FIC: "Can't Wait For The Weekend" Nymphadora Tonks/Penelope Clearwater
Title: Can't Wait for the Weekend
Author: lily_pearl
Pairing(s): Penelope/Tonks, mention of past Penelope/Katie
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise does not belong to me.
Summary: Penelope has an unusual week at work, complete with confusing feelings of the warm and fuzzy variety, unorthodox record keeping and exploding Quods.
Warnings: Obscure Wizarding sports.
Length: 2759
Notes: Originally written for bewarethesmirk for femmefest . This fic totally ate my brain. I had writer's block for ages, then this poured out in one sitting.
Ordinarily, Penelope loved her job. She was one of those irritating people who actually liked Mondays and looked forward to the start of the working week. This week, however, had been quite a different matter and she was extremely relieved that it was Friday and soon the weekend would begin.
-0-
After leaving Hogwarts, Penelope had gone straight into a trainee position as an accountant. She had worked extremely hard, taking a junior position with a reputable firm as soon as possible and completed every training course available to her. This meant that in a few short years she had been able to set up on her own and was in an enviable position. She held an impressive number of qualifications in her chosen field and had the certificates adorning her office walls to prove it.
It was the forensic accounting diploma and combined with NEWT level Arithmancy that were her undoing. There weren't a great deal of forensic accountants available which meant that she was often called upon to assist the Ministry of Magic's Department for Magical Law Enforcement. Usually the MLE would have the relevant paperwork couriered to Penelope's office just off Diagon Alley. Penelope would then carry out a thorough investigation and send a report back to the MLE, requesting further information where necessary.
This week in particular had been very different. The MLE were convinced that the recent surge in the popularity of Quodpot was in some inexplicable way illegal. They already had Aurors working undercover at Quodpot matches to no avail and they wanted Penelope to go through the records of the more successful teams and the Association for the Promotion and Popularisation of the Noble Game of Quodpot (APPNGQ). As Quodpot was something of a minority sport, the teams largely consisted of enthusiastic amateurs rather than professional athletes and the records they kept reflected this. Unfortunately for Penelope, this meant that she had to go out to each team's grounds to locate their records and compile them into workable data.
-0-
On Monday, Auror Tonks arrived at Penelope's office at 9.45am. According to Penelope's assistant (a pleasant but not spectacularly bright girl named Lucy), the Auror had made her presence known by tripping over the doorstop and entangling herself in the coat rack. Once introductions had been made, Tonks cheerfully escorted Penelope to the grounds of the Bywell Bandits and explained to the manager that they were there to take a look at the team's records.
While Penelope didn't doubt that Tonks was good at her job, she couldn't help but think that they made a rather odd pair. The Auror had turned up in ripped jeans and a bright blue T-shirt which clashed horribly with her red cardigan and pink hair. Penelope, on the other hand, was dressed in her usual work attire: knee-length charcoal grey pencil skirt, long-sleeved cream shirt, dark tights and sensible black court shoes. Her hair, in stark contrast to Tonks' shock of short pink hair, was a rather non-descript brown and pulled back in a sensible, professional up-do. She was amazed that the Bandits' manager didn't have any qualms about letting them into his office.
To describe the records as 'patchy' was putting it mildly. They were extremely haphazard and seemed to have been written on whatever the writer had to hand. There was a box full of receipts which were not in chronological order. If there was an order to them it was not immediately apparent. There were also napkins with hastily scribbled IOUs, scraps of parchment, tissues and a couple of pocket handkerchiefs with little columns of figures on them. Penelope was glad that she had brought some blank ledgers with her. This was definitely going to be a full day's work, even with her sorting and filing charms and her arithmantic equations. Tonks stood in the doorway, surveying the scene.
"I'll stick the kettle on, shall I?" she asked cheerfully.
Penelope nodded in assent.
