Coffee Cousins (BACKDATED)

[dray_m]

Place: Draco's apartment
Date: August 1st
Time: 6.00 p.m.
Who: Draco and Tonks

Comments

[dray_m]

Draco almost sighed with relief as he watched Tonks silently shift back into an appearance he was far more used to seeing her wear. He couldn't even begin to explain the feeling that had taken residence in him when he'd seen her looking so much like his mother but it was disconcerting and he didn't want to feel it again.

"No, the blonde's fine," he said, eying her thoughtfully. "I think it rather suits you ... although it would look better longer." It wasn't even subtle and he knew it but, then again, he didn't think Tonks would pay much attention to his suggestion. To his knowledge, she never had.

He took her cloak and turned, placing it in the hall closet before turning back to find her already standing in the middle of his kitchen, pouring steaming hot liquid into two cups that he was sure hadn't been sitting out when he'd answered the door. He considered asking her what she was doing; dismissed the idea quickly. He didn't really mind after all and Tonks had always seemed to know exactly how he liked his coffee.

Instead he crossed to stand beside her, lifting down a packet of biscuits he was particularly fond of -- chocolate, of course -- and said, "Memos? About what, if you don't mind me asking? I would have thought that those at the Ministry were prepared to deal with the backlash from the pardon at least." He smiled gratefully at her when she extended the coffee cup to him and took it, carrying it over to the table and motioning for her to follow. He set both the cup and the pack of biscuits down beside the plate he had already half-emptied before seating himself.

"You haven't really heard much because there isn't much to report. Oh," he said, bitterly, "apart from the patients who start screaming 'Death Eater' at me whenever I try to fix their never-ending diarrhea. Honestly, have you ever met such people? They would rather live with diarrhea for the rest of their life then let me help them!" He snorted and lifted his coffee, taking a satisfying sip of the hot liquid.

[miss_changeling]

“Hmm… really?” She lengthened her hair slightly, allowing its tips to brush her shoulders. Her cousin was probably the last person she ought to be going to for advice on what to look like, but why not? She sipped her coffee and ran a hand through her hair. Definitely no longer than this, though. She’d start feeling far too much like Fleur.

She was glad to see that Draco was enjoying the coffee. Household spells were definitely not her specialty, but her ability to make coffee nearly matched her mother’s. “Memos about everything, really. What we’re supposed to say to the press, how they’re going to deal with all this, speculation and gossip between coworkers about why the Minister did it… They’re saying this one thing might just be enough to give him the sack.” She waved a hand dismissively. “And that’s just the interesting bits. Most of it’s bureaucratic nonsense that, thankfully, isn’t my department. At least that’s what I’ve heard. Only reason they’ve got all us aurors around at all is crowd-control. There’ve been a couple of incidents that almost turned into riots.”

She took a biscuit and nibbled on it thoughtfully. “And that’s stupid. Not very smart, is it? Insulting the person who’s about to be responsible for seeing to you getting fixed up.” She shook her head. “Just give it a while. As long as none of the lot that were just pardoned do anything to mess it up.” Tonks sighed. “Which, honestly, I’m not counting on. Scrimgeour’s must have been mad or something when he decided to allow it.”

[dray_m]

Draco's eyes widened imperceptibly when Tonks lifted a hand, ran it through her hair and a second later her blonde hair was brushing her shoulders. He blinked twice and shook his head slightly. "I didn't expect you'd listen to me," he admitted. "Merlin knows most people don't!"

He snorted when she mentioned the 'bureaucratic nonsense' and her relief that she didn't have to deal with it. There had been a time when he knew he had been expected to work in those departments his cousin was so glad to have avoided but that was quite some time ago and Draco was immensely relieved, now, when he thought about it. After all he had no doubt that those who did have the misfortune to be working in the departments that dealt with politics would be working twenty-four hours a day for the next few weeks at least. At least until this whole nonsense surrounding the pardon died down anyway.

He took another sip of the coffee, humming slightly in both appreciation and thought. "You're right, you know. Oh, don't look so shocked, Tonks. I can admit when others are right." He considered pouting -- decided against it. Both his mother and his aunt were experts at the art, there was no need for him to practice it. "What I meant was that you were right about the Minister. The public wouldn't dare re-elect him after this debacle. Which isn't a bad thing in my opinion -- stupid bint." He scowled slightly and reached across the table, snagging a digestive from the plate. "If he had any sense in his minuscule brain he would have at least warned the bloody Aurors and politicians beforehand -- you know, generate some support for his idea, market it discreetly. Not a very hard thing to think of. Then again with all the stories about the Minister's affairs I've no doubt the blood destined for his brain is going to other organs." He sneered at the thought and was delighted to see a slight blush appear on Tonks' cheeks. It was a secret pleasure of his, embarrassing others even slightly.

