"I thought you said Moony had nothing to feel threatened about," Sirius said slyly with a glint in his eyes.
"He doesn't! " I replied hotly and turned to my boyfriend. "You don't."
He really doesn't. In all ways, Remus beat a silky teenage 'non-date'. No one compared.
"Looks like you liked being all close with Charlie-boy there," my cousin continued.
"He's my friend." I stressed.
Why did Sirius like to stir the pot? I folded my arms and glared at him but he wasn't exactly intimidated by it. Hmpf. Notably, Remus wasn't saying anything. I turned around to look at him, he was doing what I like to call his 'thinking frown'.
"What exactly happened on this 'date'?" he asked slowly.
"It was a non-date date," I corrected in exasperation. "And nothing!" I even threw my hands up in the air and morphed my hair to stand on air for good measure.
The door swung open and the overwhelming smell of roses smacked them in the face.
"Woah!" Both of them exclaimed at the same time.
It was a shocked and impressed 'Woah' but not exactly a positive one. Tonks didn't know what she was expecting but this was definitely not it. All she could see was pink. And red. But mainly pink and in varying shades. It had quite a dizzying effect.
"Is everything moving?" Charlie asked in a not-so-quiet whisper.
The staff near the door glared at him, something he was oblivious to. Though, he had a point. The effect of all the pink created an optical illusion of sorts. It was weird.
"I don't think so," Tonks replied in a suspicious tone, glancing all around her.
"Is this place real then?" Charlie asked in a whisper.
Tonks wasn't too convinced herself but she poked one of the big heart decorations by the door. Her finger came away with glitter on it.
"Looks like it," she responded. "Unless this is a shared delusion."
They were pushed out of the way by a seventh year Ravenclaw and his Gryffindor girlfriend who was simpering on his arm. The pair were quickly shown to a table, the girl squealing and pressing kisses to the guy's cheeks the whole way down the restaurant.
"I'm not acting like that," Tonks told her 'date'.
Charlie looked more than a little horrified. "I don't want you to."
And then he shuddered. Tonks sniggered to herself and made a note; no kissing Charlie's neck. Not that she'd want to.
"Would you please follow me," a waitress said to them, looking incredibly unimpressed.
Tonks and Charlie exchanged looks, Charlie then sweeping into an over-exaggerated bow to allow her to go first. Giggling and shaking her head at his antics, she followed their waitress across the cafe. They had to dart around several spindly tables and giggling couples. Tonks had a sudden feeling of dread that she squashed down. This was going to be fun. It was.
The table they were led to was at the very back, close to the doors to the kitchen. Lots of chocolatey smells were coming from it. They sat down at their own spindly table and had menus thrust at them.
"I'll be back soon," their waitress muttered, slipping away.
Charlie suddenly smacked his hand off his head. Tonks looked up at him in shock.
"You okay?"
"I forgot to pull your chair out!" he exclaimed. "I was supposed to do that."
"It's okay," Tonks assured him.
"But it's a part of going out."
"Not an important part."
"My friends are going to tell me off."
"Just don't tell them."
Charlie didn't look too convinced and was about to reply when their waitress reappeared.
"Are you going to order or what?" a bored looking waitress asked.
Looked like they weren't the only ones who didn't belong here.
"Give us a minute," Charlie told her.
"Whatever," the girl replied with a roll of her eyes as she sloped off.
The two of them looked at each other, smirked, and looked quickly down at the menus. It was all fancy teas and coffees and lots of sweet treats. Which was all well and good, Tonks liked chocolate pastries as much as the next girl but she didn't recognise what the hell the treats were. She peered over the menu at Charlie, to see what he was making of it. He was frowning at it, apparently just as unimpressed as she was.
"I don't think you can get butterbeer here," he said in dismay.
"You can get all these fancy teas and coffees," Tonks pointed out, running her finger down the long list of said beverages.
There was a lot. As in they took up a side of the menu each.
