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A set of weighty, ivory dress robes looked down on Andromeda. The garment was stunning, with pearls handstitched into the lace pattern, which would snake around her curves when she wore them for her wedding. When she’d tried them on at her final fitting, she’d cried, not because she felt beautiful, as her mother had claimed. She’d wept quietly, thinking of the shackles the dress represented, heavy and luxurious, that would mark the rest of her days.
It was then that she’d taken the gold she’d saved from her childhood and adolescence and sent them to the Trainee Director at St. Mungo’s, begging her to give a certain Healer trainee an entire weekend off. Andromeda, now virtually penniless, was granted part of her wish. It was up to her to make it complete.
Nothing stood in Andromeda’s way, except a lifetime of familial duties and expectations. Nothing would stop her from finding Ted, except the certain disownment she’d endure if she walked out on what was expected of her. She’d deliberated over the possibilities for months; when she’d told Ted it was over between them, it had taken no less than a miracle to keep from sobbing the rest of the train ride home from Hogwarts.
Six painful weeks apart from him had strengthened her resolve. She could envision a life without the family that raised her. She couldn’t stomach a life without the man who made her feel she was destined for more happiness than her family could ever provide.
Cygnus and Druella Black made Andromeda feel pampered, but never adored. Ted Tonks had almost nothing to his name, but what he did have was all the more precious.
No one had ever loved Andromeda the way Ted did.
A weekend bag was tucked between her legs. It was stuffed with everything she thought she might need for her new life. Hoping her newfound courage wouldn’t fail her, she tucked the bag under her arm and took one last look at her childhood bedroom. It had been an idyllic place to grow up, but it was time for her to forge her own way.
Andromeda Apparated to the Muggle neighborhood where Ted was living. She trembled, keeping her wand in her sleeve, and jumped when she heard a crash behind her. It was only a fallen dustbin, but she wouldn’t put it past her family to transfigure an ordinary object and drag her home with it.
The brick building that housed Ted’s flat was steps away. Andromeda took a deep breath and scurried up the stairs, using a charm to silently open the building’s front door, and then looked to her left to find the mailboxes for each flat. “Tonks” was written in his messy script above a sign that read 4C.
Her heart was pounding by the time she reached the fourth floor. Blood rushed in her ears; it was now or never.
Knock-knock-knock.
Silence.
Andromeda knocked more insistently. He simply had to be inside. He had to be.
“Ted,” she said anxiously, “Ted, please open the door. I know you’re in there.”
Knock-knock-knock. She leaned her forehead against the door. Knock-knock-knock.
“Edward Tonks, please. It’s me, Andromeda. Your father taught you to drive a mint green Ford—”
The door opened and Andromeda saw Ted’s golden hair. She fell into him and held on tight.
“Close the door, close the door—” she urged, afraid she was being watched or followed.
Ted closed the door. Andromeda felt his arms tighten around her and she breathed into his safe, warm chest.
“’Dromeda,” he murmured, running his fingers through her hair.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Three other words had been on the tip of her tongue since the day they parted. She needed him to know how she felt.
“I love you,” she confessed. “Ted, I love you so much. Please, can we talk?”
Ted’s chest rumbled with an unfamiliar sound. Andromeda nearly stepped back, terrified she’d made a mistake.
“I don’t have many places to sit,” he told her, gesturing to the bed behind him, “but we can talk.”
Andromeda’s gaze lingered on something shiny and gold on his nightstand. To her horror, it wasn’t a Snitch or watch, but a petite, diamond ring.
He’d already found someone else.
“Oh.”
Andromeda’s voice broke. She tapped on the box and looked back at Ted, feeling tears coming to her eyes. She was too late and he had already moved on.
“Who is she?” she asked, her heart sinking, knowing that she would have to return to her parents’ house.
“No one,” Ted muttered. He took the box and stuffed it back into the nightstand, his cheeks and neck flushing. “It’s not for anyone.”
Andromeda still stood next to his bed. Maybe, just maybe she could convince him to give her another chance. She sat down on his bed, stiff and straight-backed.
Ted pulled up the solitary chair and sat across from her. He folded his hands together, looking far more comfortable than Andromeda felt. “You wanted to talk?”
Andromeda nodded and ran her finger along Ted’s handmade quilt; perhaps that was a gift from his soon-to-be fiancée.
He’s not engaged yet, she told herself. There’s still a chance.
“I can’t marry him,” she said, her eyes on the floor.
Ted shifted in his chair. “You don’t want to marry Lestrange,” he said cautiously.
“No . . . I want to be with someone else.” Andromeda lifted her head and stared, hoping he understood.
