Valentine's Day
Tonks wondered around the neighborhood of Notting Hill on a cold and wet afternoon in early February. She was failing miserably at finding Ashlee Warbucks house. For a house that was supposedly a mansion, she couldn't find it. She had been tasked by a Mad eye to bring some documents to Ashlee but was starting to worry that she would have to admit to mad eye that she couldn't follow what seemed like very simple directions. Seeing a person up ahead standing on the side walk, she decided to see if they could give her directions.
"Um Hello." Tonks said, awkwardly. "You wouldn't happen to know where the Warbuck house is would you?"
The man turned to look at her.
"You're looking for Ms Warbucks?" The man asked. Tonks had never heard anyone call Ashlee that before and kinda stuttered when she responded. "Um, yeah."
"And she knows your coming?" The man asked.
Tonks was beyond confused.
"Yes." She said, cautiously.
The man stepped back, and a moss covered gate opened up, to reveal a house bigger than tonks had ever seen in her life.
It took a lot of strength to not let her mouth hit the ground.
She made her way over to the large black from door. She knocked on the big handle, and it made a loud 'thud' noise. after a few more seconds the door opened to reveal Ashlee.
"Wotcher." Tonks greeted her, before Ashlee moved aside to let her into the massive home.
tonks followed the young looking woman through the large front room into the kitchen.
"Wow, your house is really big." tonks sputtered.
Ashlee smiled at her.
"We use to actually have all of the order meetings here during the first war." Ashlee explained to her.
Tonks was surprised, she hadn't know that. Sometimes she also forgot that Ashlee wasn't a her age, she was old enough to be her grandmother probably.
"Here." Tonks said. "This is everything that Mad Eye sent for you." She continued.
"Thank you." Ashlee replied, before taking the documents from her. She scanned through the documents and appeared to be satisfied by the contents. Tonks could see that the file contained photos of different areas of the nearby coast, but wasn't sure what it was about.
"I really appreciate this. I'm sure you had a busy day at work, so I'm doubly thankful." Ashlee said.
"Drink?" She continued.
Tonks nodded, sitting down at the large kitchen island.
"Have any fun plans for Valentine's Day?" Tonks asked.
"I think we're gonna stay close. We'll probably just stay here in London somewhere. Order some room service." Ashlee explained.
Tonks nodded. That actually sounded pretty nice.
"What about you, are you and Remus doing anything?" Ashlee asked.
Tonks smiled a little. She wasn't surprised that Ashlee knew about them. She was always talking with Sirius.
"Yeah. I think that we are going out to dinner, gonna keep it low key. Will probably just hangout together afterwards" tonks explained.
Ashlee nodded. "I'm kinda surprised you were able to get Remus to go out at all. he's certainly a homebody." She mentioned.
Tonks chuckled. She wasn't wrong. Remus did like staying in. tonks suspected that this was for several reasons but thought it probably had a lot to do with his insecurities over being a werewolf. That's what it always seemed to boil down to...
The women talked with each other for awhile longer before tonks said goodbye and left, heading back to her apartment. Tonks was pleasantly surprised how nice it had been talking with Ashlee.
~
A few days later , Tonks found herself at her desk, at work. It was Valentine's Day and she was kinda desperate To be able to leave so that she could run over to headquarters to see Remus. she was pretty sure that tonight they would finally be able together. she had pretty much waiting since October for this day and wanted nothing more than to go rip Remus's clothes right off. The full moon had been days before and Remus seemed to be in good spirits, so she was hoping to shag him.
Finally it was time for her to leave for the day. She practically ran out of the ministry as she was leaving.
Once outside, she spun on the spot, popping back up just a few blocks from Grimauld Place. She smirked to herself as she walked towards her destination. She had a few surprises up her sleeve to him.
Sirius and Remus were both already at headquarters together. They were situated in the sitting room up on the second floor, and Sirius was grilling Remus about his plans with tonks for that night.
"I told you, we are going to muggle London for dinner, we'll be back later on." Remus said.
