Tonks groaned loudly and threw herself back into the sofa, not even wanted to look at what was in front of her anymore. She was doing an awful lot of groaning recently. That wasn't her fault though. It really wasn't. How could it be her fault that the world was so frustrating that she had to groan? It wasn't.
She was starting to really not like being an adult. Being an adult was overrated. And yes, she was aware she hadn't exactly been one for very long. And she was quite literally, barely out of school. It was still overrated. She would still say that.
Who knew that looking for apartments was going to be so hard? Why was there so many to look at? Why were there so many things to consider? Did it really matter if the place had only a bath or only a shower? Or that the kitchen was tiny? What was the point of having a certain locking system over another? Did that really matter when she was going to use locking charms as well? And yes, even apartments in the magical world had physical locks for whatever reason. Well, there were reasons but she really didn't want to get into those right now. They weren't important. Or were they? Locks and security were something she had to consider. Wasn't it? Gah! Why, oh why was there so much to think about? Where was she supposed to begin?
She was well aware that people, young people like her, had done this before, had done this under far, far more stressful circumstances than she was under. She knew that she was capable of figuring all of this out, despite all the information she had to plough through. She was, she was just being dramatic, okay? She should be allowed to be dramatic. As much as she liked to claim she was an adult, she was also a teenager and teenagers were supposed to be dramatic. It was like their thing. So, she was being dramatic and she felt like she had full right to be right now. Everything was just so big and looming and overwhelming how else was she supposed to react to it except dramatically? Honestly.
She was supposed to have a system here. A plan. Something so she didn't have to wonder or check all these things surely? She was supposed to have come up with a list of everything she absolutely needed from a flat and then everything else would just be a pleasant extra. Except whoever thought about how a kitchen was set up? Or about baths vs showers? Why were there so many little things that needed to be considered? Did she even need to consider all This? Surely every flat would have the basics and that's all she needed. The basics.
Why was this feeling more overwhelming than her bloody NEWTs? Which was just stupid but that's how she felt. At least she knew what to expect from studying, she didn't know what to do here.
Was this what being an adult was going to be like? Not knowing what she was doing but also hoped that she was doing the right thing? She wasn't sure she liked that. There had to be more to it than that, right? She just needed to have a plan, organise things and follow it step by step. Right? Right? Somehow, she felt like it wasn't going to go that way but she had to dream. Dreams were the only thing she had going for her right now.
"Ahem."
She looked up to see her mother in the doorway. Tonks tried not to groan again.
"Harder than it looks, isn't it?" Andromeda asked, sounding far too amused.
"Yes," she grumbled reluctantly.
She had wanted to do all of this and then come back all successful. She wasn't sure why because it wasn't like she was trying to prove anything to her parents or anything. They weren't bothered if she moved out or not. Tonks had a sneaking suspicion that her mother would actually prefer that she stayed (to ensure that she remained alive and uninjured). So, there was no reason to feel like she should be successful the first time she went flat hunting. But still, she wanted to be successful at this. She wanted it to be easy though. Something it definitely wasn't.
Her mum sat down at the end of her bed.
"Would you like some help?"
Tonks didn't even think as she popped out from under her blanket.
"Yes, please."
If her mother was offering help, she was definitely taking it. Her mother was terrifying at organising things and getting things done and she needed a bit of that.
Had she ever said how great her mum was? Because she was amazing. Andromeda Tonks was amazing. The best, even. She was the best. She was the best because she had done the thing, she was best at. Organise things and kick her butt on gear. Both of which she had done spectacularly.
"That wasn't so hard, was It?" Andromeda asked, taking away the bits of newspaper that wasn't ads for apartments.
She had told Tonks to do the sensible thing (Well, now it was sensible) and separate the newspapers and ads out so they just had what she needed. Which was genius! Genius! Now there weren't all these useless bits of papers floating about making it look like there was so much to go through when there wasn't! That and she had decided that burning the rest of the newspapers and ads was the best way to keep the whole area tidy so that had been fun. Her mum had even got in on it. After thoroughly shaking her head in disapproval at first, of course. Sure, now the room smelled like burnt paper but whatever. They opened a few windows, it was fine. No harm done except to the corner of her duvet where she had been a little bit too overzealous. No one would she it, it was at the bottom.
Andromeda had even gone as far as ordering the ads by date of posting So they could give those ones higher priority.
"Next step is to get rid of those completely out of budget, right?" Tonks asked, picking up the top ad.
"Exactly," Andromeda agreed with an approving nod.
She frowned and scrunched that up, throwing it over her shoulder. That one was definitely out of budget. Several other ads went that way and soon there were about a dozen scrunched up pieces of paper scattered about the floor. Her mother had sighed and shaken her head at each one but hadn't stopped her. It was very satisfying to do.
"So, these are now the ones you go and see," Andromeda said, shuffling the remaining ones into a neat pile.
"Okay."
That was a much smaller pile. A manageable pile. She could go through that pile. Yeah, she nodded to herself. She could do that.
"I love you," she said quite seriously, looking up at her mother.
A mother who instead of being grateful for her daughter's declaration of affection, just laughed.
"I am that good," she bragged instead.
