Chapter 6: Sick Day

A few days later, Tonks found herself bored on a Saturday morning. She sighed, and wondered about Sirius and Remus, and what they were doing.

she looked at her watch, it was 845am, and she figured that it probably wasn't too early to go visit them. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.

She got dressed, and ate a spot of breakfast, before heading out the door.

Meanwhile, Sirius was sitting in the front parlor of number 12 Grimauld Place. He was attempting to occupy himself with a book but was failing miserably. Sirius vaguely wondered if it was too soon to start drinking, it was the weekend after all. Not that it mattered all that much at that point, but it wasn't like he had anywhere to be, or a job to go to. he sighed.

Just after 915am, Sirius heard a tiny knock on the front door, and saw a pink haired witch pop her head into the hallway looking around.

Sirius smiled fondly at his younger cousin.

"Wotcher Sirius!" She greeted him.

Looking around she realized that Remus was not with him. she felt a small pang of disappointment flood her.

"Thank Merlin! I was gonna die of boredom!" Sirius cried out as she entered the parlor.

"I'm glad I could be of service to you!" She laughed, before adding, "I just couldn't stand being at my flat any longer and figured I'd come visit my favorite cousin!"

"Hell, I better be your favorite! The rest are right loons!" He said, laughing.

Tonks laughed out loud.

"Yes, yes they sure are." Tonks replied to him.

"So, where's Remus, not around to keep you company today? Tonks mused, as she looked around for the lanky man.

"Why, you worried about him?

Tonks chuckled nervously.

"No. Ah- I'm just wondering. He's usually here with you."

Sirius leaned back in his chair smiling at her. "He's upstairs, he's just resting."

'oh.' she thought. 'He's never asleep this late in the morning usually. Oh, I think last night was the full moon.'

"Oh. he's OK though right?

"like I said, it kinda seems like you're worried about him." Sirius said chuckling.

Tonks thought about it for a second realizing that she was kinda worried.

"Well, it was the full moon last night right?"

Sirius looked up. "what?" He said, slightly shocked.

"You know about that?" Sirius proceeded cautiously

"Yeah, yeah he he told me." Tonks explained. Sirius was in shock. Remus never told anyone about his secret unless he absolutely had to usually.

"How did that happen?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I had made a joke, and asked if you called him Moony because he was a werewolf, it just happened to actually be true."

Siri was surprised. This was not information Remus forfeited very easily.

Sirius nodded at her.

"Well, he'll be okay. He kinda got hurt."

"Merlin! What happened."

"Sometimes Remus hurts himself on accident during the full moon, it's why we became animagis, he can only hurt humans not animals. But, he doesn't let me go with him right now, worries I'll get caught." Sirius said somberly.

Tonks nodded. Still worried.

"I mean, is there anything we can do?" Tonks asked.

"Right now, probably not. He'll just want to rest. But we might be able to force feed him tea and cookies in a little while. Remus has been a werewolf a really long time. He'll be alright, he heals fast." Sirius explained.

"How- how long" tonks asked.

"31 years." Sirius said, looking at her.

Tonks put her hand over her mouth is horror.

'No' she thought. 'That's not right. Remus was so kind, he deserved so much better.'

"He was 5?" Tonks asked, horrified.

"4, technically." Sirius said, sadly.

Tonks sat silently, horrified for Remus. She stared off, drinking her coffee for awhile trying to take in what she had just learned.

She sighed looking over at the empty fireplace. When Molly' Weasley' face suddenly appeared.

"Sirius, I have the dittany you needed., I'm sending George over with it." Molly said.

"Thank you so much Molly." Sirius told her.

After George dropped the bottle of dittany off, Sirius went upstairs to see Remus.

Sirius quietly went into his room, and put the bottle on his night stand.

Remus stirred, turning over slightly. "Thank you Padfoot." Remus croaked, he's voice was still weak.

"No problem Moony. Just rest." He told him.

After, Sirius went back down to join Tonks in the front parlor.

"Hey Cousin." Tonks said, focusing on the prophet.

"Hey, anything good in there." Sirius asked, pointing at the newspaper.

"Oh you know, rubbish like usual." Tonks said rolling her eyes.

"Did Remus need anything?" Tonks asked.

"Why, want to go take care of him?" Sirius said, cheekily.

Tonks rolled her eyes again. "Just wondering how a friend is doing. It's the Hufflepuff way!"

"Sure it is." Sirius said, grinning.

Tonks just glared at him.

Later that morning Sirius and Tonks were in the kitchen talking.

"Hey, could you bring this to Remus?" Sirius asked. Holding out a tray with tea and chocolate biscuits.

