A/N: This chapter was meant to be scary but when reading it through I was laughing. That's Tonks for ya!
Grimmauld Place was eerily dark at night; it was in the day but even more so when the sun went down. Tonks lay alone on her bed, fully dressed, and knowing that she would regret it the next day. The clock had struck midnight a long time ago, but Tonks could not sleep at all. She listened to the silence, if that was possible, and cleared her mind of anything that would remotely bother her (there were many things!). Deciding that she should at least try to sleep, she began to roll over and planned to close her eyes and sleep in her clothes. However, a faint noise stopped her mid-roll. Tonks paused before rolling onto her back and frowning in the dark. Had she really heard something? Was it just her imagination, her bed sheets rubbing together? No, there had definitely been something, and it was coming from somewhere in the house. As Tonks considered the possibilities of what it could be, the noise came again, still faint but louder this time. It sounded like scratching on wood. Tonks sat up and grabbed 'her' navy hoodie from off her chair. She pulled it on, thankful for its warmth as she realised she was shivering. It had been quite useful recently Tonks had to admit, as she was now beginning to show, only slightly but she was paranoid about it nonetheless. Tonks opened her bedroom door incredibly slowly, so as not to make the handle squeak and wake Remus across the hall. Tonks paused once outside her room. She realised she was holding her breath and took a quick breath out. The noise came again and Tonks squinted, as if it would help to hear in the dark. Was it Buckbeak? Perhaps the Hippogriff was hungry. But the noise was coming from down stairs. Maybe Hermione or Remus can't sleep either, Tonks pondered. Well you're never gonna find out standing here in the dark like a lemon!
Tonks shuffled down the hallway and tiptoed down the stairs, wincing with every creaking floorboard and cursing silently as she stubbed a toe. As she reached the entrance hall to the manor house, Tonks had decided that the noise was coming from the kitchen, though she was still unsure of what was causing it. Ignoring the light snores of Mrs Black, Tonks held her breath again to listen intently. It was definitely a scratching of some kind. It was unrhythmical, almost a scurrying noise like nails or claws. Tonks froze as she thought of this. Like a rodent…No it can't be, can it? Tonks' breath burnt in her chest but she refused to make a sound as she made her way to the kitchen stairs, avoiding the umbrella stand, which was a miracle in the dark she had to admit! Tonks trod carefully down the stairs, listening to the sound get louder and louder as she approached. However, it was becoming difficult to hear it over the beating of her terrified heart. Tonks stood on the bottom step, unsure of what to do. Was she over reacting? This was an old house; it was bound to have rats in its foundations. Tonks tried to convince herself that she was being silly but fear got the better of her. She had to see what it was, to know that she was wrong, to put her mind at rest. Tonks left the bottom step in order to find the exact location as to where the noise was coming from. As she did so, the kitchen floor creaked under her weight, causing the scratching to stop.
"No," Tonks whispered to herself. She stayed incredibly still, half praying that the noise would start up again. It did, and Tonks found herself trembling once more as she headed for the far left corner of the kitchen, past the fireplace, to where the noise was loudest. Once there she crouched low to the floor, rocking slightly and mumbling quietly to herself.
"Peter, go away, go away." A dull thud above her, from higher in the house made her jump. Most probably Buckbeak this time, she guessed, but she was on edge and afraid and it caused her to give an involuntary squeak of fear. The scampering stopped once more and Tonks gave a loud groan of frustration and exhaustion. She slammed her fists down on the dirty wooden floor, heavily.
"Stop doing this to me, stop it!" she cried, putting one ear to the floor and banging again as she heard nothing. Tonks was tired now, she wanted to go back up to bed and forget she had ever heard anything. She wanted to believe that it was just some small rodent, obliviously scaring her senseless. But she couldn't. She had to know. Grabbing an iron poker from the fireplace, Tonks delved it in between two floorboards with an angry grunt. A faint squeaking could be heard from below her and she used the poker as a crow bar, attempting to prise up the flooring. The squeaking and scratching came again, almost as if to taunt her as she struggled.
"Come on you bastard," she huffed. "Don't think I can't hear you." The wood board cracked under pressure and Tonks pulled it up with her hands, leaving a fair sized hole and causing a great deal of dust. She gave a cough and rubbed her forehead wearily. Tonks could not see a thing as she peered into the gap. Even as she lit her wand, she could only see faint shadows of below and it had seemed that the noise had stopped. Tonks let the iron poker drop to her side with a clank and stifled a sob. Did she really need this right now? She didn't think so! As she began to get up off the floor, she heard the noise again, further across the room.