He leant back in his chair, tipping his head back, and said scornfully, "Well they aren't very smart people who I treat, generally. They insist that they know what's wrong with them, even when they're so far out it's unbelivable. I had a patient just last week who insisted she had Arubga Flu -- which is a myth by the way -- and she simply had a common cold with a headache. It was ridiculous." He sighed and took another biscuit. "I'm prepared to wait though. They'll come 'round eventually. I doubt it will be long until it's splashed all over the papers what I did during the war."

The thought was enough to make him shiver, as he pictured his family's reactions -- his immediate family's reactions. "Aunt Bella will murder me," he said, voice low. "Probably tear me limb from limb, knowing my luck. Make sure I am in immense agony before she deigns to Avada Kedavra me."

He shook his head, clearing cobwebs of thoughts away, thought he did not really wish to think.

[miss_changeling]

“I’m sure that’s not true.” And it wasn’t, she knew. Tails from Hermione, Ron and Harry about her cousin’s nastiness; he’d thrown around the word ‘mudblood’ like it was nothing. Hermione had certainly listened to him then. But Tonks merely smiled. “I think you’re right, though. It does look better longer.”

She brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. Scrimgeour was (as of late) a bit mad, highly paranoid, and extremely bull-headed, but he certainly wasn’t a womanizer. While Tonks took next to no interest in the personal lives of his superiors, she was almost positive that he was married. Had been married once, anyway. And assuming he was headed in the right direction, he actually would have made a pretty decent minister. In the short term, he had been an excellent choice, but now that the war was over… well, there was no one to fight, and he was an auror through and through, and probably a bit lost right now. She shook her head. “Maybe that’s it. I honestly don’t know. But if he’d warned all of us beforehand, I think there would have been too many people putting up a fight. Better announce it suddenly so no one has any time to object to it.”

“As long as no one is idiotic enough to go and blab about it to the Prophet, it might very well never get out, you know. Besides, you’d think that the papers would have more important things to write down, now especially, than who was on what side during the war.” She sighed. “People are just like that. I think it’s rather nice, you picking up the line of work that you did. I mean, I don’t think I could to it myself. I’m horrible around sick people.”

It was highly unusual of her to get as sympathetic as she was, especially to a kid whom she’d had only a vague acquaintanceship with until now… but perhaps it had something to do with family ties or some other such nonsense. Despite the obvious hypocrisy, her mother had always stressed the importance of loyalty to family. Tonks wished she’d been sitting closer, so that she could put a hand on his shoulder or something. Instead, she took a sip of her coffee.

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” Of course she would. She'd try, anyway. Making sure people don’t get harmed by Dark Wizards was her job, after all.

[dray_m]

Draco very nearly sneered at her when she mentioned that the Prophet may not publish anything about his allegiances once they got their grubby hands on it it but restrained himself -- barely. He wasn't sure when it had happened but sometime during the war he had become aware that these people were the people on his side, the only people who would be -- if not completely willing to accept him -- then at least put up with him and give him a chance. He had spent nearly a week being introspective, as his mother called it, and had come to the conclusion that it would be the smart thing to do to be as nice to these people as he could. Since then he had managed somehow not to insult people about their heritage (a few slips now and then certainly didn't count and anyway, Finch-Flectchley didn't count) and had made sure not to disparage others opinions. Still the simple idea of the Prophet not printing such a story was ludicrous and Draco decided that Tonks should be made aware of this.

"That's a bit ridiculous, Tonks," he told her, and hoped it didn't come out as scornful as it had in his head. "I don't mean to annoy you or disrespect your opinion" -- there, Draco, you're relatively safe -- "but the people at that rag would print any story they got their hands on. And I have no doubt that they would somehow make me out to be the bad guy, or dredge up all those charges against me before I was a spy and ask why I wasn't arrested for them. It's what they do -- it's what they've always done. Heck, do you remember ... oh it must have been when I was still in school ... but they talked about McGonagall's relationship with some famous singer? Which happened decades before that?" He sighed and shook his head. "They simply could not let any story die, Tonks, if it suited them."

