The start of the walk into town was sufficiently uneventful and a little awkward, and very few words were exchanged between Remus and Tonks as they kept pace with each other. Tonks’ mind was off in the distance, thinking of how she wouldn’t want to face Sirius once she and Remus arrived home, and what he would say, though this only made her feel worse. Apparently, it showed on her face, because Remus tapped her lightly and whispered, “Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine,” she answered, glancing up into his eyes and looking back down again quickly. She didn’t understand it. She had never felt this way around someone, so caught off of her guard… at least not since she was at Hogwarts. And even then, the times had been few and far between. “What makes you ask?”
“The look on your face,” Remus answered as they turned the corner onto the main street of the little town where Grimmauld Place was located. He looked down at her and laughed. “There it is again,” he replied in answer to the puzzled look she gave him. “Really, what’s on your mind?”
“Everything!” Tonks burst before she could think. “Well, I mean… ugh, I don’t know. It’s just… nothing makes sense anymore, at least not to me,” she continued in quieter tones than before. “And, other than that, I do not feel like facing Sirius later when we get home.”
Remus laughed again. “Oh, well, honestly, neither do I much. I mean, yes, he is a nice bloke and all, but once he sees something worth digging into and someone’s feelings worth messing with when he knows that they’ll forgive him, he gets a little… shall we say, rambunctious and takes a bit more advantage than he ought to.”
Tonks stared at Remus. “That is the longest bloody run-on sentence I have ever heard! What the hell?”
Remus stared at her quizzically and said in return, “Well, that is the most colourful hair that I have ever seen to walk the streets in sub-cities around London!”
Just then, a woman with a pink and blue tipped red Mohawk stepped outside a house to the left of them. Tonks smirked at Remus and said, “You were saying?” Remus laughed and shrugged. “You know, I could change my hair like that, if you want… but I’m afraid that then my outfit won’t match at all, and what a tragic disaster that would be!”
Remus couldn’t help himself from laughing again. The more time he spent with her, the more comfortable he felt, and able to just talk. In the back of his mind, he heard a little voice beginning to creep in, saying that he shouldn’t be acting like this and spending so much time around someone so beautiful and young, but he ignored it. He needed to have some fun anyway, and you could only call spending time with Sirius in his house fun for so long.
Just then, they reached the center of the main road, which branched off into two directions, one lined with little shops and a grocery store at the very end, the other with cafés and little restaurants. Remus was about to turn to the right branch where the store was located, but Tonks grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“You know, I think I would rather go to a little breakfast café. We can go to the store later, because I am hungry now,” she said, and began to walk to the left at a brisk pace. Remus hurried to catch up with her.
“Well, where do you feel like going then?” he asked when he had reached her.
“Um, how about Madame Victoire’s? I could kill for one of their friands at the moment… maybe I should make that two.” And with that, she strode inside, forgetting to hold the door for Remus, who hit his nose on it, not realising how fast this door would swing shut.
“Ow!” he said in surprise, holding his hand over his nose.
Tonks turned around and gasped, “Oh my God! Remus, are you alright? Oh, it’s all my fault. Trust me to do something like that! If I’m not hurting myself, I guess that means I have to be hurting someone else! Damn my clumsiness!” She lifted Remus’ hand off of his nose and winced just as he did. “Ouch, that looks painful! Come outside, and let me fix it for you.”
Just then, a brunette waitress came over and asked in a French accent, “Do you need any ‘elp? We ‘ave a furst aid keet in ze back room, if you need it.”
Remus was about to say yes, but Tonks interrupted, “No, we’re fine. Let me just take him outside for a minute. We’ll be right back.” She pushed Remus back out the door, making sure she wouldn’t hit anyone else, including herself, on the way out.
“What the heck, Tonks? We could have used a first aid kit-”
“Quiet, and let me fix it!” she said, glancing around cautiously and then pulling out her wand. Remus started and backed away.
“Oh, stop! I promise, I’ve done this before. Nothing bad is going to happen, but this should fix you up.” Seeing he was about to protest, Tonks grabbed both his hands in one of hers in a surprisingly strong grip and pointed her wand at his nose. Remus closed his eyes as she said, “Episkey!” He opened his eyes to find Tonks smiling at him. She released his hands and said, “There, feel it. It should be fixed, good as new now.”
Gingerly, Remus placed his hands on either side of his nose and felt it softly. To his surprise, it was mended, where it had probably been broken moments before. “Thank you, Tonks!” he said, looking at her.
“No problem,” she answered, grinning. “We might want to get you washed up a bit though, you’ve still got blood stains on your face. We don’t want people thinking I beat you up, now do we?” She laughed and began to walk to the door, but then turned back again.
“You know, I don’t just fix noses for free,” she said, tapping her chin. “Hmm, I wonder how you could repay me…” Her eyes twinkled mischievously.
