Disclaimer: I'm not J.K.R and I don't own any of her characters and backgrounds… Wish I did though, I'm dying to know what happens in book seven!
Chapter 5 up! thanks again, as ever, you've been very supporting and helpful, this is so nice! Whoups, sorry about Sirius's eyes, Sloanepeterson09... I must have skipped the passage in the book about grey eyes. I 've always imagined him with dark blue, almost black eyes. I've made the mistake twice already, so I'm gonna let it this way now... but Remus has grey ones in this story, lol.
Zippi, thanks for what you wrote about the quotees and so on, that was very helpful. French dialogues are written the way I did in the first chapters, but I corrected it, and I'll try to put quotes from now on, unless I forget sometimes.
Santiva Potter and Phoenixtear19, thanks again for you support, you're wonderful!
Godricgal, I'm sorry I don't have time to send you chapters before posting it...again guys, apologies for the mistakes, I'll do my best not to make to many.
Hope you will not find this too boring, I don't like it that much as far as I'm concened, but I couldn't do better...There will be more of Remus's point of view in the story too later.Thanks again everyone!
There's a child sleeping near his twin
The pictures gone wild in a rush of wind...
Jeff Buckley, Dream Brother
Several meetings – where friendships begin
Ten days later, Tonks felt almost more at home at Grimmauld place than in her own flat. In spite of the dullness of the place, the dreadful picture of Mrs Black, the rude house-elf Kreatur, and that wretched umbrella stand she kept tripping over, there was so much to enjoy she couldn't help coming at least twice a week, even when there was no meeting forecast. First, she came to see Sirius. She still wondered how she had lived without such a funny person in the family…well, he wasn't funny in a conventional way. In fact, he was most of the time grumpy and sulky. But he had also high-valued qualities to Tonks's eyes; he was cynical, had a good amount of dark humour, and was undoubtedly a party guy. Both were delighted to find themselves a twin for all this, and they had already spent a couple of rather wild evenings, competing for who was the best Firewisky bottles-drier (undoubtedly, Sirius was…in spite of his twelve years without alcohol).
One Thursday evening, after a rather boring meeting (not many people had been there, Dumbledore included, and there wasn't much to say anyway), Tonks was yawning widely, stretching herself like a cat, and leaning against her chair. There were only a few people staying, Sirius, Remus and the Weasleys. Arthur was expected to come from work in a few minutes' time and Molly had sternly refused any help from the young witch (probably fearing another accident, like dropping the plates or something). The atmosphere was relaxed and calm, and Tonks felt in peace with the rest of the world. Feeling a bit drowsy, she looked distractedly around her. Molly was busy supervising the cooking, while the knives and cutlery were moving magically like a weird ballet; Sirius and Remus were chatting quietly, sipping wine and smiling. Then she heard steps in the corridor, and looking distractedly at the door to see who was coming in, her jaw dropped. Startled, she goggled at the nine persons who were entering the kitchen. Eight of them had the most vividly red hair. The only non red-headed person was a girl in her mid teens, with extremely bushy brown hair. Suddenly, Tonks recognized Arthur Weasley among the crowd. Remus and Sirius had stood up, smiling broadly. Two of the youngsters came to them, hands hold out. Tonks' amazement increased (if possible) when she looked at them: they were twins, obviously, looking exactly similar, from their freckled faces to their brown twinkling eyes. The same malicious grin appeared on their handsome faces when they greeted the two men.
"Sirius, nice to meet you at least, mate. "
"Erm…my pleasure", answered Sirius, looking a bit taken aback by their enthusiasm.
"I'm Fred, and this is George", continued the other twin. "We've heard a lot about you! We'll have a lot to discuss, illustrious mischief predecessor…"
Sirius let out a bark of laughter, looking flattered.
"Cheers, professor", said Fred (or was it George?), turning to Lupin. "We've been delighted to discover that the map was your work too…quite surprised, but delighted! "
Lupin chuckled.
"It's great to see you. I heard you haven't lost your old habits."
The twins grinned devilishly, while the other teenagers came to greet to two men with enthusiasm. Then Lupin turned to Tonks, still smiling.
"This is Tonks. She's working with the Order. Tonks is a very gifted Auror."
Tonks beamed at him, then waved enthusiastically at the eight young people who were looking at her with a slightly surprised expression on their faces.
