Christmas With Beaky Part I: A Furry Little Problem

[jncar]

Title: Christmas With Beaky Part I: A Furry Little Problem
Author: jncar
Format: Fic
Rating & Warnings: K+, mild language
Prompts: Presents and a pet
Word Count: 4,553
Summary: Two related fics. Part I: A Christmas outing with Buckbeak is almost ruined when Remus chooses not to share his dark (and furry) secret with Tonks.
Author’s Notes: I've had no time to get this beta'd, so concrit is welcome and appreciated. Part I is light and fluffy, while Part II will bring on the angst.


Christmas with Beaky Part 1: A Furry Little Problem

“Whatever could they be?” asked Tonks, staring at the rough wooden crates.

Remus was relieved. Whatever was in those crates, it couldn’t be nearly as bad as the whole cow carcass he had envisioned when Mundungus told them that he left Hagrid’s Christmas present for Buckbeak out in the back garden.

“Should we shake them to see what sound they make?” asked Sirius.

“Won’t be necessary,” said Remus, stepping forward authoritatively. “There appears to be a note.” He pulled the stained scrap of parchment from where it was tacked to the smallest of the three crates, stacked somewhat precariously atop the larger two.

He raised his eyebrows as he read.

“Well, what’s it say?” asked Tonks.

Remus cleared his throat. “Sirius-I thought I’d send Beaky a special treat for Christmas. Hope you don’t mind. It’s been ages since he’s had a good hunt. Perhaps one of you lot could take him out and let the tasties loose for him. It would be a real special treat. Merry Christmas-Hagrid.”

“A hunt?” said Sirius, his eyes glowing with anticipation. “Now that sounds like a good time. I wonder if Harry would like to go with me?”

Remus sighed. It looked like he would have to have the “you can’t leave the house” conversation with Sirius yet again. “You know you can’t go, Padfoot. Nor is it safe for Harry to leave the house without guards. You know that perfectly well, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

“Damn,” said Sirius. “You actually managed to keep it under five minutes this time. I was expecting another one of your full-blown lectures.”

Remus closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before looking at his old friend again. “That’s not a request-is it?”

“No,” replied Sirius. “Consider it my Christmas gift to you-I’ll give you no reason whatsoever to lecture me for at least the next day and half.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “How very generous of you.”

“I thought so.” Sirius circled the stacked crates slowly, staring down at them. Every few seconds, the sounds of faint scratching could be heard from them. “So I guess the whole idea of a hunt is in your hands, then,” said Sirius.

Remus eyed the crates dubiously. “Couldn’t we just turn them loose in Buckbeak’s room and let him have at it?”

“No!” proclaimed Tonks, swatting him on the arm. “He needs to get out and fly. I’m sure it’s been ages-hasn’t it, Sirius?”

“Months,” said Sirius. “And it’s been horribly unfair to him. A creature like that deserves his freedom. I should have let him loose ages ago. It’s been selfish of me to hold on to him like this.”

“But is a hunt really necessary?” asked Remus.

“Absolutely,” said Tonks. “That was the intent behind the gift, and I for one plan on honoring it.”

Remus knew he was stuck. Now that Tonks had made up her mind, he had no choice but to comply. He wasn’t yet sufficiently confident in their still-new relationship that he felt like he could safely contradict her on little things like this.

He sighed. “Very well. So how exactly shall we go about doing this?”

“The when is more important than the how,” said Sirius. “We don’t want to have to feed these little tasties, do we? So the hunt ought to be tomorrow, or the next day at the latest. The sooner the better.”

“Tomorrow should be fine,” said Tonks.

Remus looked at her in surprise. “Christmas day? I don’t see how that will work-I’m supposed to help Molly take the kids to St. Mungo’s.”

“And I’m supposed to spend the day with my parents,” said Tonks. “But we can’t exactly fly a hippogriff over London in the broad daylight anyway, can we? We’ll just have to get up before dawn.”

