Is thanking you enough? Does it let you know how much you've helped?

[nymphadorauror]

Date: Friday, May 5th, 2000
Time: Evening
Place: Liverpool to London, Tonks’ residence to Grimmald
Characters Involved: Ron & Tonks
Rating: PG- Maybe 13
Complete

Comments

[nymphadorauror]

Tonks smirked lightly, and witnessed Ron’s apparation, before she allowed herself to follow.

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.

[beyond_measure]

Ron flinched as Tonks's bag and box hit the floor, more from the knowledge of what was coming than from the noise of the things hitting the floor. He quickly set down the boxes he'd been carrying and went to the portrait, struggling to shut the curtains again. And how had they been open in the first place?

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.

[nymphadorauror]

Tonks had stopped collecting things to clasp her hands to her ears in shock, for she had forgotten, somehow, about the painting on the wall. About Mrs. Black’s deathly wails and shrieks. Who could blame her? Tonks’ frame of mind was not on the dark and creepy things that resided in this house. No- it was on the dark and creepy thing she knew was outside, somewhere, with half of Miss Cain’s throat in its stomach. She crouched down, curling up into a ball like squat near her mess on the floor, as she waited to see if Ron would be able to silence the screams. Thank Merlin he did, she couldn’t stand to listen to much more.

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.

[beyond_measure]

Ron was able to maintain his smile, luckily, and he thought it managed to keep him from looking too worried.

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."

[nymphadorauror]

“You’ve just moved out- course you’d not wish to stay here and have tea. Don’t be silly. That wasn’t the arrangement.” Tonks replied quickly, even though her body movements were slow and sluggish as she moved away from Ron and her small pile of belongs on the floor, wandering to the door. The screaming Mrs. Black, or the gloom of the interior of the house weren’t even attempting to bother Tonks. Yes, the portrait had scared her a moment, but now that the house was silent again, she wasn’t thinking about the atmosphere at all, and rather was wishing she could. She'd rather think about anything instead of dwelling on werewolves loose outside, and nearly decapitated friends laying on the ground to rot away. She paused a second, grit her teeth, and then took a few more steps.

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….”

[beyond_measure]

And women wondered why they were so incomprehensible to men.

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.

[nymphadorauror]

Her eyes met up with Ron’s with a curious yet cautious glance.

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.

[beyond_measure]

Ron gave Tonks a small smile.

"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?"

[nymphadorauror]

“Uh…” Tonks suddenly had no words.

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.

[beyond_measure]

Ron chose not to comment on her verbal stumblings. This was clearly affecting her more deeply than she'd let on in the journals. Not that he hadn't already realized that, but it was being made clearer and clearer the more time he spent with her. Hadn't Harry asked her about moving into Grimmauld Place awhile ago? And she still hadn't planned things out? Tonks wasn't the most organised of people, he supposed, but he knew she could pull it together when she needed to; she was an Auror, after all.

"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."

[nymphadorauror]

She bent down and gathered up her things, leaving Ron the same amount she had let him carry before, and then headed up the stairs.

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.

[beyond_measure]

Ron picked up the two boxes and the bag that he'd had originally and followed Tonks up the stairs, thankfully far enough back from her that he managed not to trip over her. Only just, though, as he nearly over-balanced and one box went tumbling down the stairs when he threw a hand out to the banister. He'd forgotten how dangerous Tonks and a staircase could be.

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.

[nymphadorauror]

Tonks shifted the boxes in her arms and, with the help of Ron, got back up on her feet. She suffocated a nervous chuckle from the tight press of her lips, as she grinned. Then she noticed Ron was without a box, as he glanced behind himself at what had fallen.

“Oh, Merlin… I’m sorry Ron. I’ll be more careful.” She said quietly with a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m alright… I hope,” and then another chuckle of nerves was released. She turned around and attempted to finish getting up the stairs without any more box injuries. When she made it to the top, she let out a sigh of relief and headed for the assumed middle of the hallway before she put the boxes down.

“Which rooms where which, Ron?” Tonks asked as she looked down the hall where she thought Ron would be.

[beyond_measure]

Ron's smile became more sincere and he placed his remaining box and bag at the top of the stairs before doubling back to get the one that had dropped, quickly piling everything back into it.

He heard Tonks's question and glanced up towards her as he finally picked up the box and stood to make his way back up the stairs.

"The one nearest the stairs was Harry's, Hermione's was in the middle and mine was on the end."

He grabbed the stuff at the top of the stairs to carry it to where Tonks had put her load.

[nymphadorauror]

She stood up to glance down each side of the hall, checking out the doors with casual glances as Ron finished piling her stuff together.

“Ah, okay. Thanks.” She said softly to his answer. Then her attention went back to Ron, with a tilt of her head. “Are the rooms all cleared out of important stuff, then?” She walked around the pile of stuff, making a casual stride to the stairs. Her eyes moved from the doors to the floor as she stepped.

“You’ll visit, won’t you? Well no… actually, I’ll probably visit you- out of preference.” She stammered, with another faint chuckle tinting her voice. Who was she kidding? It’d be a fluke to welcome visitors in a place like Grimmald, and on top of it- in comparison to the ‘castle’ this house was a broom closet. No one could visit a friend in a broom closet with the dust bunnies. The realization made her sigh as she approached the foot of the stairs.

Dust bunnies or not, she welcomed the silence of the house probably more than any would. And evern perhaps if that was an odd pleasantry for her at a time like this, she really didn't see any delightful options. Well, none that were perceived as delightful.

[beyond_measure]

Ron grinned down at her. "Ah, we can come visit, as well." Wouldn't want to live here alone without any company for long, myself...

"I think I rather fancy some tea. Not really in the mood to be around too many people right now."

It was true, actually. Somehow the idea of the Leaky was really unappealing, at the moment, and the idea of giving Tonks a way to try even more to pretend like nothing was wrong was even less appealing.

"Come on. I've been told I'm brilliant at taking biscuits out of the tin and putting them on a plate."