The mountain of paperwork in the center of Tonks' desk—a sight that would usually make her grumble and skive off to the cafeteria for coffee before tackling the reports—was an unusually welcome sight after the meeting she'd just had to endure. Any meeting with Cornelius Fudge present was torture these days. Today had been no exception. It was at least a small comfort that she'd not been the source of Fudge's current discontent. Although he'd made enough references to the Black family to fill the entire adverts section of the Prophet.
Deciding with a sigh that coffee really was the best first step before settling down to her paperwork, Tonks swiveled in her chair to find an owl perched at the top of her cubicle with a red envelope clutched in its beak.
"Surely you're lost," Tonks said to the bird. Even if it wasn't a terribly rare occurrence for an Auror to receive a Howler from a disgruntled family member from a case, Tonks prided herself on the fact that she'd yet to receive one.
The owl ruffled its feathers before dropping the now-vibrating envelope onto her lap. It puffed out its chest and hooted its displeasure before departing, leaving Tonks with a letter that was going to soon explode. Not wanting anyone to see the letter, Tonks peeked over the wall separating her from Millie Bennett to see that her coworker was out getting her own coffee. Another quick scan revealed the department appeared empty, and Kingsley's office door was open.
Tonks clutched the angry missive to her chest as she hurried into Kingsley's office. Unfortunately, she caught her toe on the leg of the chair in front of his desk, lurched forward and flung her hands out in front of her to break her fall, scattering a pile of parchment that had been stacked neatly.
"Bugger! Sorry, mate!" Tonks hissed as she drew her wand and cast two quick spells to slam the door shut and silence the room.
Smoke poured from the red envelope now resting amidst the now-cluttered desk.
Kingsley eyed Tonks impatiently. "You might as well open it now you've gone to all this trouble."
Rather than pick up the hot envelope, Tonks flicked her wand to break the seal and draw out the letter, cringing as she awaited to hear who was angry with her.
"I TOLD YOU I WOULD COME DOWN AND EMBARRASS YOU IF YOU WENT TOO LONG WITHOUT ANSWERING ME!"
Tonks stared at the parchment for a moment as the voice of her friend, Lucy Hale, faded after delivering its short—but angry—message.
"I take it you didn't heed my advice last week when I told you to answer your barrister friend after she cornered me after testifying in her case." The twitching of Kingsley's lips belied his stern voice.
"I've been busy, you know," Tonks said with a scowl, although she was relieved he was taking the piss out of her rather than angry.
It'd been a week since the Azkaban breakout, which meant it had been two weeks since Tonks could remember even replying to one of the purple memos Lucy had sent her. With everything that had happened before Christmas, it had certainly been far too long since they'd spent any real time together. Tonks wouldn't lie to herself; she knew she had avoided Lucy because her relationship with Remus had ended. The one time they'd met for dinner around the new year, Tonks had needed to summon every ounce of resolve not to burst into floods at the way Lucy gushed over how well things were going with Hamish, the man she was seeing from Magical Sports and Games. After plucking up the courage to approach him, they'd gone on their first—and apparently glorious—first date, followed by several others. She was happy for Lucy but…
"Maybe you should go see her now before she sends another Howler," Kingsley said as he stood from his chair.
"I've got a mountain of paperwork that matches yours," Tonks argued, adding sheepishly, "although mine's still stacked all tidy."
Kingsley gave a mock glare before shaking his head and waving his hand at the door. "Go. See your friend. Take your paperwork home and work on it there. Merlin knows you've been working like mad."
"You're sure?"
"Go," Kingsley repeated. "Scrimgeour went with Fudge to brief Lucy's department head, and Robards left to meet with Amelia Bones."
"Brilliant. I'm going to make Lucy buy me dinner after that stunt." Tonks pointed her wand at the maelstrom of parchment littering the floor next to Kingsley's desk. The paperwork lifted from the floor and spun into a haphazard pile on the desk. "Sorry about the mess."
Kingsley waved his hand again and Tonks left, keen to take advantage of leaving early for the first time in ages. Careful not to topple her similar pile of paperwork, Tonks gathered her reports and placed them in the rucksack she used when bringing work home since a briefcase was far too stuffy. After a quick Weightless Charm on her bag, Tonks left for the lifts that would take her to her vengeful friend.
The bullpen for Magical Law Barristers was laid out similar to the Auror Department: a large room filled with cubicles just upstairs from the courtrooms. Tonks wended her way through the space, past long tables stacked with heavy tomes filled with magical case law and history. Lucy's cubicle was cluttered like Tonks', but in a far more orderly way.
"Was a Howler really necessary, you cow?"
