Author's note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Hogwarts: Assignment 8, Philosophy Task #3: Write about someone or something undergoing change.

Warnings: NA

Home Alone

It really only hit her when she got home from work, coat flung over her arm and the strap of her work bag full of folders digging into her shoulder. And it wasn't just that she got home to an empty apartment–that happened sometimes if Teddy was sleeping over at Harry's or already at an after-school football match she needed to rush to. No, it was specifically that she got home and none of Teddy's shoes were by the door, since they'd all been packed up and sent to Hogwarts. That was when it really hit her that he'd gone off to school.

She kicked the door shut behind her and dumped her stuff on the ground. Of course, it wasn't a surprise. Most Wizarding children went to Hogwarts and her son had been buzzing about it all summer–Merlin, she'd waited on the platform and waved the train goodbye herself, hadn't she? Mum had even been there and given her funny looks the whole time, too. Tonks had known that Teddy would be at Hogwarts, of course–she was used to the school claiming Remus for itself anyways. It was just… weird not to have him around. She wasn't sure who she'd play footsies with at meals, who she'd work her day-to-day schedule around, who she'd turn the radio up for when a really, really good song came on. She was used to having this little guy around to shuttle out the door every morning and feed and do homework with. Now there were too many coat hooks on the wall and not enough shoes along the wall. As much as Teddy was hers to care for and protect and raise, he was also just a cool little guy. She realised now how much she'd liked having him around to hang out with.

She was profoundly uninspired by the idea of cooking so once she'd stripped down to jeans and a tank top she poured herself a bowl of cereal for supper. She caught her reflection as she walked by the bathroom and paused before taking a step inside. Her hair had been a bright, rich, almost obnoxious (even by her standards) orchid purple since she had gone out the door that morning. She tugged on a piece that was refusing to flow across her head like the others and willed it a lighter, softer, pastel purple–the kind that Teddy would go for.

"Pfft," she said before shutting the bathroom light and shoving a spoonful of milk-soaked chocolatey squares in her mouth.

She had just crashed down on the couch with her cereal when there was a knock on the door. Her eyes almost rolled up inside her head as she got up and answered, only to find Sirius standing there with a bottle of Firewhiskey.

"Hello?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oye," he said. "I thought you might use some company, with both of them gone to Hogwarts this time around…"

She narrowed her eyebrows. "Did Remus put you up to this?"

"Merlin, ye of little faith," he said, shaking his head. "Can't it be enough that I am your cousin and love you, and so I came here–with this dandy bottle–to bring you refuge from the cold, hard reality of your little–"

"Oh, shut up and get in here before you worry the neighbours," Tonks said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you having cereal for supper?" Sirius asked, letting himself in. "Really? On the first day that they've–"

"Shut up," she reiterated before closing the door behind them, smiling despite herself.

WC: 591