1 Okay, here's that second. I'm sorry. I'm bad at being mean and leaving people hanging on cliff hangers. I couldn't even do it with teachers that I hate. It's a thing that needs work. But here's the interesting story, with a little bit of talking and stuff . . . Hope you dig, but if you don't, no worries. Just don't go all mean and insulting like Joey did.
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Chris made Tonks' bed into a queen sized and sat on it, tucking her legs beneath her, while leaving Willow leaning on her bed, head propped up on hand and elbow underneath the hand. "So?" The Red head demanded. "Spill, C girl."
Chris raised an eyebrow at this and began. "This is gonna be long, so you might wanna get comfy," She said, and Willow snuggled down into her covers, head still on her hand. "All right. Well, I had myself 'born' into a wizarding family this time around. I could feel that this one was special. Lily and James Potter. They 'had' me just after they got out of school. I was about four when they had their son, Harry. I had an adult's awareness of what was going around me, and I could do everything at an adult level, though I chose to hide this from them. So when they were killed a year later, I knew it. I was slightly hidden from everyone because I was kind of...not planned. Only their closest friends and Dumbledore knew about me. When the house was destroyed, I went to Diagon Alley before the wizards could find me. I saw Mrs. Tonks holding hands with Nymphy here-" gesture to Tonks. "So I walked up to her and asked, 'do you know where my mommy and daddy are?' She asked their names and I said that they were Lilly and James Potter. She started crying a little and said that they were gone, but that I could come with her. So I did." She and Tonks looked at each other and laughed a little. "She told me to grab hands with Tonks, so we held hands while we walked through the alley, and I found out that she was seven. When we got to her place, I saw that it was a nice house. Two stories, two bedrooms, one bathroom, nice sized kitchen, a very nice place, all in all. She gave me a bath and some food, then put me in with Tonks. We grew up pretty much inseparable. We went to muggle grammar school until she was 11, but one that knew about witches and wizards. I stayed at the level that Tonks was at, wanting to stay with her. We were always like each other's comforter and confidante. Like, kids would tease one of us, and the other would stand up for the teased and chase off the teasers, then comfort the one who was hurt. Same when one got beat up or bullied."
"Of course, it was usually me getting picked on or what not, and Chris coming to my rescue," Tonks put in, making her friend blush. "She says that we would comfort each other, but she almost never got riled by anything. I would get upset at anything that people would say about me, her, or us, and she would end up standing up for me," Tonks smiled at how well she remembered after all that time.
"I'd get upset," Chris argued. "They said a lot about me to me when you weren't around to hear and get more upset. I just had a better hold on my emotions than you did. And then you were upset, so I didn't want you to get more so knowing that they got me upset."
"Oh," was all Tonks could say. "Um...I guess you can continue the story now," she added sheepishly.
"Gracias. Now, we would comfort in a kinda weird way. Well, first... we only had one bathroom, and we would always fight over it. We both wanted to shower first. So Tonks senior would always solve it. She made us shower together. So when one needed comforting or injury helping, we would do it like this. Very stealthy. Since Tonks said that I was always the comforter, I'll use one of those situations. Say Tonks got her ankle cut. I would sneak her home the back way, and come in the back door, where her mum never was near at that time of day. We'd go in, and I'd say, softly, 'we're home'. Then I'd carry Tonks upstairs and take care of her cut, cleaning and bandaging it neatly. After that, I'd hold her for a while, just let her cry into my shoulder or side, you know? Just let her let it out. Then her mum'd call us for dinner, so we'd go down, me supporting the little morpher. She'd ask us when we got home, and I'd answer that we got home a little late, which was true, and that we announced it, but she must not have heard, which was intended, but true. Then we'd eat, and Tonks and I would be in contact the whole time. My hand on hers under the table, legs wrapped around each other, that kind of thing."
"Which really wasn't that bad," Tonks added, grinning. "I rather enjoyed that part, the affection."
"Right. Well, after supper we would jump in the shower, and we'd go together, of course, since that was how we always showered. But through the shower we had poofy things that we used to wash, instead of using our hands. They hold the soap better and reach better than our hands do. So what would happen is that instead of going back to back, if she was hurt too badly, I'd go front to back, and support her so she wouldn't fall or lose her balance. And if she was really bad or just really upset, I'd end up washing her hair and letting the suds do her body. I wasn't about to wash her, but I wasn't going to let her hair be filthy, that would give the losers at school even more to tease her about. So we'd do that, then we'd get into the bathrobes that we had, and go to our room. You know, do homework, that stuff. Then we'd hit the lights and curl up in bed, and depending on how she was feeling, in pajamas, or just in the robes. And since we had a very small room, only one bed. But if Tonks was still sad, I'd put my arm out to her side of the bed and she'd rest her head on it, and roll over into me, I don't know why. Hey, why was that?" She directed this question at the pink haired and faced Tonks.
