Fic - Home Soon
Title - Home Soon
Author -
joely_jo
Characters - Remus/Tonks
Rating - PG-13 (for a touch of language and some quite suggestive remarks!)
Summary - Soon after their wedding, Remus takes another assignment for the Order and Tonks has something to say about it.
Author’s Note - I don't normally post my fic to this journal, but this was written for the lovely
chesnutella, who drew me absolutely gorgeous Coniston Water art you can check out here (Her Remus is the closest Remus to the one that lives in my head). She wanted a humorous misunderstanding with a happy ending. Well, there’s definitely a happy ending, and I tried (really I did) to get a humorous misunderstanding in, but… well… Features Remus/Tonks ‘domestic bliss’ with Mischievous!Remus and PissedOff!Tonks!
“Dora!” The doors to the lift opened with a crunching slide and revealed a familiar figure, head of pink hair buried in a pile of papers fastened to a clipboard. Remus supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised by her presence - this was, after all, her place of work and not his. However, he had gone to considerable pains to avoid such a chance meeting. The last thing he wanted was an emotional fireworks display in front of the entire Ministry staff; if he was going to have to have one at all, he’d rather it was done at home.
The pink head looked up and a pair of steely grey eyes bored into him. There was no mistaking the mood behind them - it was positively frosty. “Remus,” she said, voice cultivated and neutral. “What are you doing here?”
He cleared his throat and feigned the same level of neutrality. “I had some business with Arthur.” In the entrance to the lift, she foxtrotted on the spot for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to commit herself to boarding or not. Remus tried not to smirk at her indecision. “But I’m done now,” he added, instead.
Her lips pursed like she was sucking on a lemon. “But you didn’t think to come and see me?”
Oh, for Merlin’s sake. Remus blinked at her. There was no containing the sigh that forced its way out of his lungs. “I thought we weren’t talking,” he observed. Tonks shrugged her uniformed shoulders and stepped into the lift.
“What’s this then?” she replied. She made a grand show of adjusting the papers she was carrying, then turned to look at him, but didn’t say anything. He stared back.
“You’re bizarre.”
The lift doors closed with a hiss and silence descended, a heavy quiet that gnawed at Remus’s bones like a starving animal. This wasn’t what he’d anticipated when he’d asked Tonks to marry him - that vision had been fuelled by the romance of a slightly intoxicated imagination - and this ‘domestic’ situation was definitely bringing out the worst in both of them. Beside him, Tonks cleared her throat. “Off to hide yourself away again, then?” she asked.
Glancing over at her, Remus returned, “I think I’m going to go home, yes.”
There was another, stilted pause. “Oh. Turning in early?”
“Mm. I’ve got an early start tomorrow.”
The spark his words lit in her was virtually audible, and she turned to him, eyes flashing incandescent with barely contained rage. But somehow - he didn’t quite know how - she held herself back. “Quite,” she over-enunciated.
There was little point in starting another argument, he knew, even though it was blindingly obvious that was what she was poking at; instead, he drew in a deep breath and gestured to the display above their heads that indicated which level the lift was on. “You haven’t given another destination,” he noted in as casual a tone as he could muster. “I assume that means you’re coming with me?”
Tonks snorted. “Well, you know what they say about assumptions.”
Remus felt his eyes roll into his head. It was excruciating, like having your toenail pulled or a hex backfire. He looked across at her: she was standing perfectly still, facing forward, her arms crossed protectively across her chest, the clipboard hidden behind them like some kind of shield, and her eyes unblinking. In fact, her face was so impassive she might as well have frozen it in place. He sighed, “Look, Dora, I…”
She interrupted him, “I’m going up to the Atrium.” She waved her wand at the ceiling and the lift began to move again.
Knocked back into place, Remus allowed the coldness to descend again for a moment. If she was going to make this difficult, then he could give just as good back again. “All right,” he said in a calm, agreeable tone, ever so slightly sing-song. He knew bloody well it would irritate her.
And sure enough, she didn’t disappoint. “I’m meeting someone,” she added. He nodded and she narrowed her eyes. “You don’t believe me?”
“Whatever you want, Dora... Far be it for me to stand in your way.”
