What Went Right
Title: What Went Right
Author:ladylegend
Format: ficlet
Rating: K+/PG
Prompts: Christmas wreath and Hogwarts Express
Word Count: 797
Summary: After the Order's Christmas party doesn't go quite as planned, Remus helps Tonks discern just what, exactly, went right.
Author's Note: So I got about two sentences into this thing, and it was going to be long and amazing, and then my poor innocent plot bunny died, and I had to go out and bury it (I suspect it is now adequately frozen to be brought back by cryogenics next summer), and then before I knew it, it was December 22 and the deadline was fast approaching.
Tonks had always been a firm believer that life was what you made it to be. Christmas, therefore, should be a time of joy and happiness, gift giving and carol-singing, Dark Lord or no Dark Lord. And so she had taken it upon herself to organize and execute plans for an Order of the Phoenix Christmas party. Unfortunately, when Tonks was involved, things did not always go entirely as planned.
Item One: Location. Since Molly had vetoed most of her suggestions for where to hold the party, on the grounds that they were too obvious and everyone in attendance would find themselves in mortal danger. So, Tonks came up with what was, in her mind, the perfect solution. The Death Eaters would never expect them to hold their party on the Hogwarts Express, and being on a train had the added bonus of creating a moving target that would be hard to apparate onto, even if Voldemort somehow managed to obtain information regarding the party’s whereabouts. But, as mentioned earlier, the train was a moving target, which brings us to:
Item Two: The buffet. Whenever the train turned, slowed, sped up, or moved in general, the food table was jostled. If there were people standing nearby, this automatically increased its chances of falling over by roughly forty thousand. The first time it fell, Tonks tripped over the bowl of chips and landed rather gracelessly in the guacamole. Item Two, regarding food, is rather closely related to the next incident, namely:
Item Three: The beverage cart. After Tonks changed into her spare robes (which she had brought along in the event that she did, indeed, fall into something unpleasant), she helped Molly Weasley set up the beverage cart, immediately after which the train took a sharp left turn, thereby causing the cart to fall directly on top of Tonks, leaving her lying on the floor, smelling of fruit punch and vodka, and without another change of clothes.
Item Four: Shortly after the events recounted in Item Three, Tonks was leaving the bathroom after attempting to clean herself up as well as possible, and promptly fell over again as the train took another turn, this time to the right. Tonks was used to falling, and this would be of no consequence, were it not for the prickly (and rather ugly) Christmas wreath hanging on the door of a nearby compartment that broke her fall. Or, rather, fell with her and just so happened to hit the floor in precisely the same place Tonks did, only about a second earlier. And then, to make matters worse, the wreath’s bow had somehow gotten tangled around her arm, and thus when she attempted to stand up again was promptly pulled back down to the ground. At this point the train was turning again and she ended up hitting her head on the door to the compartment, where the wreath had previously been hanging.
Which is how she found herself holed up in the compartment from whose door the wreath had fallen, leaning against a seat and fighting back tears. Don’t look at me like that; you’d cry too if you smelled of vodka and punch and had just been stabbed rather rudely by a prickly plant while its sad excuse for a bow attempted to hold you hostage.
It was at this time that Remus Lupin walked into the compartment. Tonks thought she might just die. Why was it that this man always seemed to see her at her absolute worst? Couldn’t he ever show up after she had done something right, for once? Tonks turned her head towards the seat and tried to pretend that she didn’t exist. Maybe the earth would take pity on her and swallow her up in a magical hole that appeared directly beneath her.
She turned her head to see if he had left yet. He had instead sat down on the floor next to her, watching as the earth stayed where it was and Tonks was not miraculously swallowed up by a hole.
“So,” he began. “What went right?”
“What?” Tonks turned her head properly to look at him in surprise.
“What went right?” he repeated.
“Well,” she said. “The train hasn’t derailed yet.”
“No,” said Remus. “I suppose it hasn’t. Anything else?”
“No one laughed at me when I tripped on the steps onto the train.”
“That’s good news.”
“And everyone else seems to be having a good time, despite the fact that there is no longer any food or drinks and Harry, Ron, and Hermione haven’t been in touch for a month.” At least, she thought everyone else was having a good time, if the talking and laughter she could hear in the corridor were any indication.
“See?” said Remus, rubbing her arm. “Not so bad after all.”
No, she supposed. It wasn’t really all that bad after all.
