Fourteen Years

"When are they coming?"

"Any minute now, dear."

Nymphadora was sitting on the sofa, her little legs nervously kicking the furniture. This 'any minute now' business had been going on for almost half an hour! They had said they would be here by eleven, and it was almost eleven-thirty!

"Nymphadora, be a good girl and stop kicking the sofa," her mother called from the kitchen.

Patience was not one of Nymphadora's traits. She had got dressed very early, in hopes that it would somehow make them arrive sooner, and had been restless ever since. She started to fiddle with her plaits, when she realised that she'd surely mess them up and, frowning, let go of them. She wanted to look pretty today.

She fought the urge to start kicking the sofa again and occupied herself with counting the flowers on her dress. She had tried that four times already, but always lost count at some point. She would have taken a crayon to mark the ones she had already counted, but was sure that her mother would throw a fit if she saw the yellow dress blotted like that.

The little girl looked at the dress determinedly and started counting silently.

One, two, three, four...

The doorbell interrupted her counting, but Nymphadora couldn't care less. With a squeal of excitement, she ran to the door and pulled the handle. The door didn't open, and the girl pulled harder.

Andromeda came from the kitchen, holding the key to the door and her wand. In times like these, it wasn't wise to keep the doors unlocked. Especially if there was a rather impatient little girl in the house.

Nymphadora, with her lips puckered, stepped aside for her mother to open the door. Andromeda put the key in the keyhole and muttered a spell. The key disappeared and the door opened, revealing two young men. The girl squealed again and dashed to one of them, the one with the brown hair and hazel eyes. He laughed and picked her up.

"I get the distinct impression that little Nymphadora likes Mr Remus here better than her own cousin," the other man said, a big grin on his face.

Nymphadora flushed and looked at her cousin. "Hi, Sirius," she greeted coyly.

"Come in, boys," Andromeda said.

The young men entered the house. Andromeda closed and locked the door, retrieved the key, which she put in a safe place - a top shelf in the kitchen, out of Nymphadora's reach - and returned to the sitting room. She rolled her eyes upon seeing the trio sitting on the floor, around a collection of her daughter's favourite toys. Nymphadora's ability to get down to playing in mere moments was amazing.

"Nymphadora..." she started to scold her daughter, but Sirius turned around and threw her a look as if to scold her.

"Cousin, I've told you a million times that we like playing with your daughter. If you don't want to join us, then at least don't be a spoilsport."

Andromeda smiled at her cousin, then drew a stool near the trio and sat down. "So, how are you doing?"

"Fine," Sirius replied, attacking the doll Nymphadora was holding with a toy dog. "Woof!" he barked at the girl, then turned back to Andromeda. "Although things are getting darker by the day," he said, and his expression lost some of its cheer.

"I'm sure it will all work out in the end," Andromeda said earnestly.

"We all hope so," Remus said, as he tried to disentangle his fingers from a strange rope that had somehow crept around them. Nymphadora giggled loudly, and then crawled near him to help him free himself.

"The newest trick from Zonko's," Andromeda explained with a sigh. "Ted brought it for her."

"There go the times when we were most well-versed on all the Zonko products," Sirius reminisced and Remus nodded with a nostalgic smile.

"It hasn't been all that long ago," Andromeda pointed out. "Anyway, where are Peter, James and Lily?"

"Oh, Peter and James got a little delayed in that job they had to do," Sirius said cryptically, so as not to let any details slip in front of the little girl. "Lily sent word that they were only back one hour ago, and that James desperately needed a bath."

Andromeda laughed. "Well, let them take their time. Ted won't be here for a while, either. Something came up at the Ministry. Again," she added with a sigh. "Do you boys want some tea?"

"No, thanks," Remus replied, fascinated in watching Nymphadora play the rope in her fingers. "She's not as clumsy as you claim her to be, Andromeda."

"Not when it comes down to mischief, she's not," Andromeda commented, with a sly grin.