"Urrh!" Tonks growled in frustration. "You have got to be kidding me!" She scuttled across the floor on her knees pushing the kitchen chairs out of the way as she did so. They fell to their sides one by one, like dominoes. Tonks then heaved the table to one side. It tipped and landed on the upturned chairs leaving a clear space for Tonks. She went at the floorboards again, this time more aggressively.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" she hissed. "Think you can come in here and hurt my family in the night? That's just like you Peter you spinelessness jerk!" Having made a small gap, she pulled up several boards eventually joining her first smaller hole with the newer one to create a rather large gap in her kitchen floor. Tonks didn't care at all.
"Lumos," she mumbled angrily to her wand again, and stuck her head in the gap, taking a good look around. Again she saw nothing. The dust tickled her throat and scratched her eyes. But Tonks would not give up. She continued to pull at the wooden boards, splintering them and cutting hands. She didn't even seem to notice the pain; she was so intent on finding him, it, whatever or whoever it was that was frightening her so intently.
"Come on Pettigrew!" she shouted now. "You're in, you've done it! Now let's get this over and done with so I can go back to bed." No response, not even a scrape or a squeal. Tears of frustration began to roll down Tonks' grubby cheeks. She was so frightened by her over-zealous imagination that she was beginning to believe anything. Looking around her at the mess she'd made, Tonks couldn't help but feel that she had slightly over-reacted. This caused her to sob even more at her own stupidity. Just then, a noise at the top of the stairs caused Tonks to jump once more. She let out a little yelp then a gasp of relief as she saw it was only Hermione, shuffling down the stairs in her slippers and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The girl wore an expression of confusion as she surveyed the scene before her; Tonks sat by a crater in the kitchen floor, surrounded by piles of jagged floor boards, her hands bleeding, her face filthy and dust hovering in a cloud above her.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked, not really knowing where else to start.
"Nothing Hermione, go back to bed," Tonks said matter-of-factly, rubbing her stinging hands.
"Tonks what the hell happened here?" Hermione's voice was stronger as she reached the kitchen and saw the full extent of the damage. "It's gone 3am and…you've destroyed the kitchen!" she pointed out shrilly. Tonks gave a little hiccough and looked around her, only really noticing how bad it actually looked. She began to open her mouth when the aggravating scuttling started up again. Hermione rolled her eyes slowly as she listened to the noise.
"You hear it don't you?" Tonks asked her desperately. "I'm not crazy! Tell me I'm not going crazy!" She threw her arms around the girl's legs, almost making her lose her balance and fall into the newly made pit.
"Err, you're not crazy?" Hermione supplied timidly. As the noise continued, Tonks dragged herself up off the floor and circled the overturned furniture for its origin. "Tonks…Tonks stop, this is ridiculous. What are you doing? It's just…it's just a rodent. It's just a rat Tonks," Hermione pressed as her teacher passed her for another lap of the table. Tonks froze mid-step and spun on her heels.
"Exactly!" she cried hysterically, her eyes wide with panic. Hermione frowned.
"Tonks, I don't underst–" but the girl stopped as the significance of the creature came to mind. She shook her head slowly.
"This is crazy Tonks. You're right you are crazy!" Tonks had returned the iron poker to her sore hands and continued to creep around the kitchen. "You can't be serious." Hermione laughed nervously.
"I am serious. This is serious. Now I want you to go back to your room and stay there," Tonks commanded, gesturing up the stairs with the poker. Hermione shook her head.
"Upstairs Hermione, now!"
"What is going on in here?" came another voice, making Tonks jump yet again and causing her to cry out in anguish. Remus came down the stairs slowly, looking incredibly baffled at the two witches and rather alarmed at the fact that Tonks was raising a fire-poker over Hermione's head. The elder dropped it in alarm. Remus, too, was fully dressed implying that Tonks was not the only one unable to sleep that night.
"What's going on?" he asked again, in a voice much calmer than expected.
"Nothing," both witches mumbled. Remus gave a sceptical look. Hermione began to cough from the dust in the air, and stepped over an overturned chair to get a glass of water, leaving Tonks to explain by herself.
"I can explain…well I can't explain. You're just gonna have to trust me, it's nothing." She offered the man a nervous smile. He took her hands and realised that she was trembling. Concerned, he picked a chair up from the floor and indicated for Tonks to sit.
She took a few deep breaths, tasting dust, and realised he was staring at her expectantly.
"I'm sorry," was all she could think of to say.
