Chapter 42: Toby the Pillow

February 6, 1994

After overhearing his parents' conversation a few weeks ago, things started making sense to Harry. How Professor Lupin called Tonks 'Dora' while everyone else called her Tonks. How Professor Lupin had mentioned 'a woman I know' when he was explaining what Aurors were to Neville, unable to keep that sparkle out of his eyes. How, when Harry had once knocked on Professor Lupin's door in the night to ask when the homework was due, the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor had answered the door with his hair messed up in such a way that Harry had attributed it to something other than sleeping.

And he wondered if something else was going on when Professor Lupin was 'ill'.

Aliya found Cho at the Ravenclaw Table, having breakfast, chatting animatedly with her friends. She ran up to the fourth-year with a wide smile on her face.

"Hey, Cho," Aliya greeted. "I'm pleased to inform you that you have been selected into the effects department of the Hogwarts Magical Dance Club! You did really outstanding, by the way. I think you're going to have a lot of fun."

Cho smiled. "Thanks."

Aliya frowned, getting the feeling that there was obviously something she was missing here. Here she was with her multiple sentences, and Cho replied with one word?

"Is something wrong?" Aliya queried.

Cho glanced over at the Hufflepuff Table and back. "No, nothing."

"Oh, okay." She smiled. "So, congratulations! I hope you like it. It'll be a bunch of fun. Practice is every Friday from seven to nine."

"Thanks," Cho repeated.

Aliya glanced over at the Hufflepuff Table, seeing nothing really interesting there. Unless there was a certain person…

Cedric, maybe?

Oh, Aliya had seen the way Cedric looked at Cho. And Cedric was someone who told her everything; yet, he hadn't yet encroached this subject. Maybe because it was more private to him.

Which was cool. She respected that. But still…

"Cedric likes you, by the way," Aliya informed her. "He's my friend. I've seen it."

Cho looked reluctant to believe it. "He likes me?"

"Positive. And… oh." It suddenly dawned on Aliya why Cho looked so stiff. "Oh. Cedric and I definitely aren't… together, Cho. We're best friends, but not a step over that. I promise."

"Okay," said Cho quietly. "It's just that… I mean, you're popular. You're cool. You have a million friends. I don't know why Cedric would like me over you."

"And that's why he's my friend," Aliya said, smiling. "But he likes you, because… well, to be honest, I don't know. I'm sure there's something he sees in you. It's not always about popularity. You only really learn about people and what they're like when you get to know them better."

A smile made its way onto Cho's face. "Thank you, Aliya. You're really a nice person. No offense, but I didn't expect you to be nice. You know. Most popular people are just…"

"Sassy? Bossy? Idiots?" Aliya offered. "Yeah, they definitely are. They think that's what makes them popular. That does make you popular, but that's not the only way."

"Thanks, Aliya," Cho replied softly.

"Anytime," Aliya said. "And I look forward to drilling Cedric about you." She smirked. "That's going to be fun."

Tonks brushed a hand through her brown hair nervously.

She had taken James's advice, and was currently reporting for her first day at a Muggle mall called the Riverside Mall. It sat on the Thames, overlooking the city on all sides. She had opted to keep her hair brown, as much as she detested the color, though she threw in some pink streaks so she didn't feel completely dull.

"Hi, I'm Noelle," came a brusque voice from behind her, and she whipped around to see a middle-aged woman with dark brown hair and a mousy face walking towards her, her heels clacking loudly on the tile. "You'll be reporting directly to me. What's your name?"

"Nymphadora Tonks," Tonks said through gritted teeth, attempting a smile. "But you can call me Tonks."

"Okay, Tonks," said Noelle. "My, that's easy to say. You'll be working in the clothing department." She pointed a finger to her right. "Right there. You'll be assisting people, helping them find things, helping them try on things, the sort. Makes sense?"

"Yes," Tonks replied politely.

"Okay. That's Demi, over there." Noelle pointed to a woman in the clothing shop. "She does the same thing, only she's been here longer. Feel free to ask her if you have any questions."

Tonks nodded. "Got it. Thanks."

Noelle nodded. "Yep. I'll come by and check in on you later in the day to see how you're doing. Just follow the protocol and you're good."

"Right, thank you so much." With a last smile, Tonks approached the clothing department, where the woman, Demi, was folding a t-shirt. "Hi, I'm Tonks."

Demi looked up. "Hey, I'm Demi. You're new here?"

"Yeah," Tonks answered politely. "It's my first day. Noelle told me to ask you if I had any questions, so…"

"Sure, feel free. I normally tend to the cleaning up and organization, because there's a specific way they want things laid out here. If you'd like to just help people out, tell them where they're supposed to go, help them find things they're looking for, stuff like that."

Tonks nodded. "Okay, I can do that. Thanks."

