i will catch you

[Deleted]

A loud rapping on the window caused Andie to start awake, cursing under her breath as the glass of firewhiskey she had been balancing on her lap toppled over with the sudden movement. Her dark eyes flicked to the clock as she untucked her legs from underneath her, the wet fabric of her nightdress second on her mind only to the tapping. It was late, to say the least, and Andie knew without even looking that she was still home alone. It wasn’t unusual for her husband to be out late- as one of the senior healers at St. Mungos, his hours were anything but regular. Still, Andie could feel a knot in her stomach that had nothing to do with the kinks in her neck from sleeping in her uncomfortable reading chair- no, Andie definitely was definitely on edge.


She couldn’t say why, exactly. Today had been as normal a day as any, starting with breakfast with her husband before he had left for the day. Andie herself had spent the early afternoon attending to household chores before she had found a book on muggle warships in the 1700s that she had misplaced earlier that week. Needless to say, laundry had been forgotten as Andromeda lost herself into her book, whiling the hours away until she had fallen asleep, book and firewhiskey in hand, almost three hours previously.



Crossing the room to the window, Andie pushed back the drapes to reach the latch, allowing the gray owl to flutter in and drop a newspaper on the floor. Andie bent to pick it up as the owl took off again, and tucking it under her arm, she moved to close the window again the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance. Suppressing a growl of her own annoyance, Andie moved the lock and unfolded the paper, knowing damn well she wasn’t going to be going back to sleep anytime soon. If there was one fear that Andie had never lost, it was that of thunderstorms. A lot of her childhood had seen her hiding under her bed as the rain lashed outside, and while she wasn’t going to be moving the furniture anytime soon, the idea was a pretty good one in the back of her mind.



Pushing it out of her head, she scanned the headlines on the first page, wondering what had happened that would warrant such a late issue as she tugged the wet fabric of her clothes away from her skin. She had to read the headline three times before it sunk in- and before she realized exactly what it meant, that she knew exactly where her husband was.



“No. No, no, no! Damn it, Ted!” Andie balled the newspaper up and threw it into the fireplace, her heart starting to pound. She scrambled towards the hallway, her mind heading off in a thousand directions as she nearly tripped on her way to the bedroom to grab her clothes and her wand. If there was even a possibility Ted could have been at that fight, then Andie was damn well going to be there too- she was not going to lose him, not without a fight.



She yanked on the jeans she cleaned house in, for once not giving a thought to how the holes might appear to strangers who saw her, and grabbed the first shirt she got her hands on, oblivious to the fact that it was her husband’s. For once, Andromeda didn’t care what she looked like, or what people might think of her. All that mattered was that she got to her husband as soon as possible, no matter what the cost.

Wordz:600
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: I suck at starters!
inspiration Breaking Bad? XD
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

Well, blimey. That had certainly taken a different turn than what Ted Tonks had been expecting, as he grumbled to himself sitting on a cot at St. Mungo’s, thinking in reference of course to the riot that had occurred earlier in the day… that Ted had admittedly been a part of.

But in his defense, it hadn’t meant to get so insane. And when it did, his first thought had been of Andromeda, and getting home to her, and he’d tried to get out. But a young Auror had approached him and said they needed all the help they could get… and even though Ted was terrified, and had never been a particularly strong fighter (hell, he’d never been much of a duelist at all), well, he just couldn’t ignore a direct call to duty. And so off he’d gone into the fray, and just as he should have known, he’d come out of it a little worse for the wear, as sitting on a cot at St. Mungo’s sort of proved, as he instructed a junior Healer how to heal the burns on his arm.

It wasn’t exactly going as well as it could have, and Ted cursed when he saw how late it was getting. Andromeda would be getting frantic by this point, if she hadn’t already taken off somewhere ridiculous and gotten herself killed. Thanking the junior Healer and cursing out loud once more, he practically leapt off the cot and shouted that he’d fill his own paperwork out tomorrow when he reported in for work as he dashed down the flights of stairs and scrambled to get somewhere safe where he could Apparate home. The burns on his arm and shoulder would have to get bandaged later, but right now the well-being of his wife was more important, and so help him if she’d decided that his not coming home was reason enough to go storming the front of wherever the Dark Lord himself was hiding all on her own. Because he knew how Dromeda could get, and that if she had actually left the house, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would have something to be afraid of.

The lobby wasn’t far, and when Ted finally reached it, breathless, he didn’t even hesitate before turning on the spot and Disapparating, appearing with a loud pop! just outside their property and their home. Brushing off his shirt with his good hand (as moving his other arm right now was not the most painless of actions and he could deal with that later), Ted tried to pretend like he didn’t look like he’d gone to hell and back and scurried forth towards the house, hurriedly pulling his wand from his pocket and muttering a quick unlocking spell before going inside. The distant sounds of thunder worried him - even though they’d never spoken of it, he noticed how tense his wife could get sometimes during storms, and he sincerely hoped that this wasn’t only fueling whatever mood she might be in.

He opened his mouth to shout for his wife, terrified that she may very well have gone out, but he could hear the frustrated sounds of her moving about, possibly somewhere near their bedroom. Gulping, Ted felt very much like a teenager again, sneaking into his house back at home and trying to not catch the eye of his mother when he knew he’d been out too late again. So, as quietly as possible, he headed for the kitchen, to try and clean himself up a little. But, the thought was nixed the second he realized that the kitchen sink was bound to make more noise than his relatively silent footsteps.

So, like a puppy on its way to its doghouse, Ted trudged his way back to his and Dromeda’s room, running his hand through his hair and desperately trying to tug his half burnt-off sleeve over his injuries with absolutely no luck whatsoever. But, as he neared the door and the sounds of his wife scurrying around (for whatever reason, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know why considering he was fairly sure he already knew the reason, and he was infinitely relieved he’d caught her just in time), Ted did his best to put on his usual cheerful face and was the complete image of casual disaster as he strolled into their bedroom and decided it would be a good idea to lean on the doorframe.

”Slow down, honey, where’re you off to in such a rush? We didn’t run out something in the fridge, did we? ‘Cause I can always run to the market tomorrow after work.” And out came the angelic, innocent smile that Ted hoped would at least distract his wife for a moment.

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

”Slow down, honey, where’re you off to in such a rush?”


Andromeda whirled to face her husband, her wand clattering to the floor in surprise as she stared at him, wide-eyed. She had a crazy thought that she might be seeing an apparition, her desperate mind’s last attempt at convincing herself that Ted was alive and healthy, but he kept talking- and it was then that Andromeda knew this was no apparition, this was her husband- and her gut wrenching fear turned to anger faster than her wand had hit the floor. “Ted.”



We didn’t run out something in the fridge, did we? ‘Cause I can always run to the market tomorrow after work.”



“Where. The hell. Were you, Theodore?” Andie’s voice was dark, and she stepped up onto the bed, finding that walking around the bed would take too long to get to where her husband was standing. She could kill him herself, and as she walked across the bed with every intent of wrapping her slender fingers around his neck, her foot caught on the throw at the end of the bed and she lost her balance, falling to the floor with a thud. Embarrassed as well as annoyed, she glared up at him, her cheeks flushed. “I worried about you all day, Ted. I thought you were dead, Ted. Did you ever think of, oh, I don’t know, owling your wife, TED?” She slowly straightened out her legs, too beside herself to even notice that only one of the two buttons on her jeans was fastened, or that her hair had completely fallen out of her messy bun, making her look every bit the nutter she had often accused her elder sister of being. “We’re in a war, for Merlin’s sake! Anything could have happened- you could be dead in a ditch, or hurt, and I wouldn’t have known, because you were off doing god knows what at that riot, weren’t you?” She got slowly to her feet, unblinking as she stared him down- it was almost like a cheetah testing an antelope, there was no way he was going to get away, but she was affording him the chance to at least run in the wake of her fury. Andromeda rarely lost her temper, but when she did, everyone in a thirty kilometer radius knew about it.



“Why do you do stupid things like that, Ted? It’s no wonder where Dora got it from, her git of a father!” She closed the distance between them, and despite the fact that she was shorter than him by almost half a foot, she seemed much bigger in her personal tempest. She placed her hands on his shoulders, looking very much as if she were going to shake some sense into him, but a peal of thunder distracted her. She sighed, the wind was clearly taken out of her sails as she shook her head slowly, letting her arms slide down to his waist as she pulled him into a tight hug, her face buried in his chest as she pulled herself together. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes, and wished they would disappear- Andie hated crying in front of anyone as it made her feel weak. “I was so scared something had happened to you and that I would be too late,” she mumbled, shivering as the very thought sent ice shooting down her spine. “You’ve got to stop scaring me like this,” she admonished gently, pulling away and wiping her eyes as she gave him a more attentive once over. Her assessment made her frown deepen. “You’re hurt,” she said, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “Come into the living room so I can look at you properly. “ She slid her hand into his, pulling gently to get him to follow her.

