Is thanking you enough? Does it let you know how much you've helped?
Date: Friday, May 5th, 2000
Time: Evening
Place: Liverpool to London, Tonks’ residence to Grimmald
Characters Involved: Ron & Tonks
Rating: PG- Maybe 13
Complete
( Helping a friend with a quick departure. )
Time: Evening
Place: Liverpool to London, Tonks’ residence to Grimmald
Characters Involved: Ron & Tonks
Rating: PG- Maybe 13
Complete
( Helping a friend with a quick departure. )
Yet finally she saw someone approach, stepping through the open walk way and headed toward her with purpose, looking exactly like Ron. Thank Merlin!
Tonks stood up quickly, which forced her gray cloak to flush down to the back of her knees and scatter over her legs, as she lunged herself off the steps and toward her stack of belongings. Of course it wasn’t everything she owned, but enough to live comfortably for a few days before she would go home and face her parents again, to collect the rest. She wasn’t sure she’d need furniture, or anything of that nature, but at this point she didn’t care if she’d have to sleep on the floor.
Her arms rolled up the sleeves of her purple shirt, and then she grabbed the strap of her black bag- her work bag- and slung it over her shoulder.
“I am now.” She replied as she went, and now already had a box tucked under an arm. Then her other hand grabbed her wand from her jean pocket and shrunk a box to fix better in her other arm, before picking it up and carrying it like a quaffle.
“You can get those two, and that bag if you can manage it alright.” She forced a soft chuckle as she teased him with his small load of two average sized boxes and a stuffed brown bag to fetch.
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He rolled his eyes at laughed at Tonks, throwing the bag over his shoulder before tucking a box under each arm. It was a bit awkward, but certainly not too heavy. Didn't feel as though there was much other than clothing in the boxes, actually. This couldn't be all her stuff, and it seemed a bit strange that she'd just been sitting on the front steps alone with her things.
"Are you sure you don't need more?"
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“Nope… not at all….and not now.” She slightly shook her head, while her voice carried with it the pain of arguments and heavy denial, laced in a flat, loud voice. She would have just up and left for Grimmald without clothes and some personal items, if she didn’t plan to stay longer than the weekend. And that was the thing; she wasn’t sure where she would stay come Monday, and if she’d desire to see her Mum and Dad so soon after everything. Course they’ve argued in the past, but nothing was as hurtful as this fight- and Tonks usually was not as stubborn as she was at this moment- knowing that if she took the time to stop and just think about things, she might feel the sting of losing a friend all over again, and she wasn’t going to have it. She would mask this pain with the excitement of getting out of her parents house and into a place she could call a part of her own- until other arrangements would be made. Besides, doing this was giving her something to do- which was always the cure for unwanted feelings or emotional turmoil.
Once her feet were on the stony street beyond the property, she turned to see if Ron had followed, while raising the hand that gripped her wand, upward. “I think we should hurry before you drop my things and then I’d have to scream nasty obscenities at you.” She said with another forced chuckle, and a bit loudly to Ron, as she waited for him to join her out on the street. She wasn’t worried about cars coming to possible hit her at this hour of the night. The house was cozy within a residential area that saw few travelers once the sun had set.
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Her voice was a dead giveaway, as well. The tone itself as well as the forced chuckles. He understood that finding Cain must have been traumatizing, but her desire to get away from her parents' house made him think this could possibly be due to something else.
Still, she had asked for help moving and a distraction, so that's what he would give her. If she wanted to talk she would talk, right?
He couldn't help but wondering if gloomy 12 Grimmauld Place was a good place for her to be at the moment, though. Especially not alone. It was vaguely depressing in and of itself, and would doubtless remind her of the War and Sirius and all of that as much as it had him and Harry and Hermione.
Ron followed her to the street, forcing a smile of his own at her joke and strained laugh.
"Sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure how long I can deal with all this." And with that he disapparated.
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Then there it was. Sanctuary! Well, not bloody likely, but anywhere other than the confides of her room, and the ever irritating presence of parents who liked to treat their adult daughter like a child, was better.
Tonks had appeared a short distance from the front door of 12 Grimmald Place, watching it form and wake up right in front of her eyes. Ron was patiently waiting, which was comforting to know and witness, as she glanced at him where he stood closely beside her with her things. She didn’t know what to say at that moment, and was eager to be free of boxes and bags, so she cleared her throat and adjusted her own boxes before approaching the door.
When she opened the door and passed inside the house, vacantly waiting, she immediately went to put her boxes down near the foot of the stairs for a later unpacking. But as she bent down to put her boxes on the floor, the strap of her bag slipped from her shoulder, fell off her arm and forced the one the boxes to slip from her hand and tumble to the floor loudly, followed by her big black bag. Perhaps a few books had been inside the box, to cause such a loud noise. The lid of the box had been bent closed, and not sealed or charmed, which was very unfortunate, and it allowed things like papers and fabrics to scatter on the floor once it rolled on it's side upon landing. Tonks let a few muttered curses fall out of her mouth as she started to gather up her belongings.
The other unfortunate thing from such a loud ruckus, in an otherwise quiet house, was the sudden wails and screams coming from the a painting nearby, its curtains were slightly opened.
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After a few minutes that he was certain his ears would never fully recover from Ron managed to get the curtains to meet, Mrs. Black quieting down almost immediately. He turned back towards Tonks and set the bag he'd been carrying down with the rest of her things.
He gave her a grin and rolled his eyes before whispering, "On that note, feel like having that drink, now?"
He felt even worse about leaving her here, now. On top of the gloom and the memories and all that was clearly bothering her she'd probably end up waking up that damn portrait at least once a day. No one should have to deal with that. He'd ask her at the pub if she wouldn't rather stay with them until she had a chance to at least move in properly at Grimmauld Place.
