As soon as they landed on the doorstep of Grimmauld Place, Tonks tripped again, and Remus was forced to wrap his arms around her again before she fell completely. Tonks blushed furiously and mumbled, “Sorry,” as Remus placed her upright again.
“It’s no problem,” he replied, removing his hands from her waist and shoving them instead inside his pockets, where they seemed to feel much more at home.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Tonks cleared her throat and said, “Erm, I think they are expecting us to be inside actually, Remus, not wasting our time out here.”
“Right,” Remus said, opening the door so she could step inside. “Don’t fall,” he whispered to her, smiling. Tonks giggled, stepping carefully.
They walked together down the dark hallway leading to the kitchen, Tonks being sure to skirt around the troll leg umbrella stand that always tripped her up. When they reached it, they heard quiet voices talking together. Remus stepped in front of Tonks and tapped on the door lightly before pushing it open quietly.
Everyone looked up as they entered; their talking ceased abruptly. Muttering quick apologies to everyone, they slid inside, closed the door behind them and went to the two remaining seats at the end of the table, which happened to be by Sirius.
A man of around the same age as Remus, he looked gaunt, as spending twelve years in Azkaban had turned his face thin. After one year of being healthily nourished, however, his skin had seemed to get some of its old shine back, and some of the mischievous boy look gleamed in his eyes as he eyed Tonks and Remus while they sat down.
“So,” he began. “What have you two been doing all this time? Is it anything to do with-” He broke off abruptly, as Dumbledore had begun to speak.
“We now have the problem of the twelve escaped Death Eaters on our hands. Voldemort can now return back to full power rather quicker than expected with them at his side, especially since his most faithful servant-according to Severus- has returned to him: Bellatrix Lestrange.”
There was a sharp intake of breath to Remus’ right. Tonks looked at him as he gave her a puzzled look. In quiet tones, she began to whisper to him, a frown crossing her face very frequently.
“Bellatrix is my aunt from my mother’s side. I am sure she wants absolutely nothing more in the world than to kill Sirius and me, my mum and dad too. She is the absolute worst family member in the entire world, and I am so sorry to say that I am related to… to… a bitch like her.” Tonks frowned so deeply that Remus thought she may begin to cry. Then she straightened up again, staring stonily at the wall across from her.
Remus turned to Sirius, who was muttering furiously under his breath. “Of course you would know, you evil git! You were his faithful servant before, and probably still are. ‘Playing spy for the Order’ my arse! I will never believe that load of-”
“Sirius,” Remus whispered to his friend. “You may want to watch what you say with Dumbledore so near. He trusts Snape, and I trust whatever Dumbledore decides.”
Sirius scowled and stared straight ahead for the rest of the meeting.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, Dumbledore said, “Well, I must get back to the school. Our next meeting will be in three weeks, so make sure you are all on time.” His eyes fell on Remus and Tonks, who mouthed apologies, both blushing slightly embarrassedly. Dumbledore smiled and swept out of the kitchen, his shadow disappearing from the doorway in a matter of seconds.
Chairs began to slide out, a scraping noise filling the room as everyone began to get up and leave. Molly Weasley stood up and went over to Remus, Tonks and Sirius. “Are you lot going to stay for dinner?” she asked, smiling down at them.
“Yes,” Tonks and Remus answered in unison. Sirius rolled his eyes and scowled, mumbling, “Well, I don’t really have a choice to stay for dinner, do I? I’m only stuck in this God-forsaken place for the rest of my life until I’m cleared!” He pushed his chair out roughly and stalked off from the table, standing in solitude in a dark corner.
“All right, then,” Molly said. “So that will be dinner for me, Arthur, you two, and a very grumpy Sirius. Fred and George said that they would need to be getting back to their joke shop!”
“Do you need any help?” Remus asked, standing up.
“Oh, no, dear,” Molly smiled. “I’ve got it.” She began to bustle around, making the dinner.
Remus sat back down, staring at the table. Sirius came over and sat down, too, a grin playing at his features.
“So,” he began, eyeing Remus and Tonks closely. “Why on earth were you two late? And coming in at the same time, nonetheless.”
Tonks glared at Sirius, flashing her eyes from purple to brown. “We were both in Diagon Alley, and we happened to run into each other while we were, um, shopping.”
Sirius let out a laugh that sounded like a bark. “Shopping, right!” he exclaimed. “Like Remus has enough money to even come close to being able to shop for anything!”
Tonks took this as a personal offense and was about to open her mouth, but Remus cut her off, saying, “Fine, maybe I wasn’t exactly shopping. It was more… browsing, then stopping for a quick drink.”
“Right,” Sirius said. “But you can’t have had your drink alone, now could you? There had to be someone else, didn’t there?”
“It’s called other customers, Sirius,” Remus answered, laughing slightly. “If I was the only person there, I am sure that the business would be through with before I could say ‘Quidditch.’”
“Fine, but I am sure that there was someone else there other than you and the so-called ‘other customers.’” His eyes flashed to Tonks, who smiled politely. Sirius took this to mean that she was indeed there, and, so, thinking he had cornered Remus and Tonks, he let out a bark-like laugh, saying, “So, how was your date together? Did the prefect make it extremely boring for you, cousin?”