“Oh, so now I not only have to help you arrange a hunt for a hippogriff, I have to be up before dawn to do it?” This plan was sounding worse and worse.

Tonks nodded. “Four-thirty ought to be early enough. We’ll fly him out to an empty moor somewhere, let him hunt in the first light of dawn, and then find an abandoned barn, or cave or something to hide him in for the rest of the day, and fly him home after dark.”

Remus shook his head. “We are not spending all Christmas day guarding a concealed hippogriff.”

Tonks rolled her eyes. “We’ll use containment charms to keep him in. Then we can leave him alone for the day, and keep our holiday appointments just fine.”

Remus had been hoping she wouldn’t think of that. But it seemed there was no weaseling out of this particular duty. “Fine. You win. I think I even know a place that will meet our needs,” he grudgingly admitted. “It’s a large open pasture with an abandoned shed.”

Tonks clasped her hands together, grinning, and bounced eagerly on her toes. “Perfect! You can fly on Buckbeak, and I’ll attach the cargo to my broom. We’ll meet here at four-thirty, then?”

“Four-thirty it is,” said Remus with resignation.

“Lovely,” she said, wrapping her arms around him, and staring up into his eyes with a distinctly flirtatious look. “Nothing like an early morning flight to stir the blood,” she said.

Remus wasn’t so sure about that-her current proximity seemed to be stirring his blood just fine.

Sirius was prodding at the crates, and peering through the cracks in between the rough boards. “This one is chickens,” he said suddenly, pointing at the first crate. “Three or four of them. And this,” he pointed at the second, “looks like a pair of ferrets.”

“What about the little one?” asked Tonks.

“I haven’t figured that one out yet,” said Sirius, rapping lightly on the crate with his knuckles.

“Let’s open it and find out,” said Tonks, slipping away from Remus and striding up to the crate. She tapped each nail on the lid with her wand, vanishing them each in turn. Then she slowly opened the crate, and looked inside.

“Oohhh,” she said with a smile. “Now that’s a tasty morsel.”

Sirius, however, looked much less pleased. In fact, he looked downright concerned. And if whatever was in the crate had Sirius concerned, then Remus was sure it would have him very concerned. He watched as Tonks reached into the crate and pulled out a large, plump, floppy-eared brown rabbit.

Remus froze. He felt his throat constricting, and his jaw clenching, and a shiver ran down his spine.

“I think we should save this fellow for dessert-don’t you?” said Tonks, looking at him with her usual lopsided grin, completely oblivious to the fact that his heart was now racing and his stomach doing flip-flops.

She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to one side when he failed to respond. He gulped, and forced himself to speak. “Yes. Certainly. We’ll save him until last.” Even as he spoke, he felt as if he were stabbing himself in the heart with an icicle.

Sirius’s eyes were darting back and forth between Remus, Tonks, and the fluffy rabbit still dangling from her outstretched hand.

“Buckbeak is about to have the best Christmas of his life,” she said, lowering the squirming rabbit back into its crate. Remus could only nod dumbly. “Now let’s make sure Mr. Fluffy doesn’t get out before it’s his turn,” she continued, replacing the lid, and conjuring new nails with several rapid flicks of her wand.

Remus felt sick.

Tonks, still oblivious to the fact that anything was amiss skipped happily over to him. “Well, I think we’d best be getting to bed-we have to be up and ready to fly in six hours, after all.”

They walked back into the house, and Remus walked her to her room, bidding her goodnight with a soft kiss-hoping desperately that she wouldn’t notice any hints of coldness or hesitation in his embrace.

After the door of her room closed behind her, he walked slowly down the hall to where Sirius stood lounging against the wall.

“So,” said Sirius, “you’re not going to tell her, are you?”

“No,” he replied. “She’s so excited about flying out in the morning-it would ruin it for her if I told her.”

Sirius nodded slowly. “You’ve really fallen hard for her, haven’t you? To do this just to impress her…”

“It’s not just to impress her,” Remus cut in crossly. “Hagrid intends this to be a special Christmas present for Buckbeak, and it’s not my place to interfere with his intentions.”

