Chapter 52: Barf

March 7th, 1994

Genoa

Tonks woke to a bright light shining in her eyes, causing her to blink and then bury her face back into the pillow. She heard Remus laugh softly.

"Get up, Dora," came his voice. "Come on." She felt his warm hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly. "Come on, love."

She yawned and then sat up slowly, brushing the hair out of her face. "Hi."

He smiled at her, but it quickly turned into a frown. "Your eyes are red."

"Huh?" She played innocent, although she very well knew that she had slept lightly, waking up every half hour or so to make sure she was still on her side of the bed. She was beyond scared of crossing a line and ruining the precious relationship they had.

He ran a finger across her hairline gently, frowning. "Did you sleep okay?"

"I'm fine, Remus," she said softly.

"But… But… you look so tired." His eyes were full of concern. "Do you want us to stay in the room today?"

"No, Remus, I'm fine," she repeated.

"Is it the bed?" he asked softly. "Do you want me to move to the…"

"No," she said firmly. "You're not moving to the couch. Stop saying that. Now come on, let's go find something to do today." She slipped off the bed and headed towards the bathroom. "Have you used the bathroom yet?"

When he didn't answer, she turned around. "Come on, Remus. It's a simple question. Have you used the bathroom yet?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly. His eyes were still shining with worry, and… a tiny bit of hurt. She felt bad instantly, and walked over to where he was still sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hey," she said gently, "I'm fine. Honestly. Just… you know, anticipation?"

He nodded softly. "Okay. Because if things aren't working, just let me know."

She bent down to give him a soft peck on the lips. "I'm okay, Remus. Now, while I use the bathroom, can you find something for us to do today? There's supposed to be pamphlets, or something. Or you could go down to the desk on the fifth floor and ask there."

"I'm not going anywhere without you," he said. "Take your time, and we'll go down to the desk together."

She gave a small smile. "Okay."

Flitwick's face was purple.

Severus didn't take this as a good sign.

"Filius, go get yourself an aspirin," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Make yourself some sort of concoction. I don't care. You look terrible."

"BLEGH!" Flitwick made a gagging noise.

Severus wrinkled his nose. "Filius, please."

"I… BLEHHHHH!" Flitwick threw up all over Severus.

"Gross!" hissed Severus, yanking his robes back. "Filius!"

"I don't feel well," moaned Flitwick.

Severus eyed him warily. "Stay right here, and please go vomit in the bathroom. Not all over the room. I'm heading over to Burbage's room to get you something."

"Meh," groaned Flitwick, hobbling over to the bathroom.

"Disgusting," spat Snape, grabbing his wand and cleaning most of the vomit (though his robes were still sopping wet), throwing the door open and marching over to Charity's room right across the hallway, knocking loudly.

"Hold on, just a second!" called a muffled voice, and in a moment, Charity stood facing him, wearing a tanktop and shorts. "Hi, Severus. What's the matter? Did you fall into a pool or something?"

"Filius is throwing up," he replied through gritted teeth.

"Ew." She made a sympathetic face. "And that's why your robes look damp?"

"Yes, but that's not the point," he snapped. "Do you have any Muggle medicines that would work for seasickness?"

"Muggle meds?" She bit her lip, clearly in thought. "Well, not really. But I suggest drinking plenty of fluids. Water, Gatorade, stuff like that. And bland crackers are good too."

"Where am I supposed to find any of this?" he asked impatiently.

"Water bottles. Duh." She rolled her eyes. "Go to the WindJammer. You'll find plenty of stuff there."

"That's on the eleventh floor, Burbage."

"I told you to call me Charity! Seriously, dude." She brushed a hand through her hair. "Anyway, I mean, water's easy to get, and I'm sure they sell drinks out there somewhere. You just gotta find them."

"So helpful," he muttered, turning his back on her and heading back to his own room, where Filius Flitwick was (thankfully) throwing up in the bathroom sink.

He made sure the door was closed before whipping out his wand and muttering a quick "Aguamenti", filling a glass of water and levitating it over to the sink where Filius was. "Drink," he told him.

Filius gratefully accepted the glass and started chugging the water down.

"Accio Gatorade," Severus continued with a lazy flick of his wand, and a cold bottle of Gatorade flew into his hands. He threw that across the room to Flitwick as well. "Take that. Charity says it's good for you."

"Who's Charity?" asked Flitwick, his face green.

"Burbage. Charity. The same person. Muggle Studies teacher who stays across the hallway with Pomona."

"Oh." Flitwick nodded before taking a sip of Gatorade. "Do I have to stay on the ship today?"

"Yes. You're not going outside puking all over people. You will stay inside the room."

"But what are you going to do?" Filius asked enviously. "You'll get to go outside and explore Italy, but I have to stay inside?"

