The Boarding House
Title: The Boarding House
Author: toonmili
Prompt #: 6
Word Count:3537
Summary: While searching for Remus, Tonks stays at a boarding house with a mysterious tenant.
SETTING: Post War.
RATING: PG
GENRE: Romance, Angst.
Nymphadora Tonks looked down at the words scribbled by her own hand. A stranger on the street recommended this place to her and she quickly scribbled it down. Mystic Boarding House was a small house in the back streets of big old city that looked like it had been ripped form a fairy tale. Even though the new millennium was well upon them, this city, placed on the edge of a shining bay hardly ever saw a car on the cobbled stoned street, you could still buy a baguette on the corner of the street with pocket change and strangers still greeted you with a smile. It was the sort of place Tonks envisioned she and Remus could live. This was a city where you could have absolutely nothing and have everything at the same time. And that was exactly what brought Tonks to this place, Remus
It had been four years since the war was over. It was a time everyone was looking forward to but no one more than Tonks. She was certain after the fighting was over she and Remus would finally be able to live together in peace, which was all they wanted really. But with the end of the war came surprising consequences. Everyone seemed to disappear, everyone seemed to run and never look back. And unfortunately for her Remus was among them. He didn’t stay long afterwards. He was in deepest spot of depression about everything that had happened. She always thought that it would get better after a while but she never got a chance to find out. On a stormy Friday night, she came from work soaked and tired to find that he left with a note behind that read one word, ‘sorry’.
She had spent the last three years looking for him. She had been form village to village, town to town and city to city, in hopes of finding him. She had been in this particular city for a little longer than an hour. The city was large and she knew it would take at least a couple of days to search properly. She came to the Mystic Boarding House hearing about a vacancy from the very stranger who vacated the spot.
She walked up a long narrow flight of stairs and came to a stop in front of a red door. She pressed an eclectic buzzer that emitted a melody beyond the door. She stood dropped her travelling bag at her foot and waited for an answer.
A small skinny boy who could be no older than ten pulled open the door and smiled at her. “Good day mam, how can I help you?”
She smiled down at the boy. “Good day to you too, I’m looking for the landlord of the house.”
-o-o-
The area where she just left had a large kitchen and a dining area with seats for over forty tenants. The rooms were further upstairs. The creaking staircase led to long corridor with rooms numbered one to forty on both ends. The landlord, Mr. Bates, walked down the hall and stopped at a red door with the number thirty two painted in black.
“This is the room. You’re really lucky Mr. Javier just left earlier this morning.”
“Yes I met him, he told me about the place.”
He smiled, pushing open the door. “There you have it, it’s destiny.”
The room was a modest looking room. The most outstanding feature was the large king size bed that sat between two side tables. There was a small table in the room that was placed by the only window in the room that gave a view of the sparkling ocean. The only other thing of note was the old TV set that sat in front of the bed.
“We don’t get cable but the local channels are pretty good.”
She nodded. She didn’t grow up watching TV and she doubted that she would mind what programmes were on TV. She was more concerned about the fact the there was no bathroom in the room. “And where do I take a bath?” she asked.
“There are communal bathrooms at the end of the hall. We have ten and we clean them everyday.”
She was not too comfortable with having to share a bathroom with thirty nine other people but it was a small sacrifice considering how cheap the place was. She could live there forever and not run out of money.
“If you need anything just ask anyone of the tenants, were're all friends here,” Mr Bates said smiling. He handed her a ring of keys with two individual keys on it. “I can tell you will fit right in.”
“Thanks,” she said.
The middle aged man walked to the door and stopped and turned back at her. “I should tell you that the man in room thirty one is a little odd, it would be best not to disturb him.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Lunch is at twelve.”
-o-o-
She had been in the city of a week already and she hadn’t managed to make her way through a quarter of the city. She spent most of her days walking in street after street asking people if the recognised the man in the picture, no one did. By the time she reached home it would be time for dinner to be served. Mr. Bates was right, she did get along with everyone in the place, it was so easy because everyone was so nice. They would all sit at the long dinning table for dinner and exchange stories with one another. It reminded her of Hogwarts start of term feast. She would always get a warm fuzzy feeling when ever she ate with them.
On Sunday she stayed home to have lunch with everyone. They were all talking about the mysterious man in thirty one, the room opposite hers. She had never seen the man but she knew from the others that he was quite an enigma. He hardly ever left the room and when he did no one would see him leaving or coming. She learnt that this man spoke to no one, ate alone and did not like to be bothered. There was a rumour that he had lost his wife in a horrible boating accident and changed ever since. It was an ongoing joke in the place and she liked taking part in it.
When Mr. Bates asked her to carry his food to him she jumped at the opportunity. She took the large tray of food and walked up the rickety stairs, careful not the throw it down. She stopped at the room opposite hers and balanced the tray in one hand and knocked with the other. “I have your lunch,” she said.
