Fun, con't (Ted and Andi)

[Ted Tonks]

"What? No," Ted said, taking the cat from her. He was a mangled little thing, and he almost looked like a cartoon to Ted, but Andromeda had rescued him, and if she could see the good in a cat with missing whiskers and scars and.. was that one fang hanging out of its mouth? It looked like a crooked grin... and no pedigree... then maybe she could see the good in a boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

"I promise you, I am not making fun of you, Andi," he said very seriously. "I think it's very caring of you to rescue him."

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi smiled, feeling warmth spread through her as she watched him holding the cat. There was something undeniably sexy about a man holding a cat. "Thanks," she said, hiding her reddened cheeks. "He just looked so sad and pathetic, I couldn't just leave him there to die..."

She reached her hand up to her hair and suddenly remembered what she wanted to do. "Um, if you don't mind, I want to go get freshened up a bit. Maybe you two could take this opportunity to get to know each other? If you're OK with that, I mean..."

[Ted Tonks]

He nodded. "I'll be fine," he said with a smile, studying the cat to keep his thoughts of her "freshening up" clean. "Although, now that there are two of us out here, I can't promise your plants will survive."

He waited until she was gone before he squinted at the cat. "I look just as ridiculous to you as you do to me, don't I?" He asked with a smile. "I guess we both look out of place in this girl's life." He scratched the top of the cat's head before setting him down, and putting his hands in his pockets as he wandered around her living room. It was the same layout as his, except flipped backwards. Her place had the feel that a lot of effort went into making it nice.

He looked back at Aggamemnon, who was sitting on the floor looking back at Ted. "I should buy some plants, huh?"

[Andromeda Tonks]

Inside her bedroom, Andi stood for a minute, leaning her back against the door. She couldn’t stop smiling. She must have looked like a child’s doll, with a smile permanently etched on its face. But she couldn’t help it. Ted made her happy in ways she never could have imagined.

How was it possible for someone to be so perfect? She had become quite a cynic in her teenage years, probably as a product of the Black family teachings. She knew that people had flaws and that most relationships didn’t work out. Love wasn’t a fairy tale, and sometimes it hurt.

She thought, almost willingly, about a certain person she had dated in her seventh year.. Rabastan. She knew better than to fall for a pretty face, but he’d been so persuasive. He went out with her for three weeks, romancing and charming her to the best of his abilities. She had started to fall for him, just at the moment she caught him kissing another girl.

That was what she expected from men. They lied, they cheated, they said what you wanted to hear until they got what they wanted from you, then they dropped you. But Ted… Ted was different. She felt it in her heart and her soul. She was sure Rabastan would never have been so accepting of her cat. She couldn’t have imagined sleeping the night in his arms in such and innocent way as she had done last night with Ted. She’d never felt as comfortable with him as she felt with Ted. It was like a puzzle… with Ted, she just seemed to fit. It felt right. She hoped he felt the same way.

Sighing blissfully, she pulled herself away from the door and her thoughts. Walking over to the closet, she stared at her robes for a minute with a dissatisfied frown. Then she wandered over to the dresser and pulled out some muggle clothes, instead.

She chose a pair of jeans in the new style that the shopkeeper in London had assured her was all the rage. They were tight on top, but flared out at the knees. She liked the way they fit her, showing off her hips and thighs in a flattering way. She paired that with a plain black tank top and a pair of black leather boots.

Looking in the mirror, she found herself smiling again. Not too bad, she thought to herself. Except for her hair. As she’d feared, her hair had become frizzy overnight and was flying all over the place. She grabbed a brush from the top of the dresser and ran it through the dark tangles a few times, smoothing it out. Then she pulled it up into a sleek black ponytail and secured it with a leather band.

Her makeup was looking a bit smudged, so she quickly went into the bathroom and washed her face, then, to speed things up a bit, used magic to apply a fresh coat.

Finally satisfied with her appearance, she left the bedroom and headed back out to the living room. Standing in the doorway between the hall and the living room, she stopped and smiled at him. “I’m back. Did you miss me?”

[Ted Tonks]

Ted turned, a not so guilty look on his face as he had been caught looking around her living room as well. He had stopped in front of a large print of a photograph that intrigued him.

"I missed you terribly," he said, looking her over and resisting the urge to whistle. She almost looked like one of those American hippies. Except sleeker, and smarter. And he liked it. "But it was well worth the wait," he added. "You look great."

He watched her for just a moment, letting his mind wander to placed where any boy's mind would wander looking at her, and he finally blinked, gesturing to that photograph. "Where did you get this?" he asked.

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi blushed slightly at the compliment. Not that she didn't know she looked good. Though she was often critical of her own appearance, she knew today, at least, she looked almost good enough to be seen with him. She would really have to get some more muggle clothes. They suited her so much better.