-0-
On Tuesday Penelope decided to dress down a little bit. After changing her outfit for the third time, she accepted that she was completely incapable of dressing down for work and opted to wear something a little more colourful instead. By the time she left for work she was wearing her grey skirt with the usual black court shoes and a pretty blue blouse. She had spent a little more time on her hair than usual and felt unusually self-conscious about it.
When she got to her office, Penelope spent the first 45 minutes of her day going through the ledgers she had filled the previous day, checking for gaps and inconsistencies. Though the records had been atrocious in quality and the Bywell Bandits had no filing system to speak of, their accounts were actually surprisingly consistent and complete. Though a more thorough analysis would be necessary before her report could be filed, she was reasonably confident that there was nothing in the books to suggest that the Bandits were involved in anything untoward.
Tonks arrived at 9.45am and Penelope was pleased to see that she had avoided the evil clutches of the coat rack. As they made their way over to the grounds of the Leominster Lions, Penelope noted that Tonks had toned down her appearance a little. Her hair was still unapologetically pink and her T-shirt was very orange, but she was wearing black trousers rather than yesterday's ripped jeans. She felt a surge of pleasure at the thought that they didn't look quite so odd together today, but she stamped down on that feeling quickly.
The rest of the day followed much the same pattern as the previous day. Tonks charmed the team's manager so that the inspection didn't feel forced - a skill Penelope was rather envious of - then Tonks and Penelope were given access to the manager's office so that they could go through the records. The Leominster Lions' records were just as haphazard as the Bywell Bandits, but this time Penelope was more than prepared. She waded through the piles of receipts and scraps and oddments while Tonks provided tea and reminded her to eat at lunch time. Before she knew it, it was time to drop the ledgers back at her office and call it a day.
-0-
On Wednesday Penelope was in a particularly good mood, so she decided to wear a sunny yellow blouse she usually reserved for weekends. She headed in to the office early and looked over the ledgers she had filled on the previous days. She couldn't see any obvious discrepancies in the ledgers for the Leominster Lions but there would be no use comparing the ledgers for the two teams without further data from other teams in the league. She found herself eagerly awaiting Tonks' arrival and told herself more than once that she was a grown woman and should not be acting like a schoolgirl with a crush.
Tonks' arrival at 10.00am was heralded by a loud crash as she collided with the umbrella stand by the door. Penelope came out of her office at the sound and tried very hard not to laugh at the sight. Lucy had clearly rushed out from behind her desk to help and both Lucy and Tonks were trying to right the stand and put back the lone umbrella.
"I'm so sorry," Tonks said earnestly, "the briefing this morning ran over so I was in a bit of a rush."
"It's quite alright," Penelope called as she quickly grabbed her bag and got ready to leave.
By the time they reached the grounds of the Margate Manticores, Tonks had filled Penelope in on that morning's briefing as much as she could. As most of the information was classified, this had mostly consisted of less than flattering imitations of several senior officers of the MLE which had Penelope nearly crying with laughter. Penelope composed herself as quickly as possible and watched as Tonks' greeted the manager in her usual likeable way. The manager dutifully led them to his office and produced a keyring with an astonishing number of keys attached. While he fumbled to find the right key, Tonks looked over at Penelope and gave her a wink and a cheeky grin.
Penelope felt her heart race as she smiled back and hoped desperately that she wasn't blushing. When they finally made it into the office, she spent an inordinate amount of time organising her ledgers and arranging her little inkpots and quills on the manager's desk. She was glad that she had two days' experience of organising Quodpot team records under her belt as she was definitely not her usual focused self. She set the sorting and filing charms going on autopilot and had managed to regain her focus enough by the afternoon to work to her usual standard.
-0-
On Thursday Penelope decided that she needed to be much more focused, efficient and professional. She pulled her hair back rather severely and dressed in a plain black pencil skirt and long-sleeved white shirt. She arrived at work extremely early to go through the records she had collated over the last three days and ensure that her work was up to par. She also snapped at Lucy quite unnecessarily and felt extremely bad about it for the next hour. The poor girl had had to field all of Penelope's calls for the last three days and it must have been very tedious for her in the office alone all that time.