"What's going on?" he asked for a final time, his voice barely audible. Tonks swallowed knowing she had to give in.
"Peter," she said. Peter? Of all the things you could have opened with u chose that! Remus' brow furrowed in confusion. "I…I saw Peter today." She shuffled uncomfortably in her chair. "Or rather…he saw me."
"Where?" Remus breathed.
"At my flat…it's ok," she insisted as Remus looked alarmed, "he didn't hurt me–"
"But he tried to?" Tonks could only nod. Remus was breathing heavily. He paced around the kitchen (well, as best he could) and tried to take in what his best friend was telling him.
"Why didn't you come and get me?" he asked heatedly. Tonks closed her eyes, feeling a confrontation beginning.
"It all happened so fast," she tried to reason. She wished Remus would stay still.
"I can't believe you lied to me…again Dora," he said under his breath. "I knew something was wrong earlier, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't lie to you!" Tonks protested, rising from her chair. "I just…omitted certain truths," she finished lamely.
"Omitted certain truths?" Remus gave a little laugh. "Always about the unimportant things eh?" he snapped sarcastically. Tonks took a step back.
"Can we not do this right now?" she mumbled, feeling Hermione's gaze volley between her two adult friends.
"Hermione go to bed!" Remus ordered sharply.
"Don't talk to her like that!" Tonks shouted too. "You're angry at me, Remus. Leave her out of this." Hermione just stood there, feeling rather foolish in her fluffy slippers. The kitchen fell silent again and Remus could here a gentle scratching on wood. His eyes snapped to Tonks who was looking at the floor.
"What? You thought that was him?"
"I…I don't know what I thought," Tonks muttered. Remus gave a sigh.
"Nymphadora," his tone was suddenly gentle. "This house…you should have known. This house is protected well…Dumbledore put the Fidelius Charm on it to disguise it. He's Secret Keeper for Merlin's Sake!"
"I know, I'm just scared," Tonks sniffled and Remus put his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.
"What did he say to you?" Remus asked quietly. Tonks simply shook her head, burying her face into her friend's chest.
"They're going to take me away from you. He said You-Know-Who, he… he…" she couldn't go on. Remus shushed her, rocking her slightly as she began to tremble once more.
"It's ok Dora, no-one's going to take you from me. Either of you," he placed a hand on her warm abdomen. "I won't let him. I won't let him hurt anybody else that I love. He's been doing that for far too long." Remus felt a familiar anger build up in him, but he would not act on it now.
"Well…" a small voice spoke up from the corner. They both turned to see Hermione looking uncomfortably at her hands. "Well…I'd best be off to bed now. Yes, I think that's best." She scuttled past the couple. "Good night. I'll help you with this mess in the morning Tonks."
"Thanks Minnie," Tonks called, a ghost of a smile traced her lips. The girl disappeared, leaving the pair in silence. Tonks ran a hand over her dirty face.
"You must think I'm such a fool," she sighed. Remus gave a little chuckle and drew her closer.
"Well, yes but a cute fool. Endearing in fact." Tonks smiled at his words, wishing that she could stay in the protection of his arms forever.
"I'm scared, Remus. I'm so frightened. I want to believe that you'll always be there for me; I know you want to be too, but I know that it's hoping for too much."
"I know," Remus nodded in understanding. They stood there for a long moment, Tonks feeling his chest move gently. She could feel his eyes on her, studying her intently. She licked her lips slightly.
"You know…on this spot, all those months ago…you kissed me." A seductive smile lit up her face. Remus blinked in mock-confusion.
"In all truth, if you recall correctly Nymphadora, you did in fact kiss me first." She gave a little chuckle. Remus smiled, he loved to see her happy. He took a piece of her dark hair and brushed it away from her face lightly with a finger. Was she trembling? He swallowed hard.
"Remind me," he heard her whisper. Remus didn't need telling twice. He cupped her face gently in her hands and kissed her deeply. She let out a small, involuntary groan and wrapped her arms around her friend's waste, pulling him closer. Remus felt the small bump between their bodies and smiled as their lips parted.
"You're so good at that," she purred. I love him, she thought then shook her head to clear it of such an absurd notion.
"Why thank you," he played. The mother of his child was so beautiful. How had he gotten so lucky? I love her, he thought. The words almost escaped from his lips and it scared him. Did he really feel that way? Or had he just gotten caught up in the moment? In a way of preventing an unwanted confession from slipping out, his lips found hers again, this time for longer. Nymphadora did not seem to mind in the slightest. No, for now they would be content with their moderate affections and their playful banter. For now, that would be enough.
