A/N: Ok, obviously ya'll took me serious when i said one review... har har, i'm laughin my ass off!... but seriously, I know that last chapter was kind of a dud, but it had to be done! a lot of this stuff isn't what i wanted, but has to be done to keep it canon. So, once again, PLEASE REVIEW! i know that threatening does nothing unless you have just left them with such a cliffie, their hanging by the skin of their teeth and practically salivating for more... which i have, sadly yet to provide. keep in mind, this is my first fic! it really boosts my self esteem when i dont get reviews ya know!
Dinner that night was a lively affair. Tonks was re-introduced to the Weasley children-(for she had been introduced to them ages ago as Charlies best friend)- and was introduced to Hermione Granger. Tonks was suprised to hear exactly how much the bright young witch of fifteen had been through along side Harry and Ron. And Ron was no where near shy when it came to telling Tonks about all of their adventures, even though he was frequently set straight by Hermione.
"-And then It swung its club and nearly took Hermione's head off!" Tonks was currently hearing about an incident with a Mountain Troll on Halloween in their first year that had spawned their friendship. "Luckily I was there and right as He was about to smash Harry to bits, I pulled out my wand and Levitated his club from his hands and dropped it on His head!" Ron finished with a smirk.
"Oh Ronald! You are so thick sometimes!"Hermione scowled at his smirk. "Who was it that had to remind you how to cast the Wingardium Leviosa anyway?" The smirk slid off his face and his ears turned pink.
Tonks laughed at the image of an eleven year old Ron trying to Levitate a Mountain Troll's club. Absently, she reached up and felt her hair. Maybe I does look good in my natural form? She glanced towards Ginny and Hermione and descided to ask their opinions.
"Hermione, Ginny, what do you think about my hair?" They glanced at her short, bubble-gum pink locks. "Does it look better short and pink, or-" Tonks closed her eyes in concentration and imagined her natural hair and eyes. "-Does this look better?" She opened her eyes to gasps. Ron, the Twins, Hermione, and Ginny were all staring at her in amazement. "What? Charlie never bothered to mention that his best friend was a Metamorphmagus?" Hermione uttered a small 'oh' as a look of realization crossed her face.
"Ooh! I've read about Metamorphmagi! They're really rare!" with a glance the the puzzled faces of the other children she explained, "Metamorphmagi are Wizards or Witches that are born with the ability to change their appearance at will to whatever form they choose." She glanced back at Tonks. "I suppose you use it to your advantage as an Auror to disguise your self as others?"
Tonks smiled and closed her eyes. The room was filled with a collective gasp and as she opened her eyes, she was the exact replica of Ginny. "I havn't heard your voice enough to be able to copy you, but I believe that anyone that didn't know you well would mistake me for you?" Ginny nodded in amazement.
Hermione glanced back to Tonks. "So, Whats your natural form, Tonks?" Tonks Obligingly closed her eyes and, once again, pictured her natural look. She smiled at the open-mouthed expressions of Molly and the Children as they all glanced between Tonks and Sirius. Remus smiled at the looks of amazement and Sirius grinned widely.
Something in the expression of Molly's face clicked. "Andromeda Tonks... Andromeda..." Molly muttered under her breath. "You know, I happened to be in the Drawing Room making a list of the supplies we'll need to clean it out and I came upon an interesting tapestry in one corner." Her gaze shifted to Sirius. "I believe it was your family tree, Sirius, and if I'm correct you had a cousin whose name was blasted off of it. Would that cousin happened to be named Andromeda, by any chance?"
"Yep, thats dear old Mum's doing. Andromeda turned out decent like I did and was, of course, removed." His eyes shifted to Tonks. "She bloody well looks like a Black doesn't she?"
Tonks smiled widely, "I always did! Noone ever came to understand how I ended up looking like you, my dear cousin. My mum only got the eyes! Dear old Auntie Bella got the hair and Aunt Cissy got the eyes as well, though, correct me if I'm wrong, she's the only Black in ages to have blonde hair."
"I will say though, dearest cousin, you and your mother certainly got all the looks of the Black women. I mean, you can tell by dear old mum that its a miracle that my dear cousins look half-way decent, but regardless of how much attention your aunts got, I always thought your Mum was much better looking!" Everyone was shocked that Sirius had said something complementary to anyone other than himself. "And you, my dear, are by far the most beautiful because face it, you look the spitting image of me and I'm sure everyone will agree that I am one sexy beast!"
Remus, who had been taking a drink from his goblet of water presently snorted and began to choke which ended with a puddle of water on the table and down his robes and a scarlet face as the kitched erupted with laughter. As the laughter died down everyone sat back, apparently relaxed. Molly took a sip from her cup of tea and nearly choked as she glanced at a clock sitting over on the counter.
"Oh! look at the time, its up to bed children! We've got to be up bright and early tomorrow morning." Molly stood and began to chivy the children out of the room to much protest.
"But Mum!" Fred groaned.
"It's the middle of the summer!" George argued
"We're supposed to stay up late-"
"-And have a bit of a lie in-"
"-And come in around lunch for some food-"
"-Before going straight back to lazing around-"
"-Or playing games-"
"For the rest of the day."
"For the rest of the day." The Twins intoned.
"Oh tosh! You two will help me clean and thats that!" Molly herded them towards the door before turning back "Arthur, are you coming dear?" Arthur followed her out of the room leaving Tonks, Remus, and Sirius with shocked looks on their faces as everyone else left.
Tonks glanced at Sirius who glanced at Remus who, in turn, glanced at Tonks. They all simultaneously shook their heads and sat in silent contemplation. Sirius spoke up.
