"Teach me how to be okay
I don't wanna downplay my emotions"

To love something so much that you'd risk it all for it, that was something Andromeda didn't know she understood until now. A great epiphany had hit her upon the head, just as easy as a leaf might fall off its tree in autumn. Of course, the thought was something that might've made its way into her mind a while before this, yet it had just made its way onto her radar now.

Watching Henri skip a little ahead of her on their way to watch—or spy on in Henri's case—the Hufflepuff quidditch trials, had triggered her brain to wander enough to come across something great in its depth. She had realized on that cold, end of September Saturday that Henri was the first person she cared for enough to risk it all for.

This was a bold and brash statement—she had sisters! What about them? Andy wasn't saying she had never loved or cared for Narcissa and Bellatrix, but the amount of care she felt she had received back wasn't enough to inflict this deep kind of feeling.

Henri was the first person to reciprocate the love that Andromeda gave her, which made their friendship all the more special.

In fact, Andromeda reckoned that Henri was quite literally the only person she'd help spy on some boring quidditch trials with. Although, Ted did look good in his quidditch uniform so that was also something.

Stop thinking like that! He's a friend!

There had been an ongoing cycle of Andromeda admiring Ted flying through the air and then promptly scolding herself for it. She was probably flushed at this point because she was only embarrassing herself.

Andromeda would've normally flicked her gaze over to Jack to avoid looking at Ted, however, the other beater was absent due to earning a detention from Flitwick. He had "accidentally" hexed a Slytherin's chair away from them after they had stolen it from Andy.

"Can we leave yet?" Andy asked, growing bored as another chaser missed the hoops completely.

Andromeda was sure the keepers trying out hadn't had to touch the quaffle once because it simply hadn't been thrown in their direction.

"I need to spy, Andy!" Henri reiterated, taking a note on her clipboard.

"You two being captains is going to become my problem, isn't it?" Andy groaned dramatically, holding her face in her hands.

"Well, I'd say so," Henri mused as Andy rolled her eyes. "I'm your best friend and he's your-"

"Don't you dare say it-"

"-boyfriend."

Andy glared at Henri.

"How many times do I have to tell you-"

"It's not like that," Henri mocked Andy, causing her to shove Henri over. "Whatever you say."

...

Ramadan—the Muslim holy month—started that year on Halloween. This meant Henri would fast everyday from dawn to sunset while increasing the amount that she prayed. It was a time of celebration and reflection of one's relationship with Allah, and this year Henri did not want to spend all of it at Hogwarts.

The accommodations that McGonagall and Dumbledore had graciously offered were just that, accommodations. Henri did not mean that she didn't appreciate them, but she wished to be around her family. Of course, by family she just meant her mother.

All the memories surrounding Ramadan were great ones, even the ones she spent alone at Hogwarts. However, the only ones that shined were the ones from her younger years that were centered around her mother.

With this in mind, Henri had written to her mum to get permission to go home for a little while. Dumbledore had granted permission without a second thought, and so, the night before Halloween, Henri flooed home.

"Welcome home, Lovey," Marlowe greeted her with a hug and forehead kiss as soon as she stepped out of the fireplace.

Henri smiled and held on tight to her mother, never wishing to let go. She didn't want to let go and let the hug become just a mere memory.

"What's goin' on in that little head of yours?" Her mum asked, letting go of her hold on her.

Henri stepped back and admired the room around her, taking it in like she hadn't lived there her entire life.

"Just happy to be home," she replied easily.

For a week, Henri stayed at her house with her mum—who had miraculously been able to get time off of work—and celebrated their religion. It was easy to take for granted sometimes how lucky Henri was to have such a good role model, but she promised herself she never would again.

...

Every once in a while, as Andromeda would talk to Ted, she let herself lose her thoughts in his eyes. She knew this couldn't be normal—that wasn't something she did with Henri or Jack—yet she couldn't stop herself anyway, and more than once she caught herself wondering why she would want to.

His eyes really were something, but, oh Merlin, his arms! It was the first of November and they still held remnants of his summer tan. No matter how far she would fall into this bad habit of thinking these things, she never let herself think about Ted during the summer.

The thought of thinking about it was enough to leave her stuttering for ages.

It was one of those days when she was strolling along the corridors with Ted to the next prefect meeting. She kept watching the way that his golden hair would fall into his face when he'd look down, and it was more than a few times that she scolded herself for staring.

"Well, what do you think?" Ted asked, making eye contact with her.

Her eyes widened the slightest bit as she realized he needed her input. Like he knew she had been staring at him instead of listening, he laughed at her.

