/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟏.𝟙𝟚.𝟤

"best not to look back. best to believe there will be happily ever afters all the way around - and so there may be; who is to say there will not be such endings?" ~ Stephen King

~june 1972~ (continued)

Andromeda kept a firm grasp on her trunk as she followed Ted down the lawn and into the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The air wasn't cold, but she shivered anyways, terrified of what may happen in the near future. Ted turned around and his expression softened the second he saw Andromeda's shoulders tremble ever so slightly. "Come here," he said, and gently set his own trunk down to step forward to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight. "We don't have to do this, love. We can wait until graduation."

"No," Andromeda said simply, letting the quiet of the night fill the spaces in their conversation. She laid the side of her face on his chest and focused on the sound of his heart beating and the subtle rise and fall of his breaths. "No," she said again, "my parents'll be at King's Cross and now that Bellatrix told them about you, they'll surely have some plan in place to keep us apart. No, it has to be now. For us and for- for the baby. It has to be now."

Ted held onto her a second longer and then they broke apart. "Here, you walk in front. I'll carry the trunks."

"No, Teddy, I can-"

"I know you can," Ted said firmly, "but just let me do it, ok? I'm putting you through enough with the way we're getting out of here."

Andromeda gave him a grateful smile and let him pick up both trunks, stepping carefully through the forest just slightly ahead of him. Then, what he said registered with her. "How are we getting out of here?"

There was silence for a long time and for a moment, Andromeda thought maybe Ted had fallen behind. Then, he said, "Well, to put it lightly... actually- no, you'll see when we get there."

"I don't like the sound of that," Andromeda said, laughing ever so slightly at the absurdity of it all. Her mood shifted quickly, however, as the reality of it set in. "Teddy, we're leaving school."

"I know."

"We're leaving everything."

"I know."

"I'm leaving my sisters." Tears pricked the edges of her eyes and she wiped them away quickly.

"Andy, I know. But listen, it's going to be okay. We're going to make a life for ourselves, you know?" Ted kept his eyes trained on the back of Andromeda's head, watching her long brown hair swing back and forth. He was getting tired from carrying the trunks and he hadn't slept in days because he was constantly planning their getaway, but he'd never tell her that. She was feeling bad enough already. He kept talking, more to keep himself going than anything else. "We're- we're going to get out of here and stay at the Leaky Cauldron for a few days... just until we get back on our feet. Then I'm going to get a job somewhere- anywhere I can- and we're going to buy an apartment. I know it doesn't sound like much, but we can fill it with plants and I'll buy us a record player and we'll have a bed all to ourselves and maybe someday we'll buy a house with a backyard where the baby can run around- when it learns to run-"

Andromeda turned around then, and in the half-light Ted could see that her eyes were glistening with tears. "That sounds perfect. That sounds absolutely perfect." She took two steps towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss her.

When they broke apart, Ted looked over her shoulder to the small clearing up ahead. "Well," he said in a heavy voice, "this is it. I talked to my cousin, Doras, and had her and her friends 'accidentally' leave some brooms out here the other day after Gryffindor's quidditch practice."