Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who, just the plot to this story.
Chapter 29: Summer With the Lupin's
~ TONKS ~
"Nymphadora, I swear to Merlin, if you throw one more bloody blanket at me, I'm going to lose it!"
Nymphadora Tonks was now the happy wife of Remus John Lupin. Some people may say they rushed into their relationship—the beginning of it being the 30th of June, and their wedding date being the 6th of July—but they had very much in love before getting together. The couple decided that it would best for them to reside at Tonks' parents' house in England until they could scrounge up the money for their own place. It was especially difficult finding a house with enough room for three people instead of just a newly-wed couple. After the death of Albus Dumbledore, Tonks had formed a relationship with her younger cousin, Draco Malfoy. Due to their new-found closeness and his lack of a place, Tonks had offered him a room at her parents' house. He gladly accepted, moving in with them on the 1st of July; he had even gotten his own room. Her parents were more than happy to meet the nephew they had been kept away from. But, at the moment, Draco was acting a little bit difficult. When he decided to move in with the Tonks family, he forgot that he would be moving in without any of his own belongings, seeing as his betrayal of Voldemort had caused his immediate family to shun him. Tonks had been trying her best to Draco feel at home: providing him with fresh clothes, pillows, blankets, and the rest, but he seemed to not want anything that he offered her.
"Nymphadora, I appreciate this—I really do—but I'm fine! I don't need any more than one pillow and one blanket. Especially in the middle of summer. All I ask—no beg of you—is that you calm down!." Draco seemed extremely stressed in his new living situation, which made sense. For all his life, Draco had lived in a large mansion with a huge room all to himself; now, he resided in a small cottage-like room in a quaint three-bedroom, two-story home. Tonks knew that it would be hard for him to adjust to the change, but it had been almost a week and he still hadn't settled in. She knew that they didn't exactly grow up in the same sort of environment as each other: Tonks in a loving home with parents that were around to raise her, and Draco in a large, cold house with parents that embraced racism of the highest sort against Muggles and Muggle-borns.
"Draco, I just want you to be comfortable." Tonks sat in a chair in the corner of her cousins' bedroom and sighed. "I want you to enjoy your life here."
"I do enjoy my life here, Nymphadora. All I need to be happy is for my parents not to be here, which is setting the bar pretty low. The only thing about this place that I'm still getting used to is the fact that I'm living with a professor that once taught me."
Tonks chuckled as she looked at Draco. "I suppose it would be strange if I were to walk into my new house and the first thing I see is Professor Flitwick sitting on my sofa reading the Daily Prophet." Tonks began the frown. "Draco, I know this probably isn't how you planned to spend your summer—"
"It's better than I planned." Draco stood from his place on the bed and sat in the chair next to his cousin. "Nymphadora, you need to stop doubting yourself. It's like I told you back at Hogwarts, you are the first competent member of our family that I have ever met. And you're doing everything you can to make me feel at home here, but it already feels like home when I have a family that actually cares about me." He sighed. "I know I probably don't sound like the 'Malfoy' that you've heard about from Potter and his friends over the years, but I've changed… a lot." Draco dropped his eyes to his hands. "I've been living here for three weeks and… they have definitely been the best three weeks of my life."
"Nymphadora! Draco! Supper's on the table!" Tonks' mother called from downstairs. They exited the bedroom and descended the stairs to the kitchen. Tonks inhaled deeply from her nose and looked down to her stomach. The cousins reached the kitchen and saw that Ted and Remus were already seated, while Andromeda placed the final bowl onto the table. "Glad to see you've finally arrived." Andromeda smiled at the two of them and sat down. Her parents occupied the seats at the heads of the table, Draco took his seat on one side of the table, and Tonks kissed Remus' forehead and seated herself next to him. Everyone was about to dig into their meal when Tonks abruptly said:
"Stop!" Everyone looked up from their plates with confusion. "I, um… I have something to say." She cleared her throat. "News actually… good news. I have good news for once."
"You alright there, sweetheart?" Ted placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder.
"I'm fine, Dad. Great. Amazing actually. I, um… Remus and I… we're gonna be parents!"
Andromeda and Ted jumped out of their seats and began crying. Remus and Tonks stood from their chairs and received hugs from the happy soon-to-be-grandparents. While Tonks hugged her mother, she glanced towards Draco. He was still sitting down, but he looked at her with a smile on his face; she could tell that he was truly happy for her.
"Oh, my Merlin! I'll have to owl Molly! Tell her the good news!" Andromeda walked over to the counter and grabbed a piece of blank parchment from a drawer. "What about Amelia? Have you told her yet, love?"
"No, Mum. We've only just found out yesterday." Tonks was beaming as she looked up at her husband. He looked down to her and smiled at her, but she could tell that something was a bit off.
"Well, I am very happy for the two of you." Ted walked over to the couple and pulled them into a tight embrace.
"Thanks, Dad. That means a lot. And Draco..." She released herself from her father's clutches. "You're gonna have another family member that loves you for you."
"That's… that's amazing, Nymphadora. I can't wait to meet him or her."
