This Christmas
Title: This Christmas
Author: i_i_i_dunno
Rating & Warnings: PG I think for a tiny bit of swearing.
Prompts:
toys
and
Said the king to the people everywhere,
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
Listen to what I say
- Do You Hear What I Hear? - Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne
Word Count: 2586
Summary: An unexpected visitor makes an appearance at 12 Grimmauld Place
Author’s Notes: This is my first fic ever so any feedback is welcomed =). It's set Christmas of OOTP, just before Arthur's attack.
This Christmas
Remus hated Christmas. Oh, he was all for the spreading of love and warmth and cheer and giving. But for years Christmas had just reminded him of those he had lost on that terrible Halloween. He had had no-one. And now that he had Sirius back and had the rest of the Order, he found he was no better off. This Christmas was just going to be another time that he was left feeling inadequate. How would Tonks feel about him when she saw that he couldn't afford to buy her a decent present, couldn't afford festive sweaters or decorations? He had racked his brains for ideas on what to give her but everything seemed unaffordable and out of reach.
The problem seemed solved as he lingered in the kitchen after an Order meeting one day. Kingsley and Mundungus had stayed for one of Molly's dinners but Tonks had disappeared almost immediately after Dumbledore had ended the meeting. Remus wondered if the meeting had finally changed her mind about werewolves. He had spoken on what he thought Greyback and his pack were likely to do with the return of Voldemort, and she had seemed nervous and distracted throughout. He supposed he should be grateful. Gone was the agony of finding her a present and the pressure of looking presentable for the holiday. And if they were no longer friends then there was no risk of him doing something stupid like kissing her, or worse, telling her how he felt. But still, Remus felt disappointment crushing him as he slumped miserably in his chair.
A large figure suddenly appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. Remus stared, trying to figure out who it could possibly be, who else had access to the house. The intruder stepped forward and Remus realised it was someone dressed up very convincingly as...
“Santa Claus?” Sirius' sceptical voice attracted the attention of everyone else in the room.
Santa attempted to walk further into the kitchen but had only taken two steps before somehow getting tangled in the sack he was holding and crashing to the floor.
Sirius snorted. “Oh. It's just Tonks.”
Remus, too had come to the same conclusion and had rushed forward to help her up. She was here! She hadn't left because of him! She didn't hate him! He could go back to agonising over what to give her that didn't reveal how he felt but was thoughtful and cheap at the same time.
“It's alright. Everything's fine. The presents are fine. I put a cushioning charm on the sack. I figured this extra weight wouldn't exactly help my clumsy streak. Oh, er...ho ho ho” Tonks looked up to find everyone staring at her, agog. Remus wondered vaguely if it was crazy that he still found Tonks attractive even with mass amounts of facial hair. “Maybe I should just...” Tonks screwed up her face and Remus was suddenly standing next to a skinnier, and decidedly sexier, Santa, devoid of beard and beer belly. “There, that's a bit easier to manouvre. So Santa has brought presents for all those she deems good. And since we're all busy fighting a war, hopefully on the good side, I think you all qualify as good in Santa's book. And in true spirit of Santa Claus and muggles and their silly Christmas ideas, all the presents that I bring are completely free of magic.” She paused.
“Uh, Remus...” Remus' breath caught in his chest. She had moved her lips close to his ear and whispered into it. He could feel the tingle of her words, of his name coming so gently from her lips, on his ear.
“Yes?” he responded hoarsely.
“Do you think I could have my arm back? Only, I'm gonna need it to hand out the pressies,” she looked down at her bicep, which Remus had gripped firmly to help her up.
“Um, yes of course. Sorry, I...er...sorry,” he mumbled, as blushing, he retreated to the other side of the room, ignoring the sniggering coming from Sirius' corner. Idiot! His brain yelled at his body. Why must you always look like an idiot in front of her? He took a seat at the other end of the table and made up his mind to keep his mouth shut before he could embarrass himself further.
“ So...without further ado,” Tonks turned to Sirius. “Dear cousin, you're up first. For you I bring...” her hand had disappeared in to the giant sack she had brought with her. “A Furby!”
