Grow Old With You

*Disclaimer: This story is a piece of Harry Potter fanfiction, which is owned by J.K. Rowling and her associates. This story is simply based on the wonderful wizarding world that she created.

Andromeda Black rested cozily in a corner train compartment on the Hogwarts' Express. Her hands sat comfortingly interlaced in her lap while her brunette tresses cascaded naturally past her shoulders. Her gaze was fixed out the window, taking in the journey’s progress toward their destination.

She was alone.

Her youngest sister was off on another section of the train with her chatty friends and Andromeda was not interested in conversing with her own. She had a lot on her mind and hence a ton to comprehend and the quiet encasement that loneliness offered was the perfect recipe. Her engagement to a worthy pureblood man was bound to take place over the course of the summer and Andromeda was dreading it more than she felt obligated to lead on. She wanted to marry a man of compassion and honesty when she was ready--not rush into a marriage with a man sheltering a sick need for cruelty and a conniving nature, which she knew existed in all of her parental-approved potential suitors.

The glass door of the almost empty compartment slid open in one swift movement and Andromeda’s eyes immediately jerked left to take in the intruder. She instantly sat up and contorted a puzzled expression onto the contours of her hardened face.

“Hey,” Ted Tonks, the trespasser, sounded from the door, shutting it quietly behind him. His eyes were bright and he was full of life, as usual. He walked over to the cushioned bench opposite of Andromeda and settled himself down.

“Hi,” Andromeda greeted with little emotion. Her surprise and astonishment at his sudden arrival was not allowing any more of a response. She had too much on her mind. His presence certainly wasn't going to help.

“You're probably wondering what I'm doing here,” Ted began as a slight smile graced his parted lips.

“Yes,” Andromeda insisted from across him. “I am.”

“Well, I just thought that I would pay you a little visit. This will probably end up being the last time that we ever see each other. Why not make it special?”

Andromeda did not allow a retort to escape from her optimally-prepared mouth. Instead, she turned back toward the window and tried to compose her internal sense of discomfort with Ted’s close counters. She couldn't put a finger on it, but he made her uneasy. Her palms began to sweat and her stomach was in knots.

“What are you going to do with your life after this? The Hogwarts chapter of things are complete; what's next for you?”

“You should know what's to come for me. Just look at my oldest sister. Married; fake happiness with a man whom she could never really love; a criminal. I have no escape from a similar fate,” Andromeda rapidly expressed after a short pause, politely turning back to Ted as she spoke.

“Well, you don't have to do just those things, you know. You are your own person and therefore have the right to make your own decisions. No family values or forced pleasantries can come between what you yourself wish. It's not possible unless you allow it with freedom,” Ted replied with surety.

“You don't know my parents. You have no idea of the expectations they have for me.” Andromeda sighed in reaction to his previous, optimistic comment.

“No,” Ted continued. “I don't. But I do know you, Andromeda, and you are never the type to do what is expected of you.

Andromeda gasped in surprise, but continued, “I guess you're right. I have issues with fulfilling something that I do not wish to do, but I have nothing to gain from betraying my parent’s wishes and therefore find it wise not to do so.”

“Suit yourself.”

Andromeda was suddenly invigored with anger and frustration. Who was he to come bother her with questions and wisdom? What motive did he have? Why did he care? And why the hell did he look at her with such kindness when all she felt was lost and afraid?

“What about you, huh? What are your plans now that you are finished with Hogwarts?” Andromeda inquired rationally. She was fired up and provoked. For some reason, he was both the last person she wanted questioning her about her future, and the only one, at the same time.

“I have certain ideas as to what I wish to accomplish.”

“Which include?” Andromeda pressed with second-natured politeness.

“Growing old with you.”

Andromeda let out a fluid chuckle as his words became known. “Yeah, like you would want to grow old with an irrational, hypocritical, beauty like me.”

“It is all that I could ever ask for,” Ted sighed with confidence. His bright eyes continued to bore into Andromeda’s lowered face and the action was making her even more uncomfortable.

“I doubt it,” she replied as she met his gaze awkwardly. “Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black? It sounds a bit bizarre, don't you think?”

“Not really. Only bizarre in the sense that we would compliment each other only too well.”

“And bizarre in the fact that no one in their right minds would allow it, as well as the bucket loads of humiliation that would wash over us after the fact. We wouldn't work out, Ted. We can't. There's no world that exists where we could be together. I would think that you of all people would be able to realize and accept that.”

“But see, you still think that we would compliment each other. You admitted that just now,” Ted assured with a slight grin.

Andromeda mulled over his response, questioning his abrupt accusation. “I guess I did.”

“You don't have to worry about things, you know,” Ted comforted after a long silence between the two of them. “I will be here to make you smile and laugh and enjoy life to the fullest if you will have me.”

Andromeda let out a wild sigh and once again focused her eyes on Ted’s charming face. He was handsome, very handsome, and the way that he held himself was reassuring. There had always been something there between them, no matter how much Andromeda tried to pretend there wasn't. He wasn't making this up and she knew he would do anything to be sure that no harm would ever come her way. That was something that no pureblood Death Eater husband of hers could ever follow through with.

“Are you sure? You're absolutely positive that you want me so much as to throw away everything else that could be offered your way? I am not all that special, you know. I am sure that you could find another girl who would be so much better than I am, and not cause you half the problems I will” Andromeda responded, trying, but failing, to persuade him, and herself, that she was not the right girl for such a good-natured and sweet man. She was coming to terms with the spark that had always been there between them, something she had undoubtedly ignored due to her standing and expectations. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to reject the proposition of a future with Ted, even if it meant leaving everything she ever knew behind.

“You are the girl that I've been searching for. I have thought things through time and time again and I have never been surer of anything in the world. I was startled at first as well when I first realized that I had fallen hard for Andromeda Black, but I have come to accept that my heart knows what it's doing. Tell me, Andromeda, does your heart know what it wants?” Ted questioned in a polite and utterly persuasive manner.

“Yes, it does,” Andromeda replied after another few moments of passing silence between the lost Slytherin and the knowing Hufflepuff.

“And what's that? Don't spare my feelings if they don't resemble your own. I won't be pained too badly by rejection; merely understanding,” Ted promised.

“My heart wishes to grow old with you as well,” Andromeda assured with a genuine smile. “A fair arrangement, I take it. One that you can bet that I will not object to.”

“Wonderful,” Ted exclaimed. “The answer that I expected.”

Ted and Andromeda locked eyes and in that moment they both knew that, despite countless hardships, their life together would bring them joys they never could have thought possible.