"I could go for a tea," Charlie said, perking up. "It is cold outside."
"That's not a bad idea," Tonks agreed.
Almost as soon as they said that, their 'cheerful' waitress appeared again.
"What are you having?" she asked, grabbing the quill from her apron pocket.
"Can we have two teas?" Charlie asked.
"What kind?"
"Just a standard tea," Charlie told her.
The girl scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"We don't do basic teas. We have a number of specialty teas, if you'd look at the menu."
"Surely a tea is just a specialty tea without the extras?" Tonks asked, honestly confused.
With an exasperated sigh and another dramatic eye roll, their waitress noted something down on her parchment and stomped off. Charlie followed her with his eyes, looking bemused.
"Is tea really that big of a deal?"
Tonks shrugged; she didn't know. Maybe not for normal people but it was quickly become evident that this place wasn't exactly for normal people.
In hindsight, she probably should have been more wary of the opinions given on this place. The girls she'd heard discussing it weren't exactly the people she liked to hang out with. Or even be in the same room as.
"Here," their waitress said gruffly, slopping down their teas.
Literally slopping, some spilt over the sides. Tonks stopped herself from making a snide remark about being able to make normal teas after all. She was not going to be that person.
With nothing but a huff, the girl stomped off to Merlin-knows-where and left her and Charlie to it. They caught each other's eyes and burst into giggles. It was all going a bit ridiculous wasn't it? Other customers, the soppy couples, glared at them. The two of them hid behind their teas and took a sip. Almost immediately they spluttered from the heat, nearly spilling their tea. Those cups were put back down in a hurry.
"I'm paying," Charlie informed her, putting a collection of coins on the table in an untidy pile as they waited for their teas to cool. A knut rolled off it, which Tonks caught quite deftly. "Thanks."
"Don't be daft," she protested, reaching into her own pockets.
"Nuh uh," Charlie refused, shaking his head. "The boy pays on dates. Even I know that much."
"Bull. And this isn't a real date."
"Nooo," Charlie admitted. "It's an experiment. But it has the word 'date' in it so I'm paying."
He looked particularly pleased with that bit of logic.
"For your drink," Tonks told him matter-of-factly. "Not mine."
"Yes yours."
"No."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No!" Tonks said triumphantly.
"Okay," Charlie agreed easily, giving her a grin.
"Wait," she was confused. "No!"
"That's what you said," Charlie said, tidying his coins into neat stacks by coin type.
"No, I'm paying for mine," she insisted.
"Nope, we already made a deal. No going back."
Tonks narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on the table. "Now, wait here Charlie Weasley-"
"Ahem."
The two friends stopped and turned around. There were two women standing in front of them, one of them their waitress, neither looking best pleased.
"Yes?" Tonks asked hesitantly.
"You are making a disturbance," the older woman simpered.
Urgh, Tonks scrunched up her nose. She had an annoying, cutesy voice.
"Sorry, Mrs?" Tonks started to apologise.
"Madam Puddifoot," the woman sniffed.
Tonks let her mouth fall open in shock. That was a real name?
"Sorry, Madam Puddifoot," Charlie apologised smoothly, taking the attention off her gaping mouth. "We didn't mean to."
Another sniff plus a toss of her piled up curls. The woman looked somewhat mollified, probably because Charlie looked so eagerly apologetic, but not completely. Not enough for her to change her opinion of them.
Before they knew it, they were out of their seats and outside. They hadn't even been given a chance to get their robes back on! The two of them blinked at each other in confusion as the door slammed behind them, all of Charlie's change scattered on the ground by their irate waitress. Well, that was a bit dramatic of her.
"Want to go pelt people with snowballs?" Charlie suggested, picking up his coins.
Tonks' eyes lit up. "Double points if you hit a couple at the same time," she challenged.
"You're on!"
AN: Hope you enjoyed this! Thank you to everyone who has read so far – only one more chapter to go. If you want a preview just drop me a review.