“A what? Did you just swear at me? Tonks I don't appreciate this kind of treatment and...oh” He looked down at the large package she had put in his hands. The word Furby was scrawled across the top in swirly white writing and in the package was what looked like a furry stuffed owl with large ears but no wings. Sirius flipped the package over “'I am a Furby.'” he began reading aloud. “'The more you play with me the more I do! I will keep amazing you. I can wiggle my ears, blink my eyes & move my mouth. I can say more than 800 phrases. I can dance! You can teach me to do tricks. Love me & I'll love you back! Let's play together!' Tonks, what in Merlin's name...”
“I thought you could use the company. The lady at the store says I was very lucky to get one. They're all the rage apparently. Here, look.” Tonks leant forward and opened the top of the package. She pulled out the toy, flipped a switch at the bottom, and placed it on the table.
“u-nye-boh-doo?” the furry thing squeaked out.
“That's amazing. I wish I was clever enough to make something that made strange noises,” Sirius drawled sarcastically.
Tonks grabbed the box out of Sirius' hands and peered at the back. “It just said 'how are you?' It starts to speak English though. See.” She bent down and said clearly to the toy “You belong to Sirius.”
The Furby's eyes blinked and it's mouth began to move. “Sirius! Sirius, I love you. Sirius! Sirius!”
Remus tried desperately to hold his laughter in as he watched Sirius' expression gradually change from shocked to appalled to irritated as the thing kept talking.
“That's absolutely incredible,” Arthur exclaimed. “The muggles do that without magic? Fascinating!”
Tonks grinned and Remus' heart flipped over. “Yes it works on something they call batteries. They had hundreds of toys that work on these 'batteries' and that do all sorts of amazing things. I had a hard time picking out just one for you Arthur but then I remembered Sirius telling me something about Harry getting to Hogwarts in a flying car his second year.” Arthur blushed and glanced worriedly at his wife. “So I got you this.” Tonks reached into her sack again and produced an even larger box. Arthur took it and opened it enthusiastically.
“What is it?” he asked, staring down at the strange object in front of him.
“The muggles call it a remote-control helicopter. This thing...” she pulled out the small white machine. “Is the helicopter. This is a model of the real one, which you may have seen flying overhead sometimes. I think it's mostly the wealthier muggles that use them. And this...” she pulled out the other thing in the box. “Is the remote. If you push this one way, the helicopter goes up, and if you pull it the other way, it goes down. And you move this one around to steer it. Here, I'll switch it on so you can give it a go.” Tonks turned on the toy and handed the control to Arthur, whose face was lit up brighter than the Christmas lights that decorated the tree in the hall.
“A haley-chopper, did you call it? So I push this up like this.” The helicopter took to the air as Arthur enthusiastically attacked the controls. The others watched, amazed at this tiny contraption buzzing over their heads. “And I can turn it with this one you said?” The aircraft veered sharply to the left and started towards Molly, who screamed and ducked.
“Arthur keep that thing away from me!” she screeched. Arthur continued to jab at the remote and the helicopter's path began to resemble that of a fly that had just taken a whack to the head. The Order members found themselves diving to the floor to avoid being hit by the frenetic toy.
“Arthur, I don't think you're supposed to be quite that, er, zealous with the controls,” Tonks shouted from her position on the ground.
“No, I think I've got the hang of it now. There, look I've got it going in a straight line.” Arthur looked down at his colleagues spread over the floor. “You can get up now, it's...OOPS.” The toy had crashed into the head of the unconscious Dung, who had fallen asleep at the table during the Order meeting and who was now peering groggily at the object that had fallen next to him.
“Bloody hell, what was that? Are we under attack?” Dung patted at his tattered robes. “Where's my bleeding wand? Sirius, mate, did you see what I did with my wand? I need it for these spies they're sending at us. What?” He stopped searching and looked up at the sound of riotous laughter.
“Sorry about that Dung. It was just a toy that Tonks gave me. Lost control there,” Arthur apologised sheepishly as he stepped forward to reclaim his present. The others returned to their seats, brushing off their robes and still giggling at the expression on Dung's face.
“Erm maybe we shouldn't have switched it on indoors,” Tonks darted a nervous glance at Molly's disapproving expression. “Anyway...moving on. Let's see, Kingsley,” Tonks said, reaching for her sack again.
