(no subject)
Title: But Why?
Author: kileaiya
Prompts: Thing: Enchanted Window//Location: Privet Drive//Day: A Day of Endings//Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Characters: Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin
Pairings: Nymphadora Tonks/Remus Lupin
Word Count: 1608
Ratings and Warnings: PG-13, There is a smidge of cursing, somewhere in there.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me; I’m just having a bit of fun.
Summary: Tonks is sent to watch over Harry for a while, and drags Remus along.
Author’s Note: This fic gave me no end of trouble and I'm still not sure I particularly like it, but I'm not sure how to make it more to my liking. I will let you guys be the judge. Special thanks to Christine (gijane7702), beta extraordinaire. Thanks again! We’re both Americans, so if you British folk see any Americanisms, please excuse them.
This has now been edited as per mrstater's suggestion, to add details. One day I'll get the hang of this writing thing. =P
Remus’ eyebrows knit in confusion as the slight haze of Apparition cleared and he took in his surroundings. “Tonks, what are we doing on Privet Drive?”
“A favour for Mad-Eye,” Tonks responded. “He asked me to check on Harry; had something to do so he couldn’t check up on Harry himself, I couldn’t very well say no, even if it is my bloody birthday…” she sighed, “So, here we are.”
“Yes, but why drag me?” Remus asked as he gave a look at his watch.
“Because, I wanted to. Birthday girl's prerogative.” Tonks said with a wide smile.
“Ah, well, that makes it perfectly okay then,” Remus laughed. “But aren’t we going to have a difficult time checking on him with the Dursleys home?” He began walking towards the Dursleys’ yard. Good thing she’d convinced him to wear Muggle attire after all.
Tonks fell in step behind him. “Nope! They’ve gone on a day trip and left Harry alone. Any other time I’d be livid they’d just left him like this, but today, well, it sort of suits our purposes, doesn’t it? Besides, we’re here to look after him for a bit anyhow. Though we’re not supposed to let him see us…”
“How are we to check on him properly if we can’t even go in and see him?” Remus asked, puzzled.
“Mad-Eye’s done something to one of their windows, enchanted it, to show Harry to whoever tells it the password. It’s a complicated bit of magic, sort of like the Fidelius Charm. Moody made sure it wouldn’t just show him to anyone.”
“Well, that makes it easier, but why can’t we just go in and talk with him?”
“Dunno, Mad-Eye wouldn’t say. He just kept on with the ‘it’s on a need to know basis, lass, and you don’t need to know.’” Tonks took a look around then headed off towards the back of the Dursleys’ house, motioning for Remus to follow. They stopped off behind a tall hedge and Tonks Disillusioned the pair of them. “Mad Eye said is was off around the back of the house, near the garden. Oh, and here, he wrote the password on this.” Tonks fumbled around her pocket and retrieved a piece of parchment. She reached out to find Remus’ arm and grabbed it, placing the parchment in his open palm. “Read it and burn it. You know the whole spiel.”
Remus held the parchment up to eye level, then set it alight with his wand once finished reading it. “All right, I think we’re good to go now.”
Tonks took hold of Remus’ arm once more and led him to the large window that looked out into the garden. She tapped it with her wand and spoke clearly, “Constant Vigilance!”
Remus gave a soft bark of laughter and shook his head, “Only Mad Eye.”
Tonks smiled as she peered into the window, “Looks like he’s up in his room reading. We’re supposed to stay here for,” she checked her watch, “another hour or so, until the Dursleys return. Then we can go get a bite to eat.”
“I really should be getting back after this Tonks. I promised Sirius I’d help him with something for Harry. Besides I promised you a birthday dinner tomorrow night, do you really need two?” Remus smiled at her playfully.
“Yes, I need two, and you’re coming! Sirius can wait.”
“Fine, fine, but if he get's all mopey because I wasn't there, I'm locking you in with him.” Remus smiled, and then asked, “Do you know why we’re here to check on Harry?”
“Mad Eye wouldn’t tell me that either. Said it was between Dumbledore and himself.”