She waited for an answer and after about a minute she heard someone stirring behind the door. She felt a little smile come on her face. She was about to see the mystery tenant.
A man in his early forties, with a pale face and a hooked nose looked at her. She could hardly believe her eyes. There was Severus Snape, standing at the door. He looked quite different from the last time she saw him. His hair had been cut and did not reach past his ear in length, he was no longer thin and stickly looking, he had gained some weight but not too much.
“Nymphadora, what are you doing here?” he asked through his teeth.
“I live in this house,” she said still staring at him in fascination. After killing Voldemort, he had just disappeared; no one knew where he went. “I haven’t seen you in...”
“Four years, I know and I would have preferred if it remained that way. Is there any particular reason you are here of all places?”
She passed her hand through her hair. She knew that he would not like the answer. Everyone thought she was pathetic for doing it but she had to. “I’m looking Remus?”
Just as she expected, he looked at her with scorn. He took the tray from her hands and shut the door in her face.
Her brain tried to process what had just happened. She use to wonder what had happened to him but she was too preoccupied thinking about Remus to care. She had been travelling for such a long time it felt good to see a familiar face, even though it was one that had no desire to see her.
-o-o-
Monday morning she decided to take a day off. She volunteered to carry up his breakfast for him this time. She took the tray of poppy seed muffins and coffee up to his room and knocked on the door.
He opened the door and took the tray from her without a word. He opened the door, indicating that she should enter. She was taken aback by this but entered anyway. His room was identical to hers, except his window did not overlook the ocean but the city.
“Sit,” he commanded. She took a seat by the table that was placed by the window and he took the seat opposite her. With the light hitting his eyes she could that his eyes were actually brown. “Has Remus been in contact with you?”
She looked away from him. “Well no,” she said.
“Has it occurred to you that he doesn’t want to be found?” he asked.
She couldn’t understand why he was even talking to her about this. It really wasn’t any of his business. “If you know Remus like I do you’ll know that he is just afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Hurting me, he seems to think that I don’t know what I want and that I will wake up one day and realise that I don’t love him.”
“And is there any chance you will give up the idea of being with him?”
That was an odd sort of question. “No,” she firmly. “I know he wants to be with me too, he just has to allow himself to live without caring so much about being a werewolf.” There was no doubt in her mind that that was the root of her problems.
“Nymphadora, spear yourself the heartache, please go home.”
She looked at him and frowned, it was just like him to dismiss something like love so easily. “I gave up everything for him, my job, my friends and family, he is my home.”
He looked at her for a moment as if constructing a sentence in his head. “He doesn’t love you Nypmahdora, you need to go home, there is nothing for you here?”
She looked at him with her brows drawn together. She could feel her blood boiling. How dear he say that. “Do you even know what love is Severus. Have you ever had love, have you ever been in love, has anyone ever loved you. You are just a bitter man who wishes to spread his doom to everyone else. I have something that you will never have and it is that that makes you so envious of me. You never liked the idea of me being with Remus because it would mean that I would be happy and you can’t bare the thought of anyone else being happy because you are a miserable excuse for a man. No wonder everyone hated you.”
He looked at her eyes, his expression unchanged. He nodded. He got up from the table and walked to the side counter by the bed and took a piece of paper and pen and scribbled something on it. He handed it to her and walked to the door and held it open.
She got up from the chair and made her way out the door, clutching the paper in her hands. He slammed the door shut behind her. She could still feel her blood boiling at what he said. No one had ever said more painful words to her. She walked in her room and finally took the piece of paper and opened. Written on the paper was an address.
-o-o-
She looked at the oak door and took a deep breath. She passed her hand through her hair and felt her lips to make sure the gloss was still on. If Severus was telling the truth this was were Remus lived. She had actually been in the right city, although she wasn’t sure if she would have found the place as it was a bit out of the way.
She knocked on the door and waited. When she heard a voice say, ‘One moment’ she knew that Severus wasn’t lying. This was really the address where Remus lived. She felt her heart begin to pound so heavily that she was certain that it was going to beat out of her chest.
He opened the door and his face came into view. She heard herself let out a cry. She leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him all over.
“Tonks,” he said after a while. He began to stiffen in her embrace. “What are you doing here?” he whispered.
She still had her arms around him when the tears started to flow. “Remus, do you have any idea how long I have been looking for you?”
He was quiet. She finally decided to unwrap her arms from around him to have a better looked at his face. He didn’t look as tired as he did the last time she saw him. He looked well rested and healthy. He was smiling pleasantly at her but not as pleasantly as she would have hoped. “What’s the matter, aren’t you happy to see me.”
“Yes, of course I am, it’s just that you caught me at a bad moment.”
“Caught you at a bad moment?” She had been looking for him for three years and all he could say was that she caught him at a bad moment.
“Well yes, I’m a bit busy you see...”
She could feel her heart begin to sink, this was not the reaction she was expecting. She looked at him questioningly. He just looked back at her like he expected her to read his mind.
