing to do. She tensed slight and Ted's face dropped. 

"Sorry-" he begun, but before he realized what she was doing, she had shoved him into the slow flowing stream. Ted stood up, his collarbone and up still able to stay out of the water. He spit out some of the water at her and she gasped, quickly stumbling away as he smirked, walking towards the ledge. 

"Ted-" she warned. His smirk only widened as he grabbed his wand from out of his pocket. "You wouldn't," she said, almost trying to convince herself. He waved his wand at her. 

"Carpe Retractum," he said, waving his wand. A rope of light escaped the top of his wand, wrapping around the girl ankle. She glared at him and he begun pulling her towards him. 

"Ted, I'm warning you," Andromeda huffed at him. He smiled and continued. Soon, the girl was only a foot away and Ted dropped his wand, snatching her ankle. "Ted!" He pulled her into the water with him. Andromeda was holding onto his shirt and bicep for dear life as she came up for air. 

"You idiot I can't swim!" she shouted at him, batting him against his chest. His smile faded as his eyes wandered across her face. Reaching up with one of his hands, he brushed his thumb over her mark. She winced and quickly looked away from him. 

"Dromeda, what's this?" he asked her. She bit her lip, shaking her head. 

"It's nothing, just a small mark," Andromeda told him. But he shook his head, grabbing her by the chin and turning her head back towards him. 

"Was it your sister?" he asked her. Andromeda shook her hand, her grip on the boys shirt loosening a bit. "Who was it?" he asked her this time. She bit her lip again and moved a hand up to around his neck. 

"You wanna tell me who was messing with you?" she asked him. He let out a small chuckle. 

"Fair point," Ted told her. "If I tell you who was messing with me, then you tell me who... who hit you, okay?" he asked her. Andromeda bit her lip, thinking of the pros and cons of the situation but ended up nodding in agreement. Ted let out small sight, moving back towards the land where he placed her on the ledge. He jumped up next to her, swinging his legs in the water. 

"Bellatrix, she gets a little sensitive when I do something right in class, but she's like that with all muggle-born, so it doesn't matter," he said to her. Andromeda muttered a few curses to her sister and shook her head, placing her hand on his.

"My sister can be sensitive, I agree, but both are a bit more...like you said... sensitive to non-born magic folk, which is not right," she said. Ted looked down at her with a solemn nod, but gestured for her to begin talking. 

"Don't think you can get out of this bargain," he said to her with a small smile. Andromeda nodded, taking her hand off his to grip the ledge. 

"Ah... my parents called me home tonight and my dad was mad over something I did, maybe it was skipping class," she lied. "But, he ended up getting so mad he ended up... you know," she said, waving to her cheek where the sudden stinging feeling was coming back.

"But, hey, this isn't about replaying our worse memories, this about having fun and getting to know each other, right?" Ted asked, cupping some water and plashing her. She flinched, but let out a small laugh, pushing the boy by his back. He landed back into the water where he quickly tugged her in after him. 

They were going to be okay.