Thankfully, Remus and I managed to calm Sirius down quite quickly. Only with the promise to prank Snape when he got the chance - not that I was going to complain about that opportunity - did it for him. He was now happily making plans that promised to be good. The stupid git deserved it.
Now it was time for a distraction, we did not want to listen to Sirius grumble about Snape for hours. Well, I certainly didn't.
"It was so good but so weird to go home..."
Dora literally fell out of the car in her excitement to get into the house. Thankfully, her mum had been prepared for this and grabbed her arm before her face met the driveway.
"Careful, Nymphadora," she chided, helping her back to her feet.
Dora pulled a face but, for once, didn't complain. She hadn't heard her full name in so long that it actually sounded pretty odd. Not that she missed it. Nope. Still a horrible name. Her surname was much better. Though, she didn't think her parents would agree to calling her by it. And she kind of missed hearing her mum saying it. Kind of.
Once she had the ground firmly under her feet again, she took off for the front door. The drive had been far too long. She wished she could have been side-alonged but her parents had gone shopping in London before picking her up. Which meant a boot full of bags. A trip to London always involved filling the car to capacity with shopping.
Thankfully, this time they had left enough space for her and her trunk. Just about.
"I think she's more excited about the house than seeing us," Andromeda said in amusement.
Well, she had had the whole car ride (the very long car ride) to get reacquainted with her parents. Now it was the house's turn. Had it changed at all while it was away? She had never realised how warm and welcoming it was. The Hufflepuff Basement was nice and all but it was nothing like home.
She tugged at the door, belatedly realising that her parents would not have left it unlocked.
"Looking for this?" Andromeda asked, holding up the key.
Dora pouted at her and didn't deign her with a response, instead she pointedly jiggled the handle.
Rolling her eyes, Andromeda picked up the hint and went over to open the door. Yay! There was home! And it looked like it hadn't changed one bit.
"Come bring some bags in," Ted instructed, opening the cram-packed boot
How it hadn't popped open along a motorway, Dora would never know. It was like the bag swelled up past the boundary of the boot. It was crazy. And her trunk was allegedly somewhere under there. Not that she could see it.
Between the three of them, all the nags soon got into the house. Why on earth were there so many of them? Dora thought that she would never understand the pleasure people took 9n shopping for hours. It was her worst nightmare.
"So, what did you think of Binns?" Ted asked, picking up from where they had left off in the car once the final bag was in the house.
They had been talking about Professors and which ones had taught her parents and which ones were new. Andromeda didn't think much of the new Head of Slytherin, not that it mattered since he wasn't Dora's Head of House so she wasn't going to have to deal with him.
Dora pulled a face at the thought of her ghost Professor. Despite her parents' warnings about him, she had still been bitterly disappointed. Come on! He was a ghost! Who was a Professor! That by itself was exciting. But Binns was anything but. Actually, he was the complete opposite - dead boring. No pun intended.
"It's so hard to pay attention to him," she confessed guiltily.
She was expecting a scolding from her mum but it never came. Instead, Andromeda shook her head.
"Looks like he hasn't changed."
Wow, that was kind of depressing.
"He just follows the textbook exactly," Ted told her. "Just read that for your tests and you'll be fine."
"Ted!" Andromeda scolded.
"It's true!"
"We shouldn't be encouraging her not to pay attention in class!"
"It's History of Magic, it doesn't count."
Andromeda made an exasperated noise while throwing her hands up in the air.
Ted leaned over to Dora and said in a pointes tone, "Note that she didn't deny it."
Dora giggled, which didn't help.
"Edward Tonks!"
"Oooh, full name, dad," Dora couldn't help but tease.
Hey, it was normally her getting the full name treatment. It was nice not being on that end for a change.
"I'm in trouble," he told her a conspiratorial tone.
Dora nodded solemnly. He definitely was. It was hilarious.
"Oh, you definitely are," Andromeda said threateningly, grabbing the scrubbing brush from the sink and waved it threateningly at him. "I won't be having you teach our daughter poor study habits."
"Like you payed any attention to him."
Her mother flushed but didn't say anything.
"Thought so," Ted said triumphantly.
That got him the wet sponge in his face. Which, of course, he grabbed a tea towel and snapped it at her. He missed but that didn't stop Andromeda from retaliating and soon a war was in full swing.
Dora giggled crazily as she dodged sponges and squirts of water from the tap. She really had missed home.
"No one pays attention in History of Magic," Sirius scoffed. "Not even Moony."
"No, really?" I dramatically gasped, though it was hard to imagine Remus goofing off during class. Even if it was History of Magic.
Remus shrugged unapologetically. "Your dad was right, Binns just follows the textbook. Read that and you're good."
"Memorise it and you're good," Sirius corrected. "Until your external exams all of the tests you do are lifted straight from the textbook's exercises."
"We didn't figure that out until a Ravenclaw was nice enough to tell us after a few tests." I admitted.
That had been a bit embarrassing. Just shows you how much people paid attention in class or to the essays.
"So, you really liked being home?" Remus asked.
"Doesn't everybody?"
Sirius got a nostalgic look on his face. "I much preferred being at Hogwarts."
I could hit myself but I'd get pretty odd looks for it. Or no end of teasing. But of course, Sirius would have preferred Hogwarts. Remus coughed awkwardly, obviously not knowing what to say either.
I had to break this awkwardness somehow.
"It was weird not to hear anyone else sleeping for the first few days home," I recalled.
Three months in a dorm with four other girls made it difficult to sleep in the absolute silence of my own bedroom. Silence was really off-putting, I had discovered.