"Well, it was because you were always there, I knew I could rely on you, and that you wouldn't leave or hurt me like the others did," Tonks tried to explain. "And you were like my sister, showing sisterly affection. And you were always willing to comfort, not pulling away from me like I've seen you do with other people. Most other people."
"Right. And with that, so we would do the sleep thing and wake up the next morning with my arms around her shoulders and her curled into a little ball. When we got to Hogwarts, now that was different. I've been there a lot of times before, and they knew that it wouldn't be fair if I went through the classes because I aced them all after the 3rd time through. So I just kinda wander and sit in on classes. And I decided to stick with Tonks for a while, just see how she'd get on, you know? On her free periods I'd hang in my room with my special electricity spell and play guitar or something. Then I had a special room apart from the others, since I was technically graduated. So I had a set up where if Tonks started having a problem with her roomies, she could hang with me and spend the night, since I had a king-sized bed there. And we would do the same thing there as we did at home: I would hold her until she calmed down, even if that wasn't until she fell asleep. Then it happened... the part where we got closer than ever and Tara started coming into the picture a little. See, Tonks started hanging out with this girl, a Ravenclaw. Ravenclaws are..." Chris hesitated, thinking of the right way to phrase it. "The smart house. And most of the occupants are kind of stuck up, think they're better than the rest of the school. But this one was...oh, I forget her first name. Her last name was Boot. Oh, yeah. Crystal. Crystal Boot, that was her." She felt Tonks tense and flinch at the name, and put an arm around her waist from behind, comforting the other woman a little.
"So, Crystal is the aunt of a student here, actually. Terry Boot, Ravenclaw as well. So, Tonks and Boot started hanging out, going to the library together and sitting together in classes, stuff like that. You know? And one day, apparently, Crystal did a kind of questioning thing, asking Tonks if she would be all right with it if she were a lesbian and had a crush on her. But she did it differently...
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Library in the past...
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"Hey, Tonks?" Crystal asked hesitantly. She didn't know why she was doing this, but she felt that Tonks had to know. And somehow she knew that her friend would be all right with it.
"Yeah, Crystal?" Tonks asked, ignoring the fluttering in her stomach when she heard the voice of the girl next to her.
"What if I were to have a friend...hypothetically?" Crystal started, inwardly wincing at the old story lines, a sure sign that she was talking about herself. "Say her name is...Cris. And she has a friend...say, Tonya. And the two have only been friends a short time, but Cris has feelings for Tonya."
"What kind of feelings?" Tonks questioned. "Like, I love you as a friend feelings, or like, I love you as a potential significant other feelings?"
"Potential significant other. The thing is, the two are both girls, and Cris isn't even sure if Tonk...ah, Tonya, feels the same way, or if she just feels like friendly." She started crying a little,
"I think that Cris had better tell Tonya, because I think that Tonya has had the same feelings for Cris for a long time, and was just as afraid to admit is as Cris was." Tonks leaned over to the chair next to her and wiped away the tears gathering on her friend's cheeks. "Of course, this is all hypothetical." Tonks and Crystal grinned.
Crystal got up the courage. "Tonks, I love you, and as more than just a friend," she blurted out in a rush, then prepared to be let down.
Tonks just smiled softly and said, "I love you, too. I was just afraid that you would want to stop being my friend if I told you."
"Really? That's why I didn't say..."
"This is a library! If you're going to talk, then get out!" the librarian hissed at them. They looked at each other and, grabbing their books, left the library.
"Come on," Tonks said, taking Crystal by the hand and pulling her. "I know a room that's a secret, so no one will overhear our conversation and spread it about." She felt bad, betraying Chris' trust when she had told her about the Room of Requirement in strict confidence. But she really needed to hear this out.
"Okay." Tonks led them to the room and performed the ritual to get into the room, thinking, 'I need a quiet and private place to talk.' When they went in they found a couch and a fireplace. They sat on the couch and looked awkward with one another. Tonks sighed and restarted the conversation.
"So, you really like me?"
"Yeah, Tonks. I do. And more than a friend should." Crystal decided to get it over with, just confess. "I've felt this way for a while, but I've just been afraid to say that I love you in case the feeling wasn't mutual."
