REALLY REALLY LONG CHAPTER!!! I could not find another place to break it... bear with me!
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“LISTEN!!! We will not be going anywhere until you lot calm down. DO NOT act like a bunch of rowdy teenagers in Diagon Alley…”
Molly was attempting to calm down the excited group standing in front of the kitchen fireplace before they flooed into Diagon Alley for school supplies. Fred and George snickered at her last comment and responded to her warnings in a tag team of yelling.
“But we ARE rowdy teenagers…”
“And you once said that we should always be ourselves…”
“Which would be rowdy teenagers…”
Molly put up a hand and silenced her twins.
“Boys please. When I said you children should always be yourself I was not talking to you two. Just everyone else. Now pay attention.”
Tonks chuckled and looked up at the door as Remus walked in. He smiled at her and walked over to join her behind a whispering Hermione and Ginny. Remus grabbed her hand and blushed, looking straight ahead as Tonks glanced up at him in surprise at his display of affection.
“You look beautiful today.” He leaned over and whispered, causing her to shiver at his closeness. She was wearing a very short skirt with a ragged hem line, a pair of fishnet thigh-high stockings, knee high boots with a small band of rainbow striped socks hanging over the top of them, and over her favorite worn Weird sisters shirt was a short leather jacket.
“As I was saying… we need to pay attention today. We need to stick together, preferably in groups. No one is to be left alone. And that goes double for you Harry dear. So what we are going to do is this. We are all going to Flourish and Blotts to get books, then Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry will go with Remus and Tonks to get the rest of their supplies. I will take the twins to get new robes, since they ruined their last ones doing Merlin knows what with bubotuber pus and chocolate…” She put up her hand to stop the twins from interrupting again and continued. “We do need to hurry, we have to be back by two so we can start getting ready for the party tonight. Tonks, you go first dear to make sure it’s safe… we’ll follow in a bit.”
Tonks gave Remus’s hand a hidden squeeze before she walked to the front of the crowd, grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped inside the fireplace. “Diagon Alley” she said clearly, dropping the powder and disappearing in a green cloud of smoke.
“Mum… why are we…” the twins whined simultaneously and Molly rolled her eyes knowing that they did not want to have to spend the day being escorted around Diagon Alley.
“Listen. I am taking you to get your new robes, because I did not want to have to put anyone else through the trouble of handling you two for longer than necessary. However, once we get your supplies, you two can go off on your own. You are old enough to look out for yourselves. That and, no offense, you are my sons and I love you, but you would drive me absolutely mad if I had to stay with you all day long.”
The twins beamed at the realization that their own mother could not handle them for longer than a few hours and moved to a quiet corner to plan out what they were going to buy at Gambol & Japes when they were set loose from Molly’s hawk like gaze. Harry had given them the money he won from the TriWizard Tournament to help them buy supplies for the joke shop they would like to open after leaving Hogwarts, and even though they had purchased a fair amount of items already, they had most of the money left.
They were anxious to get their hands on a few choice items and ingredients to help them make their new line of ‘remedy candies’ that would make treating certain ailments and conditions easy, as well as tasty.
The chocolate and bubotuber pus combination was one that they twins had been trying to perfect for a few weeks now, but they had a hard time getting the formula right. It was supposed to be a chocolate bar that would help clear up acne, but it was a tricky one to perfect. If they added too much bubotuber pus then the candy bar would taste like petrol and leave your mouth covered in horribly painful boils.
Fred and George learned this the hard way and needed Hermione to assist them in making a Boil Cure Potion and had to dilute it in nettle tea to ease the pain in their mouths. However, not enough pus would leave the candy bar only mildly effective, allowing your acne to clear up for a limited time (usually only for three hours) and then return full force. Their robes were ruined by the straight bubotuber pus; it got spilled on their clothing and it eventually ate its way through the fabric when they did not wash it out for weeks. Molly was not pleased when she realized that on top of covering the cost of new books for the school year, she also had to buy the twins new robes as well.
“Remus, how is Sirius? Is he still upset?” Molly asked as she smoothed out his shirt.
“Yes… and he finally agreed to stay here, even though he insists that he could go as Padfoot and not get caught.”
As he was saying this Sirius came into the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the table to sulk. He sipped the coffee and grimaced at it being cold; he pulled his wand out of his pocket and stuck the tip of wand in it and muttered a heating spell. Soon it was steaming and he frowned into it and pushed it away. Remus and Molly were watching him and Remus walked over to talk to him for a second before they all departed to Diagon Alley.