“Well, I am sorry, Nymphadora but I don’t seem to have any money at the moment,” Remus answered, looking down at her.
“Oh, not money… just a hug would be nice,” she answered.
Remus lifted his arms out and Tonks walked forward to him. He closed his arms around her in a hug for a few brief seconds.
“Thank you, that is much better, now that I have my payment.” She paused. “And, Remus, never call me Nymphadora!”
Remus laughed and walked to the door, this time holding it open for Tonks before walking in.
The brunette French greeted them again, and then gasped. “Oh, um do you need ze bazroom so zat you can clean up, sir?”
“Thank you, I’d quite appreciate that,” Remus answered, smiling.
“Just ‘ead straight to ze back, sir.” She turned to look at Tonks. “Would you like a table to wait for ‘im at, ma’am?”
Tonks nodded and followed the waitress to a small little table set for two. “’Ere you go. Is zere anyzing zat I may get for you?”
“Um, sure,” Tonks answered, picking up a menu. “Could I get some French Coffee and some of the chicken friand, please?”
“Of course,” the waitress said, then looked to the hall where the bathrooms were. “And, your friend, what would ‘e like?”
“Um, I’m not quite sure,” Tonks answered, puzzled. “Is he coming back yet?”
The waitress glanced over again, and said, “Yes, and ‘is face is much cleaner, now.”
Tonks giggled a little and then straightened up as Remus turned the corner and came to sit down. “Much better,” she said, looking up at his face and smiling. He returned her smile, then looked to the waitress. “Um, could I get some French Coffee and the, uh, chicken friand?”
“Sure,” she said. “So zat is ze same zing for ze two of you zen. It will be right out.”
“Thanks,” Tonks said, then turned to look at Remus. “You look much better without all that bloody crap on your face, you know that?”
He smiled, and then said, “You do realise that I wouldn’t even have had that crap on my face to begin with if it wasn’t for your smoothness in being clumsy and forgetful of others around you.”
Tonks smirked back and slapped his hand, then sighed. “I am so sorry about that. Did it hurt much?” Then, she sighed again, before he could answer. “Wow, that was a stupid question! Of course it hurt… I bloody broke your nose.”
“True, you did, but you also repaired it right away. I will have to remember that spell from now on, in case you aren’t always around to help with broken bones.”
“Only minor ones,” she replied. “I have never tried it on major breaks, and really, I am afraid to, because I may end up hurting someone else in the process. And then, I would feel even worse.”
“We can work on that,” Remus replied, then looked over to the counter. “Ah, it looks like our food is ready.”
“Good!” Tonks replied. “I am just about starved!”
“’Ere you go madam and sir,” the waitress said as she placed the two meals on the table. She turned and grabbed two coffee mugs from the counter. “And ‘ere is your coffee. Is zere anyzing else I can get you?”
“No, nothing, thanks,” Tonks said, smiling.
“Okay, just tell me if you need anyzing,”
“Sure, no problem,” Tonks answered, her smile becoming strained.
As soon as the witch was gone, Tonks grabbed her fork and furiously stabbed at the friand laying on her plate. Remus chuckled at her.
“What?” Tonks said through a mouth of the burning hot friand. “Ow, ow… okay, maybe a bit much food when it is hot.” She gulped down some water as soon as the burning chicken had slid down her throat. Rubbing her throat, she looked at Remus and asked, “Now, what was so funny about that? That bloody burned!”
Remus looked apologetically at Tonks. “It wasn’t the fact that it burned your throat; why would I laugh at that? It was just with the amount of gusto that you forced that poor dead bird and croissant into your mouth.” He smiled.
“It wasn’t that funny, Remus,” Tonks said, looking sheepishly up at him from behind thick lashes. “Ah, and now I have singed taste buds… and that was some good friand too…”
“Well, maybe next time, you should let it cool down for a few seconds, Tonks,” Remus said, smiling. “You could have gone one minute without the food, couldn’t you?”
“Um, uh… I guess,” Tonks said, blushing. “God, I never do seem to be able to keep my head, do I, Remus; at least, not when the pressure is on me.”
Remus smiled at her, shaking his head slightly. “No, Tonks, I am afraid that you never do. You always seem to let spill something or do something silly when you are nervous.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up.
“Why are you sorry?” Remus asked her. “We all have our little problems, and they tend to show when we are nervous. For example, and not at all to be rude, your clumsiness seems to come out when you have something on your mind.”
“Well, that must be constantly, because can you think of a day since the day we met that you haven’t seen me fall, or heard of me tripping over a spec of dust!?” she asked, laughing. “Seriously, the day we met, when I first joined the Order, didn’t I trip and almost fall on you? I mean, thank God you were there to catch me… though I do believe I knocked you over anyway.”
