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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 17, 2008 13:02:54 GMT -5
If he drank enough alcohol, his own pain and sorrow would drown, right?
He had come to the Leaky Couldron because he knew it wasn't Andi's flavor. He did not know if she was the type to drink her problems away, but some part of him really hoped she wasn't. He hoped she would be all right, that she could have a normal relationship with her sisters.
It wasn't that their love could fade over time. He knew, without a doubt, that he would love her until the day he died. What worried him was the war he could feel brewing. She hadn't been with him on his last mission, the one that lasted six weeks and had him globe hopping. She hadn't seen what he had... he never wanted to see her end up the way he had seen other bloodtraitors. It was not an end she deserved, and he would not be the cause of it.
But Merlin, he missed her, and he'd give nearly anything to run to her and apologize and take it all back and tell her how much he loved her.
He couldn't do that. Even if she did forgive him, which she should not, by all rights, he'd be putting her in danger again.
Five minutes after he had sat down at the bar, Ted was already on his third drink.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 17, 2008 13:11:54 GMT -5
Arthur had no clue what to expect when he walked into the Leaky Caudron that night. He had finished up at work late, still dealing with the aftermath of the confunded clocks, and went for his customary drink at the Leaky Cauldron.
He approached the bar and was surprised to see Ted sitting there, gulping down drinks like there was no tomorrow. Arthur was about to make a joking remark, but one look at Ted's face gave him pause.
He looked like hell. His face was ravaged and tired, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and searching for answers in the bottom of a bottle. One thing Arthur knew was, that was the last place the answers would be found.
Sitting down next to his friend, he said carefully, "Ted! What the hell happened to you?"
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 17, 2008 13:15:39 GMT -5
Ted signaled for another drink, something stronger this time. The drunkeness was taking too long to kick in, and he hated that he had a fairly high tolerance for alcohol.
"Nothing happened," he said, still fairly clear headed, although how he expected Arthur to believe him should have said a lot for his state of mind.
He ran a hand through his short hair, and looked at Arthur. "What are you doing here?"
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 17, 2008 13:40:19 GMT -5
Arthur raised his eyes skeptically. "Nothing? Really? Ted, you should see your face. You look like someone just killed your puppy." He sat down on the stool next to him and ordered a butterbeer. "I come here every night after work for a glass of butterbeer, I thought you knew that? Anyway, come on... out with it. What happened?"
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 17:52:22 GMT -5
Ted scowled at the puppy analogy. No, he'd feel better if it was a puppy... as terrible as that would be.
He took another drink before he started the correlation and began calling Andromeda his puppy (that *he* killed). One more sip from his drink killed the puppy, so to speak, and his eyes shifted back to Arthur. They moved slowly and seemed to have a hard time settling on him.
"I did. I knew that. I just didn't want to run into anyone I knew." Which was stupid. Half the Ministry stopped here every night. No, he just didn't want to run into Andromeda.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 18:05:19 GMT -5
Arthur just looked at his friend for a long moment. He couldn't help but feel a pang of worry. Ted did not look well, not at all. There was a lot of pain hidden behind his eyes. Whatever had happened, it was bad. "Well, I'm not just anyone, am I? Ted, come on, I'm you're best friend. Tell me what happened to make you look like that. Did something happen with Andromeda?" He almost hesitated to ask the question, knowing instinctively without asking that Andi was somehow involved. What else would make him this upset?
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 18:40:08 GMT -5
Ted's whole body went still when he asked this question, and for a moment, he swore his heart stopped beating. Just the sound of her name was painful... it was like seeing something so undeniably beautiful, and knowing that if you touched it, it would crumble before your eyes.
"Yes," he answered softly, staring deep into his glass. "Yes, something happened with me an' 'Dromeda."
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 18:48:23 GMT -5
Arthur sighed. From the sound of Ted's voice, slightly slurred and immensely sad, something very wrong had happened between them. He couldn't deny that he had worried whether their relationship would work. Andi was a Black, and there were just some things that were deeply ingrained in a person. Still, Andi wasn't really like that; she'd always fought vigorously against everything her family valued. But maybe even that wasn't enough. "I'm sorry," he said. "I really didn't think this would happen, especially not so soon. I mean, she's different from the rest of the family, and she swore up and down that she didn't share their opinion of muggleborns... but I guess you two were just too different, huh? I'm really sorry... I thought things were going so well. Why did she break up with you?"
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 18:55:30 GMT -5
Ted's hands slid over his head and then down the back of his neck as he rested his head on his biceps. It was a slow, almost liquid process, graceful in a way that the alcohol that was now kicking in should not have allowed.
