A.N. This story is dedicated to BAGGE and Miranda Took, my only two faithful reviewers. I know that I should be working on my Revenge story, but I just got this idea that wouldn't give me peace, plus the fact that I didn't have time to write a new chapter. Those take more thinking and writing time because they are longer and more difficult. Anyway, here is the story.
Disclaimer: Do you really think that if I were the author of the Harry Potter books, I would write fan fiction?
Bad work day
It was a hot summer evening at the end of June. The air was still and you could see the clear sky. The small Square was deserted. Everyone had retreated in the coolness of their houses. The only sound that could be heard was some loud music that was coming out of the opened windows of one of the houses. A group of pigeons were eating breadcrumbs that had fallen on the hot pavement, when there was a loud pop and they flew immediately.
A young woman had appeared from thin air. She was tall and thin with a heart shaped head and short bright pink hair. She looked tired as she crossed the street. She stopped after a few meters and a big dark house started to materialize in front of her, growing larger and larger and pushing aside the other houses. She didn't look surprised at all. The house stopped growing and she knocked at the door. While waiting for a response she heard a loud bang. She quickly turned around with her wand raised only to see a stray cat running scared. Apparently it had knocked over a garbage bin. Just when she sighted in relief she heard a voice behind her.
"Tonks!" The woman jumped like burned and turned around breathing fast.
"Tonks, are you al right?" Asked a tall man with long dark hair and blue eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine. You just scared me." Said Tonks in a low voice.
The man continued to study her with a small frown. "Bad work day?" He finally asked.
"Yes. Look Sirius, I'd really appreciate if you let me in. It's deadly hot out here." She said smiling slightly.
"Oh, sorry." The man stepped aside and let her in. He closed the door behind her. They were left in darkness now.
"You don't mind if I don't light the room, but I really don't want her to wake up." The man said in a hushed voice.
"No problem."
"Give me your hand and I'll take you to the kitchen." Added the man. They slowly walked to the kitchen door when there was a loud bang followed by a cry of pain and loud woman's angry shouts.
"DIRTY HALF BREADS! HOW DARE YOU WALK INTO MY HOUSE! THIEVES, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!…"
The kitchen door opened, letting out a bit of light. In the doorway there was a young thin man with shabby clothes and short brown hair. He lighted his wand and smiled when he saw Sirius on the floor and Tonks over him.
"Stupid umbrella holder." The woman murmured to herself. She rolled of Sirius and stood up. She felt the beginning of a headache due to the shouts of Mrs. Black's painting. She lighted her wand and saw the other man struggling with the curtains from the painting. If possible, the woman was shouting even louder.
"GOOD FOR NOTHING FILTHS! BASTARDS!"
"SHUT UP!" Sirius yelled angrily as he tried to help the other man with the curtains.
"FAMILY TRAITOR! YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE! YOU…" they didn't hear the rest of the conversation because the two men managed to pull the curtains.
"Hi Remus." Tonks saluted with a tired voice.
"Hi." Said the Remus frowning at her. "Bad work day?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go into the kitchen." Sirius said with a note of anger.
"Sorry for waking her up." Tonks said in a low voice.
"It's nothing." Remus said smiling.
"Why do I have to be so clumsy?" Her voice was shaking and tears were forming in her eyes.
"Oh, please don't cry. What happened?" Remus asked her as he helped her sit on a chair in the dim lighted kitchen. He took out a handkerchief and offered it to her. Tonks took it and whipped her tears. Meantime Remus sat on a chair at the opposite side of he table and Sirius put a cattle with water on the fire. After this he sat on the chair next to Remus.
"You know that Dumbledore asked me to look for new information in the files of the known Death Eaters. He wanted me to see if there were things that he had missed." Tonks started. The two men nodded.
"You know that they keep them all in one room that is guarded by old Ian. Anyway, he has terribly poor eyesight and he often falls asleep during job. I went there pretending to check some old files about one of my cases. I was there for half an hour and had managed to find a file about Lucius Malfoy." She stopped for a moment as Sirius offered her a cup of tea with a bit of Firewisky. She took a sip and put the cup down.
"Scrimgeour must have some cat blood in his veins 'cause he surely moves like one. I wouldn't have known that he had entered the room if Ian hadn't wake up and saluted him. I managed to make the file disappear and luckily I had the files of my case too." She sighed deeply as took another sip from the cup.
"I swear he suspects something. You should have seen his face. He wasn't glad that Ian woke up and announced his presence."
"So?" Sirius asked.
"So! For God's sake, Sirius! He almost caught me!" She burst out.
"But he didn't." Sirius said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Tonks just looked at him and couldn't believe her ears. How could he be so calm about it.
"What did Scrimgeour say to you?" Remus asked.
"Nothing really. He just asked me about my case."
"You can go there once again." Sirius said gleefully.
"I can't." she aid bitterly.
"Why not? " The two men asked worried.
"Scrimgeour sacked poor Ivan. I heard my colleagues talk about it just before I left. He's been replaced by Edward Beeleaf." She finished miserably. They all felt silent. Edward Beeleaf was Scrimgeour's assistant and everyone from the Auror department hated and feared him. He would jump from where you expected least and would make reports against you for every irregularity like being late for work even if it was only for a minute, for not presenting report on time etc. And all these reports ended up with money penalties. His new appointment meant that they now didn't stand a chance in getting those files.
"This just means that you'll have to find a new way to get them." Sirius said mischievously, breaking the silence. His words made Tonks burst out for the second time.
