This Time of Year
Tonks opened the front door to her flat and stepped inside, out of the cold. Her breath hung in the chill morning air, even as she closed the door behind her. She walked into the kitchen, flicked on the light and emptied her rucksack onto the worktop, along with the contents of her pockets. A bunch of keys, five knuts, one sickle, one pound, sixty three pence, a large blue button from her dilapidated winter coat and a red and white striped carrier bag now lay strewn in front of her. She sighed, wondering if the Burrow was awake yet. Tonks imagined the younger Weasleys tearing open their presents with Harry and Hermione, trying on this year's jumpers and eating far too much chocolate before dinner. She wondered if Remus was still fast asleep in bed, if he had been woken by the others' noise, or whether he'd been as excited by the thought of Christmas as they.
She picked up the carrier bag and walked to the fridge. She didn't bother to take her shopping out, she just slung the whole thing onto an empty shelf. She shuffled towards the sofa, pulled off her sleet soaked boots and sat down. Her eyes fell to the small pile of brightly coloured parcels next to the television. Tonks really wasn't in the mood to open them but she felt she owed it to the people who had remembered her. She pulled the pile towards her and picked one from the top. It was a green box, roughly the size of a box of matches.
'Tonks, Happy Christmas, Love Harry. Ps. Be careful!', the label read. She opened the box slowly, heeding Harry's warning. She pulled the lid back gradually to reveal a golden snitch no bigger than a five pence coin, hovering gently inside. There was a slip of parchment underneath which read: "The Mini-Snitch will follow the owner, performing various tricks. To start, utter 'Comesco!', to stop, utter 'Ceasco!'" Tonks chuckled. She flicked her wand and the Mini-Snitch began to whiz round her head. She turned to the other gifts. From the Weasley clan, there was a huge, multi-coloured scarf to rival Doctor Who's, which she wrapped herself in. There was a broom security kit from Moody, a box of 'Elf-Trade' festive biscuits from Hermione and a pair of earrings made from bottle tops from Kingsley. Tonks' parents had given her a photograph of the three of them together with Sirius, in a silver frame bearing the Black family crest. Sirius made bunny ears above Tonks' head, as she continuously poked her tongue in and out at him.
Tonks sighed and placed it on the shelf with her other photos. Some moved, some didn't, but all the people in them seemed happy, she seemed happy. A far cry from her mood today. Her naturally grey eyes came across the group photo from last year's party. Everyone was smiling and laughing under their bright paper hats, even Severus was having a hard time hiding his amusement. Tonks wondered if he was spending the day alone as well. Likely, she thought. She supposed he might be used to it, but that didn't change the fact that no one was supposed to be alone at this time of year.
Tonks glanced at her wall clock. Twelve forty three. Right now the Burrow would be getting ready for Christmas dinner. Molly would be serving up, Fred and George would be trying to switch the cracker pile for some of their own invention, Fleur and Bill would be being sickeningly soppy and Arthur would be asking Harry and Hermione about cruise missiles or email or biros. Tonks wondered if Remus was as miserable as she was. She bloody hoped so. She prised herself off the dilapidated sofa and made her way to the kitchen again. She opened the fridge and pulled out the carrier. Tonks examined it's contents. A seventy-CL bottle of vodka and a korma ready meal. She slipped off the cardboard sleeve and microwaved the plastic tub of nuclear waste with rice. She grabbed a fork and sat down at the breakfast bar between the kitchen and living room. Tonks peeled back the plastic lid and prodded the steaming orange contents. She didn't have much of an appetite right now. She pulled a mini Christmas cracker from a kitchen draw and examined it. Her mum and dad used to buy them to decorate the tree with, they'd given her some this year but Tonks had no Christmas tree to put them on. She wondered if her parents missed her, if they'd seen through her lies. Maybe they'd spoken to Remus and figured out she'd told her parents she was spending Christmas day with the Weasleys, and everyone else that she was spending it with her parents. Tonks sighed. She doubted she had even cropped up in conversation at either house. She pulled the red cracker with herself. It didn't explode, just dropped a paper hat and a slip of paper to the counter. They always preferred doing things the muggle way at Christmas, like when her dad used to take her camping. Andromeda would stay at home while they stayed in their little three-man tent outside Dufftown. Ted would put a warming charm on the tent and they'd sit and watch the snow.
Tonks picked up the green paper hat and pulled it on over her mousy short hair. She looked at the slip of paper, reading the joke. 'Question: What do you get if you cross a wolf with a tennis racquet? Answer: Bitten!'
Huh, appropriate, Tonks thought, and stuck it on the fridge. She tipped her untouched dinner into the bin and found a clean glass. She half filled it with ice, picked up the vodka bottle and headed to the sofa again. She flicked on her little television and poured some vodka into the glass. Tonks downed the drink in one. She skipped between the channels. The news, the Queen's speech, an old Bond film, the Christmas edition of countdown and a documentary about sea-life that was barely visible behind the snowy inteference. She refilled her glass to the top and downed it. She put the glass down and raised the bottle to her lips.
Well, she thought, here's to you Remus, cheers. Merry bloody Christmas.