Part Four: Meet The Parents
Title: Meet The Parents
Author: gijane7702
Rating & Warnings: PG/family fight(?); a curse word or two
Prompts: "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." /Promise *whoohoo...used the other prompt!*
Word Count: 2125
Summary: Ever man’s worst day…
Author’s Notes: Part 4 in my series; Set Boxing Day OotP
I started a ‘Meet the Parents’ fic a very long time ago, but never finished it. Only my original beta only read it, so I’m using some plot ides from it.
Here’s that bloody list again: ‘too old…’ blah, blah, and blah
This will be continued later…
Thank you to
sea_thoughts for her beta and Britpick.
Part One: Scratching the Surface
Part Two: Late NIght Encounter
Part Three: First
Tonks was humming “God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs” under her breath as she put the finishing touches on the dining room table.
Tonight was the night.
Her parents were meeting Remus for the first time.
It wasn’t technically the first time they had met Remus, she admitted to herself. Sirius used to bring him or James round whenever he could get free to visit her mother. She had never met her cousin since Andromeda had always shipped her off to her Granny Tonks’ so she wouldn’t be underfoot.
However, tonight, they were meeting Remus as her boyfriend.
She looked up from lighting the candles when Remus wandered into the living room, still wearing that anticipated dazed look and still adjusting his brand new tie and robes for the thousandth time since they had gotten dressed. He smiled nervously at her, and then adjusted his tie once again.
Tonks took pity on him. Blowing out the match, she walked over to him and stilled his hand as it strayed towards his collar again. “Nervous?” she asked quietly.
“Just a bit,” he replied. “It’s the first time I’ve met a girl’s parents. How are you?”
“Terrified! You’re the first man they’ve met.”
“Charlie…” Remus began.
“He was best friend and we were 14. Though I do think Mum was planning a wedding anyway.” He snorted. “She was more disappointed than me when he ran off to Romania.” Tonks smiled to herself as he laughed heartily. Now was a good time to warn him. “I told them your name…so, they…know.”
“Damn,” Remus muttered. His hand strayed towards his collar again. “Damn,” he repeated.
“You’ll be fine,” she told him, taking his hand when they heard then footsteps in the corridor coming at them, then a muffled conversation at the door.
Remus’ free hand strayed towards his collar as the doorbell rang. Tonks swatted it away, sat him on the couch, and then went to answer the door.
When it opened to reveal her parents, she sucked in a breath as she realized how much her mother looked like a Black with her grey eyes and recently bobbed black hair. Andromeda looked like a feminine version of her cousin, Sirius, who had just submitted (been forced) to a hair cut from Molly Weasley. Hearing Remus’ indrawn breath, she knew he saw the similarity as well.
“Hello, Nymphadora,” Andromeda said a bit too brightly as she kissed Tonks’ cheek, who stepped aside so that her parents could enter the flat.
“Hello, Mum,” Tonks greeted her. “Wotcher, Dad! Happy Christmas!”
“Hello, sweets,” Ted returned jovially. “Andi love, let me get your cloak.” Tonks waited patiently as her parents divested themselves of their outer garments. Once they were done, her father turned to her once again and said, “Do we do introductions here or in the living room?”
She almost missed the look Andromeda shot him as she led them into the living room. Remus had sprung up from the couch and was once again readjusting his tie. “There’s no need for an introduction, Nymphadora,” Andromeda said in brisk voice. “You can sit back down, Remus,” she indicated to the couch. “Well, perhaps a reintroduction. Sirius used to bring him round when he could and I was Head Girl during their first year.”
“Were you really?” Tonks asked, interestedly. “You never mentioned that.” She shot Remus a look as she sat down beside him. He looked up at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze.
“Oh yes, the trouble that he and his little gang of friends got into…” Andromeda smiled sadly. Tonks knew she was remembering Sirius and was glad that Dumbledore had given them permission to (in a roundabout way) tell her that Sirius was innocent. “You never told her?” she asked Remus.
“Er… no… never came up.” His hand reached for his collar again.