"Srimgeour's a coward," was all he had to add to Tonks' brief statement about him.

When Tonks mentioned his job he smiled widely, unable to stop himself. He had never expected it to happen but -- no matter how much he complained -- he truly enjoyed his job. To him, it had far more pros than cons and he was always in pursuit of new knowledge. He always had been and had found that medicine suited him -- there were always new discoveries being made. "I don't really think of it as nice," he told her and meant it. He didn't want to think even after the war he was being 'nice'. "I'm in it for purely selfish reasons. I always did love recognition and being a doctor -- even if I'm just a mediwizard -- provides it." He hoped it sounded sincere. He was sure she already regarded him as scum of the Earth -- there was no need for her to think he was being one of the nicer scums decorating the Earth's surface.

I'll make sure that doesn't happen. Six simple words, really, and Draco knew this. Six words that shouldn't affect him whatsoever but they did and suddenly he desperately needed something to do with his hands, otherwise he'd go mad he was sure of it. He dropped both hands into his lap and began twisting his fingers around one another. When he spoke his voice cracked slightly and his cheeks were stained with a rose pink blush. "Thank you." Hurriedly he added: "I know it's your job and all but ... thank you." He didn't say that it meant anything to him. He figured she'd be an idiot not to pick up on it.

[miss_changeling]

In normal circumstances, Tonks would have rolled her eyes. Did this kid honestly think that people were that interested in his goings on? While perhaps (she had to remind herself once more) it was not his fault; if the occasional snips of conversation heard between her mother and Aunt Cissa could be counted on (and assuming she’d heard right. After all, trying to decipher anything sensible between shrieked personal attacks was very hard), Draco had been led to believe that he was in fact the very center of the universe. True, it may be made a point of interest that his history was not quite perfect, but there was certainly no reason there’d be something of a news-worthy story about it. Look at Snape! What he’d done during the first war and what Draco had been doing during the last were practically the same things, and there’d been no cover story about him. The greasy bastard had been vehemently disliked among some fifteen years’ worth of Potions students, but that was a far cry from being scorned by the greater part of society.

She raised an eyebrow; her streak of Black haughtiness showing through. “But it doesn’t suit them. Not now, anyway, when there’re plenty more issues of interest than…” one rich boy’s mucky affairs was what she would have said. Instead, she went for something more diplomatic: “what you’ve done. I highly doubt there’s anything on their minds at the moment other than the Minister and his bloody pardon. And it depends what rag we’re talking about. This is the Prophet for Merlin’s sake, not the Quibbler. And I don’t know exactly how little was going on in the world that made them decide that McGonagall’s ancient affair was newsworthy, but I’ll bet you anything that they’ve learned by now that something that trivial isn’t worth taking up valuable space in their paper for when there are plenty of gossip mags to pick it up instead.”

Tonks shook her head, amused. “So? I decided to become an auror for the same reason: recognition and all that.” She paused. “Not to mention it was one of the only professions where my silly talent could be put to use. Anyway, just because you didn’t get in it to heal people doesn’t make what you’re doing any less helpful.” And then, because she was taking some relish in his apparent distaste for the word, she added “Or any less nice.”

She smiled. “No trouble. I’d be a horrible cousin if I didn’t, right?” Even if, Tonks mused, the person she'd be trying to defend him from was also family.

[dray_m]

Draco scowled at her for a brief moment before taking a deep breath. This was what he had to expect after all. He had not been the nicest person before this bloody war -- heck, he still wasn't the nicest person ever -- and it took a lot for people to see that he was trying to improve himself. And he doubted very much scowling at people who were willing to at least meet with him was putting his best foot forward.

"Absolutely," he said, with a grin that was slightly fake. "You're right. The Prophet had improved slightly, I'll admit. Not much, but slightly."

He breezed over the topic quickly, not wishing to discuss it. He spent too much time worrying about the backlash of such things anyway and knew that he sounded paranoid -- Merlin knew, he'd been told enough times.

He nodded along with Tonks as she spoke about the reasons she became an Auror, deciding maybe that they weren't as different as they appeared but then the woman had to go and ruin it all by using the word 'nice'. He grimaced slightly and prayed that Tonks didn't see it. "Of course it doesn't," he said quickly, softly. "But, still, I must say that I did only get into it for the recognition ... I can't stress the fact enough." He flashed her a wide smile, knowing he sounded conceited, arrogant and all 'round arse but, to him, it was better than being perceived as nice. "I didn't really know why you got into being an Auror -- probably because our families are so estranged. Do you like it? How'd you figure out what you wanted to be?" Questions, Draco knew, often distracted people from asking their own.

