God, Merlin, Jesus or whoever the hell was up there, make the endless torture stop. This was the fourth meeting in a row where there was nothing to report. She gave a quick glance at Remus, who was actually listening to Mad-Eyes most boring report about "suspicious signs" and then looked at Sirius who just smiled knowingly at her, looking sober for once thankfully. She hadn't told him that she had told her mother about his little "mood swings" and that she was coming over to sort him out today after their meeting.
"Adjourned," pronounced Dumbledore, which felt like an hour later, and everyone ran quickly to the door besides her and Remus (Tonks didn't count Sirius; he had to stay there all the time). Remus because he semi-lived here and her because she did not want to miss her mother's rant.
Sirius reached for the cupboard holding the firewhiskey and then a low, menacing voice hissed, "Touch one more bottle, cousin, and I swear I will do something we'll both regret."
Sirius jumped and Remus turned quickly around, wand in hand. Tonks tried to stifle a laugh. Her mother was standing in the doorway, glaring at Sirius with all her might.
"Looks a bit like dear Auntie Bella" thought Tonks as Andromeda stalked towards a cowering Sirius. Remus was just leaning back on the counter, his wand replaced in his pocket, looking like he was enjoying himself.
"Andy!" said Sirius weakly, retracting his hand hastily from the cupboard, "What brings you here?"
Andromeda narrowed her eyes and said, "I couldn't believe Nymphadora when she told me but it looks like it was true . . . "
"What?" yelped Sirius and then noticed that she was staring at the empty bottle on the table, "That's just one drink!"
Andromeda raised her eyebrow and didn't say anything.
"It's all well and good that everyone else can say I shouldn't drink," said Sirius defensively, "but I don't see them being trapped in this house."
"You could do something." Started Andromeda.
Tonks and Remus looked at each other with a look saying, 'Uh Oh . . .' as Sirius' face flushed red.
"I FEEL BLOODY USELESS!" bellowed Sirius, glaring at Andromeda, his eyes ice grey, "AND CLEANING WON'T HELP! I WANT OUT I NEED TO GET OUT! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT! I'VE FAILED JAMES AND LILY AND HARRY AND EVERYONE!"
Tonks winced at the volume of Sirius' voice; he was definitely related to The Portrait
Andromeda walked two steps closer to him and slapped him on the face shouting, "Find something to do then! Do anything! Turn this house upside down; just don't drown yourself in alcohol!"
Sirius just blinked at her, feeling where she slapped him.
"Oh, Sirius you idiot," said Andromeda, hugging him close, "I worry so much about you."
She thought she saw tears in Sirius' eyes but she could be wrong because the next thing she knew was Sirius was apologising and struggling to get Andromeda to drink the tea he made (it was bubbling by itself, even she wouldn't have done that, blown the kettle up, yes but not give the tea a life of its own). Andromeda was laughing, pushing the cup away from her, eventually making it spin across the room and hitting Remus.
It was all silent for a minute until Remus wiped some of it off his face, it has the consistency of gravy, on wiped on her and flicked it in the direction of Andromeda and Sirius.
Soon all four of them were sitting at the table exchanging embarrassing stories. Her mum enjoyed telling Remus about when she and Sirius were younger; Sirius was informing them all of the stupid things Remus did for chocolate, who would've guessed that the proper Remus Lupin once sang in the Great Hall to get his chocolate stash back? Remus retaliated with a tale involving a broom cupboard, Sirius and a sack of bouncing bulbs, which Sirius is apparently deathly afraid of. Even she had a funny tale or two to tell about her mum and attempting to paint the living room muggle style.
It was three hour later when Andromeda had to leave to get dinner ready.
"C'mon, Andy! Help us make dinner first!" whinged Sirius, "None of us can cook and Molly's left so we don't have food!"
"Hey, Remus can cook," Tonks objected, one evening when she couldn't be bothered going to her flat (which was becoming more and more often now) she'd come to Grimmauld to see Remus cooking for him and Sirius and he had asked if she would like to join. That was delicious.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Whatever, all hail Moony, but Andromeda please.
"No you idiot although I'll come back soon," said Andromeda, hugging Tonks, "I'll see you on Sunday, honey."
With that Andromeda walked out of the house and left them all with a 'crack'.
"Who wants to help me put up mistletoe?" asked Sirius cheerfully, obviously in a better mood than he had been in for the last few days, "I want to prove those rumours about Kingsley and Hestia and Snapey and Elphias."
Tonks giggled merrily, she should bring her mum around more often if this would be the outcome.
"Padfoot," she heard Remus say, "Snape is not gay . . . "
Ewww, bad mental images from THAT! She shuddered as the banter between the two brothers continued.
"How do you know? This will help us find out!"
"Padfoot . . . "
She and Remus spent the rest of the day trying to persuade Sirius not to put mistletoe over the kitchen door because everyone walked in there. No one needed to get trapped under there when Dumbledore, Snape or McGonagall walked past. They eventually got him to put it over the fireplace in the living room; no one used that floo hopefully. If they did, well, they couldn't blame her. The mistletoe did belong to Sirius. Where he got mistletoe that trapped you under it until someone kissed you on the lips she had no clue but Tonks suspected that Dung got it from his 'special warehouse'. There were probably some side effects to using it or else she would trap herself under it and wait for Remus. Nah, knowing her luck she would get Bill or Emmeline .