Parties and Pranks
Chapter 36
Tuesday, December 3
"So, you're leaving?"
"Yes," said Catherine as she sipped her warm butterbeer amidst the lazy afternoon crowd in the Three Broomsticks. "Robards says there's not going to be any more need of us trainees stationed here. Personally, I think the Minister is not interested in having Dumbledore followed anymore. What would have caused him to change that opinion, you reckon?"
Oh, Tonks had a very good idea what, or rather who, had happened - Harry. But she played nonchalant as she answered, "No idea. It'll be boring around here without you, though. Dawlish and Savage have no sense of humour."
"Proudfoot is nice," said Catherine.
"Maybe. When he's not hitting on me."
"He's a good-looking bloke. I'm surprised you're not interested."
"Come off it!" said Tonks, scoffing. "I have better taste in men than him."
"He's practically Prince Charming!" exclaimed Catherine. "Either you're secretly into very bad boys or you already have someone else in your life."
Tonks felt her cheeks flushing, but judging by the lack of comments about any change of colour in her hair, her hair definitely was still the same mousy brown. Even though she missed the fact that she couldn't properly change her hair colour ever since he left her, she was very glad about that fact at the moment.
But apparently Tonks had underestimated Catherine's ability to read people, as her eyes widened slightly. "There is someone else, isn't there?"
"No," said Tonks quickly, hating herself for lying. Catherine didn't seem to buy it, though, as she looked back questioningly.
Tonks relented with a sigh. "It's complicated."
Catherine looked back at her seriously. "Well, if you ever need a listener, feel free to come to me."
Tonks felt a rush of gratitude for the younger woman and a smile spread across her face. She had enjoyed Catherine's company immensely and was sad now that she had to leave. "Thanks, Cathy. I'll be sorry to see you go."
"We'll still see each other at Order meetings though."
"Yes, thank goodness," said Tonks, laughing.
After Cathy had left, Proudfoot had dropped in to the Three Broomsticks and informed Tonks that their shifts would become longer once again with the departure of Catherine and Matthews. Her shift would start late that night, so she decided to drop in at Sirius' for some company much earlier than usual.
However, she was in for a shock. Sitting beside Sirius, looking paler and thinner than ever, was Remus.
She could do nothing but stare as Sirius said something and left the house. Her mind was buzzing and there was a ringing in her ears. When had Remus come back? Why hadn't he or Sirius told her?
The door shut loudly in the silence and Remus looked at her before saying tentatively, "Hello."
"Wo—", she had to stop herself from replying in greeting; she didn't know how to feel about this. Remus was back, a tad ill-looking but safe, and she was equal parts overjoyed and confused and angry.
Remus, however, took her lack of response negatively and his expression darkened. Tonks didn't want him to look that way. Where was that kind, sarcastic, and funny man she had grown to love in the space of a year?
"When did you come back?" she said slowly, turning to look at the crackling fire, breaking the growing silence.
"Yesterday."
She nodded, quite unable to tell what was on her mind. Why had he broken up with her? Where did they stand now?
Her frantic thoughts were cut off as a hoarse voice interrupted, "I'm sorry."
Tonks looked up instinctively at his eyes. He looked genuinely apologetic, but no, that wasn't enough.
"For what?" asked Tonks as she crossed her arms over herself, and he fidgeted nervously, now unable to meet her eyes for some reason.
"For everything. For what I did to you," he said.
Tonks frowned as she said slowly, "I don't understand. Are you saying you're sorry that you broke up with me or you're sorry that we went into a relationship?"
"I'm sorry that I had a hand in messing up your life and I'm very sorry that I broke up with you,—" Tonks couldn't help but notice how he choked on the words 'broke up'. "—but, and I hate myself for saying this, I am not sorry that we went into a relationship even though it wasn't meant to last in the first place."
Tonks could feel that she was either hyperventilating or anxious… or was she angry?
"Why?" she blurted out. "Why should we stop? Give me one good reason why we should stop being together. And don't tell me that you being a werewolf is a good enough reason!" she added just as Remus opened his mouth to speak.