When Tonks arrived Penelope's resolve nearly failed. The ripped jeans were back with a threadbare black T-shirt that clung in all the right places. It was very distracting and Penelope was pleased with herself for managing to keep up her end of the conversation on the way to inspect the records of the Pitlochry Pythons. When they arrived, the manager didn't seem particularly keen to let them into the office. Penelope wondered if this might be an indication that the MLE were right and there was something to their suspicions about the recent popularity of Quodpot.
It soon became apparent that his reluctance was more to do with the state of his office than anything else. She was taken aback by the sheer volume of mess in such a small space. When Penelope looked over at Tonks, she noted with some amusement that the Auror was actually gaping in horror. She reached over and pressed her hand gently under Tonks' chin to make her close her mouth, then snatched her hand back quickly as she realised the intimacy of what she had just done. Tonks simply grinned and mouthed 'sorry'.
"This is going to take more than one day," Penelope said once she was sure that the manager was out of earshot.
"We'd better get cracking then," Tonks said cheerfully.
The two women spent most of the morning using every household cleaning spell in their combined repertoire to simply make the office sanitary. Penelope was pleased that Tonks was happy to get stuck in and help out. After all, cleaning the offices of part-time Quodpot managers wasn't in either of their job descriptions. They ate their lunch sitting in the stands rather than the office as there just wasn't space to sit down. By the end of the afternoon they had restored the office to some semblance of order and Penelope was ready to start going through the records. As she was trying to make out the almost illegible scrawl on the back of a restaurant menu, she put on her reading glasses and noted that Tonks was watching her with some interest. Maybe this wasn't as one-sided as she had thought.
-0-
For the first time in a long time, Penelope was glad it was Friday. It had been a long and confusing week. She dressed in her favourite grey skirt with a pale pink blouse and took a little more time with her hair. On reflection, she may have been a little too severe yesterday. She decided not to go in too early today. After all, she didn't have anything to review from yesterday. On her way in to work, Penelope stopped at a café and ordered two coffees and two muffins to go. She left one of each on Lucy's desk and cast a warming charm on the coffee so that it wouldn't get cold by the time her assistant arrived.
Tonks arrived at 9.45am as expected and the two women went back out to the grounds of the Pitlochry Pythons. When they arrived, they found that a practice was under way. It took them a while to attract the attention of the manager who was understandable preoccupied. Penelope had never actually been to a Quodpot match and she was surprised at just how loud it was when a Quod exploded. When Tonks finally managed to make their presence known to the manager, he beckoned her over.
"You coming?" Tonks asked, turning to Penelope.
"I think I'm just fine where I am," Penelope said with a smile.
Tonks rolled her eyes and headed over to a section of the stands much too close to the action for Penelope's liking. As she went, another Quod exploded and the player who had been holding it obediently flew away from the action. To Penelope's surprise, the player was heading in her direction. As she drew closer Penelope recognised Katie Bell.
"Long time no see," she called impulsively.
"Hello Penny!" Katie called back.
"I'm not a coin," Penelope answered in a long suffering tone.
"Oh, come on, Pen," Katie wheedled.
"Or a writing implement," Penelope continued.
Katie pulled up on her broom and wheeled round to watch Tonks and the Pythons' manager talking.
"So, what's with the Auror?" Katie asked. "Are you playing good cop/bad cop? Are you going to frisk me?"
Penelope tried to keep a straight face as Katie waggled her eyebrows suggestively. The effect was somewhat marred by the streaks of soot on her face from the recent Quod explosion.
"No comment," she said as calmly as she could.
"Please tell me she plays for our team," Katie pleaded.
"Oh, no," Penelope said, feigning ignorance as Tonks approached them; "she's never played Quodpot."
