Conversation - Remus and Tonks (with special guest Andromeda Tonks)
A/n: This was originally written for HP Ship weeks on Tumblr - and only realized that I hadn't published it here. So, voila! And a reminder from the law firm that I don't own HP or any copyright of Remus, Tonks, Andromeda, or anything HP related. And I've hever had turquoise or blood red hair. I don't have violet eyes either. - DG
"Mum, I've met someone."
Andromeda turned around to look at her daughter sitting at the island bar seat in her kitchen. "Really?"
Tonks nodded softly, refusing to look her mum in the eyes.
"What aren't you telling me, daughter of mine?"
Dora fiddled with her teaspoon that was lying on the saucer in front of her.
"It's not Charlie Weasley, is it?"
Dora shook her head fervently. "I've not seen Charlie in over a year. He loves his dragons more than anything I could offer."
"Perhaps someone in your department? Another Auror, someone I've not met yet?" Andromeda looked at her sullen daughter. "If it's Alistair Moody I will have to have a long talk with that man. He's old enough to my Dad, barely."
"Hardly, Mum. It's not an Auror in the department."
Andromeda scowled at her daughter in front of her. "Please tell me it's not one of our relatives, a cousin or something. I don't think I could handle a howler right now from any of our distant relations. I don't want to deal with dear Mother for any reason whatsoever."
Dora was still mum in the conversation.
Andromeda stood on the other side of the bar, tapping her finger on the countertop. Dora knew her Mum was mad with that much demonstration of her frustration.
"If you're not going to talk about him with me, why did you even bother bringing it up?"
"You've already met him, Mum."
Andromeda quietly rifled through the list of the members of the Order that she worked with on her off-hours. There were so many that she wouldn't think twice about, much less a possible suitor. No one came to mind immediately.
"Really?"
Dora nodded demurely.
"Bill Weasley, perhaps?"
"Nah. I love Bill but he's engaged to Fleur Delacour. What we had there for a while pales to what he sees in her. And that's fine. We were better friends than anything else. I'm glad he met someone who loves him that passionately."
"Then who is it?"
"You're not going to like him," Dora muttered into her teacup.
"Speak up, please. You know it irritates me to no end when you do that."
Dora took a very deep breath and looked at her Mum. Dora's eyes turned from the violet she preferred to the dark brown of the ones she fell in love with. Her hair changed color too, from the shocking turquoise she wore when off duty to the family heritage brown. But the significant change – and the one that Andromeda recognized immediately – was the healed werewolf scars across her face.
"Him?" She said quietly.
Dora nodded. She relaxed and her face returned to the button nose she preferred, the bright turquoise hair and the violet eyes. She took a deep breath once her features were her own.
"He's so – "
"What? Another shape shifting freak like I am?"
"Who called you that?" The anger was evident in her voice.
Dora turned her head to look away in embarrassment. "Nothing. Something I heard one time."
"Look at me."
Dora turned back to her Mum standing before her.
"What I was going to say is that he's so much older than you. He's what, 36? And you're 24? That's a large age gap."
"None of the other guys my age really interested me, aside from Bill and Charlie."
"So what is it about him that caught your eye?"
"He's articulate, Mum, and quite well read. We can talk about so many things, things that are truly interesting."
Time to poke a Firecrab nest, I see. "Doesn't his problem bother you in the least?"
"Actually, no, it doesn't. He understands my abilities. He's so gentle with me."
"Gentle? How? What are you talking about?"
Dora blushed and tried to mask her features.
"You didn't, did you?"
"Mum, I'm not in school. I'm an adult and live on my own."
"How long have you two been seeing one another?"
Dora lowered her eyes and muttered an answer.
"I asked, How long?"
"A month."
"You've been seeing an older man for a month and already gone to bed with him? I thought I taught you better."
"At least I was smart about it. I don't want to jeopardize my career with a pregnancy, not right now."
Andromeda pinched the bridge of her nose in obvious consternation. "Have you told your father about this?"
"Not yet. I will when he gets home shortly."