"Alright," conceded Remus, but his tone was slightly louder. Tonks could already make out that there was a full-on rant coming. "You won't hear me out if I say I'm a werewolf, which is enough of a reason if you ask me, but there are plenty of reasons why this cannot work out! You're young and beautiful and successful. You don't deserve to waste away your life with someone who is old, poor and jobless. There could be hundreds of others who would be a better match for you!"
"Yes," nodded Tonks, frowning. "Like Proudfoot at work, who is an all-round decent bloke, unless you count the fact that he's a complete snob and looks down on muggleborns! Or Greg from the Department, who is an arse and thinks he knows what I want better than I do!"
Remus visibly flinched, and Tonks hoped he got the insinuation that she was making as she said furiously, "You can't tell me who I'm allowed to love, Remus John Lupin!"
Remus looked up sharply at Tonks, mouth agape looking like a fish out of water. After a few tense seconds of silence, he ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I haven't a clue what you see in me. If we get together, what do I bring into this relationship?"
Tonks felt incredibly angry at the entire wizarding world in general for their stupid stigma against werewolves, which no doubt was the main cause for Remus' low self-worth.
"You give me happiness, you are the order to my chaos and I love you," she said and found herself smiling despite herself.
Remus' eyes were as wide as saucers, but Tonks found the strength to go on. "I love you, Remus, and I don't mind in the slightest that you're a werewolf or that you're not making enough money, which is in no way your fault. You're a great man, Remus, and it shows in the way you treat your friends and your enemies."
Remus sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Dora, I—you don't understand. My kind just don't reproduce. There is a reason you do not settle down once you are a werewolf. If we were to have a baby, I cannot and will not put a child through that much pain from their infancy, which would likely kill them. It's quite impossible to have that future if you want to be with me. And I love you so much, Dora. I don't want to deprive you of that!"
Tonks' heart skipped and her face broke into a huge grin. "You do love me?"
"Yes, I do!" said Remus forcefully and Tonks was sure even he could hear her heart beating so loudly with those sharp ears. "That's why I want you to think about this, Dora!"
Tonks took two long strides forward and pressed her lips to his, savouring the feeling of comfort and familiarity that she associated only with Remus. His hands wound around her back and hips instinctively as he deepened the kiss. When they finally pulled back, gasping for air like they had been drowning, with their foreheads pressed together, Tonks whispered, "I've had four months to think about this. And my answer is the same. I'll be brave enough for anything as long as it's only with you, Remus."
Tonks was startled as tears glistened in Remus' eyes and he whispered, "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but God, I love you so much," before he kissed her gently on the lips. She was so taken by the affectionate gesture that she blushed, shy and slightly embarrassed. And after four long months, her hair was bright bubblegum pink again.
oOo
Sunday, December 15
Winter had arrived and the castle had been decorated with its usual festive flair.
Though the talk about Harry and Parvati had lessened after a week, since they rarely met after that weird kiss, Harry had found that the buzz surrounding Slughorn's party was gearing up again as the day neared. After one too many tripping jinxes and curses that resulted in acne aimed at an unsuspecting Parvati in the corridors, Harry was forced to put his foot down in front of Romilda and her friends, before he hurried off behind Parvati to the hospital wing.
Harry had to repeatedly keep apologizing to Parvati for putting her through this, but she took it like a good sport.
"I feel very flattered by all that jealousy," she said dryly as she inspected her now smooth skin in the mirror that Madam Pomfrey had provided. She sighed dramatically, "The perils of being your pretend-girlfriend! I'd hate to see what would happen to the real one."
"I'm still so sorry! I'm never asking anyone out as long as I'm in Hogwarts ever again," said Harry glumly, as he took her back to the common room, Parvati's voice ringing with laughter.
Hermione came up to Parvati to check on her and Harry noticed Ron and Lavender wrapped up in each other again, a few yards away. Hermione had taken to ignoring Ron and spending her time with Ginny and Neville. This had left Harry in a very awkward position of meeting up with either of them only separately. Hermione was stubborn to reiterate that she couldn't be bothered with who or what Ron kissed, but Harry could tell that there was more going on than she let on. Ron, however, had gotten more carefree and had even laughed when Harry told him about some girls stalking him, which would have been cause for jealousy otherwise. Harry liked this new, confident Ron, but he hated the divide it was creating between the three of them. Grimacing, he turned to the conversation in front of him.