Tonks was satisfied that Lucy started at her voice. She dropped her rucksack to the floor and flopped in the chair when Lucy held up a finger and scanned a page while simultaneously scrawling across a sheet of parchment. Her friend's ability to multi-talk always amazed Tonks.
After a few moments of frantic writing, Lucy tossed aside her quill and swiveled in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. "I believe you were fully aware of the consequences."
Tonks leaned forward and lowered her voice. "What if I'd still been in that bloody meeting with Fudge?"
Lucy waved her hand airily. "I waited until Fudge made his way down here with your boss before I sent it. Who saw the Howler?" she asked with a wide grin.
"Unfortunately for you, it was only Kingsley," Tonks said primly.
"Bugger," Lucy said, snapping her fingers. "I was hoping Dawlish would see it."
Tonks rolled her eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, my two left feet got the better of me as usual, and I destroyed Kingsley's desk."
Lucy had the nerve to giggle. "That does make me feel better. You're done for the day too?" When Tonks nodded, Lucy slipped her feet back in the heels she'd kicked aside and said, "My case was just continued. We should scarper before someone finds something else for us to do."
"You owe me dinner for your prank." Tonks rose from her chair and shrugged out of her robes. "And I get to choose."
"Brilliant. You'll probably choose that Chinese place by your flat." Lucy snapped the book on her desk shut. "Shall we?"
Thirty minutes later they were indeed in the Chinese restaurant near Tonks' flat, divvying up fried rice and chow mein and arguing over which one of them got the last spring roll. Tonks was doing her best to steer the conversation towards safe topics: how the weather in January was complete shite, how Fudge may actually be off his trolley, how Lucy's last date with her boyfriend—Tonks forced herself not to scowl—had gone.
"I'd love for you to meet him," Lucy said.
"I've met him," Tonks grumbled.
Lucy pointed a chopstick at Tonks and said, "On a case doesn't count. I mean I'd really like for you to meet him."
Tonks tried not to squirm as Lucy narrowed her eyes and studied her for a moment. The moment had obviously come for her to confide a little in her friend.
"I take it from the fact you've not mentioned his name it won't be a double date with Remus," Lucy said, doing her best to coax the last of her chow mein noodles onto her chopsticks.
"Unless Remus agrees to come along as a friend, no, it won't be a double date," Tonks replied. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out in a long breath, wondering what exactly to tell Lucy. Her friend's job was all about sticking to the facts, so Tonks would do just that. Stick to the facts as if I'm not gutted. "We shagged. He got scared. Now we're just friends."
"You shagged," Lucy shrieked.
"Could you say it louder? I think the man in the back rolling the spring rolls didn't hear you!"
"Sorry!" Her apology was muffled against the hand she'd clapped over her mouth. She lowered her hand and her voice and said, "It's just—you shagged and he left? I mean, I only met him for a few moments, but he didn't seem like an absolute prick."
Tonks shook her head and sighed. "He's not. Not really. It's...complicated."
"Complicated?"
The look on Lucy's face told Tonks she wouldn't settle for her short explanation. "We're going to need a comfortable seat and a bottle of wine for this conversation."
"Lucky for us there's a shop on the corner where we can get a decent bottle," Lucy said, setting aside her chopsticks. She examined the bill and produced a few muggle notes from her wallet and set it in the folder. "I'll buy the wine too."
A bottle of wine, two cups of tea, and a few tears later, Tonks had spilled the finer points of the end of her and Remus. She was surprised to find she actually felt better; she hadn't shared the gruesome details with anyone, certainly not her mother, who was really the only person she'd spoken to about the breakup.
"So there you have it," Tonks finished. "Now we're just friends."
Lucy took a sip of her tea before setting the mug on the coffee table with a thump. "Rubbish."
"Sorry?"
"The bit about being 'just friends'—it's rubbish."
Tonks managed a watery chuckle. "Try telling him that."
Lucy sat up from where she'd slouched against one of Tonks' throw pillows. "Ooh, can I?"
"No," Tonks said, sitting up to push Lucy back against the sofa. "I don't need some mad woman sending him a Howler."
"He deserves a Howler." Lucy sat quietly for a moment before she said, "Torturing him during your honeymooning mission was brilliant—love Dumbledore's plan by the way, even if it did put you in a nark. You should figure out how to torture him some more."
Tonks leaned her head back against her sofa. "I doubt even Dumbledore can conjure up too many missions where we pretend to be newlyweds...although I wouldn't put it past him."
Lucy reached for her wand from the coffee table and Summoned the teapot from Tonks' kitchen counter before refilling both mugs. "I know it's winter and bloody freezing, but you should wear some skirts, or keep your hair his favorite color, or…" She stopped and shrugged. "I dunno, wear something new he'd notice."