He smiled slightly at her. "Right," he agreed. "Absolutely dreadful." He set his coffee cup down and looked solemnly at her. "Almost as bad as me, Tonks, and we can't have that now can we?" He laughed.

[miss_changeling]

The momentary scowl did not come as a particular surprise to Tonks. In fact, she’d been expecting it a lot sooner. Although, really, Draco was certainly not the evil little prat she’d thought him out to be. But what did she know? After all, this was only one meeting. What she’d been able to glean so far was that, on the whole, her cousin was polite (although that certainly didn’t mean anything) and, if she wasn’t mistaken, suffered from acute stick-up-arse syndrome. But why shouldn’t he? Though the war was over, people still needed to acclimated; she herself still couldn’t help but look over her shoulder whenever a loud noise occurred expecting a curse to be coming her way.

She shrugged, happy enough to cease talking about it. The concession, even she could tell, was purely for the sake of dropping the subject. She didn’t mind.

“Yeah… well, our families… that’s part of it, I suppose.” Her relation to so many Death Eaters was something she’d discovered early on as a child, and provided much embarrassment in years to come. So… yes, perhaps, having the desire to make up for the awful history of violence and murder that was so common a theme down the Black family line was part of it. “I decided to become an auror during that thing with our Heads of House in fifth year… you know, they’re supposed to provide guidance or whatever.” Tonks looked slightly embarrassed. “My list of wanted professions came out as professional Quidditch player, rock star, and auror. Me and Professor Sprout figured out that auror was probably the one to aim for, seeing as how that’d be what was most likely to happen. And I’m glad I did, really.” She shook her head in amusement at the thought of her former dreams, which all seemed perfectly sensible at the time. “What about you, then? Did you want to get into medicine right when you’d got out of school? Like, was it your first choice sort of thing?”

“You’re not a bad cousin. Not to me, at least.” It was her default response and, she supposed, true enough. “You’ve invited me over here, after all. I haven’t been able to get in touch with any of my cousins on my dad’s side for ages.”

[dray_m]

Draco had been paying close attention to his cousin -- in truth he paid close attention to everyone since sometime during what would have been his seventh year at Hogwarts -- and had seen the gleam in her eye which told him that she'd picked up on something he'd been trying to hide. He was impressed he had to admit. He knew he wasn't being overly subtle at the minute -- had not felt the need to around someone everyone seemed to describe as 'clumsy' -- but he was beginning to think that maybe Tonks was a whole lot more observant than people gave her credit for. She had to be, didn't she? After all, she had become a successful Auror.

Draco smiled slightly, a fleeting expression that disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared, and filed the information away for later usage.

He laughed genuinely when she revealed her list of wanted professions. "Oh, no, I definitely did not want to get into medicine at school," he confessed. "I was sure I wouldn't have the patience to deal with whining, pretentious little bastards every day like Madam Pomfrey does. Did. Whatever." He shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder why I did get into it but I guess it's for a number of reasons: a) the money, b) the recognition and c) my list of wanted professions was as ridiculous as yours." He leaned forward slightly, dropping his voice to nearly a whisper as if he was revealing a big secret. "Swear you won't laugh but I wanted to be -- and I swear this is what I wrote down, you can hunt down Snape and ask him -- a Muggle-wizard liason officer, a groupie for the Weird Sisters and a professional Quidditch player."

He laughed and sat back in his chair. "Of course, the Muggle-wizard liason officer was mostly because I heard it was a job were you sit on your arse all day. Quite fancied that lifestyle, honestly."

"You haven't been in touch with your other cousins?" Draco asked, genuinely interested and rather taken aback. No matter what anyone said the family ties in the wizarding world were very strong -- Draco knew that and had been raised that way, to understand that family took presidence over everything. Unless of course they had done something so awful it betrayed the whole family. Privately, Draco no longer beloved that Andromeda had deserved to be striken off the family tree. Privately of course -- he had never voiced the opinion to anyone because, no matter what he thought, he knew others in his family wouldn't accept it. And, really, he didn't want to be forced to play happy families with some stinking Muggle.

