"NO!"
Tonks awoke with a start, and for a moment did not realize where she was. Severus was sitting next to her, clutching his head. "Severus?" Tonks asked quietly.
"Huh-what? Dora? You're still here. Thank Merlin you're still here," Severus mumbled, still half asleep.
Tonks sat up next to him and took his hand. "Of course I'm still here," she said soothingly.
"I thought, well…it doesn't matter…you're here," he said.
"Would it help to talk about your dream?" Tonks asked.
"No," Severus said darkly. "It's a reoccurring dream I often have. I don't want to think about it again."
"All right," Tonks said. "I'm always willing to listen."
"Thank you," he said. He looked at her, and after a moments study, he added, "Your hair looks beautiful like that."
Tonks looked down at her hair, and with a shock realized that it was in her natural state. Sometimes when she was sleeping, her body did that, it changed her hair back. Severus was the first person to see her natural hair and shape in more than ten years. Trying to hide how upset she was becoming, she joked, "Not very fun, though!" and quickly changed her hair to a periwinkle bob.
"Ready to go back to sleep?" Tonks asked softly.
Severus nodded. Tonks laid down on her side facing away from Severus. She felt him rustling besides her and then felt his arm around her waist, spooning her, "Is this okay?" she heard Severus ask, his face buried in her hair.
Tonks felt her body relax next to his. Instead of answering, she simply took her hand and placed it in his.
88888
When Tonks woke the next morning, she was disappointed not to feel Severus' arms around her. She looked at the other side of the bed, he was not there. She listened and heard him in the bathroom. Tonks took the opportunity to get up and quickly changed into the outfit she had been wearing last night.
Tonks took the pillows off of the bed and started to soothe out the sheets. She had never been good at cleaning spells and the one to make the bed was next to impossible in Tonks' book. She heard footsteps behind her. Tonks turned and saw Severus there, already dressed, his hair slightly damp. He must have taken a shower, she thought.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Severus asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Making the bed," Tonks replied cheerfully.
Severus started to raise his wand, "Why don't you just use Noc-"
"Don't say it!" Tonks cut him off quickly. "I like making beds the muggle way. My mum made me make my bed like this everyday when I was young."
"Seems like and awful lot of work when you can just say two words," grumbled Severus.
"Then make the bed with me," Tonks stated matter of factly.
Severus stood on the opposite side of Tonks and looked at her. "Well, don't just stand there," Tonks scolded. "Smooth out the sheet."
Severus did as she said. "Now tuck the edged under the mattress. Let's bring up your comforter," Tonks said, and together they pulled the blanket to the headboard.
Tonks threw a pillow at Severus. "Put down the pillow and we're done!"
Severus shook his head. "Why did we just do that?" he asked with a sly grim on his face.
"Because I can't make the bed with magic to save my life," Tonks answered truthfully.
"And I have to suffer because of that?"
Tonks gave Severus a nasty look. "So what are your plans today," she asked.
"I have about three levels worth of potions to grade. What about you?" he asked casually.
"I have a couple of reports to finish for work. Then I have to get ready for the meeting tonight."
"You'll be fine, you know," Severus said suddenly.
"Well, I've held my own so far. I'm sure I can keep going," Tonks said seriously. "I better go. I'll see you tonight."
"Dora," he faltered, "I just want to-"
"It's okay, Severus."
"No, it's not. I need to thank you for last night," he looked into her eyes, which were dark blue at the moment. "Thank you."
Tonks took a step forward and gently kissed him on the cheek. Without another word, she took a handful of floo powder from the mantle and was gone.
88888
Tonks missed her own fireplace and instead fell out 12 Grimmauld Place kitchen's fireplace. And this time, Tonks didn't even land on her feet; she fell straight onto her behind.
"Are you alright?" she heard Remus ask.
Laughing, Tonks rubbed her bottom. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she giggled.
"Are you just coming home?" Remus asked quietly.
"What is this, twenty questions?" Tonks teased.
"What's twenty questions?" a confused Remus asked.
"Now you're onto Jeopardy!" Tonks laughed. "Sorry, muggle humor. I stayed at Hogwarts last night. You didn't happen to make any breakfast, did you? I'm starved!"
"I made some extra scrambled eggs for you," Remus said.
"Ooh, thanks! Are they runny?" Tonks loved runny scrambled eggs.
"Yours are. The ones I made for myself weren't."
Tonks started putting her breakfast together when she realized that there was something on Remus' mind.
"Remus," she started, "You'd tell me if there was anything wrong, wouldn't you?"
"Would you care?" he asked mutinously.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I care, Remus," she cried.
"I'm sorry, it's just, you seem like you're in a different world half of the time now."
"I have a lot going on in my life," she pouted.