"I broke up with 'er," he said, his voice muffled through his arms. His 'h's were dropping from his words, too, and he was sounding more British than normal. His accent always got thicker when he was either sick or drunk.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 20:34:24 GMT -5
Arthur watched him, feeling a bit confused. He'd broken up with Andromeda? But why? It was clear, by his every word and movement, that he still loved her. What could have happened to make him want to leave her? And why was he torturing himself over it now?
"Why?" he blurted out. "Did you two have a fight or something? You know, you don't have to end it just over a little fight... If you two just talk about it, I'm sure you can work it out..."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 21:36:40 GMT -5
Ted shook his head. "Stop," he said. "I don't want to 'ear it."
How was he supposed to explain any of it to Arthur? Fight for her, he'd say. You love her, nothing else matters. She chose you. He knew all of the arguments.
What was that saying? If you really love someone, let them go... he just wanted her to be safe and happy and it broke his heart a thousand different ways that he couldn't give her that. But he could let her be with the people who could.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 21:46:04 GMT -5
Arthur was getting frustrated. How was he supposed to help his friend if he wouldn't explain what had happened? Ted was drinking an awful lot, very quickly, as if he just literally wanted to drown himself in it. Pretty soon there'd be no possibility of getting anything out of him at all.
Putting his hands on Ted's shoulders firmly, he spun him around slightly until he was facing him. "Ted. Damn it... tell me what happened. Why did you break up with her when you so obviously still love her?"
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 22:01:09 GMT -5
Ted's eyes opened wide. The room kept spinning for a moment, even after he stopped. Even Arthur's face swam a little until he blinked it away. He refused to believe he was that drunk already.
"I don' know," he said, putting a hand out to the side to hold the edge of the bar. "I wanted to give 'er flowers, and tell 'er she was beautiful and perfect. It was 'er first day at 'Ogwarts."
None of this probably made any sense to Arthur, but Ted sounded fairly miserable as he said it. He had hand picked every flower in that boquet...
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 22:36:23 GMT -5
None of this made any sense. Arthur certainly couldn't imagine that anything could have gone wrong with such a scenario. "OK, you brought her flowers... I don't understand. How exactly did you break up? She was having her first day at Hogwarts so you went to visit her with flowers. What went wrong?"
Ted seemed to be having trouble focusing, but Arthur wasn't sure if it was grief or alcohol that was clouding his eyes. He supposed it could be a combination of both.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 22:43:19 GMT -5
"I don' know where the flowers are," he answered, twice as miserable all of a sudden, and he gestured to the bartender for another drink. This all made perfect sense in his head. Somewhere in the course of events, he had dropped the flowers.
Or no... no, he was wrong. He shook his head suddenly. "No. I gave them to 'er," he said to Arthur. "But after I said everythin'. When it was too late."
He couldn't even remember how the day had happened now. Maybe it was better if he just forgot it. "I miss her."
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 22:52:37 GMT -5
Arthur was trying like hell not to be frustrated with Ted. He was obviously devastated by what happened... whatever it was. But getting the story out of him was like pulling teeth. "OK, you gave her the flowers, after you said everything... what did you say?" He wondered if he'd get a more coherent story out of Andromeda. But instinctively, he knew it would not be a good idea to talk to her. Was she in as bad shape as Ted was?
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 22:59:27 GMT -5
Ted closed his eyes. He swore he could feel tears pricking at the back of them. It had to be the alcohol. Ted Tonks did not cry. It wasn't a macho thing, it was just something he didn't do.
He took a deep breath, but kept his eyes closed, and in a single moment of perfect clarity, he said, "I told her I got what I wanted from her and that it was over."
He had just resigned himself to telling the whole story, because Arthur would never believe that Ted had done that just for the sake of doing it.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 23:07:38 GMT -5
Whatever Arthur had expected him to say, this was sure as hell not it. He literally was frozen for a moment, unable to make sense of what he'd just heard. He'd told her what? Had Ted taken leave of his senses? Maybe he'd been drinking before he went to see her. Or... No. There was no reason he could think of that would make this make any sense to him.
"Why in blue blazes did you tell her that?" Arthur gasped.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Sept 18, 2008 23:17:20 GMT -5
Ted shook his head, which was a bad idea. The bartender set his next drink in front of him, and took it all down in one gulp.
"It was the only way she'd leave," he explained, as if that explained it all.
(I'm sorry this was miseraly short)
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Sept 18, 2008 23:25:28 GMT -5
Arthur was the first to admit that he was pretty bad with relationships. He'd had so very few of them, and none had lasted more than a few weeks. He always said something stupid, or did the wrong thing, or forgot to say something, or just didn't have the right "chemistry" with the girl. But Ted's explanation was making less sense by the second. He loved her, he missed her... but he'd wanted her to go away?
"Why did you want her to leave, if you obviously miss her now?"
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