“Ok… that should be plenty of time for Tonks to make sure it’s safe. Go ahead Fred, take your floo powder. Then George...”
The children made their way to Diagon Alley and Molly caught Remus’s eye as she stepped into the fireplace. He held up one finger and she disappeared in a puff of green.
“Sirius. I know you hate being locked in this house constantly, but you can not come with us today. If someone recognized you, either as yourself or as Padfoot, you would be back in Azkaban in a second. Even Dumbledore could not help you. Just think of this as an opportunity to have the house to yourself for once.”
“It would be worth the risk to just get out for a few hours, trust me. I’ve been held captive in one way or another for most of my life Remus, first stuck here with my mother, the old witch, then in Azkaban, and now back in this nightmare of a house, complete with the screaming portrait of said mother…”
“Would it be worth the risk to get caught and never see Harry again? Think of him, Sirius. We are the only links he has to his parents. You are his Godfather. Do not be foolish. Besides, we are only going to be gone for a few hours. I am pretty sure you can handle being alone for that period of time.”
“You are right, I know you are. And I hate that. But I’ll only stay on two conditions. One, you bring me back something, and two, when you get back we have a little talk about why a certain Auror was sneaking out of your room this morning in your bathrobe. Promise.”
Remus turned bright red at the fact that he and Tonks had been caught. He was wondering why at breakfast that morning Sirius could not stop smiling at him and had even called him an old dog a couple of times. He also wondered if Tonks knew that Sirius saw her in the hall this morning, and tried to remember if she had acted weird around him at all.
“Ok. I promise… but there really is nothing much to tell…”
Remus stood at this and walked to the fireplace. He grabbed a handful of powder and stepped inside. He waved sadly at a gloomy Sirius and released the powder. “Diagon Alley…” he voiced boomed, and he was suddenly spinning wildly. A few seconds later he stepped out of the fireplace to join the rest of the group in Flourish and Blotts. He had spotted Tonks first, her shaggy blue hair difficult to miss even in a large crowd. She turned as he stepped onto the grate gracefully. Across from them a huge mess of books was being stacked by a slightly irritated looking wizard wielding a wand who kept looking at Tonks with narrowed eyes.
“Um, Nymphadora... I hate to ask it, but did you…” he gestured at the mess ahead of them and she turned pink before laughing sheepishly.
“Yeah. I have a bit of a problem using floo powder. I either miss the grate I should be getting out on, or I end up flying out of the fireplace, crashing into whatever is around me. I think that Molly sent me first so I would not accidentally crash into the rest of you guys. You know how clumsy I am.”
She blushed as he smiled at this statement. Remus, more than anyone, knew just how clumsy she was assuming that he had caught her from falling twice in the past twenty-four hours. And he was incredibly grateful that she was clumsy.
“Yes, I believe that I am pretty familiar with your clumsiness Nymphadora. And I must
say that I rather enjoy it; as well as the memories it stirs up.”
They watched each other intently for a few minutes until Molly came rushing over with an armful of papers and sacks of coins.
“Oh Remus… good. We are all here now. Would you please help Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny get these books -” she handed him a list and four sacks of money, “and Tonks could you pick up the twins books? They are driving me mad. I am going to take them to get their robes and set them free on the innocent people of Diagon Alley, the poor souls…” She gave her their lists and money and pushed the jabbering twins towards the door, apologizing profusely to the amused bystanders.
“Ok… Ron, Harry, and Hermione here are your lists, Ginny here is yours.”
Remus handed the kids their lists but held onto the money and kept an eye on them as they scurried off to gather the books themselves.
“Help me? It’s been a while since I had to look for school books.” Tonks held up the lists she was in charge of and gave Remus a flirty smile.
“It has not been that long…” he said softly as he took the list out of her hands.
“It’s been a while… I have been out of Hogwarts for five years.”
“Merlin… I’ve been out for nearly twenty…”
He suddenly felt extremely old. She was only four when he left school. He suddenly got a pain in his chest and closed his eyes for a second, wondering if his carefully guarded heart could actually handle what the very young woman standing in front of him could do to it. He opened them and was staring at a very amused Tonks; in her glee she had changed her hair to her usual spiky pink, and her grey eyes twinkled at him as she raised a small hand to cover her smile.