Tonks frowned at her friend, ready to tell her not to be daft—even though the denim skirt she knew Remus liked she usually wore with tights that could easily hold a Warming Charm—before a thought popped in her head.
"He did ask me to change my bath products," Tonks said before taking a sip of her warmed up tea.
"Let's go back to that fancy Muggle shop and find something that smells absobloodylutely divine." Lucy set her tea aside again and clapped her hands gleefully. "You can find something that smells like chocolate or caramel or some sort of delicious pudding. You can pick something that smells good enough for him to want to lick—"
"All right, all right," Tonks said with a grimace, wondering if they'd been smart to finish the bottle of wine. "I get it! Please stop before you reveal something that makes it so I can't look Hamish in the face when I meet him."
After weeks of feeling wretched over her situation with Remus, Tonks found that, after her chat with Lucy, she didn't feel quite so bad. She actually smiled at her friend's enthusiasm over tormenting Remus with dessert-scented bath products and went to sleep that night feeling lighter than she had in ages.
.
Headquarters was as dim and dull as ever when Tonks entered for the Order meeting the following week, especially with the typical, dreary January rain outside. Tonks eased her way through the entrance hall, past the mad portrait, and towards the stairs to the kitchen. Now they weren't seeing one another, Tonks wasn't sure about Remus' mission schedule and was hoping he wouldn't be away for the meeting.
Lucy and Tonks had decided to make a day of their shopping excursion, spending Sunday having brunch before shopping and ending with dinner at her parents' house for her mother's cooking. It had been a wonderful day—good food, good company, and a collection of sinfully delicious-smelling bath products. After sniffing every chocolate, vanilla, and caramel scent the posh shop had to offer, Tonks had settled on the products labeled triple chocolate torte. Between the chocolatey body wash and lotion, and the new shampoo she'd bought that boasted of its lavish hints of vanilla, she smelled like a walking dessert.
The moment Tonks pushed through the door to the kitchen, a small grin turned up her lips. Remus was indeed at the table, in conversation with Kingsley, Sirius, and Arthur. The seat next to Remus was open—per the long-ago established seating arrangement that everyone seemed to follow regardless of circumstance—but she passed by the table at first, going to Molly at the cooker to see what she was preparing for dinner following the meeting. Since there was no escaping Molly's hug and questions over whether she was getting enough rest or food or tea, Tonks chatted with her for a few moments before turning towards the table with the cup of tea Molly had insisted upon.
Tonks kept her eyes focused ahead so she didn't take a tumble with hot tea in hand, but she could feel Remus' eyes on her as she walked to her seat. He had turned their seats to face the room in preparation for the meeting to start. She greeted the other men, but simply sat in her chair with her tea rather than say a word to Remus. After a few sips, she ventured a glance towards him and found both of his hands clenched into fists and resting on his thighs.
"All right?" Tonks asked.
"Fine," Remus answered.
She couldn't help but smile at his terse reply. Remus sat in silence as Tonks sipped her tea, chatting with Hestia and Emmeline briefly when they arrived. With Dumbledore not yet to Headquarters to bring the meeting to order, Tonks decided to pop out to the loo in case the meeting became long-winded.
As she rounded the landing to head back down the steps, Tonks saw Remus leaning against the wall halfway down the steps. She smiled and walked down to meet him, stopping a couple of stairs above his so she was at his height.
"Waiting for the loo?" Tonks asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Remus drew in a breath that made her think of a wolf scenting prey. "I should have known this would happen when I requested you change your bath products."
"You don't approve?"
The heat in Remus' eyes caused her heart to race. He drew in a deeper breath. "I thought it wasn't my place to approve or disapprove."
Tonks placed her hand on Remus' shoulder and leaned in, letting her lips hover at the spot just below his ear she knew he loved. "You're right. It's not."
The quick intake of breath as her words ghosted across Remus' skin was exactly what Tonks was hoping for. With a smile, she brushed past him and headed back to the kitchen. She didn't need to look back to know he was watching.
A/N: So, I didn't get around to reviews, but I did get this written last week. *sigh* My productivity in summer really is limited (blame the kids...), especially with the work I've been doing for blog content and my original fiction novel. In news, this old lady has been delving into web design, and I'm happy to report that my blog will be ready sometime in August. Which means (ahem...sorry) the next post for "Friend to Lovers" may be slightly delayed as I work to get it all polished, but I have "Ungentlemanly" all ready to go for next week.
Feel free to tell me how your summer (or winter, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere) is going in a review!
