The sound of footsteps in the hall startled Remus, and he shot to his feet, simultaneously whipping his wand out of his pocket and aiming it towards the door. But as Tonks stepped into the doorway, he let out a sigh of relief, his wand aim lowering. Tonks stared at his wand for a moment, a look of shock on her face, and then met Remus' eyes and put a smile on her face. "Wotcher, Remus," she said cheerfully, though Remus could see the shadow behind her eyes. He lowered his wand completely and tried to smile. "Hello, Tonks. For someone who is normally clumsy you snuck up on me."
"Well, I didn't want to wake the portrait of Old Bag Black, did I?" Tonks said with a grin, walking into the room and heading to the couch. She sat down , ignoring Remus' hesitation.
'Why can't she just leave me alone?' He was thinking to himself, his heart still in his stomach, that shroud still all about him. She was looking at him oddly now, and rather stiffly he sat down next to her before she could ask whatever the matter was with him. He didn't feel like explaining himself to her, explaining the reasons why he held a wall around his heart, so that sometimes he couldn't breathe, so that he could never allow himself to be close to anyone.
"Had a rough day, have we?" The girl next to him said, and he flicked his eyes up to her's momentarily, quickly returning to staring at his hands, folded in his lap. Her hand brushed up his arm and rested on his shoulder. He supressed a shiver. "Me, too," she said companionably, and her hand slipped away, as she drew her feet up onto the couch. Another shiver passed over him, and he found himself mimicking her, wrapping his arms about his knees.
-
"Wotcher, Remus!"
Remus startled, very nearly spilling his tea all over himself. He looked up at the young girl in front of him. "Tonks!"
"Scared you, did I?" She asked, sitting down across the table from him with a grin. She pointed her wand to a tea cup on the the counter and said, "Accio tea cup!" Remus watched apprehensively as the china sailed through the air quite near his arm and landed in front of Tonks. He sighed with relief. She grinned and said now, "Accio kettle!"
The kettle, full of hot tea, wallowed through the air as though on a choppy sea, drips of liquid sloshing out of the spout and onto the floor. Remus swallowed thickly and pushed his chair back. Too late, as some tea sloshed, unpleasantly hot, onto his leg, quickly seeping through the fabric of his robes, the heat spreading. He tried not to cry out, giving Tonks a pained look. She jumped up, the kettle landing suddenly on the table with a loud 'thump'.
"Oh, sorry! Here, let me - oops! I'm really sorry about this, Remus, just move your hands and let me -"
"Oh, no, no, that's quite alright Tonks, please, let me." Remus was insisting, holding the hot tea soaked robes away from his body and fumbling for his wand.
"No, I insist. Just - move your hand, Remus! Let me!" She snatched his hand away and said firmly, "Scourgify!"
Remus felt an unpleasant sensation on his leg. There was a large hole in his robes where the tea stain had been, and beneath it, his skin was red and very sore. It felt as though it had been scrubbed with steel wool. Essentially, it had been. "Oh," Tonks said, her face turning red. "Er, sorry about that."
"Not at all," Remus said smoothly, taking his wand out calmly and pointing to his skin. He muttered a healing charm, and the red scratchs on his skin knitted together and disappeared. He looked helplessly at his robe, now with its hole at mid-thigh height, and raised an eyebrow at Tonks. "Another patch for these robes, I think." He said with a wry smile. Tonks put a hand over her mouth, the roots of her hair turning red now. "I'm so sorry. Really, very sorry."
"Don't mention it." Remus replied vaguely. Then he looked at her quite seriously. "Really, please don't. I don't know what Molly would say if she knew you were ripping my robes in the kitchen when anybody could walk in on us." Despite herself, Tonks snorted once, before giving up on stifling her laughter, and giggling openly. The corners of Remus' mouth tugged up into a smile, before mentioning something about changing, and leaving the room.