A flare in the fireplace signaled the appearance of another person. Remus ducked his head and stepped through, banishing the soot on his threadbare robes. Dora turned and ran to her paramour. He looked a little embarrassed for her demonstration of affection.
Nonetheless, his hand gently encased hers.
He looked over Dora's shoulder to Andromeda in the kitchen. A stoic façade settled over her features.
He looked down at the turquoise haired Auror in front of her. "You told her, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. She's my Mum. Why should I hide what we have from her?"
"Remus," Andromeda called from the kitchen. "Come in and get a spot of tea."
Remus did as asked with Dora in tow. "Dora dear, be a sweet and run get me some biscuits."
"But we're out, Mum. I looked earlier."
One pointed look reinforced the fact that what she wanted was a private conversation.
"Biscuits. Right. Ginger Thins or Jammy Dodgers?"
"Both. Ted'll want the Jammy Dodgers when he gets home."
Dora nodded before stepping into the Floo for a quick trip to London.
Andromeda turned back to the tired figure standing before her.
"You didn't have to send Dora away. Anything we discuss is fine with me."
"So you wanted her to hear my interrogation of you, especially when it comes to shagging her before marriage?"
Remus stood before the formidable witch before him. She might be almost a foot shorter than him, and just old enough to be his older sister, but even he knew to be wary of her. She was not a woman to be trifled with or dance around the issues.
"I didn't intend for this to happen. Any other time in my life and I would have run as soon as she showed any interest."
"So you're telling me that my daughter came onto you and you did nothing to dissuade her from chasing you, much less taking her to bed with you?"
"I tried everything I could, as a gentleman, to make her look elsewhere. But I can't leave, not yet at least, because of Dumbledore. With the return of You-know-who, I am needed to infiltrate the werewolf colonies. Sometimes, Dora has gone with me. She blends in well enough that most don't suspect otherwise."
"And yet that isn't a good enough reason to have taken my daughter to your bed."
Remus caught a whiff of fear from the older witch standing in front of him. "I didn't take her to my bed, if that concerns you. She took me to hers – after pursuing me for quite some time. It might surprise you, Mrs. Tonks, but I've never had anyone show me any interest as a person outside of my teaching duties."
Remus turned and looked out towards the fireplace in the next room. "Do you know what it's like to be ostrasized for something you had no control over? Do you know how painful it is to grow up and have absolutely no place in our world, living on the outside always looking in?" Remus turned back to face Andromeda. "Dora is the first person to show any interest in me, as a man, and not as a monster. My affliction doesn't bother her in the least. She's scared me more than I her, with her changing ability. It's such a gift!"
Remus stepped back into the kitchen and sat down at the island in front of him. "Is it my fault that I fell for her, when I am a monster that scares small children? She's the first person who has shown me kindness and affection, much more than I've ever had in my life. Was it weakness on my part when I accepted her offer of a night of solace? I'll never answer that, this side of the veil."
"Weakness my bright pink hair!"
The two in the kitchen turned to see Dora standing in the den looking much like her father, except for the Blood red hair and eyes. She stormed into the kitchen and turned the weathered man in his chair to her. Not a second passed before she laid a passionate kiss upon his slightly chapped lips.
"Dora! Not in my kitchen, you won't."
She released Remus from their quick yet passionate snog. She kept her hand interlocked with his. He looked dazed from her affection while she turned a sharp eye at her mother in front of her. "Like Hell, Mum. I love him and there's not a blasted thing you can do about it. You might not accept it, nor approve of what we've done but I don't regret a minute of it."
Mother and Daughter stood facing one another, a contest of wills between the formidable women.
Andromeda sighed first. "You were always stubborn like your father."
"He snagged you, didn't he?"
"That he did."
Dora turned back to Remus who had been sitting quietly between the ladies. "Remus, we're leaving. We have things to do before tonight's duties."
"We do? I thought you were off work tonight?"
"I didn't say it was work related."
Andromeda watched the other two leave via the Floo in her den. "That daughter of mine."
