Summary: Tonks has her off days, but she tries to bite the bullet and deal with it.

Rated: T

Genre: General

Warning Tag: References to Menstruation


Raspberry Tea Leaves

Tonks wasn't feeling particularly perky today as she entered Grimmauld's dining room for the Order meeting. Tucking herself into the far corner of the table, she flopped down heavily on the cushioned chair and rested her head on her arms folded on top of the table. She hoped that it was a quick one, she just came off a ten-hour shift at the office tailing suspects in Knockturn Alley. Her body was screaming in protest from her morphing disguises, and it decided to be extra evil that night and plague her with the worst cramps ever as revenge.

She wished she changed into her favourite sweats and oversized jumper at the office before coming here, at least she could be relatively comfortable while her body started to tear itself apart from the inside.

The gentle tap of a mug being placed next to her had her lift her head to meet the haggard-looking man gently smiling at her. He looked just as tired and beat up as she felt.

"Thanks," Tonks said, curling her hand around the mug and taking in its aroma.

The smell of raspberries, citrus, and mint calmed her almost immediately, and she took gracious sips as the meeting progressed.

.oOo.

As she got to know Remus—Tonks only mentally knew him as the tea man for the last several weeks until they officially exchanged names one evening when everyone else was running late—she started to notice some odd things about him. Like his seemingly acute knowledge of what tea's blends helped her symptoms at odd times, or how he occasionally looked like he hadn't slept for a week during certain parts of the month. It wasn't like she was the sort that got moody during her cycles or gave of any signals of being on it. She mostly kept to herself when she was feeling under the weather in general, but he always seemed to know.

Tonks wasn't sure if she found this strange or not, but she certainly wasn't going to stop accepting that delicious raspberry tea blend he offered her when she was conveniently on her period. If only she could figure out what he used, she'd love to have a stockpile of the stuff on hand for her really bad months.

.oOo.

A few months had passed and Tonks couldn't help but pick up on the strangeness emitting from Remus as she spent more and more time around him. Nothing terrible, but she couldn't ignore his silent gesture of offering that delicious damn tea that soothed the raging hormones and side-splitting pains she silently suffered through. It was what she did with these insufferable emergency meetings that interrupted her nights of curling up with a pillow in her comfy clothes during the worst of her monthly cycles anymore.

She was tired and feeling a smidgen more irritable tonight. Probably because she needed some sleep, it had been a while since she did that. Tonks laid her head down on the hard table at the far end, and on queue, Remus was there with that large mug of fresh raspberry tea.

"Can I ask you something?" she blurted while cupping the mug in her hands. "Why do you make me this particular tea? Other times it is jet black coffee, but sometimes it is this."

Remus gave a slight shrug. "Not everyone's moon cycle is the same."

Tonks gave him a strange look. "Okay, but how do you know...?"

She saw his cheeks tinge ever so slightly before he turned away to fix his own cup at the counter. It suddenly dawned on her as to what he meant. He didn't behave like how she was trained to detect werewolves out on the field, which made her doubt that shoddy training even more now. "Never mind."

Other Order members started to trickle in by then, and the minor embarrassment of him knowing about her cycles didn't last long as she sipped at the raspberry tea. When he sat down across from her, she offered him a thankful smile and a secretive wink. Grateful that he was kind enough to silently help ease her menstrual discomforts without making it obvious, but now it was like they both were in on a silly little secret.


Originally written for:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

Monthly Challenges for All

Word Count: 706

Originally Written: August 2019