Remus stood up and walked over to Tonks quickly. Before she knew it, Remus' lips were planted firmly on her own. He put his arms around her tightly, all while his lips demanded more. Tonks stood there, in shock, not moving.
Remus stopped kissing her and looked into her now violet eyes, "You're not kissing me back," he said sadly.
Tonks shook her head, while tears started to form in her eyes. "Remus," she started to say.
"Please, Tonks. Don't say anything. I just wanted to see if anything had changed. I guess not," he said quickly. Remus turned and started to walk out of the kitchen.
"Remus, please, don't walk away like this," she begged.
"I just wish you could love me," he said turning his back on her.
Tonks felt tears rolling down her cheeks. This isn't fair, she thought, feeling frustrated. Remus was one of the most decent, most wonderful men she knew. Why couldn't she have at least some feelings for him? They complimented each other well, surely they could give each other comfort during the war. Tonks took a deep breath and reminded herself that she couldn't force her heart to follow her head.
Still feeling upset, she sat down and started eating her eggs.
88888
Hours later, Tonks was in The Poison Arrow in a small booth with Malfoy and Severus. Malfoy had his hand on her thigh and kept creeping it upwards. Tonks had dressed more demurely for tonight. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a maroon peasant blouse. She decided it would be best not to risk the scorn of the other female Death Eaters.
"Malfoy, we should go," Severus growled.
"In a moment," Malfoy said dismissively. "We have one thing to do first. You did bring the Veritaserum I asked you for, didn't you Severus?"
Severus reached into his robes and brought out a vial of colorless liquid.
Oh great, Tonks thought, that's for me. She tried not to look nervous. There were two options. First, Severus knew it was for me and fixed the potion so I don't tell the truth. Second, Severus didn't know and I start telling the truth. She decided that she would apparate as soon as she said something incriminating.
Malfoy took Tonks' glass of wine and casually poured two drops of the Veritaserum in the glass. "This is for your protection and mine, my dear. I've noticed that you haven't been so forthcoming with details of you personal life. This is just to make sure you are who you say you are."
She looked at him, "You don't trust me?" she purred and then took a large swallow of wine. She waited for the effects of the potion to set in. When she felt nothing, Tonks let herself relax. Thank goodness for Severus!
"What is your name?" Malfoy asked.
"Celeste Lipman," Tonks lied easily. She took a deep breath, knowing she was in the clear.
"What is your occupation?"
"I live off of my parent's money," Tonks stated while thinking what a clever answer that was.
'Why are you here tonight?"
"To pledge my services to the Dark Lord," Tonks tried very hard not to shudder while saying that.
"I think that's enough for now, Celeste. Let us go to the meeting," Malfoy stood up and started walking towards the door.
Tonks mouthed "Thank you," to Severus. He nodded briefly and stood up as well. Tonks followed them outside. Since Tonks didn't yet have the Dark Mark, they were going to floo from Malfoy's hiding place to a fireplace were they could walk to the meeting.
"Celeste," Malfoy said casually, "there is a good chance me wife might meet us at my apartment. If she is, we met for the first time tonight, understand? You're Snape's current plaything."
"Of course," Tonks replied.
They walked in silence until they reached his apartment. As Malfoy opened the door, Tonks saw that not only was Narcissa there, but also Draco. Tonks grimly thought about what an interesting family reunion this made.
Severus kissed Narcissa's hand and then shook Draco's. Draco's eyes widened when he saw Tonks. "Well, well, well," Draco started to say.
"Back off Draco, she's with me," Severus interrupted.
"Just looking at the goods, Professor, not sampling them," Draco said while taking every curve of Celeste's body.
"Narcissa, Draco, this is Celeste. She will be going to her first meeting tonight," Severus said.
"Nice to meet you both," Tonks said, and immediately felt stupid. Draco had heard Tonks' voice before. She would have to be careful to speak as little as possible around him.
Quietly, the group put on their masks while Tonks watched. "You will not have a mask tonight," Severus whispered to her.
Lucius had a bowl of floo powder in his hand. "Ladies first, my dear," he said to his wife.
A few minutes later, Tonks found herself in a large open field. She looked up and saw many stars, so many, that she realized they were far from London. The wind was rustling, and Tonks wrapped her robe around her tighter for some added warmth. The group walked a little further, and Tonks noticed a large bon fire with almost thirty people standing around it.
Right away, Lucius started walking around, shaking other Death Eater's hands. For an organization that supposedly didn't know who else was in the group, Lucius seemed to be calling a lot of people by their names. Tonks soaked it all in, trying to remember the names when she heard them
She heard Severus whisper, "Stay as close to me as possible," to her and she gladly complied. The only other person besides her that was unmasked was Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew. Tonks felt almost naked being without a mask while everyone else had one.
Suddenly the group grew very silent. Tonks heard a loud crack, and before she knew it, she was looking at Lord Voldemort in person for the second time in her life.