first chappie of long promised and it will take a very long time to get going and going seems i am computerless at the moment. stupid hockey. i did the first chapter over the time of many months because of the current situation. dedicated to the nice rn and the most darlingest of people adriana427 because tomorrow is her bday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Nymphadora tonks laid on her bed, half awake and very mad. Today was one of those days she didn't want to wake up but she sadly had to. Stupid order meetings always stopped her from doing what she wanted and never gave her freedom. The last time she had a cooked meal was weeks ago though, and since the kids were out of Hogwarts molly would be cooking. Tonks stopped mentally complaining and went to make a cup of tea, then returned to her room to put on appropriate clothing for the order meeting. Carefully choosing a pair of dark skinny jeans and her favourite tie-dyed shirt, she changed her hair to short, wavy and a very vibrant shade of red. Going back into her kitchen she poured her hot water into her tea bottle and left for Grimmuald place, number twelve.
As she apparated to the order's headquarters, her stomach churned in the swirls and tightness of the invisible tube. When it plopped her down on the street in front of the building, she wobbled and fell over to no one's surprise. She was highly uncoordinated and was dangerous to be around sometimes. Tonks walked up the stairs and into the entry way were a painting of her lovely great aunt. Being as inconspicuous as possible she walked passed the portrait only to trip on the worlds ugliest umbrella stand, knocking the curtain that kept her aunts face hidden. The picture started screaming, and as Tonks laid on the floor soaking up the dust too lazy to get up, she heard some running footsteps. At least she wasn't the only one who disliked the screaming of her aunt.
"I don't think that I have ever met someone so prone to clumsiness that she cant manage to apparate without falling down." a warm voice sounded as the shoes of remus lupin stepped over her to shut the portrait up.
"I don't call it falling down, I call it deciding to sit whenever I want to." she snapped back. Remus then held out his hand for her to take and pull herself up, in which she did and thanked him while dusting herself off.
"no matter how much you dress it up, it wont change anything. You still fall down and you almost always inflict pain."
"will you please tell me what I missed at the meeting? I reckon that I am only hours late." she said, tired of trying to win a word battle with someone who had a bigger head full of knowledge. It meant she had to work harder to drag him down to her level so she could beat him.
"I don't need to tell you, someone took minutes and its still in session. Did you hear who won the tri-wizard championship?"
This question threw tonks off. She didn't know that there was a tri-wizard championship going on. She hadn't picked up a Daily Prophet in a long time, and wasn't a fan of the stories that were fake or denying.
"no I didn't know that there was a tri-wizard tournament going on at the moment right now?" she replied as they started up the stairs.
"I was just asking, I am most sure that Molly will fill you in on that though. So you know, tomorrow the weasley children are coming here. Just thought that it might be helpful to know." Remus said as he held the door to the meeting room for her open. Tonks then walked across the room to the empty couch, grabbed a pillow and a blanket and laid her head down to listen to the most boring reports about suspected death eaters only to learn that they were muggles wearing black floor length dresses. Tonks hadn't been on an outing in a while, and they usually weren't very fun because she would have to go with Mad-eye Moody who murmured 'constant vigilance' until you went insane.
The meeting soon came to an end, or tonks just missed the end because she fell asleep and no one woke her up. Going to the kitchen to heat up water, she was washing out her tea bottle when a familiar voice rang through the kitchen.
"if you drink too much tea you will be up until two in the morning and I am sure there is something for you to do at two in the morning."
Tonks spun on her heels to see her beloved cousin Sirius standing at the base of the stairs.
"Sirius!" she laughed and went to give him a hug, then went back to her hot water and busied herself getting her tea bottle ready for the hot water.
"how has my favourite cousin been lately?" Sirius asked, being the normal over confident and very inflated ego self he always was.
"eating, sleeping and working. How have you been?"
"bonding with a hippogriff that I keep in my moms bedroom, causing issues in the house and attempting to cook." tonks was afraid to hear that Sirius was attempting to cook, it was just something that he never would be able to do.
"cup of tea Sirius?"
"yes please dear cousin, two sugars and a cream please." as he sat down to flip through a random book that Remus must have left on the table, or he kept it there for emergencies. After the water boiled and she had steeped the tea, they sat down to some very good tasting tea and awkward silence that was broken by the footfalls of Remus, who was coming out of the library to get something from the kitchen. When he had rounded the corner he was carrying a cauldron, full of boiling water tonks presumed, and set it down on the stovetop.
"ah, moony, how nice of you to join us!'' Sirius cried out joyously.
"well, it just so happens that my water needs some tea leaves, sugar and cream. Tonks do you mind if I use some of your tea leaves?"
"no not really, I can get more." she said. Her tea was very good, her favourite was a coconut cream green tea and it usually kept her up half the night. She had brought the flower shop tea though so there was nothing to lose.