"Eura, come here." Andromeda summoned the family's owl and attached the parchment to its claw. "Bring this to Molly Weasley—"
"Mum, actually, we were thinking about not telling anyone just yet."
"Oh... yes, of course. Whatever you believe is best."
"Also, I… we want to tell Amelia before anything else happens. And, anyway, most people don't even know that we've gotten married."
"Yes, honey, it makes sense." Ted smiled at his daughter.
"Well, now that everything's out in the open, we can eat! The food looks delicious, Mum." Tonks sat back down at the table, and the rest of her family followed. They all dug into Andromeda's cooking.
Later that night, Tonks was sitting in the garden reading a book titled Who Am I? written by Gilderoy Lockhart. It was extremely uninteresting and, from what she could tell about the author by reading the first three pages, Tonks believed him to be a bit narcissistic. She closed the book, set it down on the bench, and looked out at the sky.
It was nearing the end of July and Tonks knew that her old mentor would be showing up any day now in order to discuss how to get Harry to safety before his eighteenth birthday, the 31st of July. she thought about Amelia and wondered if she was safe this summer. The two of them had barely spent any time together since Amelia started at Hogwarts; the last time Tonks saw her was after Dumbledore's death, but it was only for a brief time. She never even got to ask Amelia where she was staying this summer. She silently hoped that it wasn't with the Weasley's as per the fact that that would entail Fred and Amelia under the same roof and, maybe even, in the same room at night. Tonks had been writing her letters for the past three weeks, but she got no response; she knew Dumbledore's death took a toll on Amelia, but that shouldn't stop her from answering a letter or two.
Tonks heard a knock on the doorframe and turned to see a tall, slim, pale teenager standing there. "Hey, there, Draco. What can I do for you?" The boy looked down at the bench and picked up the book that Tonks had been reading.
"Gilderoy Lockhart? Not the best author in the world." He placed the book on the ground and sat in its place.
"Yeah, I got that from reading it. My mum was a huge fan of his a few years back." Tonks looked at Draco; he was staring off into the stars. "Draco, are you alright?"
He turned to face her with a confused look on his face.
"No, I… I don't think so. I don't know who to talk to about this."
Tonks was now confused. "If this is about your changing body, you might want to talk to Remus or your Uncle Ted."
"No! No, it's nothing like that! I'm seventeen, Nymphadora, not stupid."
"Well, how am I supposed to know? I've never had to have one of these talks with a teenage boy, only Amelia."
"Alright, no more of that 'changing body's' talk, okay? I have to ask you about something else."
Tonks eyed him carefully, not knowing what to expect. He slowly began to speak. In a whisper, he asked, "How can I tell for sure… whether I have feelings for someone or if I just really like them as a friend?" Tonks smiled at her cousin and threw her hand on his shoulder.
"So, this is what this is about? You have a crush on someone? Oh, my Merlin, do I know them?" Tonks became excited; she never had a sibling to talk to about things like this. She had talked to Amelia about Fred in the past, but she was more like a daughter to her than a sister.
"No, I don't know if I fancy her or not. We'd been hanging around together at Hogwarts this past year, but… I don't know if she knows that I've really changed, you know?" He looked Tonks in the eyes. "I was a complete… asshole to her and her friends growing up, but I'm a different person now. I think she has feelings for someone else, though. And as much as I hate to say it, he probably deserves her more than I do."
"Now, Draco, don't say that. I don't know who this girl is, but I'm sure she'd be lucky to have you. Now… let me ask again." Tonks smiled at him. "Do I know her?"
Draco eyed his cousin as if deciding whether or not to say. He sighed. "Yes… yes, you know her."
"Brilliant. So, honestly, who is it? You can trust me. I won't tell a soul. Well, maybe Remus. And my Mum. And my Dad. And possibly Amelia."
"No! Not Amy! She would never let me live it down!"
"Alright, then, I won't tell Amelia. But first, you'll have to tell me who it is." Tonks eyed him pleadingly. "If you're gonna ask me for dating advice, I need to know all the details."
Draco exhaled. "Okay… I can't believe I'm about to say this out loud. I… I think that I may possibly… most likely… definitely fancy Hermione Granger."
"Hermione!" Tonks squealed and jumped from the bench. "You like Hermione? You like Hermione! Oh, that's amazing! I can definitely see the two of you together, you know, getting married, having kids, growing old together. Oh, that's adorable." She looked down at her cousin. "So, when are you gonna tell her?"
"'Tell her'?" Draco stood from his seat. "I'm not telling her anything. Not unless I know she would reciprocate the feelings."
"Draco, how're you ever gonna know if you never tell her?"
"Well, I… I was hoping I could, I don't know… ask you?"
"Me? You want me to find out if Hermione has a crush on you?"
"Yes, well… you're a Metamorphmagus, aren't you? You could be Amy, or Ginny, or Potter and ask about me, see how she talks about me."
"Or..." Tonks placed her hands on Draco's shoulders.
"Or what?"
