The Art of Browsing (Harry Potter; Remus/Tonks; PG)
Title: The Art of Browsing
Ratings & Warnings: PG (rated for UST and general unfairness of life)
Prompts: The big bookshop next to the Leaky Cauldron (Flourish & Blotts); Wingardium Leviosa; a day of rest; romantic comedy
Word Count: 1,847
Summary: It's amazing what you can find when you're not actually looking for something.
Author's Notes: I'm not sure if this counts as romantic comedy, but I think I've got all the other prompts down. I have never met a snobbish bookseller in my life, but I'm sure one exists somewhere. I could have carried on writing this, but I thought I'd better stop it while it was still good. Written for the Half Moon Rising Fic Jumble at metamorfic_moon
Nymphadora Tonks pushed open the door to Flourish and Blotts, carefully checking behind it first to see if there was a random pile of books that might tip over and cause her to trip up. Of course, normally there were no piles of books behind the front door, but on her trip to buy textbooks for her third year, some books had been left there for some unknown reason and she’d walked right into them, causing her to go sprawling on the shop floor. Her mother had sighed, her dad had laughed and Tonks had wanted the floor to open up and swallow her so that she would be the first person in the world to die from embarrassment.
It hadn’t opened up, of course, and today there was no pile of books waiting to trip her up. Besides, she was a grown woman. If she went sprawling now, she could laugh it off. The armour of adulthood, forged in the fires of adolescence. She shook her head at the fanciful thought (almost certainly inherited from her mother’s side of the family), and went forward to the back of the store, where the housekeeping books were kept. Sirius had taken on the task of cleaning out his house’s cellar and Tonks was looking for a book that didn’t just have the usual household spells but maybe things that were used in potion labs or apothecary shops. Perhaps she should go to Slug and Jiggers and ask them if they had any tips if she couldn’t find a book.
She stood on tiptoes to see the higher shelf and wondered if she should morph herself taller. The books were just about within reach, so she decided to stay her normal height. At first, her fingers just scrabbled uselessly, but then she found that by balancing on one foot, she could comfortably get hold of them. Just as she reached out to grab the spine of one, a voice said, “Nymphadora?”
Tonks squawked like an Augurey, taken by surprise. She grabbed the book to keep her balance, failed and fell, taking the book with her, falling right on her bottom. The impact pushed an ‘Oof!’ out of her and then the rest of the books on that shelf fell as well, thudding all around her like rocks, pages splaying and ruined. “Damn it!” she muttered, looking around her.
“Nymphadora?”
“Don’t call me that name,” she muttered, then looked up and saw who it was. Lupin, Remus Lupin. Standing there in his patched robes, deep brown eyes all concern for her, fawn-coloured hair cut back and greying around his ears, why did it have to be him?
“I’m sorry,” he said, kneeling down and putting the books into piles. “I startled you.”
“It’s all right,” she told him, recovering and trying to help. “I’m always knocking things over and falling down…. that’s just me.” She shrugged, laughing it off as she’d always done. “Clumsy old Tonks.” She stood up, brushing her knees down. “We’ll have to put these back.”
“Let me…” He took out his wand and pointed it. “Wingardium Leviosa.”
His incantation was perfect and she smiled involuntarily. The words brought back memories of her first year at Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick's beard bobbing in approval, and the white feather lifting up in front of her nose, light and airy, balanced by invisible forces. The whole pile of books lifted and floated upwards as Remus moved his wand in the same direction, hovering parallel to the shelf.
“Wait!” Tonks had finally seen a title that might just be good for Sirius: Spells for Stubborn Stains and Curses for Creepy Creatures. Sirius would probably appreciate the last part. She tapped the spine and slowly, Remus drew it out with his wand. Then it floated down into her outstretched palms and she took the weight of it. They smiled at each other for a moment, then he looked away and returned the books to their shelf.
“So… you’re not working today?” he asked in a lower voice.
She shook her head, leafing through the book. “Nobody wants me at the office and… I don’t have guard duty, either,” she added, glancing up at him. “So I’m having a rest. A holiday. What about you?”
“Oh… working. In a way. Looking up something for Dumbledore.”
“In the household section?” Tonks grinned at him, and Remus smiled back.
“You know how careful he is about his socks,” he replied, making her laugh.
As they walked back to the cash desk, she thought that his smile made him seem surprisingly young. Or maybe just his real age, she reminded herself. It was his illness that aged him, nothing else. Tonks thought about Mundungus Fletcher, who could have any job and chose to steal and live in filth; then she thought about Remus, who was intelligent and presentable, and did the best he could with his meagre allowance from the Ministry. Not for the first time, she wished that she could do something about it.
