A/N: Okay, so, lets just accept that I can never, ever, ever keep to any schedule of any kind. But the chapter is here, so...
"I can't believe I'm doing this," muttered Dora as she and Sirius stuck close to the gym wall.
"Well you are," said Sirius, grinning down at his cousin.
"I could get in so much trouble for this," she insisted as he pulled a large key from his pocket.
"You know Mad-Eye's got a soft spot for you, even James said it," Sirius and Dora reached the large gym door and he pulled it open.
"I guess."
She had gone to Hogwarts, along with many other people she knew, so Dora walked confidently next to Sirius, passed the main gym area and closer to the change rooms.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"My office," Sirius replied. "I know for a fact we can get spare uniform that'll fit you."
Dora nodded as they reached a door at the end of the hallway that contained the change rooms and toilets.
Sirius held up the key, put it in the lock, and twisted it. He opened the door a second later and gestured for his cousin to go inside.
Dora entered Sirius' office and he followed behind her.
"This is going to be probably the best dare I've ever given someone if it goes right," said Sirius, turning back towards the door. "Now, wait here while I grab the uniform."
Rather abruptly, Sirius turned on his heel and shut the door behind him as he left. Glancing at her watch, Dora realised that there was only ten minutes left until lunch was over.
The full realisation of what she was doing hit her and she grinned. It was all so surreal but definitely something she would have done when she was a student, maybe even now. She had just met her mothers favourite cousin, who, after less than an hour of knowing her, had dared her to sneak into his friends Year Twelve English lesson and pretend to be a student. She was now standing in the middle of his office, holding her laptop case. She had to admit that it would be pretty fun if she wasn't found out straight away.
Sirius soon returned, holding a bundle of clothes in his arms and smiling broadly at her.
"Okay, little cousin, you ready?"
"Hey, Siri. Yeah, I am."
Sirius handed Dora the pile of clothes and leant back against the door. "Okay, so the class is going to be in Mr Lockhart's old room."
"He was a shit teacher," said Tonks passionately. "Please tell me your friend Remus is his replacement."
"Yep, Harry wouldn't stop insulting him until he was fired. To be fair, I hear from many people the insults were justified."
"Oh definitely. He's an idiot. English was my least favourite class because of him, and I honestly think I would've liked it if I had a different teacher."
"Right," Sirius said, turning towards the door. "I've gotta set up for my next class and you've gotta change. Good luck!"
Sirius left the office again and Dora inspected the clothes. The uniform was a little faded but it would definitely fit which was all that mattered. Changing hurriedly, and managing to trip in the process, she glanced down at herself and placed her work clothes in a spare pocket of her bag.
Then Dora pulled the strap of her laptop case over her shoulder, and walked toward the office door.
Dora exited Sirius' office and hurried out of the gym, thankful that there was usually a large crowd of students who hung around that area. Walking into the crowd Dora realised something. If she was going to get away with this, she had to make sure none of her old teachers recognised her. She remembered suddenly that the jacket she had been given had a hood. Thankfully, Dora pulled it up over her rather noticeable and very bright hair, which thankfully covered a little of her face in the process. If she kept her head down nobody would know she was ever at Hogwarts.
Tonks walked closer to the main building, passing a boy who must have been Harry in the crowd. He looked like a miniature James and was standing with two of his friend. She quickly walked past the three, even though Harry had never met her in person before.
Dora leant against the wall of the main building right near the door, waiting for the bell to ring slightly nervously. At least this Remus was Sirius' friend, so he would probably be nice. Hopefully.
The bell sounded with a loud ringing sound and several students groaned and started running toward their lockers. Dora waited for a second before entering the building alongside several students who were all laughing together in a large group.
She walked slowly down the corridor, keeping an eye out for her old English classroom. Several teenagers were lined up outside. Keeping her head down Dora joined the back of the line just as someone called the students to enter the room.
Remus had finished grading the Year Twelve English assignments, finally, just as the bell rang and the noise of students filled the corridors. He saw from the open door of his classroom as students ran past, calling out to friends, pushing and shoving each other and causing general chaos.
