Title: Best Wishes

Summary: Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor Mad-Eye Moody wake up and find themselves in an awkward and revealing 'position'. And that's not the worst part! Oh how in Merlin's name did this happen? Post-HbP

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Chapter 2: Adjustments

Tonks looked appaled at Mad-Eye's reaction. How dare he scold her when she didn't even know how she got into those clothes? And she bet he didn't know either. From the look on his face, she could tell that he was as lost and confused as she was.

"Mad-Eye! Do you even know where we are! And who are you to talk about my clothes when you don't even have yours on, Mr. Constant Vigilance!" She poked him hard on the chest.

Mad-Eye almost jumped off the bed when he looked down and realized that he was almost as naked as Tonks. And what was that? Had he forgotten to button his pants? He may be old, but he sure was not old enough to forget something as menial as that.

"What in the..." He mumbled to himself. He thought that seeing Tonks in her revealing womanly skivvies was already the biggest surprise of the morning. Either way, he wasted no time as he quickly pulled up the zipper of his pants and buttoned it. There was definitely no way of explaining their current scenario to anyone. Heck, he couldn't even explain it to himself. He couldn't even remember the last time he had ever been with a woman --- like this anyway.

He looked around the bed and felt the sheets with his hands. "Where's my shirt? My robes? My wand?"

"Exactly!" Tonks continued. "You don't know how we got here either, don't you?" She narrowed her eyes in curiosity. Still, she kept the soft satin sheet over her torso.

He looked at her, wide-eyed and clueless. As an experienced and seasoned auror, he had been through the toughest , most unbearable situations his job has had to offer him, but never had he been put in such an --- awkward 'position' before...Not even something remotely close to it. How improper it was to see Tonks like this and be seen by Tonks like this! Tonks, of all people!

"Mad-Eye!" She shouted again as he looked at her. She couldn't help but feel defensive in her scantily clad attire. And where was her wand?

She would think about her wand later. She held the sheets tighter against her, but then realized that Mad-Eye's magical eye could see through anything anyway. She rolled her eyes and let the smooth satin blanket fall limply on the bed. It was Moody after all...It wasn't like he was going to lust over her or anything. The old auror probably had no sense of amore left in that scarred and beaten body.

Mad-Eye looked at her in surprise when he saw her uncover herself. "What are you doing, Tonks? Have you've gone crazier than I?" He grabbed the blanket and pushed it against her. "Cover yourself up!"

Tonks grunted and pushed the blanket away. "It's not like it's going to make a difference anyway. That magical eye of yours can see through anything!" She pointed at his magical eye, which was now all white because the blue part had rolled into the back of its owner's head. Further proof that Moody would never use it to violate her.

"Only if I want it to, Tonks! You know that." Moody replied. His normal eye focused on her face, and only her face. He didn't want her to think that he would take the chance to stare at her body, especially now that she was sitting there, uncovered by the blanket and exposed for him to see. He was not that kind of man. He always knew his place.

"After all," Tonks continued. "I don't want to spend the rest of the morning wrapped in a sheet of blanket like a nun. That's no fun at all!" She stuck his tongue out at him. Then she looked down, and fingered through the decorative lace on her bra. "And this does look good on me, don't you think?" She looked at him, smiled, and winked.

Mad-Eye swallowed, and quickly glanced away from her. "Tonks! Do we even have time for that?" He growled angrily. This was definitely not the time for her to be playing games with him.

Tonks pouted. "Well I just wanted to know if you thought it looked good on me."

He kept his eyes away from her --- both of them, including his magical one. Though he had to admit, she did look incredibly beautiful and vivacious in that revealing lacy...Mad-Eye instantly closed his eye shut and shook the thought away. What in the world was he thinking? That was Tonks! Nymphadora Tonks! How could he think of her in such a manner? The hangover from last night's drinking was probably still messing with his head. Yeah, that had to be it. Blame it all on the liquor.

Mad-Eye swallowed nervously and exhaled. His mouth felt so dry. "So, what happened?" He asked, quite unsure if he should have asked that question. He rubbed his arm instinctively, feeling rather exposed in his current lack of shirt and robes. And it was rather chilly in the room.

"That's the point, Mad-Eye." Tonks replied. "I don't remember anything either." She noticed him looking away from her. "And what's with the sudden 'don't look at Tonks' rule?" She placed her hands on her waist and glared at him.

"Well..." He just couldn't find it in himself to look at her. Call him an old-fashioned gentleman, but he didn't find it ethical while she was dressed like that.

"Well what? Am I too hideous to look at right now?" She arched a brow at him.

"Oh, goodness no, Tonks!" He replied. Definitely not. He looked up at the ceiling this time.

"Then what's wrong?" She asked demandingly. "It's the outfit isn't it? It makes me look fat!"

Mad-Eye rubbed his arm faster. It sure was cold in that room. Or was it getting hotter? Or maybe it was just him. "Oh, no! No! You don't look fat! Not at all!" He shook his head from side to side vigorously, but still refused to look at her direction.

