CHAPTER 8: LOVE IN THE AIR
Christmas ended way too soon for Harry. The Weasleys all returned to school and their normal lives, and Remus went right back into Harry's schooling. He'd managed to get through the fifth year curriculum in the first part of the year, so now it was a matter of finishing the sixth year curriculum in the last part so that he could catch up with his classmates.
"But I don't get it!" Harry snapped in frustration at Remus. Throwing his quill down onto the table, he ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. "Sorry, Remus, I didn't mean to shout."
"Yes, you did," Remus replied curtly, taking a deep breath himself in an attempt to calm down. He and Harry had been struggling to get through this Transfiguration unit – unfortunately, it was a no-spell process, but imperative to a number of later NEWT-level spells. Harry had been irritable lately, he had his 'pre-full moon temper', as Sirius and James had always called it, and to top it all off, he had the idea that Sirius was trying to set him up with Tonks, and that frustrated him as well – hadn't Sirius known him long enough and well enough to know that Remus did not, would not, let himself love someone?
Sirius, speak of the devil, came in at that moment. He took one look at them and said, "All right, break it up. You've been going at this since 8 this morning. Take a break." Harry immediately stormed off, muttering obscenities under his breath. "You just had to push him, didn't you?"
"Shut up, Sirius," Remus muttered. "I'm not pleased with you, either, right now. And you know damn well why."
"You're being a stubborn ass, Remus," Sirius said bluntly. "Don't bother lying to me about how you don't care at all, because I see right through it. You do care about her, and that's what scares you. You still think that every woman is going to treat you like Sarah."
"Shut up, Sirius," Remus said tersely, as the sting of that accusation struck him right where it hurt.
"You got hurt. Deal with it, that's the way life rolls. Not everybody gets a fairytale first time around like James did. And it wasn't exactly fairy tale either."
"Sirius…" Remus repeated, almost pleadingly now. "Please."
"Remus, enough. That was 17 years ago. Don't let her wreck your whole life. And don't take your frustration with yourself out on Harry."
Harry had calmed down not long after he'd left the room, but he sensed that Sirius and Remus didn't want to be interrupted, so he slid down to the ground to wait. They'd closed the door, so he couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was likely to do with Tonks. She'd been strangely quiet at the meetings (Sirius had finally let him come in back in January) lately, her hair had been much more tame as of late and Harry got the idea that she was upset about something. Probably because Remus kept being so stubborn about her.
Maybe he'd wait until Easter break, to see if one of the Weasleys could help him out with this Transfiguration thing. Usually between him and Ron, they could muddle their way through a theory.
Sighing, he looked up only when the front door opened and a crash sounded in the front hall.
"That damn hatrack!" Tonks hissed irritably, hopping off to the side to let the rest of the Order come in. "I always manage to smack into it."
"Merlin's beard, Tonks, and you managed your Auror's test how?" Mad-Eye growled.
"Sheer dumb luck and a genetic mutation called Metamorphmagy," Tonks replied, rubbing her foot woefully. "I think I broke my foot."
"You're fine, suck it up," Mad-Eye returned gruffly.
"You'd think I was still your trainee, the way you talk to me," Tonks grumbled, shaking her hair out of her eyes. It was still the same unhappy brown that it had been for the past week. "Wotcher, Harry, what are you doing out here?"
"They've booted me out. I think they're arguing," Harry replied, getting to his feet.
"Well, the meeting starts in five minutes, they'll have to put it on hold," Kingsley declared, pushing open the door just in time to see Sirius and Remus facing off, wands drawn and identical snarls of irritation on their faces.
"Yeah, I'd say they're having a row," Tonks said with a slight smile.
"I can't leave you alone ever, can I?" Harry said with a laugh, ducking inside first.
After the meeting had disbanded, most of the members went straight home – it was a stormy night, after all. Only Tonks remained, biting at her lower lip.
Sirius almost dragged Harry out of the kitchen, muttering under his breath, "Leave them alone a moment. I might've actually broken through his thick skull tonight."
"I'm dying to know what's going on," Harry said plaintively, casting another glance at the staircase.
"Let it a little longer," Sirius advised.
Remus groaned as he slowly woke up, a little disoriented. Was he at Grimmauld Place? No, he wouldn't have been, Dumbledore wanted him back out at the werewolf colony today. So he was at home.
A soft moan from beside him brought him abruptly back into present time. Merlin, that was not what he'd planned on doing last night. Now what was he supposed to say to her?
But as she nestled closer into his side, he realized that her hair was back to normal. It was a rather cheerful, light shade of red now, rather than the depressing-looking brown that it had been. Sighing, he tried to slide away without waking her.
"No, don't go," she moaned, finally waking up.
"Dora, I have to," he murmured warningly, laying a light kiss on her lips. That only resulted in her wrapping her arms around his neck and trying to pull him back down, though she didn't meet very much resistance.