He watched as his class lined up outside the door, talking over the noise of the corridor to each other.
"Come in," Remus called when he figured all of his students had arrived. He watched as the group filed into the room, talking quietly and taking their seats. He noticed one girl he didn't think he'd ever seen before. She was wearing the standard uniform, but the hood of her jacket covered her hair and she wasn't looking at anyone in particular. She had a heart shaped face and dark grey eyes that were flicking around nervously as she walked. There was a familiar glint in them, however, similar to the look in Sirius' eyes whenever he was pulling one of his better thought out pranks.
Remus couldn't say he knew all of his students by name but he was certain he'd never seen this girl in his life.
Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he began the class.
"Right," said Remus. Dora looked up at him from her seat. He had light brown hair, green eyes and a nice smile. "We're going to do a simple creative writing assignment this lesson."
Relieved they weren't continuing on with something, Dora pulled out her laptop and typed in her password. She opened a blank word document, trying not to glance at the boy sitting next to her to make sure he wasn't looking at her.
"Okay, so the prompt for this is a family member, any kind. Narrative format, please."
All around her, writing filled the room and Dora contemplated her blank screen. She could write about Sirius, maybe. Do a dramatic retelling of the Blacks? She had to write something and she had nothing better to do.
The Black Family
By Dora Tonks
Dedicated to Sirius Black and Andromeda Tonks just because I can
She had typed that out when she felt a vibration from inside her bag. Sighing, Dora pulled her phone out and read the text, trying not to make it obvious what she was doing.
The text was from James. How's it going? it read. Dora quickly typed out a reply. Okay, can I have Sirius' number to tell him?
She had been meaning to ask her cousin but they hadn't had time before Dora had to leave for the dare. James took a second to respond but sent her Sirius' phone number.
It's going fine, she sent to him before quickly saving him in her contacts.
Who's this? Dora smiled as she responded. Your new favourite cousin! James gave me the number.
Nice. So it's going good?
Yes, pretty okay. At least nobody's noticed me yet.
Scratch that, Dora thought as she noticed the teacher, Sirius and James' friend Remus, walking towards her in the back corner.
He's noticed me. You are my least favourite cousin, she texted to Sirius.
Not my fault Remus is observant. Also, you've got the choice between me, my brother Regulus and Draco Malfoy, was his reply.
Still my least favourite cousin, can't believe you dared me to do this, she typed as Remus approached.
Remus wondered, not for the first time in that particular lesson, why he had never seen the girl before. He was staring a bit, trying to place her, he was fairly certain she wasn't in this class. Then he noticed her typing on her phone, probably texting, and he walked towards her desk at the back of the room.
"What are you doing?" he asked though he knew perfectly well. The girl jumped and stuffed her phone back into her bag. She focused on his face.
"Sorry," muttered Dora, hoping that Remus would drop it and not notice she was here. It was pretty fun to pretend to be a student, but she had never met Remus and so had no idea what he would do if he found out.
Remus sighed and walked back to the front of the room, much to Dora's relief. Remus was sure now. He had never seen that girl and he might have thought she was knew, accept he had already taken the role and there hadn't been any unfamiliar name on it. He knew them all.
The rest of the class past relatively uneventfully to Dora's relief. She managed to write a rather dramatic version of the history of the Black family, including the misunderstood hero Sirius meeting two best friends who understood him, the lovely Andromeda fleeing from her parents clutches to marry for love, and the innocent Narcissa falling in love with evil Lucius, influenced by her controlling sister Bellatrix. She even included her birth, describing herself as Dora, the girl who defied the odds to be born, courageous and brave and strong. She figured Sirius and James would get a good laugh out of it at least.
When the bell rang, Remus called out to the class. "I've got your graded worksheets from last lesson, come by my desk and I'll give them out."
Dora hoped she could just avoid notice, because that meant she would have completed the dare and could laugh about it with Sirius and later James, but she didn't have the best luck and today was no exception.
