A/N: Gosh, it's been a while. Have had a bit of writer's block, so I've written some chapters for further on in the story to get back in the swing of things. Things are gonna get interesting. To apologise for my delay, I have chapter 23 ready and will post soon. This chapter and the next one were all one chapter but it was too long together so I split it into two shorter chapters. Anyway, hope you're all good :)
Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter and co, though I do keep Dan Radcliffe in a drawer under my bed (she wishes!)
Harry sat eating his lunch on a chilly Monday, staring into his steak and kidney pie. Ron, who had been sulky and snappy with both he and Hermione all morning, scraped his cutlery on his plate annoyingly. Harry mumbled something to his best friend but the red headed boy ignored him. Harry chose to start a conversation with Hermione instead.
"Have you seen Tonks? She wrote to me and told me she'd be back today." Ron gave a huff causing Harry to frown. He then turned back to Hermione as she answered.
"No, I've not. I assume she's back. Guess we'll find out after lunch won't we." Harry nodded in response. Ginny piped up from across the table.
"I've seen her," she told them. "I had a lesson with her this morning. She's looking better." Harry was relieved to hear this. Ron was giving Ginny a glare. She scowled back and he threw his knife and fork onto his place and rose from his place.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked timidly. Ron ignored her and left the Great Hall in a hurry. Hermione turned to Harry and Ginny, who offered shrugs of puzzlement.
The 6th Years sat impatiently in their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The lesson should have started 10 minutes ago but Tonks hadn't turned up. Harry wondered why. Ginny had said Tonks was back at Hogwarts. Where was she? He was about to ask Ron this, then thought again. Ron was sat by Harry's side, scratching a dry quill against a spare piece of parchment. The classroom door swung open, causing many of the class to turn around. Tonks bustled in quickly, an apologetic grin on her face. She wore a black cloak over her old jeans, with a fluorescent pink top bearing the words 'Witch not bitch'. She dumped her bag on her desk and jumped onto it backwards, adopting her typical cross-legged position.
"Wotcher guys! How've you been? I've missed you all so much. How was it without me? Snape treat you ok?" The class groaned a response, especially Neville who seemed incredibly relieved to see Tonks back at school.
"Git!" Tonks laughed. "Oi, he's taken my poster down." She flicked her wand at a roll of paper in the corner. It flew through the air and opened itself out onto the wall, showing a daze cartoon boy with the words 'Boy's are stupid, throw rocks at them,' above his head. Tonks gave a satisfied smile. She looked back to the doorway then brought her eyes back to land on her class. "I'm gonna make things worse. Remember that theory lesson last term when I promised we would never ever do anything so boring again? Well … me lied! I'm so sorry but I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore, and I'm already running late." She paused, glancing to the back of the room again. "However," she continued, "I did bring you a late Christmas present to say sorry. Can you come in for a sec please," she called. Harry frowned and turned in his seat to follow Tonks stare. "Don't make me drag you!" she called again. Harry's face lit up as Remus Lupin shyly entered the classroom.
"Hey, Professor Lupin. How's it going?" Seamus called. The class left their seats to greet their old teacher. Even the Slytherin students looked pleased to see him. Tonks was relieved, as she knew Remus hadn't really left the school in the best of circumstances. She grinned at Remus who gave her a smile. The class were talking all at once, asking Lupin how he'd been, what he'd been doing. One person remained in his seat however. Ron Weasley continued to scrape his quill against his parchment and glared at Tonks. She turned away suddenly, knowing what he must be thinking.
"Right, I'm going to be really late now. Guess I should set you some work right?"
"No," Seamus called out.
"Nice try, um…there's some questions I wanted you to have a look at on page…"
"One hundred and forty nine. Chapter 7," Hermione piped up.
"Cheers Minnie. Do them and move on to the next chapter if you finish but I'm not guaranteeing that I'll mark them. What else…Ron could you stop doing that please?" The boy looked up at her, made a point of dropping his quill onto the table, then crossed his arms over his chest.
"Thank you. Professor McGonagall will be checking up on you every so often. So if you're acting like little shits then I won't be happy, ok?" Ron muttered something under his breath. Remus didn't catch it but Tonks clearly did for she glared at him.
"Ron can I speak with you outside for a moment?" she said politely, with only a hint of annoyance.
"Whatever," he mumbled and rose from his seat, scraping his chair as he did so. He followed his teacher out of the classroom. The rest of the class irrupted into chatter. Harry was grinning at Remus.
"Harry, stop it."
"What I'm not doing anything!"
"Yes you are, you're grinning at me in that way. Stop it."
"Had a good week?" the boy asked casually, giving the man a wink.
"Stop it!" At that moment, the raised voices of Ron and Tonks could be heard in the corridor. Hermione turned to Harry, clearly shocked. Although the class couldn't make out what was being said, they knew that neither was happy with each other. The door swung open, causing the class to turn around to the front quickly. Ron entered hurriedly, pink in the face and fuming. Tonks followed. She was smiling but her eyes showed a hidden anger. Ron sat back down noisily.
"Thank you, Ron. We don't need another Malfoy in this class. Where is Malfoy anyway?" At that moment the door flung open and Malfoy strode in casually. He stopped as he saw Lupin.
"What's he doing here?"
"You're late," Tonks said, ignoring the boy's question.
"So were you," he sneered.
"Ah, touché. No, don't sit down you're not staying. I've set work and you're gonna go spend this lesson in Professor McGonagall's classroom, ok? It's not that I don't trust you it's just…well yeah it is that." She smiled at her cousin sweetly and he scowled. "Right, I'll be off then, unless any of you have any questions." She scanned the class looking for raised hands. "No? Ok then. Hang on, where's Dean?" she asked, noticing the empty chair next to Seamus. The boy shrugged.
"I dunno. He never came back after the Christmas holiday," Seamus told her. Tonks frowned.
"Hmm, that's weird. Anyway, I'd best get going. Catch you later. Say goodbye to Professor Lupin." The class chorused a farewell; Harry's the loudest with a smug smile across his face. Remus grimaced at the boy and waved as he followed Tonks out of his old classroom.
He turned to Tonks as she shut the classroom door behind them.
"You knew I didn't want to go in."
"And you know I always get my own way," she chirped with a grin. Remus shook his head lightly. He read the slogan on her shirt and gave a pout of disapproval.
"Are you going to get changed?" Tonks' mouth fell indignantly. She pointed her wand at her chest and the words 'Witch not bitch' changed to 'Remus Lupin is a sadistic jerk'. He gave a laugh and an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, it was fine before. Come let's go, we're already late."
