35
IT was the distinct smell of cooking lunch wafting through the air of the upstairs level of Grimmauld Place which woke Norah from her otherwise deep sleep.
It smelled like Mrs. Weasley was cooking meatloaf and mashed potatoes from the smell.
Norah, who was barely conscious though she could already feel the last lingering remnants of the Sleeping Draught the St. Mungo's Healer had given her, rolled over and buried her head even further under the mossy green duvet. The witch grumbled something darkly and unintelligibly in protest as a flood of light inexplicably flooded through the closed curtains of her room, sending the front of her temples throbbing hard.
It only took a second for Norah's wolfish hearing to perk up upon hearing something coming to her immediate left for her to realize someone was in here.
Norah's bright blue eyes flung wide open as she immediately shot upright, throwing the duvet off her in the process and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. It only took one quick scan of the decrepit little bedroom before she spotted a pair of bulging eyes skulking about in the corner that Norah spotted…it.
An all-too-familiar sight assaulted her vision as it slunk from the shadows, all the while watching her.
The creature's bulbous, snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes that were red-rimmed and cracked at the irises, many folds of drooping, withered, and veiny skin dusted with age spots, and white hair growing out of his huge, bat-like ears was utterly unmistakable.
As Black's ancient old house-elf Kreacher crept from the shadows, well, slunk was more accurate, the hair-raising, ear-piercing scream erupted from Norah's lips before she could stop herself as she wildly looked around for something to throw at it. She knew this cretinous little whelp was a loyalist to the Black family.
Maybe Father asked Bellatrix to have it SPY on me, keep tabs on me, make sure I'm doing my job, Norah thought wildly as she spotted her purse resting idly on the stand by her bed and thought that enough.
She darted towards the stand and seized her black bags in both hands and chucked at Kreacher, who merely ducked and shot her a scathing look of daggers as his ears drooped and his thin lips pursed into a line as her bag hit the wall behind him and fell to the floor.
"What the hell are you doing in my room?!" Norah bellowed, feeling her face drain of whatever color was left as the tiny little house elf grumbled darkly under his breath as he used the wall as a brace.
"Master Black merely wanted to check on the filthy bitch of a disgusting wolf residing in Mistress's house, Master Sirius says the wolf is sleeping too long and needs to get up to eat lunch, werewolf, Master Sirius says you is much too skinny and will waste away if you don't eat, but no one asks Kreacher what he thinks. Kreacher thinks we should let the dog starve, oh, what Mistress would say if she knew a werewolf was in her house! Not only is you a werewolf, but a filthy Mudblood as well!" the creature called Kreacher spat in disgust, using the derogatory term used by witches and wizards to describe female wolves, no semblance of affection in his raspy voice for Norah.
Norah felt the wolf within her head start to snarl and growl its immense displeasure at the utter insult this house-elf had just spat at her, though she wasn't given a chance to utter even the first syllable as the door to her bedroom barreled open and Tonks burst through the threshold of the doorway, almost stumbling over herself and tripping in her haste to see what was wrong.
Tonks blinked once or twice as her pupils dilated in the darkness of Norah's room. Norah wondered if she knew that most werewolves, or at least she suffered from this, got headaches before and especially after the full moon, but she had an inkling Tonks already knew it, with having Remus for a mate.
It took the pink-haired young Auror a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit simple bedroom, though the moment her eyes landed on Kreacher, her gaze hardened as her eyes narrowed into mere slits.
"Kreacher, get the hell out of here!" Tonks shouted meanly, brandishing her wand, though the little house-elf's face remained unimpressed. "What the bloody hell are you thinking, sneaking around in Jameson's room like this! Sirius will hear of this, and he's not going to like hearing it, Kreacher! He's been calling for you downstairs, haven't you heard?"
The house-elf looked as though he very much wanted to say something rude in response to Tonks, though thought better of it and merely offered an awkward little half-bow, which was difficult for him as he swept into a sweeping flourish, the tips of his drooping ears, the causation of which was old age, touching the tip of the hardwood floor of Norah's room that looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in ages.
"If it's what Master Black wants, then Kreacher will oblige," the house-elf warbled in his raspy voice, though both Norah and Tonks caught the unmistakable utterance of the word, "filthy Mudblood," from his lips.
