A/N: When your reading this chapter you'll find that the errors you have maybe come to know me for are not there. Well I didn't learn to spot them if that's what your thinking. I got a beta.
Lucky for me and you really. So I have to give major thanks to Amy Napierkowski for reading this first and fixing it up and everything...
NOW: As a little note. Some conversations in this chapter is reference to conversations that took place in chapter five, you know the one I said I would explain later. Well now is later. If Tonks says some things you don't remember her saying then it took place off page in chapter five. I hope that explains everything.
CHAPTER: Starved for attention.
The realisation that she was starved for attention from Severus came at a bad time. She could hardly ponder all the ways she could get him to pay more attention to her because she had more important things on her mind; her son. It was Christmas holidays and Teddy was home for two weeks but only after she wrote him a letter demanding that he gets his butt on the train when the twentieth of December came around.
He walked in the door and went straight to his room refusing meals and mumbling things under his breath that she was certain were not pleasant. She thought that he would have been over it in a day or two but the kid was intent on starving, although she was certain that she heard him sneaking in the kitchen at night trying to find something to eat. When the morning came around, he would rush off to the bathroom and then set out for the Weasley's. She had planned to tell Mrs. Weasley not to let him in but she decided that she would only make him hate her even more.
"Teddy," she called at his door. He didn't answer but she knew he was there as he turned up his radio. She shouted over the music. "I'm stepping out for a while, if you want dinner it's in the kitchen." She waited for a replay but none came. She sighed and walked down the narrow hall and disapparated in a POP!
-o-
She carried herself to Severus' place. It was after seven which meant he would have been home. She hadn't been to see him in a while. Aside from being petrified by the ideas that were popping up in her head she couldn't just pick up and leave Teddy on his own.
He wasn't in the living room watching TV like always but all the lights were on which meant he was home. She got a series of horrible ideas; what if Wendy is here? What if they are upstairs making love? Maybe I should go back home? No, you should interrupt that. No, that would ruin the mood. You can't do that, that's crass.
"No it isn't!" She said aloud.
"Who are you talking to," she heard Severus ask from behind her.
She spun around and looked at him. He looked like he was getting ready for bed. He was wearing sleeping pants and plain white T-shirt. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked.
He walked past her and went to the couch and slouched down. "Nothing more than you usually do."
"So no one's here?" she asked cautiously.
"No. Is anyone ever here?" He took the remote and turned on the TV.
"You look like you were ready for ah...bed."
He flipped though the channels, settled on the evening news, and stretched his body out on the couch. "Well I thought I was going to be alone tonight. I didn't know I had a reason to dress up."
Did he mean that as a joke? She didn't know. He really was never that dressed down around her so he could have been serious, but it hardly seemed like something he would do, at least not on account of her.
She leaned over the couch from behind and looked down at him. He was lying on his back, sprawled out. She found her eyes travelling up and down his body, wondering what was under all those clothes, although she didn't have to wonder much. That thin fabric of the sleeping pants left little to the imagination. When the light from the television hit him, she was certain she could see him through the cotton, or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Her mind immediately began to scold her for thinking about him in that way. She couldn't allow that to happen.
"You should take a picture; it will last longer." He said.
She could tell that this was something he clearly learned from TV, as he was not the sort to make comments like that. Before, if he caught her staring at him, he would just comment on how annoying was. He would never be cheeky or borderline flirtatious. Unless, he knew she was trying to see his family jewels, there was no reason to make a comment like that… was there?
"I was just thinking about something," she said slowly.
"Hmm."
"My son's still angry with me. He reckons that I have destroyed his reputation, he says that everyone thinks he's a pansy."
His eyes caught hers. "I thought you said that you didn't speak to Professor Cromwell?"
Just then she actually had the urge to do something incredibly daring because had completely lost her mind. She wanted to climb over back of the couch and land on his him to see how he would react. Even though she was thinking it was crazy, it didn't stop her from doing it. She climbed over the couch that wasn't that high and landed on him, her bum rubbing up against him.
"Ouch," was all he said even though he made no attempt to move. She turned her body around so she was facing him. He was a full head taller than her and she didn't fall that gracefully, so she still had to look up at him. She tapped on his chest. "I didn't speak to him," she started, even though she was really thinking about why he hadn't thrown her off him and onto the ground. "I ran into Teddy on the seventh floor with his friends."
He raised his hands from the side of him and rested it on her back. "Were you going to see McGonagall then?"
Her mind was going absolutely crazy with the new development that she almost didn't answer the question. "Ah... No, I was about go down to the fourth floor to the staff rooms. I came through the room of requirement, through Aberforth's old portrait. I can't believe they didn't close it..."
"Well it saved the school, didn't it?" he asked.
He shifted slightly and she wondered if she was too heavy for him. "Yes, I suppose it's wise to keep one gate open."
She laid there in silence for a while, feeling his hand on her back and his body under hers, and she found herself wishing she wasn't wearing jeans because the fabric was so thick.
"What are you going to do about your son?" he asked.
"I got him one hell of a Christmas gift. Cost me an arm and a leg but I think he should like it," she said. "Speaking of which... I knew there was a reason why I came here."
"You mean you didn't come to bother me."
"No, I came to ask you if you want to have Christmas lunch."
"Lunch?"
"Yes, I'm making a feast, will you come?"
"Ahh... Wouldn't there be a slight problem with your son seeing me."
She looked up at him and smiled. "He has no idea who you are or what you look like. It's not like kids go crazy for the past."
