THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M FOR SEXUAL CONTENT!!!
"NYMPHADORA!! COME IN CLOSER SO I CAN TELL YOU WHERE WE'RE GOING!!!" hollered Andromeda. The two women had been flying high over England for about an hour now. The sun was reaching higher into the sky. The two thestrals, one of each sex, flew gracefully, but of course, clumsy Tonks was still getting used to hers. Because Andromeda anticipated this, she was the one holding Teddy underneath her cloak in a bundle, under a mild sleeping spell so he wouldn't fuss. Andromeda smartly flew at a steady altitude. Tonks constantly took her thestral higher and higher, then suddenly dipped lower, only to climb up again like a rollercoaster.
"WHAT?!" called Tonks, pulling her thestral beside her mother's. Andromeda' long cloak flew behind her like a bride's train. She wore the hood over her head. "MUM?"
"Nymphadora, you can stop shouting now, I can hear you!" Andromeda said. "See that cluster of buildings on the horizon?" she said, pointing directly ahead of her.
"Yeah?!"
"That's Southampton! Once we fly over Southampton and are over the Channel, we're going to turn east by southeast. We'll follow the water instead of cutting across it for awhile. We should make landfall in Denmark by twilight and we'll land for the night in Copenhagen!"
"WHAT?!" Tonks shouted, accidentally taking her thestral higher again. Andromeda rolled her eyes and sighed.
"JUST FOLLOW ME!" Andromeda shouted. Tonks made an 'ok' sign with her free hand and flew a little higher. Andromeda knew that, while Tonks was still new at this, she was enjoying this new sense of freedom. Andromeda did too, once she rode her first thestral. Of course, that was many years ago, and she could guide her thestral with the utmost ease.
Tonks' brown hair flew behind her elegantly as she looked at the approaching city. Her heart was beating so fast. While she kept a straight, concentrating face, the fact that she was on the way to se Remus again thrilled her beyond all belief. But her mouth felt frozen in a permanent frown on her face. After all, it had only been five days. To smile again after so short a time without her husband would be absolutely ridiculous.
Luckily, the day was perfect for extended flying. The rainstorm that had clouded the entire week thus far was floating further east. The sunlight reflecting off the remaining few clouds caused for the day to look even brighter. The sky wasn't blue, but more of a yellowish, which seemed peculiar, especially from this aerial angle.
"MUM?!" called Tonks, driving her thestral so it was on an equal elevation with her mother again.
"What, child?" asked Andromeda.
"What if the thestrals get tired?!" she half-asked, half-hollered.
"Thestrals are built for extended flight, Nymphadora," answered Andromeda. "Once we land in Copenhagen, we'll give them some meat and water, and they'll be fine after a good night's rest, just like us…"
"BUT WHAT IF I HAVE TO PEE?!" shouted Tonks, flying slightly lower now..
"NOT POSSIBLE, YOU GOT YOUR FATHER'S BLADDER! HE COULD FLY FOR ALMOST A DAY BEFORE NEEDING A TOILET!!!" Andromeda said.
Tonks almost laughed at this. She looked ahead of her at the approaching port, then down at her left hand, the hand with the two wedding rings on it, Remus on top of Tonks'. Tonks chuckled deep in her throat as she thought that in the bedroom, it was usually the other way around.
She found herself losing her mind to the memory of her wedding night at the thought of this…
Having sneaken away from the wedding party, Tonks had taken Remus' hand in hers and led her upstairs to her bedroom (the wedding had occurred in her front yard). Remus looked a little perplexed, as if he didn't know what was supposed to happen next.
After closing the door behind them, Tonks whipped around and began passionately kissing Remus all over the face, at least until Remus pushed her gently away.
"What's this, Dora?" he asked. Tonks gritted her teeth. Even having Remus call her 'Dora' irritated her, although it was certainly more bearable than 'Nymphadora.'
"Oh, Remus, Remus, Remus? Don't tell me you don't know what a wedding night is for!" Tonks moaned, kissing Remus' neck, again until Remus shoved her aside. He turned his back to her and went to the window, looking a little distressed. Tonks bit her lip. No, this couldn't be his first time!
"Wait, Remus, are you kidding me?" Tonks asked, taking the bodice of her wedding dress off so that she was only in a skirt and bra. "You're still a virgin? And how old are you?"