Ted blinked at her. “’Dromeda . . . can you tell me why you’re here?”
“Ted, I love you,” she repeated quietly, looking down at her shoes. “Do you still love me?”
The millisecond of hesitation almost killed her.
“I do,” Ted replied instantly, “of course I do.”
“Would you . . .”
Andromeda wrung her hands in her lap and shivered; his confession of love was all she wanted to hear. Knowing there was another woman who he probably loved, she knew she might have to resort to begging to win him over. Once, she’d have thought that pleading for a man’s affection was beneath her, but she’d beg on her hands and knees if she could have him again.
“Please, would you want to . . . you can say no, obviously . . . I’ve been horrid to you . . .”
Ted closed the space between them and fell to his knees, taking her hands in his.
“Andromeda,” he said, her name rolling off his tongue easily, “if you’re asking me if I want to be with you, the answer is yes.”
A powerful, heady rush of joy invaded her body at once. She glanced at her bag; she’d come for more. She was here for the rest of her life.
“It’s more,” she admitted guiltily. “I can’t go back. If I’m with you, they’ll never take me back.”
Ted frowned deeply. “Your family won’t want you to visit?”
“Visit, say hello, write . . . they won’t even acknowledge me if I do this.”
Andromeda squeezed his hands. She was discarding her past and the future she was born for; surely Ted would understand what she was asking of him.
“What,” he managed to say shakily, “do you want? What is the ‘this ’ you’re suggesting?”
Swallowing hard, Andromeda replied, “I want to be with you forever, Ted Tonks. Not just at school or in secret.” It was out in the open now; Ted blinked again and parted his lips.
“It sounds like you want me to marry you.”
His voice was strained. Andromeda couldn’t look at him. She let go of his hands, sure he wouldn’t want to take that step with her. She had hurt him too badly. She hugged herself and leaned forward, trying to hide her shameful rejection. She’d get a few more minutes with Ted, but then she’d have to return to a life where she’d be Mrs. Rabastan Lestrange.
She looked up when she heard the drawer of his nightstand rattle. She watched him reach inside, take out the velvet box, and lift the lid, presenting the ring to her.
Andromeda knew she was blushing from the roots of her hair down to her neck.
“Andromeda Black,” he said reverently, “will you marry me?” He pushed a tuft of fine brown hair away from her face and she gaped, astonished that he was offering her everything she ever wanted.
“Is this really for me?” she asked, looking down at the delicate, beautiful ring.
“The ring was always for you, ‘Dromeda. I bought it last summer—”
There was no other woman and Ted’s love had never gone away. Andromeda, overwhelmed by the blissful ecstasy of being in love, took his face in her hands and kissed him.
His lips were as gentle as she remembered them. She kissed him, desperately and urgently, trying to cram six weeks’ of missing affection in one heavenly moment. They parted some time later, and Ted looked up at her with wild, dark pupils.
“Is that a yes?”
Andromeda nodded furiously, adding, “Yes, Ted, yes!” She felt giddy as he placed the ring on her hand. It was perfect in its simplicity; she adored that it was nothing ostentatious like the ring she’d had from Rabastan.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, marveling at the shiny diamond. Ted beamed at her and joined her on the bed.
“You like it? Truly?”
“I’d have married you with a ring made of twine, Ted Tonks—this is perfect.”
Ted took her face in his hand and dragged her down with him. His other hand came up to her waist, pressing her flush against his body, and she moaned, feeling his lips moving along her neck.
“You’ve made me the happiest man on earth,” he murmured. “’Dromeda, I love you.”
Andromeda’s hands moved to the hem of his shirt, desperate to feel his skin under her fingertips.
“You want to?” Ted sat up slightly, eyes widening at her.
“Only if you do,” she said, a little too quickly. “If I’ve asked too much of you tonight—”
Ted didn’t let her finish her thought. He brought her face down to his and started unclasping her robes. They came off her body and landed in a pile on the floor. Ted’s shirt and sleeping trousers came off next, which were swiftly followed by Andromeda’s thin shift dress and stockings.
“Gorgeous,” Ted breathed, when Andromeda unhooked the lacy corset squeezing her sides. His thumbs found her nipples. He rubbed them gently, making them erect, and Andromeda felt more heat pooling between her legs.
She gasped when he flipped her over, putting his knees between her legs. His pants were tight and Andromeda tugged on them, revealing his erection to her. She saw his glistening, flushed tip and licked her lips when he throbbed.
Ted sunk back down and captured her lips with his. One of his hands rested on her waist and trailed up to squeeze her breast. Her moan was lost in Ted’s mouth, but when she took his cock in her hand and pumped it, he shuddered, making a similarly helpless, pleasured sound against her lips.