"Why?" he finally asked Tonks after a moment of silence. "Was there a feud in the family that drove them away? Or were you simply not close?" He sighed. "Or am I being far too nosy for my own good?"

[miss_changeling]

“That’s another reason I don’t think I could do it. So, when you did become a mediwzard, did you find that you did have the patience for dealing with whining, pretentious little bastards, or are there just less of them then you thought?”

“Yeah, groupie-I was going to do that to.” Then she giggled. “But the hours are long and the pay is shite. Thought it’d be better if I just skipped straight to actually being in the band so I coulda got groupies of my own.” She downed the rest of her drink. Setting down her empty cup, she delicately prodded it with her wand; full once more. “Muggle-wizard liason officer sounds like it’d have been a good job. I mean, even if it ended up that you wouldn’t be sitting on your arse all day.”

Tonks shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly. I mean, there wasn’t a fight or anything. WE used to be close when we were kids, but we just got distant.” She ticked relations off on her fingers: “One of my younger cousins… well, she finished university and then, God forbid she put her degree to use, got hitched with some bloke who owns a chain of tea houses in Brighton. And my older cousin… well, there was a row with her parents. Lots of slamming of doors and yelling and everything. She ran off to Paris-- something about following her muse or some other nonsense. I never got the full stories, and my aunt and uncle don't like to talk about it.” She shook her head; embarrassed or amused, it was hard to tell. “There are others, of course, but I won’t keep boring you with the details. Anyway, I never learned their addresses, and my dad lost most of their telephone numbers.”

[dray_m]

"Actually," Draco told her, "the whining, pretentious little bastards only tend to crop up every now and again. Most of them are far too terrified of anyone in the medicine career track to say anything. I think they honestly believe we'll sabotage their prescriptions if they annoy us to much."

"It wasn't the pay I wanted to be a groupie for," Draco said with a laugh. "It was to sleep with the band. Couldn't think of anything more appealing at fifteen, really. Although I wouldn't have said no to being the next Casanova." Draco purposely rolled his eyes when she mentioned how 'good' it might have been to work with Muggles. Honestly. Even if Draco hadn't regarded Muggles as next to vermin -- for the most part. There was a lovely, lovely group who delivered him Chinese food on Fridays -- he certainly would never have passed Muggle Studies and found it hard to believe that anyone would willingly take the course.

Draco's brow furrowed. "We used to be close?!" he asked in astonishment. "I honestly can't remember that." He shook his head. "I have a vague memory of pulling some girl's hair but I'm not confident about whether that was you or Pansy!"

Draco snorted slightly as she recited the fates that had befallen her cousins. "Well, really. I can't imagine spending all that time studying to bugger off with some guy from Brighton. Merlin." He shivered slightly. He despised Brighton; it was so full of people who thought entertainment was spitting off the side of a bridge. "As for the second ... I don't see anything wrong with running off to Paris. Maybe it's just me. Have you ever been? It's a gorgeous city. Excellent for discovering muses, if you ask me." He smiled, wistfully, as he thought about his last visit to Paris. He'd spent the time strolling through the streets, visiting museums and had attempted to draw. It was a passion of his; one he wasn't a genius at but one he took enjoyment out of. "If you wanted to find them that badly, there are other ways of course." He took another biscuit of the plate. "Spells and potions -- I have a scrying bowl in here somewhere if you wanted to use it."

[miss_changeling]

"Seems sensible enough. Not that you'd sabotage their prescriptions, I'm sure, but it certainly doesn't hurt to show a bit of courtesy to the person whose going to make sure whether or not you stay sick or get well." Draco's expression when she mentioned working with muggles did not escape Tonks's notice. Her own did not change, of course, but she wondered then what it was he thought of her. Well, not really. She could hazard a guess and it was none too polite.

"Oh, no, not us. Probably should have worded that better. Me and my muggle cousins. Anyway, the last time I saw you before... you know, everything that's happened," she didn't want to have to elaborate. Her tone was enough to suggest exactly what it was she was talking about, "you were four or five, I think. Something like that. My mum went to visit yours to... I don't know. Might have been to make peace. Although knowing her, might have just as easily to rub her 'disgrace' in her sisters' faces. Dunno why she brought me along, but I know she did draw the line at bringing my dad." She paused. Vague memories of the Malfoys' residence surfaced; it looking very swanky and pretty in the country and the whole place smelling like dust and old furniture. "You weren't around much. I think you might have been listening in from another room, though. Anyway, the whole thing ended in shouting." Like it always did, she stopped herself from adding.

