HP: All You Need
Title: All You Need
Author: MrsTater
Rating & Warnings: PG-13 for innuendo
Format & Word Count: One-shot, 1690ish words
Pairing & Featured Characters: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks; Mad-Eye Moody, Molly Weasley
Summary: At Easter, someone gives, someone else takes away, and Remus and Tonks are reminded of all they really need.
Author's Note: Written for Godricgal, who also stumped me in last week's Stump the Writer meme, as per her request for "Remus, Tonks, and Mad-Eye -- note the absence of /." Here you go, dearie. Pink-Eye Moony, sans slash. Sigh. It was difficult to do, but once I brought Molly in to chaperone, they behaved themselves. But only because it's Easter. ;) I hope it's a very hoppy holiday weekend for all you other Pink-Eye Moony shippers out there, as well.
All You Need
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love...
"I like this song," Tonks said, and stepped on Remus' toes as he shifted the pace of their simple swaying dance step to accommodate the tempo of the new song striking up on the wireless. He winced, but thank Merlin she'd kicked off those bloody boots of hers long before they'd thought of dancing. If only he'd thought to keep his on...
"The Beatles would be highly offended," he said, tightening his arm around her waist to steady her, "that you don't love their song."
She looked up at him, pink eyebrows knit. "This is the Weird Sisters. Who are you talking about, the Beatles?"
Remus sighed as Myron Wagtail's growling rock star tones attempted to croon about how easy it was to learn to play the game. "The Beatles were a Muggle band from the sixties. This is a cover of one of their biggest hits."
"Oh. How do you know about Muggle bands?"
"Lily Potter," said Remus, letting go of Tonks' waist and twirling her under his arm. She wobbled, and planted a foot on his when he pulled her to back to him again. This time, he hissed ouch and reflexively dropped her hand as he jumped backward. He wondered if it might not hurt much more if she were wearing her boots. Though he didn't want to test it.
"Sorry," said Tonks, turning her dark eyes guiltily up to him. "Reckon we ought to remember that even though dancing might seem like a good idea at the time, it never is?"
"Nonsense." Remus approached her again, leaning in to kiss her as he wrapped both arms around her waist and swayed his hips slightly against hers. "According to the Beatles, all you need is love -- not toes."
Tonks' laughter filled the Grimmauld drawing room, a far more pleasing sound to Remus' ears than the Weird Sisters' cover of "All You Need Is Love" (really, bagpipes were the most heinous substitute for trumpets) -- or even the Beatles' original.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" came a female voice -- not Tonks' -- and they both turned to the fireplace to see Molly Weasley's head peering up through the now green tinted flames. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but no one was in the kitchen and I didn't want to just leave these alone, where anyone might pop in and find them..."
"Not at all," said Remus. "I was just telling Tonks about the Beatles."
Molly's eyes widened. "There's bugs in this place, now?"
Sighing, Remus shook his head as Tonks disengaged herself from his arms. "What have you brought, Molly?"
Brightening, Molly came all the way up through the grate, a large wicker basket hung over her arm. She set it on the coffee table, then delved into it.
"Happy Easter!" she said, and Remus gawped as she placed in his hands the largest chocolate egg he'd ever seen. It was the size of a bloody dragon's egg.
"Blimey, Molly!" Tonks cried, as she received a comparably sized chocolate bunny, with ears at least six inches long. "You didn't have to do this."
"Of course I did," Molly replied, beaming. "I just love Easter, and I always do eggs for the children, and I thought wouldn't the Order enjoy some, as well?"
She reached into the basket and took out another egg, much nearer to the size of a Bludger than Remus' egg.
"This one's for Sirius. I put toffees inside, does he like them? There's plain chocolate bars in yours, Remus, and Tonks has a mixture of white and dark..."
"Sirius is up with Buckbeak," Remus said. "Shall I call him?"
"I've got to be back home, Arthur's on his way," said Molly, picking up her basket and making her way back to the Floo. She looked back at them with a knowing smiled. "And I'm sure you two want to enjoy your chocolate in private."
When she had gone, Remus and Tonks looked at their own chocolates again, then at each other's, then at one another, and then laughed.
"Somehow," Remus said, "I don't think these are precisely the sexiest chocolates to try and enjoy in private."
Tonks arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't know...mine's got these lovely long ears..." Dark eyes peering coyly at him through pink fringe, she darted out her tongue and licked the tip of her chocolate bunny's ear."
Remus swallowed. "Yes..." His voice was pinched-sounding. "That might give me some rather...sexy...ideas..."
Her smile became impish. "I know just how much you like having your ears licked."
All you need is love,
All you need is love,
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.