Wordz:638
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration Ellie Goulding- Your Biggest Mistake
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

Just the one word. Just his name, and the sound of her wand clattering to the floor, and Ted knew he was in for it. Bloody hell. Sweat automatically formed on his brow as he struggled not to gulp or show any other signs of blatant fear, but he was fair shoddy when it came to hiding his emotions on his face. He went visibly pale, watching his wife, and even more so when his full name got used. He was fairly sure his heart skipped a beat, he was getting so panicked. It wasn’t very often that he saw his wife in this kind of rage, but at the same time he knew he bloody well deserved it. He’d gone off and he’d done something stupid, and he’d paid the price for it, and there was still a price to pay. That price being Dromeda’s potent rage.

”Now, Dromeda, love, you know I was just-“ Ted choked on his own voice as his wife fell, and instinctively, he moved forward to help her up, but her glare froze him in his place, and meekly he returned to his spot in the doorway and continued to try and look innocently ashamed. There were just times when you didn’t touch Andromeda, and this was evidently one of those times.

Sure, there were moments when Andromeda legitimately scared Ted out of his wits. This wasn’t exactly one of those times (but by no means was he completely at ease - because he was indeed rather terrified), but sometimes Ted could see just how twisted Dromeda’s childhood had made her. He could see, for lack of a better word, the darkness that was left over from her pureblooded rendering. Not that being pureblood had anything to do with it, seeing as it was possibly just the way her family had been and her family only. And Ted was always the one who strived to bring her back from that, when she lost it. And while she looked like she was very close to losing it with him right then and there, he knew that she wouldn’t. Not completely, anyway, to the point where she might kill him, so this was his only comfort as he stood there, watching his wife with no shortage of properly abashed terror in his big blue eyes.

”Blimey, Dromeda, d’you really think I had time to send an owl?” he asked - not impatient or annoyed, just in a sort of questioning manner… like it may very well have been possible but he simply didn’t know how to properly accomplish it. But at the same time… he honestly couldn’t see how. When he’d first decided that he’d show up to the rally after his morning shift, Ted had just assumed it would have been a peaceful gathering. After all, he’d had to make his stand for werewolf rights in his own way. If he wasn’t going to fight in the war, then he had to do something. It was just the curse of being Ted Tonks. He couldn’t fight, but he felt obligated to do his part. As Andromeda got to her feet, Ted gulped and held his hands out in a surrendering gesture. ”Sweetheart, listen, it wasn’t meant to-“

He really did feel guilty, and he wasn’t sure she knew just how bad he felt that this had all gone so badly. Ted really had meant to come home the second it looked like things were getting a little rough, but… well… Ted had gotten caught up in the whole thing. He looked rightfully ashamed as his dear Andie continued her tirade - he also didn’t have the courage to meet her eyes as she started at him. Ted did wince a little when her hands descended on his shoulders, worried about the very shaking she might have intended to do, but he looked up the second he heard the thunder. Then his gaze returned down to his wife, finally feeling brave enough to look at her, just in time to see her expression melt as she pulled him in for a hug.

Letting out a deep sigh of his own, Ted wrapped his good arm around his wife’s shoulders and squeezed her just as tightly, his thumb grazing her arm. He bent his head down to kiss her on the top of her head, knowing (or hoping, at least) that the worst of this encounter was over. ”Shh, ‘Dromeda, s’alright,” he said gruffly. ”I’m fine, love, I’ll always come home to you, you hear?”

As she pulled back and assessed him, Ted simply let her. Now that the rage appeared to be all but gone, Ted knew better than to protest his wife’s demands, however small they may be. When she took his hand, he freely intertwined his fingers with hers as he meekly followed her out to their living room. They were both trained Healers, even if she no longer worked at the hospital, so Ted knew he was in more than capable hands. He’d just been hoping that he’d been healed and made to look good as new before he’d gotten home, so Andromeda wouldn’t have had to see it. But that ship had sailed. So with that, he practically plopped himself into an armchair, obediently waiting for his wife to finish looking over him.

”I have to tell you, ‘Dromeda, it was never supposed to end in violence the way it did. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known, love. I was trying to get home, honest I was, but I got… distracted.” It was probably the best explanation he could come up with, even if it was fairly shoddy. ”I’m sorry.” He gave her the best apologetic, pleading expression he could muster in light of the current situation, a silent request for Andromeda to forgive him out loud for his mistake.

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

Judging by the expression on Ted’s face, Andie was clearly working herself up into a proper fit- and for once, she really didn’t give a damn. To say that her life had been stressful as of late would have been the largest understatement in the world, what with Dora being turned into a werewolf (and shunning her even harder than Bella had, all those years ago, when she had been outed as a blood traitor,) and the absolutely horrid feeling of helplessness that weighed her down daily, given that she couldn’t do a damn thing to help her. To have her husband be involved in a riot at the end of the day certainly didn’t help things- in fact, it was simply the final straw. Andie had been holding herself together for entirely too long, and she had finally had it.


”Now, Dromeda, love, you know I was just-“



“Just what?” She snapped at him. Her green eyes, normally a deep emerald, were dark with her anger. “Just trying to get yourself killed? Just trying to one up your daughter in a who-can-make-Meda-have-a-heart-attack-today?” Okay, that wasn’t entirely fair- Dora hadn’t had any real control over what had happened to her. Ted had chosen to go that rally when he knew how high tensions were in the wizarding world. Right now, it was hardly a distinction Andie wanted to make. “You’re both doing an AMAZING job at it- O for effort!” Her voice was cold and clipped, her dark sarcasm, usually buried, showing through. Andie didn’t often sit around and mope about the bad things that happened to her, it wasn’t her style- but when she did, she definitely lived up to the Black family’s reputation for being dramatic about it.



”Blimey, Dromeda, d’you really think I had time to send an owl?”



She stared at him, not even bothering to reply, despite the “you’re being so stupid I could slap you” expression on her face. He had her there, and she knew it- not that she would admit it out loud. Point for Ted.



”Sweetheart, listen, it wasn’t meant to-“



She took a deep breath through her nose, letting it out in a small hiss as she tried to reign in her temper. It didn’t quite work, but her voice at least sounded more stable. “What. If it had. Been. Me.” She spoke each word slowly and deliberately. “Can you blame me for being mad, Ted? Dora’s out there nearly getting herself killed every day and can’t even be bothered to owl home, and you go waltzing into a werewolf rights gathering like it’s a bloody Quidditch match. People are dying, Ted- you know that! I’ll be damned if I let you get yourself killed being stupid!”



Did Andie believe in werewolf rights? Well, it wasn’t something she had given much thought to before her daughter’s “problem,” but the truth was, Andie didn’t see how they were any more of a monster than she was- she had gone through some serious shit and was still considered “well adjusted.” Werewolves just… had the period from hell, as far as Andie was concerned. But still, while she did support the movement, Andie wasn’t so blind as to even dream that going to a gathering was a good idea- particularly when it would be just the sort of place for death eaters to target to start a fight. “That’s all I want to know, Ted. If it had been me, then what?”



”Shh, ‘Dromeda, s’alrigh. I’m fine, love, I’ll always come home to you, you hear?”



“That’s what everyone thinks- that they’ll make it through this war unscathed, that it’ll happen to, oh, I don’t know, the neighbors but not them. I just…. I don’t want you sticking your neck out and looking for trouble, Ted.” She rubbed her eyes on the back of her hand before looking up at him, her concern evident in her face. “I can’t lose you, Ted. I won’t.”



She led him into the living room and turned on the light as he sat down, making an impatient gesture with her hand for him to remove his shirt- a gesture that, on another night, might have been more playful but certainly wasn’t with the expression on Andie’s face. She ran her fingers very lightly around the burns, her expression going blank and unreadable. “They really hurt you,” she said quietly, doing her best to keep her voice emotionless, but it gave a little wobble. “I can tell someone’s already started healing them.” She impatiently pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’ll go get the salve,” she mumbled, heading off towards her workroom. Andie had been the third best at potions during her time, beaten only by Lily Evans and Severus Snape- and while it had got her into advanced potions, she had not been afforded the Slughorn nod she had expected at the time. Still, Andie’s concoctions were almost infamous- no one could quite replicate her remedies, and she had no interest in divulging her secrets. The truth was, there wasn’t better to be found, and Andie didn’t often share.



She returned with a small green container, labeled in her elegant cursive, and twisted off the lid before dipping her fingers into the salve. It was pleasantly warm as she applied it to the burns, not saying a word. It was hard to tell what Andie was thinking, and the only time her concentration broke was when her eyes flicked upwards at the ceiling after another peal of thunder. “You’ll live.”



”I have to tell you, ‘Dromeda, it was never supposed to end in violence the way it did. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known, love. I was trying to get home, honest I was, but I got… distracted. I’m sorry.”



