Whew! That was a pretty long break from this story x.x! But the newest chappie is up now :D! WOOT! Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed chapter 2 :D! You guys and gals are the ones who keep this story fueled ;)! And I'm delighted that you find it very enjoyable :D!
Chapter 3: Surprise!
Mad-Eye grunted and crossed his arms over his bare chest. He then remembered he was still half-dressed. Either way, getting his shirt on, or looking for any of the apparels he had on last night, wherever they were now, was definitely the last thing he had in mind at the moment. There were obviously more important matters at hand...Like how they got there, why they don't remember a thing, and if, based on their current scenario, something happened between him and...
He quickly shook the horrid thought away. Between him and Tonks? No. Never. Not in a million years! They were a pair, alright, but not in THAT sense. Merlin, he wanted to hit himself over the head and lock himself in that cursed chest for a day for even thinking that about him and Tonks.
Moody eventually noticed Tonks looking at him, more of like watching him, really, with those twinkling green eyes of hers. She arched a brow as she stared at the elder auror, waiting for him to say something...After all, he was the "wiser" one, or so he wanted to think he was.
He cleared his throat and nervously licked his lips. "Well then, it looks we really do not remember anything that occurred last night. But we do remember meeting at the Three Broomsticks...So that at least explains why we're –" He once again noticed Tonks' current state of undress, and swallowed. "- together...right now." His last words trailed off, and he quickly looked away before Tonks could notice the uneasiness in his face.
He grumbled under his breath. Oh why wouldn't the lass just put some clothes on? For all he knew, she probably enjoyed seeing him like that...The mighty auror, the legendary Mad-Eye Moody, scared and nervous at the sight of a woman in her skivvies.
After a brief moment of silence, Tonks smirked. "You know what I think, Mad-Eye?" She asked in a cocky manner.
He looked at her. "What?" Okay...He was going to bite.
The smirk on Tonks' lips slowly turned into a sly grin. She narrowed her eyes, and slowly started to crawl towards Moody on her hands and knees, her svelte figure making her look like a cat. "I think..."
Moody's normal eye immediately widened in surprise, and his magical eye zipped and rolled to the back of his head. What was she up to now? Was she still drunk? He definitely didn't like that look in her eyes and the smile on her face. She almost looked as if she was going to eat him alive.
When Tonks was less than a foot away from him on the bed, she moved her face close to his, and Moody leaned back in an effort to put more space between them. Tonks purred. "I think..." She continued. Then she grabbed the loose neck tie around Moody's neck and spoke at the top of her voice. "...We got bloody drunk! " She then burst out laughing and let herself fall on the bed beside the dumbfounded auror.
"Oh wow! I can't remember the last time I got that drunk! Whoo!" She howled and kicked her feet up in the air. "I can't believe I still got it! I bet we partied all night long! Well, I'm not sure if you did, but I know I did! Too bad we don't remember a thing. That kinda' sucks." Nevertheless, she sighed in satisfaction. Then she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at her disgruntled companion.
Moody, on the other hand, didn't seem to like what was happening. "You think this is funny? You find this --- all of this, humorous?" He wanted to knock some sense into that pink head of hers. "For goodness' sake, lass, we're not even sure if that truly is the reason why we don't remember a thing! For all we know, you and I have been abducted by Voldemort and ---"
Tonks raised a brow at him. "And what? He locked us inside an oh-so-horrendous five-star hotel with a great view, and he tortured us by dressing us up in clothes that I don't mind wearing at all?" She said matter-of-factly. "Yes, Mad-Eye! I'm sure he-who-must-not-be-named orchestrated all of this. Oh my god, I'm so scared out of my wits. What will he do next?" The sarcasm was practically oozing out of her. "Seriously, Moody, we got drunk...drunk out of our minds that our brains now seem all foggy and dazed. Trust me, I've been here before. Been there, done that, as they say." She chuckled. "I just didn't expect to be there again, with you, of all people." She playfully punched him on the arm.
Moody glared at her. "I know exactly how you feel." He sounded droll and irritated.
"What? You don't find this fun? Adventurous?" Tonks asked.
"Tonks, look around! This --- All of this...It's --- Insane! Crazy! Mad!"
Tonks rolled her eyes. "You're one to talk, Mad-Eye!" She teased.