Katie let out an exasperated groan. At that point she suddenly noticed that the assistant coach was gesticulating wildly at her.
"Oops, got to go," Katie called as she sped back off over the pitch.
Tonks gave Penelope a quizzical look as she reached her but she didn't say anything. They went up to the manager's office to continue what they had started the day before. Compared to the previous day's epic cleaning session, the remaining work was relatively easy. Penelope set to work with her usual sorting and filing charms and was progressing at a satisfying speed. She was working on the ledgers, making neat little columns of figures when Tonks spoke.
"The player you were speaking to," Tonks started and Penelope nearly knocked over her little bottle of ink.
"Yes?" she said carefully.
"Is she … I mean, are you together?" Tonks asked.
Penelope was very still for a moment as she considered her answer. Tonks could just be assessing a conflict of interest but she sounded a little too nervous for that to be the case.
"No," Penelope said slowly, "but we were. In a manner of speaking."
She slowly turned to face Tonks and was pleased to see that Tonks looked relieved. She had assessed the situation correctly. Penelope's heart was pounding.
"Are you busy tonight?" Tonks asked, sounding a little more confident now.
Penelope looked back down at the ledger and started making notes again.
"No," she said, smiling down at the ledger.
She could feel Tonks moving closer, but she continued working and tried to pretend that she couldn't.
"Would you like to go out for dinner with me?" Tonks asked.
"I'd love to," Penelope said as she carefully carried figures across from one column to another.
Tonks shifted the ledger over and sat down on the desk.
"You're obstructing work on behalf of the Ministry of Magic's Department for Magical Law Enforcement," Penelope said, trying to sound firm and failing miserably.
Tonks leaned in and kissed her. Despite her better judgement, Penelope found herself kissing back enthusiastically. Mustering every iota of her self-control, Penelope pulled away.
"We can't get caught," she said firmly.
"I know," Tonks said with a sigh, "hurry up so we can get out of here, yeah?"
Penelope smiled and worked as hard as she could. The weekend couldn't come soon enough.
Author: lily_pearl
Pairing(s): Penelope/Tonks, mention of past Penelope/Katie
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise does not belong to me.
Summary: Penelope has an unusual week at work, complete with confusing feelings of the warm and fuzzy variety, unorthodox record keeping and exploding Quods.
Warnings: Obscure Wizarding sports.
Length: 2759
Notes: Originally written for bewarethesmirk for femmefest . This fic totally ate my brain. I had writer's block for ages, then this poured out in one sitting.
Ordinarily, Penelope loved her job. She was one of those irritating people who actually liked Mondays and looked forward to the start of the working week. This week, however, had been quite a different matter and she was extremely relieved that it was Friday and soon the weekend would begin.
-0-
After leaving Hogwarts, Penelope had gone straight into a trainee position as an accountant. She had worked extremely hard, taking a junior position with a reputable firm as soon as possible and completed every training course available to her. This meant that in a few short years she had been able to set up on her own and was in an enviable position. She held an impressive number of qualifications in her chosen field and had the certificates adorning her office walls to prove it.
It was the forensic accounting diploma and combined with NEWT level Arithmancy that were her undoing. There weren't a great deal of forensic accountants available which meant that she was often called upon to assist the Ministry of Magic's Department for Magical Law Enforcement. Usually the MLE would have the relevant paperwork couriered to Penelope's office just off Diagon Alley. Penelope would then carry out a thorough investigation and send a report back to the MLE, requesting further information where necessary.
This week in particular had been very different. The MLE were convinced that the recent surge in the popularity of Quodpot was in some inexplicable way illegal. They already had Aurors working undercover at Quodpot matches to no avail and they wanted Penelope to go through the records of the more successful teams and the Association for the Promotion and Popularisation of the Noble Game of Quodpot (APPNGQ). As Quodpot was something of a minority sport, the teams largely consisted of enthusiastic amateurs rather than professional athletes and the records they kept reflected this. Unfortunately for Penelope, this meant that she had to go out to each team's grounds to locate their records and compile them into workable data.