"I've never been to Paris. Always been meaning to go some time. I supposes it must be good for muses. It's going on a year now, her absence, so there's got to be something to that place that suits her, seeing as she hasn't come back." The thought of using a scrying bowl or a spell to check in on them had crossed her mind before. But it didn't seem right. "I couldn't, though it's very kind of you to offer. I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble. And anyway, I couldn't help but feel that I'm spying on them. Peeping Tom sort of thing."

[dray_m]

Draco smirked slightly. No, he wouldn't tamper with anyone's prescriptions. Not that he hadn't thought of it, of course, but there were some things even he wouldn't do.

The smirk widened even further when she mentioned that it was likely he was hiding away, listening in. Certainly, had she been talking about him at the age of nine, ten, possibly eleven and older that was exactly what he would have been doing. At the age of five -- he knew it had been five years old because he could remember the fallout from that particular incident -- he'd been too preoccupied with running around the grounds outside, chasing after whatever Father had hexed to run away from him that day. He could briefly remember seeing Tonks, then, and it was only now he realised that he had seen her. He'd ran into the foyer of the house and down several corriders. He'd just been about to run down one close to his mother's study when he had seen a young girl standing there, looking extremely bored. He'd stayed still and silent for a moment, wondering who this strange was, before shrugging it off and hurrying away. She hadn't seen him and Draco was sure he wouldn't have remembered her if it was not for Tonks bringing that particular incident to mind. His mother had been inconsolable for the next few days. One moment she would have been angry, the next sobbing and in pieces. Draco could still remember watching his father trying to calm her down ... that particular scene had imprinted itself on his memory for it was the day he realised that, no matter how pretty and compliant Narcissa Malfoy looked, she was a force to be reckoned with. Gladly, he knew his current expression betrayed none of the anguish the memories were causing him. He felt a slight stirring in his heart that he knew was hatred. Hatred towards Andromeda Tonks for breaking his mother even slightly. He swallowed, unable to meet Tonks' eye for a moment. When he lifted the coffee cup it didn't shake and he allowed himself a small smile. He drunk down the rest of the coffee quickly and was glad it was mild enough not even to burn his throat. When he set the cup down he was once again composed enough to speak without lashing out. The situation between Draco and Tonks was delicate enough without him screaming about his hatred towards the woman who had raised her.

"I remember that," he told her. "Not in glaring detail, of course" -- liar -- "but I can remember hearing shouting. Up until that point there wasn't a lot of shouting in my home." And afterwards, for weeks, there had been an abundance of it. And his mother had looked pale and wan and sorrowful. Draco's jaw clenched so he quickly changed the subject.

"Like I said, it's brilliant for muses. Walking along the Champs Elysses is ... like something out of this world. It's simply gorgeous, there's no other word for it. And I must admit that the Muggles did something right when the built Notre Dame ... and the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful pieces of architecture, the both of them." He smiled in fond memory, glad to get his mind of darker topics, although they played out in a corner of his mind even now. "You must visit the wizards restaurant in the Eiffel Tower -- very expensive, but well worth it. Divine food. It's hard to get a reservation but if you wanted to visit I could make one for you." He extended an olive branch, knowing it was likely she had picked up on his annoyance when they talked of their mothers. She was perceptive and Draco had slipped up. It had been ages since he had had to be careful with what he said and did; he wasn't quite used to it yet.

"I want you to know that it would be no trouble at all. What is family for? But I understand what you're saying, of course." He refilled his coffee cup, mimicking her earlier actions. "It would seem a bit like spying. I admit to never having used it after the war -- and even then it was only to locate Snape and Potter."

[miss_changeling]

Tonks became uncomfortably aware that the conversation had taken a turn into territory probably best left unexplored.

