Fic: Young People (Tonks/Ginny, PG)
Title: Young People
Author: youcantseeus
Pairings: (pre) Nymphadora Tonks/Ginny Weasley
Word Count: ~1000
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: Tonks isn't having a great deal of fun tagging along on a Weasley family vacation -- at least, not until Ginny cheers her up.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended
Author’s Notes: This little ficlet was originally written for an inter-team activity at rs_games.
Tonks lounged against the warm beach sand and wondered if she should darken her skin a shade or two in order to keep from burning. Suddenly, she realized that she hadn’t seen Teddy for about three whole minutes and - oh God -- what if he’d wandered into the ocean and drowned? She experienced a moment of parental panic during which she looked around frantically before she spotted her three-year-old child getting sunshield potion rubbed on his nose by a Weasley brother. Her whole body went limp in relief.
Tonks wasn’t sure how she’d gotten invited on a Weasley family vacation. She could only conclude that Molly felt sorry for her, raising a three-year-old by herself, and had adopted the both her and Teddy like a couple of stray kittens. They certainly wouldn’t be the first strays that the Weasleys had taken in.
At that moment, a volleyball fell onto the sand less than a foot from Tonks’s right arm. She looked up to see Ginny Weasley running towards her. “Sorry about that,” Ginny said in a breathless sort of voice. “Some of us are really bad at this Muggle game.”
Tonks smiled. “I thought it would be right up your alley, you being a Chaser and everything.”
Ginny laughed, tossing her long red braid behind her back. “I didn’t say I was bad at it.”
“Gin!” some Weasley brother yelled from the direction of the volleyball net. Ginny picked up the ball and tossed it in his direction, but she didn’t make a move to rejoin the game.
Instead she crinkled her pink toenails in the sand in an apparent moment of indecision before sitting down beside Tonks.
“You should join us,” she said. “We could use another player.”
Tonks couldn’t help but laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done something so frivolous as play a game. “I’m not so great at games that involve hitting balls. Or catching them, for that matter. Besides, I’ve got to keep an eye on Teddy.”
“Yeah,” Ginny said with a glimpse in Teddy’s direction. “You watch him like a hawk, don’t you?”
Was there a note of judgment in her voice? Tonks couldn’t decide. “What makes you say that?”
Ginny shrugged. “Nothing. I’ve just noticed it a lot lately when I’ve watched you. My mother would have needed seven sets of eyes to watch all of us that closely.”
“Well. You never know when something bad could happen.”
Ginny looked away. Tonks hadn’t meant to reference the War, but she was certain that they were both thinking of it now. Tonks had lost her husband to the War and Ginny had lost her brother, after all.
They were both quiet for a few moments before Ginny turned back to Tonks. “Do you have any sunshield potion?”
“Oh. Um, yeah.” Tonks pulled out a bottle of the stuff.
“Great. Do you think you could rub some on my back, please? I’m afraid I’m getting burnt back there.”
Without further comment, Ginny unhooked the back of her bikini top. Tonks had to stop herself from gasping. The thing about Ginny Weasley was that Tonks was never quite sure whether or not she was flirting. There were times when Tonks got the distinct impression that Ginny was flirting. But then, Ginny was so young -- maybe she was naïve. Maybe Tonks hadn’t had sex in so long that she was reading flirtation into every little gesture. Maybe Ginny didn’t even like girls.
Or maybe Ginny was flirting.
Tonks brushed a bit of sand away from Ginny’s shoulder. She distinctly remembered being rather good at flirting herself when she was young, before she’d married Remus, and when Ginny was just a child. Merlin. Despite Tonks’s rather extensive experience, she’d never dated someone younger than herself. She’d always gone for older men and women -- ever since she was fifteen and she’d started aging her face and sneaking into clubs in London to pick up strangers who were much too old for her. It had made her feel powerful, somehow - the ability to seduce older, more experienced people. But her attraction to Ginny made her feel just the opposite - she felt like some sort of leering pervert. She now understood Remus’s objections about age differences much better.
But still -- the opportunity to touch Ginny’s body was too tempting to pass up. Tonks rubbed the potion into Ginny’s skin, noting her lean, muscled body with appreciation as she did so. She always had liked athletic women.
“That feels nice,” Ginny said when Tonks’s hands lingered over her skin for a bit too long.
“Yes. Well, you’re all done.”
“Can you hook my swimsuit?”
“Yeah,” Tonks said with a sigh. Ginny had worn a cute, black bikini that flattered her figure perfectly. Tonks suddenly wished that she had worn a bikini rather than the thoroughly motherly one piece she was currently sporting. She hooked the bikini top.
Ginny turned to face her. “A bunch of us are going out clubbing tonight. You should come with.”
“I’ve got Teddy. I should just let you young folks have fun.”
“Us young folks?” Ginny teased. “Aren’t you the same age as Charlie? What - 27 You’ve not exactly got one foot in the grave.”
Tonks smiled, thinly. “I don’t feel young anymore.”
Ginny’s smile dropped. “None of us do anymore. Not after the War.”
“That’s true enough, I suppose.” Tonks looked out at the ocean. The sun was starting to hang low in the sky.
“You should come,” Ginny insisted. “Mum and Dad will watch Teddy - goodness knows that they managed to raise all of us.”
Tonks looked back at Ginny and gave her half a smile. “Maybe I will at that.”
Ginny shot her a mischievous grin. “Good. Now you should let me put some sunshield on you. You wouldn’t want to get burned, now would you?”
Tonks grinned back and handed Ginny the bottle.