"thanks, I don't think that I have had this kind before." he said rather sweetly as he took a tablespoon and a half and put it in the homemade tea bag that he magically closed.
"moony, you drink tea all the time. I highly doubt that you haven't had this tea before." Sirius moaned.
"pad foot, don't you have something to do that molly told you to accomplish before the kids got here. I think it was clean your room and Buckbeak's room up so that it doesn't look so messy."
Sirius whined. Tonks hated cleaning her room too, so that was the only part of her flat that wasn't clean. The rest was reasonable.
After a few minutes of asking and whining, Sirius finally went upstairs to go clean his room. The household chore no one enjoyed doing. Tonks and Remus were stuck alone in a kitchen, seeing that tonks tea was still steeping and very hot and remus was setting his cauldron up for more tea, then went to go set it in the library. After doing so, he came back with a mug full of the flower shop tea.
"you could have stayed in the library you know, I am perfectly capable of staying in the kitchen all alone." tonks made that known. Her dating history was very small, but it happened that most of them thought that she was incapable of doing anything by herself. The other part of her that wanted to make that fact known was the one that told her that remus was probably like every other stereotype professor; old, smart and boring. That was one conversation that tonks thought she didn't need in her life.
"I know, but I don't want you to be lonely." tonks had an idea. Most of the time her ideas were really bad and something that everyone feared but this one was worth something. The mood of not wanting to do anything from that morning had lifted itself and so tonks felt it was time to push dear old remus' buttons to the extent. She didn't want him to hate her, because that would make order work difficult and awkward. She rummaged her brain to find something to bug him about. When she had detention, she often would have to go to Filth's office and sort out detention slips and there were a few with remus' and his friends names on them. Moments passed and then she spoke.
"remus, I was wondering what did you and Sirius do when you were in Hogwarts?"
Remus flushed pink. Tonks knew that this topic was pure gold and that she would always love getting blackmail stories for Sirius.
"well, Nymphadora, we used to pull massive pranks, sneak out to hogsmeade, do incredibly stupid things, pull very dangerous stunts and throw insane parties."
"and how much of that did you do?" tonks asked. She had never been able to picture remus younger and being stupid. He was to smart for that.
"I usually went to Hogsmeade, and the insane parties. Other than that I was in the library or sleeping. What did you do in Hogwarts?'' he asked. Tonks only expected it to happen, and she had gained another reason why remus was the stereotype professor.
"I liked to blow stuff up. The bathrooms on the first, second and third floor, most of the classrooms and the library have met my wrath."
"well, I understand the classrooms and the bathrooms, but the library wasn't really necessary was it."
"that one was unintentional." and tonks chuckled as she remembered that one. She was going to smuggle some muggles foods into the divination classroom, but she had to go get one of her friends and it happened that the mentos had snuck into the diet coke and made a mess. Tonks then started to pay attention in class after that, seeing that she had been banned from the library for the rest of the year.
The rest of the conversation faded away into meaningless mush. Tonks was going to need another cup of tea after this conversation, though she knew that she would regret it. Too much tea kept her up all night, but at least she wasn't as crabby the next day. Having a conversation about the trouble you got in while at school was something that was common if you made it to Grimmuald place. The order was split into halves, one half being a set of people who always played by the rules and the other full of people who liked to pull a little fun into an official trip, give everything some fun stuff in it. Tonks was sure that she was the only one in the middle category, because she was proud of what she did in her past, but not all the time. She was a loving person too, but she wasn't sure that she was going to commit to that. The wild side of her was often top priority. After remus took a sip of the flower tea, tonks decided to talk.
"to think that I thought that you were like every other professor on this half of the world, that when you were young you used to drink and be reasonably stupid."
"you thought I was like every other professor? What standards are you using and how?" he asked as Sirius came down the stairs quietly for the first time. He stood there as tonks made her statement.
"I thought that you were like every other professor on this earth because they are old, smart and boring. You are boring because now you don't do much other than read, and then you didn't do much but that either. You are smart because you taught at Hogwarts, you read all the time and you have had the title perfect. Remus, you are the same age as Sirius who is currently 35 and so you are subject to the disease called the mid-life crisis." after stating this Sirius made his presence known by clapping at her grand speech.
"well said cousin, very well said. moony either she is getting smarter or we are becoming idiots!" then Sirius became utterly dramatic and decided to act like he was melting, grabbing remus' arm before laying on the ground moaning.
"my dear sirius, Nymphadora is not becoming smarter nor are we becoming idiots. you do realize though, padfoot, that you are also able to have a mid-life crisis. and in thirteen years and nymphadora is going to have a crisis, I will laugh from my chair in the library."