“Just that, thank you,” she said to the cashier, handing her the book, while Remus went over to the animal section and walked back and forth. He was obviously looking for something very specific. Of course, Dumbledore wouldn’t send Remus unless it was important, Tonks thought, giving the cashier her Galleons. Remus had an eye for detail and he was also very persistent (when it came to other people’s needs). She saw the cashier was looking at Remus, too, but with an entirely different expression, one of mistrust. Tonks felt irritation shoot up her spine and she turned, making her way over to where Remus was standing.
“Seen anything you like?” she asked in a louder voice.
He glanced at her for a moment with a strange expression, but he was too intelligent to ask what was going on. Instead, with the quickness of mind which made him such a valuable member, Remus rocked back on his heels and said in a considering tone, “Well, there are a couple that look promising, but this isn’t much of a collection, I have to say… I expected a bigger range from a bookshop this size.”
Tonks hid a smirk and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning slightly. “Never mind… I’m sure you’ll be able to find something. Maybe you can ask that nice young lady behind the desk.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to bother her,” he said doubtfully, leaning forward. Tonks would have given anything to see the girl’s face. “This… this will just have to do, I suppose,” Remus sighed, picking out a green spine with gold letters. The title was in Latin, so Tonks wasn’t quite sure what it said, but Remus must have some idea and Dumbledore spoke about a dozen languages.
“Maybe you should go and look in Obscurus Books as well,” she suggested, trying hard no to laugh.
“Yes, perhaps I should,” he agreed, weighing the book in his hands. “Never mind, this is a start.” He turned around and marched to the desk, but Tonks remained where she was, trying desperately to think of something serious.
McGonagall in a tutu… no, that IS funny. Snape in a tutu! Oh God, that’s even worse…Moody in a tutu!
There, she’d done it. She just couldn’t laugh at that. The thought of Moody in a tutu with that wooden leg made Tonks shudder. It was ghoulish rather than amusing. She turned to see Remus carefully counting out the Galleons into the cashier’s outstretched hand. The girl looked extremely uncomfortable but Remus didn’t speed up. Eventually, having given her the exact sum, he smiled at her. “Is that everything?” The girl nodded, quickly put the money in the register and then put his book in a paper bag.
They both managed to get about five metres away from the shop before they finally began to laugh.
“What was she doing?” Remus asked when they’d both got their breath back.
“Looking at you like she thought you were going to steal something,” Tonks said bluntly, glaring back over her shoulder. “What a snob.”
Remus shrugged, the light dying from his eyes, leaving his face pale and drawn. “It’s happened to me before.”
“That doesn’t make it right!” People looked up at the strength of Tonks’s voice and she glared back at them, so they looked away. Then she turned to Remus, trying not to be so loud. “No matter how many times it happens, Remus, it’s still wrong.”
“Whatever you say, Nymphadora,” he said with that small smile which so infuriated her.
“DON’T call me -!” She turned away, folding her arms. “Oh, what’s the use?” She could feel him smiling at her back. It was almost like he was calling her with that smile, asking her to smile with him. It was so difficult to resist, but she did. She was stubborn.
“Tonks…” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry?”
“For what? Using my name?” she demanded, not looking at him.
“Never for that,” he said, his voice warm and soft, which did strange things to her stomach. “I’m sorry for sounding so defeatist. It is nice to have someone who… thinks that kind of behaviour is wrong. It has been a long time since I’ve been around someone as open-minded as you and… I tend to just accept bigotry because it’s easier to do that than fight it.”
Tonks felt her shoulders drop. She turned around and looked at him. “I wasn’t thinking that, I just… I hate injustice. That is partly why I became an Auror,” she added with a smile. “Then I found out nothing was that simple. And now… now a lot of my colleagues would call me a traitor.” She let out a small sigh.
Remus had kept his hand on her shoulder. Now he squeezed it with a gentle pressure and bent down to look her in the eye. “You’ve chosen what is right over what is easy,” he said. “And I, for one, am grateful.”
She stared at him, startled, then felt a blush climb over her cheeks. She was almost ashamed of being so girly. What was happening to her? “Thank you,” she replied in a whisper. He smiled at her and she smiled back and for one moment, Tonks thought that he might even lean forward and then, maybe…
He pulled back, clearing his throat. Tonks almost sagged in disappointment. Why didn’t you lean forward yourself, you stupid girl? Next time, she promised herself - and there would be a next time - she would make a move. “How about ice cream?” she said, glossing over the awkward moment. “My treat.”
He hesitated. “Ice cream in October?”
Tonks rolled her eyes. “Ice cream isn’t just for summer. Come on, Remus, live a little!” She tapped his bag. “You’ve done your job. Now you can rest as well.”
He glanced down, as if he’d forgotten all about the book, then that small smile came back. “Okay,” he said, as they turned towards Florean Fortescue’s. “Just for a little while.”
