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rosie_rues) wrote2007-04-04 04:59 pm
rosie_rues) wrote2007-04-04 04:59 pm
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nest_of_spiders Day 3
Title: A Feast of Fools (3/14)
Wordcount: 853
Date: 1972
Pairing: Ted/Andromeda (eventually)
Rating: PG
Prompt: In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.
- Jose Narosky
Disclaimer: If you recognise it from the books, it's not really mine to play with.
Notes: Now I'm rolling ^_^
1 2 3
The only people in Andromeda's Advanced Potions class on Wednesday morning were Ted Tonks, Frank Longbottom, Alice Royston and a small, scowling Severus Snape. He glanced up at her warily as she walked in, but she decided to ignore him. Let Dumbledore take the blame if he poisoned anyone.
“Where's Slughorn?” she asked, putting her books down a little too hard. Not only had she had a letter she didn't want to think about and no breakfast, but she'd also just spent half an hour undoing an elegant and complex hex which had set one Prewett to burping tulips and the other daffodils. She just wanted this damn feast of fools to be over.
“Napping,” Tonks said, drumming his fingers against the rim of the cauldron as he shook diced mallow root into it.
“Napping,” she repeated, and found herself staring at his hands. They were such restless hands, long-fingered and strong. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have such hands.
“Asleep,” he said, fingers still tapping. “Snoozing. Snoring, even. We're working from the textbook.”
“Right,” Andromeda said and reached for her textbook. It seemed ungainly in her hands and she stared down at it.
Frank turned round and opened the book for her. “Doxycide. It's on the syllabus and some of the Ravenclaw third years got creative with their summoning charms.” Then, more softly, “Is something wrong, Andromeda?”
She gave him a thin smile and shook her head. He was one of the few friends she had outside her house and he might understand, for all that old Augusta wasn't half the traditionalist her parents were, but she wasn't going to discuss this in Potions, in front of Gryffindors and children.
She began to chop her own roots, her hands automatically moving to keep her cuts crisp and precise. Looking at the neat piles, she wondered why she bothered. She had no need to succeed; no career depending upon her results.
“Good lord,” Alice said, her voice sharp with amusement. “Did you lose a fight with a chimney sweep, Malfoy?”
Andromeda looked up, her heart sinking. Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway, his usual sly smile replaced by a scowl and his pale hair coated with soot. His robes, usually immaculate, were smeared and blackened.
“If,” he started icily, “the Gryffindor prefects cannot control the members of their house, I suggest altogether too much trust has been placed in them.”
“If you think you can do better,” Tonks said, without looking up, “I'm sure Dumbledore will let us transfer the twins to Slytherin for a week or two.”
Lucius stalked past him without an answer, dropping his bag on the bench beside Andromeda.
“Doxycide,” she said quietly, not wanting to look at him.
He swept off again without a word, pausing on the way to collect his ingredients to murmur advice to little Snape and to switch the wireless on.
“You could ask,” Alice snapped.
“Do you object, Royston?” he asked, picking over the remaining roots.
“No, but you're still an arrogant-”
“Leave it, Alice,” Tonks said.
Lucius came back to the bench and set to work. It was not until the others had settled back to work and the wireless was pumping out the Gillygirls' latest, that he said softly, “I saw your owl arrive this morning.”
“So they've told you too?” Andromeda murmured back.
“They have.” He hesitated, pulling apart mushrooms slowly. “I have no wish to injure your feelings, Andromeda, but I cannot pretend the news is in any way welcome to me.”
Well, that was one weight off her shoulders. “I am in complete agreement with you.” She looked up from her work, managing to twist a smile onto her face. “So, any suggestions?”
He lifted one shoulder in a slow shrug. “Stall, if possible. I am as loyal to the blood as any, but I admit I had hoped for a different alliance.”
“Is it an acceptable counterproposal?” Andromeda asked, biting back a quiver of hope.
His hands stilled on the bench. Then he said, “The lady will not be of age until the autumn.”
“Oh, hell,” Andromeda said, a little too loudly. Frank turned around again, mouthing a query. Tonks was staring at them, tapping a slow, thoughtful beat against the bench.
They went back to working in silence. When Tonks finally looked away, Andromeda said softly, “My father wishes to regain control of the Ministry. For him, the need for alliance is urgent.”
“Then we may have no choice,” Lucius said heavily. “We have a duty to our bloodlines.”
Andromeda could not answer. She had known for years that she would marry at her family's command, yet with each passing year a greater part of her began to see her blood as less of a defence than a prison.
Lucius waited. Andromeda shook her head a little and began to shake the powdered asphodel into her cauldron. “We are Slytherin,” she said at last. “We survive.”