Sirius had been complaining about the departure all day. He didn't do too well on his own it seemed these days.
Sirius huffed. "So, do you think you guys will finally shag, like normal couples do." He said, sounding snotty.
Remus looked up at his friend. he certainly was in a foul mood that day. Being stuck in the house wasn't good for him at all.
"Maybe." Remus said. "And, don't use that word." He added.
Sirius rolled his eyes at him. "Fine. Don't tell me." He groaned. "And, what word, shag?"
"No, couple."
Sirius stared at him in apparent awe and annoyance.
"Mate. Your going on a date on Valentine's Day. Your a couple whether you like that word or not." Sirius explained.
Remus grumbled, knowing Sirius was right. "Look, we're a couple, okay. it just makes me ... uncomfortable.
"So that means you're not going to shag her." Sirius said, in a matter of fact tone.
"I'm not promising anything padfoot. If we want to we will, and if not we won't." Remus said shortly.
Sirius grumbled something about Remus not being any fun.
After a few minutes, both of them heard the front door open, and someone stumbled in Ungracefully. Tonks had knocked over the cost stand in the hall and now Mrs Black was loosing her shit.
"YOU FLITHY LITTLE BLOOD TRAITOR! HOW DARE YOU STEP FOOT INTO THIS HOME."
The portrait screamed bloody murder.
When Tonks finally uncovered her ears, she looked up to see Remus smiling down at her from the landing up above.
"Wotcher. Remus." She said, beaming up at him.
he smiled down at her, before walking down the stairs to greet her. Together they went into the front parlor of the house together.
"Here, I got you something." He said, handing her a little bag.
Inside was her favorite wine and some chocolate. Tonks loved it.
"Thank you." She said, giving him a kiss.
"Can we have some?" She asked, holding up the bottle of wine.
Remus smiled at her, nodding.
Tonks curled up on the sofa, and watched Remus pour them some wine.
He figured it was still a little early to go to dinner yet, so he figured that they could kill some time.
"Mmm." Tonks murmured as she drank her wine. It tasted nice.
Remus smiled at her, sitting down next to her.
"Did you have a good day?" He asked her.
"Mmmmm. Busy, but good. The auror department thinks that it was McNair that sent that devils snare to Bode a few weeks ago. Sent out a memo about it today."
Remus nodded. The order had strongly suspected this but now the ministry had confirmed it.
Remus and tonks talked for awhile longer, and Remus told her all about his day trying to deal with Sirius, unsuccessfully.
eventually, they decided that it was a good time to leave for dinner.
"I'll be right back. Gotta run up to my room really quick." Tonks said.
She ran up past Sirius who had just emerged from the sitting room. He gave her a quizzical look as she went into Remus room.
She flashed him a small hand motion, pushing her finger to her lips to keep him quiet.
He wondered what she was up to. But in a flash she had come back down to meet Remus in the hall. Sirius waved goodbye to them as they left him in the hallway.
Sirius was happy for his friend. He was sure he hadn't seen Remus this happy in a long time. tonks was bringing out a whole new side of his old friend.
Remus and tonks meandered down a small bustling side street in the north end of muggle London.
They had planned on going to a small bistro together, that tonks had gone to before and liked. She had told Remus that she would pay for the night as her treat to him. Remus had initially protested, but Tonks convinced him eventually.
After sitting down at the restaurant. Tonks chuckled, pointing to the window next to them.
Remus turned slightly to see multiple grown men dressed as Cupid.
Remus laughed. "That's great."
"They look like they belong in a parade!" Tonks said, gleefully.
Remus agreed, they certainly looked very silly.
After the pair had finished eating their food, they shared a slice of cake together.
Tonks even ordered a slice to go for Sirius since he had been so annoyed that they had left to begin with. she knew he hated being alone so she hoped the cake would slightly makeup for the fact that he could never leave the house.
While they walked back towards Grimauld place together. Tonks rested her head on Remus shoulder, as they walked, trying to feel his warmth through his coat.