“Nervous?” Ted asked.
“Dad!” Tonks yelped.
“Yes,” Remus told him honestly.
“I’d be, too.”
Tonks’ stomach turned to ice. She knew from his tone that he didn’t approve. And from the look on Remus’ face, he knew as well.
“Remus, can you get the elf-made wine that I chilled?” He nodded slightly and all but ran towards the kitchen. Tonks frowned at his retreating back. Turning towards her mother, who was now seated on the opposite couch that Remus had just fled from, she said in a quiet tone, “You’re positively friendly today.”
“He’s a werewolf, Nymphadora!” Andromeda said back at her.
“I know he is, Mother. But he’s only a werewolf one night a month. The rest of the time, he’s a man. One night doesn't define him...does it?”
Andromeda blinked at her and then nodded. Tonks knew, with her use of ‘Mother’, that she had gotten the message.
Ted grunted, then told her, “You know he’s only six years younger than us?” as Remus entered the room and set the wine and four goblets down on the coffee table. “Aren’t you a bit young for him? You could practically be his-”
“Dad!” Tonks yelped at the same time Andromeda said, “Ted!”
“Dora is quite aware of my age, sir,” Remus told him quietly, his hand straying to his tie.
Tonks took his hand again, lacing her fingers through his. She shot her father back a dark look as his eyes narrowed in on their joined hands, tightening her grip as Remus tried to detangle their hands. “Yes, I know how old Remus is. Let’s get it over with, Dad. What’s your problem?”
Ted sat upright. So did Tonks. “Where do I begin?” he asked.
Andromeda groaned and placed a hand over her eyes. “Edward, please. We agreed to be polite and to hear Nymphadora out.”
“Oh, no, Mum, I want to hear it all.”
“Dora,” Remus began.
“Sshhh…this is between me and Dad,” Tonks told him.
“I’d listen to her, Remus. There’s not much Black in her, she’s all Tonks. They were always at loggerheads.” Andromeda ignored the glares that her daughter and husband sent her and she asked Remus, “Dora?”
“She doesn’t like her full given name,” was the quiet response.
Andromeda arched an eyebrow, and then settled back. “I see…well, I shall.”
Tonks smiled slightly as her mother leaned forward and took a glass of wine from him. Andromeda, while not fully approving, was going to be eventually all right with them. This was slightly funny to Tonks because she had been more worried about her than Ted. Her mother had grown up in the wizarding world, while her father hadn’t joined it until he was eleven.
Ted, understanding his wife as well, opened his mouth, and then closed it. After a few times, he finally said to Tonks, “A werewolf, sweets?”
“Yes, Dad, a werewolf. Twelve nights a year does not define Remus’ character.” Tonks watched her father glance over at her mother, who pointedly looked away. “You knew and liked him from before you knew he was a werewolf so what’s different now?”
“Dora,” Remus said standing up, interrupting Ted, who had begun to retort. “I’m not letting you fight with your father anymore.”
“That’s not fighting,” Andromeda said caustically. Tonks, Remus, and Ted all looked at her. “That’s the Tonks in both of them. Sit down.” She smiled slightly as he obeyed.
“He’s not right for you!” Ted blurted out. “For a number of reasons: He’s so much older than you, he’s a dangerous werewolf, and because of that, he can’t work. How’s he supposed to support a family unemployed?”
“Dora, please,” Remus said quietly.
But, caught up in the battle, she ignored him. “I can take care of myself, Dad; I’m an Auror for God’s sake! I’m paid quite well and I’m trained to defend myself in the off chance that Remus gets loose at a full moon, off his Wolfsbane Potion, and he decided to attack me.” She paused as Andromeda snorted at her sarcasm. “And I don’t want a family at the moment, thanks. I know the Ministry’s in denial, but we are at war.”
“Please stop fighting with your father, Dora,” Remus said again, this time a bit louder.
“He’s an intelligent man. He knows he’s not right for you!”
“Who are you to say that!?” Tonks yelled standing up. “You sound like Mum’s pure-blooded bigoted sisters!”