“Ah, must be quite important then, if we’re not cleared to know. Do you think he’s in danger?” Remus paused, and then added, “Well more danger than usual?”
“I think if he was in more danger than usual, we wouldn’t be the only ones here watching after him.” Tonks said, as she rocked forward onto the balls of her feet impatiently.
“All right, so once we through here, where do you want to go for dinner? I really can’t stay long though.”
Tonks rolled her eyes at him. “I dunno. Thought we might pop over to The Palace over in East Molesey, they’ve lovely Balti Chicken. They also have Gosht Pasanda; I know that’s your favourite. Sound good to you?”
Remus nodded, “Sounds good. I also say we take shifts watching the window, so one of us can sit. I’ll go first, have a seat.”
Tonks shook her head, “No, I’ll go first you sit. Look, it’s already been 15 minutes. Wait, you can’t look. Well it has been.”
Remus chuckled, “I’ll take your word for it, or I could check my own watch.”
Tonks felt around the air until she found his arm and punched it. “Smart arse.” She slid down the wall into a sitting position, “You can stand first shift after all. I’d stick my tongue out at you, but you can’t see it, so just imagine it.”
Several minutes went by in companionable silence before Tonks could stand it no more. “My turn to stand watch. At least I’ll feel like I’m doing something useful then. Sit.”
“We only have about 40 more minutes Tonks, at least if the Dursleys are on time, be patient.”
“I am patient!” Tonks interrupted, as she stood.
“As I was saying,” he shot her a useless pointed look and continued. “When they get here, we should probably just Apparate out. We don’t want them to see us.”
“Yeah,” Tonks agreed. “Then we head to dinner. I’m starved.”
“Yes, Tonks. Dinner, which you are so insistent upon.”
“Hmph.” She peered into the window and smiled, “Harry’s still reading, what you bet he has a naughty magazine?”
“No if he had a naughty magazine… Never mind, he doesn’t have a naughty magazine,” Remus stammered.
Tonks laughed. “What I wouldn’t pay to see the look on your face right about now.”
“Look,” Remus said suddenly, relief evident in his voice. “There are the Dursleys pulling into the drive. We should head off. You’ll have to take me Side-Along I don’t know where that restaurant is.”
Tonks ended the Disillusionment Charm on them both and then took hold of Remus’ arm, and with one last look at Harry, Tonks said “On three then. One, two, three.” They Disapparated.
They reappeared moments later in a deserted alley way, behind a garbage bin. “Come on, it’s just up the road a bit.” She motioned for Remus to follow.
“I’m famished. Wonder if they have a buffet?” Remus checked his watch again.
Tonks looked at him funny; he had been checking his watch every five minutes since they'd arrived at Privet Drive. What was he up to? She shook her head and nodded, “Yeah they do.”
The walked for a bit before Tonks said, “Stop, it’s here.” She motioned to a white Indian restaurant off to their right. “Their food is wonderful. Mum and Dad live near here, so I’ve been here several times. It’s my favourite restaurant.”
The pair walked to the door and Remus held it open for Tonks to enter. “What do you think the Dursleys were off doing during on a Sunday?”
“Who knows, probably taking their pig of a son off to buy what ever he wants,” Tonks frowned. “They’re such awful people. Why’d Dumbledore ever take Harry to them in the first place?”
Remus gave a small shrug, “I’m not sure, Tonks. Dumbledore has his reasons though.”
“Of course he does. I just wish he’d explain them to us.” Tonks gave an aggravated sigh as she sat down at a table by the large bay window.
Remus sat in front of her and gave her a small smile. “I know, but it looks like we’ll just have to wonder for now.” Remus looked up at the approaching waiter.
The waiter stopped in front of their table and asked, “Will you be have and entrée and appetizer or the buffet this evening?”
“The buffet, thank you.” Tonks said, and the waiter nodded.
“The dinnerware is beside the buffet, and you may get your own drink from the fountain.”
Tonks smiled at the waiter walked and stood. “What really makes me wonder is why Mad-Eye wouldn’t tell us why we were supposed to look after Harry.”