Author:ladylegend
Format: ficlet
Rating: K+/PG
Prompts: Christmas wreath and Hogwarts Express
Word Count: 797
Summary: After the Order's Christmas party doesn't go quite as planned, Remus helps Tonks discern just what, exactly, went right.
Author's Note: So I got about two sentences into this thing, and it was going to be long and amazing, and then my poor innocent plot bunny died, and I had to go out and bury it (I suspect it is now adequately frozen to be brought back by cryogenics next summer), and then before I knew it, it was December 22 and the deadline was fast approaching.
Tonks had always been a firm believer that life was what you made it to be. Christmas, therefore, should be a time of joy and happiness, gift giving and carol-singing, Dark Lord or no Dark Lord. And so she had taken it upon herself to organize and execute plans for an Order of the Phoenix Christmas party. Unfortunately, when Tonks was involved, things did not always go entirely as planned.
Item One: Location. Since Molly had vetoed most of her suggestions for where to hold the party, on the grounds that they were too obvious and everyone in attendance would find themselves in mortal danger. So, Tonks came up with what was, in her mind, the perfect solution. The Death Eaters would never expect them to hold their party on the Hogwarts Express, and being on a train had the added bonus of creating a moving target that would be hard to apparate onto, even if Voldemort somehow managed to obtain information regarding the party’s whereabouts. But, as mentioned earlier, the train was a moving target, which brings us to:
Item Two: The buffet. Whenever the train turned, slowed, sped up, or moved in general, the food table was jostled. If there were people standing nearby, this automatically increased its chances of falling over by roughly forty thousand. The first time it fell, Tonks tripped over the bowl of chips and landed rather gracelessly in the guacamole. Item Two, regarding food, is rather closely related to the next incident, namely:
Item Three: The beverage cart. After Tonks changed into her spare robes (which she had brought along in the event that she did, indeed, fall into something unpleasant), she helped Molly Weasley set up the beverage cart, immediately after which the train took a sharp left turn, thereby causing the cart to fall directly on top of Tonks, leaving her lying on the floor, smelling of fruit punch and vodka, and without another change of clothes.
Item Four: Shortly after the events recounted in Item Three, Tonks was leaving the bathroom after attempting to clean herself up as well as possible, and promptly fell over again as the train took another turn, this time to the right. Tonks was used to falling, and this would be of no consequence, were it not for the prickly (and rather ugly) Christmas wreath hanging on the door of a nearby compartment that broke her fall. Or, rather, fell with her and just so happened to hit the floor in precisely the same place Tonks did, only about a second earlier. And then, to make matters worse, the wreath’s bow had somehow gotten tangled around her arm, and thus when she attempted to stand up again was promptly pulled back down to the ground. At this point the train was turning again and she ended up hitting her head on the door to the compartment, where the wreath had previously been hanging.
Which is how she found herself holed up in the compartment from whose door the wreath had fallen, leaning against a seat and fighting back tears. Don’t look at me like that; you’d cry too if you smelled of vodka and punch and had just been stabbed rather rudely by a prickly plant while its sad excuse for a bow attempted to hold you hostage.
It was at this time that Remus Lupin walked into the compartment. Tonks thought she might just die. Why was it that this man always seemed to see her at her absolute worst? Couldn’t he ever show up after she had done something right, for once? Tonks turned her head towards the seat and tried to pretend that she didn’t exist. Maybe the earth would take pity on her and swallow her up in a magical hole that appeared directly beneath her.
She turned her head to see if he had left yet. He had instead sat down on the floor next to her, watching as the earth stayed where it was and Tonks was not miraculously swallowed up by a hole.
“So,” he began. “What went right?”
“What?” Tonks turned her head properly to look at him in surprise.
“What went right?” he repeated.
“Well,” she said. “The train hasn’t derailed yet.”
“No,” said Remus. “I suppose it hasn’t. Anything else?”
“No one laughed at me when I tripped on the steps onto the train.”
“That’s good news.”
“And everyone else seems to be having a good time, despite the fact that there is no longer any food or drinks and Harry, Ron, and Hermione haven’t been in touch for a month.” At least, she thought everyone else was having a good time, if the talking and laughter she could hear in the corridor were any indication.
“See?” said Remus, rubbing her arm. “Not so bad after all.”
No, she supposed. It wasn’t really all that bad after all.