"Goof ball. I feel the exact same way. And I was afraid that we wouldn't be friends any more. I wasn't willing to lose you as a friend. I mean, I don't have a lot of friends. All of the gryff girls are jealous because I can change my appearance at will. They have to do some sort of magic. I thought maybe you had that against me, and if I had told you I love you and you didn't love me, then you would desert me and I'd only have Chris again." Tonks breathed and looked over for Crystal's reaction.
"You thought I'd desert you? I'd never do that, love," the Raven said. Tonks grinned, and Crystal gave a questioning look.
"You called me love. No one's ever called me love," Tonks said, and only broadened her grin when Crystal started apologising. "Chill. I like it, Boot. It's nice to feel like someone not related loves me." She leaned towards Crystal, and curved her lips in a smile when she heard the other girl's breath catch a little.
They weren't sure who made the first move, only that somehow they were kissing. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was intense and sweet. They pulled back and gave a simultaneous "wow!" They giggled a little, then leaned into each other. After that, Tonks spent all of her time with Crystal and stopped spending time with Chris.
Chris started spending her time away from Tonks, letting her have her space. She was allowed to do anything and had access to every place in the castle, including the common rooms. This was how she met Tara.
She was lazing around the Ravenclaw common room, laying on the couch, when it happened. The couches are large and comfortable, and she was concealed by the entire thing. She was laying there with her eyes closed, not sleeping, just lazing. Tara came in, but Chris wasn't paying attention to anything, so she didn't hear it. And she didn't notice that Tara had come over to the couch she was on, at least not until Tara sat on her.
"Woah! What's you problem? You can't watch where you're going or something?" Chris yelled, shocked. She wasn't mad, she just wasn't expecting a person to sit on her.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry. I d-didn't mean it. I d-didn't s-see you." The blonde stuttered, hiding behind a veil of hair. She wasn't fast enough, and Chris noticed the tracks of tears going down the girl's face.
"Hey, what's wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry. It's just that I'm not used to having girls come in and randomly sit on me. Especially pretty girls," Chris grinned, trying to get the blonde to smile. It had the opposite effect, making the girl more flustered and upset.
"Hey! I s-said that I was sorry. I d-didn't mean to make you m-mad. B-b-but you don't have to make fun of me. I kn-know that I'm n-not pretty, ev-everyone says so," The girl started crying again.
"Hey, no worries. You didn't make me mad. I really was just surprised. And I'm not making fun of you, you really are pretty." Chris was confused.
"No I'm not! Even my f-f-father and b-b-brother say so," Tara sobbed.
Chris noticed that she stuttered badly over the words 'father' and 'brother', and raised an eyebrow to it, but made not a comment. Instead she put a hand on the other girl's arm and said, "Hey. I'm Chris Tonks. Well, really Chris Potter, but there's a long and boring sob story to go with that which would have you crying like a newborn babe." She held out the hand that wasn't all ready on the girl's arm.
"T-Tara McClay." she took Chris' hand. "Are you in R-Ravenclaw? I've n-never seen you around here b-before."
"Another long and boring story. But basically I'm a student that doesn't have to take classes because of a reason I don't want to talk about right now. I can attend if I want to, but I don't feel like it. So really I have free run of the castle, within reason. I have all of the passwords. I'm kind of like a teacher, but without the pay and the work," Chris grinned at the stuttered version of this, liking this Tara, but not sure if she could trust her with the real story of hers yet. She never even told Tonks who she really was. There was no way she was going to tell Tara yet. The last time she had done it...well, it's best not to think of that right now. "So what year are you in, Tara?"
"My 4th year."
"Really? I've never seen you in the classes before. I hang around with my fourth year adopted sister, Tonks. Really I'm two years younger, but like I said, it doesn't matter since I don't take classes. And Dumbledore knows it. In fact, he decreed it in case any teachers coughSnapecough try to give me any trouble. Tonks is in Gryffindor house, so I have a private dorm room just outside of that common room. Want to go there so that you can get cleaned up with no more interruptions?" Chris smiled, realising that she was babbling. There was something about this girl that just got her.
"Tonks? Y-you mean N-nymphadora? Sh-she's going out with my roommate, C-cr-crystal."
"Yeah! Hey, if she's your roommate, you know about her, right?" Tara nodded. "Can you tell me about her? Like, is she reliable? Is she gonna break Tonks' heart? Can she be trusted?" Chris got excited. She didn't like Crystal, there was a bad vibe that came off of her.
"Well, I don't know her that well. She's more out going than I am, and she has the other girls that are in our dorm to talk to and stuff. And she's usually the one to make fun of me first when something's not right. She seems like the kind that would turn on even the most loyal people to her. But I may be a little bit biased because she's always picking on me."