Ted stood as well. “How dare you! I’m your father, young lady.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Tonks saw her mother flinch slightly at the mention of Bellatrix and Narcissa, but she leaned over and laid a restraining hand on Remus’ arm. “Yes, you’re my father. But I’m 24 years old. I think I can decide for myself who to fall in love with.”
She fell silent at her words, watching as Remus’ eyes went wide. Thought they both knew that they were in love, neither had voiced it aloud. They both locked eyes with one another.
“Oh my,” Andromeda said softly, understanding what had just occurred.
“Sweets?” Ted asked.
Smiling slightly at Remus, who smiled back, Tonks tore her gaze off him. Turning to her parents, she said, “Please…not now. Can we just have dinner?”
“But-” her father began.
“Not now, Edward,” Andromeda cut over him. “I think we’ve all had enough for today. Should we try dinner another time?”
“Andi-” Ted tried again, but he was ignored.
“Sounds good, Mum. We’ll let you know.”
Remus stood automatically as Andromeda stood. Tonks knew by the perplexed look on his face that he didn’t quiet understand what was going on, even as intelligent as he was.
“Werewolf…” Ted tried one last time.
“I can’t help that,” Remus said so quietly that all three Tonkses turned to look at him. “I accepted what I was a long time ago and never really regretted it…until now. I just want you both to know that I love your daughter more than life itself and I would do nothing to ever harm her. Ever.”
Tonks bit her lip at the tears that raced to her eyes and then walked into his embrace, burying her face in his jumper. His arms tightened around her briefly before he whispered hoarsely into her ear, “Go walk your parents out, my love.”
She pulled back slightly and smiled up at him, then turned back towards her parents. Andromeda was beaming, but Ted looked perplexed. “Let me show you out,” Tonks said quietly to them.
“We just got here,” Ted said in a confused tone but standing.
“And we’re leaving, Edward,” he was told.
Andromeda then stepped around her daughter and lightly kissed Remus on both cheeks. In a low tone Tonks barely heard, her mother told him, “One was for you…and the other is for Sirius.”
“I’ll give it to him,” Remus told her.
“You will personally?” she asked, laughing at the surprised look on his face.
Remus sighed. “You’re almost as annoying as your cousin!” His eyes widened at Andromeda’s gasp. “I’m sorry!” he said. “That was-”
“Funny,” Tonks interjected. As Remus and her parents turned to look at her, she said, “What?! You should have seen the look on your face, Mum! And yours Remus!” She started to laugh, getting louder as they joined in.
Ted grunted then stalked off towards the foyer. Remus stopped laughing and watched him go.
“He’ll come around eventually,” Andromeda told him.
“I hope so,” Remus and Tonks said at the same time.
“I’ll see us out, Nymph- Dora.” She smiled at the glare her daughter shot her. “Let me know when dinner will be. I think you two need to talk now. Good night.”
“’Night, Mum.”
“Good night, Mrs-” Remus began.
“For God’s sake, Remus, call me Andromeda!”
“And you wonder where she gets it from,” he murmured.
Andromeda threw her head back and laughed. “Goodbye. Tonight was…interesting.”
“Interesting is a very…interesting choice of words, Andromeda.”
Tonks rolled her eyes. It had to be the Black spirit that Remus had to be attracted to: first Sirius, then her, now her mother. And it had to be mutual, because Andromeda grinned at him, kissed her daughter’s cheek, and with a “Happy Christmas to you both” she walked off towards the foyer and her husband.
Remus and Tonks heard their muted conversation, then the door opening and closing. She found his hand and laced her fingers through his.
He squeezed her hand, and then tipped her face up to his with a finger. “Well…that went…er…well.”
“Bloody Dad,” she cursed.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too,” Tonks told him. “It’ll turn out all right in the end. He’ll come around.”
“I hope so,” Remus said, leaning down to kiss her.
“Take me to bed, my love.”
“I planned on it.”
Tonks giggled as he swept her up into his arms and down the corridor to their bedroom.