-0-
On Monday, Auror Tonks arrived at Penelope's office at 9.45am. According to Penelope's assistant (a pleasant but not spectacularly bright girl named Lucy), the Auror had made her presence known by tripping over the doorstop and entangling herself in the coat rack. Once introductions had been made, Tonks cheerfully escorted Penelope to the grounds of the Bywell Bandits and explained to the manager that they were there to take a look at the team's records.
While Penelope didn't doubt that Tonks was good at her job, she couldn't help but think that they made a rather odd pair. The Auror had turned up in ripped jeans and a bright blue T-shirt which clashed horribly with her red cardigan and pink hair. Penelope, on the other hand, was dressed in her usual work attire: knee-length charcoal grey pencil skirt, long-sleeved cream shirt, dark tights and sensible black court shoes. Her hair, in stark contrast to Tonks' shock of short pink hair, was a rather non-descript brown and pulled back in a sensible, professional up-do. She was amazed that the Bandits' manager didn't have any qualms about letting them into his office.
To describe the records as 'patchy' was putting it mildly. They were extremely haphazard and seemed to have been written on whatever the writer had to hand. There was a box full of receipts which were not in chronological order. If there was an order to them it was not immediately apparent. There were also napkins with hastily scribbled IOUs, scraps of parchment, tissues and a couple of pocket handkerchiefs with little columns of figures on them. Penelope was glad that she had brought some blank ledgers with her. This was definitely going to be a full day's work, even with her sorting and filing charms and her arithmantic equations. Tonks stood in the doorway, surveying the scene.
"I'll stick the kettle on, shall I?" she asked cheerfully.
Penelope nodded in assent.
-0-
On Tuesday Penelope decided to dress down a little bit. After changing her outfit for the third time, she accepted that she was completely incapable of dressing down for work and opted to wear something a little more colourful instead. By the time she left for work she was wearing her grey skirt with the usual black court shoes and a pretty blue blouse. She had spent a little more time on her hair than usual and felt unusually self-conscious about it.
When she got to her office, Penelope spent the first 45 minutes of her day going through the ledgers she had filled the previous day, checking for gaps and inconsistencies. Though the records had been atrocious in quality and the Bywell Bandits had no filing system to speak of, their accounts were actually surprisingly consistent and complete. Though a more thorough analysis would be necessary before her report could be filed, she was reasonably confident that there was nothing in the books to suggest that the Bandits were involved in anything untoward.
Tonks arrived at 9.45am and Penelope was pleased to see that she had avoided the evil clutches of the coat rack. As they made their way over to the grounds of the Leominster Lions, Penelope noted that Tonks had toned down her appearance a little. Her hair was still unapologetically pink and her T-shirt was very orange, but she was wearing black trousers rather than yesterday's ripped jeans. She felt a surge of pleasure at the thought that they didn't look quite so odd together today, but she stamped down on that feeling quickly.
The rest of the day followed much the same pattern as the previous day. Tonks charmed the team's manager so that the inspection didn't feel forced - a skill Penelope was rather envious of - then Tonks and Penelope were given access to the manager's office so that they could go through the records. The Leominster Lions' records were just as haphazard as the Bywell Bandits, but this time Penelope was more than prepared. She waded through the piles of receipts and scraps and oddments while Tonks provided tea and reminded her to eat at lunch time. Before she knew it, it was time to drop the ledgers back at her office and call it a day.
-0-
On Wednesday Penelope was in a particularly good mood, so she decided to wear a sunny yellow blouse she usually reserved for weekends. She headed in to the office early and looked over the ledgers she had filled on the previous days. She couldn't see any obvious discrepancies in the ledgers for the Leominster Lions but there would be no use comparing the ledgers for the two teams without further data from other teams in the league. She found herself eagerly awaiting Tonks' arrival and told herself more than once that she was a grown woman and should not be acting like a schoolgirl with a crush.