Demi smiled. "Yeah, no problem."

Tonks took a deep breath. Hopefully this would go well.

"I wouldn't recommend that."

Liana whipped around, relaxing when she saw who it was. "Oh. Hi, Draco. What don't you recommend?"

He pointed to the book that was on the table in front of her. "Miles. Terrible book. All that motivational junk that my mother keeps making me read. It's so boring."

She smirked. "Oh, thanks. I wasn't planning to read it. That's not my book. It's Vincent's."

"What? Vincent? But… Crabbe can't read!" Draco protested.

"He used it to whack Gregory Goyle on the head," muttered Liana, rolling her eyes. "Those two are buffoons, no offense. I don't know how you're friends with them."

"I'm not really… friends with them," Draco said. "They kind of just tag along and help me beat up people."

She snorted. "Then who are your friends?"

"Well…" He frowned. "I'm not really sure. You, obviously. And then, Pansy Parkinson. And Blaise Zabini, he's pretty nice. I… guess I don't have a lot of friends."

"Yeah, but you have good ones, and that's more important sometimes, you know?" Liana asked with a sideways smile.

"Yeah, you're right." He grinned. "Thanks. Anyway, I'm going to shower."

She nodded. "Okay. See you."

"Bye."

As soon as Draco disappeared to the boys' dormitory, Candice sprung through the portrait hole, dragging a bewildered-looking Kylie along with her.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" asked Liana.

"I got in!" shrieked Candice. "I got into the Magical Dance club!"

Kylie burst out laughing.

"Stop laughing," snapped Candice. "This is something I want to do. I never laughed at you for being in that ridiculous Frog Choir you've joined."

"Don't insult Frog Choir!" Kylie shot back.

"Guys, calm down," Liana tried, but Candice had already stormed into their dormitory.

"Why would we care about Magical Dance Club?" muttered Kylie.

"It's something she likes," Liana said exasperatedly. "Don't pick on something that your friends like, even if you don't like it. It's what my Mum tells me all the time."

"Well, she insulted Frog Choir!" Kylie protested.

"Kylie, it's literally such a petty argument!" Liana replied. "You can't seriously be feeling mad about that."

"Try me," snapped Kylie.

"Looks like you are," Liana mumbled to herself. "Well, then," she announced, "I'm going to go hang out with Draco until the two of you have stopped this ridiculous fight of yours."

Kylie sprung up at this. "Ooh, Draco! Can I come?"

"No, you're going to go apologize to Candice."

Kylie sighed loudly. "No. I have nothing to apologize for. I didn't even do anything!"

"And now they play defensive," Liana muttered. "Whatever floats your boat. See ya."

"And Mulligan scores! Ten points to Wimbourne!"

James cursed under his breath.

He was providing security for a Quidditch match, which of course meant that he was watching the match. He and Lily were fans of the Holyhead Harpies, who were playing the Wimbourne Wasps in this match.

There was supposed to be some drug smuggling here. He was on the lookout for that.

Allegedly.

In reality, he was looking for the Snitch.

Twenty minutes later, the game was over. The Holyhead Harpies had won by eighty points. James had also found the drug peddler and taken care of him, whipped up a quick report, and taken a few statements. But right now, he really wanted to meet Gwenog Jones.

She was coming down the bleachers, her uniform drenched with sweat, her hair pushed to one side, yet looking elated. Many people nearby were screaming, but she merely waved to them. She stopped when she saw him, however. It was one of the perks of wearing the Auror uniform and badge.

"Good afternoon, sir," she said politely to him, smiling. "Thank you so much for providing security for our match. We really appreciate all that you do."

"Of course," James replied, grinning. "You're a really good captain. My wife and kids love you."

She smiled. "Thank you, Auror Potter. That means a lot. Do you watch our matches often?"

"All of them!" he exclaimed. "I love Quidditch."

She laughed. "That's great. So do I. Thanks again for all of the hard work you put in to protect the Wizarding World. Now I just hope we make it to the finals!"

He chuckled. "I do too. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir."

James watched her as she trotted down the lane, sighing. This was something to tell Lily. She was going to flip.

Lily sulked.

"You got to meet Gwenog Jones?" she complained. "While I had to sit here and go over test scores with my class? That's not fair!"

"Sorry, Lily, it's my job," replied James apologetically. "I mentioned you, though."

"I know, but I want to meet Gwenog Jones! Maybe over the summer, if they make it to the finals…"

"Of course," James assured her. "I'll definitely make sure you meet her. She's pretty nice."

"Really?" Lily asked, interestedly. "Everyone says that she's kind of haughty and stuck up and snobby."

"Then why do you want to meet her?" James laughed.

"Because it's cool," Lily said, running a hand through her hair. "To meet a Quidditch player. You know?"