Author: gijane7702
Rating & Warnings: PG/family fight(?); a curse word or two
Prompts: "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." /Promise *whoohoo...used the other prompt!*
Word Count: 2125
Summary: Ever man’s worst day…
Author’s Notes: Part 4 in my series; Set Boxing Day OotP
I started a ‘Meet the Parents’ fic a very long time ago, but never finished it. Only my original beta only read it, so I’m using some plot ides from it.
Here’s that bloody list again: ‘too old…’ blah, blah, and blah
This will be continued later…
Thank you to
sea_thoughts for her beta and Britpick.
Part One: Scratching the Surface
Part Two: Late NIght Encounter
Part Three: First
Tonks was humming “God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs” under her breath as she put the finishing touches on the dining room table.
Tonight was the night.
Her parents were meeting Remus for the first time.
It wasn’t technically the first time they had met Remus, she admitted to herself. Sirius used to bring him or James round whenever he could get free to visit her mother. She had never met her cousin since Andromeda had always shipped her off to her Granny Tonks’ so she wouldn’t be underfoot.
However, tonight, they were meeting Remus as her boyfriend.
She looked up from lighting the candles when Remus wandered into the living room, still wearing that anticipated dazed look and still adjusting his brand new tie and robes for the thousandth time since they had gotten dressed. He smiled nervously at her, and then adjusted his tie once again.
Tonks took pity on him. Blowing out the match, she walked over to him and stilled his hand as it strayed towards his collar again. “Nervous?” she asked quietly.
“Just a bit,” he replied. “It’s the first time I’ve met a girl’s parents. How are you?”
“Terrified! You’re the first man they’ve met.”
“Charlie…” Remus began.
“He was best friend and we were 14. Though I do think Mum was planning a wedding anyway.” He snorted. “She was more disappointed than me when he ran off to Romania.” Tonks smiled to herself as he laughed heartily. Now was a good time to warn him. “I told them your name…so, they…know.”
“Damn,” Remus muttered. His hand strayed towards his collar again. “Damn,” he repeated.
“You’ll be fine,” she told him, taking his hand when they heard then footsteps in the corridor coming at them, then a muffled conversation at the door.
Remus’ free hand strayed towards his collar as the doorbell rang. Tonks swatted it away, sat him on the couch, and then went to answer the door.
When it opened to reveal her parents, she sucked in a breath as she realized how much her mother looked like a Black with her grey eyes and recently bobbed black hair. Andromeda looked like a feminine version of her cousin, Sirius, who had just submitted (been forced) to a hair cut from Molly Weasley. Hearing Remus’ indrawn breath, she knew he saw the similarity as well.
“Hello, Nymphadora,” Andromeda said a bit too brightly as she kissed Tonks’ cheek, who stepped aside so that her parents could enter the flat.
“Hello, Mum,” Tonks greeted her. “Wotcher, Dad! Happy Christmas!”
“Hello, sweets,” Ted returned jovially. “Andi love, let me get your cloak.” Tonks waited patiently as her parents divested themselves of their outer garments. Once they were done, her father turned to her once again and said, “Do we do introductions here or in the living room?”
She almost missed the look Andromeda shot him as she led them into the living room. Remus had sprung up from the couch and was once again readjusting his tie. “There’s no need for an introduction, Nymphadora,” Andromeda said in brisk voice. “You can sit back down, Remus,” she indicated to the couch. “Well, perhaps a reintroduction. Sirius used to bring him round when he could and I was Head Girl during their first year.”
“Were you really?” Tonks asked, interestedly. “You never mentioned that.” She shot Remus a look as she sat down beside him. He looked up at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze.
“Oh yes, the trouble that he and his little gang of friends got into…” Andromeda smiled sadly. Tonks knew she was remembering Sirius and was glad that Dumbledore had given them permission to (in a roundabout way) tell her that Sirius was innocent. “You never told her?” she asked Remus.
“Er… no… never came up.” His hand reached for his collar again.