"Sure." To keep replied.

"You can just put it down next to his door, he'll hear you. He's the third door down on the right." Sirius explained.

Tonks took the tray, making her way to Remus' bedroom.

The door was cracked open just slightly, and Tonks put the tray down next to his door.

She started to walk back down the hallway when a quiet voice stopped her.

"Tonks?" Remus said, looking at her from the doorway.

"Oh, hey. Sirius asked me to bring that to you." She looked at him. Other than the bandage on his arm and a slight paleness he actually looked okay.

"Thank you." He said.

"No problem." She replied, tripping over the carpet in the hall a little.

Remus smirked, he thought she was very amusing.

She gave him a small wave before going back downstairs.

Remus watched her as she went, admiring her.

'Shit' he thought to himself. 'This is not good. You absolutely cannot like her.' Deep down Remus knew she'd probably never return the feelings, and shutting her out had been his way of trying to avoid the pain of watching her fall in love with some other bloke. But, avoiding her was way too hard. For some reason he couldn't resist her entertainment, and charm.

~

Later in the afternoon, Remus finally emerged from the bedroom. he slowly walked into the kitchen finding Sirius sitting alone, doing one of the activities from the back of the daily paper. he looked around, looking for Tonks. A fact that was not lost on Sirius.

"Looking for someone?" Sirius said sarcastically.

"No." Remus said gruffly.

Sirius smiled at his friend.

"Fine, I was looking for her. Okay, happy?"

"Oh, very." Sirius said with a huge grin.

"I don't know why you do this. Even if I did like her. Nothing can happen anyway." Remus said, coldly.

Sirius just shook his head. "And, I don't know why you do this! Your so fucking difficult." Sirius practically yelled at him.

"What do you want from me, Sirius. Remus asked his friend?"

"I want you to act like you like her, which you very clearly do!"

"I'm trying okay! I- I'm scared." The last part he practically whispered.

Sirius had know Remus long enough to know why he said this. Connection was scary for him, he constantly feared loosing people. He often made it a habit to keep people at a distance. And being a werewolf made all of those feelings worse.

Sirius nodded, dropping the subject for the moment, "let me make you tea." He added, trying to calm him.

Sirius set the tea down in front of Remus,

"Here Moony."

"Thank you" Remus responded.

"How you feeling?" Sirius implored.

"Much better now. Tea and biscuits helped."

"Mmmm I'm sure the little witch who brought them to you helped too." He mused.

Remus smiled a little while shaking his head. Annoyed with his friends persistence.

"It was nice to see her.okay." Remus admitted.

"Good, because she's coming back soon." Sirius said with a wild grin.

"Where is she?" Remus asked looking around.

Sirius smiled. "She offered to do some shopping for me, I sent her with a list. She didn't seem to mind at all."

"What exactly did you need?" Remus asked.

"I needed a birthday gift for Harry, his birthday is in a few days." Sirius clarified.

Remus nodded, taking another sip of his tea.

"Yes, I know when his birthday is." Remus said, peering at him over his mug.

Sirius laughed at him.

Just then, Walburga started shrieking. Sirius rolled his eyes scowling, knowing exactly why.

there was a thud and they could hear Tonks swearing at mrs black.

Cousin!! Your back!

"Damn, your mother is a bitch! Scared me out of my skin with her shrieking!"

"Ignore her, that's what I did when I lived with her!" Sirius exclaimed.

Tonks and Remus chuckled.

"I got everything you needed Sirius, but can I just ask..."

"Are these really needed, would Harry really need them right now?" Tonks asked, holding up a box of rubbers.

Remus spit his tea out.

"Sirius! He's 15!" Remus scolded him.

Tonks nodded, clearly agreeing with Remus' sentiment.

"Yeah, so!" Sirius said.

"Sirius..." Remus started.

"What you think 15 year olds don't have sex, I did." Sirius said.

He was correct, that had happened to Sirius.

Remus just smiled shaking his head.

"Tonks side with me! Cmon when did you know, loose it."

"Well, I was older than 15...I was 18."

Sirius huffed. "You're both boring."

"BUT! Don't you think it's better to be prepared?" Sirius added.

"Sure, I guess so." Tonks conceded.

Sirius leaned back, looking quite proud of himself.

"Yeah, well the look the clerk gave me was shit, so he better actually need them." Tonks warned.

Sirius barked laughing.

"Good job Padfoot." Remus chuckled.

Tonks just rolled her eyes as she ate a few candies from the table.

Sirius poured himself a glass of bourbon, before asking the others if they wanted some.

