Happy New Year
It was New Year's Eve; another time of the year despised by Severus Snape. Everyone around him would get completely plastered and he would be left to clean up the mess. And this year things would probably be even worse, seeing as he was spending it at Grimmauld Place.
Everyone had just recovered from the hangovers they had received at Christmas butt he butterbeer, firewhisky, wine and rum had already been opened and everyone was drinking and being festive. Severus, on the other hand, was sitting quietly in the corner with a Potions magazine and a glass of Brandy; the only alcoholic drink he would be having that evening.
There was music playing rather loudly from somewhere in the room and it was disrupting his line of thought so he decided he would go and sit in the kitchen instead. He stood up and made his way to the kitchen to find it empty apart from one person who was sitting at the table looking rather upset. She seemed to spend an awful lot of time alone recently, although he could see no reason for it. She looked up at him and he saw she had been crying.
"Wotcher Severus," she said quietly, standing up and refilling her glass for what looked like the tenth time that night.
"Miss Tonks," he replied, "Planning on drinking all evening, I assume?"
She nodded, downing the glass and refilling it again. Severus sighed and shook his head. "I think you would drink as well if you were in my position," she said, taking another mouthful of the alcoholic beverage she seemed rather drawn to that evening.
"Would I, Miss Tonks?" he asked, wondering exactly why she needed to drink. After all she had a good job, was well paid and had plenty of friends. He could see no reason for her life to be so bad she needed to drink herself into some sort of stupor every night.
She merely nodded, drinking more of her drink and refilling the glass again.
Molly then entered the room and saw Tonks had, once again, been drinking. "Tonks I think you've had enough for one night…" Molly said to her, trying to remove the bottle from her hand.
"I'm fine Molly," Tonks replied, still holding the bottle tightly. Snape watched her, realising she had become some sort of alcoholic recently despite having a good life.
Molly noticed him watching and said "Severus I don't think she really wants to be stared at… It's not her fault… She's been rather… depressed lately."
Tonks glared at Molly, "I'm not depressed!" Molly took the alcohol out of Tonks' hand "Hey! I was drinking that!"
"Not any more you're not! You've had enough. Come on, upstairs, before you embarrass yourself any further!" and Molly dragged Tonks out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
Severus just stood in the kitchen, wondering how long Tonks had been like this. The Tonks he knew was always happy and laughing and joking, she always had brightly coloured hair, she was always surrounded by people and having a good time. Tonight she seemed different… almost too different…. and Severus didn't like it one bit.
Molly came back into the kitchen and looked up at Severus and said "All this over one man," she sighed, "I don't get why she doesn't move on if he's not interested." Then she picked up a couple of bottles of alcohol and walked back into the sitting room where everyone else was.
Severus wondered who the man was and thought he must be a pretty big idiot not to go out with Tonks. He heard some movement upstairs and guessed that Tonks didn't want to be up there but Molly would probably shout at her and upset her even more if she didn't stay put so he went upstairs to try and find her. He found her in the hallway outside her room in tears, looking for someone.
"Miss Tonks…?" he said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked at him, tears streaming down her cheeks and collapsed against his chest, holding him tightly. He was quite surprised that she had done that, but then remembered she had been drinking all night and it was probably the alcohol making her hug him. He gently held her shaking body and stroked her back soothingly until the crying had subsided to the occasional sniff. She looked up at him and smiled weakly.
"Thank you Severus," she whispered, still hugging him gently.
"You should probably go back into your room as Molly seemed quite annoyed that you allowed yourself to get drunk downstairs…" Severus said, still not letting go of her.
"I'm not drunk Severus. I haven't had any alcohol. I just look like an idiot if I sit there crying if I'm not drunk or something like that," she sighed and let go of him, thinking he wouldn't want her anywhere near him.
"Why are you so upset?" he asked, genuinely wanting to help her and be there for her.
She looked at him curiously and asked, "Why are you so concerned anyway?"
"I know what it's like to be upset, Miss Tonks. Everyone needs someone sometimes. You shouldn't be ashamed to cry. And besides you're normally in the middle of the party somewhere laughing at some joke or something like that. It's not normal for you to be like this," Severus said. Tonks looked extremely shocked that he had paid that much attention to her.
"You actually care?" she asked, looking quite surprised.
"Of course I care. We're on the same side in this battle aren't we?" he said.
Tonks smiled and hugged him again; Severus looked even more surprised than he had done when he thought she was drunk. "Thank you Severus," Tonks said, smiling.
"What for?" Severus asked curiously, not realising he had actually done anything.
"Just being here," Tonks replied, gently kissing him on the cheek. She looked at him and laughed at the surprised look on his face and said, "Do you think Molly would let me go back downstairs now or have I been too bad?"
Severus laughed "I should think she would let you, although explaining that you aren't drunk may be a problem…"
"Not really… I mean you are a Potions Master after all. I'm sure you would have some sort of sobering potion somewhere," she smiled.
"I suppose I do have a few in my room… Perhaps if I gave you an empty bottle it would look like you had taken the potion," he smiled back.
They went to Severus's room and he gave her an empty potion conical with "sobering potion" written on it and she placed it on her bedside table so it looked as though she had taken it, then they returned to the kitchen.
Molly entered the kitchen a few minutes later and said "Tonks I thought I told you to stay upstairs?"
"It's ok Molly I'm not drunk now. Severus gave me some sobering potion so I'm ok now," she smiled at Severus.
Molly looked at Severus, astounded that he had helped her, "Did you put some sort of happiness potion in there as well or something?" she laughed.
"No I assure you it was only sobering potion," Severus replied, smiling.
"Well as long as she's happy again that's the main thing," Molly said, picking up another bottle of alcohol and walking out of the kitchen with it.
"You never answered my question," Severus said, turning back to Tonks.
"What question was that?" she asked.
"Why are you so upset?" he replied, repeating his question from earlier.
"Remus refuses to go out with me because he's too old, too poor and too dangerous apparently," Tonks replied, her hair going slightly browner again.
"Tonks if he's going to be like that then I guess you have to show him what he's missing," Severus replied, watching Tonks carefully.
"And how am I supposed to do that exactly?" Tonks asked, sighing. She looked up at Severus and saw he was watching her.
"Well I guess if you went out with someone else… or pretended to…" Severus knew he wouldn't need to finish the sentence as he saw the look in her eyes change.
She smiled and said "Do you think it'd work?"
"Lily went out with James as revenge for me calling her a mudblood and I know it made me jealous so it should work…" Severus replied, his mind wandering to the past, and he sighed. He felt Tonks' arms go around him and he looked up at her again.
"It's all in the past, Sev. Lily would forgive you now if she knew how much you had done for Harry," Tonks said, kissing him on the lips this time.
Severus looked rather startled when she kissed him, but then realised she was only following the plan he had suggested; be with someone else to make Remus jealous. He kissed her back and they kissed for several minutes before they just stood looking at each other. Severus smiled, having not kissed anyone for some time, and Tonks smiled back. She hadn't realised she had feeling for Severus until then but she suddenly realised just how much he liked him. She kissed him again and he kissed back and they were soon lost in their own world, kissing each other passionately in the kitchen of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. The door opened and Molly and Remus walked in but neither of them noticed; they were too busy kissing one another.
Molly looked at Remus and Remus looked at Molly, both looked rather astonished to have found Tonks and Severus, two complete opposites, kissing passionately in the kitchen as the clock struck midnight in the sitting room. Molly and Remus left the room silently to leave Tonks and Severus to it and neither said a word about what they had witnessed in the kitchen to the rest of the residents at Number 12, Grimmauld Place that night.