"I'm sorry that I'm jumping on you like this, but I don't want Tonks to get hurt. She's my sister, and what effects her effects me. Even now. She's happy with her smart, stuck up girlfriend, and I'm stuck wandering the halls miserable because she won't spend time with me anymore. Could you do me a favour?"
"That depends on what it is," Tara said, slightly suspicious of what it was.
"Just keep your ears open when Crystal's around. I would do it, but she knows that I'm Tonks' sister, and she wouldn't say anything that she was going to do in front of me."
"Okay. I can do that. I mean, I can try to hear if she's going to do something," Tara smiled, and Chris smiled back.
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"So it went on like that for a while, about half the school year. And it all started in September of the fourth year. Tonks and Crystal were friends from the previous year," Chris said. "Tara and I got really close in the four or five months that Tonks was wrapped up in her girl toy." Then, like I said, about four or five months in..."
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Chris' Room near Gryffindor Tower
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Tara rushed up to Chris, slightly out of breath. "Hey, Tara. What's up?" Chris grinned, happy to see her friend. The grin went away when she saw the look on Tara's face and the fact that she had run all the way to see her. "What's wrong, Tara?"
"Chris! Finally, I've b-been looking all over for you," Tara gasped, getting her breath back. Chris frowned at that. Tara never stuttered around her anymore, she hadn't for two months.
"What's wrong? And why did you wait until now to tell me? It's way past curfew."
"I know. But I heard Crystal talking to one of the others. She said that she was leading Avery Knott down to her secret room, whatever that means, and that she was sure that she would be done before Tonks gets there. That didn't sound too good, and it was a few hours ago. Was Tonks meeting her in that room tonight?"
"Wow. I think that's the most I ever heard you say. Sorry, yeah, Tonks actually talked to me for once, asked me to cover for her if a teacher came looking, because she'd be out all night, starting about half an hour ago. Woah, you don't think Boot is cheating on my sister, do you?"
"I think she is. She's been sneaking out, and then a few minutes later Tonks will come over to the girls in our dorm asking where Crystal went. Then she walks away, disappointed."
"Tara, we have to get to that room and stop my sister from getting hurt," Chris said, standing up.
"How? We don't know what room they were talking about, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, in this castle," Tara said, a little upset at what her room mate was doing.
"I know what room they were talking about," Chris said grimly. "I just can't believe that Tonks took her girlfriend there after I told her never to reveal its location. It's called the Room of Requirement. It's a few levels down, and there's a secret to get into it. It's secret is that it becomes what you want or need the most when you do what you need to to get into it. So you could get a training room, a magic proof room, a room that can use electricity, or a room with a cozy fire and a nice bit bed with fluffy pillows. And in that room, you can make it so that the headmaster doesn't know what's going on in it." Chris explained, getting her shoes on to go out to the room. "Are you going to come, Tara? I may need someone to keep me from killing Crystal if she's already hurt Tonks."
"I'll come with you, if you can keep me out of trouble in case of getting caught," Tara said, not wanting to get in trouble, but wanting to be there for her friend.
"But of course, mademoiselle. Now come on, let's go!" With that they raced down the staircases to the Room, and stopped outside. Chris listened carefully, nervous about what was in there. She heard gentle crying, and slowly opened the door, just in case her sister was in the heat of passion. What she and Tara saw was Tonks, sitting on a big, comfy couch, crying quietly. Chris ran over to her right away.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's the matter, Tonks?" Chris asked, although she thought she already knew the answer.
"C-Crystal..." Tonks started, trying to control herself.
"Did you catch her in here with someone?" Chris asked, shocking Tonks out of her tears.
"You knew? How did you know?" Tonks was amazed. Maybe her sister could read minds, after all!
"Tara came to tell me that she overheard Boot talking about meeting Knott in the room, and that she figured that she'd be out before you got there. She ran all over the castle to find me and tell me before it was too late, but avoiding the patrollers made that difficult. She got to me about five minutes ago," Chris explained, putting her arm around her sister's shoulders and letting her lean into her.
"Tara? Who's Tara?" Tonks asked, not caring, just wanting there to not be silence.
"I-I'm Tara," Tara started to stutter around a new person. "I-I'm C-Crystal's r-r-roommate. She n-never l-liked me, a-and w-wouldn't talk about me, n-not to s-someone that sh-she liked o-or pretended to l-like, a-anyway." Tara silently cursed at herself for stuttering. It sounded like she had a mental problem.
"So you told Chris?" Tara nodded. "Thank you, so much. I need her right now, maybe more than ever. But I was afraid to go out into the halls like this. If Peeves saw me..." she shivered. Then smiled a little and held out an arm to Tara, inviting her into an embrace. "Thank you," she whispered as Tara went into it and returned it. "You got the person that I need the most. And you risked a lot trying to get to Chris to tell her what my sister was planning. That's really sweet."
