"Another Firewiskey, Aberforth!"
Tonks slammed her empty glass down on the counter. The bartender shook his head in disagreement.
"It's not that I don't appreciate the extra business, darling, but I think you've had enough for tonight."
A few hours earlier, Tonks had clearly not been apparating with the proper amount of concentration. In her agitated state her body took her to the Hogshead pub instead of her London flat. Magic was sometimes funny that way.
"Please, Abe. I really need it tonight." She whined. Her pink hair was dropping limply on the side of her face.
"You're pathetic." He said in response to her pout. "Tell you what? Why don't I fill your cup with some butterbeer instead - on the house."
She waved her hand dismissively. This was not a battle she would win.
She sipped her beverage and sighed into her cup. She felt like her life was slowly becoming one of those soap operas her muggle grandmother watched constantly– only her story had dark magic in addition to all the heartbreak. She groaned and placed her head down on the counter. The night could not get much worse.
"Nymphadora Tonks? Is that you?"
She didn't look up because she didn't want to face that owner of that voice. She knew that voice. It was hard to miss the judgmental sneer and heavy disapproval lining the tone. It was truly unique.
"What in Merlin's beard are you doing here Snape?" she cried into the wood below her face.
Aberforth placed an empty cup next to Snape. "What would you like, Severus?"
"Firewhiskey." He said.
"Coming up."
"Wait!" Tonks surfaced from her slouched position. "How come he gets one and I don't?"
"Because I am not a blubbering mess." Snape said distastefully. He looked at her like a student who hadn't done their homework.
Tonks scowled. "At least I showed up to the Order meeting today. Can't say the same for you, mate." She lifted her half empty glass in a commemorative toast.
"Don't be stupid." He spat. "Dumbledore needed me somewhere else."
"And we must all do as Dumbledore says, mustn't we?" she cooed.
"Indeed." he spat.
Snape looked down at his firewhiskey solemnly. Then, in one gulp, he downed his cup. Tonks raised her eyebrow.
"You know…" she said, half amused at his pain. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you weren't too pleased about Dumbledore's plans for you– whatever they might be."
"You have no idea." He said quietly.
Tonks groaned and spun around on her bar stool. She used to do this as a child. Her father would plop her on top so her feet were dangling, then he would push her round and round until she begged him to stop. She was starting to feel dizzy again.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Snape pointed out as he observed her glazed eyes.
"Perhaps you're right." She said, finally stopping and gripping the bar for balance. "I think I went a bit overboard tonight.
Snape mumbled something, but she couldn't make it out.
"So," he said, staring off on his second glass. "What's the occasion?"
"Occasion?"
"Yes – you're not drinking like this for no reason are you?"
"Ohh!" Tonks laughed. "No! I'm not. I – I suppose I was upset."
"About what?" he asked.
She smirked. "About something you wouldn't understand."
Normally, Tonks never talked to Snape like this. Honestly, he used to intimidate her. She would avoid being alone with him. She tended to babble or make awkward conversation when alone with people. Then again, after a few drinks that insecurity meant absolutely nothing.
"Let me guess." He said slowly. "You're drowning your romantic woes in alcohol?"
"I don't think it takes much intelligence to reach that conclusion, Snape." She said. "I am not impressed with your deductive skills."
"So you've decided to forget this man by getting drunk and blubbering away your problems?"
"Sure. What's wrong with that?" she challenged.
"Don't you find it cliché?"
She snickered. "Hey! You're funny when you want to be!"
Snape looked confused. He had absolutely no intention of being funny. He rarely did.
"Ok, what would you do?" Tonks asked.
Snape furrowed his eyebrows. "What would I do?"
"Sure." She said, resting her chin on her hands and looking up at him. Her eagerness and wide eyes reminded him of the way Hermione Granger sat in the front row of his class. "What would you do if you were madly in love with someone who you could never be with?"
Tonks, though fairly drunk, couldn't help but notice the odd change in Snape's face. He looked almost sad. He was staring down in his Firewhiskey as if he wanted to magic more in his cup.
"It sounds like a hopeless case to me." He said coldly, drinking the last of it.
She sighed.
The two sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. The bar was clearing up. People were slowly heading out to their homes. Both Snape and Tonks stayed in their seats. Snape seemed deep in thought and Tonks' dizziness was making her reluctant to move anywhere at present.
"Isn't Remus Lupin a bit old for you?"
Tonks' mouth dropped open.
"Excuse me?"
"Isn't he too old for you? Not to mention he turns into a wolf one a month..."
Her eyes darkened menacingly at the man next to her. "What the hell gave the idea that-"
"You really shouldn't wear your emotions in the forefront of your mind." He interrupted. "Anyone with Legilimency training could see right through you."
She gaped at him. "Holy Horntail, Snape! Can't a girl expect some privacy in her own mind at the very least?"
"No one has privacy these days." He said gravely.
"You misinterpreted my emotions. I'm not in love with Remus." She said angrily.
"Oh?"
"No, he's just going away on a dangerous mission and, as a fellow Order member, I reserve the right to have general concern – as should you. You would know that if you have actually come to the meeting today." She pointed out. She felt satisfied with her lie, but decided to avoid eye contact with Snape just in case it hadn't worked.
"Well," she said. "I'll be off now. Thank you for a lovely evening, Aberforth. Snape, I wish I could say the same."
The bartender raised an eyebrow at the stumbling girl. "You serious?" he asked. "Did anyone ever tell you not to drink and apparate? You could end up in Brazil or America."
"I'm perfectly fine!" as she declared this, a hiccup escaped her mouth. She blushed.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Must I do everything?" he walked over to the girl and grabbed her arm, leading her outside the pub.
"Oi! Whatcha doing there Snape? Get off me!" she cried, trying to yank her arm from his grip.
"Taking you back home. If we're going to loose another Order member it shouldn't be because of something has stupid as drunken splinching." He sneered.
Tonks winced at the very thought. It didn't sound pretty.
"What's your address?"
She muttered the street she lived on and before she could prepare, Snape had already led them whirling into space.
She hit the ground hard, gasping for breath. Her stomach was given an unwelcome jolt. She heaved forward. "Delightful…" she muttered, wiping her mouth.
Tonks turned around to thank Snape, but he had already left.
The next morning would mark the beginning of the most trying phase of Tonks' life. If that wasn't bad enough, it would all start with a hangover.