"Come here, you," said Remus, setting down his egg rather forcefully, and plucking Tonks' bunny from her arms. "I haven't danced with you quite enough tonight."
"Haven't had your toes completely crushed, you mean?" Tonks said as she fell awkwardly into step with him.
"That's where Molly's gift comes in. All you need is love -- but when love treads all over your toes, a little chocolate's in order."
With a huff, Tonks pushed him away. "See if anyone but Mr. Easter Bunny gets anything licked tonight." She reached around him and snatched her bunny off the coffee table, then darted across the room. Just before she slipped out the door, she glanced back over her shoulder at him.
"Oh, I'll see to it," Remus said, bounding after her.
His longer strides caught him up to her just as her feet hit the stairway to the basement kitchen. He caught her round the waist, swinging her away from the stairs, and her stomach muscles constricted against his arm as she squealed. With his other hand, he pulled the bunny from her grasp.
"Give it back, you sodding git!"
Remus tossed it back into the drawing room, where it hit the floor with a thunk.
Tonks twisted in his arms and wore a genuine glower. "Remus, if you broke my bunny's ears off, I swear I'll bloody hex your--"
"DISPLODO!" bellowed a voice from the drawing room. Instantly, Remus and Tonks snapped out of playful mode, whipped out their wands, and bolted down the corridor. But not before there came a second Displodo...and a third.
In the doorway, Remus collided into Tonks' back as she halted abruptly in front of him. Miraculously, her feet remained planted firmly on the mouldy carpet, and she maintained her balance. Remus noted her narrowed eyes and clinched jaw, and followed the line of her gaze to the floor and knew why.
All around their feet lay fine, brown debris and bits of gold foil.
The chocolate bunny Remus had thrown into the room was nowhere to be found.
He flicked his eyes up to the coffee table, where his and Sirius' eggs seemed to have been reduced to the same disintegrated state.
"Mad-Eye," Tonks ground out through gritted teeth. "Tell me you didn't blast our Easter chocolates?"
The retired Auror, stood beside the coffee table, flecks of chocolate and gold dusting the lapels of his robes, said, "Saw that thing fly through the door as I was coming out of the Floo. I suspended and scanned it first, but all those bits inside it -- looked like poisonous stink pellets to me."
"They were miniature chocolates!" Tonks' lip curled in disgust, and her arms folded across her chest. "Have you ever seen Easter sweets?"
Mad-Eye grunted. "Never can tell what those Death Eater bastards will try to get you with. You remember that fake mistletoe hung up at the old headquarters that one Christmas, Lupin?"
Remus started to confess the long-kept secret that it had been magical poison ivy, which Sirius had charmed as a prank to put a stop to appalling displays of affection, particularly in the form of Mad-Eye and every woman in the Order who he kept trying to get under the mistletoe, but before he could, Tonks spoke.
"And the fake Mad-Eye at Hogwarts?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Normally I put up with your constant vigilance, Mad-Eye, but this is taking it too. bloody. far."
"She's right," Remus cut in. "And now, instead of non-existent Death Eaters, you've got Molly Weasley's bad side to contend with."
Mad-Eye's craggy face twitched, and Remus thought he almost looked intimidated. "Don't have to tell her," he muttered.
"That's right," Tonks said, "we won't have to say a bloody thing for her to know we didn't get to enjoy the Easter egg and bunny she made for us, specially."
"She a Legilimens?" Mad-Eye asked.
Fighting laughter, Remus said, "Worse -- the mother of Fred and George."
Mad-Eye's cheek twitched again, then he turned and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder from the box on the mantelpiece. He mumbled something about picking up replacements at Honeydukes, then vanished with a puff of green into the flames.
The fire crackled. Or was it the air, with Tonks' hot temper? He turned to her.
"Dare I ask whether the full brunt of your wrath is directed toward Mad-Eye, and that you'll drop that thread to hex me or something of mine even though I'm the one that threw your bunny in here?"
Corners of her mouth twitching, Tonks looked up at him. "I'll let you off the hook, since you might be the one on Molly's bad side."
Remus shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. "I think it would take considerably more than that to put me on Molly's bad side--"
"Brown-nosing prat--"
"--especially when you started it all by being a saucy little minx and doing naughty things to that chocolate bunny's ears."
Their mingled laughter rang through the room, and they wrapped their arms around each other again and swayed to their own music.
"You know we probably shouldn't do this," Tonks said, "since you don't have any chocolate to get you through having your toes trod over."
"That's all right," said Remus. "All you need is--"
Tonks had stretched up on her toes and teased his earlobe with her tongue before catching it softly between her lips. The hairs on his neck stood as she whispered. "--love."