As she past Remus' desk, he pointed at her and asked kindly if she could stay behind. Dora nodded, because she obviously couldn't just say no and rush past. Well she could, but she figured if they ever actually met it would be a bit awkward if she did.
Dora stopped near the door as the last student exited the room and it banged closed behind them.
She turned to face Remus and he looked at her curiously. Dora realised that she still had her hood up and she shifted uncomfortably, feeling a little self-conscious.
"Uh... why did you want to see me?"
Remus looked over at her curiously. "I don't have another worksheet," he told her.
"Uh yeah."
"Did you do the worksheet?"
"Um... no?" her answer sounded more like a question.
He looked at her curiously for a second before nodding slowly. Remus opened him mouth before he was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing in the silent classroom. The girl jumped, rummaging around in her bag for a second before pulling out her phone and glancing at the screen.
"Hi," she held the phone to her ear.
"Hey, how'd it go?" he asked.
"Surprisingly well," Dora replied, grinning. "I think I've gotten away with it."
James laughed and she scowled even though he couldn't see her. "No I'm serious!"
"Your not Sirius."
"Why do I already know that's a common joke with you lot?"
"Because it is."
Remus gestured to the door and she moved towards it, shooting him a smile. He smiled back before she left the room, phone still pressed to her ear, talking excitedly to whoever had called her.
Dora walked down the corridor, still talking to James, almost bumping into several students and actually tripping several times.
"So, just go to Sirius' office, oka," James told her. "He knows you'll be there."
"Okay," Dora agreed. "Is there any point going back to work?"
"Nah," James said. "Mad-Eye hasn't noticed you've disappeared and if you come back in he'll definitely ask questions."
"Okay, so I'll just hang out in Sirius' office for a bit then," said Dora, exiting the building.
"Sure. See you later Dora."
"Bye James. Say hi to Kenz for me."
"Sure will."
Once she reached Sirius' rather messy office, Dora changed back into her clothes immediately, leaving the borrowed uniform in a pile on his desk. Success, she thought, smiling to herself. It had been really fun, and now she could brag about it to Sirius, who, she knew, didn't think she would be able to pull it off. Well she had.
Remus was board. He had already organised his classroom way to many times for the third week of school, he had no more assignments to grade, and he'd already checked Instagram and Facebook way to many times that day. If he wasn't careful he'd turn into Sirius, who had a serious addiction to Instagram, much to Remus and James' bewilderment.
Remus found himself wondering aimlessly towards his friends office. He honestly couldn't remember if Sirius had a class or not, but he found himself approaching the office door anyway. At least he wasn't interrupting his lesson, something Sirius had done the first week of class.
The door was left half open, so Remus opened it fully.
"Sirius?" he called into the seemingly empty office. There was a rather loud thud and Remus looked around again. "Sirius?"
Dora and her stupid, stupid clumsiness. It was her least favourite thing about herself. It always emerged at the worst times. Stupid Sirius and his stupid wheely chair. Stupid. She peered up from under the desk, cheeks flaming red with embarrassment.
A pair of grey eyes appeared over the top of Sirius' cluttered desk and there was a flash of pink.
"Uh... Sirius," said Remus, "what are you doing?"
Dora jumped at the sound of the voice coming from the doorway, banging her forehead against the stupid, stupid desk.
"Shit," she swore loudly, scrambling awkwardly to her feet, face flaming.
Remus blinked as the person who was most definitely not his best friend emerged from behind the desk. It was a girl. A very pretty and very embarrassed girl. She was wearing the uniform of the police station where James worked and the flash of pink must have been her hair which was short and died a bright bubblegum. She looked a bit familiar, though Remus couldn't place her face from anywhere.
"Uh hi," she said, ducking her head. Then it hit him. She was the strange girl in his Year Twelve English class. Why was she in Sirius' office? And why was she wearing a police uniform?
"What are you doing in here?" he blurted out.
"Hanging out I guess." She sounded uncertain. "What, am I not supposed to be here? Damn Sirius. He's such an idiot."