“Huh,” Sirius snorted. “Just keep telling that to yourself, and maybe you’ll eventually believe it. But I know the truth. You just don’t want to look like a Nancy in front of your girl.”

“That is a fairly reasonable thing for a man to want to avoid, isn’t it?” he replied.

“I suppose,” said Sirius. “But if you go into hysterics or faint, you’ll look like even more of a Nancy than if you just told her the truth.”

“I think I’m capable of controlling myself,” said Remus.

“Whatever you say.” Sirius didn’t seem convinced. But Remus was. He wasn’t going to throw a fit over something this meaningless, just because of certain sentimental attachments. Tonks may not be a traditional woman, but he was certain that even a non-traditional woman would start to think twice about her boyfriend if he acted ridiculous over something like this.

Remus turned to go into his room. “Good night, Sirius,” he said.

“Good night. And good luck,” said Sirius after him.

Luck had nothing to do with it. But exhaustion might-he’d never be able to keep himself together if he didn’t get some sleep soon. He went to bed as quickly as he could, trying his hardest not to think of what the morning would bring.

++++

Remus had seemed a little out of sorts when they made their hunting plans, and even more out of sorts this morning when she went with him to liberate Buckbeak from his room-but Tonks shrugged it off. Remus just wasn’t a morning person; that was all.

It had been a little tricky securing all three crates to her broom, and involved considerable spell-work to keep herself balanced properly in the air, but it was worth it. There was nothing like soaring above the city with the wind at her back and the stars overhead. It did help that she had thought to put long-lasting warming charms on her hat, cloak, gloves, and socks. She hoped that Remus had remembered to do the same, or this would be one long, uncomfortable flight.

She thoroughly enjoyed the flight as she followed Buckbeak while Remus guided him toward the lonely stretch of moor that he had chosen for their excursion. He looked positively scrummy in the moonlight, astride the majestic beast with his cloak streaming out behind him. It was just like something out of one of those steamy romance novels the girls used to pass around the dormitory back at school. She could watch him like this for hours.

The flight, however, did not take hours. In fact, less than an hour after they set off from London they began their descent. It really did seem the ideal spot-a wide rolling expanse broken only by a few ramshackle fences and one crumbling old shed, its outline indistinct in the pre-dawn darkness.

They set down near the shed, and Remus hopped off of Buckbeak to come help her arrange the crates. “I think we should give him the chickens first-they won’t put up much of a fight,” she said. “Then he’ll be ready for the challenge of the ferrets. And after that he can cleanse his palate with poor Mr. Fluffy.” Remus suddenly grew stiff, a hint of a frown on his face.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes. Fine. Just a little tired, still. That’s all.”

She bit her lip, and nodded. He wasn’t very convincing, but she had already learned that if he didn’t want to talk about something, there was absolutely no prizing it out of him. “All right,” she said. “So how shall we go about setting these little morsels loose? It hardly seems sporting to just let them out right here where he’s standing.”

“If you like,” he replied, “I could Apparate with the crate to that field over there, turn the chickens loose, whistle for Buckbeak to come, and then get out of the way and let him have at it.”

“Do you think we should wait until it’s a little lighter out?” she asked. “Won’t he miss them in the dark?”

Remus shook his head. “No. Hippogriffs are known for their keen night vision.”

She smiled. Leave it to Remus to know obscure facts about hippogriff physiology. “Very well then,” she said. “Let’s get on with it.”

She watched in bemusement, lightly holding the rope around Buckbeak’s neck as Remus Apparated to the neighboring field. His outline was dim against the horizon, but she giggled as he jumped back in alarm from the three indistinct blobs that she knew to be chickens flapped wildly in his face as they burst from the newly opened crate.

Buckbeak’s head perked up as Remus let out a loud whistle. “Go on, boy,” she said, loosing the rope. Buckbeak took a few surging steps, and launched himself into the air. With a crack, Remus reappeared at her side.