She walked over and looked up at the photograph. It was a large print of a young woman walking down the streets of Rome, the wind blowing her hair and scarf behind her gracefully. She was surrounded by a bunch of men, who were all looking at her, but she seemed as if she didn't even see them. Andi smiled at the photograph.

"I got this in Italy," she said simply. "Remember my muggleborn friend I told you about? Well, she got it in her head that we should go backpacking across Europe the summer after we graduated. She wanted to do it muggle style--no magic. Sort of a last fling with muggle life. And a first for me. It was really fun, actually. We started in France, went to Belgium, then Germany, then down to Italy and Greece. But Italy... that was my favorite. And this picture... I don't know what it is about it. Something about the way the woman was so confident and didn't really seem to care that these men were looking at her. It just felt so very.... Italian. You know? Sometimes, when I'm feeling unsure of myself, I look at this picture and remind myself to be more like her."

She turned and glanced at him, trying to determine what he was thinking as she told him her story.

[Note: This is based on this photograph: www.greatmodernpictures.com/07nagilg.jpg Only I changed the description of the girl to make her seem more confident and lessened the impact of the sleazy guys leering at her. LOL. I wanted it to be more inspirational.)

[Ted Tonks]

Ted looked over the photo, and back at Andi. "Listen, love..." how did he express what he was thinking in words, without completely scaring her off? He scratched the back of his neck again. "You don't need to try and be more like anyone. From what I can see, you've already got the confidence... hell, if this were you," he gestured to the photo, silently wishing he would just shut up, but his mouth kept going. "You would probably be telling them all off." He meant it to say that she was stronger than the girl in the photo, more confident, more beautiful, but he wasn't sure how it had ended up coming out.

And then there was the story behind the photo... the fact that she had backpacked across Europe that made her even more intriguing to Ted. There was something powerful about travel, and about the people who enjoyed it.

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi laughed. "Yes, I'm pretty sure that I would," she confessed as she looked at the photograph again. "It's just that sometimes... well, everyone loses some confidence sometimes. For me.... well, when I was growing up, my mother tried to beat me down inside." She looked up at him, her usually bright eyes growing dark with sadness.

"Like I've said before, I was kind of the misfit in my family. I saw things differently, I was outspoken and, according to my mother, I was rebellious. And my mother thought these things were bad, so she tried to break my spirit, constantly telling me that I wasn't good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough... And sometimes I'd start to believe her. When someone says these things to you enough times, you almost can't help believing them. Luckily, I got enough positive reinforcement from my teachers and friends, and I'm strong and opinionated enough that I knew, deep inside, that I was right. But still, sometimes I'd start to compare myself to my sisters. And I always felt like the plain one compared to them. So I got this picture to remind me that I'm a strong woman and that I shouldn't care what other people think... the important thing is that I respect myself."

She smiled up at him, hoping he didn't think she was a basket case. Clearing her throat, she nodded towards the kitchen. "Well, should we get cooking?"

[Ted Tonks]

He was amazed that she had shared any of that with him. He felt like it meant that she trusted him quite a lot, to share anything personal like that.

He reached for her hand. "Andromeda... your mother was right." He licked his lips, keeping his eyes on hers. "You are rebelious and outspoken and have a mind of your own. But that's as far as she got it right. All of these things make you beautiful."

A small part of him hated that she didn't need him to make her feel better. She had alrady convinced herself that she was good enough, pretty enough... and he hated that she needed to do that for herself, that she had to rely on herself rather than someone who cared for her. She had a messed up family, and he wanted to be the one to make it right for her... but she'd already done it.

He took a deep breath and nodded, brushing it off. "Yeah, let's see about these eggs of yours."

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi wasn't sure why she had just spilled her guts to him about her mother, her childhood, and her stupid insecurities. But somehow it felt right, like she knew she could trust him with such personal information. It seemed like she had told him a lot about herself today; things she had never expected to tell anyone. His reaction to her story made her heart skip a beat. Before she headed into the kitchen, she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She wanted it to be longer... in fact, she wanted never to stop. But she didn't want to rush things. She liked it just the way it was, with the excitement of every touch and kiss still resonating for minutes afterward.

Her breathing steadied as she stepped over Agamemnon, who had chosen to lie sprawled out in the middle of the floor, and led Ted into the kitchen. "Now, then," she said, opening the refrigerator. "How do you like your eggs? Coddled? Over-easy? Or scrambled?"

[Ted Tonks]

"Over easy," he answered without much thought. His mother always made them scrambled for him and his father. It was one of those weird things... for some reason, his mum thought his dad liked them best scrambled, and his father had never had the heart to tell her otherwise. It was only when she was gone for one reason or another that his father made their eggs over-easy for the both of them. Ted thought that was the sign of true love, really.

He laughed inwardly at himself and thanked whatever god above that he hadn't just spilled that story outloud. "But I like eggs in general, and if you want to make them another way, it's perfectly all right with me."