"I wasn't about to let you get hurt if I could help it. Or if it happened, then I couldn't let someone go through that alone." Tara smiled, glad that she was relaxing enough to stop stuttering. She leaned into the embrace without realising it. Tonks did and grinned a little, despite herself. She rested her chin on top of Tara's head.
Chris noticed as well. She smirked and said, "Hey, McClay! She just broke up with her girlfriend. Do you really want to be considered rebound?" Tara knew that she was teasing, but still moved away and out of the hug.
"Oy! That wasn't very nice, sis. Maybe I was drawing comfort from that, did you think of that?" Tonks was mad that Chris had stopped her from getting closer to the blonde.
"Tonks, if you start in on a relationship now, everyone is just going to think that it's a rebound, with no sticking power whatsoever. Wait a while, get to know her, then start hitting on her. No offence, Tara," Tara smiled and shook her head a little, meaning she understood. "I just don't want the school hurting you two worse."
"That is sweet Chris. And you're right, as much as I hate to admit it," Tara grinned a little.
"Plus, it'll look bad if they think you're cheating on Crystal," Chris said, getting a mischievous look in her eye. Tonks had a question in her eye, and was about to protest that the opposite was true, when Chris interrupted. "I made the room make her forget that she got caught. Tomorrow you can expose her, and do it painfully and embarrassingly for her, but right now she thinks that she had a great time with Knott, then a great time with you right after. She thinks that it was a close call, but like I said, has no idea what really happened. After you expose her, you can go to Tara."
"Chris! You're brilliant! That would teach her not to cheat on me," Tonks said. Tara frowned, and Tonks noticed. "What's wrong, Tara?"
"I didn't peg you as the type that went looking for revenge, Tonks. That's all," Tara said, disappointed.
"I'm not, but-" Tonks tried, but couldn't find the words to explain, so Chris took over.
"But... Tara, I have a connection with my sister. Any thing that she sees, I can see if I want to. As soon as you told me I tuned into her sight, and saw what happened. When she found your roommate and Knott, they were in a... compromising position." Chris was trying to be vague to spare Tonks' feelings, but Tara didn't get it.
"Compromising as in...?"
"As in neither was wearing anything, and there were...body parts shared. They were going at each others bodies like a pair of animals...it was just that old, basic instinct. When they got caught, there was more than one part of him in her body, and I'm not talking about his tongue in her mouth...although that was one of them," Chris was blushing by this time. Usually she would just say what had been happening, but she didn't want Tonks to get more upset or Tara to lose more of her innocence than she had just listening to that. Luckily, Tara got the gist of what happened and just nodded. "That hurts worse than anything. If it ever happened to anyone, even the nicest person, they wouldn't just shrug it off. They'd do something to expose the cheater."
"I get it. I do. I can see why you would want to expose her. Does Knott still know what happened?"
"He wasn't aware that Tonks had even come in, he was so caught up in the...er, passion. He has a clue that something happened, he just doesn't know what."
"Okay. I don't like it, but I guess you have to Tonks. And I understand. Just know that...whatever, you know, happens? I'll be here for you(New Moon Rising, kinda sorta.)" Tara smiled at Tonks and gave her a hug from the side, then got up. "Uh, Chris?" Chris looked up. "Can I stay in your rooms tonight? I don't think I can go to my room and not kill Crystal, especially since she thinks she got away with it. Not only that, but she thinks she got laid twice."
"Um, I think Tonks is staying in as well, but I have another guest room if you don't mind staying by yourself. See, we have a thing where when one of us gets hurt the other does the comforting thing." Tonks nodded and snuggled into her sister's side.
"I can stay in a room by myself."
"There are two beds in there. If you want a bigger bed, then just push them together and say 'join'. They form...um, I think it's either a queen or king sized bed. And if you want a different kind of bed, just say the style. Like 'hammock', or 'water'."
"Okay, thanks. But how are we going to get there? I mean, won't we get caught?"
"Well, I won't get in trouble. But if you're worried, we can use my teleporting to do it."
"I thought you couldn't apparate on Hogwarts grounds?" Tara started getting confused.
"It's teleporting. Different from apparating. All of your body parts are shifted to another dimension for a few seconds when teleporting. When apparating, your body is split into millions of parts and moved somewhere else. That's how people splinch themselves," Chris explained, reaching for Tara's hand. Tara gave it to her and closed her eyes while they left the room and opened them wen she felt solid ground under her feet.
She opened her eyes to light laughter, as Chris and Tonks doubled over seeing her scared of traveling that way. "So?" Tonks asked. "What did you think?"
