The next morning, Tonks woke up in her dingy room on the third landing of Grimmauld Place. Stretching, she looked down at the foot of her bed and shrieked loudly and nearly toppled out of her bed in her haste to get up. There was a Doxy there, dead for possibly a few days, more than likely put in there by Kreacher.
“Sirius!” she screamed, wanting it out of there immediately. “Remus, someone come in here!”
At that moment, the door burst open, and Remus came hurtling in, followed closely by Sirius.
“Tonks, what is it?” Remus asked, hurrying over. “Are you hurt?”
Tonks pointed to the end of the bed, where the Doxy lay, decaying and rotting. Sirius followed where her finger pointed to and burst out laughing from where he stood by the door.
“You were screaming for that!?” he said, clutching his stomach. “Oh, dear God, the world is ending, there is a Doxy, dead none the less, lying at the foot of my bed, in a house that is full of these bloody creatures!”
“Sirius,” Remus said, turning to his friend. “Leave her alone, she obviously is terrified of them.” But a smile was playing at his lips as he helped Tonks get down from the bed.
“Just keep it away from me, that is all I ask!” she said, skirting a good five feet around it to reach her slippers.
Not trusting Sirius to do the job properly, Remus grabbed a tissue from Tonks’ bedside table and grabbed the Doxy to properly dispose of it. “Come on, Sirius,” he said as he reached the door, turning back to look at his friend. “Let’s go before Tonks has another breakdown with you in here and what you might do to torment her.”
Grudgingly, Sirius turned and walked out, following Remus down the stairs. Breathing heavily, Tonks turned to look at her reflection in her dirty, smudged up mirror. She could hardly see anything in it, so she took out her wand and murmured, “Scourgify!” The spell cleared a little space in the mirror, and she could see her face a bit better now. Her eyes looked extremely tired, and her hair stood on end.
“Damn!” she whispered, stretching a lock of her hair. “Why did he have to come in on my worst morning? I look like crap!”
Screwing up her eyes, Tonks concentrated on an electric blue bobbed hairstyle with pink highlights in her mind. When she opened her eyes, her reflection looked much better, and she liked this new look. Blue eyes, she thought, would make this so much better. Concentrating again, she now morphed her deep chocolate colored eyes into a sea blue color with pink speckles. “Now that I like!” she said, turning away and looking into her dresser to find something to wear.
Rummaging around in the messy drawers, Tonks decided that she would soon need to do a cleaning up of them. Finally, she found one of her Weird Sisters shirts (this also blue) that had the words Wizard Rock Lives emblazoned under the band name. She pulled on a pair of ripped jeans with this, deciding that robes were unnecessary on her day off from work. Yawning, she flicked her wand at the bed, which straightened itself up just a bit… for the most part, the sheets were still a shapeless lump from all her tossing and turning through the night. Sighing, Tonks turned away and descended down the stairs.
In a few minutes time, Tonks reached the kitchen, mercifully unscathed. She had come to a fold in the rug at the end of the staircase and had nearly lost her footing, but had somehow managed to keep herself from falling flat, though she couldn’t be sure that it wouldn’t happen again.
Remus and Sirius looked up as she entered the kitchen, stopping their conversation. Sirius took one look at her and said, “Don’t you look just a bit over-colored this morning, Tonks? For whose benefit is it? Could it be for Remus?”
Tonks glared daggers at Sirius and then took a seat at the table, saying, “Actually, it is just because I think that blue compliments my eyes today, and not to mention, today I feel like blue suits me, so really, it is for my benefit!”
Remus laughed, and quickly turned this into a cough as Sirius stared at him. “What the hell is so funny about that, Remus? Why are you laughing at Tonks?”
“Nothing,” Remus said, reddening slightly under Sirius’ raised eyebrows gaze. “I just think that Tonks is rather, erm, good at expressing herself, especially through colours. Oh, and I think that she is right in telling you off like that; other people should do that more often than not.”
Sirius sat back and rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say then, Remus… whatever you say,” he said, crossing his arms.
Tonks’ stomach suddenly grumbled loudly, and both Remus and Sirius stared at her, Remus nearly about to laugh.
“Sorry,” Tonks mumbled. “I haven’t eaten yet, and well, I always have to eat breakfast. What is there Sirius?” she asked, looking towards her cousin.
“Nothing,” he answered in a bored, non-expressional voice, fingering the top button on his jacket.
“That’s great to know,” Tonks said, sinking back into her chair as her stomach gave another low rumble. Then she jumped to her feet. “You know, I am just going to go and get something to eat instead.”
“Fine,” Sirius answered in the same voice. “Could you pick up some ice-cream and bring it back here, please?”
Tonks stared at him and said, “Sure, why not? I guess that means I will have to stop at the store too… Do either of you have Muggle money?”
Sirius shook his head and Remus said, “No, but I suppose we could go to Gringotts and get some…”
“We?” Tonks asked.
“Well, you aren’t going alone, are you? Besides, I am rather hungry myself,” Remus answered quietly, getting up from his seat, ignoring the questioning stare that Sirius was giving him as he edged his way around the table.
“Okay, well, come on then,” Tonks said, turning to exit the doorway. Remus followed closely behind her, grabbing his tattered jacket off of the coat rack that stood by the door.
“Hey,” Sirius called as they were making their way up the steps and into the hall. “Do you think you might pick up some butterbeer too?”
“Sure,” Tonks said, looking back and rolling her eyes, nearly tripping down the stairs. Remus quickly grabbed her hand to prevent this from happening. Tonks looked in his eyes for a few seconds, then dropped her hand quickly from his, blushing a furious crimson. From the kitchen, Sirius let out a bark of laughter.
“Come on, let’s go,” Remus whispered, before things could get truly out of hand. Tonks nodded and scurried up the last few steps and into the hall, trying not to look at Remus as he followed her.
As soon as she reached the door, Tonks wrenched it open and stepped into the sunshine-filled yard, looking down at the ground. A few seconds later, she heard a click as the door closed again, and Remus stepped down beside her. He pulled her silently into a hug, then let go quickly before she could become even more embarrassed. Clearing his throat, he said, “Shall we go then?” She nodded quietly, and the two fell into step as they began to make their way down the road.
Love Keeps Us Together (Sometimes Apart) by DontCallMeNymphadora
Chapter Notes: Third time submitting this!!!! Stupid little commas and things I don't get... anyway... this is just a type of back story for the next chapter... a fill in, I guess... hope you enjoy!
Chapter Endnotes: Next up... the first date... I guess!