Tonks felt her blood boil in her veins, though just as she had been about to raise her wand level with Kreacher's spine as the house-elf's back was turned towards the pair of young witches as he shuffled down along the hallway, she felt the tempered gentle strength of a hand on her shoulder, coaxing her to lower her wand arm and let the little nasty whelp off.
She felt a figure nudge beside her, and Tonks stiffened.
Norah. Tonks turned towards Norah, still clutching at the stitch in her side. She hadn't hesitated to come running the moment she heard Norah's scream, though if Tonks were being honest with herself, she was more than a little surprised Ollie hadn't come running to the rescue to see what was wrong.
Whether he was aware of it or not, Tonks could see her best mate was growing fond of this werewolf.
"Let him go," Norah mumbled darkly under her breath through gritted teeth, though Tonks watched as the young blonde gave her head a curt shake to clear her mind, seemingly trying to shake of Kreacher's barb.
"I could still get him from this distance," Tonks offered, turning her gaze back towards the open doorway, still seeing Kreacher's short silhouette at the foot of the stairs, though just as quickly as the words were out of her mouth, Kreacher descended downstairs upon hearing Sirius barking orders for his appearance.
Norah shook her head no, rolling her eyes angrily, and turned away from Tonks toward the window, glancing out the window at the darkening sky.
The house-elf infuriated Norah to no end, and the less she talked to it and attempted to engage Kreacher in conversation, the better off Norah felt.
Kreacher's unexpected and unannounced appearance had startled Norah badly enough to the point where her heart was racing so fast, she thought it might just well explode, her breathing had gone shallow, her eardrums filled with roaring sound, the rush of her own blood as it continued to pump rapidly.
On instinct, Norah curled her slender fingers over the handle of her wand, and only when again did she feel Tonks's hand come to rest on her shoulder and give it a light but reassuring squeeze did she turn on her heels slightly to look the young Auror in the eyes.
Tonks didn't seem quite as agitated as Norah had expected her to be given the situation she had stupidly placed her fellow Order member in yesterday.
But there was something different in her features. Maybe it was her kind of fury or disappointment? Either way, it was hard for her to tell.
Everything within Norah's bones clenched in horror, and Norah wondered if her body was still in fight-or-flight mode. Hardly surprising, considering everything that had happened to her in just the span of a few short days, and then there was the little debacle of just how she was going to manage to sneak away from Ollie long enough to make it to the roof to meet Wes so they could sneak away to attend Jack's funeral.
Tonks waited in silence for a moment and then changed her approach and stepped back a couple of paces, all the while never taking her eyes off of Norah.
The Auror waited to speak until Norah followed her lead and took a seat on the edge of the bed's mattress.
"I'm sorry about that," Tonks apologized quickly, a pained expression flitting across her features. "Kreacher's taken to sneaking into peoples' bedrooms when they sleep, I don't know what he means by it, but if I were you, Jameson, going forward, I'd lock your door at night whenever you go to sleep," she joked weakly, though her pitiful and strained smile faltered as she noticed Norah's light little angry frown.
Sensing something was bothering Jameson, Tonks own frown deepened slightly, but there was a right way to go about getting more information from her, and a wrong way, and if she were to pick the wrong way and hound the girl until the witch told her what was wrong, then Ollie would surely bloody murder her.
Whatever was wrong with Norah, she was going to have to treat the situation delicately. Tonks let out a sigh and glanced towards the door, seeing no sign of the eavesdropping accursed wretch of an old house-elf.
"He's gone now, so you should be safe." Tonks's attention was drawn to the way Norah's fingers curled instinctively over the handle of her wand and sighed. "I can assure you, Norah, Kreacher isn't going to be bothering you again. You won't need that around me."
Tonks reached out her hand expectantly. With reluctance, Norah bit her lip as she handed over her wand, not really sure what the Auror was going to do with it.
There was a small part of her that briefly expected Tonks to try to snap her wand in half. That's what other witches and wizards had tried to do in times past once they found out the nature of her lycanthropy.
But her new friend didn't do it. Instead, Tonks merely set Norah's wand on the small night table by her bed and waited for Norah to speak to her when she felt comfortable. Norah just gazed blankly at her wand for a while, feeling like she was unable to really function.