"I agree... but how do you know Sirius?"
"Uh he''s my cousin," she sounded uncertain about this.
"Sirius doesn't have any cousins, at least not ones he talks to," said Remus. She was definitely lying, he decided. She had probably just snuck in here and needed an excuse.
"Well I'd hope he doesn't talk to Bellatrix," she said indignantly. "And do I look like Bellatrix?" she sounded indignant now. "And I don't think Narcissa would die her hair pink, more-Andromeda would never cut her hair short."
"So that rules out all of his cousins then," said Remus, wondering how this stranger knew so much about his friends family.
"No," she said slowly. "And I'm not old. I'll give you a clue because he talks entirely to much he must have mentioned me. My initials are NAT."
Initials? Really, thought Dora, why did she say the stupidest things sometimes. Why did she only now notice how much taller than her he was?
Remus thought she must have been joking until he remembered the night before and the old email written from Andromeda to Sirius in 2003. Her daughter had just been born. Nymphadora Andromeda Tonks. NAT.
"Nymphadora," he said and she glared at him.
"Don't call me Nymphadora," she told him. "It's a terrible name. It's Tonks, or Dora."
"Okay, Dora." he smiled at her. ;I thought he and Andromeda weren't in touch though?"
"They're not," said Dora. "I work with James, share an office with him actually. We met today and I can already tell he's annoying."
Remus laughed. "He is. Aren't you like twenty though? Why are you still in school?"
Remus thought it sounded rune, why had he said it, and her face turned an even deeper shade of scarlet than it already was and he was about to apologise when she spoke.
"Okay this is stupid," she said, pausing for a second. "Um Sirius dared me to go into your class and see if anyone noticed, mainly you I think."
Remus looked astonished. "Typical Sirius."
"Does he do stuff like that all the time then?" she asked.
"Unfortunately," said Remus. "The amount of times I've been in trouble because of him is ridiculous. Though I have gotten us into detention a fair few times as well."
Dora laughed loudly. "The amount of times I've been in McGonagall's office is ridiculous. Actually, I feel like there was an S on one of the chairs though that might have just been me imagining things due to extreme boredom."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he'd done that," said Remus. "We'll have to ask him."
"Yeah."
It was so easy to talk to Remus, Dora thought. It just was. She couldn't explain it, but after just meeting him they were already talking and laughing like they had known each other for years. They were just in a heated debate on weather Sirius or James would be most likely to win The Hunger Games, she couldn't tell anyone how that conversation started, when the latter barged into his office.
"What's up little cousin!"
"Why do you have to call me little cousin every time you see me? Anyway, I reckon it would probably be James. I mean, neither of them would do it realistically but it would have to be James over Sirius."
"James over me for what?" asked Sirius. "Who are you talking to anyway?"
"You have awful eyesight," said Remus.
"Oi! I do not! Wait, Moony?"
"Moony?" repeated Dora. "What?"
"Me James and Sirius took a what animal are you test when we were about twelve. I got a wolf, Sirius said it kind of looked like a wolf, so Moony. Sirius is Padfoot, he got a dog, and James got a stag, he's Prongs. It's a bit stupid really."
"I remember Frank Longbottom told me Peter Pettigrew, you know, that kid who used to follow us around, took the test and got a rat," added Sirius.
"That's great," laughed Dora.
"Oi Remus, give little cousin here your phone number," said Sirius randomly.
"Is your phone, texts and the internet all you think about?" Remus asked, exasperated.
"Nope, there's girls," said Sirius.
"Your an idiot," muttered Remus, but held out his hand for Dora's phone.
She handed it to him and the two of them exchanged numbers and social media on Sirius' insistence, though Dora was happy about that, because she really liked Remus and wanted to be friends with him.
He smiled at her and laughed at something Sirius had said. He had a really lovely smile. And nice eyes. He was really handsome, actually.
Okay, maybe Dora wanted to be more than friends. Though she would never admit that to anyone. They hardly knew each other, after all.
