nymphadora tonks (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} faultinthestars) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} afreshrpg,@ 2012-10-03 05:20:00 |
 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When: Late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning
Where: Their flat
What: After a very long day, they both have a surprise for the other.
Rating: Low
Status: Closed, Complete
It had turned out that adopting a dog wasn't as easy as Bill expected it to be. He did plenty of research, spent multiple days at the shelter getting to know the dogs available, and now at last he'd brought one home. She was an adorable little bichon frise, and he petted her and gave her kisses while he waited for Tonks to come home to meet the new addition to the family.
It was agony, particularly as the hours started to stretch out. She often got home from work late, but this late? Something must've happened. He turned on the wireless to search for any information, but nothing seemed to be coming through. Another attack on Muggles, maybe? Something they were keeping quiet?
Jesus, she was going to kill him for this anxiety if she came home and everything was fine. Maybe she'd gone out for a drink with some friends and lost track of time. It happened, surely. He was her husband, not her overseer.
*
The past month and a half had been stressful, with the search for Susan Bones. Now that she had been found and Lestrange arrested, Tonks had hoped for some peace and quiet, but as the alerts had come in right before she was set to leave the department that evening, it became painfully clear that wasn't going to happen.
Two families this time, with five children between them. The search and recovery for the first family was over before Tonks even arrived, but she was present for the second later that night. And as she searched for the dead bodies of children, she stumbled across something incredible.
Many hours later, in the small hours of the morning, Tonks came home carrying a bag over her shoulder and two small children in her arms. One, an infant, was asleep; the other, a young girl, rested her head against Tonks's shoulder and sucked her thumb.
"Bill," called Tonks. "I'm home."
*
The puppy in Bill's lap gave a yap and all but flew off of him to see the new arrival. New arrivals plural, it soon appeared, as Bill headed out of the bedroom to see her. "Where've you been? I was insanely worried and I had to take the dog out by myself. That's right, I bought us a - "
He shut up, for once in his life, and eyed the children. Did they have any friends with kids that age? Why were they babysitting? But Bill loved children, and he held his arms out to take one or the other from his wife. "Missed you," he said. "Who's this?"
*
"You bought a dog?" said Tonks, but after today, nothing could really surprise her. "Well. Er. I brought home two kids. So I reckon we have loads to talk about."
She handed Bill the older girl, and giving him a kiss, she said, "I'll tell you once we put them to bed. It's been a long night. Help me get them settled in the guest room? I know we don't have a crib, but we can transfigure one."
*
"Yes, of course," Bill said, hugging the little girl close. He talked to her softly as they got the room set up, then tucked her into a little toddler bed right next to the crib so she could touch the baby if she wanted.
*
The baby woke up briefly, and Tonks changed and offered her a bottle she didn't take. At last she fell back asleep, and once they were both securely tucked in, she took Bill's hand and led him into the living room.
"First, tell me about this little guy," she said, scooping up the puppy and giving it a nuzzle. "Hey there, beautiful. Look at you."
*
"Girl," Bill corrected, settling onto the couch. "I was sick of everybody talking about their bloody cats, so I decided we needed a dog and I wanted to surprise you. I got her from the shelter - she's healthy, had all her shots and everything. She's almost a year old and she lived on the streets for awhile."
The puppy licked Tonks's face, squirming happily. "So, about these kids..."
*
"On the streets? You poor thing," murmured Tonks, giving her a cuddle. "Such a sweet girl. Thank you, Bill. She's beautiful. Does she have a name?"
She hesitated, scratching the dog behind the ears for a few moments before saying anything. "Their parents and older brother were killed. Muggles," she added. "We believe they're Muggleborns. Somehow one of the girls managed a ward to keep them both hidden, or at least that's the running theory. It was too late to contact a foster family, and it was safer to keep them in protective custody, so...right. We get to take care of them for a little while, until we can contact next of kin. The older girl's name is Rebecca - she's four - and the baby is Alexandria. She's five months old."
*
"I didn't want to officially name her without you, but I think Fidover is a good name," he said, solemnly and with total seriously. "We can call her Fie. Or Fifi. Or Miss Precious Flufflekins Yes You Are." He rubbed her ears.
Bill had been expecting something like this, truth be told. Went along with the shite that had been happening lately. "Poor babies," he whispered. "We'll take good care of them." Even though he was totally not equipped to handle two babies who had been through such trauma.