"Is there a problem with that?" asked Remus back. Tonks didn't add anything to this, but Remus continued. "And are you saying that you're NOT a virgin on your wedding night? I thought people were supposed to hold out?"
"Oh, PLEASE!" Tonks groaned. "That notion is so medieval! And no, I am not a virgin!" she snapped back. She sat down next to Remus and lifted her skirt just enough to begin unrolling her pantyhose off her legs. Remus was silent for a moment as he watched Tonks do so (and secretly, that was partially why Tonks was doing it so slowly).
"Who was it with, then?" Remus asked.
"Beg pardon?"
"Your first time, who was it with?" asked Remus.
"Are you going to judge me whether or not I've had sex?" asked Tonks.
Remus shook his head and loosened his tie. "Of course not! I married you, didn't I? It was just an innocent question, unless you're uncomfortable—"
"—not uncomfortable, just a little awkward."
"I'm sorry," Remus said, taking off his jacket.
Tonks waited a few beats. "But if you must know, it was to Bill Weasley, and I was nineteen."
"Oh really? Wasn't Molly pushing you on him?" asked Remus. He got up and went to Tonks' table, where a teapot and two teacups had been set up, along with a hot pot for boiling water in, and a few teabags. He began setting up for some tea.
"That's why she was. Bill and I…um…Bill and I were a couple for the first two years I was in Auror training, and that thrilled Molly, who's wanted grandchildren since Bill was old enough to have a wet dream—"
Remus interrupted Tonks' speech with a laugh. "That certainly sounds like Molly."
"Indeed. Anyways, Bill was always up front about our relationship. And it was the first time for the both of us, so naturally, when he told Molly, she sounded like she was going to go mental. But then, we broke up. Mostly because of me. I wanted to concentrate on my training. Molly was devastated, so when I graduated, she naturally began pushing a match between us again. But it was around that time Bill met Fleur, and we had lost interest in each other by that time anyways, so, that was that. Fleur may be a bubble-headed girl, but she and Bill will be happy, just like we will be, Remus," assured Tonks.
"What a story!" Remus said, setting the hot pot so he could sit down beside Tonks again.
"Though I wouldn't exactly call this foreplay," Tonks muttered.
"Give me a while! Can't we do more as husband and wife than roll around on the bed?" asked Remus.
"Are you going to judge me?" asked back Tonks.
"Actually, having a partner with experience is easing my nerves a little bit."
"You're actually nervous about tonight?" asked Tonks. "I'm surprised, after thirty-five years of keeping it to yourself, I would've thought you couldn't wait to use it at last!"
"Well, when you're…like…I am, you have more things on your mind than who's bones to jump," Remus said, smirking.
"Remus Lupin! Hearing the term 'jumping their bones' from you is like hearing my Grandmum talk about condoms!" Tonks shrieked. Remus laughed and put his arm around her shoulder. "Did you ever have girlfriends in school, Remus?"
"No," said Remus.
"So, I'M your first girlfriend too?!" said Tonks, shooting up from the bed, throwing her hands u in the air in a comical surrender. "I'm getting a divorce! I married a dud, not a stud like I'd once thought!"
Remus blushed. "Actually, I said I had no girlfriends in SCHOOL…"
Tonks quickly sat back down…on Remus' lap this time. "Ooh, this suddenly got interesting again!"
"After James and Lily Potter got married, Sirius set me up with this Muggle girl who Lily had in her bridal party. Her name was Colleen Turner."
"Was she pretty?" asked Tonks. "And don't think you have to lie for my sake. If she was as pretty as Madonna, I want to know."
"Actually, she was an ex of Sirius' before he started going with Bastet Pollux, so naturally she had a good body. But her face was average at best, and her hair was almost white, it was so blonde."
"And--?"
"And, we went on a few dates. I soon felt comfortable enough to tell her about my…disorder, and she accepted it well enough. She joined the Order with me too, and things got serious, pardon the pun."
"So why didn't you fuck her?" asked Tonks bluntly. Remus looked at her oddly.
"Because I told you, I thought everyone waited until the wedding night! But that's wasn't all. During the first war, a month or so before James and Lily were killed, Rodolphus and RabastianLestrange wiped out her and her family on a single curse from each of the men."
"How awful! You still think about her?"
"No," said Remus.
"That's terrible," Tonks said solemnly.
