Prompt 17
Title: Remus and the Tramp pt. 3
Author: Devonwood
Format & Word Count: Fic; 1,043
Rating: PG-13, T
Prompt: Prompt 17 (Winston Churchill quote)
Warning: Small amount of language
Summary: “S’alright, Tonks. Yer allowed to laugh at me.”
Author's Note: Some people correctly guessed that the next installment was going to be based on this prompt. Am I really that see-through? =D I lied when I said there would only be four parts. There will be five. :) Part One, Part Two.
When he was younger, Remus Lupin used to wonder about the architectural style of Hogwarts Castle. Whether the large arches said it was Roman, or if the flying buttresses signified that it was done in a Renaissance style. The ornate wood detail and stonework in some of the rooms suggested Medieval Gothic, but the outside was large and bulky, which didn’t seem to fit any style at all.
Frankly, as he made his way to the Castle nearly twenty years later, he didn’t give a damn. The pointed and round arches didn’t seem nearly as intriguing as the thought of being roasted alive at the hands of a dragon.
The walk through Hogsmeade had been rather silent, neither he nor Tonks wanting to spring a conversation when the thought of a dragon loomed overhead. In fact, they had only looked at each other once, when predictably, Tonks’s heel caught in a cobblestone that she swore jumped out of nowhere, causing her to pitch forward into his awaiting arms. Righting herself with a small mumble, they continued on with their silent vigil until the gates of the Castle reached sight.
Tonks arrived at the gate first, hunting around on the ground for a moment before overturning a rock and finding a small piece of parchment. She looked it over carefully, before grinning wildly and destroying the paper with her wand. As soon as the charred pieces of parchment were carried away on the wind, she pointed her wand towards the gate.
“I solemnly swear we are up to some good.”
The gate creaked open at the same time as Remus’s smile.
“The phrase seemed good at the time.” He said with a glint in his eye, gesturing for Tonks to go in first. Almost giddily, he placed a hand at the small of her back, pressing lightly so she would begin walking. Her breath hitched a bit, and she stumbled (“Damn cobblestones- I think they’re hexed.”), but seemed otherwise stunning normal.
A small pillar of smoke was rising from Hagrid’s hut. Worriedly, they sped up their pace, but stopped when the air began to smell of roasting meat, and a chimney became noticeable over the thatching.
Remus knocked on the door, rapping three times, before stepping back and waiting for Hagrid to answer. A muffled yelp came from inside, followed by an “Oomph!”, a large thump, and the sound of breaking glass.
A line of worry became etched in Tonks’s brow. “Hagrid….are you alright?”
More muffled noises.
She turned to Remus. “D’you reckon we should go in and see if he’s alright?”
He looked at the door for a moment, but made up his mind when a loud groan sounded throughout the house. Sighing, he turned back towards Tonks.
“It’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.” He offered, and she nodded.
“Alohamora.”
The lock clinked open from the door, and the force of Tonks’s spell nearly took the door off of its hinges
Remus pushed the wood open so they could get a closer look, and was met with the most horrific site he had ever seen.
Bare.
Giant.
Arse.
Remus could only stare slack-jawed at the huddle on the floor, who was moaning (now from embarrassment, it seemed), but Tonks erupted in a fit of shrieking giggles.
“Well,” she started, but a snigger caused her to lose her focus. She tried again. “Well, it looks like things are under control here, Master Lupin. I’ll just go…” more giggles “check the perimeter, make sure that everything’s in tip-top shape.”
The second she left, Remus walked over to the man on the floor, offering an arm. Hagrid looked up at him and offered a raw smile before pulling himself up and snatching a geranium off of the table, placing it in front of him.
“Dumbledore bought me these new britches since I tangled my old ones while I was on official Hogwarts business. I was tryin’ ter pull ‘em up, I guess ‘e underestimated ‘ow much weight I’ve gained over the summer, and they were just a little too tight ’round the waist. Well, I jumped up ‘n the air, but tripped over the cuff and sprawled bottom first inter my table. I guess you could say I pulled a Tonks,” he said, giving an embarrassed grin, which Remus returned with a smile.
“I tried to answer yeh, but I was facing the other way.”
Remus pointed his wand at the hem of Hagrid’s pants (which were around his knee) and mumbled a spell. In one maneuver that was quicker than he had ever see Hagrid move, the large man placed the plant on the bed and pulled up his britches, buttoning them.
Remus had never heard such a lovely sound in all of his life.
“Tonks,” he called, breathing a sigh of relief, “you can come back now.”
The young witch walked back in, a grin still on her face.
“You, uh…doing all right there, Hagrid?” She asked, trying to stifle a giggle.
“S’alright, Tonks. Yer allowed to laugh at me.”
“Oh, Hagrid.” She said, walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder, “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at the…situation.”
He looked up with a smile. “It was pretty funny, though.”
“Funny wasn’t the word I was looking for.” Remus mumbled, and Tonks stepped on his foot. Accidentally, she said.
A giant roar broke their conversation, making the dishes in the hut rattle, and Remus felt as though his teeth were chattering inside his skull.
“I take it that is why you called us here.” Remus said with a grimace.
Hagrid nodded. “Snape brought a nest of three eggs back from one o’ those Death Eater meetin’s. The Headmaster gave ‘em to me, and two of them hatched into Chinese Fireballs. The third ‘un didn’t hatch, and I assumed it had died. So I kept it instead of given it t’Charlie when ‘e came to get the others.
Well, it turned out it was just a different kind of dragon. A Hungarian Horntail. But Charlie’d already left for Romania, so I just kept ‘im in the Forest. ‘E got a little bigger than they said ‘e would.”
“Don’t they all.” Remus mumbled, earning another accidental visit from Tonks’s pointed heel.