“Thanks Tonks, but you really didn't have to,” he replied. His gaze drifted from the lifeless chopper in Arthur's hand to the furry toy on the table that was now screeching for Sirius to “Feed me! Me hungry! Love me!” Sirius looked like he was about to perform an Unforgivable Curse on it. “You really didn't have to.”
“Shut up and just open it, will you?” Tonks retorted.
Kingsley sighed and ripped open the package. He pulled the toy out and set it on the table. It was a figure perched on a stand.
“Press that button,” Tonks directed.
Kingsley obediently pushed the button on the stand and jumped as the doll started moving.
“Yo, I'm the King, listen to me sing!” A drumming sound started.
“Said the king to the people everywhere,
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
Listen to what I say”
“It...says bits of Christmas songs?” Kingsley asked, confused.
“No, it was rapping!” Tonks replied. Kingsley, and everyone else in the room, continued to look blank. “It's muggle music. They say rhymes over a beat.” Tonks pressed the button again.
“Yo I'm the King, listen to me sing!
Good King the rapper looked out
At his sea of fans.
When the beats flow through the mike
It makes them want to dance!”
“That doesn't even rhyme properly! Was that supposed to be Good King Wenceslas? He's ruining all my favourite Christmas songs. And why are his pants so low? Why wear a belt if you're pants are just going to fall and show the world your underwear?” Kingsley glared disapprovingly at the now inanimate object. “And what is that ridiculous thing around his neck? We know his name is King, does he have to wear a necklace stating that so he himself doesn't forget? And why is his shirt so big? I know good muggle music and this certainly isn't...”
Tonks rolled her eyes and interrupted his rant. “You guys have that earring in common. I figured if you ever decided being an Auror wasn't for you, you could just drop your pants a bit, cut the S-L-E-Y from your name and turn into him. These rappers make quite a lot of money you know. One year of that and you could be set for life.” She giggled at the appalled expression on his face and turned back to her sack to hand out the rest of her presents.
Remus found himself thinking about what she just said. Did these muggles really make that much money from this 'rapping'? It didn't look that hard. Remus felt fairly sure that he could recite some words in time to a beat if he wanted. And he could certainly rhyme words better than that King toy. Maybe he should consider a career in the muggle world for awhile. Then he would be able to get Tonks the Christmas present she really deserved. And the muggles would never believe anyone who said he was a werewolf so that wouldn't matter as much. He already had clothes that were baggy on him and some even had holes like this toy's jeans. Remus began to picture himself on a stage in his baggiest sweater, holding a mike and saying how hard life was as a Dark creature to a crowd of muggles who had no clue that what he was saying was actually true. Maybe he...
“And finally...Remus” Remus snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his name. Pictures of muggles chanting his name and him sweeping Tonks off her feet with elaborate surprises quickly faded from his mind.
“Yes? What?”
“You have to stand up for yours, and close your eyes,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
Remus stood up hurriedly and shut his eyes, wondering what ridiculous contraption she had got for him. He hoped it wasn't something too fancy. The other gifts looked like they cost her quite a bit of money. Merlin, how he hated this season and this stupid tradition of exchanging gifts. How he hated feeling his presents were never quite good enough. He still had absolutely no idea what he could get her on his constrained budget. Maybe he could just make her something. Dinner, perhaps. But would that be too much like a date? He didn't want her to think it was. His train of thought suddenly went wildly off the tracks as he felt her fingers brush his face, sending tingles down his spine. She had placed something on top of his head.
“Ok, open.” she said excitedly.
Remus opened his eyes and found himself looking right into her eyes. He saw something green dangling in the corner of his vision but barely had time to register it before he felt Tonks' hands around his neck and her lips pressed against his. And just as abruptly, he felt them pull away again. He stared at Tonks, numb.
“Merry Christmas,” she said, pointing at his head, her expression suddenly shy.
Ignoring the catcalls and whoops from Sirius, Kingsley and Dung, Remus reached up and pulled down the hat she had adorned him with. It was an ordinary brown cowboy hat but Tonks had attached a short pole to the front. From the other end of it hung a sprig of mistletoe.
Staring at the small green plant and savouring the lingering taste of Tonks on his lips, Remus thought that, in this moment, perhaps he didn't hate Christmas after all.