Remus shook his head. "No, it's not. Colleen would have wanted me to move on and I did and tried to bring back my happiness for her sake. This is actually the first time in years I've mentioned the girl."
"What a sad story!" mused Tonks. Suddenly, she shoved Remus onto his back on the bed and climbed in top of him. Remus wrestled with her playfully.
"DORA!!" he laughed.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I do believe there's a little matter of our wedding night to take care of…" Tonks said, playfully. She and Remus began kissing and rolling around on the bed somewhat wildly, as the hot pot on the table began whistling loudly, telling the lovers that tea was ready.
But they never had their tea that night.
"NYMPHADORA!! PAY ATTENTION!!" Andromeda said, holding up her wand. "BLUE SPARKS!"
"WHAT?" asked Tonks, snapping back to attention. The light was suddenly much dimmer…how long had she been daydreaming? They were over water now, and Tonks could barely make out her and her thestral's reflection in the twilight.
"Always when you fly into a city, you send up blue spark and wait for green sparks to gain permission to land! We're just under fifty miles from Copenhagen!" Andromeda instructed, shooting up blue sparks. Tonks quickly got out her wand and shot up a few sparks of her own. The women waited a moment, but no green sparks came. Andromeda shot up a few more sparks, and after a few minutes, some red sparks shot up, spelling out a message.
"No place to land, Muggle festival going on. Relay to Normandy," Tonks read aloud before the sparks dissipated.
"Damn," Andromeda cursed under her breath. "That's in the other direction! Nymphadora, turn due west, we can be there in maybe an hour if our thestrals can hold."
"Where's Normandy?" asked Tonks, turning her thestral parallel to Andromeda's in the other direction.
"It's sad you don't know that. It's on the shore of France…"
Luckily for the travelers, the thestrals were able to hold out until they got the green sparks from the Normandy port. Tonks and Andromeda, entirely too exhausted from the trip, released their thestrals into the small wooded area near the local wizarding tavern and motel called "The Raven's Wing" to frolic with the other travelers' thestrals. Andromeda checked the trio into a room upstairs and then ordered some tea and watercress sandwiches to be brought up to their room. With the remaining energy she had, Tonks took off her traveling robes and put on an oversized t-shirt to serve as a nightgown, Tonks bathed Teddy and changed him (a whole day's travel really made the changing part unbearable…Remus usually did that part, and Andromeda did it at Grimmauld Place). After she fed Teddy and put him down in the makeshift crib she made out of the chaise longue in the corner, she collapsed on the small bed on the left, barely enough energy in her to reach over to turn on the lamp between the two beds.
Andromeda came in then with the food. "Oh Mum, I'm not hungry, least of all for watercress and mayonnaise," Tonks shuddered.
"Eat anyways, we've both had a long day, and we won't have time before we set off again. We need to wake up an hour earlier than expected if we want to make it to Vienna tomorrow," Andromeda instructed. Tonks sat up and reached for a sandwich and took a delicate bite. The lump of sandwich did not go down her throat easily.
"Vienna?" Tonks asked between bites.
"Our goal by tomorrow night. I mapped it all out this morning before we left. We can cut the journey 's timing to-and from in half if we stick to the locations I've pointed out. Tomorrow is Vienna. The day after is Istanbul, which is on the Mediterrainian like Sirius said. After that we're going to shift directions and head to Cairo, Egypt."
"Wouldn't that be out of our way?"
"We'll land in Cairo on the weekend and rest there for two days. After our resting period, our next destination is in a small magic-only village in Kazakhstan called Aktas. After a night in Aktas, we head to Kashmir, India, then to Delhi for another rest, then from Delhi, it's a day's journey to the Himalayas, where the Borderland is!"
"Mum, you had fun doing that, didn't you?" asked Tonks.
"A little," Andromeda confessed, taking a bite of sandwich.
"I hate to disappoint you, Mum, but some of those locations and dates are quite a stretch for one-day's travel, not to mention pending weather and wind—"
"—well, Tonks, I wasn't the one who chose to go on this lovely little outing, wasn't I?" Andromeda said, lying down on her bed fully clothed. "We need some sleep. Especially you. You're going to need all the sleep you can get, Nymphadora."
Tonks sat up straight, alarmed. "What do you mean by that?"
"Good night, Nymphadora," Andromeda said, turning out the light before Tonks could say anything else.