She almost cursed. “Stand in your way?” she repeated incredulously. “Is that what this is about?” She shook her head and turned to face him. “Just because I don’t want you to go on this stupid mission, because in all likelihood you’ll end up being killed or maimed, or worse, you’ll just never return at all. And don’t say you don’t know I’m right - you’re only accepting this mission because it was Dumbledore’s last planned reconnaissance.”
Remus met her flashing eyes. He aimed his wand at the ceiling and stopped the lift. It obeyed with a grinding halt. “I think that’s a gross exaggeration from someone who is far too emotionally close to this.”
“What if it is?” she spat back and set the lift moving again. “Does that bother you?”
“Should it?”
With another flick of his wand, he stopped them once more. Her pout increased and Remus caught sight of her curling her fists. She drew in a deep breath. “Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?” Remus questioned with his most practised expression of innocence.
“You know what. The thing with the lift. Leave it alone!”
She had moved to set the lift going again when he grabbed her arm and held it down, meeting her fiery gaze. He paused a moment, then told her, “Because I’m not leaving this lift until we’ve sorted this out.”
Tonks’ face darkened further. “Then we might as well make ourselves comfortable.” She yanked her trapped arm free and turned away from him, crossing both across her chest again.
“Dora…” he began, but when she showed no sign of turning back to him, he moved in front of her and resolutely pinned her with his eyes. “We should be able to talk about these things. In case you’d forgotten, we’re married now.”
That did it. Whatever semblance of control Tonks had had over her temper evaporated like water in the desert and she shouted, “Oh no, don’t you dare bring that up!” She pointed her wand square at his chest and backed away until she was pressed up against the wall of the lift. The solitary memo that had followed her in drifted closer to the ceiling instinctively. Remus’s hands fell to his sides and he sighed,
“Dora…”
“This has absolutely nothing to do with us being married,” she argued. “It wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference if we weren’t. You’d still be fucking off to Northern Ireland anyway. So don’t think for a second that I should be allowing you extra slack because we swapped a couple of vows last month.”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking at all,” he replied, unable to keep the wounded tone from his voice. Sometimes she really did surprise him with how wrongly she read him.
“Then why did you bring it up?”
He took a slow step towards her, not unlike a whisperer would do with a wild horse. “Because we should be able to sort out our differences without resorting to this kind of scene.” He gestured at her raised wand and Tonks seemed to suddenly realise what she had been threatening and guiltily lowered her arm. When she said nothing in reply, he added, “Look, when this is finished, when I get back, we could go away for a weekend. Up to the Lakes again, maybe. Whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” she questioned.
He nodded. “Yes. Somewhere quiet. Where you can have me all to yourself.”
She crossed her arms again. “Hm, I’ll be sure to put the date in my diary.”
Like an ancient rubber band, Remus’s patience snapped and he spread his hands in exasperation. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Dora, I don’t have a choice here! Dumbledore made these plans not me.”
“Of course you didn’t make these plans, Remus. You never plan anything to happen the way it does. If there was anybody whose decisions were guaranteed to backfire, it’s you. Sometimes I actually wonder if you don’t set out to be a total bastard in the first place!”
“Fine!” he rejoined, his voice rising. “I’ll leave the Order! I’ll ignore everything Dumbledore set out for us to do. I’ll stop fighting Voldemort! Then we can go and live in a cottage somewhere and pretend that none of this is happening.” He paused. “Then again, if you’re so worried that I’m going to get myself killed out there on my own, why don’t you come with me?”
“I’ve got work,” replied Tonks acidly.
“Oh, yes, your work. Of course. But you don’t see me stopping you from patrolling the streets of London hunting out Death Eaters…”
“That’s different.”
They sighed in unison.
Silence filled the claustrophobic little lift like an elephant. She shifted positions as they stared at each other, neither backing down. Finally, Remus shook his head and turned away. He aimed his wand at the ceiling and set the lift moving again. “Perhaps this trip is a good idea,” he said softly. “Perhaps we need a bit of time away from each other.”
There was another prickling pause, then Tonks, her voice matching his for quietness, replied, “I don’t need any time away from you, Remus.” He looked back at her. “I don’t want to be away from you at all. Don’t you see that?”