Maybe Sirius was right (Merlin, what a terrifying thought!). Maybe he'd been so scared of being hurt again that he didn't take the risk. Maybe it was time for him to stop being so cautious, so structured. Spontaneity had been good for him, in his younger years. Maybe it was worth it to risk losing his heart again.
"I'm dying of curiosity!" Harry groaned as he looked out the window again.
"Harry, he's gone back out to the colony, he won't be back for weeks," Sirius laughed. "Come work on some Charms for a while."
"Since when are you the responsible professor?" Harry laughed back.
"Since Remus and I both decided we needed to absorb a little bit of each other. He needed some spontaneity and I needed structure," Sirius shrugged. "C'mon, we'll ignore that Tranfiguration bit."
"Fine, but I warn you, I won't be able to concentrate until I find out what happened."
Just as Harry had sat down at the desk to look over his text, the door opened and a familiar crash sounded. There was a howl of pain and frustration from Tonks, quickly followed by a blast.
"Did you actually just blow that up?" Sirius called in astonishment, taking off for the entrance.
"I'm tired of crashing into it," she complained, coming into the sitting room a moment later. Her hair was back to normal, a vibrant green, short and spiked; and there was a sparkle in her eyes, though they were still tinged with red.
"I take it last night went well, then?" Sirius asked with a laugh.
"You could say that," she replied mysteriously, sighing as she dropped down onto one of the couches. "What are you doing?"
"Charms," Harry replied. "So? Tell us what happened."
"Mmm, I think I know what happened," Sirius said with a grin, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Tonks, who merely shrugged noncommittally. "Come on, cousin dearest, we're all adults or close to here."
"I'm not giving you the dirty details, Sirius," Tonks said with a laugh, shaking her head. "Go back to your Charms." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "I've got about five hours before my shift starts. What are you doing?"
"Learning messenger charms," Harry replied. "Remus thinks I can learn this pretty quickly, since I know how to do a Patronus."
"Yeah, should hardly take you any time at all," Tonks confirmed in unison with Sirius.
Remus sighed. "You're going to be taking the mickey out of me for a very long time for this, aren't you?" he asked Sirius, who gave him a wicked grin.
"Oh, yes. Until the day you die, Lupin," Sirius replied with a cackle.
"She's coming for dinner, if you're curious," Harry added, leaning back in his chair and flicking his wand at the stove.
"Didn't tell her you were back."
"Wanted to see her expression for ourselves."
"Should be arriving in about five minutes."
"Thank you, the tag team of Padfoot and Prongs," Remus said dryly.
"He's more of a mini-Prongs, actually," Sirius commented, laughing when Harry chucked a towel at him. The front door opened and Tonks' call came echoing through the house.
"Sirius? Harry?"
"Kitchen, Tonks!" they both answered in unison, Harry yelping and dodging the towel being thrown back at him.
"Oh, no, you're not doing the back-door slink, Lupin," Sirius said, flicking his wand at the door to block it when Remus started to edge towards it. "Be a man and talk to her, you're not 16 any more."
She appeared in the doorway just then, and her entire face seemed to light up when she spotted Remus. He gave her a cautious smile, startled when she returned it in full.
"Harry!" Hermione and Ginny both shrieked excitedly that night as the Weasleys arrived at Grimmauld Place. Laughing, the two girls flung their arms around him, as the Weasley brothers all rolled their eyes.
"Hey, Hermione. Hey, Ginny," Harry greeted indulgently. "Hey, Ron. Fred, George, how's it going?"
"My goodness, Harry dear, do they feed you at all?" came Mrs Weasley's fussing, as she swatted aside her children lightly and enveloped Harry in a tight hug.
"Why am I always the bad guy around here?" Sirius grumbled goodnaturedly.
"Where's Remus and Tonks?" Ginny asked, looking around.
"Left earlier," Harry said casually, as Sirius stifled another snicker. "Had some... catching-up to do."
"Had some snogging to catch up on, more likely," Sirius muttered.
"Ugh! Sirius, I could've done without that picture!" Ron groaned. "You're, like, old! You're not supposed to be snogging! Ugh, blegh..." he shuddered.
"Well, I'm not the one snogging!" Sirius said indignantly. "And what do you mean, old?"
"Well, you're, like, 40, aren't you?"
"37, thanks, and only just!"
"Everybody stop it, and come into the kitchen for some dinner!" Molly announced. "Harry, dear, have plenty to eat, I really don't think this godfather of yours feeds you, you're wasting away before my eyes..."
"Molly, everybody's wasting away before your eyes..." Sirius protested. "Trust me, the kid eats more than Tonks, Moony and I combined!"
"Explain how he's skin and bones, then!..."
"It's the Potter in him, they're all skinny little..."