Tonks' arrival at 10.00am was heralded by a loud crash as she collided with the umbrella stand by the door. Penelope came out of her office at the sound and tried very hard not to laugh at the sight. Lucy had clearly rushed out from behind her desk to help and both Lucy and Tonks were trying to right the stand and put back the lone umbrella.
"I'm so sorry," Tonks said earnestly, "the briefing this morning ran over so I was in a bit of a rush."
"It's quite alright," Penelope called as she quickly grabbed her bag and got ready to leave.
By the time they reached the grounds of the Margate Manticores, Tonks had filled Penelope in on that morning's briefing as much as she could. As most of the information was classified, this had mostly consisted of less than flattering imitations of several senior officers of the MLE which had Penelope nearly crying with laughter. Penelope composed herself as quickly as possible and watched as Tonks' greeted the manager in her usual likeable way. The manager dutifully led them to his office and produced a keyring with an astonishing number of keys attached. While he fumbled to find the right key, Tonks looked over at Penelope and gave her a wink and a cheeky grin.
Penelope felt her heart race as she smiled back and hoped desperately that she wasn't blushing. When they finally made it into the office, she spent an inordinate amount of time organising her ledgers and arranging her little inkpots and quills on the manager's desk. She was glad that she had two days' experience of organising Quodpot team records under her belt as she was definitely not her usual focused self. She set the sorting and filing charms going on autopilot and had managed to regain her focus enough by the afternoon to work to her usual standard.
-0-
On Thursday Penelope decided that she needed to be much more focused, efficient and professional. She pulled her hair back rather severely and dressed in a plain black pencil skirt and long-sleeved white shirt. She arrived at work extremely early to go through the records she had collated over the last three days and ensure that her work was up to par. She also snapped at Lucy quite unnecessarily and felt extremely bad about it for the next hour. The poor girl had had to field all of Penelope's calls for the last three days and it must have been very tedious for her in the office alone all that time.
When Tonks arrived Penelope's resolve nearly failed. The ripped jeans were back with a threadbare black T-shirt that clung in all the right places. It was very distracting and Penelope was pleased with herself for managing to keep up her end of the conversation on the way to inspect the records of the Pitlochry Pythons. When they arrived, the manager didn't seem particularly keen to let them into the office. Penelope wondered if this might be an indication that the MLE were right and there was something to their suspicions about the recent popularity of Quodpot.
It soon became apparent that his reluctance was more to do with the state of his office than anything else. She was taken aback by the sheer volume of mess in such a small space. When Penelope looked over at Tonks, she noted with some amusement that the Auror was actually gaping in horror. She reached over and pressed her hand gently under Tonks' chin to make her close her mouth, then snatched her hand back quickly as she realised the intimacy of what she had just done. Tonks simply grinned and mouthed 'sorry'.
"This is going to take more than one day," Penelope said once she was sure that the manager was out of earshot.
"We'd better get cracking then," Tonks said cheerfully.
The two women spent most of the morning using every household cleaning spell in their combined repertoire to simply make the office sanitary. Penelope was pleased that Tonks was happy to get stuck in and help out. After all, cleaning the offices of part-time Quodpot managers wasn't in either of their job descriptions. They ate their lunch sitting in the stands rather than the office as there just wasn't space to sit down. By the end of the afternoon they had restored the office to some semblance of order and Penelope was ready to start going through the records. As she was trying to make out the almost illegible scrawl on the back of a restaurant menu, she put on her reading glasses and noted that Tonks was watching her with some interest. Maybe this wasn't as one-sided as she had thought.