“Then come with me.”
“I can’t…”
He paused, cleared his throat, and tried another tack. “What about tonight, then?”
“Tonight, what?”
A tiny smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he reached out with the crook of his finger to lift her face towards his, so he could look her in the eyes. “Come with me tonight.”
The flirtation fell flat on its face. Tonks shook her head free of his hold and replied, “No.”
Undeterred, Remus added, “I don’t believe you.”
“I said no, thank you very much.”
He dropped a little at the knees so he could search her face again. “Go on, I’ll cook you dinner. Light a few candles… Make sure the bed’s nice and warm.”
“I’m going to my mother’s.”
“Really?” Remus couldn’t help the grin that filled his face then. There was nothing more ridiculous than Tonks actively choosing to stay over at her mother’s house - at best she found Andromeda bearable, and at worst, they clashed horns in near spectacular fashion. She looked down at her papers again. “Your mother’s, hm? Must be really desperate.”
Her lip curled. “Fuck off, Remus.”
But as she spat the words out, she fought and failed to contain the hint of a smile that passed across her face. Remus, ever the vigilant observer, caught it and pounced. “It’s no use, Dora,” he teased gently. “I saw that smile. You don’t want to go to your mother’s any more than I want to have an interview with Rita Skeeter.” He paused. “Oh, and there it is again.”
He waved his wand at the ceiling and the lift immediately rose through the remaining floors and appeared in the telephone box on the corner of Grouse Lane. With a clunk and a hiss, it came to a halt. Tonks growled and tried to set it moving again, only to find that it was stuck. She turned to Remus, who was wearing a self-satisfied smile on his face. “Remus! I don’t believe you just did that! Do you have any idea how many people are going to be swarming around here checking this for dark curses?”
Remus shrugged. “Oh, well, I suppose we’d better make a good use of the time.” He pushed himself against her and tried to kiss her, only to have her haul her body back.
“I said: fuck off, Remus.”
“You know,” he mused, backing off as far as he could in the cramped telephone box. “I’ve always found you remarkably attractive when you’re cross.”
“I suggest you shut up, or you’ll be hexed so badly you won’t be able to go on this mission,” she replied, but there was just the slightest hint that his comment had hit home.
He smiled and tilted his head, catching her gaze again and seeing surrender in it. “Oh well, then you’ll get what you want after all.”
She pouted once more and tried to look away. “So it seems.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“How convenient,” she said with a shake of her head.
Reaching up, he laid his hand along her cheek, fingers twining through her hair, and this time, she didn’t stop him. “There’s nothing convenient about it, Dora,” he murmured. “It’ll be worse than Azkaban.”
As she looked up, he saw that her eyes were watery and she breathed, “Then don’t go… please.”
“Hey…” He smoothed her cheeks and she sniffed back her emotions. “I have to… but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for me.”
“Yeah…”
“Come here…” And he kissed her, letting his lips play over hers, and tasting the tang of retreating anger in her mouth. She broke free and hugged him hard, pressing her face childishly into his chest. A little shocked by her show of dependence, he stroked the back of her head and murmured soft reassurances.
“Three weeks is a long time,” she said, her voice muffled by his jumper.
“Not as long as the whole of last year.”
“Longer.”
He lifted her head up and smiled at her. “I’ll owl you every day.”
“No you won’t,” she said with a wry smile. “But come back safe and I won’t hold it against you.”
Remus stepped backwards and opened the door to the telephone box, eyes still holding hers. “What about tonight? Are you going to hold it against me tonight?”
Tonks crowed a pained ‘oh’ and shook her head. “That’s terrible. Where have you picked all these lines up from?”
He winked as she followed him out of the phone box. “What can I say? Sirius would be proud of me. Right now I bet he’s laughing in his grave.”
“I’m sure he is.” She closed the phone box door and turned back to him, but he was already half a dozen strides down the street, walking casually backwards.
“See you later, then?” he shouted.
She nodded. “I finish about six… I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
And with that she raised her wand and apparated herself back into the Ministry, leaving Remus standing alone on the pavement watching the place where she’d been. His heart released a sigh of relief that let his shoulders drop for the first time in two days and he smiled. “So will I, love…” he said into the air.