“I know.” Andie said gently, leaning down to kiss him. “I’m sorry. I’m just… stressed. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I was just… so scared that you were gone. That you weren't coming back.” She sat in his lap, resting her head against his uninjured shoulder as the rain lashed at the windows.

Wordz:1015
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration None!
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

”Oi, now you know that’s never what I-“ Ted sighed as he realized that speaking was probably pointless - anything he said would more than likely drive his dear wife into a further rage. So he essentially stood there and listened quietly as she continued, knowing that sooner or later that without any fuel she’d die down just like a fire. He felt guilty for going to the rally, he really did, but not because he’d gone. He was sorry because he’d allowed himself to get distracted and that he hadn’t come home the second that things had gotten nasty. That was his fault, and he was willing to accept it just as much as the fact that he was a dreadful duelist had led to some burns on his arm.

Besides, his chief concern right now was making sure his wife didn’t sink into a full on rage, which from her voice and her expression, she looked dangerously close to doing. Ted loved every bit of his Dromeda, but she was a force to be reckoned with when she completely lost it. Anybody within a fifty mile radius of that anger, he knew, probably needed to run the second Andromeda picked up her wand and decided that the people around her needed to pay for whatever hell they may or may not have put her through. All Ted could really say was, ”Love, I’m sorry, I really am.”

This war was hard on them. It was hard on both of them, and Ted knew it was only going to get worse. Keeping their heads low was difficult, when they had a daughter so involved in the fight, and Ted himself practically had a target painted on his back for being a muggleborn. Not to mention he was married to Andromeda, a Black, who had prominent ties to the pureblooded wizarding community and was in even more danger because she was labeled as a blood traitor for marrying him, of all people. It still was completely bizarre to him that out of all the men she could have fallen for, that she could have dated, married… she chose him. She’d practically been a princess who’d thrown away everything for someone who was essentially the lowest of the low. It still blew him away to this very day, and as he considered this, how hard life had to be for her, his eyes softened as he just started to gaze at his wife with a mixture of affection and awe. It was one of those glazed over looks he had rather often.

He gave her an innocent smile as she glared at him, but it was a smile that melted rather quickly when she asked her question. What if Andromeda had been in the middle of that riot? Ted didn’t even want to think about it, but there the thought was just the same, because she’d drawn up the idea. The very thought of her in danger automatically made his throat close up, and it was a second before he was even able to open his mouth and say,

”I just… I wouldn’t have wanted you in danger, Dromeda. Something could have happened, I know.” But Andromeda had a point. It was just that… Ted hated just sitting idly by. He really, truly did. He was no Gryffindor, he never had been, but it was his friends, his peers, that were sticking their necks out on the line to defend people like him. Hell, even kids were risking their lives to fight for muggleborns, people who were blessed with magic despite their nonmagical heritage. People were trying to defend him, and the fact that he couldn’t defend himself frustrated him to no end. But he’d never leave Andromeda unprotected. He could never do that. Plus he just loved her too damn much.

Ted just sighed as he held her close and then let her take a few steps back, eyeing her with an almost wary adoration. He didn’t want to say anything that might set her off again, but at the same time he wished he could chase away all these dark thoughts in her mind, to protect her from her own fears. ”I didn’t mean to go looking for trouble, sweetheart, you know I’ve never been a huge fan of trouble. I have enough of that with you to last me a lifetime.” Cracking one of his usual jokes in an almost tentative manner, he gave her a signature smile. ”But you won’t lose me, ‘Dromeda. I promise you won’t.” There wasn’t much a husband could promise to his wife in wartime, but Ted was not only determined to keep his, he was going to do his damnedest to do just that.

He couldn’t help but chuckle as she gestured for the shirt to come off, recognizing and knowing what the usual context for such a gesture was, and without arguing, Ted reached up over his head with his good hand and pulled his shirt until it was finally off. He hissed slightly when it agitated the burns, but he didn’t dare make too much pained noise for fear it would just give Andromeda more reason to be angry.

The former Hufflepuff just watched his wife with loving and watchful eyes as she tended to him, remembering just this was honestly probably one of the reasons he loved her so much. She was probably one of the best, fiercest witches he knew, and he just let her concentrate. ”S’not so bad,” he mumbled, but he was mostly saying it just for Andromeda’s benefit. Despite the painkilling draught he’d been given, he could still feel the tenderness and burn of the skin every time he moved it, even if it as only a brief flash instead of the constant throbbing. ”My damn Shield Charm wasn’t what it should have been, s’all.” He just allowed her to apply the salve without another word.

He gently kissed her back. ”Shh, ‘Dromeda, you had your reasons, I know. You had every right. But I’m not gone, and I’m right here.” As she sat on his lap, he gently wrapped his good arm around her waist and tugged her closer. He twisted his head slightly to press his lips against her forehead before resting his head against hers. ”I’m sorry, ‘Dromeda, I really am. I just... well, you know how I feel about just doing nothing. It’s going to be nasty this time, love, I can feel it, I just… I don’t know what to do.”

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

”Oi, now you know that’s never what I-“


Andie didn’t give him a chance to finish. It was like a dam had opened in her, and all of the anger and frustration of the last lifetime was spilling out of her. Ever since she could remember, her mother had taught her the importance of poise- a lady did not show her anger. A lady did not postulate and go off on a tangent. A lady remembered, at all times, that she was being watched- and she plotted. Andie might not have absorbed much of her mother’s teaching, but she had absorbed that. The fact that she had chose to go against it, railing at her husband instead, was a sure sign of weakness- another of the things that Druella had told her never to show. Andie was shaken, and she was weak- but it didn’t matter. Pleasant or not, she knew this side of her was still safe with Ted- he was the only one who could watch her fall apart, and know that she wasn’t by any means weak. Andie was a survivor of circumstances many a better witch had been crushed under, and if it made her a little neurotic and paranoid at the end of the day, well, she was just happy not to be in St. Mungo’s herself.



”Love, I’m sorry, I really am.”



Andie made a derisive noise in the back of her throat. Did Ted mean it? Yes, she was certain he did. But that didn’t change things. It didn’t make her feel any better, in the end. But what good was yelling at him? All Andie was achieving was making Ted feel nearly as miserable as she did, and instead of feeling accomplished (yes mother, she thought dryly, isn’t bludgeoning someone supposed to be the most liberating feeling?), Andie just felt tired, and so very old. Every day, her world got a little smaller, while the outside grew bigger and darker. There were so many people that wanted her loved ones dead- who was to say that one day, the odds wouldn’t be in her favor? Shaking her head, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Her piss poor mood wasn’t Ted’s fault, not really, and she was ashamed she had blown up at him like she had. Still- she could not bring herself to apologize, to say that it was fine when it wasn’t.



”I just… I wouldn’t have wanted you in danger, Dromeda. Something could have happened, I know.”



“Something.” She repeated, folding her arms over her chest. To a stranger, she might have appeared defiant, but the truth was, she was forcibly holding herself together. “Ted, during the first war, one hundred and thirty seven ‘blood traitors’ were executed. Seven hundred and ninety three muggleborns were tortured, held captive, and ultimately killed. So many muggles that no one even bothered counting. Thirteen werewolves. That’s… that’s all I’m saying.” Oh, how many times had Druella crowed about those numbers, committing them to her daughters’ memories? ‘Blood has to be spilled, Andromeda,’ Druella had snapped at her middle child when Andie had seemed less than enthusiastic. ‘It’s the price of your privileged life. Think of them as house elves- merely a trifle. Easily replaced. Step on the bones and move on.’ Andie blinked the memory away and swallowed the lump in her throat. “They wouldn’t think anything to kill any one of us.” Especially me, the biggest living traitor the Blacks ever conceived.



”I didn’t mean to go looking for trouble, sweetheart, you know I’ve never been a huge fan of trouble. I have enough of that with you to last me a lifetime. But you won’t lose me, ‘Dromeda. I promise you won’t.”



She forced a small smile in response to his, though it was definitely more for his benefit than her own less than fuzzy feelings. His words, though clearly meant to be funny, were a bit too true, and they hit an old bruise. How much easier would Ted’s life had been if Andie hadn’t kissed him that day on the Quidditch pitch? Andie was too selfish to ever consider really giving him up, but the what ifs were definitely a way to pass the time when he wasn’t around- and Merlin knows she had way too much free time. “I’m holding you to that, Ted. I mean it.”



While she might not have heard it, Andie knew how to read her husband’s expressions as if they were her own, and she frowned at him. She knew that Ted often tried to shield her from things he knew she would not like, or that would scare her even further, but for once, she wasn’t going to play along. As far as Andie was concerned, she was the only one who had any idea what she was doing- no one was good enough to take care of her Ted.



”S’not so bad,”



“You’re a shitty liar, love.”



”My damn Shield Charm wasn’t what it should have been, s’all.”