"Love is all you need."
The End
Author: MrsTater
Rating & Warnings: PG-13 for innuendo
Format & Word Count: One-shot, 1690ish words
Pairing & Featured Characters: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks; Mad-Eye Moody, Molly Weasley
Summary: At Easter, someone gives, someone else takes away, and Remus and Tonks are reminded of all they really need.
Author's Note: Written for Godricgal, who also stumped me in last week's Stump the Writer meme, as per her request for "Remus, Tonks, and Mad-Eye -- note the absence of /." Here you go, dearie. Pink-Eye Moony, sans slash. Sigh. It was difficult to do, but once I brought Molly in to chaperone, they behaved themselves. But only because it's Easter. ;) I hope it's a very hoppy holiday weekend for all you other Pink-Eye Moony shippers out there, as well.
All You Need
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love...
"I like this song," Tonks said, and stepped on Remus' toes as he shifted the pace of their simple swaying dance step to accommodate the tempo of the new song striking up on the wireless. He winced, but thank Merlin she'd kicked off those bloody boots of hers long before they'd thought of dancing. If only he'd thought to keep his on...
"The Beatles would be highly offended," he said, tightening his arm around her waist to steady her, "that you don't love their song."
She looked up at him, pink eyebrows knit. "This is the Weird Sisters. Who are you talking about, the Beatles?"
Remus sighed as Myron Wagtail's growling rock star tones attempted to croon about how easy it was to learn to play the game. "The Beatles were a Muggle band from the sixties. This is a cover of one of their biggest hits."
"Oh. How do you know about Muggle bands?"
"Lily Potter," said Remus, letting go of Tonks' waist and twirling her under his arm. She wobbled, and planted a foot on his when he pulled her to back to him again. This time, he hissed ouch and reflexively dropped her hand as he jumped backward. He wondered if it might not hurt much more if she were wearing her boots. Though he didn't want to test it.
"Sorry," said Tonks, turning her dark eyes guiltily up to him. "Reckon we ought to remember that even though dancing might seem like a good idea at the time, it never is?"
"Nonsense." Remus approached her again, leaning in to kiss her as he wrapped both arms around her waist and swayed his hips slightly against hers. "According to the Beatles, all you need is love -- not toes."
Tonks' laughter filled the Grimmauld drawing room, a far more pleasing sound to Remus' ears than the Weird Sisters' cover of "All You Need Is Love" (really, bagpipes were the most heinous substitute for trumpets) -- or even the Beatles' original.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" came a female voice -- not Tonks' -- and they both turned to the fireplace to see Molly Weasley's head peering up through the now green tinted flames. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but no one was in the kitchen and I didn't want to just leave these alone, where anyone might pop in and find them..."
"Not at all," said Remus. "I was just telling Tonks about the Beatles."
Molly's eyes widened. "There's bugs in this place, now?"
Sighing, Remus shook his head as Tonks disengaged herself from his arms. "What have you brought, Molly?"
Brightening, Molly came all the way up through the grate, a large wicker basket hung over her arm. She set it on the coffee table, then delved into it.
"Happy Easter!" she said, and Remus gawped as she placed in his hands the largest chocolate egg he'd ever seen. It was the size of a bloody dragon's egg.
"Blimey, Molly!" Tonks cried, as she received a comparably sized chocolate bunny, with ears at least six inches long. "You didn't have to do this."
"Of course I did," Molly replied, beaming. "I just love Easter, and I always do eggs for the children, and I thought wouldn't the Order enjoy some, as well?"
She reached into the basket and took out another egg, much nearer to the size of a Bludger than Remus' egg.
"This one's for Sirius. I put toffees inside, does he like them? There's plain chocolate bars in yours, Remus, and Tonks has a mixture of white and dark..."
"Sirius is up with Buckbeak," Remus said. "Shall I call him?"
"I've got to be back home, Arthur's on his way," said Molly, picking up her basket and making her way back to the Floo. She looked back at them with a knowing smiled. "And I'm sure you two want to enjoy your chocolate in private."
When she had gone, Remus and Tonks looked at their own chocolates again, then at each other's, then at one another, and then laughed.
"Somehow," Remus said, "I don't think these are precisely the sexiest chocolates to try and enjoy in private."
Tonks arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't know...mine's got these lovely long ears..." Dark eyes peering coyly at him through pink fringe, she darted out her tongue and licked the tip of her chocolate bunny's ear."
Remus swallowed. "Yes..." His voice was pinched-sounding. "That might give me some rather...sexy...ideas..."
Her smile became impish. "I know just how much you like having your ears licked."
All you need is love,
All you need is love,
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.