“They’ve got their reasons for that as well, Tonks. They wouldn’t keep it from us unless they had a valid reason.”
“Yeah, but why? Oh never mind.” She began filling her plate, and Remus followed suit.
Before long they were once more seated at their table and eating in companionable silence.
“It’s gone seven o’clock!” Tonks said after a while as she looked at her watch. “We should get back to the house… and we should really check on Sirius, I bet he’s getting antsy.”
Remus nodded, “Yeah, I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late, I have some paper work to do for ‘work’.” He sat his utensils on his plate and wiped his mouth with his napkin.
The waiter came back and set the bill on their table.
Tonks snatched it up before Remus could reach for it and pulled a wad of Muggle currency from her pocket. “I’m paying!” she said happily, as she laid the correct amount onto the table, along with a tip.
Remus slid out of his seat, and pulled Tonks chair out for her to stand, “You plopped down so quickly earlier, I didn’t get the chance to be gentlemanly.”
Tonks snorted, “Remus, you’re never not gentlemanly.” She waved to the waiter and headed for the door.
Remus chuckled as he held the door open for her once more, “Never not?”
“Oh hush! Come on, back to Grimmauld Place with you.” She led them back to the alley and the pair Apparated to the small square in the centre of Grimmauld Place. The two headed towards the door.
“I still wonder why we couldn’t know why we were looking after Harry!” Tonks said in a very frustrated tone.
Remus merely opened the door to Order Headquarters and ushered Tonks inside with a smile.
“SURPRISE!” shouted the whole of the Order. Tonks looked around, mouth agape.
She punched Remus hard on the arm, “You knew they were throwing me a birthday party all along didn’t you! This is why I was sent to look after Harry, so they’d have time to prepare!”
Remus simply smiled as he led her over to the cake.
Author’s Second Note: Just so it’s clear, Remus wasn’t originally going with her, she dragged him along. I only add this because a friend who read it over for me wanted to know why he didn’t distract her some other way. And I got in all four prompts if you squint real hard. Yay me!
Sorry about the dropped tag everyone. I think I fixed it. o.O
Author: kileaiya
Prompts: Thing: Enchanted Window//Location: Privet Drive//Day: A Day of Endings//Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Characters: Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin
Pairings: Nymphadora Tonks/Remus Lupin
Word Count: 1608
Ratings and Warnings: PG-13, There is a smidge of cursing, somewhere in there.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me; I’m just having a bit of fun.
Summary: Tonks is sent to watch over Harry for a while, and drags Remus along.
Author’s Note: This fic gave me no end of trouble and I'm still not sure I particularly like it, but I'm not sure how to make it more to my liking. I will let you guys be the judge. Special thanks to Christine (gijane7702), beta extraordinaire. Thanks again! We’re both Americans, so if you British folk see any Americanisms, please excuse them.
This has now been edited as per mrstater's suggestion, to add details. One day I'll get the hang of this writing thing. =P
Remus’ eyebrows knit in confusion as the slight haze of Apparition cleared and he took in his surroundings. “Tonks, what are we doing on Privet Drive?”
“A favour for Mad-Eye,” Tonks responded. “He asked me to check on Harry; had something to do so he couldn’t check up on Harry himself, I couldn’t very well say no, even if it is my bloody birthday…” she sighed, “So, here we are.”
“Yes, but why drag me?” Remus asked as he gave a look at his watch.
“Because, I wanted to. Birthday girl's prerogative.” Tonks said with a wide smile.
“Ah, well, that makes it perfectly okay then,” Remus laughed. “But aren’t we going to have a difficult time checking on him with the Dursleys home?” He began walking towards the Dursleys’ yard. Good thing she’d convinced him to wear Muggle attire after all.
Tonks fell in step behind him. “Nope! They’ve gone on a day trip and left Harry alone. Any other time I’d be livid they’d just left him like this, but today, well, it sort of suits our purposes, doesn’t it? Besides, we’re here to look after him for a bit anyhow. Though we’re not supposed to let him see us…”
“How are we to check on him properly if we can’t even go in and see him?” Remus asked, puzzled.