"It was like my mind was part of a higher plane for a few moments. What happens, exactly?"
Well, the particles in your body are shifted to the higher plane, or I guess you call it heaven. We move at a faster pace there, where literally in the form we were in, you think where you want to go, and you're there. Only someone with total mind control can do it right. Then the particles are shifted back to our plane when you reach the destination," Tonks explained, while Chris blushed at the part about mind control. Tara looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"And how can you move in the plane, Chris? I mean, no offence, but you always seem pretty scatterbrained, always thinking about music or something," Tara quickly saved herself, while Tonks giggled and nodded.
"I have had many years to perfect it. Like I said when we met, it isn't a story for now. Not even Tonks knows how I can do these things. Only Dumbledore," Chris grinned, liking the looks she got from the others once she revealed she was hiding something.
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Next Day
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"Hey, Tonks. What's up, baby?" Crystal asked the next day at breakfast. She had seen Tonks come in without talking to her and then leave, and wanted to know what it was about. 'She can't know what happened. There is no way. I would know if she knew,' the Ravenclaw thought, putting faith in her Ravenclaw-ly intelligence.
"Oh. Hey, Crys," Tonks replied. She didn't like acting like nothing had happened while concealing that she knew. She felt deceitful.
"What's wrong, babe?" Crystal asked, putting her arms around Tonks from behind. She had not a clue, and wouldn't until Tonks told her and activated a spell that would make her remember. Just before she left the room of requirement, she required that Crystal remember everything after Tonks confronted her.
Tonks tensed a little, not enough to be noticed. She sighed inwardly and thought, 'it's now or never. I have to do it now, but make it look good and embarrass her in the process. She'd do the same to me, after all.' Tonks smiled and spun around in Crystal's arms like she normally would, leaning in for a kiss. Before she actually kissed her, she whispered, "What's wrong is that my girlfriend cheats on me with guys." With that, she broke the other girl's hold on her and faced her angrily, her hair turning a fiery red to match her temper.
As Crystal's memory came back to her, her mouth opened and closed rapidly, giving her the appearance of a fish. "Oh, God. Tonks, I'm so sorry, baby..." She reached for Tonks, but the girl stayed just out of reach.
"Don't touch me! And don't call me that! I'm not your baby any more, and I never will be! You cheated on me. Not only that, but you cheated on me with a guy! I thought you were better than that! And just to make it even worse, you took him to the room that I told you never to tell anyone about! I hope you two are happy, and I hope he can learn to love a non-trustworthy cheater! You two really deserve each other!" All of this was screamed, and by the time the students got out into the hall, Tonks was reduced to tears while Crystal had tears of her own leaking out of her eyes.
Tara was in the crowd that had gathered as soon as Crystal had grabbed Tonks around the waist. More often than not, she wished that she was Crystal, just so that she could hold the hot gryffindor. Now she watched sympathetically as Tonks broke her own heart and the heart of her cheating girl friend screaming at her for doing what she did. Tara saw that she was ready to leave and knew she was going to Chris' room, so she slipped out a few minutes before Tonks left and went up to the room, where she found Chris shaking and pale.
"What's wrong?" The blonde asked, putting her arm around the other girl.
"I can feel Tonks' pain, Tara." Chris sobbed. "It's nearly killing her, but she knows that she has to do it. But God," heavy sob here. "She's in so much pain. Tara, she still loves Crystal. It's going to take a while for her to heal from this one. But..." Chris hesitated slightly. "She has a feeling deep down, one she doesn't know about. Tara, she has feelings for you, and I know that you have feelings for her as well. Tara, will you be there for her while she heals, then after? I'll be there, sure, but I'm not girlfriend material for her. I'm her sister, no matter adopted or not."
"How did you know that I love her?" Tara asked. Then, remembering the request, added, "I'll be there for her for as long as she needs me. But she'll have to deal with my family if she ends up getting too close to me, and they're...well..." Tara trailed off, thinking about her father, who was abusive and used to having his own way. Then her mind drifted to Donny, her brother, who just went along with their father to get love from the older man. She shuddered involuntarily, and found an arm around her shoulders.
"I know about your family, Tara," Chris said gently. Tara opened her mouth, and Chris put a finger over the lips to silence them. "I managed to get your male relatives to stop beating on you for about a week, don't you remember?" Tara shook her head. "Ah, I guess you wouldn't. It was this summer, and I showed up as a girl about Donny's age. Blonde, about his height. What you didn't know was that I made a deal. As long as I was Donny's girl friend, they wouldn't touch you."