"Yes, that's how it works if you're sick," snapped Severus. "Deal with it. And besides, I'm not going out anywhere. I'm staying on the ship too."

"You're staying here with me?!" squeaked Flitwick, bounding up in an attempt to hug him. "That's so kind!"

"No, no, I'm not staying in the room with you," he replied impatiently. "I simply said that I'm staying on the ship. I don't fancy going out to the beach, thank you very much."

"Oh, okay." Flitwick looked sad.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Don't do that. Anyway, I'm going to change. Please try not to throw up on me again."

And with that, he stalked towards the bedroom to change.

"What should we do today?" asked Ron, flipping through the pamphlets that Hermione had handed out to him and Harry.

"Not these scenic bus tours," muttered Harry. "Those seem boring."

"They aren't boring!" remarked Hermione hotly. "They're very informative and fascinating tours!"

Ron and Harry exchanged a look.

"Can we go whale watching?" asked Harry. "Are we going to see a lot of whales?"

"What's a whale?" asked Ron.

"It's the largest animal on the planet," Hermione told them. "They're huge."

"I want to see those!" exclaimed Ron. "Are they red?"

"No, they're blue," said Hermione.

"Do they sit in trees?" asked Ron.

"They live in the ocean, I think," Harry said.

"So would we be required to go underwater to see whales?" asked Ron thoughtfully.

Harry and Ron turned to Hermione.

"I don't know!" she protested. "I don't know everything, you guys! The only way to figure out is to try it out!"

"But I think it'd be cool to see whales," said Harry.

"What do whales even look like?" asked Ron.

Hermione stomped her foot in irritation. "I just told you! They're blue!"

"So are they just blueberries?" Harry asked.

"I said they were big!" snapped Hermione.

"Really big blueberries," amended Harry. Ron snorted.

"No! They look like animals!"

"But all sorts of animals look different," pointed out Ron. "Like, humans and kangaroos."

Harry laughed. Hermione scowled.

"Whatever. Let's go whale-watching, then?" she asked, annoyed.

"Yeah!" shouted Harry and Ron in unison.

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, then. We're going to need a chaperone. Which teacher do you guys want to take with us?"

"Not Snape," muttered Harry, grimacing.

"Professor Lupin would be cool," noted Ron.

"Oh, Ron." Hermione gave him a look. "Don't you think he wants to spend time with his girlfriend? Did you even see those two on the plane?"

"No, because my seat was all the way in the front," replied Ron. "And so was Harry's. Besides, we don't really watch everything that goes on in the world. Like Fluffy and the trapdoor. We only worry about what's trying to kill us at any given moment."

Hermione snorted. "Oh, really? And what was trying to kill you on the plane?"

"The seat belt," answered Harry and Ron in unison.

"Absolute murder," said Harry in a low voice.

"Yep," agreed Ron.

"That's not what we were talking about," argued Hermione. "The point is, Professor Lupin probably wants to spend some time with his girlfriend. Let's not disrupt them."

"That woman has interesting hair," observed Ron.

"Yeah. She changes it all the time," said Harry. "I mean, at least she isn't boring."

"I'm sure she's really nice," said Hermione. "But that's not the point! Who's our chaperone going to be?"

"Do we even need a chaperone?" groaned Ron.

"Yes!" Hermione slammed her hand down on the table. "Otherwise we can't go whale watching!"

"No Snape," added Harry.

"No Snape," agreed Ron.

"We already established this," said Hermione impatiently. "How about Professor McGonagall?"

"She's going to be coming with Professor Trelawney, then," Harry muttered. "They're partners."

"Oh, no!" moaned Hermione.

"Well, we don't have a choice, do we?" asked Ron. "If we want to go whale-watching, someone's got to come along. And I really want to see a lot of whales."

"Alright," agreed Harry. "Hermione, you're going to ask them to come along. Now, Ron, how many whales d'you think we're going to see?"

"Five," offered Ron, as he and Harry started heading down the Promenade Hall.

"Nah," said Harry. "I think we're going to see seven. I wonder what they look like, though."

"Big blueberries. I thought you said so yourself!"

"I was just guessing. But do you think they could look like eggs?"

"Eggs look a lot like blueberries, though…"

And the two of them walked the rest of the way down the Promenade Hall, Hermione seething at the other end.

"I have to ask Professor McGonagall?!" she hissed.

"Are you okay, James?" Lily asked, stopping in the middle of the street to turn around and look at her husband.

"Yeah, yeah, fine." He attempted a smile.

"What's wrong?" she asked, frowning. "You've seemed down since morning."

"I'm okay. Don't worry."

She sighed. "It's the art gallery, isn't it?"

