_pinkslip (_pinkslip) wrote in lockewood, @ 2011-01-05 19:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | nymphadora tonks, sirius black |
Who: Sirius and Tonks
Where: Remus and Sirius' place
When: Backdated: Very late Jan 3/Early Jan 4
What: Tonks reunites with her favorite cousin
Status/Rating: Incomplete, low
Maybe it was a little late and she wasn’t thinking too clearly, but Tonks was more than ready to believe that this Lockewood place was real. The thing was, she didn’t understand why anyone would go through the trouble of creating a con like this. She didn’t understand how it was possible, but maybe it didn’t matter. There was no way that anyone would go through that much trouble to find a 30-something version of Harry Potter.
Or, at the moment, that’s what Tonks believed anyway.
So, when Harry had told her that Sirius was innocent and that this was all real, Tonks had followed the suggestion that Sirius had given her in the journal. She had trucked her way across Lockewood (tripping only twice, thank you!) even though it was absolutely freezing and started pounding on the door to the house that Sirius had said was his. She didn’t care that it was too late to be doing visits. If Sirius was innocent and actually here, she wanted to see him. That was sure proof, right? No one was going to break him out of Azkaban just for this.
Sirius probably wouldn’t have woken up if it hadn’t been for Sheeba barking and growling and scratching at the door. It was only after the haze of sleep cleared off that he heard it. Someone pounding at the door downstairs like it was urgent.
And it better be one hell of an emergency, given the ungodly hour it was.
“Fuck,” he groaned, sitting up and starting to push himself out of bed. When he felt Remus begin to stir awake, he brushed a quick kiss over the man’s temples. “You stay here, I’ll see who it is.”
Grabbing a shirt, Sirius pulled it over his head as he hauled himself up, opened the door, and rushed down the stairs with Sheeba flying ahead of him. She was already pawing the door and yipping by the time he reached it. Before he opened the door, he bent to scoop her up into his arms. Didn’t need Sheeba biting someone who didn’t deserve it.
“All right, what the hell is it?” Sirius gruffly demanded as he swung the door open.
He had clearly been asleep, but Tonks didn’t care. It took her a matter of seconds to recognize Sirius. Really, he didn’t look any different from the last time she had seen him; his hair was maybe a little longer and he had definitely been wearing more clothes. He probably hadn’t had a puppy in his arms either, but really. He was still Sirius, the cousin that Tonks had adored being around and the one that had taught her practically everything she needed to know.
“Sirius!” Tonks said, throwing her arms around him in the next instant, not caring that it might have not been the most appropriate of things (screw propriety) or that he apparently had a ball of fur in his arms that yipped loudly. She didn’t even know what she was supposed to say. She was feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, was freezing to death, and really wanted something to eat.
Sirius managed to catch a flash of dark purple before Tonks threw herself at him (and Sheeba). “Wotcher,” he returned as the ball of fur barked and obviously didn’t appreciate being caught between a hug. With his arms full of Sheeba, he couldn’t exactly return the hug.
“Hang on, la.” Sirius leaned down and let the dog loose, leaving her to sniff at Tonks. With his arms freed, he straightened up again and tried another take. This time, done right and proper. Full embrace, and a smacking kiss on the cheek. His customary greeting for all loved ones. Even if she went on to marry his Remus, he loved his little cousin. He hated that tug between the two extremes of loving her and loving Remus. He wanted to saviour the moment – the moment where they weren’t fighting over the same man and he didn’t have to feel an inkling of guilt – while he still could.
Why couldn’t it always just be like this? Rather than ask, Sirius said, “So you believe me now?”
Tonks waited, trying her best to be patient when Sirius put the puppy down. Her gaze was only momentarily drawn away by the white ball of fur that began to circle her combat boots. The dog didn’t exactly seem to be Sirius’ style, but she figured she could be wrong about that as well.
When Sirius leaned in again, Tonks wrapped her arms just as tightly around him as before; she felt like she was six again, when her mum and dad had Sirius come over to babysit. She had seldom been allowed over his flat -- and although it hadn’t had many toys, she had always liked to visit there anyway. It had been an adventure. You never knew what you were going to find in his couch.
In any case, she felt safe for the time being -- for the first time in what had been hours. It also helped that Sirius felt ridiculously warm, as if sleep was still lacing his skin.
“I don’t know,” Tonks said with a laugh as she pulled back to look at Sirius again. “Is that so wrong of me? I’m quite baffled.”
“Absolutely! When have I ever led you astray?” Sirius challenged, mocking an air of indignity. “You should believe everything I tell you. Without a doubt.”
When she pulled back is when he noticed how bloody freezing it was out there. The cold was nipping at his bare feet, and it didn’t look like Tonks was any better dressed for the weather than he was at the moment. Which said a lot, given that he was in a shirt and boxers.
“Get your arse in here already,” Sirius beckoned, dragging her through the door before shutting out the cold. He pulled her toward the fireplace. Another log needed to be put on, and with a murmur of wandless magic, he had the hearth blazing again. They’d be warm and toasty in no time. “How old are you now? Fifty?”
Tonks couldn’t help but smile when Sirius issued his challenge. He really did seem to be exactly the same as she remembered. But then, Harry was so much older that maybe Sirius was from a time when he hadn’t yet gone to Azkaban. She didn’t know. What she did know was that it was cold and that she wasn’t about to stand outside all night.
Tonks followed him over the threshold; the toe of her boot caught on the edge of it and she ended up half careening into Sirius, but that seemed to be okay. She steadied herself after a moment and then took a look around the the mostly dark house; it didn’t seem to be any different from the one that was supposedly hers and Harry’s.