"Yep," James sighed dreamily, thinking about back then, when he had wanted to be a Quidditch player. "You would've been married to one."

"Wait, what? I would never marry anyone else, James!"

James snorted. "I meant me."

She relaxed. "Oh. I thought you meant…"

He laughed and kissed her on the forehead. "Of course I didn't. I know you're loyal to me. Your handsome hubby."

She laughed too. "My handsome hubby. I think I'm going to start calling you that from now on."

James put on a mortified face. "Lily, you wouldn't!"

"Try me," she whispered.

Late in the night, Sia was sitting on an armchair in the Slytherin common room, reading a book. She was alone, and she read until she got to a stopping point. She folded the corner of the page and closed the book, stretching.

Crack.

Sia, who was slouching on the cushions, sat up immediately. "Who's there?" she called.

A small, cowering figure appeared in front of her. It was a house-elf.

"Forgive Dobby, mistress," squeaked the house-elf, trembling. "Dobby just wanted something to eat."

Sia raised her eyebrows. "So why are you here?"

"For food, mistress," squeaked the house-elf. "Dobby had no food, so he had no choice but to steal."

Then, as if another side entirely had possessed the house-elf, he threw himself at the ground, slamming his body at the ground repeatedly, chanting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Calm down," Sia whispered impatiently. "Stop hitting yourself. I'll get you something to eat." She headed into her dormitory, rummaged around to find a few crackers, and came back to the common room, where the house-elf was muttering something to himself. "Here you go."

"Thank you, mistress," squeaked Dobby, gratefully accepting the crackers. Sia noticed the scorching burn marks plastered across his face. Instantly, a rush of sympathy flooded her for this house-elf. She knew what it was like to be a victim of abuse.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything else," she whispered. "Where do you work?"

"Dobby is a free house-elf, mistress!" squeaked Dobby proudly. "But Dobby does not get any food."

"You should work here, at Hogwarts," Sia suggested. "I know there are house-elves in the Kitchens. Speak to Professor Dumbledore, I'm sure he'll understand. Who did you work for before?"

"L-Lucius Malfoy," Dobby squealed, shuddering.

"Lucius Malfoy?" breathed Sia. "Like… Draco Malfoy's father?"

"Yes, mistress, 'tis the one," affirmed Dobby, bouncing up and down.

"Oh, no," she whispered. "You've got to get out of here. Draco, he's in Slytherin. He's in his dormitory right now, but if he comes out and sees you, you'll be in big trouble. You have to go back to wherever you came from."

"But Dobby wants to work," Dobby complained. "Dobby wants to work for Professor Dumbledore sir and make money! Dobby wants to buy his own food!"

"Dobby, you have to get out of here," Sia told him urgently. "You should speak to Professor Dumbledore, but you cannot be in here."

"Yes, mistress," Dobby squeaked, and he sprang into a salute and disappeared.

"'I watched her go,'" read Remus, "'my mouth still open, unable to understand what had just happened. I couldn't think, I couldn't feel. All I know was that the most influencing factor in my life had just left me, possibly forever.'"

Tonks snuggled more deeply into his side, listening with a content smile. Remus's arm was around her shoulders, and her legs were in his lap. She was wearing fuzzy, bright purple socks.

Remus planted a kiss to her forehead. "'I felt everything going downwards. I felt like I was losing everything. There was nothing more to life, nothing more than this dull, yet excruciating pain that tormented me. It sliced me open, again and again, dousing my wounded body in salt again and again and again, until I couldn't feel anymore. It was like a terrible hangover, getting off my high and realizing that there was nothing in my life but low. How was I supposed to carry on like this? How was I supposed to carry on without my Cheering Charm?' Merlin, Dora, why do you like such depressing stuff?"

She laughed. "It's good. It's a classic. And besides, even Mad-Eye's theory lessons would sound good in your voice."

He laughed too. "Thank you. Enough for tonight?"

"Sure." She snuggled even tighter against him. "Ah, you're so cozy. Even better than my pillow."

Remus put the bookmark into the book and placed it aside. "I am honored. I've never met your pillow, but I can imagine he's really quite comfy."

She laughed again. "Would you like to meet him?"

He grinned. "I'd love to. As long as he isn't asleep yet."

"Okay, I'll check." She jumped off the sofa and bounded into her bedroom, grabbing the pillow (who was not yet asleep) and brought him back to Remus. "His name is… uh, let me think. Toby."

"Hi, Toby," Remus said politely, with a smile. "I'm Remus. I'm Dora's friend. I've heard so much about you."

Tonks laughed, cuddling the pillow to her chest. "Toby says hello. Toby, be nice to Remus. He's going to be spending a lot more time in my flat from now on."

"Okay," said Toby.

A/N: Next chapter is Valentine's Day! Stay tuned for a lot of gushy lovey stuff! :)