Tonks smiled and breathed out. "I'm gonna get you, two crazy kids, together." She hugged her cousin and proceed inside. She heard Draco calling after her, asking what she was planning, but she was already deep in her thoughts about how to get Hermione to admit her feelings for Draco.
"Well, at least he's talking to you, now." Remus sat down on the bed next to Tonks. She had just told him about her moment with Draco.
"Don't you get it, Remus? Not only is he talking to me; he trusts me. I know I pretty much just violated his trust by telling you everything, but he trusts me. Oh, isn't that wonderful?" She threw herself back on the bed.
"It's nice that he finally has someone that he can trust. I'm sure it was never that way with his parents or the rest of his family." Remus laid himself down and placed his hand on his wife's face. "And, if I do say so myself, you are a good person to start off giving someone's trust to."
"Thanks, Remus." She placed a kiss on his lips and she felt him smile. "I don't know how I ever became so lucky as to meet and fall in love with you."
"Not as lucky as I am right now." He kissed her forehead, turned off the lights, and the two of them fell sound asleep.
Tonks was woken use by a loud crash from the first floor. She grabbed her wand from the nightstand and shook Remus awake. His hair was all disheveled, the front bit was covering his eyes. He squinted through his hair and looked around the room.
"Dora? What's wrong? What's happened?" Remus groaned through his speech.
"I think someone's broken in. I'm gonna go check it out." Remus groaned again. Tonks followed the sound of the crash out into the hall and found her father, also with his wand at the ready. "You heard it, too, huh?" Tonks whispered. He nodded, and they continued down the stairs together. The pair rounded the corner from the stairs into the kitchen and caught the culprit redhanded.
"Stupefy!" Tonks screamed. The man stood frozen in the kitchen and Ted approached him.
"Let's see who this is, shall we?" Ted smiled at his daughter. "Lumos." The tips of Ted's wand lit up to reveal the old, wrinkly face of the man in the Tonks' kitchen. "Alastor?"
"Mad-Eye? What are you doing here?" Tonks cast the counter-curse and released him from the stunning spell.
"I was told that you were informed of our upcoming assignment." Tonks squinted her eyes. "The one involving Potter? And his extraction from Privet Drive?"
"Mad-Eye… it's the middle of the night."
"What does that have to do with the assignment?" He looked down to his left hand, in which he held an empty carton of milk. He tossed it over to Ted. "You're out of milk, by the way."
"Yeah, I can see that, thanks." Ted swallowed. "It's good to see you, Alastor. Long time no see."
"Yes, well… no time for chatting." The old wizard limped over to Tonks. "It's time to get going, Nymphadora—"
"Don't call me 'Nymphadora,' Mad-Eye."
"Never mind that. Go tell Remus and the Malfoy boy that it's time to leave."
"Now?" Andromeda called from the bottom of the staircase. She had a sad look on her face. "Alastor… we weren't expecting you until at least tomorrow. You're just gonna show up, in the middle of the night, and take my family away from me?"
"Mum, it's alright. I'll just go and wake the boys." Tonks trudged back up the stairs and stuck her wand in the front pocket of her robe. She was able to wake Draco without a problem and explain the situation to him. Remus, on the other hand, was a challenge.
"Dora, it's one in the morning. Why would Alastor show up at one in the morning?"
"Do you even know who you're talking about, Remus? He has no concept of time and doesn't give a damn about what's going on in our lives right now."
The couple heard a shout from downstairs. "I'm not getting any younger, Nymphadora!"
Tonks mumbled under her breath, "I keep telling him not to call me that."
"Do you even know who you're talking about?" Remus stood up from the bed and began to get dressed. Tonks chuckled and followed in his lead; she changed from her pajamas into a pair of black, ripped jeans, a Weird Sisters t-shirt, and black sneakers. She eyed the leather jacket that hung in her closet but since it was the middle of summer, she decided to leave it there.
"How do I look, Mr. Lupin?" She turned in her place.
"Perfect as always, Mrs. Lupin." Remus grabbed her face and kissed her on the forehead. "Shall we go."
"I suppose so."
The two reached for each other's hands and held them tight. They descended the stairs together and saw that Mad-Eye was pacing by the front door.
"Finally! Off we are, then. Malfoy, with me. You're still too young to apparate on your own."
Draco eyed him carefully. "No, I'm not. I turned seventeen last month."
"All the same, you're with me. Can't risk the Death Eaters finding out where you are. Too risky, now that you've completely gone against them."
"Mad-Eye, where are we apparating to?"
"Haven't they told you anything, Nymphadora? We're off to the Burrow!" And with that, Mad-Eye and Draco disappeared into thin air. Andromeda and Ted walked up to the couple.
"Now, Nymphadora, Remus… good luck and be safe." Andromeda kissed both on the forehead.
Tonks hugged her parents. "I love you, Mum, Dad. You look after each other, alright? Until I get back?"
"We'll be fine, sweetheart," Ted remarked as he smiled. "Now, you two. Go out and save the world."
Remus and Tonks backed away from her parents and, with one last smile, apparated to the Burrow.
