THE BEST OF ME
Chapter 7: THERE FOR YOU
Previously:
Remus didn't expected Tonks and Bill to tag along with him, he was planning on going to Hagrid's hut this morning, so he could play with Skips; however, he had crossed path with the redhead in the hallway.
"..."
However, the redhead meeting wasn't the only thing he should worried about. His next problem literally bumped into him. Remus looked down to see Tonks sitting on the ground, he quickly helped her out and apologized, for bumping into her. Although, the young girl waved off his apology and she apologized instead.
"..."
Tonks placed her hands on her hips in a sassy way, as she announce again, "The twelve mysteries of Hogwarts."
She leaned down, the hands on her hips were now placed on their table to balance herself, "I heard it from the older years." She explained, grinning, "And I want to investigate it."
"..."
"Hogwarts mystery number one is officially solved." He grinned, "See you later, Tonks."
She nods back, "See you later too. Remus."
With that, the three if them went to their table and begun to eat. Going mystery hunting made him hungry a lot and he was happy that the elves who were in the kitchen added his favourite dish.
However, he has to admit...that was fun.
The days went by quietly, and one morning, a thin coat of ice and snow was covering the grounds of the school. The season had end, the autumn wind went away and was replaced by Jack Frost's freezing huff of air. The last sign of autumn from yesterday was quickly pushed away by winter and Hogwarts happily accepted the cold season.
A gale passed by, brushing its coldness trough the students' who were making their way to the greenhouse. Remus shivered slightly, digging his chin further in the scarp wrapped around his neck. He closed his eyes, relaxing a little bit before exhaling. He took a peek with his right eye when his redhead friend who was besides him begun chatting, "Time flew by quickly, huh." He grinned, "It's almost December and it means Christmas break!"
The young werewolf could only nod, he removed his scarf and hang it in a nearby rack before walking towards the large table. The heat inside the greenhouse had warmed his whole body quickly and he gave a satisfied grunt. He and Bill made their way besides Tonk who was talking with her fellow Hufflepuffs; however, when the young girl spotted the two of them, she politely excused herself and made her way to them.
"Wotcher," She greeted with a smile and the two boys greeted her back, "Excited for Christmas break?"
Bill nodded enthusiastically while a far off look made its way to Remus' features. 'Christmas...' He thought before shaking his head. It isn't time to be sad now, he had spend four years of his life being alone, he should be used to it by now.
Looking forward, he begun listening to pofessor Sprouts' lesson on how to take care of a Sneezing Plant. However, he couldn't focus on the lesson, his mind was somewhere else and he didn't even registered the sad sigh he had released from his lips.
"..."
His ears twitched, picking up the sound of running shoes and he quickly turned around; only to find himself catching the runner in his arms. Although, seems like they had put a little much force in that tackle and he found himself crashing towards the floor. He let out a groan and heard Weasley laughing loudly at him.
That's when he picked up a familiar scent, relaxing a little bit, he sighed and sat up with the troublesome girl in her arms. "Nymphadora, you could have hurt yourself." He scolded her, frowning a little bit at the girl in her arms who sheepishly smile back; although, she glared at him at the use of her first name before reverting back to her happy self. "Wotcher, Remus." She chuckled, a bit of her fringe falling on her face and he swore it was platinum blonde, but before he could inspect it more, the young girl quickly got up and fixed her hood; that's when he saw the mousy color that he had saw back in the train before.
Had, he imagined it? Shaking his head, he politely accept the hand she had offered and lifted himself up. While fixing his robes, he heard Bill asking, "How do you always find us, Tonks? Weren't you at the west tower earlier?"
Remus looked up to see Tonks shrugging her shoulders at the redhead, "Maybe it was just a coincidence." She answered honestly, but the young werewolf wasn't fooled, he could see the mischievous glint in her chocolate brown eyes. There was a snort from Bill, "Always, Tonks—" He paused a little bit, "always, can't be a coincidence."
The young Hufflepuff shrug again, "Not always, Weasley, and for your information, I asked around."
"Sure..."
Remus could only chuckle at his friends, this types moments made him happy. All of them begin to chat, until Bill has to excuse himself since he had detention from professor Snape, for what reason? Well, he had broken some bottles despite it was Ceasar and Ferrer's doing. At that time, Remus was about to protest, but Bill had calmed him down and told him it was fine. With that, he let those two go.