“Do I need to teach you how to duel?” It wasn’t the first time Andie had suggested it, but it was the first time that she didn’t sound even remotely like she was joking. It was practically impossible to grow up a Black without learning how to play dirty, and Andie had always been a rather apt pupil, as her N.E.W.T.S. had attested. “It would probably make me feel better,” she mumbled. At least she could say that about her daughter: Dora had taken after her when it came to defensive spellwork.



”Shh, ‘Dromeda, you had your reasons, I know. You had every right. But I’m not gone, and I’m right here.”

“I’m so tired of having to be scared all the time,” she sighed, tracing her fingers absently on his chest, careful not to touch his burns. “It’s enough to make me want to, I don’t know, pick a side and fight just to fight. I’m so tired of hiding.”



”I’m sorry, ‘Dromeda, I really am. I just... well, you know how I feel about just doing nothing. It’s going to be nasty this time, love, I can feel it, I just… I don’t know what to do.”



She raised a finger to his lips, holding his gaze as she shushed him gently. “Stop apologizing, Ted. It’s… just who you are. I shouldn’t yell at you for that.” She gave him the first genuine smile she had given anyone in what felt like days, since she had found out about her daughter’s condition. “You get yourself into bad situations and scare the shit out of me- and I blast through walls to get back to you. It’s what we do, I suppose. We don’t know how to be any other way.”

Wordz:1134
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration None!
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

To Ted, he was rather sure that he had met no stronger person on this planet than the woman he’d found in Andromeda. When they’d first met, of course he’d assumed that she was everything everyone else had said she was. She was a Black, a lady poised to take her place as an arm ornament to some stuffy pureblood bloke. Beautiful, yes, but he’d made the very wrong assumption that she was just like the rest of them. Ted was rather certain that there was nothing on this earth that would ever make Andromeda weak to him. Not in a million years.

The derisive note made Ted almost deflate, slightly, as he looked at his wife dolefully. He had no real way of knowing if she actually accepted his apology or not, because while he knew his wife inside and out, when she was angry like this, pretty much everything else seemed… masked. There were many ways in which Ted Tonks was essentially a two-legged, grown up puppy. Like a dog, he knew when he was being yelled at. And his main reaction was to just sit there and look at his wife pleadingly until her tirade was over when she’d forgive him again. And if she didn’t show signs of forgiving him right away, he’d do everything in his power to make her acknowledge how badly he felt about whatever he’d done to make her upset.

But the deflation just turned to relative anxiety once more as he watched her fold her arms across her chest. He flinched visibly at the numbers. ”Nobody got killed there, Dromeda, there were some serious injuries but even if I’d gotten worse I would have been fine,” Ted told her, but realizing that he’d said and how angry that could possibly make her, he instantly backtracked. ”But I know, I understand. I’ll take better care of myself, I promise. I’ll take better care of you and me. No more political rallies.”

At the same time… Ted wasn’t sure he could keep that promise, simply because of how involved he felt obligated to be. His daughter was now a werewolf - he’d had nothing but good intentions when he’d gone to the rally, hoping to take some kind of stand for his daughter whom he loved so much. Even taking a stand for Remus, in a way, even though Ted wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the younger man at this present time, knowing what he was pretty sure he knew about his current state of affairs dealing with Ted’s little Dora. And Andromeda was right. They were living in the midst of a war, and sometimes you just couldn’t control the circumstances. But, for his wife’s sake, Ted knew that he at least had to try.

Even though the smile was small, and Ted could see that it was a little strained, he gave her a wide grin right back. Being the puppy that he was, he couldn’t even tell that his joke had sparked up old insecurities - in fact he was rather preoccupied with the very fact that he’d just made her smile, and to him that meant more than anything in the world. But the grin melted away rather quickly, as it seemed happiness wasn’t exactly something that could last long in a situation like this. ”I know you will, love,” he said in response to her. ”Nothing’s going to happen to you or me, or our little Dora. We’ll protect ourselves no matter what happens, alright?” They were a family, after all, and even though Dora wasn’t around as much as she used to be, nor did she contact them as much as she could, they still loved each other.

Ted barked out a short laugh when she called him out on trying to downplay the burns. He tried to give her a strained innocent smile as she applied the salve and he tried not to squirm from the feeling of it on his burnt skin. ”Alright, so it might have actually hit my arm instead of grazed it. We were trying to fix at St. Mungo’s before we realized it got so late,” he grumbled, though at her offer to teach him how to duel, Ted looked up in surprise at the absolute sincerity and seriousness in his wife’s voice. Sighing in something like shame, he looked down at the ground next to his current chair.

”I dunno. Maybe,” he answered quietly, just as seriously. It wasn’t that Ted was ashamed that his wife had to teach him, but rather that he had to learn at all. He’d always been a dreadful duelist, even in school - when he got picked on for being a muggleborn (and there were no shortage of times when purebloods decided he was too much of an annoyance to not hex, particularly after a Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin Quidditch match in which Hufflepuff would trounce them, which did happen a few times), he almost always lost or ended up getting cursed because defensive spells had never worked right. But also if it made Andromeda feel better, then he probably seriously needed to consider it.

The feeling of Andromeda tracing patterns on his skin gave Ted sort of a relaxing feeling, as he seemed to melt under her touch and he just held her close and let himself get lost in feeling wound around her. ”Shh, love, I know. But we’re technically on a side, remember? The one that won’t kill us just for being alive and being together. But we both know we don’t want to get directly involved with this war. We’re not warriors.” They might have been fighters, in their own way, but Ted knew in his heart of hearts that they weren’t soldiers. Soldiers fought. Soldiers were killed.

When she shushed him by pressing a finger to his lips, Ted smiled underneath them lovingly as he kissed her finger before she pulled it away. Seeing her smile just made everything feel so much better, because he could tell just as well as anyone that this was one of her genuine smiles, the kind that lifted him up. ”Nah, sometimes who I am is an idiot, I don’t blame you for yelling,” he remarked with a smile of his own. He leaned in to kiss her cheek again. ”Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t go blasting through walls this time. I make decent money, but I don’t know if I could pay our bedroom wall being blown out there, love,” he teased. ”Not entirely sure how the neighbors would have felt about it either.”

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

”Oi, now you know that’s never what I-“

She had to control her temper, Andie resolved. She needed to be more patient, more understanding, more… like Ted. She had bridged the consideration earlier, but if it had been her, she had to admit that Ted probably wouldn’t be yelling at her (angry, yes, but not yelling.) If there was anything that diffused Andie’s temper, it was that thought alone- Ted truly was her better half. She had spent a lot of their initial conversations in class trying to figure him out, how he could be so… Ted… despite how others treated him. All she had uncovered at the end was that he was genuinely a good person, and she had spent the rest of her life trying to imitate him. Now was definitely one of those “put it to the test” moments. It wasn’t Ted’s fault the world was a dark, fucked up place, and it was Andie’s job to make sure that their home was not one of those places. Though she had momentarily seemed to have forgotten it, that fact was one she had devoted her life to.


”Nobody got killed there, Dromeda, there were some serious injuries but even if I’d gotten worse I would have been fine,”



Okay, maybe she wasn’t feeling quite so zen yet. Instead of responding, she gave him a dark look.



”But I know, I understand. I’ll take better care of myself, I promise. I’ll take better care of you and me. No more political rallies.”



“Thank you.” She breathed a visible sigh of relief, looking over her shoulder to where she had dropped her wand, then made no move to get it. The truth was, the time that Andie had spent living with Ted’s family after being disowned had had an effect on her. Just because she could use magic didn’t mean that she always did anymore. In fact, more often than not, she left it by her bed or stuck it in her hair unless she truly needed it. For now, it could stay on the floor. “It’s not like the rallies will achieve anything, anyway.” She glanced back at him, her face returning to its usual paleness as the anger ebbed away. “Not while the Dark Lord is still in power.” It was such an old habit, referring to Voldemort as such, that Andie, distracted by her current situation, didn’t even notice she had reverted to it. “There’s too much history and bloodshed, and the minister’s all but useless. I want to help Dora, too, but that’s not the answer.” Look at how the “mudbloods” were treated, after all, and they had been around since the dawn of wizardkind. Society didn’t change just because you wanted it to, not overnight, and it would take a lot more than a single rally to get things moving. Andie had always been about the movements in the shadows, not those out in the open- it was practically her birthright. It was always the unseen that governed change.



”I know you will, love. Nothing’s going to happen to you or me, or our little Dora. We’ll protect ourselves no matter what happens, alright?”



She couldn’t help it, the way Ted’s words were so sincere, so convinced, made her smile. “Yes. That’s what family’s for, right?” There was nothing that she wouldn’t have done for Ted and Dora, and despite the issues that they had with each other, she knew they would do the same for her. That was the most important thing- that she had a family who loved her, that she loved in return.



”Alright, so it might have actually hit my arm instead of grazed it. We were trying to fix at St. Mungo’s before we realized it got so late,”



“At least you had enough presence of mind to have it looked at instead of hiding it from me, I suppose there’s that.” She stuck her hand back into the salve, continuing her work carefully and deliberately. “Hold still, please.” At least Ted was a better patient than Dora, who hated sitting still for any reason- particularly when she was beat up. “I’m almost done.”