“Come on, old man… lets get these books then go out and have some fun.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs to find the seventh year section. As they reached the second floor they spotted Hermione, Harry, and Ron in one corner; the boys were holding a quidditch book between them with Hermione lecturing them.
“You two. Do you take anything seriously? We are supposed to be getting our books and you have been standing here for the past ten minutes looking at that stupid quidditch book. Which you both own by the way.” Hermione pulled the book away from them and slammed it down on the table. “Ginny and I are all ready to go and you have not even picked up one book that you need.”
The boys grumbled and rolled their eyes as they followed her to the fifth year section, and held out their arms as Hermione began pulling books off of the shelves.
“I do not even know why I bother worrying about your books; it’s not like you two ever read them. I bet that half of your fourth year books were not even opened. You obviously do not value education.”
Remus shook his head as he watched Harry and Ron trying very hard not to laugh as they were scolded by Hermione.
A half hour later found them standing outside Flourish and Blotts, arguing over where they were going next.
“Well we really should get some new parchment and quills, so I suggest that we go to Scribbulus Everchanging Inks first, then to Slug & Jiggers for potions ingredients. After that I suppose a little fun would be in order…”
Hermione looked down at the list in her hand, crossing off some items with a quill and ignoring the snickering coming from Harry and Ron.
“Leave it up to Hermione to ‘plan’ out a little fun…”
“How about you guys go and finish getting your supplies, and meet Remus and I at Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor in about… an hour? Will that be enough time?”
Tonks grabbed Remus by the sleeve and pulled him away without waiting for an answer. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other smiling and headed off toward the stationary shop, followed by a very confused Ron and Harry.
“We are supposed to watch them. Molly is going to be furious with us at letting them run off by themselves…” Remus trailed off as Tonks led him to a small café and sat down.
“Molly will get over it. She coddles them too much. She let Fred and George go off by themselves and they are probably less skilled at defending themselves than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Those kids are old enough to look out for themselves… they are a lot stronger than we give them credit for. Besides, I thought it would be nice if we could have a little ‘alone’ time outside of Grimmauld Place.”
Remus reluctantly sat down, realizing that they could see the stationary store and the Apothecary from their table, and if need be they could reach the children if anything were to happen. Tonks ordered a pot of tea for them and smiled at the worried look on his face. He kept his eye on the shop, and saw the children leaving it and heading toward the apothecary as the tea was set down in front of him. He chuckled as Hermione and Ginny had to pull Ron and Harry past the Quality Quidditch Supplies store to get to the Apothecary. He craned his head as they finally disappeared around a corner, and Tonks rolled her eyes at him.
“Remus. Relax. And stop watching the road like you are on a stakeout. They will be just fine. Tea?”
“Yes please.”
Remus watched as Tonks poured him a cup of tea, added cream and sugar, and stirred it before handing it to him. He liked the fact that she knew how he took his tea, it was a nice feeling of intimacy on her part. She pulled the spoon out of his cup and licked it, running her tongue lightly over the hot metal before she slowly took it into her mouth completely. Remus watched her do this, his tea cup halfway to his mouth, his intentions of drinking forgotten by her obvious sexual implication. She laughed and pulled the spoon out of her mouth and set it down on the table before shyly turning from him to pour a cup of tea for herself. He finally sipped his tea, keeping his eyes on her as she added lemon to her own cup and stirred with the same spoon. She met his eyes and pulled the spoon out of her tea and made to stick it in her mouth once again, then laughed and set it down on the table.
“You should have seen your face the first time that I did that, I thought it might kill you if I did it again. I was half expecting you to jump me right here and now the way you looked at me.”
“So was I.”
Remus said quietly as he sipped his tea again and stared into her eyes, causing her to blush a deep red. She looked away suddenly, trying to hide a smile and placed a cool hand against her hot cheek.
“So when are the children going to Kings Cross tomorrow?”
Remus laughed heartily and reached over and covered her small hand with his large one, and she spread her fingers apart to allow him to slip his fingers between hers. They were sitting like that when Molly approached them, flinging herself into a chair next to Remus, throwing her parcels down in the empty seat next to Tonks. Tonks made a move to pull her hand away, but Remus held fast to her fingers as he smiled at Molly.
“Hello Molly. Did you finally get the twins situated?”