Author: i_i_i_dunno
Rating & Warnings: PG I think for a tiny bit of swearing.
Prompts:
toys
and
Said the king to the people everywhere,
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
Listen to what I say
- Do You Hear What I Hear? - Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne
Word Count: 2586
Summary: An unexpected visitor makes an appearance at 12 Grimmauld Place
Author’s Notes: This is my first fic ever so any feedback is welcomed =). It's set Christmas of OOTP, just before Arthur's attack.
This Christmas
Remus hated Christmas. Oh, he was all for the spreading of love and warmth and cheer and giving. But for years Christmas had just reminded him of those he had lost on that terrible Halloween. He had had no-one. And now that he had Sirius back and had the rest of the Order, he found he was no better off. This Christmas was just going to be another time that he was left feeling inadequate. How would Tonks feel about him when she saw that he couldn't afford to buy her a decent present, couldn't afford festive sweaters or decorations? He had racked his brains for ideas on what to give her but everything seemed unaffordable and out of reach.
The problem seemed solved as he lingered in the kitchen after an Order meeting one day. Kingsley and Mundungus had stayed for one of Molly's dinners but Tonks had disappeared almost immediately after Dumbledore had ended the meeting. Remus wondered if the meeting had finally changed her mind about werewolves. He had spoken on what he thought Greyback and his pack were likely to do with the return of Voldemort, and she had seemed nervous and distracted throughout. He supposed he should be grateful. Gone was the agony of finding her a present and the pressure of looking presentable for the holiday. And if they were no longer friends then there was no risk of him doing something stupid like kissing her, or worse, telling her how he felt. But still, Remus felt disappointment crushing him as he slumped miserably in his chair.
A large figure suddenly appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. Remus stared, trying to figure out who it could possibly be, who else had access to the house. The intruder stepped forward and Remus realised it was someone dressed up very convincingly as...
“Santa Claus?” Sirius' sceptical voice attracted the attention of everyone else in the room.
Santa attempted to walk further into the kitchen but had only taken two steps before somehow getting tangled in the sack he was holding and crashing to the floor.
Sirius snorted. “Oh. It's just Tonks.”
Remus, too had come to the same conclusion and had rushed forward to help her up. She was here! She hadn't left because of him! She didn't hate him! He could go back to agonising over what to give her that didn't reveal how he felt but was thoughtful and cheap at the same time.
“It's alright. Everything's fine. The presents are fine. I put a cushioning charm on the sack. I figured this extra weight wouldn't exactly help my clumsy streak. Oh, er...ho ho ho” Tonks looked up to find everyone staring at her, agog. Remus wondered vaguely if it was crazy that he still found Tonks attractive even with mass amounts of facial hair. “Maybe I should just...” Tonks screwed up her face and Remus was suddenly standing next to a skinnier, and decidedly sexier, Santa, devoid of beard and beer belly. “There, that's a bit easier to manouvre. So Santa has brought presents for all those she deems good. And since we're all busy fighting a war, hopefully on the good side, I think you all qualify as good in Santa's book. And in true spirit of Santa Claus and muggles and their silly Christmas ideas, all the presents that I bring are completely free of magic.” She paused.
“Uh, Remus...” Remus' breath caught in his chest. She had moved her lips close to his ear and whispered into it. He could feel the tingle of her words, of his name coming so gently from her lips, on his ear.
“Yes?” he responded hoarsely.
“Do you think I could have my arm back? Only, I'm gonna need it to hand out the pressies,” she looked down at her bicep, which Remus had gripped firmly to help her up.
“Um, yes of course. Sorry, I...er...sorry,” he mumbled, as blushing, he retreated to the other side of the room, ignoring the sniggering coming from Sirius' corner. Idiot! His brain yelled at his body. Why must you always look like an idiot in front of her? He took a seat at the other end of the table and made up his mind to keep his mouth shut before he could embarrass himself further.
“ So...without further ado,” Tonks turned to Sirius. “Dear cousin, you're up first. For you I bring...” her hand had disappeared in to the giant sack she had brought with her. “A Furby!”