Parvati was asking, "You're coming to the party tonight too, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm meeting Cormac at eight, and we're —"
There was a noise like a plunger being withdrawn from a blocked sink, and Ron surfaced. Hermione acted as though she had not seen or heard anything.
"— we're going up to the party together."
"Cormac?" said Parvati. "Cormac McLaggen, you mean?"
"That's right," said Hermione sweetly. "The one who almost–" She put a great deal of emphasis on the word. "—became Gryffindor Keeper."
"Are you going out with him, then?" asked Parvati.
"Oh - yes - didn't you know?" said Hermione, with a most un-Hermione-ish giggle.
"No!" said Parvati, looking wide-eyed at this piece of gossip. "Wow, you like your Quidditch players, don't you? First Krum, then McLaggen."
"I like really good Quidditch players," Hermione corrected her, still smiling. "Well, see you… Got to go and get ready for the party…"
She left. At once, Lavender and Parvati put their heads together to discuss this new development. Ron looked strangely blank and said nothing. Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge.
When he arrived in the entrance of their common room at eight o'clock that night in his new dark blue robes, he found an unusually large number of girls lurking around the common room, all of whom seemed to be staring at him equal parts admiring and resentful, as Parvati approached him. She was wearing a set of peach coloured robes with glitter around the neckline. Her glossy, dark hair was pulled up in a high ponytail with sapphire studs on her ears. She looked beautiful of course, and Harry unwittingly found himself taking note of how much she had changed since their last disastrous date.
Harry smiled. "You look good."
"You're not so bad yourself," smirked Parvati as she slipped her hand into his.
Harry led her out of the portrait hole and away from the onlookers as she asked, "Where is this party?"
"In Slughorn's office," said Harry. "Did you hear, there's supposed to be a vampire coming?"
Parvati gasped, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh, dear! Is it safe having one loose among us?"
"Make sure to stay away from people who are deathly pale and you'll be good," said Harry and Parvati chuckled, albeit a little forced.
They were approaching Slughorn's office and the sounds of laughter, music and conversation were growing louder with every step they took. Slughorn's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study, probably using magic in some way. Almost as soon as Harry and Parvati had entered, Slughorn boomed, "Harry, m'boy! Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!"
Slughorn led Harry purposefully into the party; Harry seized Parvati's hand and dragged her along with him.
"Harry, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires — and, of course, his friend Sanguini."
Worple grabbed Harry's hand and shook it enthusiastically; the vampire Sanguini, who was tall and emaciated with dark shadows under his eyes, merely nodded. Parvati recoiled in fright, but a gaggle of girls was standing close to him, looking curious and excited.
Parvati whispered, "I'll be by the drinks table," before she hurried off.
oOo
"My dear boy, the gold you could make, you have no idea —"
"I'm definitely not interested," said Harry firmly to the man who was suggesting he wanted to write Harry's biography, "and I've just seen a friend of mine, sorry."
He had indeed just seen Hermione disappear between what looked like two members of the Weird Sisters.
"Hermione! Hermione!"
"Harry! There you are, thank goodness! Where's Parvati?"
"She's gone for a drink. What's happened to you?" asked Harry, for Hermione looked distinctly dishevelled, her bushy hair slightly tousled and her hairclip lopsided.
"Oh, I've just escaped — I mean, I've just left Cormac," she said. "Under the mistletoe," she added in explanation, as Harry continued to look questioningly at her.
"Serves you right for coming with him," he told her severely.
"I thought he'd annoy Ron most," said Hermione dispassionately. "I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole —"
"You considered Smith?" said Harry, revolted and the two of them made their way over to the other side of the room, scooping up goblets of mead on the way, and they ran into Neville and Luna.
Luna was dressed in spangled silver robes, looking quite nice along with Neville, who looked relieved to see familiar faces. "Harry! Hermione! Quite a party, eh?"
Harry hoped he was being sarcastic because it definitely was anything but. Just as they were getting round to talking with him properly, Luna said politely to a passing Trelawney, "Hello."