Finally, she was able to swallow down past the disgusting bitter bile rising in the back of her throat and looked over towards Tonks, who was now seated next to her, hoping she was conveying just the right amount of horror, relief, and gratitude at the same time. In a way, she really should be grateful to Tonks.
If she hadn't barged in, well…there was no telling what, in her wolfish state, she would have done to Sirius Black's house-elf. Norah shuddered at the idea.
"Thank you, Tonks." It was the only thing the blonde witch could bring herself to utter at the second.
Tonks acknowledged it with a tiny incline of her head and a shrug of her shoulders, silently conveying it was no big deal. "Kreacher won't bother you again, Norah," Tonks said after a moment spent in silence, simply observing the blonde werewolf rather carefully.
"What are you going to do about it?" Norah heard herself asking in a quiet and slightly quivering voice. She quickly discovered she still didn't have much control of her limbs. Her body was prepared for an attack, or for Kreacher to come bursting in the room again, and the next time, she didn't know what she'd do.
Tonks made an odd little sniffing noise of disapproval. "Oh…I'm sure Sirius will talk to him…"
Norah almost huffed in indignation and fought against the urge to roll her eyes. "And…talking will be enough?" she questioned, not sure she was buying it.
"Yes." There was just a tiny hint of impatience laced throughout Nymphadora Tonks's otherwise kind tone that told Norah to drop it at that and left it alone.
Norah was quick to realize she wasn't going to get anything more specific of a promise out of the girl.
"Did you sleep all right?" Tonks asked in an effort to steer the subject away from Sirius's house-elf.
Norah let out a tiny, inaudible growl as the wolf within her mind thought of wretched Kreacher's beady, narrowed little eyes and a look suggested he was up to no good and she bared her fangs in agitation and anger.
"Just peachy," she snapped, her voice coming out harsher than she would have liked. "I usually sleep great when I wake up to a strange house-elf skulking in my room," Norah hissed through gritted teeth angrily.
The moment the words left her mouth, Norah instantly regretting them as out of the corner of her peripherals, she saw Tonks physically wince at the barb. "I—I'm sorry," she mumbled, pinching at the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, letting out a haggard sigh that quickly turned to a yawn. "I—it's just that…well, I wasn't expecting Kreacher to be skulking around my room when I woke up, a—and with the full moon, I—I guess I'm still not myself," she mumbled, hating that she always had to make excuses.
In truth, there was no reason for her to behave as she had just now to her new friend and fellow Order member. But Tonks didn't seem too put off by it at all.
She shot Norah a soft smile and a slight shrug of her shoulders that Norah personally felt she didn't deserve. "It's fine. We're past it. Don't worry about it," Tonks murmured, looking like she had a question she wanted to ask just dancing in her eyes, and her gaze strangely flitted towards Norah's closet. "I—I hope you don't mind," Tonks spoke up suddenly, sounding nervous. Norah raised her eyebrows at the witch in alarm, wondering why the sudden shift in her attitude. "But while you were being kept overnight last night at St. Mungo's, Molly I went shopping for you. I—I noticed you only had the one outfit, so I thought, well…"
Tonks crinkled her nose in slight disgust as she looked towards Norah's black lace dress, tattered and frayed at the edges but darned and well-cared for, still.
Norah could feel tears beginning to prick at the edges of her vision. Slowly, her feet moving of their own accord and feeling like they were no longer taking directions from her own mind, she got up off the edge of the bed and headed towards the closet, sliding open the door to reveal several new clothes in various assortments of colors on the hangers, pants, and jeans folded on a shelf, along with a few pairs of new shoes.
"I…" she stammered, hearing the undeniable crack and dip in her voice as it trailed off, unsure of how to express the gratitude at such a selfless, kind gesture.
Tonks grinned as Norah swiveled around to regard her with an incredulous look of shock and awe brimming in her bright blue at the new clothes for her.
"It's no big deal. Besides," she added, scrunching her nose playfully at Norah's black dress. "No offense, that is a cute dress, but you look like you're going to a funeral, Jameson," Tonks joked lightly, a slight teasing lilt to her voice. Either Tonks was oblivious or chose to ignore how Norah went silent, rendered mute and dumbstruck, gaping at Tonks in shock before realizing how ridiculous she must look.