"How they tell those two apart is beyond me! I mean, they are identical in appearance as well as voice and they finish each others sentences! I mean, really, how to they not tell them apart?" Remus shook his head as a gesture of 'no idea' and Tonks laughed at the two of them.
"Charlie used to tell me about how sometimes, they swap and then noone can tell them apart. But Charlie told me how to tell if it gets really difficult." The other two started at her intently. " What you do, is fall or something in front of them both and pretend your really hurt. They will both, or course, laugh at first, but George,as I've learned, is a good bit more compasionate that Fred and so if you keep on pretending your actually hurt, he'll stop laughing and see about you."
Remus and Sirius glanced at each other and snorted in disbelief. Remus turned to Tonks. "George compasionate? Tonks, I taught them for a year, remember? I know for a fact, that George was the one that snuck into my office one night and locked Mrs. Norris in my desk drawer and silenced her so that when I opened it the next morning she attacked me!"
Sirius laughed. "Come on mate, They told you just last week that that was their idea of an initiation for you! Their own personal 'We don't hate your guts' prank!" He paused and added as an after thought, "Kinda wish We had thought of that one actually." He chuckled "Though, I doubt ol' Minnie would have taken it as lightly as you did. You old softy, she would have sent us to Dumbledore withought blinking."
Tonks smiled "What'd ya do to them, Remus?"
"Well, after I got past the pain of nearly being ripped to ribbons by that walking carpet, I thought it was funny." He smiled lightly." It reminded me of two other trouble-makers that used to roam the halls of Hogwarts guided by a certain faithful map." He grinned at Sirius.
Sirius started. "So thats how Harry got the Marauders map! I always wondered where he got it!" Sirius smiled as it dawned on him." Hey, Moony, Remember when it got taken up in the first place?" Remus smiled at the memory. "You and James had the bright idea to try and bribe the House Elves to replace all of the toilet paper in the Slytherin loo's with leaves in our seventh year." Tonks grinned at the prospect.
"No mate, that was James. I wanted to bribe them to switch it with Poison Oak, but James thought it would be too suspicious seeing as how the only Poison Oak was near the quiditch pitch and it would point to us, therefore earning us alot more than just detention." Sirius quickly corrected Remus.
"Yeah, I remember now, and when I caught you, instead of being a good Prefect, I had to go and try to atleast make you a solid plan so you wouldn't get expelled." Remus smiled again. " I'll never forget the look on your face when that old House Elf you descided to bribe hit you over the head with a frying pan when you descided to try to bully her into doing it! Oh James and I laughed so hard! Too bad Filch caught us trying to get you back to the Dorms." Sirius squinted trying to remember.
"Hey Remus, what did happen? I don't remember it so well." Remus chuckled.
"Well, James and I had to take off the invisibility cloak and put it and the map in my pocket so that we could drag you back up the staircase. We were on the top step when you suddenly started talking to a suit of armor and then when you tried to snog it, for some reason, it drew back and punched you in the nose! you fell all the way down the staircase, the final staircase before the Fat Lady, and swore with growing decibels on every step you hit." Sirius grinned.
"Oh, and thats when I landed on that poor House Elf that started screaming for Filch! I remember that, he caught us and took the map and cloak. We grabbed the cloak and ran before he could turn back to us, but he kept the map." Sirius smiled and leaned back contentedly. " Good times, Mate, good times."
Tonks smiled gently. "I sure wish I could have met James. He sounds alot like Charlie." The room suddenly got silent and she glanced up. Both Remus and Sirius were staring at their hands in silent thought.
"Well," Tonks stood. "I'm off. See you two later." and with that she vanished.
Remus glanced at Sirius's somber expression and patted him on the shoulder gently. Sirius turned to Remus, the twinkle in his eyes was no longer the one he usually sported, but one of memories long past. "Remus, I miss him so much." He paused trying to read his companions expression. "I know I don't hide it well, but being back here is so depressing. It drags up memories, happy memories. They make me smile but they always lead to 'should haves' and 'if onlys' that just depress me." Sirius tilted his head to one side. "What about you. Do you ever just sit and imagine about what should have been and how different it is from how it is." his voice cracked. "I can't help it. I miss them both. James and Lily."
He swallowed and looked back at Lupin. What he saw concerned him. It was something that rarely was ever seen. Remus looked off into space and smiled wanely as a single, tiny tear rolled down his cheek. Sirius, who had rarely, if ever, seen Remus cry was startled. "I'm sorry, Moony, I shouldn't have-" but he was interupted.
"I miss him, too." Remus's voice was low and strained. "I miss them both." He smiled at Sirius, who smiled back.
Sirius sighed. "They would have been so proud of Harry, Remus, I just know it," Remus chuckled.
"I'm sure they are, Sirius. I know I am. Wherever they are, wherever James and Lily are, I just know that they are proud of him." They both thought of the smiling, gleaming faces of James and Lily and hoped that wherever they were, they knew how much they were missed.
Sirius glanced towards the table and said, in a shakey voice that threatened unwanted tears. "Well James, Wherever you are, I hope you and Lily still think about me and Remus from time to time, cuz we sure think about you two alot." Sirius smiled and Remus smiled back. "Yes, James, Lily, we still love you two just as much as ever, but as much as we love you and wish we could see you again, neither of us are quite ready to join you, so I hope you keep us in you thoughts.
Remus and Sirius rose and started for the door, but stopped and faced the kitchen for reasons unknown to either and whispered. "Goodnight, James, goodnight Lily." and without another glance, Remus opened the door and they both left the dim kitchen.