Disclaimer: I was under the influence of Gravol while writing the second half of this chapter. I am not responsible for any trauma or whatthefuckness that may occur after reading it.
I spent most of my free time the next week sneaking into Slytherin house to check on Andromeda. She could usually be found in Ted's room these days, being forced to lay down while Ted obsessively asked her questions.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Dromeda?" he asked, stealing one of his roommates pillows and putting it under her feet. "Because if you're not, just tell me and I'll take you to see Madam Pomfrey. It's no trouble at all. Really. I can even carry you if you want."
"Ted, I'm fine," she insisted. "And I can't go to Madam Pomfrey. What if she found out about my...condition?" Andromeda and Ted almost never used the word pregnant. It was as if they thought the moment they said it, someone was going to burst through the doors, telling them they were expelled.
"But-" Ted began.
"Sirius, would you please tell him I'm fine?" Andromeda begged him.
"She's fine," I answered. "Honestly, Tonks, you need to stop worrying so much."
"Says the guy who sneaks into Slytherin house every day to make sure I'm okay," she said, smirking. "Really, guys. You both need to relax. And Sirius, you can't keep sneaking in here. One of these days you're going to get caught."
"I can't help it," I said. "I can't stop worrying that something bad's going to happen. What if one of the teachers found out? If I don't make sure you're okay, I can't concentrate on anything. Remember that Quidditch game last Saturday?"
"Oh, yea," Andromeda said smirking.
"Yea, that's for that Sirius," Ted said. "You fumbling the Quaffle all those times is what won Slytherin the game."
"I've never seen a score like that before," Andromeda said. "400 to 150. If it weren't for James catching the Snitch, you wouldn't have gotten any points at all." I crossed my arms across my chest. James had been furious with me when we'd lost. Now we were in last place. Even Hufflepuff, the worst team in the school, was ahead of us now.
"I should go," I said, checking my watch. "Prongs and...er, James and Peter, I mean, will be back from detention soon. And Remus will probably be back from the library soon too."
"Alright," Andromeda said. "You want me to let you out or are you just going to wait for someone else to leave."
"I'll wait," I answered, leaving the room. "See ya, Dromeda." I glared at Ted, still not having fully forgiven him for getting her pregnant. "Tonks." (AN: Gahh! I feel so weird calling Ted "Tonks", cuz I'm so used calling his daughter Tonks.)
"Moony!" I exclaimed, spotting Remus in front of the portrait of the fat lady. I ran up the stairs two at a time to catch up to him.
"Hey, Padfoot," he answered. "Been to see Andromeda?"
"How'd you know?" I asked. He pointed down at my hand. James' invisibility cloak was balled up in it. I'd almost forgotten I had it.
"Don't tell James," I begged, stuffing it into my pocket quickly.
"Are you kidding?" he asked. "If I told him, I'd have to tell him everything. I couldn't do that to Andromeda."
"Nice to see you care about me so much," I replied, smiling sarcastically. "Come on." I stood in front of the portrait and recited the password—butterbeer. The portrait hole swung open and Remus and I crawled inside.
"I don't think they're back yet," Remus said, opening the door to our dormitory. I quickly stuffed the cloak back in James' trunk where I'd found it and sat down on my bed, trying to look casual for when Peter and James got back.
"Oh, by the way," Remus said after a few minutes. I looked over at him. He was sprawled across the floor, reading a tattered copy of Hogwarts: A History for the billionth time.
"Yea?" I asked.
"Next time, you're taking me with you," he told me. "When you go see Andromeda."
"Moony, I—" I began.
"Okay, I guess I'll have to tell James that you stole his cloak then," he threatened, grinning mischievously. I rolled my eyes.
"You know, I never took you as the blackmailing type." Remus shrugged. Suddenly the door opened and James burst into the room, followed closely by Peter.
"How'd detention go?" I asked, feigning interest.
"Horribly," James answered, kicking a text book under his bed angrily. Peter copied him, kicking a pile of dirty robes. They flew up in the air and landed on his head, but nobody paid him any attention. James wasn't finished with his rant. "Pringle made us scrape bird crap off the windows."
"That's not so bad," I said.
"With our toothbrushes," James finished. Remus and I cringed simultaneously. "I'll have to write to my mum and ask her to send me a new one. I don't care how many cleaning spells I've cast on that toothbrush, I'm never using it again.
"Well, enough about me," James continued. "What did you two do while we were in detention?" Normally I would have been thrilled to see James take an interest in someone other than himself and Lily, but his question had been so unexpected, I hadn't even bothered to think up an excuse ahead of time.
"Umm..." I began, racking my brain for an answer. "Well, there was this cat."
"A cat?" James asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
"A cat?" Remus mouthed at me.
"Uh...yea, a cat," I continued. "And you see, it...well...Remus, didn't you say you wanted to tell the story."
"No, I don't think I—ow!" I kicked Remus in the ribs and slammed his book shut and sat up on his bed, shooting me an icy glare. "Well, like Padfoot said, there was this cat. And it was, um...grey with...with white paws and it...well, it..."
"It attacked Dumbledore," I finished, seeing Remus was struggling to come up a lie. "It was scratching him and biting him and...and it tried to eat his beard!"
"So then Padfoot and I stepped in and tried to stop it," Remus continued. "But it jumped on my head."
"I decided I should try to transfigure it into a goblet like we learned in class," I piped up.
"But as we all know, Padfoot is totally incompetent in transfiguration and couldn't even turn a beetle into a button. So I had to do it." I glared at Remus.
"But then another cat jumped in through the window," I said, not wanting Remus to be the hero of the story.
"Another cat?" Remus asked me. Then he glanced over at James and Peter. "Oh, yes, another cat. And this one jumped on Padfoot's head. I think it was attracted to the smell of his cologne. It does smell like dead rodent."
"But then it saw Moony and jumped off of me onto him because he didn't like his ugly face."
"But it turned out he just wanted to cuddle and he started purring and licking me. So it all turned out okay."
"Except for when a third cat came in the—" I began. But the look on Remus' face stopped me. "I mean, the end." I smiled at James and Peter innocently. I waited expectantly for an answer, unable to read the expressions on their faces. Finally Peter spoke.
"It tried to eat his beard?"
I really hope you like my cat story. It took a lot of hard work and creativity. Haha, no it didn't, i'm totally kidding. I just wrote it in like twenty minutes. Epic fail right there. Hope it entertains you. If not, sorry, but like I said, Gravol. At least you got a chapter! So be happy. If I hadn't stayed home sick today, you wouldn't have even gotten this.
As for the next chapter, hmm...not sure when it'll be up. But some reviews couldn't hurt. :)