”I dunno. Maybe,”



“I will, you know.” Andie had always had the patience to help those who asked- it was, after all, her who had helped her sisters with their homework when they were having issues. Andie liked learning, and she liked passing it on- and if it kept her husband alive longer, then she would do her damnedest to help Ted, despite the fact she already knew that it wasn’t his strongest subject.



”Shh, love, I know. But we’re technically on a side, remember? The one that won’t kill us just for being alive and being together. But we both know we don’t want to get directly involved with this war. We’re not warriors.”



“I know. I just wish this wasn’t happening.” Understatement, definitely. Everyone wanted the war over- it was as universal a truth as the sun rising in the morning. That didn’t make it any easier to deal with. “Things were so much easier when we thought it was over. I just wish that it really was.”

”Nah, sometimes who I am is an idiot, I don’t blame you for yelling,”



Andie chuckled softly. “You’re not an idiot. You’re just a little short-sighted sometimes. And… a very good person. I know you were only trying to help.” She kissed him again.



”Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t go blasting through walls this time. I make decent money, but I don’t know if I could pay our bedroom wall being blown out there, love. Not entirely sure how the neighbors would have felt about it either.”


Andie snickered, “Yeah, well, you never know. Sometimes it’s too much effort to walk out the front door when you’re planning on rescuing your husband from forces unseen. Sometimes you need to blow out some walls.” It had only been once, but Andie was indeed guilty as charged. She didn’t always think before she did things, at least not when it came to Ted being threatened. “I’ll try to keep it under control,” she winked, “and only blow out interior walls.”

Wordz:1031
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration None!
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

Ted knew they were past the worst of this, and it showed in his posture as he started to relax a little bit. He was still getting dark looks and resentful glares, but he knew that eventually his naturally cheery and warm attitude would thaw her frigid anger. It almost always did. It was one of the many things that he loved about being with Andromeda. No matter what he did, he could almost always ease her anger - not that he did things to make her angry on purpose (teasing her and seeing her get adorably flustered or frustrated, on the other hand, now that was a different story). While things between them weren’t always easy, he could always rest assured that they would always get through it.

So when Andromeda thanked him for saying he wouldn’t go to anymore rallies and looked over her shoulder at her own wand, Ted let out a sigh of relief and flashed her a genuine smile when she looked back in his direction, especially when he noted how the angry flush was slowly disappearing from her normally pale cheeks. ”I know, I just…” Andromeda had a valid point about rallies being virtually pointless. ”I thought it was a good idea at the time.” And there it was.

Ted Tonks had never been a particularly thoughtful person - for the most part, he just did things because they looked fun or he had the urge to. While he wasn’t an incredibly impulsive person who did really stupid things (though if you counted the rally as something really stupid, that was probably a point against Ted), he still did things simply because they felt right. He had courage in his own way - it was just he wasn’t stubbornly prideful like Gryffindors tended to be. He knew when to pick his battles… most of the time. And maybe this time he’d made a mistake, and he was willing to accept it.

”I understand that now,” he remarked with a sigh. It didn’t exactly bother him how Andromeda referred to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, because he knew she didn’t really see him that way, and it was all just a name, wasn’t it? ”There’s always going to be bloody idiots who have to make their own statement by being bullies. Just bothers me, that’s all. I wish there was something we could do to help her other than… than just patch her up after it’s over and wait another month.” For the first time in a long time, Ted’s voice quivered, his mind having been completely distracted and brought back to a key issue that, in reality, they as a family still had to face. ”It’s bad enough we had to deal with politics because of me being… well, my parents’ son. But now with Dora…” He let out a weary sigh. Their daughter’s newfound affliction had taken a heavy toll not just on his wife, but Ted as well.

But he smiled right back. ”’Course it is,” he said, like he’d just one a big debate and was rather smug with himself. ”And our family’s strong. We’ll make it through.” And deep down, Ted believed it with every fiber of his being.

”Well, I meant to hide it entirely by having it completely healed before I came home, but…” Ted moved to shrug but flinched when it agitated the tender skin. He gave her an apologetic smile, like he felt like something of an inconvenience for having to be taken care of. ”Clearly you can see that didn’t work out.” At the order to sit still, Ted settled into the chair and did his absolute best to not move a muscle until she was finished tending to him. ”You’re amazing, you are,” he then proceeded to tell her affectionately, smiling as he watched her work. Ted loved watching Andromeda concentrate. Even during their school days when he had the fortunate chance to study with her, more often than not he’d end up studying her more than his work. It was just something he never quite got over enjoying.

He sighed at the affirmation that she would teach him how to duel, and it wasn’t that Ted didn’t want to learn. It was that he didn’t want to have to learn. ”I… I’ll think about it. I know you will, love,” he told her, almost quietly, like he was already contemplating it. Dueling just made him feel a little uncomfortable - the thought of battling another wizard just didn’t sit well with him, not to mention if he learned from Dora he would have to think of her as an enemy. And he knew he could never do that, not in a million years.

”Well, some bastards like this so-called Dark Lord just don’t know how to die, it looks like,” he remarked gruffly. Ted was only semi-joking, he too was rather agitated (a massive understatement, naturally) that Voldemort had come back to wage war a second time. ”Sort of reminds me of my grandfather. Nasty bloke, he was. Nothing nature threw at him seemed to kill at him, the old coot.” Now with that, he was relatively joking around. Anything to make Andromeda smile.

Ted might have responded to her remarks, but before he could really open his mouth to get out his response, her lips met his and Ted rather cheerfully reciprocated. There weren’t many things he liked more than kissing Andromeda, and a majority of them were activities that probably would have to be censored. He pulled back after a moment and looked at her lovingly. ”You think too highly of me sometimes, I think,” he said, his voice a soft rumble. At her snicker and response to his other joke, though, he let out another full-on barking laugh. ”Convenience is key, I s’pose. Just make sure you think of how inconvenient it’ll be to have to pay for new walls. But thank you, love. Just interior walls should do pretty nicely.” Grinning, knowing that he was probably being just a tad greedy, he leaned in to kiss her again.

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

”I know, I just… I thought it was a good idea at the time.”


Andie rubbed her eyes, sighing. “I can’t say I wouldn’t have done it myself,” she admitted. Their daughter’s situation was so new, so fragile, that any sort of movement on the subject felt like it would be better than simply treading water. Dora was her daughter, her baby girl- if there was even a chance that Andie could have made a difference in the quality of her life right then, getting severely injured in the process seemed like a fair enough trade. Perhaps, she mused, she wasn’t mad at Ted for nearly getting himself killed (okay, she was,) but because she hadn’t thought of it first. Andie had always aired on the side of caution and would have stuck her nose up at something as mundane as a rally to get things done (money, after all, was the language anyone with power spoke- money and blood,) but for Dora, she would have sacrificed herself to the dark lord himself if she could go back and change things. “Even if it was a pointless effort.”



”I understand that now. There’s always going to be bloody idiots who have to make their own statement by being bullies. Just bothers me, that’s all. I wish there was something we could do to help her other than… than just patch her up after it’s over and wait another month.”



Andie’s gaze dropped to the floor, and she fidgeted with the hem of his shirt that she was wearing, balling it up in her fingers. There were times that Andie really had to wonder whether Dora’s resentment of her was just leftover rebelliousness, or genuine hatred. Andie had tried so hard to be the perfect mother, the one that she would have wanted and had craved as a child, but it hadn’t mattered- she had apparently failed just as badly as Druella before her. “We should have been stricter with her,” Andie mumbled. “I shouldn’t have encouraged her to do what she wanted, to go out and find herself. If I had just told her no, once even, maybe she never would have decided to become an auror. She could be something normal, a- a- I don’t know, a banker or an unspeakable. She wouldn’t… she wouldn’t have become a werewolf.”



It was the most that Andie had spoke on the subject since Dora had told them a week previously- in fact, she had remained almost alarmingly composed after the initial tears. Every time the subject was broached, Andie set her jaw stubbornly and powered forward without blinking, but while it appeared to the outside world that Andie was undaunted (or at least, as undaunted as such a topic could be,) the truth was it was another thing eating away at her when she closed her eyes.



”It’s bad enough we had to deal with politics because of me being… well, my parents’ son. But now with Dora…”



“We would have had to deal with politics either way, Ted. I wasn’t a Weasley, exactly.” She curled her toes into the carpet. It was amazing, at the end of the day, how far the shadow of the Noble House of Black reached. Andie had never fully realized until she had been removed from it. “When you decide to do something, you don’t tread lightly.” Though she tried, the joke fell flat, and she busied herself with undoing her long braid instead of looking up at him. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t regret how much trouble she had caused the both of them, just by being who she was. Ted had nothing to be ashamed of.



”’Course it is. And our family’s strong. We’ll make it through.”