“Nervous?” Ted asked.
“Dad!” Tonks yelped.
“Yes,” Remus told him honestly.
“I’d be, too.”
Tonks’ stomach turned to ice. She knew from his tone that he didn’t approve. And from the look on Remus’ face, he knew as well.
“Remus, can you get the elf-made wine that I chilled?” He nodded slightly and all but ran towards the kitchen. Tonks frowned at his retreating back. Turning towards her mother, who was now seated on the opposite couch that Remus had just fled from, she said in a quiet tone, “You’re positively friendly today.”
“He’s a werewolf, Nymphadora!” Andromeda said back at her.
“I know he is, Mother. But he’s only a werewolf one night a month. The rest of the time, he’s a man. One night doesn't define him...does it?”
Andromeda blinked at her and then nodded. Tonks knew, with her use of ‘Mother’, that she had gotten the message.
Ted grunted, then told her, “You know he’s only six years younger than us?” as Remus entered the room and set the wine and four goblets down on the coffee table. “Aren’t you a bit young for him? You could practically be his-”
“Dad!” Tonks yelped at the same time Andromeda said, “Ted!”
“Dora is quite aware of my age, sir,” Remus told him quietly, his hand straying to his tie.
Tonks took his hand again, lacing her fingers through his. She shot her father back a dark look as his eyes narrowed in on their joined hands, tightening her grip as Remus tried to detangle their hands. “Yes, I know how old Remus is. Let’s get it over with, Dad. What’s your problem?”
Ted sat upright. So did Tonks. “Where do I begin?” he asked.
Andromeda groaned and placed a hand over her eyes. “Edward, please. We agreed to be polite and to hear Nymphadora out.”
“Oh, no, Mum, I want to hear it all.”
“Dora,” Remus began.
“Sshhh…this is between me and Dad,” Tonks told him.
“I’d listen to her, Remus. There’s not much Black in her, she’s all Tonks. They were always at loggerheads.” Andromeda ignored the glares that her daughter and husband sent her and she asked Remus, “Dora?”
“She doesn’t like her full given name,” was the quiet response.
Andromeda arched an eyebrow, and then settled back. “I see…well, I shall.”
Tonks smiled slightly as her mother leaned forward and took a glass of wine from him. Andromeda, while not fully approving, was going to be eventually all right with them. This was slightly funny to Tonks because she had been more worried about her than Ted. Her mother had grown up in the wizarding world, while her father hadn’t joined it until he was eleven.
Ted, understanding his wife as well, opened his mouth, and then closed it. After a few times, he finally said to Tonks, “A werewolf, sweets?”
“Yes, Dad, a werewolf. Twelve nights a year does not define Remus’ character.” Tonks watched her father glance over at her mother, who pointedly looked away. “You knew and liked him from before you knew he was a werewolf so what’s different now?”
“Dora,” Remus said standing up, interrupting Ted, who had begun to retort. “I’m not letting you fight with your father anymore.”
“That’s not fighting,” Andromeda said caustically. Tonks, Remus, and Ted all looked at her. “That’s the Tonks in both of them. Sit down.” She smiled slightly as he obeyed.
“He’s not right for you!” Ted blurted out. “For a number of reasons: He’s so much older than you, he’s a dangerous werewolf, and because of that, he can’t work. How’s he supposed to support a family unemployed?”
“Dora, please,” Remus said quietly.
But, caught up in the battle, she ignored him. “I can take care of myself, Dad; I’m an Auror for God’s sake! I’m paid quite well and I’m trained to defend myself in the off chance that Remus gets loose at a full moon, off his Wolfsbane Potion, and he decided to attack me.” She paused as Andromeda snorted at her sarcasm. “And I don’t want a family at the moment, thanks. I know the Ministry’s in denial, but we are at war.”
“Please stop fighting with your father, Dora,” Remus said again, this time a bit louder.
“He’s an intelligent man. He knows he’s not right for you!”
“Who are you to say that!?” Tonks yelled standing up. “You sound like Mum’s pure-blooded bigoted sisters!”