The End.
Author -
joely_jo
Characters - Remus/Tonks
Rating - PG-13 (for a touch of language and some quite suggestive remarks!)
Summary - Soon after their wedding, Remus takes another assignment for the Order and Tonks has something to say about it.
Author’s Note - I don't normally post my fic to this journal, but this was written for the lovely
chesnutella, who drew me absolutely gorgeous Coniston Water art you can check out here (Her Remus is the closest Remus to the one that lives in my head). She wanted a humorous misunderstanding with a happy ending. Well, there’s definitely a happy ending, and I tried (really I did) to get a humorous misunderstanding in, but… well… Features Remus/Tonks ‘domestic bliss’ with Mischievous!Remus and PissedOff!Tonks!
“Dora!” The doors to the lift opened with a crunching slide and revealed a familiar figure, head of pink hair buried in a pile of papers fastened to a clipboard. Remus supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised by her presence - this was, after all, her place of work and not his. However, he had gone to considerable pains to avoid such a chance meeting. The last thing he wanted was an emotional fireworks display in front of the entire Ministry staff; if he was going to have to have one at all, he’d rather it was done at home.
The pink head looked up and a pair of steely grey eyes bored into him. There was no mistaking the mood behind them - it was positively frosty. “Remus,” she said, voice cultivated and neutral. “What are you doing here?”
He cleared his throat and feigned the same level of neutrality. “I had some business with Arthur.” In the entrance to the lift, she foxtrotted on the spot for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to commit herself to boarding or not. Remus tried not to smirk at her indecision. “But I’m done now,” he added, instead.
Her lips pursed like she was sucking on a lemon. “But you didn’t think to come and see me?”
Oh, for Merlin’s sake. Remus blinked at her. There was no containing the sigh that forced its way out of his lungs. “I thought we weren’t talking,” he observed. Tonks shrugged her uniformed shoulders and stepped into the lift.
“What’s this then?” she replied. She made a grand show of adjusting the papers she was carrying, then turned to look at him, but didn’t say anything. He stared back.
“You’re bizarre.”
The lift doors closed with a hiss and silence descended, a heavy quiet that gnawed at Remus’s bones like a starving animal. This wasn’t what he’d anticipated when he’d asked Tonks to marry him - that vision had been fuelled by the romance of a slightly intoxicated imagination - and this ‘domestic’ situation was definitely bringing out the worst in both of them. Beside him, Tonks cleared her throat. “Off to hide yourself away again, then?” she asked.
Glancing over at her, Remus returned, “I think I’m going to go home, yes.”
There was another, stilted pause. “Oh. Turning in early?”
“Mm. I’ve got an early start tomorrow.”
The spark his words lit in her was virtually audible, and she turned to him, eyes flashing incandescent with barely contained rage. But somehow - he didn’t quite know how - she held herself back. “Quite,” she over-enunciated.
There was little point in starting another argument, he knew, even though it was blindingly obvious that was what she was poking at; instead, he drew in a deep breath and gestured to the display above their heads that indicated which level the lift was on. “You haven’t given another destination,” he noted in as casual a tone as he could muster. “I assume that means you’re coming with me?”
Tonks snorted. “Well, you know what they say about assumptions.”
Remus felt his eyes roll into his head. It was excruciating, like having your toenail pulled or a hex backfire. He looked across at her: she was standing perfectly still, facing forward, her arms crossed protectively across her chest, the clipboard hidden behind them like some kind of shield, and her eyes unblinking. In fact, her face was so impassive she might as well have frozen it in place. He sighed, “Look, Dora, I…”
She interrupted him, “I’m going up to the Atrium.” She waved her wand at the ceiling and the lift began to move again.
Knocked back into place, Remus allowed the coldness to descend again for a moment. If she was going to make this difficult, then he could give just as good back again. “All right,” he said in a calm, agreeable tone, ever so slightly sing-song. He knew bloody well it would irritate her.
And sure enough, she didn’t disappoint. “I’m meeting someone,” she added. He nodded and she narrowed her eyes. “You don’t believe me?”
“Whatever you want, Dora... Far be it for me to stand in your way.”
