Leigh!fic | A Child's Wish (1/1) | Ted Tonks/Andromeda Black
Title: A Child’s Wish (1/1)
Author: Leigh, aka leigh_adams
Pairing: Ted Tonks/Andromeda Black
Rating: G
Word Count: 645
Summary: They both wish. Sometimes it’s in vain, sometimes it’s not.
Author's Notes: This was written as part of the 2012 Wishlist event at rarepair_shorts as a gift for my dearest and darling fiery_flamingo. Olive yoo, Sam! ♥
Andromeda has been taught that wishing is for fools and children. As a Black, she was allowed neither luxury. While other girls her age played with dolls and pulled their sisters’ hair, Andromeda was taught the niceties of being a pureblood in polite society. She was taught to smile, the art of conversation. She was tutored in music, dance, and art -- all in hopes of ensuring the second Black daughter made as high a marriage as her elder sister.
She hears stories about what happens to girls who don’t mind their mothers. They end up like her Great Aunt Lycoris, unwanted and alone their entire lives. They do not have husbands to please, sons to look after, or any real worth in the world. When she is twelve, gathered with her family to say her final farewell to her spinster aunt, meeting her end like Lycoris is a scary prospect.
That night, for the first time, she wishes. Nothing concrete; a whimsical wish, not fully thought out. It’s the wish of a child, teetering on the brink of adulthood.
A wish for a way out.
♥♥♥
Ted Tonks believes in wishes with all his heart. When he’d been a boy, his mother had taught him to wish on the first night star; to hold his wishes tight against his heart, and that one day, they might come true. He’s a boy and wishes for the usual things; athletic ability like his older brothers (that one will never come true), a quick mind like his sister (he’s smart, but she’s smarter).
But most of all, as the middle child in a family of five children, he wishes to be different. He wishes to be set apart from the other Tonks offspring. They’re all blonde, all tall, and Ted is nothing extraordinary. There is nothing that marks him as ‘special.’
At least, not until his eleventh birthday.
That was the day he learned dreams come true.
♥♥♥
Andromeda doesn’t wish again for almost five years. She goes to class, moving through Hogwarts like a shadow. She makes all the appropriate motions, smiling at the Slytherin boys and judging her fellow female housemates for their choice in robes. But it’s all a lie. There are days when she wants to jump off the Astronomy Tower.
Owls from her Mother -- the Malfoy’s have a son near her age, after all, and he’s looking for a bride -- help nothing.
She doesn’t notice him until the end of her sixth year. The gentle blonde giant in her NEWT-level Herbology class, the one who brings her wildflowers in the middle of the Great Hall. He doesn’t know what he’s doing is taboo -- not until she tells him. And even then, he doesn’t care.
So she wishes, again. She doesn’t wish for him to be different. She wishes she could have him.
But she knows she can’t.
♥♥♥
It’s his last wish at Hogwarts. Wishing has been good for Ted, or so he has thought so far. Right now, he’s not so sure. After all, if this wish doesn’t come true, then what has it all been worth? But his trunk is packed, and he’s passed his exams. He’s no longer a student. By definition, he’s an adult.
And so is Dromeda.
So he waits for her on the train. It’s the last time they’ll make this journey. He refuses to think it’s the last time they’ll be together. She’s told him all the reasons they can’t -- her family being chief amongst them. But they have love. When -- if -- they have each other, then nothing else would matter.
His eyes squeeze shut. He wishes the most important wish he’ll ever wish.
That she’ll say yes.
♥♥♥
Author: Leigh, aka leigh_adams
Pairing: Ted Tonks/Andromeda Black
Rating: G
Word Count: 645
Summary: They both wish. Sometimes it’s in vain, sometimes it’s not.
Author's Notes: This was written as part of the 2012 Wishlist event at rarepair_shorts as a gift for my dearest and darling fiery_flamingo. Olive yoo, Sam! ♥
Andromeda has been taught that wishing is for fools and children. As a Black, she was allowed neither luxury. While other girls her age played with dolls and pulled their sisters’ hair, Andromeda was taught the niceties of being a pureblood in polite society. She was taught to smile, the art of conversation. She was tutored in music, dance, and art -- all in hopes of ensuring the second Black daughter made as high a marriage as her elder sister.
She hears stories about what happens to girls who don’t mind their mothers. They end up like her Great Aunt Lycoris, unwanted and alone their entire lives. They do not have husbands to please, sons to look after, or any real worth in the world. When she is twelve, gathered with her family to say her final farewell to her spinster aunt, meeting her end like Lycoris is a scary prospect.
That night, for the first time, she wishes. Nothing concrete; a whimsical wish, not fully thought out. It’s the wish of a child, teetering on the brink of adulthood.
A wish for a way out.
♥♥♥
Ted Tonks believes in wishes with all his heart. When he’d been a boy, his mother had taught him to wish on the first night star; to hold his wishes tight against his heart, and that one day, they might come true. He’s a boy and wishes for the usual things; athletic ability like his older brothers (that one will never come true), a quick mind like his sister (he’s smart, but she’s smarter).
But most of all, as the middle child in a family of five children, he wishes to be different. He wishes to be set apart from the other Tonks offspring. They’re all blonde, all tall, and Ted is nothing extraordinary. There is nothing that marks him as ‘special.’
At least, not until his eleventh birthday.
That was the day he learned dreams come true.
♥♥♥
Andromeda doesn’t wish again for almost five years. She goes to class, moving through Hogwarts like a shadow. She makes all the appropriate motions, smiling at the Slytherin boys and judging her fellow female housemates for their choice in robes. But it’s all a lie. There are days when she wants to jump off the Astronomy Tower.
Owls from her Mother -- the Malfoy’s have a son near her age, after all, and he’s looking for a bride -- help nothing.
She doesn’t notice him until the end of her sixth year. The gentle blonde giant in her NEWT-level Herbology class, the one who brings her wildflowers in the middle of the Great Hall. He doesn’t know what he’s doing is taboo -- not until she tells him. And even then, he doesn’t care.
So she wishes, again. She doesn’t wish for him to be different. She wishes she could have him.
But she knows she can’t.
♥♥♥
It’s his last wish at Hogwarts. Wishing has been good for Ted, or so he has thought so far. Right now, he’s not so sure. After all, if this wish doesn’t come true, then what has it all been worth? But his trunk is packed, and he’s passed his exams. He’s no longer a student. By definition, he’s an adult.
And so is Dromeda.
So he waits for her on the train. It’s the last time they’ll make this journey. He refuses to think it’s the last time they’ll be together. She’s told him all the reasons they can’t -- her family being chief amongst them. But they have love. When -- if -- they have each other, then nothing else would matter.
His eyes squeeze shut. He wishes the most important wish he’ll ever wish.
That she’ll say yes.
♥♥♥