“Didn’t fancy standing in the way of a hungry hippogriff?” she asked, sliding her arm around his waist.

“No, most certainly not,” he replied, putting his arm around her shoulder.

They stood like that, sharing each other’s warmth, watching in the first light of morning as three frantic chickens tried and failed to evade Buckbeak’s ravenous impulses.

“It’s amazing how quickly he can gobble them down. Can’t be more than two or three bites per chicken,” commented Tonks, as Buckbeak dived toward the last of the chickens.

“He’s got quite the appetite, after that flight,” said Remus. His tone was uncomfortable, and he turned his head slightly in the direction of the last two crates.
Something was definitely going on. The whole idea of this hunting trip had been bothering him since last night, and Tonks was determined to find out why. “Is something the matter?” she asked. “You seem-bothered. Or something.”

He shook his head in denial far too quickly. “It’s nothing. Like I said earlier, I’m just tired.” He was sounding markedly cranky. Remus almost never sounded cranky.

Before she could speak again, he was removing his arm from her shoulders and stepping away. “I should be getting the ferrets ready now,” he said.

As he picked up the ferret crate, she saw him give a long, somber look at Mr. Fluffy’s small crate. Was it the rabbit that was bothering him? And if so-why?

Remus Apparated several hundred meters away from where Buckbeak was finishing the last chicken. She had a better view of him now that a few rays of sunlight were peeking over the horizon. This time, Remus loosened the lid on the crate, backed away, and whistled for Buckbeak. As soon as Buckbeak started heading in his direction, he slowly levitated the first ferret out of the crate.

Buckbeak perked up instantly, and started trotting quickly toward the floating ferret. Remus lowered the ferret to the ground, and it took off running with Buckbeak hot on its heels.

With a crack, Remus was back at her side. Tonks pulled him in for an embrace, and kissed him soundly on the mouth. “What was that for?” he said, his eyes crinkling up into a smile.

“Oh, I just love seeing you do a bit of fancy magic. It’s quite sexy.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment,” he said, holding her close and looking down into her eyes, “if you think that levitating a ferret is fancy magic, then your standards are appallingly low-although Alastor will be pleased. I understand ferrets are a specialty of his.”

She laughed. “Nothing could make Mad-Eye sexy-no matter how many ferrets he juggled around. So maybe I exaggerated. I just like watching you do any magic at all. And you are sexy-no matter what you’re doing.”

“Hmmm…I was just thinking the same about you,” he replied, leaning in for another kiss. A few minutes later they were interrupted by Buckbeak’s plaintive cry as he walked toward them.

“Oh my,” said Tonks. “Is he done already?”

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” replied Remus. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, and pointed it at the distant crate. Soon, the second ferret was bouncing in midair a few meters in front of Buckbeak’s face.

Buckbeak began to trot eagerly after the ferret, who Remus kept just out of reach. Finally, Remus speedily shot the ferret several hundred meters in front of Buckbeak, and released it on the ground. It scampered away faster than Tonks ever could have imagined possible, and Buckbeak took to the air for some daring low-altitude sprinting.

This time, they watched the action intently. The ferret put up quite a chase, and very nearly escaped beneath some shrubs, but in the end Buckbeak emerged victorious.

“Wow,” said Tonks. “I was almost cheering for the ferret by the end there. I wonder if it took that long for him to catch the first one?”

“I don’t know-somehow I lost track of time,” said Remus, giving her a flirty smile.

She smiled back, and then glanced over at the last crate. “Looks like it’s time for Mr. Fluffy.”

Instantly, Remus’s smile disappeared. He even seemed to get paler, and his whole body appeared to tense up.

“Remus-is there something wrong with the rabbit?” she finally asked. “Is there some reason we shouldn’t feed it to Buckbeak? It hasn’t got some strange rabbit disease, or something, has it?”

He shook his head. “No. No diseases. It seems to be a perfectly healthy and suitable meal for Buckbeak.” He spoke stiffly, and he seemed more distant and cold than she had ever seen him before.

