STORY: The house on the Hill

Tonks stuck her head in the tiny room that would be her home for the next couple of months. It was small and cozy but she had everything she could have wanted; a bed, a bathroom and peace and quiet. Tonks looked at her landlord and smiled. "This will do nicely," she said.

Natalie nodded enthusiastically. "Great, "she said. " You won't regret it."

Tonks smiled at her and pulled her bag into the room. The floor boards squeaked slightly as she walked through the room. Just above the small half size bed in the corner was a window with a good prospect of a view. She walked over to the window and pulled on the latches and opened it. A cold draft entered the room. In the dark of the night she could hardly see what was outside, the only site was a swarm of fireflies dancing in the distance.

"You can't see much at night but in the day the fields look so beautiful," Natalie said from behind her.

"Do you own all the land over there as well?"

She laughed like the idea was preposterous. "No mam," she said.

"Don't call me mam, you make me feel old," Tonks corrected. "You can call me Molly."

She blushed slightly at her error. "Sorry… Molly. Yes I was saying that we don't own any land, not even the piece we are standing on. My brother Nathan, you'll meet him soon, pays rent every month. Renting out some spear rooms helps with odds and ends around the house."

"Oh Okay," Tonks said feeling like she already knew too much.

"Well I'll let you sleep, seeing as you travelled so far and it's already so late."

Tonks nodded in appreciation. "I sleep in late so if you don't see me by midday, don't worry."

Natalie smiled and walked out the room and closed the door behind her. Tonks let out a heavy sigh and let her body collapse on the bed. She was so tired. She never realized she was that tired until she was ordered to take a vacation. The prospect of the Caribbean seemed nice but in the end she decided against it; the Caribbean would be no fun if she didn't have someone to share it with and since Teddy had started school a month ago, there was no one else. Besides, she was longing for some alone time, away from everyone she knew and everything she knew. She knew a change of scenery and some fresh air would do her good, so in the end she chose the countryside. She believed this would be the one place where no one would know her, or ask for autograph or anything like that. It would just be her and that was all she wanted, some time alone.

-o-o-

She woke up the following morning with a cold gust coming in her window. She sat up slowly and looked around the room, almost forgetting where she was for a moment.

By the time she emerged from the bedroom she could smell bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen downstairs. She walked down the stairs and found her way to family table. When she walked in the room four heads looked up at her. Of the four heads she only knew one. "hello," she said awkwardly.

Natalie, who was clearly a morning person smiled up at her. "Morning Miss Molly."

"Is this her then?" asked a man who looked like a male version of Natalie. His hair was the same dark brown as hers, his eyes was the exact shade of green as his and his lips were slightly pouty just as hers but the only difference was his nose was far more masculine and longer and his jaw line had a square shape where hers was neatly oval.

Natalie nodded. "Yes this is her," she said. She turned to Tonks. "Molly, this is my brother Nathan."

Tonks nodded. "Are you two…"

"Twins… yes," Nathan said. "Why don't you take a seat Natalie will get you some breakfast."

Tonks took a seat a vacant seat at the end of the table, next to a woman; one of the people she did not know.

"This is Kathy, my fiancée… we're getting married in one month and five days."

"It's a very rear thing to know the exact hour of your death," said the other man in the room with a slight laugh in his voice.

Nathan looked at Tonks and rolled his eyes. "Robert is very bitter," he explained, "never had a steady girlfriend in his entire life."

"What about Jessica," he said.

"I hardly call two months steady… I've had rashes for longer." Nathan said.

"Too much information honey," Kathy complained.

Natalie came back in the room with a plate of bacon and eggs and glass of orange juice and rested it in front of Tonks.

Nathan looked up at his sister. "Natalie can you please help me out here; in all the years we have known Robert, has he ever had a steady girlfriend."

Tonks looked at Robert and she could feel the embarrassment for the stranger, his pale face was instantly stained with pink as Natalie tried to recall the different girls he knew in the past.

"Wasn't it Jessica," she said.

"Yes, exactly… she was your best friend then wasn't she?"

"Yeah, coming to think of it." She turned to Robert. "You broke her heart Robbie, poor Jessica was never the same afterwards."