Oh, Merlin. D—does she know about Wes? Norah thought wildly, biting the wall of her mouth in agitation.
She'd told no one here about her plans to sneak away in a few precious hours to Ollie's dad's funeral, lest word got back to her new partner, and if that happened, well, Norah might just as well throw herself in the River Seine and just drown herself, then.
Norah wasn't even aware she'd drawn in a breath and held it, only exhaling slowly when Tonks spoke up, and she immediately felt the tension vanish.
Tonks continued, completely unaware of the blonde werewolf's growing discomfort as she sat next to her. "Besides, Jameson, you cannot go to dinner with Ollie looking like…like that," she added scrutinizingly.
Norah felt her eyes widen in shock and horror, almost choking on her own tongue as she slowly swiveled her head to the right to meet Tonks's gaze.
Nymphadora was looking rather smug and triumphant as she kept her arms folded across her chest as she snorted and rolled her eyes at the expression Norah currently wore, not sure how to place her reaction at all, unable to tell if she was impressed.
"Wha—wait," Norah stammered, surprised she could even find her voice at all as it felt like there was a gag on her mouth and her tongue felt thick in her mouth. "You—you know about the dinner? But…how?"
This time, Tonks really did roll her eyes at the question Norah just posed to her and shot her a look.
"Ollie told us. Me and Lupin," she quickly explained. "He's really looking forward to it, you know. I can tell he feels bad about…the last couple of days."
Norah somehow managed to repress the tiny growl that the wolf within her mind gave off, starting as a low rumbling from somewhere deep in her chest.
Well. That was one way to put it, and she certainly hoped Ollie felt bad about how he'd reacted.
Tonks let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a snort and a giggle as she heaved herself up off the edge of Norah's mattress with a dramatic sigh.
"You show up wearing that old thing to dinner, it's going to make the wrong impression," Tonks mumbled, speaking more to herself at the moment than to Norah, as she, without waiting for Norah's permission, flung open the closet door with a flourish and started sifting through potential outfit selections on their hangers, grumbling to herself under her breath.
"Merlin, I hope all of these will fit you," Tonks said, suddenly sounding worried as she looked back towards Norah, her sharp eyes raking over Norah's form. "You and I are around the same size, so I took the liberty of guessing at your size. I hope you like the colors blue and pink," Tonks said, sounding apologetic.
Norah did happen to like them, as it so happened, though she couldn't manage to find an adequate enough response to convey her gratitude.
"I…Tonks, this—this is very sweet, wh-what you and Mrs. Weasley did for me, b—but this is entirely too much, I—I can't accept this!" Norah protested, coming over to stand alongside Tonks and fingering a dark blue blouse and a pair of black pants before turning to look at Tonks, who was…surprisingly calm.
"It's a gift, Norah. From one friend to another," Tonks murmured lowly, a pained expression flitting across her features. "Please just take it as what it is and accept it. I know that…" she paused, feeling unsure of herself. "I know that people like…like you and Remus don't have an easy life, a—and that you probably don't have a lot of assets to your name, and I've got more than enough from my job at the Ministry, so, please. Just take these as what they are. I don't want anything from you, other than for you to have a good time and dinner and to knock Brennan's socks off," she teased.
"But I don't understand what he could possibly see in a werewolf-like me, or why he's taken an interest in me. He's certainly going to need to learn to control his temper if the two of us are going to be partners," Norah growled darkly as the shadow of the wolf flitted across her face as she recollected how Ollie had lost his temper with Wes back in her room at St. Mungo's and would have strangled her poor friend if she hadn't managed to calm him down enough to stop him. "He's rude and egotistical and has no clue about social cues."
Norah felt her cheeks flush pink as she looked back towards Tonks, fully expecting the Auror to be angry with her for how she was talking about her new partner behind her back, though much to her surprise, Tonks was smiling. Albeit rather sadly but smiling.
"That," Tonks grinned happily as she lightly fingered a light pink blouse thoughtfully before turning back to rummage inside Norah's closet to help her pick out an outfit for tomorrow. She felt Norah's intense stare, and she quickly shoved a light pink dress in her arms. "Here, I think this will go nicely with your hair."