“Remus, who’s at the door,” she heard a voice ask. It was a soft, slightly high voice, the voice of a woman. She saw Remus close his eyes at the sound. Tonks stared at him, she couldn’t understand what was going on.
The source of the voice came into view seconds later. She had the most striking pair of blue eyes she had ever seen and a soft smile that could light up a room. She looked at Tonks and smiled. She placed her hand on Remus’ back and rubbed his shoulders while staring at her. Her heart had actually stopped beating.
“Who’s this?” she asked.
Remus took a while to answer. “An old friend from London,” he finally said.
The woman’s face widen with delight. “I have been dying to meet one of Remus’ friends. I always wondered if I married a man with no friends.”
Married, they were married.
The woman came out from behind Remus and she could finally see that her belly was full and round, she was carrying. Tonks looked down at her and then to Remus. He looked like he was in physical pain.
“Why are we in the hall, come in and have some tea.”
Tonks just kept staring at her wide eyed and back to Remus again. “I can’t,” she finally said. “I just stopped by to say hello.” She could tell from the woman's attitude that Remus had not told her about her.
“Oh, that’s a shame. How long are you in town, maybe we can reschedule.”
“I’m not sure I will be here for much longer. I was just passing trough really.” The words were actually painfully difficult to say, there was a heavy lump in her throat that was making it almost impossible to speak but she managed to say what she had to say and smile at all the right times.
“Oh well,” she said and she genuinely sounded disappointed. “It was nice meeting you.” She extended her hand and Tonks took it and shook it quickly.
“Well I best be off,” she said smiling. She looked at Remus, he had a very apologetic look on his face. “It was nice seeing you Remus and meeting your beautiful wife...”
“Chelsea, like the city,” she prompted.
“Chelsea,” Tonks said smiling at her. “Good luck with the baby.”
“Thanks, we’re hoping for a girl this time.”
“Oh so you have another baby. He must be only year?”
“He’s two actually.”
“Fantastic,” she said smiling at her and then looking at Remus. She had never been more embarrassed in all her life. “Well I’m off,” she said waving. She walked down the stairs and back onto the cobblestoned street.
-o-o-
Her feet were leading the way but she really wasn’t sure where she was going. Three years she had spent looking fro him. She was so sure that if she found him that they would be together, that she would prove to him that she loved and would go any lengths for him. She had given up her job to travel all over Europe for him, she fought with her friends defending him and she hadn’t spoken to mother in years because she didn’t approve of their relationship. She had lost everything for him, she had nothing left.
-o-o-
When she reached back to the boarding house it was late in the afternoon. She snuck up to her room hoping to avoid everybody. She walked in her room and sat by the window. The sky was illuminated with violet and orange as the sun set on her horizon. She stared at the scene and listened to the sounds of the gulls crying as the blanket of black replaced the gold and rose that was there a moment before.
She felt empty. She couldn’t bring herself to move, she couldn’t bring herself to think about what happened. She kept asking herself, “what now.” She let her relationship with Remus define her for so long she had no idea what do now that it was officially over.
There was a knock on the door. She felt like she should ignore it but she got up and answered it. There in the hall way was Severus. She opened the door for him to come in.
“Did you find him?” he asked.
She nodded and took a seat by the window.
“And?” he asked.
“Well he’s happy, he has a good life now,” she said trailing off, looking at the moon that had now risen in the sky.
“And how are you?” he asked with a tone that did not suggest that he cared to know the answer.
“I’m fine,” she said smiling. “I’m happy for him, that he could find happiness. He has a beautiful wife and baby and another baby. I’m very happy for him. It’s fantastic, I’m happy for him, very pretty wife and a baby. I’m really very very happy for him.”
He was staring at her, he frowned. “Nymphadora, I tried to tell you... I’m sorry that you had to find out.”
She got up from the chair and walked to the bed and laid down. “I’m not sorry, why should you be? I’m very happy for him.”
“You said that already,” he said. He followed her to the bed and sat next to her.
“That’s because I am,” she explained. She looked over at him and he stared at her. She was about to explain all the reason why she was so happy for him when he voice seized in her throat. Instead of words, a sob a came out. She covered her face with her hands because she felt embarrassed crying in fort of Severus. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She felt so ashamed. She’d been living in denial for the past four years. No wonder why he was never receptive to her. It wasn’t so much that he was afraid to love it was just that he didn’t love her. The pain was so over whelming, her entire body ached, her hands felt heavy, her head throbbed, he skin burned and her throat felt dry and sore.
She sat up quickly and tired to wipe away the tears but it was replaced by new ones immediately.
“Lay back down,” he instructed her.
She followed his instruction and found herself reaching out to him; she pulled him by his shirt bringing him down with her. He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. He stroked her hair gently as she cried.
“It’s okay,” he whispered to her and kissed forehead softly.
She closed the eyes at the sound of his voice, it was so soothing. At that moment she was very thankful that he was there. It was still the most painful experience in her life but he made it better.
The Potential End