-0-
For the first time in a long time, Penelope was glad it was Friday. It had been a long and confusing week. She dressed in her favourite grey skirt with a pale pink blouse and took a little more time with her hair. On reflection, she may have been a little too severe yesterday. She decided not to go in too early today. After all, she didn't have anything to review from yesterday. On her way in to work, Penelope stopped at a café and ordered two coffees and two muffins to go. She left one of each on Lucy's desk and cast a warming charm on the coffee so that it wouldn't get cold by the time her assistant arrived.
Tonks arrived at 9.45am as expected and the two women went back out to the grounds of the Pitlochry Pythons. When they arrived, they found that a practice was under way. It took them a while to attract the attention of the manager who was understandable preoccupied. Penelope had never actually been to a Quodpot match and she was surprised at just how loud it was when a Quod exploded. When Tonks finally managed to make their presence known to the manager, he beckoned her over.
"You coming?" Tonks asked, turning to Penelope.
"I think I'm just fine where I am," Penelope said with a smile.
Tonks rolled her eyes and headed over to a section of the stands much too close to the action for Penelope's liking. As she went, another Quod exploded and the player who had been holding it obediently flew away from the action. To Penelope's surprise, the player was heading in her direction. As she drew closer Penelope recognised Katie Bell.
"Long time no see," she called impulsively.
"Hello Penny!" Katie called back.
"I'm not a coin," Penelope answered in a long suffering tone.
"Oh, come on, Pen," Katie wheedled.
"Or a writing implement," Penelope continued.
Katie pulled up on her broom and wheeled round to watch Tonks and the Pythons' manager talking.
"So, what's with the Auror?" Katie asked. "Are you playing good cop/bad cop? Are you going to frisk me?"
Penelope tried to keep a straight face as Katie waggled her eyebrows suggestively. The effect was somewhat marred by the streaks of soot on her face from the recent Quod explosion.
"No comment," she said as calmly as she could.
"Please tell me she plays for our team," Katie pleaded.
"Oh, no," Penelope said, feigning ignorance as Tonks approached them; "she's never played Quodpot."
Katie let out an exasperated groan. At that point she suddenly noticed that the assistant coach was gesticulating wildly at her.
"Oops, got to go," Katie called as she sped back off over the pitch.
Tonks gave Penelope a quizzical look as she reached her but she didn't say anything. They went up to the manager's office to continue what they had started the day before. Compared to the previous day's epic cleaning session, the remaining work was relatively easy. Penelope set to work with her usual sorting and filing charms and was progressing at a satisfying speed. She was working on the ledgers, making neat little columns of figures when Tonks spoke.
"The player you were speaking to," Tonks started and Penelope nearly knocked over her little bottle of ink.
"Yes?" she said carefully.
"Is she … I mean, are you together?" Tonks asked.
Penelope was very still for a moment as she considered her answer. Tonks could just be assessing a conflict of interest but she sounded a little too nervous for that to be the case.
"No," Penelope said slowly, "but we were. In a manner of speaking."
She slowly turned to face Tonks and was pleased to see that Tonks looked relieved. She had assessed the situation correctly. Penelope's heart was pounding.
"Are you busy tonight?" Tonks asked, sounding a little more confident now.
Penelope looked back down at the ledger and started making notes again.
"No," she said, smiling down at the ledger.
She could feel Tonks moving closer, but she continued working and tried to pretend that she couldn't.
"Would you like to go out for dinner with me?" Tonks asked.
"I'd love to," Penelope said as she carefully carried figures across from one column to another.
Tonks shifted the ledger over and sat down on the desk.
"You're obstructing work on behalf of the Ministry of Magic's Department for Magical Law Enforcement," Penelope said, trying to sound firm and failing miserably.
Tonks leaned in and kissed her. Despite her better judgement, Penelope found herself kissing back enthusiastically. Mustering every iota of her self-control, Penelope pulled away.
"We can't get caught," she said firmly.
"I know," Tonks said with a sigh, "hurry up so we can get out of here, yeah?"
Penelope smiled and worked as hard as she could. The weekend couldn't come soon enough.