“We’ve made it through a lot worse,” she agreed, reaching out to squeeze his hand.



”Well, I meant to hide it entirely by having it completely healed before I came home, but… Clearly you can see that didn’t work out.”



Andie couldn’t help the wry smile that touched her lips. “Clearly not. It doesn’t matter- I wouldn’t have accepted that you would be fine unless I did it, anyway.” To say that Andie was overprotective of her husband and child was putting it mildly, but all involved knew it was out of love.



”You’re amazing, you are,”



“You’re exaggerating.” Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced up from where she was tightening the lid back on the salve, her cheeks flushing lightly. It was amazing, all these years had passed and Ted still could make her feel like she was sixteen again. “Why are you staring at me like that?”



”I… I’ll think about it. I know you will, love,”



Though she wanted to press the issue, Andie merely nodded. She knew how Ted felt about dueling, about violence in general, and while she wanted to tell him he’d never have to use violence, Andie knew it was most likely going to turn her into a liar. She knew he would indeed think about it, and she would still be there when he made his decision- she wasn’t going to push him on this one.



”Well, some bastards like this so-called Dark Lord just don’t know how to die, it looks like. Sort of reminds me of my grandfather. Nasty bloke, he was. Nothing nature threw at him seemed to kill at him, the old coot.”



“Ted!” Shocked, Andie stared at him a moment before she started to giggle. “That’s horrible.” She paused, then started to laugh again, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she did. “I bet I can beat you, though. You never did have the misfortune of meeting my mother.” None of her family had met him, other than Sirius. They thought of him as some inferior being, as if Andie had gone mad and decided to marry a centipede- a dirty, grimy creature that would ultimately cause only destruction. Honestly, Andie was glad- she had long thought that if Ted had met them, he would have gone running in the other direction long ago.



”You think too highly of me sometimes, I think,”



“Not at all,” she replied, snuggling closer to him. “You just don’t see yourself the way I do.”



”Convenience is key, I s’pose. Just make sure you think of how inconvenient it’ll be to have to pay for new walls. But thank you, love. Just interior walls should do pretty nicely.”



“I always did find walls so constricting,” she grinned, wrapping her arms around him as they kissed. When they broke apart, she was silent as she merely took him in. Now that the fear and anger of earlier had gone, she was replaced with a warm, happy feeling inside. “With a few less walls, we could have a bigger kitchen- and speaking of kitchens, I baked you another one of those cakes you like so much.” She shifted her body to place most of her weight on the arm of the chair instead of him, allowing him the freedom to get up without jostling her or his shoulder overly much. “I missed you today.”

Wordz:1193
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration Use Somebody by Laura Jansen
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

”I should have let you know I was going, then, I’m sorry, ‘Dromeda,” Ted replied with no shortage of that same guilt in his voice. He didn’t like it when she was mad at him, or annoyed with him - he was much like a puppy in this regard too. The second Andromeda (or anyone, really) raised her voice at him, he did everything in his power to get them to show him affection again. Yes, he was raised in a boisterous household where everyone’s voices were constantly raised and one had to practically let off a booming yell to be heard, but with Ted it was all about tones and gazes. But when she added on that it had been a pointless effort, he flushed slightly as if he’d been caught with a hand in a cookie jar. ”S’pose it was a little pointless, wasn’t it?”

Immediate when he saw his wife ball up the shirt in her hands, picking at the hem, Ted immediately felt sorry for bringing it up. Granted, they hadn’t really talked about their daughter’s newfound condition since the actual day they’d found out about it, which hadn’t been all that long ago. But it was honestly something they needed to think about, or talk about, sooner or later. Because it wasn’t an issue that was just about to do away, and Ted honestly didn’t know if there was an issue at all besides what they would try to do for Dora’s new… monthly arrangements.

But at her quiet words and the expression on her face, Ted sighed, reached out, and pulled her to him, ignoring the stretching feeling on his burnt arm. He held Andromeda close for a moment, kissing her head again. ”Don’t blame yourself, love, don’t do it,” he told her quietly. ”Nothing we could have done would have prevented this, it just… it happened. You’re the best mother she could have asked for, Dromeda, don’t start thinking like that. None of those ‘what ifs’, alright?” Pushing her back slightly and bending his head down so he could look directly in her eyes, he sighed again and gently brushed a wayward strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

”Oi, now, if I’ve got nothing to blame myself for, than neither do you. Having a family with a history like that’s something to be proud of, it always was, s’not your fault that things were… complicated,” he said. Ted smiled at the attempt to joke, but it wasn’t hard to see where his wife’s thoughts were going. To Ted, being a pureblood was indeed something to be proud of, being a wizard had always fascinated him - magic and the way it somehow trickled down or popped up in random families. He wished that his brothers and sister, his parents, and all the Tonkses before him could have been magical as well. Once, it had purely been because he’d thought magic was so incredible. These days, he couldn’t help but wish it because maybe, then, Andromeda wouldn’t have had to suffer the loss of her family, which Ted grieved just as much for every day. He hadn’t lost his family, but it wasn’t hard to see the effect that losing hers had on her - and Ted hated that every day.

Ted smiled at her and squeezed her hand right back. ”That we have,” he replied simply. ”And we will again. No matter what it takes.”

”You’re honestly worse than my mum, sometimes,” he chuckled, meaning it in an entirely teasing manner. Often when he and his siblings were younger and someone would get hurt in one of their endless wrestling matches, Mrs. Tonks would almost always fret over them herself to make sure she did everything humanly possible to fix up her children herself. Then again, that was also because they were on a limited income and constant trips to the hospital wouldn’t do them much good financially.

Ted just continued to watch Andromeda, his loving smile growing into a grin the second he realized the blush forming on her cheeks. He loved it when he made her blush - it made him relatively confident that he still had his old charm that had helped her fall in love with him in the first place, or at least he’d like to think. Honestly, even though he was positive that he would never understand how he managed to win over such a beautiful, headstrong, and fierce woman like her, it still made him feel happy to know that somehow he had. ”Not exaggerating, just telling the truth like always.” And at her question, he just chuckled. ”’Cause you’re my wife, and I love you,” he told her.

He was glad she didn’t try to press the dueling, because Ted honestly didn’t know how he felt about it. While today had been a prime example of why he ought to learn how to be a better duelist… there was a part of the former Hufflepuff that was terrified of what he’d be forced to do when the time came. But the thoughts were quickly erased from his mind as a playful smirk overcame him as he once again felt smug that he’d managed to make his wife laugh, at least a little bit. He loved the sound of it, and he always had since day one. ”What? It’s true. Used to hate seeing him in the summers, up in his dingy old house. And no, s’pose I didn’t.” He was doing his best to keep this light-hearted, but he knew exactly how easy Andromeda could get wound up in thoughts about her family. ”Way he talked about other people, he and your mum might have gotten on pretty well. “

Ted snorted, but relished in the feeling and Andromeda getting a little closer. ”Whatever you say, love. The wife’s always right, isn’t she?” After all, it was what his father had always taught him, even if it was mostly meant as a joke.

There was probably nothing on this earth that got Ted to perk up as much as he did about Andromeda… but food came at a close second, especially Andromeda’s baking. His eyes brightened when she mentioned that cake had been made. ”That so?” he asked cheerfully. ”Then I think I’ll have a bite of that before bed, then.” At the thought of cake, pretty much all thought about walls disappeared, until Andromeda mentioned that she’d missed him. Ted flashed her a smile. ”Missed you too today, love. I really should have come home before the rally, maybe then I wouldn’t have been a git and gone. Other than… well… all this, everything alright?” Then, after a brief pause: ”Love, shouldn’t I put my shirt back on?”

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

”I should have let you know I was going, then, I’m sorry, ‘Dromeda,”


Andie shook her head, playing with the ends of her long hair. “You can stop apologizing, Ted. I’m not mad anymore.” She shrugged, looking up at him through her dark lashes, a habit she had exhibited often during school. “Just… don’t do it again. At least without giving me some warning first.”



”S’pose it was a little pointless, wasn’t it?”



She looked up at him, catching the flush on his face. Unable to help it, she gave him a small smile. “Relax, love. I’m not criticizing you.” One of the things that had always amazed Andie about Ted was how easy it was to read him- and how effected he was by other’s words (except, apparently, when it came to common sense where she was concerned.) Andie had been a Black since birth, being talked about came with the territory. She had known how to ignore what was being said about her before she could even talk, but Ted was the exact opposite. Often she forgot how much he was effected, and more often than not, she found herself apologizing in small gestures for her lack of thought.



”Don’t blame yourself, love, don’t do it,”



She hadn’t expected him to pull her to him, and she stumbled slightly, catching herself against him. She heard his words, yes, but that didn’t mean she believed them. Was everything Dora did her fault? No, of course not- Dora was a grown woman capable of her own decisions. But Andie knew as well as anyone else that a mother’s role in her daughter’s life was the main cause of how the daughter turned out- after all, look at her own mother. So much of what Andie was came from Druella, love or hate it. What if she had been stricter with Dora? She refused to believe it wouldn’t have made a difference.