“Oh Ted,” she whispered, touching him, “I missed you.”
“I—missed—you—” He struggled to speak, but his mouth came down to her neck and began a slow path along her flushed skin. She felt her grip on him loosen as he moved, but she wasn’t going to let him get away just yet. Just as his lips reached her navel, she slipped off the bed and fell to her knees.
“’Dromeda?”
“Sit, please,” she said, her pulse racing. “I want to try something for you.”
Ted did as he was told and sat on the bed, his breath hitching when she kissed the tip of his cock.
“You don’t have to—”
Andromeda gazed up at his loving, adorably nervous face. She couldn’t wait to see him fall apart around her mouth.
“You’ll tell me if you don’t like it?” she asked, the butterflies collecting in her stomach. He nodded at her, his eyes wide, and she took him inside her mouth.
The hiss of Ted’s uncontainable pleasure was music to Andromeda’s ears. His cock felt foreign in her mouth for a few moments, but as she learned what he liked, it became easier.
She snaked the tip of her tongue up and down his shaft, sucking his tip when she moved up. His fingers were in her hair, holding her steady, and his cries of ecstasy when she sucked him hard sent a rush of wetness between her legs.
“’Dromeda, ‘Dromeda, wait—”
Andromeda didn’t listen. She felt him tighten and spasm, and then she closed her lips around him, mildly shocked by the taste of his seed on her tongue. She continued sucking gently, swallowing what he was ejaculating, and breathing heavily, basking in the power she held over his body.
Ted shook around her, shuddering as he extracted himself from her mouth. His hands came to hold her face, staring at her as if he’d seen just seen the sunshine for the first time in his life.
“That was . . . amazing,” he panted. “You are . . . darling, you’re incredible.”
“I love you,” she said, running her hands along his thighs. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.”
“Come here—” Ted lifted her up and gently placed her on his bed. “Will you let me taste you like you did for me?”
The suggestion alone sent another spurt of warmth through Andromeda’s midsection.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. Ted kissed her lips and then curled his thumbs around her knickers, removing them from her so she was fully bare. He bent down, kissing a trail from her breasts to her navel, and stopped at the junction between her legs.
He glanced up at her and then he buried his face between her legs and began lapping at her. Andromeda arched off the bed, her eyes rolling to the back of her head, unprepared for the divine sensations he was eliciting from her. She clawed at his quilt, scrambling to hold onto something while his tongue flicked that center of pleasure, coaxing high-pitched, euphoric cries out of her.
She heard herself mewl pathetically when his lips wrapped around her clit. He sucked and she began seeing stars, blinding light appearing in her eyes as her frenzied body released everything it had kept tightly bound.
“Ted, Ted, Ted,” she repeated, opening her eyes to find him smiling up at her.
“You are so sexy,” he said, his voice low and husky. “Fuck—I am a lucky, lucky man.” He blazed a new trail up her body with his mouth. As he came up, Andromeda felt him against her leg. He was hard for her again and she needed him inside her.
“I need you,” Andromeda moaned. “Ted, please—”
Ted chuckled softly into her ear and positioned himself above her.
“Is this what you want?” he asked, rubbing his length between her folds.
“Please,” she begged. He didn’t make her wait; he slowly entered her, his eyes closing as he fully sheathed himself inside.
“’Dromeda,” he groaned, thrusting into her. She curled her legs around him, thrusting up in time with him, taking him deeper and deeper into her wet, wanting body. He bent down and crashed his mouth into hers, his movements becoming erratic as he lost himself within her. Andromeda loved seeing him like this, losing control and becoming a puddle in her hands.
“Come for me,” she ordered. “Fill me up, Ted. I want to be dripping with your—"
Ted cried out and suddenly stopped his motions. He shuddered above her, releasing himself into her as she ran her fingernails gently against his back.
“That’s it, my love,” she murmured, when his head fell into the crook of her neck. “Keep filling me. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”
Ted twitched above her a few more times until he finally slid off onto his side.
“You are . . . my dream come . . . true,” he wheezed, wrapping his hand around her waist. “And you’re going to be my wife!”
The sheer joy in his tone brought a smile to Andromeda’s lips. She turned on her side and snuggled into his chest.
“You’ll be my husband,” she said softly, inhaling his musky scent. “You’ll be mine forever.”
“Forever and ever,” Ted echoed, yawning. He stroked his fingers along her back and wandlessly summoned a blanket from his tiny wardrobe.
Andromeda yawned too and closed her eyes. When she woke, she’d still be with Ted. As the image of her furious parents crossed her mind, she burrowed deeper into Ted’s warm body.
He was her forever.