"Come here, you," said Remus, setting down his egg rather forcefully, and plucking Tonks' bunny from her arms. "I haven't danced with you quite enough tonight."
"Haven't had your toes completely crushed, you mean?" Tonks said as she fell awkwardly into step with him.
"That's where Molly's gift comes in. All you need is love -- but when love treads all over your toes, a little chocolate's in order."
With a huff, Tonks pushed him away. "See if anyone but Mr. Easter Bunny gets anything licked tonight." She reached around him and snatched her bunny off the coffee table, then darted across the room. Just before she slipped out the door, she glanced back over her shoulder at him.
"Oh, I'll see to it," Remus said, bounding after her.
His longer strides caught him up to her just as her feet hit the stairway to the basement kitchen. He caught her round the waist, swinging her away from the stairs, and her stomach muscles constricted against his arm as she squealed. With his other hand, he pulled the bunny from her grasp.
"Give it back, you sodding git!"
Remus tossed it back into the drawing room, where it hit the floor with a thunk.
Tonks twisted in his arms and wore a genuine glower. "Remus, if you broke my bunny's ears off, I swear I'll bloody hex your--"
"DISPLODO!" bellowed a voice from the drawing room. Instantly, Remus and Tonks snapped out of playful mode, whipped out their wands, and bolted down the corridor. But not before there came a second Displodo...and a third.
In the doorway, Remus collided into Tonks' back as she halted abruptly in front of him. Miraculously, her feet remained planted firmly on the mouldy carpet, and she maintained her balance. Remus noted her narrowed eyes and clinched jaw, and followed the line of her gaze to the floor and knew why.
All around their feet lay fine, brown debris and bits of gold foil.
The chocolate bunny Remus had thrown into the room was nowhere to be found.
He flicked his eyes up to the coffee table, where his and Sirius' eggs seemed to have been reduced to the same disintegrated state.
"Mad-Eye," Tonks ground out through gritted teeth. "Tell me you didn't blast our Easter chocolates?"
The retired Auror, stood beside the coffee table, flecks of chocolate and gold dusting the lapels of his robes, said, "Saw that thing fly through the door as I was coming out of the Floo. I suspended and scanned it first, but all those bits inside it -- looked like poisonous stink pellets to me."
"They were miniature chocolates!" Tonks' lip curled in disgust, and her arms folded across her chest. "Have you ever seen Easter sweets?"
Mad-Eye grunted. "Never can tell what those Death Eater bastards will try to get you with. You remember that fake mistletoe hung up at the old headquarters that one Christmas, Lupin?"
Remus started to confess the long-kept secret that it had been magical poison ivy, which Sirius had charmed as a prank to put a stop to appalling displays of affection, particularly in the form of Mad-Eye and every woman in the Order who he kept trying to get under the mistletoe, but before he could, Tonks spoke.
"And the fake Mad-Eye at Hogwarts?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Normally I put up with your constant vigilance, Mad-Eye, but this is taking it too. bloody. far."
"She's right," Remus cut in. "And now, instead of non-existent Death Eaters, you've got Molly Weasley's bad side to contend with."
Mad-Eye's craggy face twitched, and Remus thought he almost looked intimidated. "Don't have to tell her," he muttered.
"That's right," Tonks said, "we won't have to say a bloody thing for her to know we didn't get to enjoy the Easter egg and bunny she made for us, specially."
"She a Legilimens?" Mad-Eye asked.
Fighting laughter, Remus said, "Worse -- the mother of Fred and George."
Mad-Eye's cheek twitched again, then he turned and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder from the box on the mantelpiece. He mumbled something about picking up replacements at Honeydukes, then vanished with a puff of green into the flames.
The fire crackled. Or was it the air, with Tonks' hot temper? He turned to her.
"Dare I ask whether the full brunt of your wrath is directed toward Mad-Eye, and that you'll drop that thread to hex me or something of mine even though I'm the one that threw your bunny in here?"
Corners of her mouth twitching, Tonks looked up at him. "I'll let you off the hook, since you might be the one on Molly's bad side."
Remus shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. "I think it would take considerably more than that to put me on Molly's bad side--"
"Brown-nosing prat--"
"--especially when you started it all by being a saucy little minx and doing naughty things to that chocolate bunny's ears."
Their mingled laughter rang through the room, and they wrapped their arms around each other again and swayed to their own music.
"You know we probably shouldn't do this," Tonks said, "since you don't have any chocolate to get you through having your toes trod over."
"That's all right," said Remus. "All you need is--"
Tonks had stretched up on her toes and teased his earlobe with her tongue before catching it softly between her lips. The hairs on his neck stood as she whispered. "--love."
"Love is all you need."
The End