PAST-FIC: A letter from Mum (Tonks, NPC Auror)
DATE/TIME: Friday, 5 December 1997: 4:27 p.m.
CHARACTERS: Tonks, Sophie Jenkins (NPC Auror)
PLACE: Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Division
RATING: Gen
STATUS: Complete
Tonks sat at her desk, filling in incident report forms very slowly, so as to look busy right up until the end of her shift. Her current boss had a nasty habit of giving out additional tasks to those who seemed unoccupied, and she was meeting Remus for dinner after work. She hated being late for dates with Remus, because he was so damned reasonable and understanding about it that one felt rather like a heel - and he, of course, was always perfectly on time, which made the whole thing worse.
She concentrated on her report - an old wizard in Shropshire had been owling repeatedly, insistent that the scarecrows in his neighbor's garden were disguised Death Eaters- and had written a few sentences in a near-perfect imitation of her father's handwriting when she heard her in-tray chime. She looked up and saw her mother's owl perched on the edge of her desk. Odd, that; her parents didn't usually owl her at the office. She opened the letter.
She groaned and let her head fall to the desk with a thunk. How did her mother always know everything? As s teenager, she had suspected some sort of Black family dark arts, but now she suspected it was worse than that- her mother knew people everywhere in wizarding society, and people loved to talk to her. She had probably gotten the details out of one of the Weasleys, or possibly even MacGonagall. And now she'd get no peace until she'd dragged poor Remus over to be inspected. She hit her head on her desk again.
"Oi, Tonks, keep it down," said Auror Jenkins, popping her head over the partition between their cubicles. "What's with the racket?
"I'm going to kill my mother, Sophie," Tonks said, in a hollow tone.
"You damn well aren't," said Jenkins. "Not until at least next week. I'm going to Santorini tomorrow morning and I haven't had a holiday in three years, and if you get yourself thrown in Azkaban they'll make me take your cases, and then I would kill you. What's your mother done, anyway, painted an ugly picture of you?"
"She wants me to invite my boyfriend home for Christmas," said Tonks.
"And you're afraid they won't like him? Or that he won't like them?"
"No, it's - look, it's complicated. We've never- I mean, I don't know if we're ready for meeting families. I mean, not officially meeting them. I've met his brother, but it was just in passing, you know, at his flat, it wasn't meeting with intent."
"Ah," said Jenkins. "The light dawns. How long've you two been seeing each other?"
"About six months," Tonks said.
"You're pretty serious, though, aren't you? I mean, you've been mooning about with pink hair all summer and leaving right on the dot when your shift's over."
"We are, but- I mean, I think we are," she said glumly. "He's hard to get a read on. One day he'll be looking at me like I'm all the stars in the sky, and then next thing I know I'm waking up alone and he's staring out the window all broody. He thinks I don't know he does that." She sighed. "And the thing is- I'm the one that went after him, you know? And he didn't want to, at first. He said he was too old for me- which is absurd, it's only twelve years, that's nothing for a wizard. But now sometimes I wonder- does he really want to be with me, or did I just pester him into it?"
"I think you're being ridiculous, Tonks," said Jenkins. "He's a grown man, do you really think he's going to have a relationship because of, what, peer pressure? You've been reading too many of those Ministry public service posters. Maybe he's just the broody type, or maybe he's trying to get up the nerve to tell you he's got three kids in Bora Bora, or maybe he really does think he's too old for you and is waiting for you to leave him for some Quidditch player with a hot arse, but you'll never know unless you ask him. Invite the man to Christmas dinner and go from there."
Tonks smiled sheepishly. "I suppose I am being silly," she said. "It's just- I've never done this before. All my other relationships were just kid stuff, you know, or else just for fun. There's never been any parent-meeting before. And he's important, Sophie. I don't want to ruin it by pushing too hard, too soon."
"Well if he doesn't like being pushed, he wouldn't have gotten mixed up with you," Jenkins said, kindly. "Just stop overthinking it and tell him your mum and dad want to meet him. And stop banging your head on your desk, because if MacPherson comes over here and gives us something extra to do you really will have trouble."
"All right," Tonks said. "Thanks, Sophie."
"Don't mention it," Jenkins said. "Oh, and also, you put your face down on your incident report. You might want to clean the ink off before you leave."
Tonks groaned, and dashed off the last bit of her report as quickly as she could. She hoped she still had some Madame Murbles' All-Stain Vanishing Soap in her desk drawer; if not, she'd have to pop home after work and would likely be late for dinner.
