Author's note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Content Warnings: NA

Night of Cake and Champagne

Mum had had her and Teddy over for supper, and she'd cooked her old favourite—steak frites with mushy peas so perfectly salted and crushed that even Remus couldn't make them as deliciously as her mother. Teddy stomped around in the backyard after supper while Tonks sunk in a patio chair, digesting the extraordinary amount of food she'd just scarfed down, and Mum gave her a delightfully gaudy and clunky pair of chandelier earrings—which she must have hated onsight, thus knowing that her daughter would love them.

Once Teddy had run enough laps of the yard to tucker himself out, get dizzy, and lay down in the flower bed Mum suggested that they go inside for cake. She was too stuffed to eat much and Teddy generously offered to wolf down the rest of her cake.

"You've got your dad's sweet tooth," Tonks reminded him, sliding her plate in front of him with a smile.

"How is Remus?" Mum asked. "I assume he must have called."

"Yes, he called this morning while we were getting ready for work," Tonks said. She'd been sure that he'd missed breakfast, but he'd promised that it was fine and had talked through the two-way mirrors until she'd had to get to work herself. He'd promised to call so they could talk before bed, too. "He's doing well—this week he's teaching his third-years about Grindylows, which are his favourite for some reason."

"Did he heal up from that duelling lesson mishap?" Mum asked, eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Oh yeah, he's fine," Tonks said. "The student who accidentally hit him is still traumatized, though. They're still offering to wash down his chalkboard after every class, apparently."

"Aww," Mum said with a chuckle. "Poor thing."

They chatted some more until Teddy started yawning, despite all the carbs and sugar they'd stuffed into his system. At that point Tonks thanked her mother and whisked her son home before he had a chance to tap into some strange second wind that would keep him up all night.

When she'd finished getting Teddy's teeth brushed and his bedtime stories read, she slipped out of his bedroom and turned to go into the kitchen—and noticed the bottle of champagne on the kitchen island. She approached and smiled when she saw the little white cardboard box next to it. She lifted the lid and smelled the cake before she saw it—a beautiful, perfect slice of apple spice cake dripping with brown butter frosting. There was a note in Remus's careful, even handwriting.

Unfortunately, I could not commandeer enough owls to send an entire cake. My seventh year students thank you, since they ate the rest after their exam. I saved a slice to share with you.

-Always yours, Remus

She smiled like an idiot and grabbed a fork in addition to her haul and made her way back to her bedroom. It took an awful lot of adulthood to wash the make-up off her face before changing into her pajamas and crawling into bed. She balanced the slice of cake on the pillow on Remus's side of the bed and propped her two-way mirror there. Then, she popped the cork of the champagne and startled herself—typical. She realized that she hadn't brought a glass and gave that thought about three seconds of her time before taking a slug from the bottle.

"Remus?" she asked the two-way mirror. Either because he was busy or far from his mirror, he didn't answer. She drank some more champagne and tried again. "Remus?"

Her husband appeared in the mirror, still wearing pieces of one of the suits he taught in. He smiled when he saw her.

"I see my owl arrived on time," he grinned.

"When on earth did you have time to bake a cake?" she demanded to know.

"Kreacher spoke to the head House Elf for me and bought me a few hours of time in the kitchens," Remus explained as if it was nothing.

"He showed you where the kitchens were?" she asked, jaw dropping. She'd spent seven years trying to figure that out while she was at Hogwarts.

"Love, they're right by the Hufflepuff Common Room," he said very seriously. "You just need to tickle the pear in that Baroquian fruit basket painting."

Her jaw dropped.

"Son of a… this whole time?"

He burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh at me!" she said.

"How did you not know?" he asked. "Sirius and I found it before Christmas our first year."

"Well, maybe I was following the rules," she said.

"Yes," Remus snorted. "Maybe."

"You're still laughing!" she protested. "On my birthday."

"You're right, you're right. It's terrible of me. But do you want to be mad about the kitchens or eat the cake that came out of it?"

"Eat cake, definitely," she said. "Do you have yours nearby?"

He nodded and bent out of frame, presumably to reach into his desk drawer, and took out a similar white box to eat with.

"No champagne?" she asked.

"It's your birthday, not mine," he said. "Besides, I'm not just on patrol tonight, I'm patrolling tomorrow too."

"Two nights in a row? That's rude. What did you do, piss off McGonagall?" Tonks asked, her mouth full of cake. Damn it was good.

"Well…"

"Are you?" she asked.

"I may have rekindled an old friendship with Peeves," Remus said.

"What?" Tonks said.

"It's in the early stages—I mean, it doesn't matter. How was your day?"

"Oh no, no, no," she said, taking another drink from her bottle of champagne. "You are going to tell me about yours while I eat this cake, Professor Lupin. Spill, tell me what you've done now?"

"It wasn't even that bad," Remus muttered—which only made her laugh more.

When she'd finished eating and drunken enough champagne to feel tingly and warm, she lay down in bed and curled up to face the mirror as Remus kept talking, smiling and laughing so hard she might wake up Teddy. She didn't care. Her eyebrows were starting to flutter and she was struggling to stay awake by the time Remus wrapped up his story.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be home on your birthday," he said, leaning on his hand.

"What are you talking about?" she said. "You baked me a cake and now we're talking until I fall asleep. It's like you're here."

"If I was there, I would kiss you," he pointed out.

"Just a kiss? It is my birthday."

"Maybe the champagne was a bad idea," Remus mused.

"Bold of you to assume I wouldn't be like this without the champagne," she said. He laughed.

"You're right. I'm off next weekend," he promised. "I've moved around all the tutoring appointments already and I won't have any marking. And then I'll bake you a whole cake."

"Keep saying nice things," she smiled, snuggling into her pillow.

WC: 1142