"Well…"

"Oh, James. We don't have to go to an art gallery if you don't want to. I just thought…"

"No, Lily," he interjected. "It's okay. Let's go to the art gallery. I'm okay with that. Besides, we have plenty of time to do stuff I like too."

"We aren't going to be going out every day, though," Lily pointed out. "Sometimes we're sailing and sometimes we'll be too tired to get out, or maybe I have to teach a lesson, or we'll go with other people! So let's do something that you want to d…"

He silenced her by pressing a finger to her lips. "That's enough, Lils. We're going to the gallery. I don't mind. Honestly. I like whatever you like. If you'll enjoy it, let's go. No buts."

She looked unsure. "Are you…"

"Positive," he said firmly. "We do what you want. We'll do what I want tomorrow."

"Sailing," she reminded him.

"That's okay. I'll choose what we do on the ship tomorrow. But we're going to the art gallery today, because you want to. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay." Then she beamed. "I love you!"

He laughed as she threw her arms around his neck. "Love you too. Come on, let's get to the gallery."

The gallery was only a few minutes' walk away, and they soon reached the entrance. The entrance hall looked grand; it was draped with red curtains and a carpet of a rich hue of purple lined the edges of the red carpet swath that ran down the middle. Lily talked to the Muggle woman at the front and paid for a few things with some Muggle bills. Then the two of them were shown into a separate hall, which led to a large chamber.

It was grand. The carpet below them outlined the direction they were to go in; there were frames and illustrations hung up on the wall, uniformly shaped and designed and structured. James couldn't help but stare.

"It's beautiful," Lily said in a hushed voice. "James, look at it!"

"I know," he said quietly. "It really is nice. Let's go see some of the paintings?"

"Yeah." She smiled at him, then dragged his hand towards the nearest painting on a wall. "Beaumont the Fourth," she read from a nearby caption engraved in stone. "He was a famous guy, apparently."

James took a second to admire the painting. Every detail was beautifully captured, with the finest touches included. Every shadow, every crease in the man's face, every shade, every hue, every color included. The painting was packed with detail, yet it didn't look crammed. The colors blended nicely, a navy blue in the background outlining a rich, maroon red.

"James?"

He turned to look at his wife, who was already at the next painting.

"James? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just… looking," he said sheepishly, and Lily smiled.

"I know. This one's good too. Want to see?" she offered.

James nodded and left the exhibit of Beaumont the Fourth, walking over to the next painting on the wall, which was of a landscape this time.

It was vastly different from Beaumont. In this painting, the more important thing was the visual appeal. There wasn't much detail included; the most prominent feature was that it was blurred. A much thicker brush must have been used for this. The painting was a blurred version, which made it more aesthetically appealing. James could make out a small city by a river, with lights illuminated in the nighttime.

"Enjoying it?" Lily asked, taking his arm in hers and leaning her head against his shoulder.

"It's cool," James offered.

"Cool?" She raised an eyebrow.

He sighed and kissed the top of her head.

"It's brilliant."

She grinned. "I think you're enjoying this more than I am."

He grinned too. "That means you can pick what we do tomorrow."

Draco scanned the key card against the lock of the door. He heard a beeping noise, after which he pushed the door open and walked into his room.

"Hey," said Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff sixth year who was sharing his room. He was currently lounged on the sofa, watching that weird box.

"Hey," said Draco. "What are you even watching?"

"Football," said Cedric. "It's a Muggle sport."

Draco peered at the box. "Oh. How do you play?"

"There's a ball," Cedric explained. "People have to use their foot to kick the ball around. Not in the air, they just run on the ground. And they want to score the ball into these big goals. If they do, they get a point. Team with the most points after a certain number of minutes wins."

"Oh. That kind of makes sense."

"Yep." Cedric ran a hand through his hair and switched the box off. "Anyway, I'm going up to dinner now. At the WindJammer. Want to come?"

"Yeah, I'll come," Draco offered. Cedric seemed like a nice enough guy.

"Cool. Let's go." Cedric grabbed his key card from the side table and stood up. He motioned for Draco to leave first, so Draco opened the door and he and Cedric walked over to the elevators, which they took up to the eleventh floor to the WindJammer.

"Which side is this on?" muttered Cedric. "I can't find it."

"I thought it was on the other side?" Draco asked. He had been to the WindJammer once before.

"Oh. Maybe it is. I don't know. Let's try that." Cedric led Draco to the other side of the eleventh floor, through a pool and observation deck. When they reached the other side, a pleasant aroma reached Draco, which meant that they were at the WindJammer.

"Yep. Here we are." Cedric pushed the door open, and they took their squirts of hand sanitizer before heading into the diner, taking the food they wanted and choosing a table to sit at.

"So, you're in third year?" asked Cedric, swirling spaghetti between the tines of his fork.