"A new way! There is no other way! Grow up Sirius! This is not like in school when you tried new ways to trick McGonagall. This is the real world!"
"Thanks for telling me this." Sirius coldly.
"Sirius, I…"
The man stood up quickly knocking down his cup that felt on the dirty floor splashing its content and breaking. Sirius didn't seem to notice. "I'm going to feed Buckbeak" He said harshly storming out of the kitchen before he could be stopped.
Tonks put her face in her palms and started crying. Her bright pink hair turned into light brown and felt limply around her head. She heard the other chair move and shortly after she felt an arm around her shoulders.
"I didn't mean to say that." She said between sobs.
"I know that. He's just angry about being here again. He hates this place." Remus said kindly.
"Oh Remus, I do want to help the Order, I really do, but I don't want to lose my job. I worked to hard for it. It's what I love. I wanted to become an Auror for as long as I can remember. Hell, I even went against mum who didn't want to let me become one."
Remus took of his arm and gently pushed aside her palms and made her turn her face towards him and looked her in the eyes.
"Nobody is asking you to give up your job." She stood quiet for a moment before talking again in a low voice.
"I'm quitting."
"What?" Remus asked surprised.
"I'm quitting the Order." She said more determined. "I don't want to see Dumbledore's disappointed face when he finds out what happened."
"Dumbledore won't be disappointed. He will understand the situation." The man replied.
"But he told me to obtain the information and I failed." She continued stubbornly.
"He asked you to try to obtain it. He never said that you must do it. There is a difference. He would never want you to risk your job."
She looked into his eyes and realized that he had said all this from his heart. For the first time she noticed what beautiful brown eyes he had. She moved her eyes to study him more and realized that he was a beautiful man. Surely, he wouldn't do bad with a few more pounds and new clothes, but still he had something that most well dressed wizards missed. She didn't know what it was. Suddenly her heart started beating faster and faster as realization hit her.
He was just what she was looking for. Since school she had tried to find the perfect man and although she had dated different men, none of them made her heart beat like that. Without realizing, her hair became pink again and she had leaned towards him and just when her lips were about to touch the kitchen door opened. They both jumped like burned and turned to see a surprised looking Sirius.
"I…I'd better go now." Tonks said standing up briskly. Her cheeks were bright red.
"See you soon Remus."
She tried to pass Sirius but he stopped her. He had a strange look in his eyes.
"You're staying for dinner."
"Really, I must go now. I have work tomorrow." She said.
"Tomorrow is Saturday." He said grinning. She mentally smacked her for the lame excuse.
"I know, but I have to finish a report." She tried.
"Yeah, sure. Andromeda told me that you always finish your work on time." And he pushed her back. "You two start preparing something while I go in the cellar and bring a bottle of wine." Before anyone could object, he exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Tonks and Remus stared at each other for some moments.
"I…I'll make the salad." Remus finally said.
"I'll do some meatballs." Tonks said. They both started cooking speaking only when they asked each other for the salt or a knife. Each time they accidentally touched the others skin, they would blush. Half an hour had passed and Sirius hadn't returned.
"Err…Do you think we should do some smashed potatoes." Tonks asked sheepishly.
"Chips would be better." Remus answered. Remus started peeling off the potatoes and Tonks chopped them. After this they put them in the frying pan. They were both silent. When they finished, they put the food on the plates.
"I think I should go after Sirius." Remus said. Just then, the door opened letting in a joyful Sirius with a dusty bottle of wine.
"What took you so long." Remus asked.
"It took me a lot of time to choose the wine." He said mischievously.
They sat at the table and Sirius tried in vane a few times to make them speak. In the end he started telling stories about the Marauders' pranks. This worked because Remus started making comments about the stories and correct Sirius when he over exaggerated. Tonks listened to them fascinated although she had already heard the stories from her mother, but it was much more fun when the persons who participated at them told them. Slowly she felt more and more sleepy. She yawned and stopped Sirius just when he wanted to start another story.
"Sorry, Sirius but I should really go home. I'm tired and I need to sleep."
"Oh right…" He said sadly.
The woman stood up. "Night, Remus."
"Good night." The man answered back without looking in her eyes.
"I'll walk you at the door." Sirius said quickly and went ahead. They reached the front door and Sirius opened it. Tonks exited it but Srius stopped her once again.
"Do you like him?" He asked directly taking her by surprise.
"I..I more than like him." She said sheepishly. She had no idea what had made her say it to Sirius.
"Do you know that he's a werewolf?" He asked worried.
"Yes. It was all over the newspapers when he left Hogwarts. I don't care."
"Good, very good." Sirius said happily.
"What?" She asked confused.
"Well, I think you would to a great couple."
"Who, us?" She asked even more surprised.
"No, me and him. Of course you two."
"Oh, I don't know Sirius… He doesn't look to interested in me." She said sadly.
"But he is. I noticed the way he looked at you since he first saw you. He just doesn't know how to behave around women he likes."
"Are you sure?" Tonks asked unsure.
"Of course I am. Look, you must promise me that you won't listen to him when he'll start saying that he's not good enough for you, that you deserve someone younger and richer than him."
"How do you know that he'll say all that."
"I know him well. Just promise me that you won't let him push you away." There was a note of urgently in his voice.
"I promise."
"Good." He said grinning. "Night, then."
"Night." Said Tonks as she climbed down the stairs in the empty Square. The door closed behind her and she started jumping up and down from joy. She had finally found what she was looking for.
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A.N. I hope you liked my story and that you don't find it to fluffy. Please Review!