”Nothing we could have done would have prevented this, it just… it happened. You’re the best mother she could have asked for, Dromeda, don’t start thinking like that. None of those ‘what ifs’, alright?”



She gazed into his eyes as he gently made her, but her expression didn’t change. “I can’t help it,” she whispered apologetically. “She doesn’t even speak to me half the time. In fact, I’m surprised she even came over here at all- or that she told me.” To say that her daughter’s resentment was distressing wasn’t quite describing the magnitude of the effect it had on her. Andie had no doubt of Ted’s feelings about her, but Dora? Half the time, she wasn’t even sure Dora wanted her on the same planet, let alone breathing the same air. If she hadn’t done something wrong to deserve that, then she really didn’t understand relationships at all.



”Oi, now, if I’ve got nothing to blame myself for, than neither do you. Having a family with a history like that’s something to be proud of, it always was, s’not your fault that things were… complicated,”



“Complicated is one way to describe it,” she muttered wryly. “Having a family that accepts you- and those you love- without question is something to be proud of. Having a family that doesn’t give a shit what the neighbors are doing behind closed doors is something to be proud of. My family wouldn’t have accepted you if you were the greatest, richest, most powerful wizard in the world. That’s their loss, not mine.” Andie’s losses were numerous, but worth it. She would have been lying, however, if she said she didn’t miss her sister. For a good portion of her life, Narcissa had been by Andromeda’s side through everything- until Ted. Andie had never had the heart to ask, but she knew, deep down within her, that it had been Narcissa who had betrayed her in the end, forcing her to make her decision and end her time in limbo. She was fairly sure she hadn’t made the choice anyone had expected of her- particularly Narcissa- but she didn’t care. If she had turned her back on Ted and walked away like her family had wanted, she would have kept them, but she knew she would never forgive herself. By the time the news had broke, he had already stolen her heart. She could have got up the next day, and the next, and married someone else- but she wouldn’t have been happy. She couldn’t have been. He was everything to her. Though it hadn’t been easy, it had been the right decision. Andie was still convinced of that.


”You’re honestly worse than my mum, sometimes,”



Andie smirked. “There’s a difference,” she said simply. “You love it when I do it.” She winked at him. For the first few weeks of their meeting (when Andie had been crashing at their house, nonetheless,) she had a tough time competing for who spoiled Ted more- and an even harder time proving she was worthy of him in his mother’s eyes. Surprisingly, Mrs. Tonks had seemed to see that Andie, while unconventional about pretty much everything she did, genuinely loved Ted. She had even earned his mother’s blessing. “And I can petrify you to the chair, if I have to.”



”Not exaggerating, just telling the truth like always.”



“Again,” she said, leaning forward so their noses were playfully touching. “You’re a shitty liar, Ted.” Despite her teasing words, she was still blushing.



”’Cause you’re my wife, and I love you,”



“I love you too, even if you’re a flatterer,” she grinned. It was an old joke between them- the first time he had tried to get her to go out with him, she had panicked, mocking his sincere compliment as flattery. If she had known in advance how happy he would make her, she wouldn’t have even bothered with a fight at all.



”What? It’s true. Used to hate seeing him in the summers, up in his dingy old house. And no, s’pose I didn’t.”



“Horrible,” she shook her head, trying to look disapproving and failing, “you’re horrible.”



”Way he talked about other people, he and your mum might have gotten on pretty well. “



“My mother couldn’t get along with her own reflection,” Andie mused, raising a brow. “She enjoyed being disagreeable just to be disagreeable. Besides, he couldn’t be all bad- he raised your father, who in turn raised you, and if you ask me,” she grinned, “you turned out pretty okay.”



”Whatever you say, love. The wife’s always right, isn’t she?”



“The most important rule of marriage, after all.”



”That so? Then I think I’ll have a bite of that before bed, then.”



Andie rolled her eyes good naturedly. She wasn’t much of a sweets person, but her husband would probably trade his left arm for a piece of taffy. If that was all it took to make him happy, well, Andie made sure there was always something freshly baked around. “If you didn’t, I’d wonder if they fried more than your arm.”



”Missed you too today, love. I really should have come home before the rally, maybe then I wouldn’t have been a git and gone. Other than… well… all this, everything alright?”



She shrugged, tucking her legs carefully under her on the arm of the chair, balancing precariously. “I can’t complain,” she answered honestly. She lived a good life- a loving husband, a healthy daughter, and while she might not have been as rich as she once was, she didn’t have to worry or want for anything. She just wished that eight hours didn’t feel like fifteen when she was all by herself. Their quaint little house felt like an abandoned palace when she was all alone.



”Love, shouldn’t I put my shirt back on?”



“Shirt?” She repeated innocently. “What shirt? This shirt?” She held his shirt away from him, knowing very well that if he cared to exert any effort at all, he would have it from her, given his arms were longer. “I don’t think I’m aware of what shirt you’re talking about, love, perhaps you should be more specific.” She grinned, her green eyes glittering playfully.
"What could you ever want a shirt for?"

Wordz:1367
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration 17 Crimes - AFI
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]

[Deleted]

I don't know where this road is going to lead me

At the assurance that Andromeda was no longer angry with him, Ted just blinked, not having realized this. ”Oh,” was his only response as he visibly perked up. There was honestly nobody in the world that he loved more than his beloved wife (though of course Dora came at a very close second and his family as a relatively close third), and having her angry with him just wasn’t an option that Ted was ever okay living with. ”I won’t, Dromeda, I promise,” he assured her with almost an overly eager tone.

The truth was that Ted had been in love with Andromeda probably from the moment they started sitting together in Charms class all those years ago. The fact that nobody had been brave enough to sit next to her in a class of Slytherin and Hufflepuffs had truly been a blessing in disguise. Sure, when he first started noticing girls in a different sort of way than when he did as a child, yeah - Andromeda had been beautiful, and it didn’t even take an idiot to recognize that. But once he actually started to get to know her - notice her little quirks, the way she spoke, the fiery and passionate young woman she hid under the Black name and pureblood guise she was forced to wear… it was hard to say when it was that he fell in love with her exactly. Ever since, the very idea that she could ever be angry with him tore him apart inside.

The other thing about loving and knowing Andromeda was the fact that Ted really did know her. Which was why he knew that even if he told her that it wasn’t her fault, what had happened to Dora, that she probably wouldn’t believe him. She was too stubborn (or smart, however you wanted to see it) to just take people at their word sometimes. So Ted simply held her, wanting to convey with actions rather than words that he was utterly convinced that none of this was their fault. He looked down at her, meeting her eyes with his own, as he gently tried a smile to try and get her to smile back. ”Oi now, she barely speaks to me too, it’s just her way. She’s an independent lass. Got that from her mother, I reckon.” He winked at her, but the brief lightness faded. ”But it’s… hard for her, you know that. Parents always tell their children that they can tell them anything but sometimes, it… sometimes it’s harder to think that your parents would accept something. Dora loves us, Dromeda, she was just nervous to tell us what happened, that’s all. Nothing about this is your fault, understand me?” It might have been one of the very rare times that Ted Tonks was trying to be firm, but he had to make his wife understand.

Ted sighed and wrapped his arms even tighter around Andromeda, wishing there was something that could have been done about Andromeda’s family. Despite her words, he felt a slight pang and some of the old insecurities that once plagued him as a teenager came back to him. ”I s’pose so, but… but they were still your family. Still are, I ought to say. Can’t do anything about who you’re related to by blood.” Even though of course there were times that Ted wished he could. It was just that, maybe if he had been the richest, most powerful man he could have been - a better wizard perhaps, a man with more influence… maybe her family would have looked twice. And maybe his beloved wife wouldn’t have had to forsake almost everything she’d ever known for him.

He laughed at her next remark, shrugging hopelessly but trying to suppress a slight wince when it upset his shoulder. He’d have to get used to that until it was fully healed. ”What can I say? The whole wife-and-healer combo is rather sexy in my book, so I have to say you got me there.” And while he snorted at what she said next, that didn’t mean he believed it to be any less true. “Oh, I know you can, love,” he said. ”I s’pose that’s just extra motivation for me to behave.” He grinned at her. At the core, Andromeda truly was his best friend on top of everything else. It was one of the many reasons he loved her so much.

”Nah, this time I’m telling the truth, so I think you’re just a shoddy listener, is all.” Ted told her, winking at her again. ”I don’t think you can hear me over that cute little blush of yours.”

A flatterer he was, but at the same time, Ted Tonks truly believed every word that came out of his mouth - most of them, anyway. At least when it came to things about Andromeda, Ted was always truthful. Especially when it came to how he felt about her. ”But a handsome one at that, you’ve got to give me some credit here, love,” he told her jokingly.