He sat down at a booth in the muggle sections and he begun reading a book that he had picked out. He then smelled a familiar jasmine scent and looked up to find Tonks returning with five stacks of books. "You know, we should asked Bill, if he would like to join our little book club." Exclaimed Tonks while setting the books down with a flop and Remus closed the book he was reading with so much force, he quirked a surprise eyebrow at that.
Shaking his head he asked, "Oh why so?"
The young Hufflepuff shrugged her shoulders, "He might be feeling left out." She answered, sitting down besides him and turning on the first page of the book she chose to read. A small frown made his way in his lips; with out realizing it, he begun to speak.
"It's fine," He began, his green orbs glancing at her before shyly turning back to the book he was reading, "Bill, doesn't even like to read." He sighed, "And besides—" He stops for a little bit, his head dropping down; as, a result his brown locks fell down on his eyes, "I like it when it's just you and me..."
There was a pregnant silent lingering in the air, and he felt the atmosphere around them getting a little bit warmer. What's wrong with him, why did he said that? He exhaled nervously, contemplating if he should look at her. He felt the small shock again in his spine and he turned his head on his left to just see the invisible caster.
For him to find there was no one there, 'What the—' He thought, clearly sure there was some invisible entity playing with him. Sighing, he took the risk at returning his gaze back at Tonks, he tilt his head up and his eyes widened a little bit at the light blush on her face.
She met his stare, "Thankyou, Remus—" She begun; a bashful grin appeared on her face, "I also like it when it's just the two of us."
At her statement, he plainly nodded while trying his best to stop his face for blusging. His heart gave a weird lurched and he painfully clutched his knee. Then, suddenly a switch was click on in his mind and he sighed, thinking the reason why he was feeling this way. Closing his eyes, he sighed again and the feeling of sadness enveloped him. He took a peek again at the corner of his eyes to see her already reading the book she picked out.
A small melancholy smile appeared on his face, maybe the feeling he felt before is happiness because he had found someone who enjoyed his company and the desolation drowning him now is maybe the thought of them leaving him when they found out—'especially her.'
Returning to his book, he begun to read the line, "To lose you is my worse fear."
Tonks liked winter, she had told them before, she loved seeing the snow fall through the window, but unfortunately, winter usually meant more visits to the hospital wing for her. For, that, Remus kept a close eye on her when the three of them went out to play in the snow that piled up from yesterday snow storm.
He drawn out his arm, swiftly catching her when she slipped on the snow again. The young Hufflepuff muttered a quick thanks and he was about to reply back when something cold hit him from behind his head and he turned around to see Bill standing on the top of a snow-made forge and besides him were a pile of snowballs.
"Snowball fight!" He shouted, throwing a barrage snowball at them and Remus quickly pulled Tonks away from the redhead's attack. He scoop up some snow and rolled it to a sphere.
He turned to Tonks, "I distract him and you will create a lot of ammos." With that, he charge, running towards the snow tower, dodging every snowballs that was incoming for him. With a large swing of his arm, he hurled the round snow towards the redhead. He smirked when it straight up knocked him on the snow and it widened when a rain of snowballs came towards him.
He winced when Bill was covered by a lot of snow, "Are you okay, Bill?" He questioned walking towards him and a arm pop out of the snow, giving him a thumbs up and the young werewolf chuckled, grabbing the Weasley's hand and pulling him out of the snow.
"That was aswome!" Bill yelled when he finally emerged from the snow and Remus heard crunch of soft boots running towards him. He turned around to find Tonks with her hand raise, "We make a cool team!" She exclaimed and the young boy raised an eyebrow at her raised hand, and he realized what she wants.
He gave her a high five, "We do make a great team." He said softly, "Now, who wants to make an igloo and we can roast smores inside."
At this Tonks begun jumping in joy while Bill looks confused, "What's an igloo?" He asked and Remus gave him a cheshire smile, "You'll find out later—" He starts, "but first, let's square up some snows!"
The three of them begun rolling up the snow and carving them into cubes; since, it was a little to heavy for them, so Remus was the one who has to lift the large snow cubes up and stack them. "For a skinny guy, you really are strong." Bill mused and Remus rolled his eyes at him.
