Note: There will be one more pensieve chapter after this one...I think! See, I told you it wouldn't end up being too horrific!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.

14: Say No

As a familiar courtyard materialised around him, Teddy Lupin knew that at some point in the very near future he was going to be in a lot of trouble. Some time in the very near future, his father was going to walk into his office and discover him with his head bent over a pensieve, having no regard for his mother's privacy whatsoever, and Remus was going to be livid.

But for now, this was only a minor concern, for Teddy was very much disinterested in the future, and far more preoccupied with the past.

It was the same courtyard where, in years to come, Teddy had crouched beside a doorway and spied on Chester and the other third year boys. There was the stone bench set against the wall where he had used to sit in his first year and examine his collection of chocolate frog cards...

And sat upon the bench was a familiar looking girl with long, lightening blue hair, a heart shaped face and dark eyes that were fixed intently upon the book that was balanced upon her knees.

That was until a tall, blonde haired boy crept cautiously up to her side and, before she could notice he was there, lunged forwards to throw his arms around her, sending the book tumbling to the cobbled ground as she let out a small shriek of surprise. Before she could struggle at all, the tip of his wand was jabbing her in the neck and he announced:

"And BAM! You're dead! I win...OUCH!"

Tonks withdrew her foot from it's sudden attack on his shin with smirk as he released her, bending to rub at his leg with his free hand.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Slytherin!" the Hufflepuff announced as she stooped to retrieve her book. "I'm going to kick your arse next week, you wait."

"You should have seen yourself, Tonks, you'd have jumped to the top of the Astronomy Tower if I hadn't grabbed you! What's wrong? Did the big nasty Slytherin scare you?"

As Artemis Carrow-Smyth dropped down onto the bench beside her, Tonks stuck her tongue out at him.

"So," she said as she finally cracked a smile and went back to examining her book, searching for her lost page. "Does your sister know you're talking to me? What's she going to say when she finds out you're consorting with the Enemy?"

"I don't think she'll be that worried." the boy said, stretching his legs out before him and peering down at the book on her lap. "After all, it's not like you're a Gryffindor is it? You're just a poncy little Hufflepuff."

Tonks closed the book with a snap when she noticed he was looking, shooting him a mock glare.

"Worried I'm going to figure out your Big Plan, are you?" he asked with a smirk, and she mirrored his expression as she said:

"I don't need a Big Plan to beat you, Art. You're not good enough to warrant that amount of planning."

Artemis gave a snort of disbelief, but did not disagree with her. Instead, he turned to stare across the courtyard for a long moment before he said:

"I want to ask you a question."

"Shoot."

He turned to fix her with a deadly serious expression that seemed to startle her slightly.

"You know we're just joking, don't you? About...about enemies and nasty Slytherins and poncy Hufflepuffs...?"

"Well of course I do! What, you think I'd be serious, Art? Merlin, you can be dim, can't you? My mum's a Slytherin, you know..."

"I know, I know. But...but you know it's all just a joke?"

"Yes!" Tonks' hands slapped down upon the leather bound book, eyes wide in emphasis. "You're not going all silly and soft on me, are you? Because to be honest I'm not sure I can cope with that. A Slytherin is one thing...even a dim Slytherin, I can handle, but..."

"Oh shut up!" Artemis snapped, folding his arms firmly across his chest and scowling. "You don't take anything seriously, do you? You think everything in life is just one big joke! Well it isn't, Tonks! Some things aren't funny at all...they're...they're serious!"

"Houses aren't serious, Art. We can joke about them as much as we like, it doesn't matter what House a person is in, there's more to people than some group they got put in at school. So we get sorted into the House that supposedly suits us best...so what? There's more to Gryffindors than bravery and there's more to Ravenclaws than abnormally sized brains. A Hufflepuff and Slytherin are mates! Shocking! Now get over it!"

There was a long silence as Artemis simply stared at her, a little dazed at her outburst, before he half whispered:

"You're amazing."

"I know I am." Tonks said, apparently unaware of the slightly far away expression upon his face.

"I'm being serious."

"Yes, so you keep on saying. Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow? We could go together, if you like. You can buy me a butterbeer, in anticipation of me being crowned School Dueling Champion next week."

Artemis gave himself a slight shake, as if to drag his mind back from wherever it had been wandering off to, and he asked:

"Are you really sure you can win?"

Tonks paused in her examination of a loose thread on her robes to frown at him.

"Are you still being serious?" she inquired, and when Artemis replied, Teddy rather feared he was about to be hexed for his mumbled:

"Maybe..."

Tonks' expression was utterly withering.

"Why shouldn't I be able to win?" she challenged, and the Slytherin seemed unaware of how offensive he was being when he gave a shrug and mumbled:

"Well...you know...girls aren't really made fot dueling, are they? It's...more of a boy thing...they're more aggressive and stuff..."

"That's a load of crap, and you know it!" Tonks said, rising abruptly to her feet, hugging the book to her chest. "And we're not having this conversation again, we're just not going to because then I might remember what a complete and utter prat you can be, and that would be pretty rubbish after I just said we were mates, wouldn't it?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." the boy mumbled hurriedly, leaping to his feet after her as she began to stalk off towards the corridor entrance. "We'll just...just forget I said it, yeah? I'll buy you a butterbeer, like you said. I'll buy you two, if you're lucky..."

And the next thing Teddy knew, he found himself in a corner of the school library, the two friends sat before him, Artemis pursing his lips together in mock annoyance as Tonks dangled a shiny gold medal upon a ribbon in front of his face, her face aglow with triumph.

"I told you so, didn't I?"