"Wotcher everyone. So, you're all Weasleys, uh? Who's who then?"
"Hey, I'm Fred – and I'm single", said one of the twins, shaking her hand and winking.
" I'm Tonks- and I'm too old for you", retorted Tonks straight away. Everyone burst out laughing, including Fred.
"I tried", he grinned. "This is George".
" Nice to meet you guys…I remember you dimly actually…you were already troublemakers when I was about to leave school."
"It's good to meet a fan", said George ecstatically.
Tonks burst out laughing, and then turned to another Weasley. He was tall and thin, with a very handsome face, his red hair tied in a catogan, his green eyes sparkling warmly, a silver whoop with a snake fang in his left ear. His leather jacket and dragon-leather boots suited him very well. She recognized him at once.
"Jeez, Bill Weasley!" She roared with enthusiasm. Without even thinking further, she threw her arms around him and hugged him so tightly he actually let out a moan of pain.
"Damn, Tonks, you haven't changed", he muttered with a wide smile, looking at her and massaging his ribs. "Nice one, this evening", he added, glancing at her appreciatively. She had short, spiky, shiny black hair with flecks of bright purple in it, and purple eyes to match. Added to her usual patched, faded jeans and black Weird Sisters T-shirt, she wasn't surprised by the uncertain looks of the newcomers.
"Thanks", she said, grinning. "Haven't changed either…but who's the lucky, Bill?"
He looked thunderstruck and actually blushed slightly.
" Come on", she added."No one but a girl would make you wear that silver bracelet with the initials F.D. on it!"
Everybody in the room roared with laughter. The twins looked as if their birthday had arrived three months sooner than expected.
"Not an Auror for nothing, are you, Nymphadora?" Retorted Bill ironically, looking both amused and deeply embarrassed. The young witch shuddered at her first name, her mouth twisted.
"Ok, I deserved that, Weasley", she said in a threatening tone. "But if anyone says it again, I'll hex you guys", she added for the other, though the corners of her mouth twitched slightly. In fact, she felt euphoric to see Bill again, a good friend from Gryffindor, a year older than her. She also knew his brother Charlie, but according to what she'd been said, he had stayed in Rumania to recruit foreign persons.
"This is my son Ron", continued Mr Weasley.
A very tall, gangling boy with blue eyes, a long nose and freckled face smiled at her uneasily, shaking her hand with his large one. Then he moved aside to let the bushy haired – girl greet the young Auror.
"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."
"Wotcher ", smiled Tonks. She liked the girl's appearance. Apart from her bushy hair, she had a pretty face, enlightened by her large dark eyes, twinkling with intelligence. She looked calm and totally able to control herself- quite my opposite, thought Tonks.
"Good evening...Is it true that you're an Auror?" asked Hermione eagerly.
"Yep", confirmed the witch, smiling. "Only since last year, actually."
Hermione looked impressed. Then the last teenage girl came to face Tonks. She too had long, shiny red hair, and she looked very pretty, with her smooth skin and chestnut eyes. She smiled warmly and Tonks, who was at once delighted by her malicious energy and self confidence. She reminded her of Bill and the twins.
" Evening. I love your hair!"
"Cheers", said Tonks. "I really love yours too. Let me have a try…"
She screwed her face as if to remind herself something and immediately, her jetty hair turned bright red, growing exactly the same length as Ginny's. She smiled at the youngsters, who were all gaping at her with wide eyes.
"I'm a Metamorphmagus", explained Tonks. "I can change my appearance at will. Quite useful on duty."
" This is weird", whispered Ron, looking amazed, open-mouthed.
"Ron", interrupted Hermione reprovingly. Tonks bit her lips not to smile- she sounded so much like Mrs Weasley with her husband- "this is amazing, she said with admiration. Will you show us?"
" Sure", grinned Tonks. She liked all those youngsters. They would undoubtedly bring some more life in that gloomy house. She turned to look at Sirius and Remus, who were now greeting Ron and Hermione, obviously already knowing them quite well. Suddenly she met Remus's grey eyes and he smiled at her warmly, an earnest, kind smile which showed nothing but true happiness. She'd never seen him smile without the slightest trace of sadness in his expression. For some reason, that smile troubled her, but before she could linger on that sensation a bit more, Molly served dinner and they all sat to eat the huge meal she'd prepared.