Just An Ordinary Week: Wednesday
Title: Just An Ordinary Week: Wednesday
Author:
bratty_jedi (Rachael)
Format: Fic (~1,250 words)
Rating: All Audiences
Prompt: 20 (July 5): Picture of bottles and a necklace found here.
Warning: Tonks/Remus fight.
Summary: "There, on her dresser, behind her usual assortment of hairbrushes, combs, perfume bottles, and jewelry, was a small, clear glass bottle he had never noticed before."
Disclaimer: I own none of this. J. K. Rowling and assorted companies including but not limited to Bloomsbury, Scholastic, and Warner Brothers own everything. They also make all the money. I am just having fun and in no way seek financial profit from their property.
Author's Note: I am going to try to tell one continuous story over this week (Saturday to Friday). Each prompt will be one day in a week in the lives of Remus and Tonks. Don’t be fooled by the title. This will (hopefully) not be a boring week for our hero and heroine. Late again. RL is officially kicking my butt! (That was real life, by the way. I wish it was Remus Lupin. So many more pleasant opportunities).
This story follows Just an Ordinary Week: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
Tonks was bent over, digging through the bottom drawer of her bureau. "It's so good to be home!" she exclaimed as she put away the few items of clothing her parents had brought her while she was in the hospital.
Remus was lounging on the bed, watching her with a delight out of proportion to the mundane task she was performing, when something else caught his eye. "What's that?" he asked nodding his head toward the top of the bureau.
The blood was rushing to her head due to her position and when she glanced back at him with a very red face and a brow wrinkled in confusion, she looked very odd indeed. "What's what?" she asked.
"That bottle," he elaborated while pointing. There, on her dresser, behind her usual assortment of hairbrushes, combs, perfume bottles, and jewelry, was a small, clear glass bottle he had never noticed before.
"The blue one?" she asked too casually as she stood up straight. "I got it from my Great Aunt…"
"No," he interrupted. "I know about that one. The little one in the back."
"Oh, this little green one. I bought that one when I was…"
"No," he repeated more harshly. She wasn't looking at him. She looked out the window, at the bottles, at the door, at her feet, at anything that wasn't him. He got up and walked over to her. "This one," he said, picking up the half-hidden bottle. Its contents sloshed.
"Careful!" she cried. She hastily took the bottle from him and cradled it in her hands. She looked at it for several moments before setting it back down on the dresser, hidden behind the other bottles. He waited. She finished putting her things away and he waited. She walked to the door and still he waited. She stopped with her hand on the doorframe and looked back over her shoulder. "It's nothing."
He slumped against the bureau as all the energy left his body. He wanted to be angry with her for so clearly hiding something important from him. Instead he was shocked and hurt at the knowledge that she could and would do so. Of course, he had tried to shut her completely out of his life, but that was because he wanted what was best for her. What could she possibly be hiding from him now? And why? "It is quite obviously not nothing," he finally said.
Any answer she might have made was prevented by a sharp knock at their front door. "That'll be Mum and Pop back with food," she said tonelessly. Her parents had accompanied them home from the hospital and then graciously offered to get take-out for everyone. When he didn't respond, she left alone to greet them.
He stared after her for a moment, racking his brain for any clue to help solve this mystery. He shook his head sadly. He was not going to find an answer if she wasn't willing to give it to him. He levered himself off the bureau and left the room, the sound of voices guiding him to the kitchen.
When he arrived, Tonks was sitting in a chair pulled out by her father while Andromeda set the table and laid out the food. Remus quickly shook hands with Ted and gave Andromeda a peck on the cheek to compensate for his rudeness in not greeting them at the door. He spent much of the meal lost in thought. His mind refused to leave the mystery of the tiny bottle in their bedroom.
"Remus…"
He looked up from his plate, suddenly aware that everyone was looking at him and Andromeda was calling his name. "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?"
She smiled indulgently. "We were discussing Nymphadora's check-up tomorrow. Will you be going with her?"
"I assume so."
Tonks cleared her throat. "Actually, I'd rather go alone," she said quietly.
"What?" three voices said in confusion.
"It's no big deal. Just a check-up since I refused to stay for the observations they wanted." Her face was split by a wry grin. "I think I can handle going to St. Mungo's on my own."
He knew he shouldn’t say anything. She had asked him not to and they had company. But she had been hiding something from him ever since his return and he couldn't help himself. "Does this have anything to do with the potion bottle?" he asked. "What are you hiding?" His accusatory tone sounded harsh even to his own ears.
"I never said it was a potion bottle and I told you it was nothing. Why can't you just leave it alone?" she shot back angrily. They glared at each other while Ted and Andromeda looked back-and-forth between the two, their own eyes wide with surprise and confusion.
"What potion bottle?" Ted finally asked.
"The one she is hiding in the bedroom," he said.
"I never said it was a potion bottle," she exclaimed at the same time he spoke. She had obviously heard him because she added, "and I'm not hiding it. It is out on my bureau in plain sight. It's nothing and now is not the time to discuss it."
"Fine. If you don't want to tell me, don't! But I would think if something is wrong you would at least tell your parents," he bit out.
"As soon as I know that something is wrong, I will!" she shouted. "But I don't know anything which is why now is not the time to discuss it!"
It was Andromeda who broke the uncomfortable silence this time. "If you even think something is wrong…"
"Mother. Don't you start." Tonks growled. "I will tell you when I know anything. Right now there is nothing to worry about and nothing to tell. Everyone needs to just leave it alone!" She had tears shining in her eyes and he couldn't identify the cause. Anger and frustration seemed likely.
"Dessert?" Ted asked as he flicked his wand at the cake on the cabinet. It flew to the center of the table. Remus smiled slightly at the obvious attempt to change the subject. The rest of the meal was finished amidst stiff conversation, but at least no one was yelling.
As soon as Tonks' shut the door behind her departing parents, she sadly turned to him. "I can't believe you asked about that bloody bottle in front of my parents."
"I can't believe you are hiding something from me," he rejoined.
"Can't you see this is important to me?"
"Can't you see that I'm worried because you're important to me?"
Without warning, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his sweater. "I'm sorry. I just can't tell you." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading. "Please."
He rubbed her back. Some of his anger dissolved and she didn't need to say please what. "Fine," he said softly. "Promise me no matter what they say tomorrow you'll tell me?"
She looked away, biting at her lower lip. "I promise," she finally whispered.
Later that night, when he went to their room to go to bed, he caught her taking a drink from the small, clear bottle. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps and hurriedly capped the bottle and put it away. He didn't say anything, but just crawled under the covers. She silently joined him and he held her tight. They lay that way the entire night and he never slept due to the icy cold lump of worry and fear in the pit of his stomach.