She almost cursed. “Stand in your way?” she repeated incredulously. “Is that what this is about?” She shook her head and turned to face him. “Just because I don’t want you to go on this stupid mission, because in all likelihood you’ll end up being killed or maimed, or worse, you’ll just never return at all. And don’t say you don’t know I’m right - you’re only accepting this mission because it was Dumbledore’s last planned reconnaissance.”
Remus met her flashing eyes. He aimed his wand at the ceiling and stopped the lift. It obeyed with a grinding halt. “I think that’s a gross exaggeration from someone who is far too emotionally close to this.”
“What if it is?” she spat back and set the lift moving again. “Does that bother you?”
“Should it?”
With another flick of his wand, he stopped them once more. Her pout increased and Remus caught sight of her curling her fists. She drew in a deep breath. “Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?” Remus questioned with his most practised expression of innocence.
“You know what. The thing with the lift. Leave it alone!”
She had moved to set the lift going again when he grabbed her arm and held it down, meeting her fiery gaze. He paused a moment, then told her, “Because I’m not leaving this lift until we’ve sorted this out.”
Tonks’ face darkened further. “Then we might as well make ourselves comfortable.” She yanked her trapped arm free and turned away from him, crossing both across her chest again.
“Dora…” he began, but when she showed no sign of turning back to him, he moved in front of her and resolutely pinned her with his eyes. “We should be able to talk about these things. In case you’d forgotten, we’re married now.”
That did it. Whatever semblance of control Tonks had had over her temper evaporated like water in the desert and she shouted, “Oh no, don’t you dare bring that up!” She pointed her wand square at his chest and backed away until she was pressed up against the wall of the lift. The solitary memo that had followed her in drifted closer to the ceiling instinctively. Remus’s hands fell to his sides and he sighed,
“Dora…”
“This has absolutely nothing to do with us being married,” she argued. “It wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference if we weren’t. You’d still be fucking off to Northern Ireland anyway. So don’t think for a second that I should be allowing you extra slack because we swapped a couple of vows last month.”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking at all,” he replied, unable to keep the wounded tone from his voice. Sometimes she really did surprise him with how wrongly she read him.
“Then why did you bring it up?”
He took a slow step towards her, not unlike a whisperer would do with a wild horse. “Because we should be able to sort out our differences without resorting to this kind of scene.” He gestured at her raised wand and Tonks seemed to suddenly realise what she had been threatening and guiltily lowered her arm. When she said nothing in reply, he added, “Look, when this is finished, when I get back, we could go away for a weekend. Up to the Lakes again, maybe. Whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” she questioned.
He nodded. “Yes. Somewhere quiet. Where you can have me all to yourself.”
She crossed her arms again. “Hm, I’ll be sure to put the date in my diary.”
Like an ancient rubber band, Remus’s patience snapped and he spread his hands in exasperation. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Dora, I don’t have a choice here! Dumbledore made these plans not me.”
“Of course you didn’t make these plans, Remus. You never plan anything to happen the way it does. If there was anybody whose decisions were guaranteed to backfire, it’s you. Sometimes I actually wonder if you don’t set out to be a total bastard in the first place!”
“Fine!” he rejoined, his voice rising. “I’ll leave the Order! I’ll ignore everything Dumbledore set out for us to do. I’ll stop fighting Voldemort! Then we can go and live in a cottage somewhere and pretend that none of this is happening.” He paused. “Then again, if you’re so worried that I’m going to get myself killed out there on my own, why don’t you come with me?”
“I’ve got work,” replied Tonks acidly.
“Oh, yes, your work. Of course. But you don’t see me stopping you from patrolling the streets of London hunting out Death Eaters…”
“That’s different.”
They sighed in unison.
Silence filled the claustrophobic little lift like an elephant. She shifted positions as they stared at each other, neither backing down. Finally, Remus shook his head and turned away. He aimed his wand at the ceiling and set the lift moving again. “Perhaps this trip is a good idea,” he said softly. “Perhaps we need a bit of time away from each other.”
There was another prickling pause, then Tonks, her voice matching his for quietness, replied, “I don’t need any time away from you, Remus.” He looked back at her. “I don’t want to be away from you at all. Don’t you see that?”
“Then come with me.”