"How could he not know who I am?" he asked as if insulted and shocked.
She tapped him on his chest again. "I hate to say this but it's very easy to forget someone who never really lived. People in the Order will always remember you, but who else will. Rita took so long to gather information on you that by time the book was finished everyone forgot about you. You sort of made yourself invisible."
He was silent for a while, with just a pondering look on his face. He turned his eyes from her to the TV, which was on mute. "I'll stop by," he said.
"Good," Tonks said. "Is there anything you like to eat on Christmas?"
"No, what ever you make is fine."
"Okay Sev," she said and patted him on his chest one last time. She pushed herself off him and she felt his hands slide off her back. Standing up, she straightened her clothes. "I'll she see you tomorrow."
He made a non committal noise but she knew that he was going to be there. She nodded and disapparated in front of him.
-o-
"Shall we say a prayer," Wendy said in a cheerful voice.
Tonks looked from Wendy to Severus. She wanted to strangle him. When she asked him over for lunch she invited him alone, not her. Her Christmas was already going horribly; her son didn't get her anything even though she gave him to buy something for her and then he refused to open the gift she got him. He didn't want to come to the table for lunch but only decided he would when the pretty woman asked him to. It was absolutely sickening.
Tonks had never been so annoyed by prayer. She did not want to hold hands with her and break bread. She wanted her out of her house.
All her hard work, which she did with her son and her friend in mind, would be shared with this woman, someone who she couldn't stand. So her roast turkey, bacon and sausage rolls, roasted potatoes, mince pies, veggies, and Yorkshire pudding would all be shared with her.
When they were finished with the prayer they began to pass around the food. All the while, Teddy was refusing everything. She was content with ignoring him, knowing that he would get hungry eventually, but Wendy had to open her mouth.
"Don't you want to try some of all this nice food? Your mother spent a long time cooking it."
Teddy shrugged. "I didn't ask her too. She's always doing things she's not asked."
"But aren't you happy to have all this food, there are some people who don't even have any food to eat."
She knew this trick; this was the one her mother used to use on her when she didn't want to eat her cooking.
Teddy took a piece of Turkey from the centre of the table and placed it on his plate. "I will eat it, even though it tastes like paper."
Somehow she felt like if she stayed at the table a second longer she would go crazy or swear like a sailor. She got up from the table, rather loudly. "Excuse me for a second," she said in a voice that she hoped sounded pleasant.
She walked quickly to the front door and darted outside into the snow, almost tripping on the rug in the process. She looked around the snowy valley and took a deep breath. Her neck felt stiff, her feet were aching from standing on it for so long, and she mostly felt emotionally drained. She had never quarrelled with Teddy for so long, and it was weighing on her. She missed her son. Things weren't helped by Severus either, who decided that it would be a good idea to bring Wendy around. Her excessive happiness, her perfect little face, her perfect shoulders, small waist and long legs were enough to drive her crazy. "I can't take this anymore," she said.
"Nymphadora." She heard Severus' voice behind her.
He was the last person she wanted to see right now. "Yes," she said.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
She turned around. He had never been outside of her house out of fear of being seen. This must have been a huge moment for him. "I'm fine," she said leaning her head back to get the stiffness out of her neck.
"Then come back in the house." He said. "He's just being a normal teenager."
She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
"I can assure you that your cooking does not taste like paper."
She looked at him and knitted her brows. "I gotta go," she said.
"What?"
"I have to see my Gran." She said.
"Now?" he asked.
She nodded again. "Just go inside and see that they're all okay. I'll be back in a while."
She didn't leave time for him to respond. She disapparated.
-o-o-
She walked back in the door some two hours later and dusted the snow from her hair. When she came in, Severus and Wendy were on the sofa talking but she couldn't see Teddy anywhere, she guessed he was in his room.
She wanted to say something to them but nothing came out. Instead she walked in the kitchen and closed the door behind her. She was expecting to see a heap of dishes waiting for her to clean but someone had cleaned the kitchen spotless. She leaned over the sink looking for something to do, anything to keep her mind off the fact that she was having one of the worst days in her life.
She heard the door open behind her and she already knew who it was. He closed it. "Do I have to ask if you're alright?" he said, he sounded annoyed.
She kept her back to him. "I'm fine," she said. But the moment he asked her if she was okay tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Turn around," he demanded.
She did not want to turn around, instead she pinned her hair behind her ears. She felt his hand taking her arm and turning her around. She closed her eyes because she didn't want to see his reaction to her tears.
"Hmm," he whispered, in tone that would suggest that her tears were unpleasant. "Why do I know you so well, Nymphadora?"
"I'm sorry," she said. "But I am having a really bad day."
"I can tell. What happened?"
She opened her eyes. She was expecting him to have a cold and nonchalant expression on his face, but instead, his eyes were filled with warmth and concern. "My Gran died this morning," she said. He didn't say anything. Instead he moved her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her head in his chest and let her tears fall, soaking his shirt.
A/N: Okay, I hope you guys liked it. I know what your thinking; Why would Severus bring Wendy to Tonks' place? That pissed me off too. But in all fairness she is dating him and they do usually spend the days together and since Tonks was the one who put them together in the first place he didn't think it would be a problem.
But there were some scenes where I wished I could sneak in his POV but I couldn't. Even though it would be interesting to hear what was going trough his mind when Tonks was top of him, I had to keep the flow of the story and it's always from Tonks' POV. Although in a later chapter there will be a small piece from Harry's POV.
Anyway, I don't want to make this note as long as the chapter itself... So I'll stop now.