"sure" Remus and tonks replied in unison.

eventually, the trio migrated to the back parlor.

Tonks was looking through the shelves in the parlor at the puzzles and games. Dusting one of the dirty boxes off with her fingers, she turned around excitedly. "Do guys want to play monopoly with me?!?" She asked hopefully.

Remus couldn't say no, her excitement was pretty adorable.

"Sure!" Remus told her. Looking over at Sirius.

"I'll do it, as long as I can drink!" Sirius said.

Making the other two laugh.

~

"Remus! No! You knew I was going for the blue properties!" Tonks scolded him, turning her hair an angry red shade.

Remus smiled at her. "I'm sorry." He said, chuckling.

She grumbled at him. Taking the dice from his hand. Noticing how warm he was, she thought it was nice.

Sirius leaned back in his chair, pleased with himself. his plan for them was coming into place quite nicely he thought to himself.

Just then, Sirius excused himself for a second to go to the kitchen. The truth was he wanted a snack, but figured leaving them alone was an added bonus to the situation.

"Sorry I took broadway on you. Maybe you can steal it back." Remus told her.

"Oh, I intend to!" Tonks said, mischievously.

Remus smiled at her, and nodded his head.

She was so spunky and full of life. Remus admired that about her, even in the middle of a war she still had so much life in her.

"Thank you for going shopping for Sirius, I know he appreciated it." Remus said.

"It's alright, I wasn't really going to do anything today anyway, he gave me something to spend time on."

"Still, it was very kind of you. Some people would of said no!" Remus explained.

"Well, that's just what we Hufflepuffs do." She said, getting up from her seat to refill her drink. She tripped on the rug on her way to the bar tray across the room.

Remus put his arm around her to catch her instinctively.

She gasped, thinking she was going to fall. but then was surprised when she felt a warm arm catch her.

She blushed at her clumsiness.

"Are you OK?" He asked concerned.

"Yes, just extremely embarrassed." Tonks admitted, while chuckling to herself.

Remus smiled at her coyly , realizing he was still holding on to her.

"Thank you, Remus." Tonks said breathlessly.

Tonks was surprised, moving back to lean against the table.

"Not a problem, we can't have one of our best Order members injuring herself!" He said, smiling at her.

"Yeah, I'm a bit known for that." She chuckled.

"You don't say!" Remus Teased her.

Tonks laughed.

"And, besides, I'm not that good anyway, I'm one of the youngest members. Tonks said.

"No, Tonks your great. And your clearly A very hard worker too. Whatever you lack in experience you certainly make up for with diligence and skill." Remus told her.

Tonks felt her heart flutter slightly. She enjoyed being complemented by him.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

He smiled at her.

"Anytime."

Tonks looked down. Then frowned slightly. She reached out to touch his arm.

"You didn't hurt herself catching me, right." She asked, remembering his injured and bandaged arm.

"It's my other arm that's hurt. And don't worry , it will be completely healed by tomorrow probably." Assuring her.

Tonks nodded.

Meanwhile, in the hall, Sirius stood silently smiling to himself. Yes, His plans were coming along quite nicely.

Meanwhile, Remus stood up and took Tonks glass in his hand. She looked at him quizzically.

"Figured id just get this for you, can't have you falling again." Remus said. Filling her glass for her. Tonks smiled at him. Remus handed the glass with the amber liquid in to her. And, She shifted slightly to sit next to Remus on the small sofa.

"Thank you." She said, sipping her drink.

"Anytime."

Tonks pulled her legs up onto the sofa, resting sideways against the couch to face Remus.

Tonks didn't know why but she had a fluttering inside her.

Remus looked at her left hand. "What happened to your hand?" He asked, concerned.

"Punched an arrestee in the face." Tonks said, looking quite proud of herself.

Remus chuckled. "Did they deserve it?" He asked, humorously.

"I think so!" Tonks exclaimed, laughing.

"We we're trying to issue an arrest for a potions master who the ministry believed was illegally making dangerous potions then selling them as health potions.

"That's terrible!"

"I know! And then, he thought he was going to punch me. But, I was faster!" She chuckled.

Remus couldn't imagine anyone hurting Tonks, the thought of her injured actually really bothered him.

But, he was still quite impressed with the little witch. She was crafty.

He smiled at her, "sounds like he got what he deserved."

"Mmmmm." Tonks said, taking a sip of her beverage.

Just then, Sirius walked back into the room. Silently acknowledging that his friends were now on the same sofa.

He smiled a little to himself. Yes, his plan for his friends was certainly coming along very well.

...