"Look how cute!" Tonks said, pointing out the light up animals in the park.
they went through the park inspecting all of the light displays, and tonks couldn't help but think how fascinating muggle London was.
"Oh no! That reindeer lost his head." Tonks said, pointing to a headless light up reindeer whose head was sitting in the snow next to its body.
Remus chuckled at the poor sight, before looking around.
"Maybe we should fix it for them." He said, before pointing his wand at the reindeer. And just like that, it's head was back on its body.
Tonks gave the little reindeer a pat on its head before they kept walking through the park. They would occasionally stop to look at some of the other light displays and comment on them.
After they left the park and the trees were not around them anymore, Remus had noticed that the moon had come out from behind the clouds, illuminating the streets of London. All of a sudden it made him feel really uncomfortable being outside. it felt like the moon was somehow closer to the earth than normal and it was making his loose his nerve. he was relieved when they turned onto the road to Grimauld Place.
he kept biting his lip nervously still. He couldn't stop focusing on the moon above him. And the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be away from tonks. the moon made him feel more unsafe to be around than normal.
once they got back inside, Remus felt like was finally able to catch his breath. Tonks went into the front parlor and Remus went to give Sirius his cake, before joining tonks back upstairs in the parlor.
"Wotcher." Tonks greeted him, when he came into the parlor.
He sat down next to her and took a glass of wine that she was handing him. He sipped the red liquid, hoping it would make him feel less uncomfortable and nervous.
~
Eventually the two went upstairs with each other, but Remus kept dragging his feet on the stairs. Not wanting to reject tonks, but feeling completely uncomfortable at the same time was not a nice feeling at all.
"You coming slow poke," tonks teased him, looking back at him.
Remus smiled slightly, nodding.
Once they both got to the landing, they walked down the hall towards their rooms. Tonks had expected him to in her to stay with him. But he didn't. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, then he mumbled something that sounded like goodnight, and closed his door behind himself. Tonks stood there in the hall completely perplexed at what had just happened. She was confused, it was like somehow they had gone back in time to months before when Remus wouldn't even kiss her. What had happened?
She sighed sadly as she went into her room to change into her pajamas. She put on pajamas with a black soft cotton robe over the top. She decided that she was going to go to the kitchen to try and get her mind off of the peculiar relationship she found herself in with Remus Lupin.
Tonks had perched herself up on the counter in the kitchen, and was eating vanilla ice cream when Sirius came into the basement kitchen.
He looked at his cousin quizzically, looking around the kitchen.
"No offense or anything, but why are you down here?" Sirius asked, sounding kinda confused.
Tonks narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm just eating ice cream." Tonks said, trying not to sound too wounded.
"No, no. I mean why are you down here alone on Valentine's Day, and not up stairs with Remus?" He asked, sounding completely exasperated.
Tonks explained what had happened to Sirius. He narrowed his eyes at her.
"No no no." He said as he paced a little bit.
"He's not allowed to do that." Sirius said, clearly annoyed with his friend.
Tonks shrugged.
"I can't really give him a hard time about it." She said.
"No you can, and you should. You should give him the hardest time about it. He's done this forever and he needs to stop. You make him really happy and he just throws it all away all the time." Sirius sneered quietly.
Tonks sighed. he wasn't wrong. Remus was so hot and cold.
Meanwhile, upstairs Remus was internally cursing himself. He had felt like A complete arse when he saw that tonks put champagne and candles on his bedside table. She always tried so hard, and here he was just totally derailing all of her plans for the evening.
he didn't think he could feel much worse, the. He saw the bathroom. Tonks had set up a romantic bubble bath for them to share, and he had been a complete tosser to her.
down in the kitchen, tonks was still raving about her frustration. "I did all of that, and now I look stupid because he didn't even want any of those things!" She whispered.
"I'm telling you, that's not it. he definitely wants that. Go talk to him. Something is probably wrong."
Tonks agreed, before going to find Remus.
When Tonks made it to his door he had been in the process to go find her as well. Causing them to almost bump into each other.
"Hi."
"Hi."
AN: (yikes! A cliffhanger!)