”Yes. Just be glad I took them myself. They were absolutely horrific in the robe shop, I actually caught Fred trying to escape at one point to head to the joke shop even before we had picked anything out for him. He argued that if it fit George it would fit him… which of course did not please George one bit.”
Tonks and Remus laughed quietly as the server approached and Molly ordered more tea and a plate of scones for the three of them.
“How about the other kids? Did they get their books alright?”
Remus filled her in on the events at the bookstore and the wereabouts of the kids at the moment as their tea and scones arrived, and they chatted happily for awhile. Remus let go of Tonks hand and reached into his sweater pocket to find his watch, and realized that they had been sitting in the café for an hour and a half.
”I hate to break this up ladies, but I believe that the children may be waiting for us. We should really get going.”
Tonks and Molly stood, Tonks throwing down a Galleon and three Sickles, much to the dismay of a protesting Remus and Molly.
“Really, Tonks I can get it…” Remus started, pulling some money out of his tattered jumper pocket.
“Shut up… let me buy you a cup of tea.”
She smiled warmly at him and he blushed slightly, picking up the two stacks of books and placing his hand on the small of Tonks’ back to lead her out of the café.
“Ok… but the ice cream is on me.” He whispered into her ear, sending goosebumps up and down her spine.
The ice cream shop was crowded, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were standing against the counter with their faces pressed against the glass talking excitedly about which flavors they were eager to try. Fred and George were there as well, sitting in the window booths eating sundaes and talking to Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. Remus and Tonks spotted them first; Fred was sitting next to Angelina and very suavely snaked his arm around her waist, letting it rest on her hip. Angelina moved closer to Fred and offered him a taste of her strawberry and peanut butter cone. George saw this and looked hopefully at Alicia, who blushed a deep red and turned away suddenly, a large smile on her face.
Molly watched her boys flirt hopelessly with the two pretty young witches and a proud smile found its way on her face. They stepped up to the counter and joined the kids at searching over the available flavors.
“I want chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts.” Tonks whispered into Remus ear, and he stepped up to order for both of them. He got a cone for Tonks and a triple chocolate sundae for himself, and turned to carry them to the large table that Tonks was holding, almost running right into Neville Longbottom and his grandmother in the process.
“Hello Neville, Mrs. Longbottom.”
“Hello Professor Lupin. What are you doing in Diagon Alley today?”
Remus looked over at Tonks, and Neville followed his gaze to the pink headed witch sitting at a nearby table. He turned back to his old professor and smiled.
“Oh… I am here to help Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley’s get their school things. Molly asked me to come along since Mr. Weasley had to work.”
“Great. Well… it was nice seeing you Professor.”
“You too Neville. Mrs. Longbottom, it was nice meeting you.”
Remus stepped around his former student and walked quickly to Tonks, handing her the now melting ice cream cone.
“Who was that?”
“An former student of mine. He is a Gryffindor as well. How is your ice cream?”
“It’s fantastic. Want a taste?”
She held it for him as he tried it, and he offered her a spoonful of his triple chocolate sundae. He nearly missed her mouth as he fed it to her, and she was left with a smudge of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. She flicked her tongue over the spot, wiping away most of it, still leaving a small amount behind.
“You missed a spot.” Remus brought his thumb to the corner of her mouth and wiped gently at the chocolate smear.
“And if we were alone I’d ask you to lick it off for me…”
“Oh my goodness! It’s two fifteen! We have to hurry you lot, I have a ton of cooking to do for the dinner tonight.”
Molly rounded up all the kids from the various street peddler stands and led them back to Flourish and Blotts to floo back to Grimmauld Place. The fireplace at Grimmauld Place would only be connected to the Floo network for another fifteen minutes. Dumbledore set it up specifically for today, making it available for a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the afternoon. When they were to return to Grimmauld Place Molly was to cast a silencing spell around them so no one could follow them, thus securing the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix from unwanted spies and visitors. Molly went first, casting the silencing spell inside the fireplace before stepping in and making her exit, followed by the children.
“Remus, you should go next. I’ll follow shortly. Just remember to stand back; like I said earlier, I tend to go flying out of the fireplace instead of gracefully stepping out like you.”
Remus stepped into the fireplace at her insistence and made his way back to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. As he stepped out into the room Molly was just making her way out of the kitchen, leaving him standing alone in front of the fireplace. He stood back slightly and got ready to catch Tonks when she came flying out of the grate.