As the conversation was now starting to take a clearly more playful turn, Ted started snickering and shaking his head right back at her. He loved making her smile, it was just a fact of life. ”Well, he was pretty bad. Maybe he and your mum should have met at some point, it might have actually been a sight to see. Even if she killed him, it would have ended up better for all.” He laughed. ”Nah, my grandmum pretty much did most of the raising, from what I understand. Besides, who knows? Maybe I’m just as ornery but we don’t know it yet.” Cheerfully, like a five-year old child, he stuck his tongue out at her like he was trying to start a disagreement himself… a disagreement between children as opposed to married adults.

”Nah, nothing could ever take my appetite from me. Not from your cooking, anyway,” he said, going in to kiss her loudly on the cheek. Ted really did love Andromeda’s cooking, and while she might not have been fantastic at first, he honestly probably would have loved it either way. Ted had never been a bloke who was particularly picky about what he shoved into his mouth. But at her shrug, he looked at her curiously, debating whether or not he ought to follow up. Her noncommittal answer concerned him, but Ted also knew that sometimes his wife was just quieter on certain topics. ”I can try and start to get shorter shifts, love, if you want. The hospital’s been relatively quiet, save for today.” The reason why being rather obvious.

At her inquiring about the shirt and holding it away from him, Ted just tilted his head and contemplated whether or not he actually wanted to make the effort to take it back, because he knew he certainly could. While Andie wasn’t fragile by any means and had him under her thumb, physically he was still relatively stronger than she was. And taller, and therefore had longer arms. But shortly he decided that no, it wasn’t worth the effort, so he just grinned mischievously. ”Well, to keep me warm for one thing,” he remarked. ”But if my wife doesn’t want to give me my shirt back, I suppose she’ll also just have to settle for keeping me warm herself instead.” Grinning and doing this as gently as possible, he reached out and tugged her off the arm of his chair back into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her close, partially for body heat and also simply because he could.

But I'm hoping that with you I can make it through

Template by Varon

[Deleted]

The change in Ted as he realized that she wasn’t angry anymore was nearly comical, and Andie tried very hard to suppress a grin- turning it into a small smirk instead. She had to admit that she found his attitude towards anyone’s anger (but hers in particular,) to be endearing- had she been in his position, she would have stuck her nose in the air and stalked off with a huff, trying to preserve what dignity she had, but that was what was fundamentally different about her and Ted: he was a good person, and she, while good at heart, sometimes forgot that being right didn’t matter so much.


”I won’t, Dromeda, I promise,”



She shook her head, but she smiled. She knew Ted might not go out to another rally anytime soon, but she knew they would most likely be having this conversation again in a short amount of time. She might have Ted wrapped around her finger (both to her admittance and his,) but he was, in his own way, just as stubborn as she was, and he was desperate to do good. He would find another cause- and she would find another reason to worry about him. It was simply how it worked, and while at times it scared the hell out of Andie, she wouldn’t have changed that part of him for anything.



”Oi now, she barely speaks to me too, it’s just her way. She’s an independent lass. Got that from her mother, I reckon.”



Andie knew he was trying to make her feel better, just as he had so many times before- and what was worse was that she knew he was right. Dora was independent- and it was something her mother had had in spades since birth. But knowing the why didn’t help her feel any better about the outcome it had produced- and Andie knew that Dora’s relationship with Ted, while she didn’t talk to him as much either, was a lot stronger.



”But it’s… hard for her, you know that. Parents always tell their children that they can tell them anything but sometimes, it… sometimes it’s harder to think that your parents would accept something. Dora loves us, Dromeda, she was just nervous to tell us what happened, that’s all. Nothing about this is your fault, understand me?”



“She has never told me anything that I have not accepted.” Feeling her husband’s gaze burning into her, trying to make her understand, Andie dropped her own and rubbed her eyes. “I have no right to, given what’s happened to us. I bit my tongue when she said she fancied Remus- it wasn’t any of my business, and I damn well am not telling her who she can and can’t be around, even if I didn’t like it. And now…” Andie sighed. She felt like she was being punished for something she had done, but she didn’t understand what it was. At least when Druella would go off on her rages and ignore her (before she had run off with Ted, that is, and got herself blasted off the tree,) she was predictable enough for Andie to have a pretty good idea why she was angry. “I just don’t understand what goes on in Dora’s head.”



”I s’pose so, but… but they were still your family. Still are, I ought to say. Can’t do anything about who you’re related to by blood.”



“I think they missed the owl, love,” she answered wryly. “They would feed me to a hippogriff before they’d ever admit that I’m related to them.” She searched his face, frowning stubbornly at him. “You’re my family now. I chose you- and that was worth being blasted off that damn tapestry. Please don’t ever think I regret that choice.” She squeezed him gently. When he had first sat next to her in Charms all those years ago, Andie had never considered that he would be the catalyst in her then unhappy life. In fact, she hadn’t thought much about him at all, when he had first joined her, other than another person that she would have to drag through yet another class. That was the first thing that had surprised her about Ted- Andie hadn’t had to drag him at all, he had been more than capable of holding his own. It was a genuine respect of that that had first started Andie looking further into him- and she hadn’t been disappointed.



”What can I say? The whole wife-and-healer combo is rather sexy in my book, so I have to say you got me there.”



Andie rolled her eyes, but laughed. “Good thing you do, since that’s what you got.” She had enjoyed their time in training together, because they had spent so much of it together, even though they would ultimately end up on separate floors- Ted to Charms, and Andie to potions and plants. Both had had to learn enough of the other to be able to help, if needed, and when they had both been in training, their paths crossed quite frequently. When they had both been made official, Andie had taken to sending departmental memos charmed into origami animals up to the next floor with various funny tales of her day.



“Oh, I know you can, love. I s’pose that’s just extra motivation for me to behave.”



“You never have before,” Andie smirked. “Why would you start now?”



”Nah, this time I’m telling the truth, so I think you’re just a shoddy listener, is all. I don’t think you can hear me over that cute little blush of yours.”



Surprised, her mouth opened for a moment as she tried to formulate a response- and came up with nothing, making her blush deepen. “That’s…” She shook her head. It was very rare that Andie didn’t come up with something to say, and it truly was a victory when she couldn’t.



”But a handsome one at that, you’ve got to give me some credit here, love,”



“Fishing for compliments, love?” Andie teased. She gave him a playful nudge, something she had often done in class when no one was looking and she couldn’t outright speak to him because it might get back to her sisters. “All right, I guess you’re handsome. For a Hufflepuff.” She winked.



”Well, he was pretty bad. Maybe he and your mum should have met at some point, it might have actually been a sight to see. Even if she killed him, it would have ended up better for all. Nah, my grandmum pretty much did most of the raising, from what I understand. Besides, who knows? Maybe I’m just as ornery but we don’t know it yet.”



“Oh, we know it,” Andie laughed. “People think I’m the stubborn one, but it’s all you.” She rested her head on his shoulder. When they weren’t fighting, their relationship was often like this- teasing and playful. When no one was paying attention to them in class, it was how their friendship had started- a few half hearted snide remarks on her part had become more gentle, and she had taken to scrawling in his textbooks in invisible ink when she should have been taking notes instead. Ted had been her first best friend outside of her family, and it had been so easy to fall in love with him from there.



”Nah, nothing could ever take my appetite from me. Not from your cooking, anyway,”



“This sounds like a challenge,” she laughed. “What do I have to do to get Ted to turn down something sweet?” It was an empty threat and they both knew it- Andie loved cooking for her husband, just as much as he seemed to enjoy eating it. It wasn’t often that Andie truly got to take care of him, so she did what she could.



”I can try and start to get shorter shifts, love, if you want. The hospital’s been relatively quiet, save for today.”



Andie shook her head, knowing too well that Ted could read her more easily than anyone else ever had. While she would have loved to have him home more, she knew she didn’t really have a reason to need him there. “No, I’m fine.” She gave him a small smile, trying to put him at ease. She wasn’t sure she was fooling either of them. “I just need to take up a new hobby or two to pass the time.”



”Well, to keep me warm for one thing. But if my wife doesn’t want to give me my shirt back, I suppose she’ll also just have to settle for keeping me warm herself instead.”



“It’s not that cold in here,” Andie responded innocently, trying to lean back as far as she could without falling off the arm of the chair onto the floor, but she knew it wouldn’t matter if Ted wanted it that badly. She had already fallen off furniture enough for one day. She laughed as he pulled her into his lap, dropping the shirt onto the floor as she cuddled against his chest. Before Ted, Andie had never been one for physical touch- hugs were rare, even for people she was affectionate with. After Ted, Andie couldn’t get enough of it, and she spent a good portion of her time with her husband right by his side, most often at least her hand on him if nothing else. “But I’m more than happy to oblige.”

Wordz:1569
status:complete
tagz:Ted!
notez: Awwww!
inspiration 17 Crimes - AFI
credit:this template is by monica DON’T BE STEALIN, YA HEAR???!!!!!

[/size]