Ratings & Warnings: PG (rated for UST and general unfairness of life)
Prompts: The big bookshop next to the Leaky Cauldron (Flourish & Blotts); Wingardium Leviosa; a day of rest; romantic comedy
Word Count: 1,847
Summary: It's amazing what you can find when you're not actually looking for something.
Author's Notes: I'm not sure if this counts as romantic comedy, but I think I've got all the other prompts down. I have never met a snobbish bookseller in my life, but I'm sure one exists somewhere. I could have carried on writing this, but I thought I'd better stop it while it was still good. Written for the Half Moon Rising Fic Jumble at metamorfic_moon
Nymphadora Tonks pushed open the door to Flourish and Blotts, carefully checking behind it first to see if there was a random pile of books that might tip over and cause her to trip up. Of course, normally there were no piles of books behind the front door, but on her trip to buy textbooks for her third year, some books had been left there for some unknown reason and she’d walked right into them, causing her to go sprawling on the shop floor. Her mother had sighed, her dad had laughed and Tonks had wanted the floor to open up and swallow her so that she would be the first person in the world to die from embarrassment.
It hadn’t opened up, of course, and today there was no pile of books waiting to trip her up. Besides, she was a grown woman. If she went sprawling now, she could laugh it off. The armour of adulthood, forged in the fires of adolescence. She shook her head at the fanciful thought (almost certainly inherited from her mother’s side of the family), and went forward to the back of the store, where the housekeeping books were kept. Sirius had taken on the task of cleaning out his house’s cellar and Tonks was looking for a book that didn’t just have the usual household spells but maybe things that were used in potion labs or apothecary shops. Perhaps she should go to Slug and Jiggers and ask them if they had any tips if she couldn’t find a book.
She stood on tiptoes to see the higher shelf and wondered if she should morph herself taller. The books were just about within reach, so she decided to stay her normal height. At first, her fingers just scrabbled uselessly, but then she found that by balancing on one foot, she could comfortably get hold of them. Just as she reached out to grab the spine of one, a voice said, “Nymphadora?”
Tonks squawked like an Augurey, taken by surprise. She grabbed the book to keep her balance, failed and fell, taking the book with her, falling right on her bottom. The impact pushed an ‘Oof!’ out of her and then the rest of the books on that shelf fell as well, thudding all around her like rocks, pages splaying and ruined. “Damn it!” she muttered, looking around her.
“Nymphadora?”
“Don’t call me that name,” she muttered, then looked up and saw who it was. Lupin, Remus Lupin. Standing there in his patched robes, deep brown eyes all concern for her, fawn-coloured hair cut back and greying around his ears, why did it have to be him?
“I’m sorry,” he said, kneeling down and putting the books into piles. “I startled you.”
“It’s all right,” she told him, recovering and trying to help. “I’m always knocking things over and falling down…. that’s just me.” She shrugged, laughing it off as she’d always done. “Clumsy old Tonks.” She stood up, brushing her knees down. “We’ll have to put these back.”
“Let me…” He took out his wand and pointed it. “Wingardium Leviosa.”
His incantation was perfect and she smiled involuntarily. The words brought back memories of her first year at Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick's beard bobbing in approval, and the white feather lifting up in front of her nose, light and airy, balanced by invisible forces. The whole pile of books lifted and floated upwards as Remus moved his wand in the same direction, hovering parallel to the shelf.
“Wait!” Tonks had finally seen a title that might just be good for Sirius: Spells for Stubborn Stains and Curses for Creepy Creatures. Sirius would probably appreciate the last part. She tapped the spine and slowly, Remus drew it out with his wand. Then it floated down into her outstretched palms and she took the weight of it. They smiled at each other for a moment, then he looked away and returned the books to their shelf.
“So… you’re not working today?” he asked in a lower voice.
She shook her head, leafing through the book. “Nobody wants me at the office and… I don’t have guard duty, either,” she added, glancing up at him. “So I’m having a rest. A holiday. What about you?”
“Oh… working. In a way. Looking up something for Dumbledore.”
“In the household section?” Tonks grinned at him, and Remus smiled back.
“You know how careful he is about his socks,” he replied, making her laugh.
As they walked back to the cash desk, she thought that his smile made him seem surprisingly young. Or maybe just his real age, she reminded herself. It was his illness that aged him, nothing else. Tonks thought about Mundungus Fletcher, who could have any job and chose to steal and live in filth; then she thought about Remus, who was intelligent and presentable, and did the best he could with his meagre allowance from the Ministry. Not for the first time, she wished that she could do something about it.