“Remus-you’re keeping something from me,” she said.

“No!” he protested a little too firmly. “Everything is fine. Now let me get that rabbit out for Buckbeak.”

He broke away from her, and strode forcefully to the crate. He opened the crate slowly, and lifted the rabbit out with unnecessary gentleness, pulling it in to cradle against his chest. Tonks was becoming more perplexed by the moment.

Remus Disapparated again-and again reappeared some distance from where she stood. Buckbeak was circling lazily overhead, enjoying his post-hunt flight. Tonks looked at him, then back at Remus, who seemed to be stroking the rabbit tenderly before setting it down. Mr. Fluffy took a few tentative hops away from Remus, and then turned to look back up at him. Tonks watched as Remus covered his eyes with one hand, and shook his head. Then, he looked back down at the rabbit. He seemed almost ready to pick it back up, before pulling himself stiffly upright, turning his back on the animal, and Disapparating without whistling for Buckbeak.

When he reappeared at her side, his was wearing an unmistakably morose expression on his face.

Tonks glanced back up at Buckbeak. He didn’t appear to have spotted the rabbit yet. This would give her time to sort things out. “Remus-are you upset about the rabbit?” she asked.

Instead of answering, Remus looked away, and shook his head.

Tonks glanced up again. Beaky was still circling, oblivious to Mr. Fluffy’s existence. And Mr. Fluffy was exploring a clump of shrubs, equally oblivious to the dire fate haunting the sky above him. She turned back to Remus.

“You can tell me the truth, Remus. What is it about this bunny that has you so worked up?” She placed a hand on his arm, and looked up into his eyes.

Remus shook his head again, and looked at the ground. “You’ll think I’m a ponce.”

“Darling-it would take quite a bit to make me think you’re a ponce at this point. You’ve given me a great deal of evidence to the contrary.”

He laughed softly, and looked over at the rabbit, still nosing the shrubs, and then glanced nervously up at Buckbeak.

“It doesn’t really matter how I feel, though. Does it? Hagrid bought him for Buckbeak, and that’s the end of it,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be,” she said.

“Yes, it does.”

She sighed. “Just tell me why this is bothering you so much.”

He shuffled his feet in the light snow, and gave the rabbit another look filled with longing and anxiety. “Mr. Fluffy just…” he finally said, “looks remarkably similar to a pet rabbit I had growing up.”

Things were finally making sense. “Ohhh,” she said softly. “I never knew you had a pet rabbit.”

He nodded sadly, still staring gloomily at Mr. Fluffy while Buckbeak circled overhead-it was only a matter of time until the hippogriff noticed this new prey. “My father bought him for me when I was six-a few months after I was bitten. You see-I was afraid that I wasn’t safe. I was afraid that I might be a monster all of the time-not just during the full moon. So my father got me Flopsity Hopsalot to help me see that I was still the same gentle, loving human being that I always had been. And Flopsity Hopsalot was my very best friend up until I went to Hogwarts, and met James, Sirius, and Peter. He died during my fifth year, a month before summer break. I’ve never completely forgiven myself for not being there to say goodbye.”

Tonks looked at Remus’s heartbroken face, then at Mr. Fluffy hopping happily out into the field, then up at the still-circling Buckbeak. “That’s it,” she said. “I’m going to go get that rabbit. Buckbeak’s just going to have to live without his dessert.” She started walking resolutely toward the rabbit.

“No! Wait!” said Remus, coming after her and taking hold of her arm. “This was a present from Hagrid to Buckbeak. It’s not our place to interfere.”

“Like hell it isn’t,” replied Tonks, pulling away from him. “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to just stand here watch your heart get broken all over again when Buckbeak rips Flopsity Hopsalot’s reincarnated form to shreds right in front of you. It would ruin your Christmas, and that would ruin mine. I am getting that rabbit.”

Remus looked up at Buckbeak, and his face blanched. “Too late,” he whispered in a strangled voice.