Moody grumbled. "Well, just in case you still haven't realized it yet, and let me repeat the obvious --- that we just woke up beside each other, in the middle of nowhere, with none of our clothes on and none of our wands in sight! In Merlin's name, even I can't believe you were able to make me play along with this! You even got me drunk! Me! Drunk! And you know what drinking does to ya! It dumbs down your senses and lets Dark Wizards sneak up on your poor soul!" He was obviously giving her a lecture. "And after everything that's happened for the past few months, I think the last thing we need right now are two drunk members of the Order wandering around the streets at night like dumb mindless twits. If there's one thing I believe in, it's ---"
"Constant vigilance! I know!" She sighed under her breath. "Goodness, Mad-Eye, you are such a bore! It's not like you woke up missing your good leg and your normal eye. We're fine, okay? Not a scratch on us as you can see. So just stop worrying and relax. Stop being too vigilant for a change." Tonks grabbed one of the pillows and was about to hit Mad-Eye with it.
But Moody grabbed the pillow and pulled it off her grasp. "Okay. Enough games. We're getting out of here and trace our steps back to Hogsmeade. Hopefully, we'll be able to put everything together on the way there."
He stood up from the bed and studied the clothes on the floor. He was right. None of the clothes were the ones he remembered they had on last night when they met up at Hogsmeade.
Tonks grunted and sat up on the bed. She pulled her knees close to her chest and looked at him with a begging pair of green eyes. "Do we really have to go? Like now? I've never really checked-in to a Hotel before. Can't we stay until noon?"
"No." Moody answered. "We're going back to Hogsmeade." He bent down and picked something up from the floor.
Tonks stuck her tongue out at him.
"I saw that." He said.
"Stupid magical eye." Tonks grumbled and her hair turned fiery red.
"Here. Put this on." Moody tossed a shirt at her. It was a pink lady's tanktop. "It's most probably yours. I found it here on the floor with the rest of what seems to be – the clothes we had on when we got here." He continued to look through the clothes, kicking them aside as he went through them.
Tonks caught the pink tanktop and held it front of her. "Yeap. This sure does look like what I'd wear on a party night." Then she held it close to her and arched a brow at Moody. "Unless of course if you were playing Mr. Dress-Up. Who knows what you're like when you're drunk." She giggled and covered her lips with the little piece of pink clothing as she did.
MadEye just glared at her and said in the sternest voice he could him up with..."No." Then he exhaled and waved a hand at her. "Just put that thing on and we'll be on our way. The sooner we're back in Hogsmeade, the better. Then we can just forget any of this ever happened!"
Tonks grunted and pouted and pounded the cushion with her fists. "There's no ounce of fun left in you, Alastor Moody!" She yelled, sounding like a bratty little child.
Moody picked up a white dress shirt from the floor and placed it on the bed. It was probably what he had on top. "I was locked in my blasted trunk for a year, Tonks! Things like that tend to take the fun out of ye! So don't go telling me I've turned into a fun-less old Auror until you've been through what I've been through!" He pulled his pants up snuggly, and tightened the belt around his waist.
"Hmph! That still doesn't explain anything!" She said back. "You know what? If you wanna' go, then go! Me, I'm staying here for the rest of the day! I deserve to be here, and that's that."
"No, Tonks! You're coming with me, back to Hogsmeade, back to Hogwarts, back to wherever we should be right now, and that's final!" He growled at her.
"No!" Tonks yelled back and threw her pink tanktop at him. Then she grabbed a pillow and placed it over her head as she hastily laid back down in bed.
MadEye caught it in mid-air and looked at her pleadingly. He knew Tonks was stubborn. He just didn't expect her to be that stubborn. Thank Merlin he didn't have a daughter, or any children for that matter, for he seriously would not know how to handle them.
"For goodness sake, Tonks. Get up and let's get going." His voice was softer this time, more requesting than demanding. He was practically begging her.
She pulled the pillow off her face and leaned up enough to make eye contact with him. "You want me off the bed?" She chuckled. "Then you get me off the bed." She winked at him, and pulled the pillow over her head again.
Moody sighed and looked up at the ceiling. His strong, broad shoulders drooped down in defeat. Tonks was really pushing him to his limits today. Unfortunately, he had to play along. It was the only way to get Tonks out of there and back into their normal lives.
"You asked for it, Nymphadora!" He spat out her first name firmly.
And so, MadEye Moody, legendary Auror, now had no choice but to play along with a stubborn young woman. He limped towards the Tonks, with pink tanktop in one hand, ready to dress her, grab her, and go, even if he had to do it in any which order necessary.
"You know I am going to get back at you for what you've made me go through today, Tonks." He said, warning her in a singsong manner. "You've truly made this morning bloody memorable."
When he was finally standing beside her side of the bed, he looked at the still form of Tonks with her pillow still held over her head, and her body still dressed in those lacy undergarments.
"Time to get up, lass. Enough is enough." He dictated.