He stood for a few minutes, watching the fireplace expectantly and suddenly she was there, flying out of the fireplace into his arms. He caught her squarely, bracing his legs on the floor so he would not fall from the force of her body slamming into his. She fumbled for a minute, trying to regain her balance, still slightly dizzy from using the floo network. Her face was pressed against his neck and she inhaled his scent sharply, lingering for a minute as his arms wrapped around her waist to pull her onto her feet.
She finally stood and looked up at him, his arms still holding her tightly to his chest, her hands resting on his shoulders.
“Thank you Remus…”
“You are welcome Nymphadora. I did not want to take the chance of you knocking yourself
out during arrival.”
Tonks stood on tiptoe to kiss him, realizing that they were finally alone, and the door swung open suddenly; Molly came bounding in, carrying an armful of vegetables from the garden and dropped them on the table. Remus released Tonks quickly and she turned to face Molly, who tried desperately to hide her smile at catching them once again in each others arms.
“Wotcher Molly! Need help with dinner? I can usually peel vegetables without completely destroying something.”
“Oh no dear… last night you nearly cut a finger off peeling a carrot. You really must work on your household and domestic magic Tonks. The muggle way takes so much effort. You two go relax somewhere. I know you have not had much of a break today from everyone. I will call you when it is time to set up.”
They both nodded and headed silently out of the kitchen toward the upstairs sitting room. They could hear voices; probably the children showing Sirius some things they picked up in Diagon Alley. Remus reached into his pocket and pulled two small packages out. He felt them carefully and placed one back inside, holding onto the smaller of the two.
“What is that?” asked Tonks, pausing before joining all the others.
“Sirius wanted me to bring him back something. It’s a pack of cards.”
“What about the other one?” she asked, reaching into his pocket. “I saw you sneak off to purchase something from a street vendor, but I couldn’t tell what you were buying.”
“You will find out soon enough. It’s a surprise.”
“For me?”
She smiled broadly and removed her hand from his pocket, holding the package. She shook
it carefully then felt it all over, and when she could not discern what it was by feel she placed it back in his pocket.
“Yes, for you. But you will have to wait for it.”
He spun her around and gently directed her into the sitting room. Sirius, Harry, and Ron were sitting on the sofa looking at a small quidditch book that Harry had picked up at Quality Quidditch Supplies. Hermione was in the corner of the room, already reading her Ancient Runes book, apparently getting started on her homework early. Ginny was sitting in an armchair with Crookshanks in her lap and was watching Harry intently, turning away to look into the fire whenever he felt eyes watching him and he looked up. Fred and George were at the small table under the windows playing a game of exploding snap and talking excitedly, presumably about the joke products they had bought from Gambol & Japes that afternoon. They looked up as Tonks and Remus walked in and waved Tonks over to them to join in on their game. Remus sat down in a chair next to the couch and smiled as Sirius looked up at him.
“Hey Moony. Bring me anything good?”
Remus tossed the package to Sirius and he unwrapped it happily. It was a pack of self-shuffling cards; Sirius often played the muggle game solitaire to pass his lonely hours. Lily had taught it to them at school, hoping that it would keep them out of trouble on the off night that they did not have detention. And on some nights Remus and Sirius would play poker. Those nights usually ended in both of them getting extremely drunk on Firewhiskey and staying up until all hours, forgetting who was supposed to deal next.
“Thanks Moony. I foresee another poker night coming on. And now we will not have to worry about getting to drunk to shuffle the cards properly. I remember the last game we played I ended up getting almost the same hand three times in a row because we could not get the cards shuffled properly.”
Remus laughed at the memory of that night. It felt like they were young Marauders again; staying up all night playing cards, drinking, and having fun. Tonks was actually present for that one; it was the night before the Advanced Guard had rescued Harry from Privet Drive. The three of them had gotten quite drunk as their games wore on, and Tonks had passed out. They were in this room, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace and she had fallen asleep with her head resting against Remus’s thigh. Remus had to carry her to bed that night, and as drunk as he was, he remembered wishing that it was his bed he was carrying her to.
“Ok… so that is one part of the deal. How about the other part? When are we going to talk about you know what?”
Sirius asked quietly, leaning close to Remus so Harry and Ron would not hear him.
“Later Padfoot, later. As for right now, I have work to do. I have to finish some initial research before the next full moon.” Remus stood at this and walked to the door, turning to catch Tonks’ eye, winking at her as he made his way to the library to
do his research.