*
Tonks snorted despite everything. "You can call her Miss Precious Flufflekins Yes You are. I'm going to stick with Fifi." The kissed the top of the dog's fluffy little head. "Your new dad's kind of crazy, but you're cute, and he made an excellent decision."
Nodding, Tonks curled up against Bill, resting her head on his shoulder. "Rebecca isn't talking yet, and we don't know what happened. They're uninjured though. Not a scratch on them, while their parents and older brother were dismembered. Not in front of them, as far as we can tell," she added. "I found them hidden in a warded closet. But still. And Rebecca hugged me and wouldn't let me go, and they'd been through enough, so Kingsley gave me permission to be their protective custody."
*
Bill grinned at that, but it was tough to be happy about their new dog when they also had, well, kids. Temporarily, but it was still daunting and depressing by turns.
"What if she never talks?" he asked. "Trauma response and all? We can't be sure they didn't see anything, they probably heard shite." It might not make much of an imprint on the baby, fortunately.
*
Tonks would take any little bit of happiness she could find right now, epsecially the furry, four-legged kind. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe she never will. I'm going to make an appointment with a child psychologist in the morning either way. But right now the only thing we can really do is take care of them and keep them as comfortable as possible. They're so young that they won't digest it the way adults do."
*
"Yeah," Bill said softly. "Maybe the puppy will help. She's a really good dog." Hopefully the girls weren't allergic or phobic. God, so many things to think about. "I'll go shopping for them as soon as everything opens in the morning, okay?"
*
Tonks nodded and gave him a kiss. "Thank you. I brought some things from their home as well - grabbed a photo album and a few changes of clothes and toys, but those can wait until morning."
*
"Hopefully the familiarity will help," he said. Really, though, he had no idea what would help, or what to expect. He very clearly remembered Ginny being this age, but she was Ginny. These were two kids he didn't know who were suffering.
*
"We'll figure it out," she said softly, giving him another kiss as the dog licked her collarbone. "We'll take it one day at a time. No saying how long they'll be with us, but they could be gone as early as tomorrow."
*
"I doubt it," he said softly. It would take time for wizards to liaise with Muggles to find their potential relatives. If life were fair, the poor girls would be with family right now, but they couldn't be. At least this was the next best thing.
*
Or at least as much of a next best thing as they could give them. "If we have them for a little while, then that's what happens. I don't mind. Do you?"
*
"No, not at all," he said. "It's daunting, but we can get my mum to help us out too. The dog's housetrained." That was something, anyway. They could mainly focus on the kids.
*
"Well, that's one out of three," she joked, and she gave the puppy another pet. "Fifi. You're such a sweet girl, aren't you?" She gave Bill a kiss. "Thank you again. She's perfect. I'm sorry I sort of one-upped your surprise. Didn't mean to."
*
Bill snorted. "It's fine. Wouldn't have married you if I wasn't looking forward to the surprises." He wrapped his arm around her waist. "You must be exhausted. Get to bed and don't worry about anything, all right? I'll take care of the kids when they wake up." He probably knew more about child care than she did anyway, thanks to his siblings.
*
"Mm, you're too nice," she murmured. "Okay. Bed, all three of us. I've already put up monitoring charms in the girls' room, so we'll know if they wake up." The last thing she wanted was for them to be alone.
*
Bill nodded and carried Fifi off to bed, where she snuggled up between them. It would've been quite cozy if not for the constant worry about the girls, their future, everything that was happening out there in the world.
*
Tonks couldn't sleep, of course, warm and comfortable as she was with Bill and Fifi. Her thoughts kept drifting to everything she'd seen in the past few days, and the two girls in the other room. How had they survived? And as lucky as they were, she couldn't imagine they would feel it one they were old enough to realise what had happened.
Shortly after three in the morning, a piercing scream ripped through the flat. No need for a monitoring charm to hear that.
*
Bill jerked awake immediately, and blearily rushed into the other room. "Hey, hey. Rebecca, it's okay," he soothed, though he had better sense than to try to touch her. She might only be half-conscious and being grabbed by a strange man could make things much worse.
*
Tonks rushed into the room after him and turned on the lights. "Rebecca," she said gently, kneeling next to the bed. "You're okay. You're safe. Your sister's right here with you. I'm Tonks, remember?"