Five minutes later, they were finished and Remus took a step back to observe their master piece. The snow was piled up in archway shape and the entrance way was the right size for four footer to five footer eleven years old kids. He look back at his two friends, especially the Hufflepuff who pulled out their food supplies.
"I got the marshmallows here, the crackers—" Remus' mouth water a little bit when Tonks pulled out a pack of muggle chocolates, "and Hershey's new selling chocolate." Then, after that she brought out two small thermoses, "I also brought hot chocolate and mint tea."
Remus was still eyeing the pack of chocolates and the thermos were the hot chocolate is contain in her hands, he didn't registered Bill's words. "Muggle food! I'm getting excited to try some," He exclaimed happily while grabbing the young werewolf's wrist, "Come on, Remus! Let's go inside the igloo already!"
He let out a surprise yelp when the redhead dragged him inside the igloo. All of them sat crossed legs and in their middle, Remus lit up a fire. The heat of the flame warmed him up and he took out three clean sticks that was behind him.
"Were making smores, the muggle way!" Tonks explained to the redhead besides Remus who gave the stick a confounded look, "What is this used for?" Bill questioned and Remus smiled amusely at him. He took out a single marshmallow from the pack and showed it to him, "Have you ever tried this before?" He asked the redhead and Bill shook his head, stating that he hasn't.
With that he gave him the white cylindrical sweet, "How about you tried some first." He offered which the Weasley took hesitantly before throwing it in his mouth. Bill chewed for a little bit and Remus watched his cerulean eyes lit up.
"This taste good." He exclaimed and Tonks spoke up, "It taste much more better heated." She said, handing the redhead a perfect golden colored marshmallow, "Here try it and after this, I'll show you how to make smores."
Bill quirked his brows at the marshmallow, "I thought for sure that this muggle food will burn," He chimed in and Remus felt a overwhelming dark aura besides him, "Especially you, Tonks, I thought for sure that your clothes will caught on fire because of your clumsi—oomph!?"
He was shut up when the young Hufflepuff shoved the marshmallow inside his mouth. Remus who was drinking his hot chocolate that Tonks had offered him earlier, begun chocking. He punched his chest, trying to unclogged his airways and after that he was a coughing mess. It took him five seconds to recover, "Tonks, you almost killed me." He laughed hoarsely and a alarmed look make its way on her face.
She soothedly rubbed circles on his back, "Sorry, Remus." She said and he was about to answer when both of them heard a happy hum. The duo turned their head toward their friend who happily chewed on his marshmallow.
"Thi- s gr't!" Bill proclaimed, but both Tonks and him didn't understand the words he just said. However, both of them snorted out the melted marshmallow sticking everywhere in his mouth.
Shaking her head, she pointed her stick at him, "Do you want to make smores with me?" She asked and a smile made its way on his lips.
"Sure." He answered, sticking a marshmallow on his stick and begun cooking it in the fire. When it was melted enough to stick, he quickly sandwiched it with the crackers before placing it back on the flame.
When it was done, he blew on it first before taking a bite. He gave a satisfied hum at the way the marshmallow melted in his mouth, "This is really good." He said after swallowing his food and Tonks nodded, taking a bite on her own smore.
"Want some?" She asked and he was about to refuse when Tonks laughed, "It's alright, Remus, I have another one in my hand." The young werewolf could only sighed and he took a bite on her smore. His face lit up when the sweet flavour of chocolate melted in his mouth.
"Like it, well you can have it." She gave him, her smore and he politely accepted it, but not before saying thank you to her.
He was about to take another bite when he sniffed the aroma of mint tea besides him and he looked down to see Tonks pouring herself a cup of tea from her thermos, "I never thought of you as a tea person, Tonks." He quirked an eyebrow at her which she rolled her eyes.
Her lips curved up, "Well my mother was the fancy type and she really loves tea, so she has a hobby collecting different types of tea leaves and I grew up drinking them." She smiled fondly and Remus thought the young girl was missing her mother.
"She sounds like a lovely woman that mother of yours." He complimented Ms. Tonks and her smile turned genuine, "Yeah..." She muttered, pausing a little bit and gazing up at his eyes, before speaking again, "Thankyou, Remus.
He smiled back, "Anytime, Nymphadora."
Remus laughed when she playfully slapped his arm, but not before giving him a glare.