“Yes, I do believe you did,” Remus answered. “Oh, and by the way, I do believe your food is cool enough for you to devour it, now.”
“Oh, I had almost forgotten about it,” Tonks said, grabbing her fork and piercing the friand. “Oh, that is delicious. Thankfully, my taste buds still work.”
Remus smiled and then picked up his own fork, beginning to eat his food too. “Oh, that is good. I have never had the chicken friand before.”
Tonks just nodded, as her mouth was stuffed with food. Remus shook his head and looked down at his plate; he spit out his food.
Tonks swallowed hurriedly, then gasped, “Remus! What the hell was that for?!” She began to brush food off of her hands and then pushed her plate away from her. “Thanks for that! Eew!”
Remus just shoved his plate forward for Tonks to see. “Oh my God!” she said, as she stared at a dead roach embedded in the friand. “Oh my God, that is disgusting!”
Remus nodded and replied, “You aren’t kidding. You know, I think that we should ask for the manager.” He stood up and walked to the front, where a cashier stood.
“Yeah, how can I help you?” the teenage boy behind the register asked in an annoyed voice. He had black hair with a stripe of blue, along with an eyebrow, ear and nose piercing.
“Um, could I speak to the manager, please?” Remus asked, smiling.
“Coming up,” the boy answered, then turned and yelled, “Hey! Could we get Artie up here?”
A man in a suit walked up and, in a stuffed-up voice, said, “I am Arthur Francois, the manager. How may I help you this morning?”
“Um, could you come to the table where the woman with the blue hair is sitting, please?” Remus asked. “There seems to be a problem.”
“Surely, sir, whatever I can do,” Arthur answered, and he followed Remus over to where Tonks was sitting, staring at Remus’ plate in disgust.
“Hello, madam, my name is Arthur Francois, manager of Madam Victoire’s,” Arthur said, looking at Tonks. “What is the problem here?”
Tonks pointed to Remus’ plate, a sick look on her face. “There’s a dead roach in his food.”
Arthur came around and looked at the friand. “Oh, dear!” he exclaimed. “How on Earth did that happen?”
“Well,” Remus said, sitting down by Tonks, looking at her and smiling. “I think, and I am only guessing here, that there was a roach crawling in the kitchen, and it must have slipped into the friand and, well, got cooked.”
“Or,” Tonks said, looking up at Arthur. “Perhaps a cook was just careless and didn’t realise a roach fell in. There could also be the fact that perhaps a health inspector neglected his duties when he last came in and didn’t see a roach problem. There are actually many theories for this.”
She looked to Remus and saw that he was choking back a smile. Then, Arthur spoke.
“My dear Sir and Madame,” he said, picking up the plate. “Let me go ahead and take this for you and get you another.”
“No,” Remus said, smiling. “We just would like a refund. I don’t believe that I am hungry any longer, and, neither is Tonks.”
“What are you saying?!” Tonks asked, grabbing her plate. “I am starving. You go ahead and get your refund, but I’m eating my food.”
Remus leaned into her and whispered in her ear. It sent shivers up her spine. “Tonks,” he began. “Don’t you think that if there was a roach in my food, there could be... other unpleasant things in yours?”
Once he pulled away, it took Tonks a moment to recover. Then she said, “Arthur, I agree with Remus. I’ll just take a refund, and we will be on our way, thank you.”
“Of course, Madame; sir,” Arthur said, taking up both plates in his hand and walking over to the kitchen.
As soon as he was out of sight, Remus and Tonks burst into fits of giggles.
“Wow!” Tonks said. “We came up with some of the lamest excuses ever for that. I also think that it is kind of comical about the roach, at least when I forget how absolutely disgusting it is!”
Remus smiled at her. “I know what you mean,” he said.
Tonks leaned over and hugged him. He nearly pulled away, but then he realised that it felt right, and he returned it.
Arthur came back to the table and handed Tonks two five pound bills. “Here you go, Madame,” he said. “I can assure you most sincerely that an incident like this will not happen again.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Tonks said. “Now, I think we will be on our way.” She stood up from the table and nearly knocked it over. “Sorry,” she said. Then, she walked away to the door, going outside and waiting for Remus.
“Thank you, Sir,” Remus said, then went directly to the door. He opened it to find Tonks leaning against the wall.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes, let’s go,” she said, quietly slipping her hand into Remus’. To her surprise, he didn’t pull away, and the two made their way back to Grimmauld Place.
Love Keeps Us Together (Sometimes Apart) by DontCallMeNymphadora
Chapter Notes: Here is the sixth chapter. I had some trouble getting it in because of certain character problems, but I have now edited them, so hopefully, this time it will work. I made it more comedy-like now... Enjoy!
Chapter Endnotes: Please review! I want to know what you think of this!