"I must be a dreadfully boring person then if you weren't listening to me again," Ted said, crossing his arms and huffing like he was hurt.

"Oh please, you can't actually believe you're boring," Andy challenged, after which Ted laughed quietly yet again.

"Then why haven't you been listening to a word I've said all week?" Ted asked, genuinely this time.

"I have been!" Andy defended herself, talking a little louder than normal on accident.

"Prove it," Ted replied with a dead stare, stopping in the middle of an empty corridor.

"What do you want me to say?" Andy asked, after which Ted provided no answer except for a simple shrug of the shoulders.

"That you've been talking about how you love McGonagall, but you're frustrated with her right now because of your bad mark?" Andromeda paused for a second for a breath. "Or that some of the boys in your dorm have been taking too long in the shower and are using all the hot water, or how about when you said like five minutes ago that you don't think being both a quidditch captain and prefect is too much, but you don't want to make Jack sad by taking away his honorary prefect duties?"

Jack becoming honorary prefect had been something Ted had written to Professor Sprout about the minute after they received their letters because he had convinced himself it would be too much work. Of course, he had forgotten at the time that being a prefect would leave him and Andy alone quite a bit, but that ship had sailed a while ago.

The man of the hour himself had turned the corner and saw Ted and Andy semi-arguing with each other, but also noticed the way they looked at each other and stopped himself from interfering. If he had, he knew Ted would've killed him.

"Am I supposed to be impressed that you've listened to a few of our conversations?" Ted teased, quirking an eyebrow that was accompanied by a smirk.

"Shall I continue then?" Andy asked, not waiting for him to respond. "In potions, you keep doing that stupid impression of the Rosiers-"

"It's not stupid if it makes you laugh," Ted said, smiling as she laughed to herself.

Jack rolled his eyes at them playfully. It was much like watching a movie for him.

"And what about when you insist on going over all the plants we've ever learned in herbology, even when we both know you'd never forget a word Professor Sprout says," Andy remarked as Ted started to sit down. "What're you doing?"

"Sitting," he replied simply. "What does it look like?"

"We have a meeting to go to," Andy reminded him, raising her eyebrows when he groaned and fell backwards onto the corridor floor.

"I was hoping you'd forgotten about that," Ted said, his voice muffled as he had put his face in his hands.

"I'm leaving without you," Andy said singsongingly as she started to walk away.

That was all it took for Ted to spring up off the floor and fall into step beside her.

"We're just friends," Jack mocked them, rolling his eyes as he followed Ted and Andy from a distance. "Idiots."

...

Andromeda regretted not sitting on the floor with Ted because the prefect meeting was dreadful. The head students made them sit by house, which actively went against the whole house unity thing the professors were trying to preach right now. It also meant that Andromeda couldn't sit with the only two people she liked in the room.

Her eyes constantly skirted from what she should've been paying attention to—the head students scolding them for skipping their patrols—and landed on Jack and Ted. Every time Jack caught her, which he inevitably did every single time, he would make funny faces at her until she'd have to look away because she would begin to giggle.

She had thought about suing the head students for separating her from her friends so much, that by the end she had spaced out for so long she hadn't realized the meeting was over.

Practically running out of the room, she accidentally bounded straight into Ted, who caught her gracefully. Jack then ran ahead of them without a second thought, and he ended up crashing into a girl who appeared a few years younger than them.

"Jack!" Andy scolded him, but he did not pay any attention to her.

"Davina!" Jack yelled as he pulled them both up off their feet.

She glared at him and Ted laughed.

"Andy, this is my younger sister, Davina! Davina, this is my friend, Andy." He introduced the two.

Davina squinted her eyes for a brief moment at Andy, who had awkwardly waved at her—Ted was laughing to himself about how awkward the entire thing was—before turning to Jack again.

"Technically, we're only half siblings," Davina reminded him like he had forgotten. Andy got the feeling she was only joking though.

"Oh stop it, you know you love me," Jack said, nudging her shoulder with his.

"Whatever you say," Davina replied, winking at Ted, who laughed, and as she went, her eyes lingered on Andromeda for a second longer than they should have.

Of course, Andy caught this and raised an eyebrow, and silently wondered why Davina was acting so weird. Andromeda would be the first to admit that she was intimidating sometimes, but one would think that you wouldn't act so suspicious around one of your brother's friends.

Well, maybe, there was more to it than that.

...

Song: Prom Queen
By: Beach Bunny

I can't I love these characters so much! Also, I CANNOT wait for the next chapter. I'm literally so excited to see your reactions it's insane.

I only have two days of school left, which means summer is right around the corner for me! Let us hope that some motivation returns to me, so that updates come quicker!!

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy xx