"Yeah," Draco said. "Third year. Aren't you dating Cho Chang?"

Cedric laughed. "Yep. That's me. Cho's in fourth year, though. Do you know her?"

"Kind of," Draco answered. "I know who she is. But she's not my friend, or anything."

Cedric nodded, taking a bite of spaghetti. "Ah. What do you like to do?"

"Me?" Draco was surprised. People didn't really ask him that. "Er, I don't know, really."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "Quidditch? Shopping? Drawing?"

Draco couldn't help but snort. "Shopping?"

Cedric shrugged. "I mean, there are plenty of people who like shopping."

"No, not shopping. I mean, yeah, I like Quidditch."

Cedric nodded. "Cool. That's right, don't you play Seeker for the Slytherin team?"

"Yeah, I do," said Draco, circling a spoon in his soup. "I know you play for Hufflepuff. Seeker?"

"Seeker," affirmed Cedric. "We could always discuss tactics, but, like, I don't want to give away all our secrets."

Draco laughed. "Yeah."

"So, d'you have any siblings?" asked Cedric conversationally.

"No. I'm an only child."

"I see. Do you like it?"

"I mean, kind of," said Draco, shrugging. "But it can get boring."

Cedric nodded. "Yeah. Cho said the same thing. She's an only child too. Not me, though. I have a younger sister, Charlotte."

"Cool. What's she like?"

Cedric laughed. "Same questions, you and Cho ask. She's pretty cute, but also annoying."

"I can imagine that's what any sibling's like, though," Draco muttered.

"Yep."

They continued chatting over dinner, getting to know more about each other. And when they stood up and started heading back towards their room, Draco thought he finally understood what Liana was talking about.

It wasn't about how many.

It was about the quality of your friends.

Remus was concerned about Tonks.

Yeah, she had been acting as normal as she could, but Remus knew that something was up with her. It didn't escape his attention that her eyes had been red all morning, and despite her morphing it away, he knew something was happening.

And he was pretty sure it was about the bed.

He had been trying to take things slow because he didn't want to rush into things, because he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable at any point in time. But maybe he had overstepped a line. Remus seriously felt like he needed to take the couch tonight. Nothing would happen. He had been dealt much worse in life.

He heard the door to their room open, and Tonks walked in, having gone out to fill her water bottle. She gave him a tired smile and sat down softly on the side of the bed.

"All okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yep. It's late, Remus. You should get some sleep."

"What about you?" he asked. "You should sleep too. You didn't sleep well last night."

"It's okay," she said softly. "I'll be fine."

"Okay," he said slowly, deciding to let it go, at least for the time being. "Good night, Dora."

"Good night, Remus. Love you."

He tried to find a comfortable position on the pillow, but he couldn't help but wonder what was bothering Tonks. Because it obviously had something to do with him, and this entire situation that they had found themselves in. He blamed Dumbledore.

"Remus?" Her voice cut across his thoughts, and he sat up to face her, noticing that she was still sitting upright.

"Yeah?"

She hesitated, then asked quietly, "Can I have a hug?"

He blinked twice. "Yeah, of course. Come here." He held out his arms and gestured for her to come across the bed.

She looked down at the pillow separating them, then back up at him, and he understood.

"It's okay. Come here, Dora."

She bit her lip nervously and crawled over to him, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her gently.

"Is it the sleeping arrangements?" he asked softly.

He took her silence as a yes.

"Dora, I…"

"You're not going to the couch," she interrupted. "Don't even try."

"That's not what I was going to say," he said. "I was going to say that if you roll in your sleep, and you come over to my side, then it's okay. Nothing's going to happen. You're not going to be in trouble, or something."

"But… But rule number three…"

"Not all rules are made to be followed," he interjected, giving her a small smile. "I just wanted to make sure we weren't rushing anything."

"I didn't want to pressure you into anything…" she began, but Remus cut her off.

"It's okay, Dora." He drew soothing circles on the soft skin of her back. "But believe me when I say that it's alright if you come over to my side of the bed, okay? Even if it's just because you can't sleep well or something, or if you're having a bad dream, or if you just want a snuggle. I'm okay with that, yeah?"

She nodded apprehensively. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's okay." He ran his fingers through her hair, marvelling at how soft it was. "And if you still can't sleep tomorrow, then we can figure something out. Okay?"

She nodded again.

"Okay. Go to sleep, Dora."

And even though she crawled back to her own side of the bed, Remus woke up the next morning with vivid pink hair sprawled across his face, though he couldn't find it in himself to mind.

A/N: Glad they've got that figured out! More cruise chapters coming soon. Thanks so much to ALL reviewers.

8: Thanks for your review! There IS a sequel underway, which will span GoF era. Drop a review to let us know if you're excited for the sequel! :)