Hey guys, sorry for the delay - this whole issue with our electricity is just getting ridiculous! We're still no where near finding the answer which means we have limited power, but I'm writing whenever I can and I already have the next couple of chapters written up so I should be able to post a bit quicker... thanks for sticking with me! Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 6 – 'There was always a joke to be told, a prank to be played and fun to be found'
"You mean he actually caught you? Filch!" Tonks leant forward in her chair, eager to hear the rest of the professor's story.
"Oh no, well I mean we were still in his store room when he walked in but James was the master of diversion. Drove the poor man crazy with the tales he used to weave. He transfigured a pack of gum from his pocket and made them vivid, bright, multi-coloured strips of what he convinced Filch were exploding pastels. Told him that I, as a model prefect had just confiscated them from some second years and as we were nearby we thought we'd just put them straight in his room. Filch always fell for his nonsense."
Tonks couldn't stop laughing. They'd been talking like this in the evenings for the first few weeks of her assignment, she always loved reminiscing with fellow Hogwarts alumni but Remus' stories were the best she'd ever heard.
"I'm suitably impressed Professor. I rather boastfully assumed that I was the only one who had ever managed to fool Filch but I believe the Fooling Filch crown probably rightfully belongs to you and James." Tonks slipped off an imaginary crown and handed it to Remus, who took it gleefully and pretended to proudly place it on his head.
The more time she spent with Remus Lupin the less she understood him. In some ways he was so stoic, so straight-laced, intelligent – a professor through and through. Yet as she listened to his stories and spent time with him, another side of him always seemed to emerge, an energetic, utterly charming story teller who had certainly been as mischievous, if not more so, than herself at school. He was an enigma, a contradiction of terms, so lively and fun some evenings and yet so placid and peaceful on others.
And then there was the beige.
No matter how nice he seemed to be, Tonks found it hard to trust anyone who owned so many different items of clothes in beige, it didn't fit his personality.
Still she was thankful for the friendship that was growing between them. It was tougher than she'd thought protecting Harry. Even in just the first few weeks of term, as she had followed him discreetly around the castle she was beginning to get a bit fidgety. Tonks liked action – not that she wanted Harry to be in any trouble, but since the incident on the train everything had calmed down and she spent most of her time wandering around the castle, doing perimeter checks and playing exploding snap with Wainwright. The only time she really got to talk to anyone interesting were the times when Remus would pop by for a cup of tea or she'd knock on his door of an evening.
She'd felt an instant connection to him, a kinship that she couldn't explain. Like something in her just knew that she could trust Remus Lupin with her life. She felt safe around him, safe not just in the physical sense, but also safe to be herself without ridicule or judgement. She'd almost told him about her morphing abilities but something had stopped her.
A feeling.
A feeling that more rightly belonged to a teenage girl than a bloody trainee auror.
A feeling that she really cared what he thought about her.
A feeling that if he reacted as many had before, with instant distrust, she'd be truly hurt.
The feeling that she liked him.
It was undeniable, though she'd certainly been trying to deny it for weeks now.
He was much older than her and would of course never be interested in her foolishness. He was a professor, well travelled, knowledgeable.
And then there was the beige... she had to admit, it was an attraction that had grown on her. It wasn't as though she'd seen him in his cardigan and felt weak at the knees; but as the weeks had passed, somewhere she'd begun to see past the attire and look at the man. The thought made her blush - he was really quite attractive.
Remus seemed to have been just as pensive as she was but finally broke through her thoughts as he spoke, "Padfoot was the one who really rubbed Filch up the wrong way, but always managed to talk himself out of detention, Peter was never so lucky. Padfoot even once managed to get Filch to apologise to him and give him back an item he'd confiscated. Charming so and so, Filch fell for it every time."
Tonks was always taken by how much fun Remus and his friends seemed to have had at Hogwarts, though she'd got up to quite a lot of antics with her friends too, she'd never really developed the bond she could tell Remus had with his friends, the way he talked about them easily revealed how much he loved them. "Padfoot seems like my kind of guy, I love anyone who can talk their way out of a bad situation. You two must have been great friends, you smile a lot when you talk about him and James and Peter, but him especially."
Remus stood up and took both of their tea cups to his desk to refill them. Turning back he handed her cup to her and took a seat, sipping at his tea before responding. "I suppose I always looked up to him. He didn't have an easy upbringing but he never let that define him. I wanted to be just as carefree as he always seemed to be – even when the world was falling down around him, there was always a joke to be told, a prank to be played and fun to be found."
Tonks smiled as she put her cup down on the table, the twinkling in Remus' eyes and his distant far off look told her he was reliving some adventures in his head as he talked about his best friend.
"Padfoot – that's an unusual name. A surname I suppose, it's not a Wizarding name I'm familiar with, was he muggle born? What was his first name?" Tonks wasn't prejudice, many of the best witches and wizards she had ever met had been muggle born, she was just curious, being part, however distantly, of one of the biggest Wizarding families in Britain, she was always intrigued by how all Wizarding families seemed to connect to each other somewhere down the line.
Remus sat frozen in his chair. Cup midway in the air as though he'd forgotten what he was about to do with it. Slowly he regained some composure and placed the cup on the table.
"Forgive me Tonks, I'm afraid I have a sudden headache, I've still got so much marking to do, and I promised my 4th years their hinkypuff essays back this week. If you wouldn't mind…"
Remus stood and motioned towards the door. He seemed to be – albeit very politely – throwing her out. Dazed and more than a little confused Tonks stood to leave.
As they approached the door, Remus opened it and stood holding it open, looking outside, towards the window, at his desk – anywhere other than at her.
"No problem Remus. I hope the headache passes quickly. Hopefully we can continue the stories soon." Tonks gave Remus her biggest grin, the one always destined to get her just what she wanted – when the person it was aimed at bothered to even look at her, which Remus did not.
"Perhaps." He replied curtly, then as she stepped out of his room and turned back to face him, he added, more normally and Remus like, "Goodnight Tonks. Thanks for the chats, it's always much better to reminisce with a friend and then alone. Good luck guarding Harry."
With that he closed the door.
Had Remus Lupin just said goodbye to her? That is how it had felt. He'd wished her good luck… wouldn't he be seeing her tomorrow and the next day? What the hell had just happened?!
Tonks trudged slowly next door, suddenly feeling rather dejected and drained. She quickly got ready and slipped into bed, allowing herself to mull over what on earth had just gone wrong. Had she done or said something? She was always putting her foot in her mouth. As she drifted off into a fitful sleep, she hoped her subconscious could make more sense of it than she was able to.
Thanks for sticking with me guys - I've wanted to write this story for awhile and am really enjoying it! Please leave me a review to let me know what you thought...