Neville gave an exasperated look before he followed Luna, and Harry turned to Hermione.
"Let's get something straight. Are you planning to tell Ron that you interfered at Keeper tryouts?"
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Do you really think I'd stoop that low?"
Harry looked at her shrewdly. "Hermione, if you can ask out McLaggen —"
"There's a difference," said Hermione with dignity. "I've got no plans to tell Ron anything about what might, or might not, have happened at Keeper tryouts."
"Good," said Harry fervently. "Because he'll just fall apart again, and we'll lose the next match —"
"Quidditch!" said Hermione angrily. "Is that all boys care about? Cormac hasn't asked me one single question about myself, no, I've just been treated to 'A Hundred Great Saves Made by Cormac McLaggen' nonstop ever since — oh no, here he comes!" She moved so fast; one moment she was there, the next, she had squeezed between two guffawing witches and vanished.
"Seen Hermione?" asked McLaggen, forcing his way through the throng a minute later.
"No, sorry," said Harry and he hurried away to escape conversing with him. Parvati had joined Luna and Neville, who were talking with Trelawney and Harry was in no mood to have his death predicted at the moment, so he went up to the table with the hors d'oeuvres.
Ginny was picking up a pastry, looking so breathtakingly beautiful in her red robes that Harry had stopped to stare. She looked different, more lady-like and Harry had to shake himself out of his reverie, before he went up to the table. She looked up as he approached and a warm sensation filled him as she stared at him a little longer than necessary.
"Like what you see?" Harry mentally berated himself. It had slipped out of him before he could stop himself and he blamed Sirius entirely for having introduced him to that stupid pickup line.
But it was nearly worth it as Ginny blushed as bright as her hair and straightened, making a show of looking him up and down with a smirk. "Definitely better than fourth year."
Before Harry could process that Ginny was actually flirting back, she asked, "Where's Parvati gotten off to?"
Harry sipped his mead as he leaned against the table and gestured with the goblet in Parvati's direction. Ginny followed his gaze and grimaced. "I wouldn't want to be there too, if I were you."
"Ginny, there you are! Care for a dance?" came the sudden voice of Dean and Harry's mood instantly dipped.
Dean led her away and Ginny looked back at Harry. "See you around, Harry!"
Harry felt like cursing under his breath at the lost opportunity as he walked forward unthinkingly to Parvati, belatedly remembering who she was talking with. "Harry Potter!" said Professor Trelawney in deep, vibrant tones as soon as she had seen him.
"Oh, hello," said Harry unenthusiastically.
Before he knew it, Harry's group was joined by Slughorn and to his horror, Snape. They were interrupted by the untimely and unwelcome appearance of an ill-looking Draco Malfoy who had apparently been trying to gatecrash. Snape whisked Draco away, promising punishment and in a split-second decision Harry followed them.
oOo
Harry's mind was still reeling with what he had heard Malfoy and Snape talk about. Malfoy had almost up and confessed that he was working for Voldemort. All he wanted to do now was to talk to Sirius as soon as possible. But he had a date waiting for him, so he went back to the party, distractedly.
McLaggen came up to him and furiously demanded where Hermione was. Harry presumed she had already left but did not say that to McLaggen, instead playing clueless, hoping he would bugger off before Harry hexed him out of sheer irritation.
There were couples dancing to the music in the centre of the room, one of them was Neville with Luna and a red blur waltzed past them, which made Harry immediately forget about Malfoy or McLaggen. Ginny was dancing with Dean, not a care in the world. Frustrated, he grabbed a goblet of Firewhiskey that one of the house-elves was carrying and took a large gulp.
It lived up to its name alright. It was spicy and his throat burned, but it was a good kind of pain, so he drank from it again to wash off his bitter mood, nearly emptying it.
Parvati came up to him as soon as he had spotted her, finishing a dance with a seventh year Ravenclaw boy that Harry had seen sometimes.
"You owe me a dance," she said as she brought two goblets of Firewhiskey for both of them. He had already had lots of mead and should definitely stop, but he looked around Parvati to see Ginny swaying along with Dean and decided he couldn't care.
Harry looked at Parvati before saying, "I'll apologize now for how ghastly it's going to be."