"That was you? But you didn't show that you knew me," Tara said, shocked that she knew the girl that gave her temporary relief. Then she blushed as she remembered the sounds that came from the room every night that week.
"Yeah, I had to go to extremes with your brother on order to get them to not hit you or abuse you at all. They said that the only way they wouldn't do anything to you was if I acted like we were two crazy lovers. I didn't like it, but I didn't like what they were doing to you more. I'm sorry it didn't last longer, but your brother was just too nasty to stay with for even that short length of time."
"It's okay. I was grateful for that short time, anyway. It was nice. I actually got homework done without an injury for being a freak." They both laughed a little, and the tension was broken.
"Hey, Tonks is almost here. Ready to comfort?" Chris asked, making it sound like a joke while being serious. Tara nodded and went over to sit on the couch while Chris wandered around, looking for a book to read.
Tonks burst into the room looking upset. "Tara? I saw you in the crowd. You heard the whole thing, didn't you?" She started crying a little bit, upset by the whole day.
"I saw a part of it, but left before you really started yelling. I've been her for a while now," the blonde was honest with Tonks.
"So was I too mean? I mean, what I said was hurting me, but I couldn't tell if it had the same effect on both of us, or if I was the only one that cared," Tonks' voice was bitter.
Tara noticed and put her arms around the Gryffindor, smiling a little as Tonks leaned into her. "It looked like she was upset, but it may have been because she knew she had gotten caught," Tara offered gently. Tara felt her heart break as Tonks sobbed into her shoulder at the thought that Crystal only cared about her reputation, and not her girlfriend.
At this point Chris had found a book and retreated to a corner of the room where she wouldn't be noticed and tried to calm down, knowing that she had to be the strong one that night when Tonks stayed over like she probably would. If they were both upset, there would be no one to do the comforting. And as long as Tonks had such strong feelings about this, she would project them, though not on purpose. By doing that, Chris could feel the pain it caused and it upset her that Tonks got so hurt. They all sat around for a while and just did nothing, Chris read and Tara comforted Tonks. After a while, Tonks fell asleep on Tara's shoulder.
"Hey, Chris?" Tara said softly, realising that she didn't know where her friend was.
"What's up?" Chris said from the corner chair.
"Oh. There you are. Can I stay here for a while? I mean, it would be hard to go back to Crystal and her group of cronies," Tara said. "I might throttle them by accident." Chris grinned and nodded.
"I have to warn you that it's pretty rare that Tonks spends the night, though," Chris said playfully. Tara gently took a swipe at her. They giggled a little. Tonks woke up and asked what was up. "We're just talking. So how long are you staying this time, sis?" Chris asked in a teasing voice.
"Only a night. The others in my dorm said that they would kill Crystal or her friends if they tried to hurt me. I think I got them on my side by announcing that she cheated on me." All three laughed.
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"So some time went by," Chris told Willow. "Tara ended up moving in with me permanently, with the headmaster's permission, of course. She couldn't stand being in the same room with that girl..." Tonks shuddered a little, and Chris put an arm around her and pulled her close. "Tonks and Tara started spending a lot of time together, and eventually ended up as a couple, and graduated as a couple. But then a few weeks after they graduated, Tonks wanted to get into the Ministry, and they were 17 and living together. Tara was afraid of the Ministry, afraid of what they would do to her if they found out about the 'demon blood' in her. You know what I'm talking about, Will." Willow nodded and winced at the memory of Spike punching her girl. "They stayed together for about a year, then things got strained and Tara applied to UC Sunnydale, where she got accepted. She broke things off with Tonks, and then Tonks was pretty busted up. Around then she stopped seeing me as a sister, but more as a pretty young woman her age that she was attracted to. But by then I had gotten involved with the Scoobies, and didn't want to commit. Plus, I make it a point not to get attached to anything that can die. Makes it that much more painful when they die," Chris said this all in a light voice, like it was no real big deal, but you could see the hurt in her eyes as she said it, like it was killing her to say it without getting upset.
Tonks saw this and put her arms around the person sharing her bed, snuggling up and smiling when the embrace was returned. Willow watched in fascination as the two cuddled, comforting each other. It was amazing to her that two people could read each other without any words. She and Tara were kind of like that, but they still spoke and made sure that what they thought was wrong was really wrong. She watched as they just hugged and realised that Tonks was a lesbian. Otherwise, why would she have dated two girls?
Tonks got a thought and looked up at Chris, grinning. "What do you mean you won't let anyone close? What about this new chick, Rena?" Tonks asked. "You seem to be willing to let her in."
