Tonks sighed heavily. She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing. She had all this spare time on her hands and she felt like she should be filling it with something she just didn't know what. She'd done enough sunbathing to last her a lifetime, she was pretty sure and it wasn't even sunny anymore, anyway, in true British summertime fashion. So that was out. She supposed she could still relax outside but she didn't really didn't want to get rained on. Or get further bitten by bugs. She absentmindedly rubbed the side of her wrist. There were a lot of bugs out there. And a very stubborn wasp that she wanted no business with, thank you very much. She had already caused enough damage with the bees; she wasn't going to get involved with a wasp as well.
Then there was that really stupid idea of her tidying her room. Or doing a complete overhaul. Or doing a clear out. Whatever you wanted to call it. She hadn't quite decided what it was. Either way, it had been horrible and had definitely emotionally scarred her. And then her mother, her own mother, hadn't even helped her! Had told her that it was her own fault and she better keep her mess in her room and not to let it spill out onto the landing. Hmpf. Okay, her mum had taught her some more tidying spells, not that she had been very successful with them (why could she perform all sorts of hexes and jinxes but a freaking clean up charm was beyond her? Could someone explain that to her, please?). A lot of manual labour later and she had got it dome. Sort of. As long as you didn't look under her bed. There was absolutely no need to look under there. None at all. As long as you kept the sheet and duvet pulled down.
She flopped back on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She found herself doing that a lot the past few days. It was like she wanted to do something, be busy, but she just didn't know what to do. Nothing seemed like a good idea. Nothing at all. Not lazing about outside or even watching TV. Any book she tried to read got thrown across her room when she couldn't focus on it for more than a page or two. Okay, technically she had got three chapters into that Miss Marple book, something she couldn't explain because it hadn't been like she had been at the climax of the book, she had literally zoomed through the first three chapters. And then got bored again. Very bored. So bored that she didn't know what would be interesting to do. It was like her mind was numb.
"What are you doing?" Andromeda asked, suddenly appearing in her doorway.
Tonks sighed again. "A whole lot of nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yeah. Nothing."
Andromeda tutted at her. "Honestly, Nymphadora, all of this sitting around with your own thoughts in going to get you nowhere or set you up for a panic attack. Something I would really rather you avoided."
She sat up to glare at her mother.
"I'm not going to have a panic attack over the Auror Academy or my results!"
"Good."
Tonks huffed at her. Honestly, she wasn't panicking about her results. She wasn't even thinking of them. Not until her mother mentioned them anything. There was nothing to think about there. Nothing at all. She had done her exams and that was it. There was nothing she could do to change any of them now so there was no point in thinking of them never mind worrying over them. That would ne stupid.
Except that she literally had been worrying about them and had definitely overthought about questions that she was unsure of. Definitely not healthy. But she couldn't help it! What else was she supposed to do?
"And you're thinking about your results," Andromeda said with a sigh and then she clapped her hands. "Come on, Nymphadora, we are going to do something to take your mind off things."
"We?"
"Yes. We are going to learn how to bake."
Well, that definitely snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Bake? You want to teach me how to bake?" She asked sceptically.
"Yes," Andromeda said with surprising enthusiasm. "It's an important skill to have."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"When there are so many bakeries around?" She couldn't help but tease a little.
"Home baked is supposed to be better."
"You don't even know how to bake." Tonks shook her head and laughed a little.
How was she supposed to learn how to bake from someone who didn't even know? That didn't make any sense.
"I don't," Andromeda agreed. "That's a good thing. We can both learn together."
"What can go wrong with blind leading the blind?"
"You know, being optimistic about something usually leads to fewer issues down the road."
"Is that a thing? I don't think that's a thing."
Andromeda laughed at her. She sounded genuinely delighted that she had come up with such an idea. So, who was Tonks to deny it? Except the vague feeling that the two of them were going to cause an explosion of some sort. She told her mum as such and got an eye roll in response.
"Look, do you want some scones or not?"
"I do! I definitely do!"
There was no way that she was going to turn down scones! What sort of monster did that? Especially freshly baked ones.
"Well, then get off your bed and come help me get everything set up."
"We better have raisins!"
"We are not putting raisins in scones."
"They're the best kind!"
"They most certainly are not."
It was something they had always argued over. Ted had refused to take sides, claiming that raspberry and white chocolate ones were the best. Raspberry and white chocolate? Over raisins or even plain? The man was bonkers. That was something Tonks and her mother could agree on when it came to scones. Well, that and the fact that they should definitely make them.
"The recipe doesn't look too complicated," Andromeda said confidently. "This should be easy."
It turns out that neither of them were particularly good at following directions written down on a piece of paper. Tonks wasn't surprised that she managed to misread something, what she was surprised about that her mother did. Her mother was a solicitor, didn't she read things and follow those instructions for a living?
Did you know you could set flour on fire? Because they had found out that you could set flour on fire. A lot of fire. That they did put out without too much damage to the counters! They were just a bit scorched. That could be fixed, right? And hopefully before her dad came home. Though her mum had rummaged through several spell books without much luck. Apparently, she couldn't find a spell that helped you get rid of scorch marks like this. Which was weird when you thought of just how much magic involved fire of some sort.
Then there was the dough. Except Tonks was pretty sure that they couldn't call it dough because of how liquid-y it was. It definitely wasn't supposed to drip like that. It was the sort of consistency that made her stomach turn. And it was everywhere. Because it was basically a liquid. It was on the counters, in the sink, on the floor, in their hair. Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Actually, she was pretty sure that there was some on the ceiling, probably from when she slid in something and sent a bowl full of the stuff flying.
All mother and daughter could do was look around in dismay.
"Shall we go and buy some scones?" Andromeda asked.
Tonks nodded vigorously. They should have done that in the first place.
"After a shower," Andromeda added and then looked Tonks up and down. "Maybe two."