“A what? Did you just swear at me? Tonks I don't appreciate this kind of treatment and...oh” He looked down at the large package she had put in his hands. The word Furby was scrawled across the top in swirly white writing and in the package was what looked like a furry stuffed owl with large ears but no wings. Sirius flipped the package over “'I am a Furby.'” he began reading aloud. “'The more you play with me the more I do! I will keep amazing you. I can wiggle my ears, blink my eyes & move my mouth. I can say more than 800 phrases. I can dance! You can teach me to do tricks. Love me & I'll love you back! Let's play together!' Tonks, what in Merlin's name...”
“I thought you could use the company. The lady at the store says I was very lucky to get one. They're all the rage apparently. Here, look.” Tonks leant forward and opened the top of the package. She pulled out the toy, flipped a switch at the bottom, and placed it on the table.
“u-nye-boh-doo?” the furry thing squeaked out.
“That's amazing. I wish I was clever enough to make something that made strange noises,” Sirius drawled sarcastically.
Tonks grabbed the box out of Sirius' hands and peered at the back. “It just said 'how are you?' It starts to speak English though. See.” She bent down and said clearly to the toy “You belong to Sirius.”
The Furby's eyes blinked and it's mouth began to move. “Sirius! Sirius, I love you. Sirius! Sirius!”
Remus tried desperately to hold his laughter in as he watched Sirius' expression gradually change from shocked to appalled to irritated as the thing kept talking.
“That's absolutely incredible,” Arthur exclaimed. “The muggles do that without magic? Fascinating!”
Tonks grinned and Remus' heart flipped over. “Yes it works on something they call batteries. They had hundreds of toys that work on these 'batteries' and that do all sorts of amazing things. I had a hard time picking out just one for you Arthur but then I remembered Sirius telling me something about Harry getting to Hogwarts in a flying car his second year.” Arthur blushed and glanced worriedly at his wife. “So I got you this.” Tonks reached into her sack again and produced an even larger box. Arthur took it and opened it enthusiastically.
“What is it?” he asked, staring down at the strange object in front of him.
“The muggles call it a remote-control helicopter. This thing...” she pulled out the small white machine. “Is the helicopter. This is a model of the real one, which you may have seen flying overhead sometimes. I think it's mostly the wealthier muggles that use them. And this...” she pulled out the other thing in the box. “Is the remote. If you push this one way, the helicopter goes up, and if you pull it the other way, it goes down. And you move this one around to steer it. Here, I'll switch it on so you can give it a go.” Tonks turned on the toy and handed the control to Arthur, whose face was lit up brighter than the Christmas lights that decorated the tree in the hall.
“A haley-chopper, did you call it? So I push this up like this.” The helicopter took to the air as Arthur enthusiastically attacked the controls. The others watched, amazed at this tiny contraption buzzing over their heads. “And I can turn it with this one you said?” The aircraft veered sharply to the left and started towards Molly, who screamed and ducked.
“Arthur keep that thing away from me!” she screeched. Arthur continued to jab at the remote and the helicopter's path began to resemble that of a fly that had just taken a whack to the head. The Order members found themselves diving to the floor to avoid being hit by the frenetic toy.
“Arthur, I don't think you're supposed to be quite that, er, zealous with the controls,” Tonks shouted from her position on the ground.
“No, I think I've got the hang of it now. There, look I've got it going in a straight line.” Arthur looked down at his colleagues spread over the floor. “You can get up now, it's...OOPS.” The toy had crashed into the head of the unconscious Dung, who had fallen asleep at the table during the Order meeting and who was now peering groggily at the object that had fallen next to him.
“Bloody hell, what was that? Are we under attack?” Dung patted at his tattered robes. “Where's my bleeding wand? Sirius, mate, did you see what I did with my wand? I need it for these spies they're sending at us. What?” He stopped searching and looked up at the sound of riotous laughter.
“Sorry about that Dung. It was just a toy that Tonks gave me. Lost control there,” Arthur apologised sheepishly as he stepped forward to reclaim his present. The others returned to their seats, brushing off their robes and still giggling at the expression on Dung's face.
“Erm maybe we shouldn't have switched it on indoors,” Tonks darted a nervous glance at Molly's disapproving expression. “Anyway...moving on. Let's see, Kingsley,” Tonks said, reaching for her sack again.
