"I pretend you're mine, all the damn time"

Hogwarts—like any other school filled with teenagers filled to the brim with so many conflicting feelings—had drama built within its walls. The more skeptical students theorized that the portraits helped the rumor mill spin so, which was a perfectly logical explanation since the portraits loved to talk. However, most just blamed news spreading as if it were wildfire due to numerous students having loud mouths.

Whatever the case, if someone asked someone else to Hogsmeade for Valentine's, and they held any sort of status on the social ladder, then most people already knew. Of course, this wasn't the case for Andromeda and Henri—they preferred having a paper airplane contest in the library over eavesdropping on others' conversations—which meant whatever the people had to gossip about, they'd find out later from Jack and Ted—now, those two were terrible gossips.

Out of the corner of her eye, Andromeda could faintly see someone approaching their table in a secluded corner of the library—Madam Pince would banish them from the library indefinitely if she saw they weren't studying quietly, no matter how much the librarian liked them. She paid them no mind until Henri let Andy's paper airplane whiz right past her head.

He cleared his throat at the two girls, who stared at him.

Andy collected that he was a Gryffindor, having seen both him and his tie before. He was on the shorter side, Andy probably having at least a few inches on him, with thick green hair—Andromeda briefly wondered what Druella would say if she brought someone home with green hair and chuckled to herself.

"Hello, Henri," he started politely.

Andromeda contained her eye roll. Henri had already been asked to Hogsmeade by two other boys, both being called tosspots by the girl for some reason or another, which Andy found amusing. She couldn't wait for the debrief on this guy.

"Hi, Watson," she greeted back, a small smile on her face. "What's going on?"

"Nothing really," he replied, glancing quickly in Andy's direction.

Now, she decided it would be alright to roll her eyes. She would carry her last name with her until she died, seeing as once you're identified as a Black, there's no turning back. A while ago, Andy resolved that she'd change her name when she got married just to run away from the family a little more, but she'd only just recently started to accept the fact that there wasn't a full proof way to completely distance herself from them.

They were blood. And that was that.

But still, that didn't make side glances like the one Watson just gave her any less annoying.

"I actually came here to ask if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me," Watson said hopefully.

Andy watched as Henri tried to cover a grimace. She covered a laugh.

"I'm sorry, Watson," Henri paused as the guy deflated.

"No need to apologize, I get it."

He turned away without so much as another word. Andromeda thought to herself quietly that he was one of the smarter ones, if you don't make a big deal about it, then you humiliate yourself less.

...

Professor Flitwick dismissed them for the day, allowing Andy to finally delve into her theory about thestrals actually being ghosts of your passed loved ones. She was just about to really get into the guts of the theory when Henri nearly bulldozed into someone.

"Yeesh, Henri, you might need to get your eyes checked, I'm not sure how you missed-"

Andromeda realized she didn't know the guy's name.  She looked at him expectantly.

"Oh! I'm, Ben!" He promptly answered, seeming surprised that Andromeda would want to talk to him.

He stood tall and lanky, with dark fluffy hair that made him look taller than he actually was. Adjusting his rectangular-framed glasses, he looked nervous under the scrutiny of Andy's gaze. Good. He probably should be.

"Well, nice to meet you, Ben," she stole a glance over at Henri, who had been blushing for the past five minutes. "I'm Andy!"

"Nice to meet you," he replied, a hesitant smile growing on his face.

"I'm off! Look after Henri for me, will ya?" Andy winked at Henri, who glared at her as she skipped off.

Laughing as she glanced back, she saw Ben taking some books from Henri's arms, awe how sweet. He's probably commenting on coursework now as Andy scrunches her nose at the amount of politeness injected in that boy's veins.

She hopes he has a backbone.

"Dromeda!"

Andromeda bit back her smile before turning to see the only person who ever called her that. It was getting a little pathetic, how excited she got whenever she would see him. Of course, she had a habit of pushing whatever feelings down into the depths of her very soul, but Ted had a way of unlocking a different part of her.

Blegh.

"Ted!" She laughed as he swung an arm around her shoulders. "Hufflepuff doesn't have practice tonight, right?"

"Right, today's our day off," Ted answered quickly, smiling and waving at whoever happened to wave at him in the corridor.

"Well, good, I was hoping you'd say that. Henri's gone off and scheduled another practice, so now I'm just going to have to bother you and Jack," she said simply, not noticing the way Ted looked at her as she said it.

"Is that so?" Ted teased as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter! I'll show up at your common room and torment all the other puffs if you don't hang out with me!" Andy declared, ignoring how the nearby Hufflepuffs looked wary of her.

"She's joking," Ted clarified for those who were eavesdropping, rolling his eyes at them. "She's harmless."

"I dunno, Ted," Andy commented. "You sure about that?"

"Oh, I'm positive," he winked. "You'd never hurt a fly."

"Unless it's a really annoying one."

...

It turned out that Andromeda didn't need to torment any other Hufflepuffs because Ted and Jack met up with her following dinner. They lounged around together on a random corridor floor, engaged in lazy conversation as the skies outside grew darker.

"So, I guess it'll just be us three at Hogsmeade then since Henri has her date? I might meet you both there because Henri wants me to help-"

Andy watches Jack glare at Ted. Ted looks away.

"What am I missing here?" Andy asked, furrowing her brows as Ted and Jack have a silent conversation.

"It'll just be us at Hogsmeade, Andy," Jack said, a sad look on his face.

Andromeda doesn't quite connect the dots quick enough. She looks to Ted to clear it up, maybe he's going home for the weekend or something?

"Why? Where's Ted going to be?" She asked, clearly confused.

Ted cleared his throat uncomfortably as Jack crossed his arms.

"I have a date."

She almost doesn't hear him, and she almost wished she hadn't, but this is good. It's really a good thing. This cleared up her doubts of what Ted felt for her, which now she knows is clearly just platonic feelings. Plus, it shouldn't be the end of the world that one of her best friends has a date. In fact, she should be happy for him.

With her face unreadable—just the way she likes it—she turns to Ted.

"That's great, Ted! With who?" Andy asked, trying to be polite.

Why did she feel like she was going to cry?

"Uh, Luella Thomas," Ted replied. "She's a Hufflepuff."

The name Luella haunted her dreams that night.

...

Song: Delicate
By: Taylor Swift

Delicate is a banger. I highly recommend listening to it.

I know you're gonna kill me because the ship was so close to happening before their summer took place, but I'm a sucker for a slow burn with some pining! So, just buckle up for now!

My phone finally got fixed, which is how I managed to finish this chapter. It was a wild week, but it's over now so that's a positive.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy xx