Parvati laughed. "That's what the Firewhiskey is for."
oOo
"Oi! Wake up or we'll miss the train!" came the loud voice of Ron.
Harry grunted, "I'm up."
He threw open the curtains around his bed and recoiled when the sunlight hit his face and his head throbbed mercilessly. He rubbed his hands on the temples of his forehead, wondering what on earth he had done to warrant such a headache. Last night's party was still a blur and he came to the belated realisation that he must have gotten drunk!
"What happened?" asked Harry, groaning. He saw the boys in his dorm packing up their trunks and Dean looked up, grinning. "Pretty wild, last night was, don't you think?"
Harry felt annoyed at seeing Dean, though he couldn't say why, so he gave a noncommittal sound in response.
Almost all of the students were leaving Hogwarts for Christmas this year as the parents wanted to have their children close to them as much as possible during these dark times. Harry would have left this year even if that wasn't the case. He was going home (his home!) to spend Christmas with Sirius. He felt his mood brighten considerably at that thought.
The train was packed almost as much as it had been during start-of-term. Harry was just musing how this was the first time he was taking the train at this time of the year during his six years at Hogwarts as he sat with Hermione and Neville. Ron had left after the first half hour to meet up with Lavender and only then had Hermione even opened her mouth to speak.
It was late afternoon as the train reached the station and Harry got off the train, searching for Sirius. But he was completely gobsmacked to see Remus and Tonks standing with Sirius.
Harry pulled his trunk as he went up to them, ecstatic as he greeted Remus with a one-armed hug. "When did you get back? Nobody told me…"
Remus was just saying he got back a fortnight ago when Harry heard a few snatches of sentences clearly.
"—there's too many wizards here—" said Tonks, grinning into Sirius' ear.
"—we'll nab him just outside the wall then, take him straight to the Dark Lord—" said Sirius, with a manic expression so unlike himself.
Harry's brain went into alarm. He immediately pulled out his wand and stepped away from Remus, pointing it at the three of them.
The man who looked like Remus, sighed, "Now, you've scared him!"
Stupid, stupid, stupid, thought Harry. Sirius had told Harry to first ask the secret question the last time they had called in the mirror. Now, he had played straight into the hands of someone who had disguised themselves to kidnap him. He felt his heart fluttering in panic. Where was the real Sirius?
"Relax, Harry. It was just a joke!" said Remus' look-alike. The person disguised as Tonks laughed and Harry wondered why he hadn't noticed before. Her hair was bubblegum pink, which was not possible, as she had not been able to change it for the last six months.
Harry looked around himself. Where was Ron and Hermione? Nobody seemed to even be looking his way.
"What was the first movie you took me to?" asked Harry, pointing his wand at Sirius' doppelgänger, whose face broke out into a true smile.
"Independence Day and we had burgers for dinner at the Slim Joe's."
Harry frowned. That sounded alright and he lowered his wand, slightly stumped by the correct answer.
"I told you I'd get you back the last time we were here," said Sirius, his trademark grin in place as he waggled his eyebrows.
It was like a bulb had been lit inside his head as Harry understood. His eyes widened in realization as his heart-rate became normal again, "That wasn't funny!"
Harry was beside himself with relief as he let out a laugh, still unable to believe that they had just outwitted him. "That was not funny at all!"
Sirius and Tonks exclaimed in chorus, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" before they broke out into hysterical laughter as Harry stowed his wand inside his pocket, feeling slightly out of sorts.
Remus shook his head. "He's going to become as paranoid as Moody."
The hilarity of the situation finally hit him as he too laughed, mostly out of relief that it wasn't real. Remus was smiling too as he placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "Ignore these idiots. Let's go home."
oOo
A/N: What's family if you don't prank each other?
This chapter wouldn't have been possible without my lovely beta evadnekapaneos, who I'm so incredibly grateful for how much effort you've put into my work. All errors are mine as I tinker with the chapter after beta-proofing.
To my Guest reviewer, Lost - I'm so happy you could sense the undercurrent of it in my story, which means I've done a good job. As to what it's effects will be on Sirius and on Harry, you will get to see soon.
Thank you to all who reviewed, or added to alerts. Would love to hear what you think!