“Thanks Tonks, but you really didn't have to,” he replied. His gaze drifted from the lifeless chopper in Arthur's hand to the furry toy on the table that was now screeching for Sirius to “Feed me! Me hungry! Love me!” Sirius looked like he was about to perform an Unforgivable Curse on it. “You really didn't have to.”
“Shut up and just open it, will you?” Tonks retorted.
Kingsley sighed and ripped open the package. He pulled the toy out and set it on the table. It was a figure perched on a stand.
“Press that button,” Tonks directed.
Kingsley obediently pushed the button on the stand and jumped as the doll started moving.
“Yo, I'm the King, listen to me sing!” A drumming sound started.
“Said the king to the people everywhere,
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
Listen to what I say”
“It...says bits of Christmas songs?” Kingsley asked, confused.
“No, it was rapping!” Tonks replied. Kingsley, and everyone else in the room, continued to look blank. “It's muggle music. They say rhymes over a beat.” Tonks pressed the button again.
“Yo I'm the King, listen to me sing!
Good King the rapper looked out
At his sea of fans.
When the beats flow through the mike
It makes them want to dance!”
“That doesn't even rhyme properly! Was that supposed to be Good King Wenceslas? He's ruining all my favourite Christmas songs. And why are his pants so low? Why wear a belt if you're pants are just going to fall and show the world your underwear?” Kingsley glared disapprovingly at the now inanimate object. “And what is that ridiculous thing around his neck? We know his name is King, does he have to wear a necklace stating that so he himself doesn't forget? And why is his shirt so big? I know good muggle music and this certainly isn't...”
Tonks rolled her eyes and interrupted his rant. “You guys have that earring in common. I figured if you ever decided being an Auror wasn't for you, you could just drop your pants a bit, cut the S-L-E-Y from your name and turn into him. These rappers make quite a lot of money you know. One year of that and you could be set for life.” She giggled at the appalled expression on his face and turned back to her sack to hand out the rest of her presents.
Remus found himself thinking about what she just said. Did these muggles really make that much money from this 'rapping'? It didn't look that hard. Remus felt fairly sure that he could recite some words in time to a beat if he wanted. And he could certainly rhyme words better than that King toy. Maybe he should consider a career in the muggle world for awhile. Then he would be able to get Tonks the Christmas present she really deserved. And the muggles would never believe anyone who said he was a werewolf so that wouldn't matter as much. He already had clothes that were baggy on him and some even had holes like this toy's jeans. Remus began to picture himself on a stage in his baggiest sweater, holding a mike and saying how hard life was as a Dark creature to a crowd of muggles who had no clue that what he was saying was actually true. Maybe he...
“And finally...Remus” Remus snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his name. Pictures of muggles chanting his name and him sweeping Tonks off her feet with elaborate surprises quickly faded from his mind.
“Yes? What?”
“You have to stand up for yours, and close your eyes,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
Remus stood up hurriedly and shut his eyes, wondering what ridiculous contraption she had got for him. He hoped it wasn't something too fancy. The other gifts looked like they cost her quite a bit of money. Merlin, how he hated this season and this stupid tradition of exchanging gifts. How he hated feeling his presents were never quite good enough. He still had absolutely no idea what he could get her on his constrained budget. Maybe he could just make her something. Dinner, perhaps. But would that be too much like a date? He didn't want her to think it was. His train of thought suddenly went wildly off the tracks as he felt her fingers brush his face, sending tingles down his spine. She had placed something on top of his head.
“Ok, open.” she said excitedly.
Remus opened his eyes and found himself looking right into her eyes. He saw something green dangling in the corner of his vision but barely had time to register it before he felt Tonks' hands around his neck and her lips pressed against his. And just as abruptly, he felt them pull away again. He stared at Tonks, numb.
“Merry Christmas,” she said, pointing at his head, her expression suddenly shy.
Ignoring the catcalls and whoops from Sirius, Kingsley and Dung, Remus reached up and pulled down the hat she had adorned him with. It was an ordinary brown cowboy hat but Tonks had attached a short pole to the front. From the other end of it hung a sprig of mistletoe.
Staring at the small green plant and savouring the lingering taste of Tonks on his lips, Remus thought that, in this moment, perhaps he didn't hate Christmas after all.