Ted stood as well. “How dare you! I’m your father, young lady.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Tonks saw her mother flinch slightly at the mention of Bellatrix and Narcissa, but she leaned over and laid a restraining hand on Remus’ arm. “Yes, you’re my father. But I’m 24 years old. I think I can decide for myself who to fall in love with.”
She fell silent at her words, watching as Remus’ eyes went wide. Thought they both knew that they were in love, neither had voiced it aloud. They both locked eyes with one another.
“Oh my,” Andromeda said softly, understanding what had just occurred.
“Sweets?” Ted asked.
Smiling slightly at Remus, who smiled back, Tonks tore her gaze off him. Turning to her parents, she said, “Please…not now. Can we just have dinner?”
“But-” her father began.
“Not now, Edward,” Andromeda cut over him. “I think we’ve all had enough for today. Should we try dinner another time?”
“Andi-” Ted tried again, but he was ignored.
“Sounds good, Mum. We’ll let you know.”
Remus stood automatically as Andromeda stood. Tonks knew by the perplexed look on his face that he didn’t quiet understand what was going on, even as intelligent as he was.
“Werewolf…” Ted tried one last time.
“I can’t help that,” Remus said so quietly that all three Tonkses turned to look at him. “I accepted what I was a long time ago and never really regretted it…until now. I just want you both to know that I love your daughter more than life itself and I would do nothing to ever harm her. Ever.”
Tonks bit her lip at the tears that raced to her eyes and then walked into his embrace, burying her face in his jumper. His arms tightened around her briefly before he whispered hoarsely into her ear, “Go walk your parents out, my love.”
She pulled back slightly and smiled up at him, then turned back towards her parents. Andromeda was beaming, but Ted looked perplexed. “Let me show you out,” Tonks said quietly to them.
“We just got here,” Ted said in a confused tone but standing.
“And we’re leaving, Edward,” he was told.
Andromeda then stepped around her daughter and lightly kissed Remus on both cheeks. In a low tone Tonks barely heard, her mother told him, “One was for you…and the other is for Sirius.”
“I’ll give it to him,” Remus told her.
“You will personally?” she asked, laughing at the surprised look on his face.
Remus sighed. “You’re almost as annoying as your cousin!” His eyes widened at Andromeda’s gasp. “I’m sorry!” he said. “That was-”
“Funny,” Tonks interjected. As Remus and her parents turned to look at her, she said, “What?! You should have seen the look on your face, Mum! And yours Remus!” She started to laugh, getting louder as they joined in.
Ted grunted then stalked off towards the foyer. Remus stopped laughing and watched him go.
“He’ll come around eventually,” Andromeda told him.
“I hope so,” Remus and Tonks said at the same time.
“I’ll see us out, Nymph- Dora.” She smiled at the glare her daughter shot her. “Let me know when dinner will be. I think you two need to talk now. Good night.”
“’Night, Mum.”
“Good night, Mrs-” Remus began.
“For God’s sake, Remus, call me Andromeda!”
“And you wonder where she gets it from,” he murmured.
Andromeda threw her head back and laughed. “Goodbye. Tonight was…interesting.”
“Interesting is a very…interesting choice of words, Andromeda.”
Tonks rolled her eyes. It had to be the Black spirit that Remus had to be attracted to: first Sirius, then her, now her mother. And it had to be mutual, because Andromeda grinned at him, kissed her daughter’s cheek, and with a “Happy Christmas to you both” she walked off towards the foyer and her husband.
Remus and Tonks heard their muted conversation, then the door opening and closing. She found his hand and laced her fingers through his.
He squeezed her hand, and then tipped her face up to his with a finger. “Well…that went…er…well.”
“Bloody Dad,” she cursed.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too,” Tonks told him. “It’ll turn out all right in the end. He’ll come around.”
“I hope so,” Remus said, leaning down to kiss her.
“Take me to bed, my love.”
“I planned on it.”
Tonks giggled as he swept her up into his arms and down the corridor to their bedroom.