“I can’t…”
He paused, cleared his throat, and tried another tack. “What about tonight, then?”
“Tonight, what?”
A tiny smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he reached out with the crook of his finger to lift her face towards his, so he could look her in the eyes. “Come with me tonight.”
The flirtation fell flat on its face. Tonks shook her head free of his hold and replied, “No.”
Undeterred, Remus added, “I don’t believe you.”
“I said no, thank you very much.”
He dropped a little at the knees so he could search her face again. “Go on, I’ll cook you dinner. Light a few candles… Make sure the bed’s nice and warm.”
“I’m going to my mother’s.”
“Really?” Remus couldn’t help the grin that filled his face then. There was nothing more ridiculous than Tonks actively choosing to stay over at her mother’s house - at best she found Andromeda bearable, and at worst, they clashed horns in near spectacular fashion. She looked down at her papers again. “Your mother’s, hm? Must be really desperate.”
Her lip curled. “Fuck off, Remus.”
But as she spat the words out, she fought and failed to contain the hint of a smile that passed across her face. Remus, ever the vigilant observer, caught it and pounced. “It’s no use, Dora,” he teased gently. “I saw that smile. You don’t want to go to your mother’s any more than I want to have an interview with Rita Skeeter.” He paused. “Oh, and there it is again.”
He waved his wand at the ceiling and the lift immediately rose through the remaining floors and appeared in the telephone box on the corner of Grouse Lane. With a clunk and a hiss, it came to a halt. Tonks growled and tried to set it moving again, only to find that it was stuck. She turned to Remus, who was wearing a self-satisfied smile on his face. “Remus! I don’t believe you just did that! Do you have any idea how many people are going to be swarming around here checking this for dark curses?”
Remus shrugged. “Oh, well, I suppose we’d better make a good use of the time.” He pushed himself against her and tried to kiss her, only to have her haul her body back.
“I said: fuck off, Remus.”
“You know,” he mused, backing off as far as he could in the cramped telephone box. “I’ve always found you remarkably attractive when you’re cross.”
“I suggest you shut up, or you’ll be hexed so badly you won’t be able to go on this mission,” she replied, but there was just the slightest hint that his comment had hit home.
He smiled and tilted his head, catching her gaze again and seeing surrender in it. “Oh well, then you’ll get what you want after all.”
She pouted once more and tried to look away. “So it seems.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“How convenient,” she said with a shake of her head.
Reaching up, he laid his hand along her cheek, fingers twining through her hair, and this time, she didn’t stop him. “There’s nothing convenient about it, Dora,” he murmured. “It’ll be worse than Azkaban.”
As she looked up, he saw that her eyes were watery and she breathed, “Then don’t go… please.”
“Hey…” He smoothed her cheeks and she sniffed back her emotions. “I have to… but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for me.”
“Yeah…”
“Come here…” And he kissed her, letting his lips play over hers, and tasting the tang of retreating anger in her mouth. She broke free and hugged him hard, pressing her face childishly into his chest. A little shocked by her show of dependence, he stroked the back of her head and murmured soft reassurances.
“Three weeks is a long time,” she said, her voice muffled by his jumper.
“Not as long as the whole of last year.”
“Longer.”
He lifted her head up and smiled at her. “I’ll owl you every day.”
“No you won’t,” she said with a wry smile. “But come back safe and I won’t hold it against you.”
Remus stepped backwards and opened the door to the telephone box, eyes still holding hers. “What about tonight? Are you going to hold it against me tonight?”
Tonks crowed a pained ‘oh’ and shook her head. “That’s terrible. Where have you picked all these lines up from?”
He winked as she followed him out of the phone box. “What can I say? Sirius would be proud of me. Right now I bet he’s laughing in his grave.”
“I’m sure he is.” She closed the phone box door and turned back to him, but he was already half a dozen strides down the street, walking casually backwards.
“See you later, then?” he shouted.
She nodded. “I finish about six… I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
And with that she raised her wand and apparated herself back into the Ministry, leaving Remus standing alone on the pavement watching the place where she’d been. His heart released a sigh of relief that let his shoulders drop for the first time in two days and he smiled. “So will I, love…” he said into the air.
The End.