“Shite!” exclaimed Tonks, whipping out her wand and whirling around to see Buckbeak diving toward Mr. Fluffy. “Accio bunny!” she shouted.

The startled rabbit came shooting into her arms, and Buckbeak screamed when his talons gripped nothing but a puff of snow and a tangle of weeds. He shot back up into the sky with another scream, and Tonks winced as the struggling rabbit’s claws scratched an exposed patch of skin in between the sleeve of her cloak and her glove. Buckbeak screamed again, and beat his wings to head right for them.

Remus stepped forward, waving his wand, to cast a Disillusionment Charm over all of them, Mr. Fluffy included. Buckbeak screeched in frustration as his quarry vanished before his eyes, and with a scream of rage he shot into the sky, heading high into the atmosphere.

“What the hell were you doing!” cried Remus. “Never get between a hippogriff and his prey! It doesn’t matter if he knows you! You could have been hurt-or worse.” Tonks was preparing to let loose an angry retort, but the look of frightened concern on Remus’s face made her bite back her words.

“I did it for the same reason you just yelled at me-because I care about you, and I don’t want to see you hurt,” she said, petting the rabbit softly to calm it.

Remus took a deep breath, and began to relax. He reached out to put his hands on her waist, and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “I care about you far more than any silly rabbit,” he murmured.

“And I care about you enough to care about a silly rabbit,” she replied firmly.

They stood staring at each other with sheepish smiles on their faces, the rabbit cradled in between their bodies. Tonks was the first to break the silence. “So,” she said, “what kind of boy names his pet rabbit Flopsity Hopsalot?”

“I was six, you know,” replied Remus. They both chuckled.

“I’m sorry you missed saying goodbye to him,” she said.

Remus nodded. “I was really broken up about it,” he said. “When I got home, I had Sirius and James and Peter over for a memorial service by his grave.”

Tonks raised her eyebrows. “Four sixteen year old boys had a funeral for a bunny?”

He nodded, with a little laugh. “It was very nice actually. James and I both gave little speeches, Peter sang a hymn, and Sirius read an original elegy.”

Tonks laughed loudly. “Sirius wrote an elegy for your rabbit?”

Remus nodded, smiling. “It was very good, too. I think I still have a copy.”

“This, I have to see,” she said.

“Maybe I can poke around my old journals this afternoon, and find it for you.”

“I’d like that.”

They lapsed into silence again, leaning against each other, both of them petting the rabbit. “So what is to become of Mr. Fluffy here?” asked Remus finally.

Tonks smiled up at him. “I think you’ve just got yourself a new pet, Remus. Merry Christmas.”

Remus’s eyes widened. “I couldn’t-Hagrid bought him to feed Buckbeak, not to be my pet.”

“What Hagrid doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” said Tonks. “In a few days I’ll go buy some fresh rats to feed Beaky instead. That should cover what Hagrid spent on Mr. Fluffy here. And tonight, when I come back after dinner with my parents, you and I can find some old junk up in the attic that we can convert into a hutch for the back garden.”

“Do you think Sirius will mind me bringing a pet into his house?”

“Of course not. Any man who will write an elegy for one bunny should have no qualms about inviting another into his home.”

Tonks was rewarded by a sweet, grateful grin as Remus took Mr. Fluffy from her arms and continued to pet him softly.

“So,” she said, “are you happy now?”

He nodded. “Very. So, do you think I’m a complete Nancy now that you know my dark secret?”

She laughed, and shook her head. “Not at all. I think you’re adorable.”

Remus sighed. “I’ve gone from sexy to adorable, have I?”

“No. You’re still sexy-adorably sexy.”

“Adorably sexy? I think I can live with that.”

“Good,” she said. “Merry Christmas, Remus.”

“Merry Christmas, Tonks,” he replied, leaning in to kiss her.

Much to Tonks’s delight, kissing Remus with a rabbit in his arms was indeed adorably sexy, even with an irate hippogriff looking on.