Chapter Two is up! Enjoy. :)
Disclaimer (I forgot this in the previous chapter): I obviously do not own Remus, Tonks and all other HP characters, and I also do not own the lyrics of Mr Lonely by Akon. The song rocks!
Loony, loony Lupin, his brain's the size of a pin, his existence is a sin. Loony, loony Lupin. – a schoolmate of mine, who made this up sometime back.
Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces
--Judith Viorst
Despite the cold weather, both Tonks and Lupin were sweating and panting by the time they reached Grimmauld Place. They had lugged the egg all the way home, having been unable to Apparate along with it.
"So – darn – heavy." Lupin huffed as they dragged the egg into the house. He turned towards Tonks, who was closing the door as quietly as possible, so as not to awake Mrs. Black's portrait. "Thanks for getting me into all this, Tonks. Tell me, what am I going to do with this stupid thing?"
Tonks (now no longer in her old lady form) opened her eyes in mock horror. "Remus, I'm shocked! I thought you'd be delighted to get such a huge supply of free chocolate. I never imagined I'd see the day when you'll get frustrated with having too much chocolate."
Lupin rolled his eyes. "Very funny," he said sarcastically. He glanced around the house. "Now where I shall put this?"
"In Kreacher's den?" Tonks asked mischievously.
"I doubt it'd fit." Lupin said seriously. "Hmm. This won't do. I'll just put it in my room for the time being, I guess."
"But then it'll melt, won't it?" Tonks asked.
"I don't think so. The weather's freezing now," Lupin replied. "Anyway, I guess I can just put a Freezing charm on the egg if it gets too warm. Now help me get this upstairs!"
chocolate rules
Lupin and Tonks stood in Lupin's room. It was not a big room, but Lupin had always kept it neat and tidy. Now, though, the egg took up three-quarters of the space and there was not much space left to walk around anymore.
Tonks had never been in Lupin's room before. Now she looked around in interest. There was a small bed, a study desk and a bookshelf. The bookshelf was totally crammed with books.
"Jung, Shakespeare, The Chocolate War… hmm. Classics." Tonks read out the titles of some of the books on the shelf. "Adventures of Flora the Banana Cheese?"
"Oh, that," Lupin closed his eyes in embarrassment. "That was my favourite comic when I was little. I couldn't bear to throw it away, and, you know, it provides quite some laughter once in a while -- "
"It's my favourite comic!" Tonks exclaimed, turning to face Lupin, and he noticed that she was grinning broadly. "I can't believe you've got the whole collection! Could you lend me issue #56? I haven't read that yet."
"Ok," Lupin said, trying not to laugh as Tonks took out the issue and flipped through it eagerly. After a few minutes, when she remained engrossed in the comic, he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Huh? Oh sorry," she blushed a little. Lupin had to admit, despite his amusement, that she did looked quite sweet when she was all embarrassed.
Ok, no wandering thoughts here, Lupin told himself quickly. He was rather surprised at this sudden thought. He and Tonks had always been rather close, but it had only been normal friendship, and nothing more.
Hmmm.
"So," Tonks said. "What are you going to do about the egg?"
"I have no idea," Lupin sighed, shaking his head. "I guess I'm going to have to live on chocolate from now on."
He glanced at Tonks. There was a glint in her eye. "I have an idea, Remus!" she exclaimed, smiling suddenly. "Let me help you finish this egg!"
"You're planning to eat this with me?" Lupin laughed. "I doubt it'd make much difference, Tonks. We'll just become fat and stupid in about a week's time."
"Geez, we don't have to eat all of it, do we?" Tonks said. "We can do so many things with this egg! Think of all the possibilities! We can start an Egg Project!"
"Name some of your ideas, then," Lupin said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well," Tonks said cheerfully, "For starters, this egg going to save me spending anything for my mum this year…"
Forty-five minutes later…
The two were in the kitchen. They had brought about one-eighth of the egg downstairs with them. They had not seen Sirius yet; he was in another room, tending to Buckbeak.
"Wow, you're pretty good at this!" Lupin said, impressed, as Tonks held up a beautifully made chocolate house.
"I may be clumsy," Tonks said proudly, "But my hands are as deft as ever!"
"So you're going to give this to your Mum?" Lupin asked.
"Yep," Tonks said, nodding. She placed it aside carefully, then glanced at the remaining bit of chocolate on the table.
"I think I have an idea for this bunch," she said.
"What is it?" Lupin questioned, but before Tonks could reply, a mournful voice came drifting in from the hall.
"Lonely… I'm Mr. Lonely… I have nobody, to call my ownnn…"
The voice faded away slowly as the owner of it disappeared once more into Buckbeak's room.
"Sirius," Lupin sighed, a despondent look crossing his face. "He's getting worse, being cooped up here for so long. But I can't think of much to help him. Sometimes I just feel so terrible."
"Well, my idea had something to do about him," Tonks said, holding up the chocolate. "I've noticed how depressed he is too. It's not much, really, but if we try to do something special for him, I'm sure he'll feel better knowing someone knows how he feels."
Lupin looked at the huge slab of chocolate Tonks held, thinking. "We could mould it into one of those special things you're so good at, couldn't we?"
Tonks nodded, smiling slightly. Lupin held up his wand to perform the trick.
"Wait!" Tonks said quickly. Lupin glanced at her.
"I was going to make it shaped like a dog." He said.
"There's no sincerity if we simply use magic," she told him. "Let's try it the muggle way – the way I made the house just now – with our bare hands!"
"I don't know if it'll turn out any good…" Lupin said doubtfully.
"Trust me," Tonks said confidently, "It can't be too bad,"
chocolate rules
Tonks held up a huge dark chocolate dog. It looked just like Sirius's Animagi form. Lupin had to admit, Tonks was a natural at this sort of thing.
He glanced at his own handicraft. The dog looked slightly squashed, and it was rather out of shape, and the nose was rather too big…
But other than that, he decided, it was perfectly great. He had really put a lot of effort into it.
Sirius entered the kitchen just then. He looked miserable, his hair untidy and his face dirty. He seemed completely devoid of any energy. Lupin felt his own spirits plummet as he watched his best friend sit down next to them at the dining table.
"Hi, Sirius," Tonks said quietly. "How was your day?"
"Awful. Boring. The usual." Sirius said glumly. "I've been up there the whole day tending to Buckbeak. God, do you know I talk to him more than I talk to any other human being? It's just pathetic."
"Sirius, cheer up," Tonks put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Look. Remus and I made a little something for you!"
Both of them held out their chocolate dogs.
Sirius stared. "Chocolate dogs? Where did you get them from?" he picked up Lupin's. "A bit funny, this one."
"We made them ourselves," Lupin explained. "A little gift to cheer you up."
They watched a small smile flicker on Sirius's face as he picked up the dogs. "Are they supposed to be me?" he chuckled. He took a bite from one of them. "Hmm. Dark chocolate." He took another bite. "Wow. Now it tastes like white chocolate!" he looked up at them, smiling. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate this."
"Don't let all this cooped up thing get you down, Sirius," Tonks said gently. "It'll all be over soon enough. You've just got to bear with it for a while more before all those dunderheads out there realise you're innocent."
Sirius sighed. "I know that. And I'll try my best." He smiled at the two of them. "And I really appreciate this effort of yours. It's great, you guys!"
And as Lupin watch Sirius take another bite of the chocolate, he could not help thinking that maybe winning that egg wasn't so bad after all.
TBC
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