Rebecca nodded tearfully, hugging her knees to her chest. "I wan' my mommy," she whispered.
*
Bill bit his lip at that and knelt down beside his wife. "Your mummy's not here," he said softly. "I'm very, very sorry about that. But we're here, and we're going to take good care of you, all right?"
*
Because she didn't know what else to do, and because she had to be strong for her baby sister, Rebecca nodded tearfully.
"Hey," said Tonks gently. "Tell you what. Why don't I go make us all some hot cocoa, and Bill and I will stay with you until you fall back asleep?"
*
"She makes great hot cocoa," Bill confided in Rebecca. "That's why I married her. Do you want to meet our puppy?"
*
Rebecca's eyes widened a little. "Puppy?"
Tonks smiled a bit and gave Bill a kiss. "I'll go make that hot cocoa."
*
Bill held his hand out to her. "I bought a puppy just today. Her name is Fifi. She's small and very friendly." And she'd somehow slept through all the drama.
*
Rebecca glanced at Tonks's retreating form, then reluctantly took Bill's hand. "Can Lexi see, too?" she whispered shyly.
*
"Of course she can," he said. "But she's still asleep." Which was a miracle in and of itself. "So in the morning you and I can introduce her to the puppy."
*
Rebecca nodded, but she looked worriedly at the crib. "I stay?" She couldn't leave her sister. She'd promised.
*
"Sure. I'll bring her in," he said, and carried Fifi in a moment later. She gave a sleepy woof and licked Rebecca's face.
*
Rebecca giggled and very, very gently hugged the puppy. "Hi, Fifi."
*
Fifi wiggled and curled up in Rebecca's lap, licking her hands, and Bill grinned and knelt on the floor again. "She's a really good puppy," he whispered. "Maybe tomorrow we can all go for a walk, huh? You, me, Fifi, and your sister?"
*
Rebecca petted Fifi with the care of a child who was accustomed to being around animals, and she nodded. "Park?"
*
"Of course. We have a really great park not too far from here." He made a mental note to duck out early in the morning to borrow a stroller from his mother. Yeesh, there was so much they were going to need, even for a short stay.
*
Tonks returned with the hot cocoa - warm cocoa for Rebecca - soon. "Here we go," she said, settling down with Bill. "Looks like Fifi really likes you."
*
Bill nodded. "Fifi likes her better than us. I'm a little jealous, but not too much."
*
"Of course Fifi likes her better than us. Rebecca's brilliant."
Rebecca hid her sad little smile in the dog's fur.
"Tell you what," said Tonks. "Fifi can stay in here tonight with you." It might give her a sense of protection, at the very least.
*
"She's a good dog and she won't pee on you," Bill promised. "And if you need us, we're just across the hall, okay? We'll leave our door open."
*
Rebecca nodded, still hugging the puppy. Tonks helped her with her hot cocoa, and soon enough she lay back down with Fifi curled up beside her pillow. She watched her little sister sleep until she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer, and at last she fell back asleep.
*
Bill stayed by her side until her breathing evened out, and then headed back to bed. "Poor kids," he whispered. "Dunno how to tell them their parents are..."
*
"I think Rebecca knows," whispered Tonks. "But knowing and understanding at her age...two completely different things."
*
Bill sighed. "Can't even imagine it," he said softly. "At least the baby will never have known them."
*
"Might turn out to be a blessing, and it might not," she whispered.
*
"I'd say it would certainly be a blessing if not for her sister. There will always be that gulf between them."
*
"I just hope they find relatives who fully understand what happened and are willing to get them treatment," she said softly. "It won't be easy for them no matter what they remember."
*
Bill nodded. No one should have to go through such tragedy at any point in their lives, but for it to happen to little kids...and to know that they were still the lucky ones, because if they'd been found, they would have been murdered...it was rough.
*
Very rough. And as lucky as they were, it was hard to think of them that way, with their family murdered possibly in front of them.
"Try to get some sleep," she whispered, giving Bill a kiss. "I love you. I'll find out what I can tomorrow."
*
"I love you too," he whispered back. "I'll call in to make sure I won't have to work, just in case they need you at the Ministry."
*
"Thanks," she said. "If you have to work, we'll figure something out." The girls had had enough uncertainty over the past few hours. The least they could do was give them some stability until they found relatives to provide a permanent home.