“Mad-Eye’s done something to one of their windows, enchanted it, to show Harry to whoever tells it the password. It’s a complicated bit of magic, sort of like the Fidelius Charm. Moody made sure it wouldn’t just show him to anyone.”
“Well, that makes it easier, but why can’t we just go in and talk with him?”
“Dunno, Mad-Eye wouldn’t say. He just kept on with the ‘it’s on a need to know basis, lass, and you don’t need to know.’” Tonks took a look around then headed off towards the back of the Dursleys’ house, motioning for Remus to follow. They stopped off behind a tall hedge and Tonks Disillusioned the pair of them. “Mad Eye said is was off around the back of the house, near the garden. Oh, and here, he wrote the password on this.” Tonks fumbled around her pocket and retrieved a piece of parchment. She reached out to find Remus’ arm and grabbed it, placing the parchment in his open palm. “Read it and burn it. You know the whole spiel.”
Remus held the parchment up to eye level, then set it alight with his wand once finished reading it. “All right, I think we’re good to go now.”
Tonks took hold of Remus’ arm once more and led him to the large window that looked out into the garden. She tapped it with her wand and spoke clearly, “Constant Vigilance!”
Remus gave a soft bark of laughter and shook his head, “Only Mad Eye.”
Tonks smiled as she peered into the window, “Looks like he’s up in his room reading. We’re supposed to stay here for,” she checked her watch, “another hour or so, until the Dursleys return. Then we can go get a bite to eat.”
“I really should be getting back after this Tonks. I promised Sirius I’d help him with something for Harry. Besides I promised you a birthday dinner tomorrow night, do you really need two?” Remus smiled at her playfully.
“Yes, I need two, and you’re coming! Sirius can wait.”
“Fine, fine, but if he get's all mopey because I wasn't there, I'm locking you in with him.” Remus smiled, and then asked, “Do you know why we’re here to check on Harry?”
“Mad Eye wouldn’t tell me that either. Said it was between Dumbledore and himself.”
“Ah, must be quite important then, if we’re not cleared to know. Do you think he’s in danger?” Remus paused, and then added, “Well more danger than usual?”
“I think if he was in more danger than usual, we wouldn’t be the only ones here watching after him.” Tonks said, as she rocked forward onto the balls of her feet impatiently.
“All right, so once we through here, where do you want to go for dinner? I really can’t stay long though.”
Tonks rolled her eyes at him. “I dunno. Thought we might pop over to The Palace over in East Molesey, they’ve lovely Balti Chicken. They also have Gosht Pasanda; I know that’s your favourite. Sound good to you?”
Remus nodded, “Sounds good. I also say we take shifts watching the window, so one of us can sit. I’ll go first, have a seat.”
Tonks shook her head, “No, I’ll go first you sit. Look, it’s already been 15 minutes. Wait, you can’t look. Well it has been.”
Remus chuckled, “I’ll take your word for it, or I could check my own watch.”
Tonks felt around the air until she found his arm and punched it. “Smart arse.” She slid down the wall into a sitting position, “You can stand first shift after all. I’d stick my tongue out at you, but you can’t see it, so just imagine it.”
Several minutes went by in companionable silence before Tonks could stand it no more. “My turn to stand watch. At least I’ll feel like I’m doing something useful then. Sit.”
“We only have about 40 more minutes Tonks, at least if the Dursleys are on time, be patient.”
“I am patient!” Tonks interrupted, as she stood.
“As I was saying,” he shot her a useless pointed look and continued. “When they get here, we should probably just Apparate out. We don’t want them to see us.”
“Yeah,” Tonks agreed. “Then we head to dinner. I’m starved.”
“Yes, Tonks. Dinner, which you are so insistent upon.”
“Hmph.” She peered into the window and smiled, “Harry’s still reading, what you bet he has a naughty magazine?”
“No if he had a naughty magazine… Never mind, he doesn’t have a naughty magazine,” Remus stammered.
Tonks laughed. “What I wouldn’t pay to see the look on your face right about now.”