This statement was hilarious to tonks, so much she started having uncontrollable laughter, and eventually was clutching her sides, her eyes tearing up, and fell on the floor to continue laughing. her laughter shook the house, and echoed off every flat surface the sound could bounce off of. tonks thought that she was going insane and knew that St. Mungos already had a padded cell and a hospital bed for her now that she was an auror. while she was laughing, a variety of people had come down stairs, seeing that the important part of the meeting that she wasn't allowed to attend most of the time. moody grunted at her behaviour but she knew he was a smart person and that this was not normal for her. tonks saw Molly Weasley standing at the base of the stairs looking rather curious about what was happening, as well as Kingsley and a few more order members.
tonks kept laughing hysterically, so much mad-eye had picked her up and put her on the kitchen chair she was sitting on. molly went on to make supper, but tonks had a feeling that she was being watched.
in the always gruff voice, mad-eye asked her why she was laughing. controlling the laughter she explained;
"I just pointed out that remus is like every other stereotype professor, old, smart, and boring without any life at all. then I stated how old he is by saying that he could have a mid-life crisis, and in return he said I would have one! but my question for him is how will I have a crisis if I have nothing to go wonky about, or have already gone crazy?" she then dulled her laughing down so she could hear molly reply.
"nymphadora, you do realize that you are only 22? by the time you are 35 you might have six children, and a husband. your still in the prime of your life, no matter if you are out of Hogwarts or not."
"true molly, but I can't see my dear cousin having children, non the less getting married. the day she does though, I want to be the flower boy." sirius was stating from his now comfortable position on the floor.
"lovely, but sirius don't you have a bedroom to clean?" molly scolded him. tonks felt a little smug as he had to drag himself back.
during supper time, the few remaining people who didn't have better places to be stayed at Grimmuald and ate while Arthur Weasley went out to pick up the kids. tonks loved the Weasley kids because they were like extended family, always loud and noisy full of energy that was so contagious. Being an only child, it was only to be understood that she was longing for a sense of being incorporated into a family in which she wasn't the only child. She had finished her food when there was a knock on the door that made molly jump three feet in the air and hurry to the door. Tonks got up and went over to the door too, wanting to be helpful.
"Tonks!" an very pleased sounding Ginny exclaimed happily as she put down her trunk to give Tonks a hug.
"Wotcher Ginny." she then said in return, as cheerful she had been all day. Then Tonks had a sudden idea that would be a great way to conserve rooms in the house.
"molly, do you think that it would be acceptable if I had Ginny stay at my home? That way we can conserve rooms for the order members and for people coming and going." molly considered this for a while as she was pestering Ron to move his stuff. Then after a while she replied.
"sure, I guess. But when Hermione shows up, they are going to share a room and you cant have them over."
Ginny was excited with this news that she could go tonks house, and very quickly went outside to apparate to the flat. once there with the trunk, tonks started cleaning the living room up.
"I guess we can share the living room and we can put your trunk in my room… would you like some tea?"
" sure, I'll take my trunk to your room. Last room in the hall right?" Tonks nodded, glad to finally have someone who knew her flat almost as well as she did. Once back in the living room, Ginny promptly flopped her bum down on the couch.
"so, Ginny, how was school?"
"completely and utterly boring. The only good thing was the tri-wizard cup and how Harry sort of won it."
"and your crush on Harry…." Tonks prompted, knowing she now was treading thin ice.
"has probably grown twice the size." and then Ginny gave a small sigh before continuing. "but he is more interested in Cho Chang. "
"so now you have competition?"
Ginny looked shocked on many levels. "no, I don't dream of challenging Cho. In truth I am too afraid to. If I hurt her Harry will be mad and if she hurts me my mom will be very upset."
Tonks understood that. Her mom had made it very clear that who ever she dated had to be brought home for inspection and a list of rules and things that would happen if he did anything unacceptable. This was only brought about when she was in Hogwarts, and now her parents have given up on the whole inspection once she passed her auror school with flying colors, and the last one to do that for a while. They just wanted her to have a boyfriend that she loved and that would hopefully marry someday and give them grandchildren. Loving parents.
"well, to make things look brighter, my dating life is almost non-existent." Tonks pointed out hopefully.
"so when I am an old hag and my multiple cats need a home can I come join you?"
"most definitely. Now you can have the couch and I will inhabit the floor and we will go to sleep."
"night." Ginny mumbled and fell asleep after snuggling into her orange comforter.
Tonks wondered for a moment about how Hogwarts' social web was going along. She remembered when her dear friend McGonagall who loved torturing her in detention with lines a plenty. Things like that always stayed in her head. Then she remembered her first date, a young bloke who was a very smart boy and she only dated him to pass her N.E.W.T.S. so that her parents wouldn't make her do any stupid review over the summer. That summer she went to her aunts for a month and befriended many boys and made even more rivals. Harry potter was probably the most popular person and probably had his own fan club that he wasn't aware of. With a load of love that wasn't hers on her heart she went to bed.