She hated when that happened.
CHARACTERS: Tonks, Sophie Jenkins (NPC Auror)
PLACE: Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Division
RATING: Gen
STATUS: Complete
Tonks sat at her desk, filling in incident report forms very slowly, so as to look busy right up until the end of her shift. Her current boss had a nasty habit of giving out additional tasks to those who seemed unoccupied, and she was meeting Remus for dinner after work. She hated being late for dates with Remus, because he was so damned reasonable and understanding about it that one felt rather like a heel - and he, of course, was always perfectly on time, which made the whole thing worse.
She concentrated on her report - an old wizard in Shropshire had been owling repeatedly, insistent that the scarecrows in his neighbor's garden were disguised Death Eaters- and had written a few sentences in a near-perfect imitation of her father's handwriting when she heard her in-tray chime. She looked up and saw her mother's owl perched on the edge of her desk. Odd, that; her parents didn't usually owl her at the office. She opened the letter.
She groaned and let her head fall to the desk with a thunk. How did her mother always know everything? As s teenager, she had suspected some sort of Black family dark arts, but now she suspected it was worse than that- her mother knew people everywhere in wizarding society, and people loved to talk to her. She had probably gotten the details out of one of the Weasleys, or possibly even MacGonagall. And now she'd get no peace until she'd dragged poor Remus over to be inspected. She hit her head on her desk again.
"Oi, Tonks, keep it down," said Auror Jenkins, popping her head over the partition between their cubicles. "What's with the racket?
"I'm going to kill my mother, Sophie," Tonks said, in a hollow tone.
"You damn well aren't," said Jenkins. "Not until at least next week. I'm going to Santorini tomorrow morning and I haven't had a holiday in three years, and if you get yourself thrown in Azkaban they'll make me take your cases, and then I would kill you. What's your mother done, anyway, painted an ugly picture of you?"
"She wants me to invite my boyfriend home for Christmas," said Tonks.
"And you're afraid they won't like him? Or that he won't like them?"
"No, it's - look, it's complicated. We've never- I mean, I don't know if we're ready for meeting families. I mean, not officially meeting them. I've met his brother, but it was just in passing, you know, at his flat, it wasn't meeting with intent."
"Ah," said Jenkins. "The light dawns. How long've you two been seeing each other?"
"About six months," Tonks said.
"You're pretty serious, though, aren't you? I mean, you've been mooning about with pink hair all summer and leaving right on the dot when your shift's over."
"We are, but- I mean, I think we are," she said glumly. "He's hard to get a read on. One day he'll be looking at me like I'm all the stars in the sky, and then next thing I know I'm waking up alone and he's staring out the window all broody. He thinks I don't know he does that." She sighed. "And the thing is- I'm the one that went after him, you know? And he didn't want to, at first. He said he was too old for me- which is absurd, it's only twelve years, that's nothing for a wizard. But now sometimes I wonder- does he really want to be with me, or did I just pester him into it?"
"I think you're being ridiculous, Tonks," said Jenkins. "He's a grown man, do you really think he's going to have a relationship because of, what, peer pressure? You've been reading too many of those Ministry public service posters. Maybe he's just the broody type, or maybe he's trying to get up the nerve to tell you he's got three kids in Bora Bora, or maybe he really does think he's too old for you and is waiting for you to leave him for some Quidditch player with a hot arse, but you'll never know unless you ask him. Invite the man to Christmas dinner and go from there."
Tonks smiled sheepishly. "I suppose I am being silly," she said. "It's just- I've never done this before. All my other relationships were just kid stuff, you know, or else just for fun. There's never been any parent-meeting before. And he's important, Sophie. I don't want to ruin it by pushing too hard, too soon."
"Well if he doesn't like being pushed, he wouldn't have gotten mixed up with you," Jenkins said, kindly. "Just stop overthinking it and tell him your mum and dad want to meet him. And stop banging your head on your desk, because if MacPherson comes over here and gives us something extra to do you really will have trouble."
"All right," Tonks said. "Thanks, Sophie."
"Don't mention it," Jenkins said. "Oh, and also, you put your face down on your incident report. You might want to clean the ink off before you leave."
Tonks groaned, and dashed off the last bit of her report as quickly as she could. She hoped she still had some Madame Murbles' All-Stain Vanishing Soap in her desk drawer; if not, she'd have to pop home after work and would likely be late for dinner.
She hated when that happened.