That day when she’d been to visit her aunt, she’d slipped away just as the shouting had started. Both her aunt and mother had told her to ‘go play’; that is, in that ever so discreet way of grown-ups everywhere, bugger off. Just as voices were beginning to be raised; her mother’s hitting that peculiar octave it always did when she was angry (a trait shared by her aunt, Tonks found out that day). She’d ran off to explore the grounds (asking permission of her uncle first, of course, who’d said yes but also looked at her like something he’d scraped off the bottom of his shoe). When it was time to leave an hour or so later, Tonks had saw Aunt Narcissa before stepping out the door, giving a half-hearted sort of wave in her direction that was met with a smile sharp and cold as a razor blade. Both women looked to be on the verge of tears; an expression that would remain on her mother’s face for a week after. That and the seething, livid rage kept carefully below the surface but immediately apparent to all members of the Tonks household. Both her father and Tonks herself had stayed well clear of Andromeda until the whole thing finished with a bout of crying that ended with her smashing a picture she’d until that moment always held dear, one of her and her sisters as children, into pieces. But of course, because one is impossibly selfish at the age of eight, Tonks hadn’t really thought much of it.

No, definitely a subject to remain untouched. “Yeah. Um… That’s pretty much all I remember of it as well.”

“I’ve only seen all that on post cards. A reservation? Really?” Thoughts of herself and Remus in Paris immediately flooded her mind. The City of Love. There could be visiting the sights during the day; Notre Dame - yes - the Louvre, and then maybe lunch and coffee in some café. Dinner in the Eifle Tower, of course. And during the night… The slightest of pink tinges could be seen appearing in Tonks’s cheeks. She cleared her throat and immediately forced herself to banish the childish fantasies that had surfaced, hating herself for them appearing at all. “I mean-er, I wouldn’t… I’ll take you up on that someday. Maybe.” For two, she added to herself. “If we -- I, ever manage to save up enough cash to not be considered dead broke, it would be lovely, I’m sure.”

“Yeah. And they’re muggles. I mean, they wouldn’t even guess that I could do that. They’d never know -- never even suspect I’d done it. Nah. I’ll just find out where they are the usual way. My dad’s got to have their numbers around somewhere.”

[dray_m]

Draco concluded, quickly, that Tonks was a terrible liar. Her cheeks flared with colour when she informed him that was all she remembered and suddenly she had seemed to find the grain of the wooden table -- an antique Pansy had helped him pick out -- far more interesting than anyone had ever found a table. It had only occured for a moment, this lapse in her behaviour, but Draco had picked up on it and knew it was likely she remembered as much as he did. Knew she probably remembered more than he did. Knew it was a good thing that they drop it now and he stopped thinking about it because already his fingers were curling into fists and he refused to strike a woman. Or hex her when she had done nothing wrong.

"Yes, a reservation." He grinned at her slip up. "Tonks, I hate to tell you this but your relationship with Lupin was never the best kept secret in the world. I'm fine with booking you both a reservation, should you ever want it. Just ask; I doubt Clarence will have handed over ownership of the restaurant. And he owes me." Clarence Deveraux, in fact, owed Draco big time. And because of that Draco was positive he would be able to convince the French toff to allow a werewolf into his restaurant and to mark down their bill. He knew his cousin wasn't rich, but knew she was far too proud to take his money. So he wouldn't offer it instead choosing instead to command Clarence to put three quarters of the bill on his tab. The total would still be large enough to shock Tonks, he knew. "And I wouldn't worry about being considered dead broke. It's really not as expensive as I make it out to be. It simply looks it." Draco tried not to snort and managed it, by the skin of his teeth.

"Probably," he said, nodding, all the while wondering what the heck numbers were. He was aware his confusion showed on his face but found he didn't mind overly. He would never pretend to know about Muggles.

[miss_changeling]

"Well... yeah, I know that." And, really, she didn't particularly care. But Remus did, and for him Tonks would happily make sure to keep from shouting about their relationship from the rooftops. Tonks still wasn't quite sure what it was that bothered him; his own embarrassment (and guilt perhaps?) at dating a woman more than a decade his junior, or embarrassment for her. It might be the werewolf thing that was bothering him. He was afraid for her and she knew it, but so far it hadn't caused any problems. Not that this was any guarantee for the future, she knew, but it was nice to imagine that Remus's lycanthropy wouldn't pose any problems for them.

Tonks at that moment had no where near as much self-control as her cousin. She couldn't help but snort. Especially upon noticing the lie in Draco's words. You didn't have to have the perception of a trained auror (which she had anyway) to tell, just common sense. "I'm sure. Somehow I can't see you dining in a place that isn't expensive. And you'll excuse me if I don't quite trust what your idea of cheap is." While her words weren't the nicest, there was no malice in them, and Tonks was smiling as she spoke. "But like I said, I'll take you up on it one day. Hopefully."