Chapter 3. Breakout Rooms

how do you ask someone out over zoom

It was Remus's latest search on Google, and he felt so embarrassed that it had even come to this. Health experts were saying that the pandemic was going to last for several more months, and he didn't want Tonks to think that he didn't like her. That wasn't true; he did like her, and he really wanted to ask her out, but how on earth did you ask someone out over Zoom?

Moody had decided to disable private chat again, since he had discovered Mundungus spamming everyone with coupon codes that were obviously fake, so Remus couldn't privately message her. And he didn't even know her phone number; otherwise, it would've been a lot easier to ask her out that way. He didn't know where she lived, but it would seem too creepy if he asked. Sirius probably had her phone number, but there was no way that Remus was going to ask him. Sirius would tease him endlessly about it, no doubt.

There were no good search results, except someone had written a writeup on how to see if someone was watching you over Zoom. He read through that, picking up some tips (they mirror your body stance, and their eyes are fixated on a particular point on their screen), and then deleted the result from his search history.

"Lupin!" barked Moody, interrupting his thought process. "What do you think?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was on camera. The number of cameras had steadily gone down, to the point where Remus was only one of a few people who still kept his on. Moody kept yelling at all the others to turn on their cams, but they kept rattling out excuses: camera not working, bad lighting, and low bandwidth.

Hestia had no-showed seven Order meetings now, and Moody was royally ticked; Sirius had mentioned that apparently Moody had gone to personally show up at her house in case she had COVID or something, only to discover that she and her friends were skipping meetings to watch cat videos.

"I have no idea," Remus said tiredly. "It sounds wonderful." He scanned the screen to see if Tonks's camera was on, but it wasn't. No surprise: she and Sirius were probably playing video games together. He had found it hard to pay attention to meetings when her camera was on, because he would be distracted, his eyes constantly darting back to her screen. But when her camera wasn't on, he found the meetings extremely boring.

"It shouldn't be wonderful," Moody snapped. "All of the Death Eaters have COVID! That's a bad thing! Now they're going to spread it!"

"No," deadpanned Remus. "Now they're going to die."

Dedalus, who was always unmuted, snorted. Moody gave him a dirty look.

"Okay, then," Moody grunted. "Now we're going to discuss how to combat the spread of COVID. Any ideas?"

"If I may suggest, Alastor, that we do this in breakout groups?" Minerva suggested. "That way, we'll have more ideas, and more people will be able to speak at once."

"Good idea," Moody growled. "Let me set them up."

With Moody being Moody, it took him fifteen minutes to set up breakouts. But finally, Remus got an invitation to join Breakout Room 5. He accepted and was redirected to a breakout with Molly and Tonks.

"Hello!" Molly said cheerfully. "Let me get my camera on." She fumbled with her device, and then a blurry image of her came up on her screen. "Sorry, dears, if my resolution is a bit low. Everyone's doing Zoom meetings in the house, and connection is a bit tight."

"No worries," said Tonks cheerfully. "Let me get my cam on too." In a moment, Tonks's face appeared on her screen. Her hair was icy blue and tied up in a ponytail. Remus could see that she was wearing a sporty black tank top. Wow. "Hi, Remus! Hi, Molly!"

"Hi," Remus and Molly said in unison. Tonks beamed brightly.

"So, how's everything been going?" she asked. "Everyone staying safe?"

"Yes," Molly said worriedly, although at this point she sounded like Darth Vader, and they couldn't understand a thing of what she was saying. "Weefbin trina k-k-k-k-k-"

"Molly, you're glitching," Tonks said gently.

"K-e-e-e-e-e-e-"

"Molly, I think you should leave and come back," Remus suggested. "We can't hear anything you're saying."

Somehow, Molly seemed to get the message, since she left the call.

"What are we supposed to be discussing?" Tonks asked Remus, with a sheepish grin on her face. "I wasn't really paying attention."

"Oh," Remus said, a smile playing at his lips. "Something about Death Eaters spreading COVID?"

"Oh," she said, laughing, and throwing her hair back. "Is it okay with you if we just skip it?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Sure."

She smiled, and then there was silence. Was this a good time to ask her out? It was only the two of them, and he really didn't know how to reach her again.

"Hey, Tonks?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"Erm, well, I know that we're in a pandemic and everything, but I… I just want to ask if you'd want to… want to go on a date together?"

"A date?" she asked, sounding pleased. "Yeah!"

"You do?" he asked, heart beating rapidly. He had suspected she would say yes, but it was still a relief that she did accept.

"Yeah, of course I do! How do you want to do it? In person, definitely, but where? Do you want to go somewhere that's outside? It's safer outside than inside, and we can both bring masks. Maybe not a dinner, since you can't eat with a mask on. I accidentally tried doing that once. I wasn't even paying attention, and I tried to eat a strawberry with my mask on. My mask got smeared in strawberry juice." She blushed pink. "Oh. Sorry. Am I talking too much?"

"No, no, you're not," he assured her, willing himself not to smile too giddily. "Erm, how about like a walk or something? On an evening when it's not too cold."

"Yeah! Maybe we could go to a park and take a walk there?" she suggested brightly.

"Yeah," he answered. "That sounds brilliant."

He saw the roots of her hair turn a bright, cheery pink. "Okay, then. How's tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm free tomorrow. At seven?"

"That sounds great!" Just then, the little button to rejoin the main room appeared. "Okay, I guess we have to go back to the main session. See you tomorrow at 7! I'll drop by your flat and we can go somewhere." And with a bright wave, she left the breakout.

Heart beating, he rejoined the main session as well, unable to get over the fact that he had a date tomorrow with Tonks.

A/N: Now they've got a date! Stay tuned for the final part.

COVID IS STILL GOING ON. In some places, it's getting even worse. Please stay safe, and be mindful of others who could be susceptible to the disease! Get vaccinated, wear your masks, and don't go to superspreader events!