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi smiled as she straightened up, holding a carton of eggs. "Well, I usually make scrambled, but I think I can give over-easy a try," she replied. She pointed at the bread box on the far countertop. "There's some fresh bread in there from the bakery in town. Want to cut some slices and work on the toast? I'll handle the eggs."

She took out a frying pan and began to heat it up on the stove, then went back to the refrigerator for the butter. "Again," she said over her shoulder, "I can't make any promises about my egg-cooking ability..."

[Ted Tonks]

"Trusting me with toast is a pretty big responsibility," Ted teased, but he was already pulling the bread from the breadbox, and looking around for utensils. "Your bread knife would be... where?" he asked, not wanting to just start going through all her drawers. The cutting board he easily enough, though. He liked that she was having him help. It meant she felt comfortable with him in her house.

"If you want to make scrambled, I really like them that way, too," he said a moment later, thinking again of his own parents.

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi looked over her shoulder at him, pointing at a drawer to the left of where he was standing. "The bread knife is in there," she replied.

As she looked at him, her heart made a funny leap in her chest. It almost seemed like they were already an old married couple, working together on breakfast in the kitchen. She could almost picture the same scene, years from now, only instead of a cranky, bedraggled looking black cat staring petulantly up at her from the floor, there would be a baby, cooing happily at the table. The thought made her smile.

Turning back to the eggs, she said firmly, "No, you asked for over-easy, that's what you're going to get. No matter how many eggs I have to ruin to get them right." To punctuate that assertion, she cracked an egg into the pan, creating a loud sizzle. This was quickly followed by another egg, and another loud sizzle.

[Ted Tonks]

Ted took out the bread knife and started on the toast. While she was thinking of a baby at the table, Ted had similar thoughts... though none that required so much commitment. He was a guy, after all. But it was undeniably sexy and attractive to him to be in a kitchen with a woman, cooking together. He liked the scene they were playing out now, and he almost hoped she did ruin the first couple of eggs, just so that it would last longer.

"Well, I do appreciate your determination," He said. "Do you have a toaster?" He asked, looking around. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't, nor would he be surprised if she did. If she did, however, he was blind for not seeing it.

[Andromeda Tonks]

"Oh... a toaster..." Andi said, turning to look back at him. "You mean those muggle devices where the toast pops up when it's done? I'm afraid I don't really use one. I just use magic to toast the bread. And would you believe I still sometimes burn it?" She chuckled. "But I'm making the eggs the muggle way, I promise."

The eggs in the pan were just about ready to turn; so far, so good. Hopefully she wouldn't mess things up now...

(Sorry, lame post, I know...)

[Ted Tonks]

Ted almost gaped at her. He ran through all the possible spells he knew that could possibly toast bread and all of them would end up with the bread on fire. "Wait," he said, leaning against the counter. "I feel... incredibly stupid for asking this, but there's a spell to make toast?"

How ridiculous was he? He couldn't even make toast for her, and she was trying so hard to make those eggs. He was pretty much useless in her kitchen.

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi laughed. Forgetting about the eggs, she walked over to him. "I just use a warming charm. If you wave your wand over it long enough, the heat will brown the bread, just like toast. Here... watch." Taking out her wand, she uttered a warming charm and then waved her glowing wand over the bread until it began to turn brown and crispy. "Or if you prefer, you could use bluebell flames, but those are a bit dodgy. That's what I used to do, and I burned more of it than I ate."

Suddenly, an acrid smell filled the air. "Oh, no! The eggs!" she cried, running over to the stove. But it was too late. The eggs were now smoky and blackened on one side. Laughing, she looked back at him. "OK, that's two down, ten to go..."

She applied a quick cleaning spell, followed by a cooling spell, to the pan and prepared to start over, taking out two more eggs.

[Ted Tonks]

Ted ran a hand through his hair, his cheeks flushing red just slightly. He was a good wizard. He was an Auror, afterall. So why had the warming spell completely escaped him? He felt like a fool, but she had been patient about it at least, and even when she laughed at him, he felt at ease with her. Just his pride was a little damaged, but he could deal with that.

"Well, we won't count those eggs," he told her. "I distracted you. I'm sure you would have gotten them perfect, otherwise." He wasn't sure what to do with his hands all of a sudden, with the toast done, and her working on the eggs. "Do you have any drinks I can pour...juice, milk...?"

[Andromeda Tonks]

Andi added a fresh pat of butter to the pan as it began to heat up. "Oh, good idea," Andi said. "There's plenty of juice in the refrigerator... orange juice, pumpkin juice, or cranberry. Take your pick. I'll just have orange juice." She pointed to a cabinet on the other side of the room. "Glasses are in there."

She turned back to the pan and cracked one egg, then the other, into the pan. Hopefully she would get this batch right... she was really getting hungry!