Norah's lips parted open slightly in shock as the garment was thrust to her chest, leaving her to hold the light pink sleeveless maxi dress close to her heart.
She blinked owlishly at Tonks, feeling quite certain that she'd misheard her new friend. "Wh—what?" she stammered, though Tonks's backside was now turned towards her while Tonks rummaged through the shoe rack, looking for a pair of sandals to pair with the pink dress she'd found for Norah to wear.
"That," Tonks repeated. It seemed like it was all she was going to get out of her friend, Norah realized.
"But I—I don't understand," Norah said slowly, glancing down at the dress cradled in her arms as she ran the pads of her fingertips along the v neckline.
The dress really was gorgeous, Norah had to admit it, and had she more money to her name, it would have been something she'd bought for herself had she spotted it in a shop window, though perhaps a little more revealing in the cleavage than she would have liked.
Norah almost scoffed and rolled her eyes as details of Greyback's savage plan flitted through her mind. Norah was pulled from her thoughts as Tonks spoke, letting out a sigh and turning with a pair of wedge sandals in her hands, a light beige in their color.
"It's probably better that you don't understand, Norah," Tonks grumbled darkly under her breath. "But don't you get it? The fact that he even took the initiative to ask you to dinner is a huge milestone for my friend. He's never…"
Tonks paused, unsure of just how much of Ollie's past she could reveal to the blonde witch, and quickly decided against it, thinking if Ollie wanted to divulge the details of his past relationship with Jack, then that was going to have to be his business, then.
She sighed, setting down the sandals and grabbing a hanger and taking the dress from Norah's trembling hands, neatly hanging the dress, and setting the shoes by the front door of her closet, her outfit hanging and waiting for her when the time soon came.
"It might surprise you to learn this, Norah, but you're one of the first women alongside me that Ollie's really wanted to try to open up to and get to know better. I know he's…temperamental, b—but if you can look past all that, which I know you're capable of doing, Brennan's not a bad man. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's not a kinder man in all of London, save Remus. If there's anyone in the Order who can handle Ollie, it's you, Norah. You don't let him intimidate you, and Ollie, whether the man knows it or not, respects that of you. I think you should give the man a chance. Let him take you to dinner, have a good time. And maybe…he'll surprise you. Merline knows you've surprised Ollie. More than once. Now it's his turn. He's really quite an honorable man."
With that, and a tiny smile, Tonks mumbled something to Norah about Molly making meatloaf for lunch, and to follow her downstairs before all the good food was taken, and the pink-haired witch left her alone.
Norah stayed rooted to the ground, staring at her feet, and turning Tonks's words just now over in her mind. How Ollie had looked at her last night came to mind.
How his blue eyes had sparked with something almost akin to a certain kind of…tenderness, maybe…
Her angry seething towards how Brennan had acted towards first Umbridge and then Wes last night had finally subsided, thank Merlin, leaving Norah feeling unsure of what to say to him the next time she ran into the man again.
Though first, she had to make sure he didn't find out about her and Wes sneaking off to go to Jack's funeral in a couple of precious hours.
Truthfully, Norah was honestly surprised and taken aback that he'd acted almost courteously since Tonks had pulled the two of them out of the hole yesterday.
She began to think maybe Ollie was trying, perhaps his best, to help her feel comfortable around him, and make amends, and as a consequence of his own guilt, had gone out of his way to ask her on a date.
Norah lowered her head at the very thought, part of her feeling grateful, part of her feeling almost, well, guilty, for expecting the worst from her partner.
The breath caught slightly in her throat as she pondered her partner's rugged frame, how the two-day stubble and light rough beard framed his angular, sharp face that was assuredly Roman, despite his grandmother being of Russian descent. And his eyes.
She actually found him quite handsome, though Norah was sure she'd rather die than ever admit that.
Norah cast one last glance over her shoulder towards the hanging pale pink maxi dress hanging on its hanger on the front of her closet door before turning around and making to following Tonks's footsteps, wherefrom the sounds of it, the rest of the Order gathered in the kitchens to help themselves to lunch.
As Norah slowly descended the stairs, she made a silent vow to be kinder to Ollie Brennan, and actually found herself looking forward to the dinner on Friday.
Perhaps she had misjudged him.