“Look,” Remus said suddenly, relief evident in his voice. “There are the Dursleys pulling into the drive. We should head off. You’ll have to take me Side-Along I don’t know where that restaurant is.”
Tonks ended the Disillusionment Charm on them both and then took hold of Remus’ arm, and with one last look at Harry, Tonks said “On three then. One, two, three.” They Disapparated.
They reappeared moments later in a deserted alley way, behind a garbage bin. “Come on, it’s just up the road a bit.” She motioned for Remus to follow.
“I’m famished. Wonder if they have a buffet?” Remus checked his watch again.
Tonks looked at him funny; he had been checking his watch every five minutes since they'd arrived at Privet Drive. What was he up to? She shook her head and nodded, “Yeah they do.”
The walked for a bit before Tonks said, “Stop, it’s here.” She motioned to a white Indian restaurant off to their right. “Their food is wonderful. Mum and Dad live near here, so I’ve been here several times. It’s my favourite restaurant.”
The pair walked to the door and Remus held it open for Tonks to enter. “What do you think the Dursleys were off doing during on a Sunday?”
“Who knows, probably taking their pig of a son off to buy what ever he wants,” Tonks frowned. “They’re such awful people. Why’d Dumbledore ever take Harry to them in the first place?”
Remus gave a small shrug, “I’m not sure, Tonks. Dumbledore has his reasons though.”
“Of course he does. I just wish he’d explain them to us.” Tonks gave an aggravated sigh as she sat down at a table by the large bay window.
Remus sat in front of her and gave her a small smile. “I know, but it looks like we’ll just have to wonder for now.” Remus looked up at the approaching waiter.
The waiter stopped in front of their table and asked, “Will you be have and entrée and appetizer or the buffet this evening?”
“The buffet, thank you.” Tonks said, and the waiter nodded.
“The dinnerware is beside the buffet, and you may get your own drink from the fountain.”
Tonks smiled at the waiter walked and stood. “What really makes me wonder is why Mad-Eye wouldn’t tell us why we were supposed to look after Harry.”
“They’ve got their reasons for that as well, Tonks. They wouldn’t keep it from us unless they had a valid reason.”
“Yeah, but why? Oh never mind.” She began filling her plate, and Remus followed suit.
Before long they were once more seated at their table and eating in companionable silence.
“It’s gone seven o’clock!” Tonks said after a while as she looked at her watch. “We should get back to the house… and we should really check on Sirius, I bet he’s getting antsy.”
Remus nodded, “Yeah, I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late, I have some paper work to do for ‘work’.” He sat his utensils on his plate and wiped his mouth with his napkin.
The waiter came back and set the bill on their table.
Tonks snatched it up before Remus could reach for it and pulled a wad of Muggle currency from her pocket. “I’m paying!” she said happily, as she laid the correct amount onto the table, along with a tip.
Remus slid out of his seat, and pulled Tonks chair out for her to stand, “You plopped down so quickly earlier, I didn’t get the chance to be gentlemanly.”
Tonks snorted, “Remus, you’re never not gentlemanly.” She waved to the waiter and headed for the door.
Remus chuckled as he held the door open for her once more, “Never not?”
“Oh hush! Come on, back to Grimmauld Place with you.” She led them back to the alley and the pair Apparated to the small square in the centre of Grimmauld Place. The two headed towards the door.
“I still wonder why we couldn’t know why we were looking after Harry!” Tonks said in a very frustrated tone.
Remus merely opened the door to Order Headquarters and ushered Tonks inside with a smile.
“SURPRISE!” shouted the whole of the Order. Tonks looked around, mouth agape.
She punched Remus hard on the arm, “You knew they were throwing me a birthday party all along didn’t you! This is why I was sent to look after Harry, so they’d have time to prepare!”
Remus simply smiled as he led her over to the cake.
Author’s Second Note: Just so it’s clear, Remus wasn’t originally going with her, she dragged him along. I only add this because a friend who read it over for me wanted to know why he didn’t distract her some other way. And I got in all four prompts if you squint real hard. Yay me!
Sorry about the dropped tag everyone. I think I fixed it. o.O