“Just that, thank you,” she said to the cashier, handing her the book, while Remus went over to the animal section and walked back and forth. He was obviously looking for something very specific. Of course, Dumbledore wouldn’t send Remus unless it was important, Tonks thought, giving the cashier her Galleons. Remus had an eye for detail and he was also very persistent (when it came to other people’s needs). She saw the cashier was looking at Remus, too, but with an entirely different expression, one of mistrust. Tonks felt irritation shoot up her spine and she turned, making her way over to where Remus was standing.
“Seen anything you like?” she asked in a louder voice.
He glanced at her for a moment with a strange expression, but he was too intelligent to ask what was going on. Instead, with the quickness of mind which made him such a valuable member, Remus rocked back on his heels and said in a considering tone, “Well, there are a couple that look promising, but this isn’t much of a collection, I have to say… I expected a bigger range from a bookshop this size.”
Tonks hid a smirk and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning slightly. “Never mind… I’m sure you’ll be able to find something. Maybe you can ask that nice young lady behind the desk.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to bother her,” he said doubtfully, leaning forward. Tonks would have given anything to see the girl’s face. “This… this will just have to do, I suppose,” Remus sighed, picking out a green spine with gold letters. The title was in Latin, so Tonks wasn’t quite sure what it said, but Remus must have some idea and Dumbledore spoke about a dozen languages.
“Maybe you should go and look in Obscurus Books as well,” she suggested, trying hard no to laugh.
“Yes, perhaps I should,” he agreed, weighing the book in his hands. “Never mind, this is a start.” He turned around and marched to the desk, but Tonks remained where she was, trying desperately to think of something serious.
McGonagall in a tutu… no, that IS funny. Snape in a tutu! Oh God, that’s even worse…Moody in a tutu!
There, she’d done it. She just couldn’t laugh at that. The thought of Moody in a tutu with that wooden leg made Tonks shudder. It was ghoulish rather than amusing. She turned to see Remus carefully counting out the Galleons into the cashier’s outstretched hand. The girl looked extremely uncomfortable but Remus didn’t speed up. Eventually, having given her the exact sum, he smiled at her. “Is that everything?” The girl nodded, quickly put the money in the register and then put his book in a paper bag.
They both managed to get about five metres away from the shop before they finally began to laugh.
“What was she doing?” Remus asked when they’d both got their breath back.
“Looking at you like she thought you were going to steal something,” Tonks said bluntly, glaring back over her shoulder. “What a snob.”
Remus shrugged, the light dying from his eyes, leaving his face pale and drawn. “It’s happened to me before.”
“That doesn’t make it right!” People looked up at the strength of Tonks’s voice and she glared back at them, so they looked away. Then she turned to Remus, trying not to be so loud. “No matter how many times it happens, Remus, it’s still wrong.”
“Whatever you say, Nymphadora,” he said with that small smile which so infuriated her.
“DON’T call me -!” She turned away, folding her arms. “Oh, what’s the use?” She could feel him smiling at her back. It was almost like he was calling her with that smile, asking her to smile with him. It was so difficult to resist, but she did. She was stubborn.
“Tonks…” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry?”
“For what? Using my name?” she demanded, not looking at him.
“Never for that,” he said, his voice warm and soft, which did strange things to her stomach. “I’m sorry for sounding so defeatist. It is nice to have someone who… thinks that kind of behaviour is wrong. It has been a long time since I’ve been around someone as open-minded as you and… I tend to just accept bigotry because it’s easier to do that than fight it.”
Tonks felt her shoulders drop. She turned around and looked at him. “I wasn’t thinking that, I just… I hate injustice. That is partly why I became an Auror,” she added with a smile. “Then I found out nothing was that simple. And now… now a lot of my colleagues would call me a traitor.” She let out a small sigh.
Remus had kept his hand on her shoulder. Now he squeezed it with a gentle pressure and bent down to look her in the eye. “You’ve chosen what is right over what is easy,” he said. “And I, for one, am grateful.”
She stared at him, startled, then felt a blush climb over her cheeks. She was almost ashamed of being so girly. What was happening to her? “Thank you,” she replied in a whisper. He smiled at her and she smiled back and for one moment, Tonks thought that he might even lean forward and then, maybe…
He pulled back, clearing his throat. Tonks almost sagged in disappointment. Why didn’t you lean forward yourself, you stupid girl? Next time, she promised herself - and there would be a next time - she would make a move. “How about ice cream?” she said, glossing over the awkward moment. “My treat.”
He hesitated. “Ice cream in October?”
Tonks rolled her eyes. “Ice cream isn’t just for summer. Come on, Remus, live a little!” She tapped his bag. “You’ve done your job. Now you can rest as well.”
He glanced down, as if he’d forgotten all about the book, then that small smile came back. “Okay,” he said, as they turned towards Florean Fortescue’s. “Just for a little while.”