“Your house has the right of it.”
“Toujours Pur,” she said bitterly and watched as the asphodel turned her potion black.
Wordcount: 853
Date: 1972
Pairing: Ted/Andromeda (eventually)
Rating: PG
Prompt: In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.
- Jose Narosky
Disclaimer: If you recognise it from the books, it's not really mine to play with.
Notes: Now I'm rolling ^_^
The only people in Andromeda's Advanced Potions class on Wednesday morning were Ted Tonks, Frank Longbottom, Alice Royston and a small, scowling Severus Snape. He glanced up at her warily as she walked in, but she decided to ignore him. Let Dumbledore take the blame if he poisoned anyone.
“Where's Slughorn?” she asked, putting her books down a little too hard. Not only had she had a letter she didn't want to think about and no breakfast, but she'd also just spent half an hour undoing an elegant and complex hex which had set one Prewett to burping tulips and the other daffodils. She just wanted this damn feast of fools to be over.
“Napping,” Tonks said, drumming his fingers against the rim of the cauldron as he shook diced mallow root into it.
“Napping,” she repeated, and found herself staring at his hands. They were such restless hands, long-fingered and strong. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have such hands.
“Asleep,” he said, fingers still tapping. “Snoozing. Snoring, even. We're working from the textbook.”
“Right,” Andromeda said and reached for her textbook. It seemed ungainly in her hands and she stared down at it.
Frank turned round and opened the book for her. “Doxycide. It's on the syllabus and some of the Ravenclaw third years got creative with their summoning charms.” Then, more softly, “Is something wrong, Andromeda?”
She gave him a thin smile and shook her head. He was one of the few friends she had outside her house and he might understand, for all that old Augusta wasn't half the traditionalist her parents were, but she wasn't going to discuss this in Potions, in front of Gryffindors and children.
She began to chop her own roots, her hands automatically moving to keep her cuts crisp and precise. Looking at the neat piles, she wondered why she bothered. She had no need to succeed; no career depending upon her results.
“Good lord,” Alice said, her voice sharp with amusement. “Did you lose a fight with a chimney sweep, Malfoy?”
Andromeda looked up, her heart sinking. Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway, his usual sly smile replaced by a scowl and his pale hair coated with soot. His robes, usually immaculate, were smeared and blackened.
“If,” he started icily, “the Gryffindor prefects cannot control the members of their house, I suggest altogether too much trust has been placed in them.”
“If you think you can do better,” Tonks said, without looking up, “I'm sure Dumbledore will let us transfer the twins to Slytherin for a week or two.”
Lucius stalked past him without an answer, dropping his bag on the bench beside Andromeda.
“Doxycide,” she said quietly, not wanting to look at him.
He swept off again without a word, pausing on the way to collect his ingredients to murmur advice to little Snape and to switch the wireless on.
“You could ask,” Alice snapped.
“Do you object, Royston?” he asked, picking over the remaining roots.
“No, but you're still an arrogant-”
“Leave it, Alice,” Tonks said.
Lucius came back to the bench and set to work. It was not until the others had settled back to work and the wireless was pumping out the Gillygirls' latest, that he said softly, “I saw your owl arrive this morning.”
“So they've told you too?” Andromeda murmured back.
“They have.” He hesitated, pulling apart mushrooms slowly. “I have no wish to injure your feelings, Andromeda, but I cannot pretend the news is in any way welcome to me.”
Well, that was one weight off her shoulders. “I am in complete agreement with you.” She looked up from her work, managing to twist a smile onto her face. “So, any suggestions?”
He lifted one shoulder in a slow shrug. “Stall, if possible. I am as loyal to the blood as any, but I admit I had hoped for a different alliance.”
“Is it an acceptable counterproposal?” Andromeda asked, biting back a quiver of hope.
His hands stilled on the bench. Then he said, “The lady will not be of age until the autumn.”
“Oh, hell,” Andromeda said, a little too loudly. Frank turned around again, mouthing a query. Tonks was staring at them, tapping a slow, thoughtful beat against the bench.
They went back to working in silence. When Tonks finally looked away, Andromeda said softly, “My father wishes to regain control of the Ministry. For him, the need for alliance is urgent.”
“Then we may have no choice,” Lucius said heavily. “We have a duty to our bloodlines.”
Andromeda could not answer. She had known for years that she would marry at her family's command, yet with each passing year a greater part of her began to see her blood as less of a defence than a prison.
Lucius waited. Andromeda shook her head a little and began to shake the powdered asphodel into her cauldron. “We are Slytherin,” she said at last. “We survive.”
“Your house has the right of it.”
“Toujours Pur,” she said bitterly and watched as the asphodel turned her potion black.