"Then what's wrong, you ol' bugger? You've suddenly developed an allergy for me?" Deep inside, Tonks giggled. She actually liked seeing Mad-Eye like this - all shy and aloof like never before. For the first time in her life, the older auror actually didn't seem like he had the answer to everything. And what was that? Was he blushing?

Mad-Eye looked at her from the corner of his ordinary eye and smirked. "You're enjoying this, aren't you, Tonks?" He growled.

"Oh yes, I am." She grinned from ear to ear and nodded her head. Then she sighed and looked at him firmly. "Look, I just don't want to talk to someone who's not going to look at me. If it's because of my current attire, then live with it! I kinda like it and I'm keeping it on as it is." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Moody pressed his lips in a tight line and finally looked at her in defeat. "Fine, then! Keep it on! But if I were you, I'd put another layer of clothing on it." When he laid his eyes on her, he realized that looking at her wasn't as uncomfortable or awkward as he thought it would be. After all, she was still Tonks, and he has seen far worse things in his lifetime. And God knows Tonks didn't look bad at all. In all honesty, she did quite please whatever remained of his natural visual senses. So he did like what he saw...What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh, loosen up, Mad-Eye!" She giggled and grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "If there's one thing you're not good at, it's having fun! Get some excitement into those bones of yours!"

"Tonks!" He blocked the pillow with an arm and set it aside on the bed. "Get a grip on yourself, woman! We don't even know where we are, how we got here, or whatever happened since - since last night!"

Tonks didn't look as panicky and worried as Mad-Eye now. She was fortunate enough to wake up first and get an earlier grip on their surprising situation.

"Oh, I know where we are. We're in the Crownsfield Hotel." She said casually, almost as if nothing was horribly wrong.

Mad-Eye suddenly grabbed her by her bare upper arms. His scarred palms pressed against her incredibly smooth skin. "Ha! Then you do remember how we got here! You remember!" He bellowed.

She looked at him in dismay. She didn't want to get his hopes down but... "Actually, no. I don't. I just saw the Hotel's label on the notepad over there." She pointed at the bedside table where the hotel's official notepad rested. "It seems that we checked in her last night, or this morning. I'm not really sure myself." She shrugged.

/ "Poor Mad-Eye. You've been thrust into something that's strange to you and you don't even know how you got here." / She did feel sorry for him. Mad-Eye Moody wasn't the kind of person who liked surprises. He preferred everything done his own way. The poor auror was probably at a loss at the moment. There was nothing in the room he recognized...Except for her, of course.

He soon realized where he was holding her and immediately pulled his hands back towards himself. He cleared his throat and uneasily rubbed his hands together. "Okay, then. So none of us remember what happened last night. Or rather, what happened after we had a drink at the Three Broomsticks."

"So you also remember us meeting at the Three Broomsticks then!" She said energetically.

"Of course I do!" He replied. He unintentionally glanced down at her body. / "Doesn't she feel cold in that outfit?" / He thought to himself. Seeing her like that made him want to grab the entire blanket and wrap it around her.

"And that means both of us do remember being at The Three Broomsticks!" Well at least the earlier part of last night wasn't a mystery. And it was a very good thing that they both remembered it.

"It seems like it." He said back.

Tonks breathed in and exhaled slowly. She had to appear as calm as she could for Moody's sake. The older auror was panicky enough as he was. "Okay...So last night, we agreed to meet at Hogsmeade for a little get-together." She narrated.

"Yes." He sounded sure about it. In fact, their meeting at Hogsmeade was the only thing he was sure about. "You knew I was passing by so you invited me to meet you at the Three Broomsticks for a little drink." A little drink that probably went too far...way, way too far.

"And so we met at the Three Broomsticks." She continued. "Then we talked for a bit, and we ordered some butterbeers..." She suddenly crinkled her eyebrows and looked at him curiously. "Or did we order that other newer liquor they were selling?" She smirked and nodded her head. "Actually, based on the utterly mind-numbing hangover I had this morning, we probably ordered that other liquor and drank more than we could handle." She winced as she recalled the hangover. "Remind me never to drink as much as we did last night ever again!" She groaned.

Mad-Eye nodded his head in agreement. "Okay. So we talked...Then we drank. And then we talked some more. Yeah, I remember...We were sitting by the bar. And then after that, after all the drinking and the talking and the laughing, we...we..." He staggered - and mumbled to himself, until he stopped completely. Then he looked at her looking puzzled and dumbfounded. "What did we do after that?"

Tonks raised her brows and bit her lower lip as she looked at him. "Yeah...What 'did' we do after that?"

"I asked you first, Tonks!" Mad-Eye growled. "Don't answer my question with another inquiry!" He looked as if he was about to explode.

Tonks leaned towards him and placed her hands on the bed, propping herself up on her hands and knees. "It's because I don't remember either!" She yelled back. She pressed her lips in a taught line and pulled herself back into a sitting position. "Look, in all honestly, Mad-Eye, the last thing I remember was us talking about stuff, and drinking. Goodness, I can't even remember the last thing we talked about!"

TBC...

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter :D!

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