“Twenty-one,” Tonks answered proudly when he asked. “How old are you?” Tonks asked a moment later; it occurred to her that if Sirius really was as young as she suspected, they’d be close to the same age. That was weird.
Sirius barked a laugh. She may as well have stuck up her fingers and shown him her age that way. The way she said it reminded him of those times when that half or three-quarters of a year mattered because you were that much closer to being a grown-up
“Still younger than me, but just by a squick,” he said, moving around to plop down on the sofa. Now that he knew it wasn’t an emergency, the sleepiness was catching up to him again, weighing on his eyelids. “I’m twenty-four.”
“So this place is legit,” Tonks surmised as she looked about. She wasn’t ready to sit down just yet, although she glanced over at her shoulder when Sirius sat down on the couch. She walked around a little bit, able to see evidence of the fact that Christmas and probably New Year’s had just passed here. It hadn’t even been close to the holidays when she was from.
“How long have you been here?” Tonks asked, suddenly feeling the need to ask him a barrage of questions even if he was tired. She wasn’t anywhere ready to give up and go back to that same empty house just yet. “What’s it like? What do you do? Who do you live with?”
Sirius closed his eyes. Took too much effort to keep them open and speak at the same time. “Just about two years.” It had been his second Christmas. His second New Years. It was almost difficult to believe. “It’s better than rotting away in Azkaban, but there’s still motherfuckers like Greyback around. I’m a potter -- as in the kind that works with clay and makes bowls and shite -- and I live with Remus. Helga lived here, but decided to kip over to stay with Godric because he has a bloody sword,” he answered, rambling on without bothering to explain he was talking about the Founders.
It didn’t occur to him that he would need to explain that.
Tonks turned to look at Sirius when he started to ramble; it was abundantly clear that he was starting to fall asleep. She knew that if she was being polite (aka, if she was listening to what her mother would have told her) she would have left and agreed to come back in the morning. She was too excited at the prospect of seeing him again and eager to figure out what was going on to do that, however.
Instead, she crossed the room and patted him twice on the cheek, perhaps with a little more force than necessary.
“Wake up,” she instructed. “Remus? The one you lived with after school?” she asked, although she couldn’t imagine that there were too many Remuses here. “And Helga who?” She had no idea who Sirius was talking about. “You said my parents were here. How old are they?”
“Oi, I’m awake!” Sirius protested, batting away her hand. The only questions that he seemed to hear were the ones about Remus. It took a few beats before he realised that she was asking about Remus as if she didn’t know him as anyone other than his flat-mate. Which meant.. a lot of things. Most of them good (for Sirius), depending on how Tonks reacted to the news that she married and had a kid with Remus.
There was a chance she might not fancy the idea of that future.
“Yeah, he was my flat mate.” Brow furrowing, he asked, “Just how old are you? You haven’t met up with Remus recently, have you?”
“Twenty-one,” Tonks repeated again, actually holding up the fingers this time, as if seeing them would help Sirius. “You’re clearly not that awake.” she teased. After a moment, she took a seat on the couch beside Sirius and turned so that she could press her feet into his lap. This way, she could nudge him anytime he seemed on the verge of falling asleep.
“What? No,” Tonks said, shaking her head. “I haven’t seen him since the end of the war. I think he kind of disappeared and Mum and Dad didn’t mention him.”
“Oh. Right.” She’d already told him that, hadn’t she? The better question would be, what year are you from, but his brain had been too slow on the uptake. Sirius couldn’t be arsed to do the math on his own, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she hadn’t met Remus all grown-up and the like.
He rested his elbows on her legs. “Did you ever have a crush on him when you were ickle and I’d bring you over to the flat?” Sirius asked, subtle as a trainwreck.
Tonks knew that she made some kind of face when Sirius asked her the question. She didn’t really understand what he was getting at and it seemed kind of strange. Of course, the odd thing about it all was that she had a crush on Sirius when she was younger; oh, all his friends had seemed nice enough and she had liked being around James and Remus, but it was always Sirius that she had aspired to be like when she was little. Apparently, he had never caught onto that.
“No,” Tonks answered, rolling her eyes. “He wouldn’t even ride your bike.”
A gruff chuckle was dragged out of Sirius. He was surprised Tonks was around to witness Remus’s opposition to riding Janet, his metallic mistress. “He would, sometimes. When I coerced him.” A little pressure, and Remus eventually succumbed. And, it wasn’t as though Remus were completely dead-set against motorbikes. His Christmas present was evidence enough of that.
Biting down on his tongue, Sirius chewed over his next few words. He could have said nothing else about Remus, but Sirius knew if she didn’t find out from him, she’d learn from another channel. There was no getting around it when there was a sprog around town.
“Never imagined you would marry and have a son with the bloke, did you?”
Tonks laughed a little when Sirius talked about coercing Lupin to get on the bike. She had clearly never been around for any of that; she had always been quite excited to go on the bike, but the times she had been allowed were few and far in between. Even now, she enjoyed flying, but considering how clumsy she was, it wasn’t something that she did often. Besides, it was as if flying on a broom had ever been able to top the few trips that Sirius had taken with her on the bike.
However, when Sirius asked the last question, the smile fell off her face. She shook her head a little. Instead, she just looked confused.
“What are you going on about?” Tonks asked, because it seemed to her that Sirius was implying that she married his fried -- sometime in the future, but that just seemed a bit odd. She hadn’t seen the bloke in years and it didn’t seem as if he was going to be walking back into her life anytime soon. Besides, he was completely unlike any of the other men she had dated throughout school and her Auror training; if she was being completely honest, she had always dated men who were -- well, a little more like Sirius.