"Yeah...you did." The Slytherin reached to pluck the medal from her grasp to look at it more closely. "You did great, Tonks."

Satisfied at this assessment of her dueling escapades, Tonks tucked one hand under her chin, elbow upon the table as she asked:

"So...how're things with you and Millie?"

Artemis' mild interest in the medal was disturbed as his face contorted miserably.

"Worse," he muttered, shaking his head despairingly. "Much worse...in fact...in fact I'm not sure there even is a me and Millie anymore."

"That sucks." Tonks told him, eying the tabletop with a sigh. "She wasn't bad, for a Slytherin, I mean. Still, no worries, eh? You can do better than her, anyway."

"You think?" he asked dully, and she reached to pat him comfortingly upon the shoulder.

"Sure, Art! I bet you could ask any girl in this whole entire school out and she'd say yes."

Teddy felt oddly disturbed by the far away look that seemed to descend upon Artemis as he watched Tonks examine the tabletop absentmindedly. It was not for a long moment that the Slytherin mumbled:

"Thanks." He paused to watch the girl brush a strand of pink hair behind her ear before announcing: "You're a decent friend, you know? You're my best friend."

Tonks offered him a bright smile, reaching to retrieve her medal and storing it safely away in the pocket of her robes.

"We make a funny pair, don't we? The school heart throb and the girl who has weird hair and wears odd socks..."

"That's daft..."

"I know! They aren't THAT odd socks...I mean they're different colours, but they have the same stripes on them..."

"I mean about me. I'm not the school heart throb, Tonks, that's a ridiculous suggestion."

"Why? It's true! Like I said, you pick any girl in the school..."

"I don't want just any girl in the school."

"School, country, world, whatever. You can have her. Trust me, I know."

"You do?"

"Yep."

"I don't think you do. You can't possibly know that."

"Why not?"

"Because you're crap at Divination."

Tonks clamped one hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle, but Artemis wasn't laughing.

"How long have we been friends now?" he wondered aloud, and since Tonks was too busy giggling to answer, he decided: "It's been like...four...five years. That's a pretty long time."

When Tonks only nodded rather disinterested agreement, he said:

"Do you think we'll always be friends?"

"Sure we will." Tonks agreed, having finally stifled her amusement, and when Artemis' face fell somewhat she offered him a bemused look. "What? Would you rather leave Hogwarts and never speak to me ever again?"

"No...no, of course not."

Tonks' confusion did not seem to cease, and yet Artemis stayed quiet for a very long moment before shifting in his chair until he was sat closer to her, their knees touching under the table.

"I'm not sure...that I want us to be...friends." he mumbled rather uncertainly, reaching to scratch the back of his neck rather awkwardly. "I mean...just friends..."

Tonks pursed her lips firmly together, brow creasing in concentration as she scrutinized his face searchingly. When she failed to make her own mind up she was forced to ask:

"Are you joking?" At the sight of his face crumpling despairingly she hurriedly decided: "You're not joking, you're being serious...very serious...bloody hell..."

"Are you pissed with me?"

"No...I mean...I don't know."

"Please don't be mad...I don't want you to...to be mad..."

"I'm not! I'm not, I just...well...to be honest, Art, it's not every day your best mate randomly tells you he's...you know."

"In love with you?"

"Well...yeah...exactly."

They fell silent, staring at one another with wide, rather startled eyes until she finally drew a deep breath and, hands twisting awkwardly in her lap, asked:

"How long have you...wanted to say that to me?"

"Ages..." the boy gave a rather nervous chuckle. "Since like...fourth year...something like...like that."

"You've had like a million girlfriends, though. That doesn't make any sense..."

"Yeah...well...I was trying to make you jealous...obviously..."

The Hufflepuff buried her face in her hands with a huge sigh as the boy sat before her went the deepest shade of crimson Teddy had ever seen.

"This isn't really happening..." she complained, fingertips pulling at strands of pink hair in confused agitation. "It's just...not right."

"It's not?"

"No it's not."

"Oh...well...well maybe I should...you know..." As he made to stand up, her hands snapped away from her face and she reached to grab hold of him firmly by the arm.

"No! Don't go...I didn't mean it like that...sort of...I just...well you know me, Art, I don't really do the whole dating your best mate thing. I reckon it might ruin everything..."

"Yeah well...well if it does...if it does you've still got Charlie Weasley haven't you? You like him better than me anyway..."

"That isn't true."

"Sure it is! And that's okay, because that means he's your best mate and not me, so...so we could...could try...you know..." When Tonks simply stared at him rather disbelievingly he squirmed in his chair and tried: "It won't be that different to how we are now anyway! I mean...it just means...I don't know...I can hold your hand in the corridor and umm...stuff like that."

"Stuff like that?" The future Head of Aurors managed to frown and snigger simultaneously. "What are you, six or something?" She burst into laughter again and, to Teddy's dismay, threw her arms around the boy, burying her face in his shoulder in at attempt to stifle the sound.

"Stop laughing." the boy muttered as he consented to hugging her back. "You'll get us kicked out."

"I'm sorry, it's just...it's just after however many million girlfriends you'd think you could ask a girl out without being so bloody awkward about it."

"You aren't really the same as the others. Do you think you could say yes yet? Or...no I suppose."

The laughter died on Tonks' face and as she drew away from him again her expression was deadly serious and thoughtful.

"Go on," he said, smiling encouragingly. "Say yes!"

Say no! Teddy silently demanded, heart hammering in his chest. Say no, say no!

And when the reply left her lips, Teddy felt as if he had been punched in the chest.

"Yes." she said.