"Maybe. I don't know. I would be more willing to let someone who didn't find out about me by accident in than someone who just overheard me talking to someone," she glared at Tonks, remembering how she was eavesdropping on her phone conversation with her twin brother, Chrois, the god of darkness. That was the only time she'd been really angry at Tonks.
"Hey, what about Doug, your boyfriend? Aren't you, like, cheating on him by dating this Aussie girl?" Tonks had met Doug once or twice, and he was nice. A little weird, but she couldn't really talk.
"Tonks? Doug and I broke up a week ago when he complained that I wasn't spending enough time with him. He accused me of not caring about him, and when I said that I did care, that I just had important things to do for my job, he accused me of cheating and broke it off." Tonks noticed again that Chris was upset and held her again, while Willow watched amazed at the closeness of the two.
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. I know that you cared about him a lot. But if he was that insecure and came to those conclusions, then he wasn't worth it." Tonks tried to comfort Chris, knowing how much it hurt. "But it sounds like you got over him and found someone great in Rena. Maybe you just need a change in gender for a while?" Chris grinned in spite of herself and slapped Tonks lightly on the back of the head.
"Are you saying that guys aren't great?" Chris pretended to be horrified.
"Well, didn't you just lose a guy and gain a girl?"
"Well... I'm letting this one go, Tonks. But next time you may not be so lucky!" It took Willow a minute to realise that they were kidding around with each other.
"So that's what happened in school?" Willow asked, speaking for the first time in a while. "That's why you two are so close? Just by the chance that Chris saw Tonks and her mom in an alley and decided that they were primo family material?" Both girls nodded. "That's pretty cool."
Both of the others were a little shocked, since they had nearly forgotten that Willow was there. Tonks suddenly panicked, realising that Willow now knew that she was a lesbian. Chris felt her tense up and used telepathy to talk to her. 'What's wrong, Tonks?'
'I really like Willow, and now she knows I'm a lesbian and may not want to be with or near me at all.' She frowned as she heard Chris chuckle in her mind. 'I fail to see the humour in this situation, Chris. Just what do you find amusing about it?'
'Sorry, babe. It's just that... how do you think Willow knew Tara? I'm telling you right now, if they had been just friends, Willow wouldn't have tried to end the world.'
'Wait...Will's a lesbian also? So I was being all careful around her for nothing?' She heard a distinct giggle in her head. 'You suck for not mentioning this before!'
'I wanted you to figure it out on your own, but you were taking too long,' Chris replied. 'Can you forgive me?' she thought, nuzzling deeper into Tonks' hair.
'Well...okay. I'm letting this one go, but next time you might not be so lucky!' Tonks teased, after pretending that she had to think about it for a second. Willow watched, not knowing what was going on, but aware all the same that something was going on between the two. Her eyes widened as she saw Tonks lean up slightly and kiss Chris in a pretty passionate way, not just a sisterly way. Unless sisters started using tongue in that way without her knowing it. 'Wow. Tonks is a lesbian too. I wonder why she didn't tell me,' Willow thought to herself. Chris picked up the thought and grinned, a bit wickedly.
"I think I'm gonna go now. I promised Rena that I'd go back over to her place after I finished the secret business that I was handling."
"You had secret business?" Willow asked, worried. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have taken less of your time." Willow didn't like the thought that she had taken time from a secret project of Chris'. It could have been something to end the next war or something.
"Will? This was the secret business," Chris explained. "I can't tell Rena that I'm going to a secret school for Witchcraft and Wizardry to tell the story of a friend and another friend to yet another friend. She'd think I didn't think she was important or something. Anyway, I gotta go. Why don't you two... I dunno. Talk or get to really know each other," With a wink and a wave, she teleported out of the room and into hers, where she had a mental tab on the other two, waiting for them to admit their feelings. 'It may take a while,' she thought. But I can multi task while I'm chillin with Ren.'
Tonks and Willow looked at each other, realising that Chris had left Tonks' bed as a queen sized.
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hope you liked it! Man, that was hard to write. I had it all planned out in my head, then when I went to write it, it flew away like a little birdie. So I got it back, and it all went really slowly.
If anyone cares, this was fun to write, but kind of weird. Sorry this is soooo late. I wanted to get it up before the summer ended, but then I got into a deep depression over the volleyball team and it was pretty sad for a while. I probably would have had everyone go loco and kill everyone else! And I swear, I didn't mean for it to be 18 pages long. Again, it just kinda...you know, happened.
Thanks to any reviews I may get, and people who might have me listed, please review? Don't make me get down on mangled, ruined knees to beg. Cuz I will. And hey, Chicklepea? No worries, it takes a while to finish my fics. It's cuz I have too many ideas and don't know where to stop.
Peace and love
Chris