Remus’ eyes flashed to Tonks, whose cheeks were beginning to redden very slightly. He patted her hand under the table (a wrong move, as she blushed harder) and then looked up at Sirius, who looked to be bursting with trying to stop laughing. “No, Sirius. I can’t have been extremely boring, now could I, as this wasn’t a date. Tonks just happened to show up in Diagon Alley, and we met up- I mean, met each other in Quality Quidditch Supplies, where she very kindly reminded me about the Order meeting that we very nearly missed.” He glanced at Tonks, winking ever so slightly. “Isn’t that right, Nymphadora?”
Tonks nodded her head vigorously, saying, “Yes, that’s exactly what happened.” She paused for a second, then exclaimed, “And DON’T call me Nymphadora!! Ugh!”
Remus struggled to suppress a laugh. She was extremely funny to watch when she got angry or bothered about something, especially something so small and apparently trifling as her name. “Why?” he asked her. “Nymphadora isn’t that bad a name really, is it?”
Tonks glared at him, transfiguring her eyes to black. Remus found this effect quite shocking and hilarious, and turned away so that she wouldn’t catch him laughing at her. “Actually, it is the WORST name in the entire history of the world!” she answered him, her eyes now back to normal. “I mean, okay, my middle name isn’t too awful, but couldn’t my mum have just named me something normal, like Rose or Ruby, or something like that?”
“What is your middle name?” Remus asked, now clearly interested. “And, honestly, you don’t really seem like a Rose or a Ruby. It just doesn’t fit your personality.”
Sirius coughed loudly and fiercely, covering up what sounded like, “Or your apt to clumsiness!”
“Shut up, Sirius!” Tonks said, laughing. “And, Remus, my middle name is Elizabeth. It is just way too fancy for my tastes. If I ever have a child, they will receive boring names, so that they don’t have to be humiliated their whole lives by something so horrible as Nymphadora Elizabeth Tonks for a name.”
Remus smiled at her. “I rather like that name, to be honest. At least your name isn’t Remus John Lupin. It sounds far too common.”
“Ah, but you are common, aren’t you my friend?” Sirius asked, leaning his chair back on it’s back two legs, kicking his boots onto the table.
“Sirius!” Molly shrieked from the stove, where she was preparing stew. “As if there isn’t already enough grime and dirt in here without you mistreating the table like that!”
“Sorry Molly,” he said, putting his feet back onto the ground, rolling his eyes at the ceiling.
Remus chuckled, then his face fell into deep lines, a frown crossing it. “No, Sirius. I don’t believe I am all that common. Don’t you realise that werewolves are not common? Don’t you understand the reason that I am shunted from wizarding society is because there are not that many werewolves in the world?” He cut off, looking at his hands.
Tonks reached across the table and patted his hand. “Don’t worry,” she said, a sad smile flitting across her features. “I don’t mind the fact that you are a werewolf at all, and neither should the rest of society. I don’t believe Sirius does either, as he’s stuck by you for just about all your life.”
“Yeah,” Sirius said, becoming instantly serious. “And, neither did James, Lily or…” A devilish grin flitted across his face. “Neither, apparently did Dorcas Meadows!”
Tonks dropped her hand from off of Remus’, her jaw dropping at the same time. “Do you mean to tell me,” she asked, shock lining her voice, “that Remus here has actually had a girlfriend before? A woman that didn’t care at all about his werewolf ness, and, obviously, neither did he?”
Remus’ ears and cheeks were beginning to redden furiously as he listened to the conversation, not liking at all the direction in which it was going. Sirius laughed loudly and began to speak.
“Oh, yes!” he said triumphantly. “Remus did used to have a girlfriend in school. Yes, Dorcas was her name. She was in Ravenclaw, and nearly always abided by the rules; Prefect material.” He glanced at Tonks, who glanced at him, trying to hide her little bit of surprise at this news.
“Sirius, can we drop this?” Remus asked uncomfortably, his eyes staring at the table top, a flush creeping up his cheeks. “It doesn’t really matter if I’ve ever had a girlfriend or not. I am perfectly… happy at the moment. Do we really need to humiliate me by discussing my relationship in sixth year that lasted for two weeks?”
“Ah, well, Remus, when you put it that way,” Sirius answered, shifting to look at Remus, “I believe, yes, we do.” He let out another bark of laughter.
Tonks stared at both, unsure of what to say. Then, her mind came to her. “Sirius, just drop it. Dinner’s almost ready. Besides, you don’t have to ruin Remus’ life every chance that you get.”
Sirius looked appalled. “Am I really ruining your life Remus?”
Remus looked up at him, the corners of his mouth twitching. “No, Sirius, you aren’t. Well, at least not all of it!”
“Fine, you just take the fun out of everything, don’t you?” he grumbled. Then, he turned to face Tonks. “And I would have thought that you, of all people, considering that you are a Black cousin, would have wanted to play along. Dear God, I am shocked at you, Nymphadora!”
Tonks flared up, about to shriek at Sirius. But at that moment, Molly placed the stew in the middle of the table, cutting off their conversation and allowing them to all satisfy their hunger with her wonderful cooking.
Love Keeps Us Together (Sometimes Apart) by DontCallMeNymphadora
Chapter Notes: Okay, so this chapter has been through the queue once before, but it got rejected because of grammatical errors, so hopefully this time it works. This chapter has Sirius and I really love this one so I hope you do too... Please Read and Review!!!