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Yet, once it was quiet again, and she heard Ron approach where she was and set her things down near the others, she didn’t move. Her head was lowered, glancing to the floor, as if she was in a daze. Then her arms scrapped up the items on the floor and quickly stuffed them into the open box, before Tonks attempted to look up at Ron. He had a smile on his face.
“Well… yes…you’ve held up your end of the bargain…” She whispered in return and slowly rose up to stand straight. Then suddenly, abruptly even, she gave Ron a squeeze of a hug, wrapping her arms around his torso tight. It wasn’t long before she let go and sighed.
“Now we can go.” She said, almost matter-of-factly, with a slight nod of her head, as she smiled the faintest of smiles. She was awful glad to have him here, for the moment. He was a distraction in himself. For to be alone with ones thoughts for too long, was definitely a bad thing.
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Did he misread her reaction to the portrait? He'd always wanted to get out of the house after that particular reminder of its nature, but maybe Tonks thought that he was just trying to rush things so he could leave. He wasn't.
"We don't have to go, Tonks. I just thought that after the portrait..."
And then she was hugging him tightly with no warning. He chuckled and gave her a brief hug back.
"You sure? I mean, we could have... tea or something here, I'm not bothered."
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Then she turned around and glanced at Ron. “I was just….shocked…is all….I didn’t remember… about that, just then.. I wasn’t thinking about it…. You know?” She whispered out as she pointed slightly at the painting.
Then her hand clasped the door and readied herself to open it.
“I do owe you a drink….”
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It was easy enough to forget about the portrait if you hadn't been there for awhile, he supposed, especially if your mind was on other things as Tonks's was, but Ron wasn't entirely sure, by this point, that going to the Leaky was really the best course of action for her. Still, it might provide the distraction she seemed to want...
"I didn't come here for a free drink, Tonks. I don't mind staying here if you'd rather."
He really didn't think being in Grimmauld Place alone was a good idea for her, now.
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Tonks knew he wasn’t here to get drinks off of her, and she also knew that he wanted to be there for her during a time when it would probably be best she wasn’t left alone. But at the same time, that’s all she seemed to be doing, breaking away from support that was there for her, even if she had been alone most of the day.
And then she saw Ron’s expression. It was confusing her a bit, wondering how off she was acting, and if her actions were speaking of her disturbances of the mind and the heart too well than she’d like. It was hard for her to open up and release her troubles onto others, especially the troubles of vulgar results.
“I know that Ron… I do…. I just figured…. bloody hell.. I don’t know what I figured.” She sighed a bit, while one of her hands still held the doorknob. Her voice was quiet, and also thick with mixed emotions.
“May I allow you decide our next course of action, for helping me with my heavy burden?” Her eyes darted toward her items that they both had carried over, but her words were speaking a bit deeper than moving boxes and personal belongings.
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"First, do you need them anywhere other than the entry hall?"
He needed time to think. He was really no good with this sort of thing. He didn't know Tonks well enough to know what she needed to hear or do now or if she should be alone or if she really, really shouldn't be alone or... Not that he always knew with people he did know really well, but at least he had some idea then.
In theory.
"Anything need to go upstairs?"
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She had heard the simple questions about her belongings calling to her mind to produce an answer, but there was none. She didn’t know where she’d be sleeping, eventually, and had no idea where she’d put her small collection of things.
“I…well, don’t know. Well, no…. I suppose they’ll be going upstairs- yes.” Her words ran off, faded, just as she took reproachful steps toward Ron and her boxes. Her face showed her obvious hesitation and confusion.
“I hadn’t really thought about where.” She glanced up at Ron. “I didn’t really plan this out as well as I’d have liked.” Which was true. Tonks had just planned on getting out of her parents house, and into another place, where she wouldn’t have to deal with much of anything. In particular, her mother.
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"Right. Upstairs then. Just in the hallway with the bedrooms? I've no idea which is the nicest, we sort of chose without worrying about things like that."
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Tonks had wanted to come to Grimmald and take a look upstairs before she went about the task of moving in, but all the things she had done with her time before this night had kept her busy. The Inquiry, the Investigation, the secret meetings with friends of all sorts of underlining incentives, the list could go on and on. Add in the fact that she hadn’t really told her parents she’d be leaving sometime soon for a temporary residence, until she either found her own place or had to move out, also played a big reason. But when her mum and dad had harped on her about the werewolf attack, she felt no reason not to tell them at that moment, and change the subject entirely. She could handle the cries and screams of misunderstood moving, over any lecture borne from paranoia. Even if Tonks was an Auror, and had been one for a long time now, her parents would still fret and worry for her well-being, and earlier today it was not easily heard.
She turned her head to glance behind her as she climbed the stairs very slowly. “Yeah, in the hallway is fine for this stuff… I’ll find a place later on for everything, I’m sure.” Then she added, “ I don’t think any room in this place could be considered ‘nice’, Ron.” But Tonks had attempted a slight smile after her words, thinking it was amusing to consider anything about this house as nice, or any other fluffy word that was a complete opposite in meaning compared to what was viewed inside Headquarters.
Her idle thoughts resulted in her missing a step on the stairs, and nearly tripped and fell down the slope she had climbed. Luckily her legs knew when they did not work right, or had stepped wrong, and one of them bent at the knee and attempted to catch herself with a crouching of her body, so she wouldn’t tumble backwards. Her knee met down onto a stair, and allowed her survived her unsteady feet- this time.
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After he recovered his balance he gave Tonks a nervous smile and offered her his free hand to get her up.
"Alright, Tonks?"
He glanced back down the stairs at the box he'd been forced to drop, half its contents scattered along the staircase. He'd get it once he'd set these down.
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