He forcefully and swiftly pulled the pillow off Tonks' face, revealing her smiling visage at him. Her cheeks were red and flushed and her hair had turned hot pink. "Why hello there, MadEye!" She greeted him, almost sarcastically, and gave him a tight little wave.
Moody held up the tanktop. "You're putting this on...now!"
Tonks suddenly sat-up and looked at him all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. "You'll have to catch me first!" And quickly scurried off to the other side of the bed.
"Tonks!" MadEye yelled and wasted no time as he lunged at her.
Being the svelte, physically articulate woman that she was, Tonks was able to slip away from MadEye's arms, laughing out loud as she did. It sure was fun to torment him like that. After all, she was doing him a favor. The old coot needed a surge of fun in his life and this was the right place and the right time to give it to him.
"Come back here, woman!" MadEye growled as he crawled on the bed after her.
Unfortunately for Tonks, she was too focused on taunting the older Auror, that she had not noticed how close she was to the edge of the bed. In her last attempt to scuttle forward, she found herself on nothing but thin air, and rolled down on the carpeted floor with a yelp and a soft thud.
Alastor Moody immediately saw an opportunity to overpower the agile Tonks and quickly followed her to the other side of the bed on the floor. Tonks laughed and tried to stand up, but Moody quick wrapped his arms around her bare waist and tackled her back down on the carpet. She tried to struggle, but he quickly positioned his heavy frame on top of her, pinning her from the waist down.
When Tonks saw the position she was in, she smiled a tired smile and limply let herself lay down on the floor. "Okay, I give up. You win." She said, panting and breathing in between words. Her chest and shoulders rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath. Then she looked up at him and grinned. "Now wasn't that fun? Seriously, wasn't it? Talk about a sugar-rush! Whooo!"
Moody raised a brow and held the tanktop before her again. "Now would you please, for the last time? You're really starting to become the adolescent daughter I never had."
"Fine, fine, I'll go put it on and we'll get out of here." She sighed. She snatched the tanktop from his hand and realized that she was still pinned by him from the waist down. "Wow" She thought to herself. She never knew he could be that physically aggressive. She remembered how he had grabbed her by the waist, and tackled her down to the floor with the strength like that of an unleashed dragon. Ha. Perhaps it was a good thing they had "misplaced" their wands after all. Magic always seemed like the easy way out. No wonder Muggles' lives were always so – complicated and exciting.
"Uh, MadEye?" She asked.
"What!" He snapped back.
"I would...Really appreciate it if you get off me. It's not that I mind, of course...But it is rather hard to move with over two hundred fifty pounds of Auror on top of me." She raised her eyebrows and gave him an awkward grin.
MadEye looked down and his normal eye widened with shock at the sight below him. There was Tonks, pinned underneath his waist, dressed in her revealing lingerie, and on the floor between his legs. That was not good. Not good at all. If he could die right now, he would.
"Oh. My apologies." He whimpered. Then he swallowed, cleared his throat, and silently stood up.
Before Moody could get back on his feet and clear his hazy head, he suddenly felt Tonks' hand wrap around his left wrist and pull him back down, sending him falling onto the carpet beside her. The force of her pull was almost enough to pull his hand off his forearm, or his arm off his shoulder. She must have had a pretty damn good reason for wanting him back down there.
"Tonks! What now? Couldn't you at least have given me a second to breathe and pull myself together? All this crawlin' and scurryin's startin' to make my legs ache."
Much to his surprise, Tonks didn't answer back. She just sat there, staring at MadEye's left hand. He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what in the world she was staring at. It was his hand. So what? It was not like she had never seen it before. Then his face grew pale when he noticed what she was really staring at. And when she brought her left hand up and placed it beside his left hand, his stomach churned in that queasy uncomfortable way and he wanted to throw up.
The two stared at each other in shock. Then they gasped and quickly pulled their hands back towards themselves, as if they had suddenly touched something hot.
MadEye shook his head from side to side in denial. "No." He whispered hastily. This could not be! This was sick! It was demented! It was unimaginable.
"This can NOT be happening!" Shouted Tonks. "Yeah...Maybe this is all just a dream and – and in a few minutes, we'll wake up and find ourselves drunk up to our necks in some gutter in Hogsmeade. Yeah, that's got to be it. Because this...This is really fucked up!"
MadEye nodded his head in agreement. "I – I agree. This is all just a dream. One sick and horrible dream."
They looked at their hands again, and found the golden rings still wrapped around their left hands' ring finger. They breathed in, and looked at each other again.
"Just to check..." Tonks continued. "These aren't what I think they are, right?"
x x x x x
TO BE CONTINUED ;)