Robbie laughed awkwardly and ran his hands trough his golden hair. "Enough about me… what about Miss Molly here… where do you come from?"

"From London, I'm here for the fresh air I guess."

"Well we have plenty of that," Nathan said, "and it's pretty much free, although I'm sure our gracious landlord would put a price tag on it if he can."

"Oh Nathan it's not his fault he owns this house," Natalie said in the landlord's defense.

"How is it not his fault… he bought the bloody thing."

"Because it was for sale." She said like it was obvious.

"But we were supposed to buy it?" He said taking a sip of his orange juice.

"But we didn't, we couldn't."

He shrugged. "You wouldn't be defending him so if you weren't so keen on him."

"I am not keen on him,' she argued, "I just think he is a nice man."

"Nice," he laughed. "Has he ever said more than two words to you?"

"Of course he has, just because he finds your conversation inferior doesn't mean he thinks the same of me. He lets Jane come by and visit me… so there."

Nathan rolled his eyes sensing a defeat and turned to Tonks. "When you see this guy and you see his daughter you'd say to yourself; Holy crap her mother must have been a supermodel."

"Has no one ever seen his wife?" Tonks asked.

"She's died before he came here," Robert answered.

-o-o-

Tonks pulled her dark brown hair and wrapped it up in a neat bun. Robert looked at her and smiled as she did this. The wind seemed to be blowing her hair in every direction blinding her at points and whipping Robert in the face at other times. "Sorry, it's getting a bit out of hand I should cut it,"

He waved it off. "It's okay Miss Molly, I hardly mind at all. I definitely have a soft spot for brunettes, even when their hair bruises me."

She smiled shyly as her eyes devoured the landscape. It was indeed beautiful; felids of little flowers were blowing in the wind, looking like a lilac ocean. In the lot next to it was a field of tiny white flowers with blue stems growing from the earth and as far as the fence around the expansive property allowed there were different followers and plants that she had never seen in her life. "Is the landlord into botany?" she asked looking at the large house that stood on the hill a good distance away

Robert shrugged. "I'm not sure, I know he's into money… he sells these to a dealer who comes from London every four months. He changes what he grows according to the season. You see that white flower there?"

Tonks nodded.

"Well they are beautiful but deadly poisonous. It's a cross between two flowers… I know one of them he uses but the other one I can't figure out. He gets an obscene amount for them; he's the only one to ever grow these"

"Why, what do they do?"

Robert shrugged. "There's this old folks tale that say they use this flower to ward off werewolves… but those flowers never had blue stems."

Tonks bit her lip and turned away to look at a large tree on that was on the edge of the property.

"Did I scare you with all this talk about poison and werewolves?" he laughed.

She turned back and shook her head. "I was just remembering… something?" she said softly

He looked at her and smiled lightly and pointed at something in the distance. "You see that field there… the one with the red buds?" he said, "I planted those myself."

"Oh, are you a farmer then?" she asked in amusement.

He shook his head and laughed. "Me… farmer… never. I consider myself a jack of all trades."

"But master of none," she said laughing.

"Something like that." He laughed in return. He stopped and looked at the house on the hill. "The landlord does not tend to his own fields, he lets us lesser folks deal with it."

"I sense a bit of resentment there?" Tonks observed.

He looked at her and opened his eyes wide. "Me," he said pointing his hands to his chest. "I don't have a problem with him, I think he's okay bloke. He's just sooo…"

"Rich…," she finished.

He nodded. "He sort of makes the rest of us look soooo…"

"Poor," she finished.

He laughed at this. "I've finally found you…some who gets me."

"I didn't know you where looking for me."

"Oh I'm always looking." He teased.

Tonks knew she was good but she couldn't believe she was that good. She hadn't been there for more than a day and already she had picked up an admirer. She always loved to test her skills to see if she still had it but in all honesty she had no interest in Robert or any other guy at that moment. When she said she was going to take a vacation she was certain she was going to spend it getting reacquainted with herself, she couldn't afford to get caught up with any guys just then. She had to remind herself to keep Robert at a friendly distance.