"She'll grow out of it," Sirius said. "James couldn't hold a glass of water up straight when I first met him, and in three years he had become the star Chaser of the Gryffindor team."

The chat went on. Ted came home a little later, and immediately joined the playing trio on the floor. It was quarter past twelve when Peter, James and Lily eventually showed up.

"Aha! The game's on already, I see," James said, observing the crowd gathered around Nymphadora's treasures.

"I'm going to bring some more toys for you," Nymphadora said and bounced her way to her room, tripping twice, but both times getting back up without difficulty. Andromeda looked at Remus, as if to tell him 'I told you so'.

By the time she returned, loaded with at least a dozen different toys, she found the adults gathered around Lily.

"What's that?" she demanded. She instantly dropped the toys and dashed to the group. "Lemme see!"

Andromeda and Peter stepped aside. Nymphadora walked up to Lily and eyed her curiously. Lily smiled at the girl and showed her what she had been showing to the others.

It was a photograph. A black-and-white photograph of Lily, James and Sirius. Nymphadora examined it carefully, and reached a conclusion when she realised what the three people in it were wearing.

"You got married!"

"Yes," Lily confirmed.

"Wow!" The little girl looked at the happy couple for a moment, then her expression fell. "Why didn't you tell me? I wanted to be there too."

"We didn't tell anyone, actually," Lily said in an apologetic tone, her eyes searching Remus, Peter, Andromeda and Ted. "It was a sudden decision. James had to leave, and we didn't know..."

"We wouldn't have told Sirius either, if we didn't need a best man," James added with a small smile.

"Why, thank you, mate," Sirius said in mock hurt.

"You're welcome, pal."

Nymphadora had snatched the photo as it had been slipping from Lily's fingers, and the others were surprised to notice how immersed she had become in it.

"Do you like it?" Lily asked, caressing one of the girl's plaits.

"I will get married too, when I grow up," the girl said.

"Sure you will."

"And I will wear a nice dress like the one you are wearing here."

"I might even give you that particular one," Lily said with a smile.

"How much do I have to grow up until I can get married?"

Sirius fell on James's shoulder, stifling a laugh. Everybody was grinning widely.

"Ten years at least," Lily answered.

Nymphadora frowned. Ten years sounded like a long time.

"And who will you get married to?" Peter couldn't resist teasing her.

"Remus," Nymphadora replied readily.

That did it for Sirius, who started laughing so hard against James's shoulder he almost threw him on the floor. James was doing a better job containing his laughter.

Ted leaned close to Remus and whispered in his ear, "As you see, she's not even going to ask you."

Remus nodded, very amused.

Nymphadora's mood started to brighten again, around all those smiley faces. Then, a horrible thought crossed her mind, and she turned around to Remus, her eyes wide with anxiety.

"Don't get married to anybody else before I grow up!"

"No, I won't," he said, putting on a serious face.

"Promise!"

"Promise."

Satisfied, Nymphadora returned to the pile of toys she had previously dropped in favour of the photograph. "Why don't we play some more?"

"Sure," Remus said and quickly found his earlier place on the floor.

"I'll make sure your daughter doesn't seduce him just yet," Sirius told Andromeda and joined the playing couple. The others watched the scene for a while, then sat down on the sofas to have some tea.

-----

Fourteen years later...

"Ah, these were good times," Sirius said, sipping down some wine.

"You were one impatient girl," Remus said, waggling a finger at Tonks.

"Guilty as charged," she said. "But at least you were patient."

He eyed her questioningly.

"Fourteen years later, you're still waiting for me."

"I always keep my promises," he said, putting on the same serious face he had put on that day. He took a sip of wine, as the girl, no longer worried about her hairstyle, twirled a strand of her orange hair around her finger, every so often stealing a glance at him.

She remembered the time when he was a regular visitor to the Tonks household. He had changed a lot since then - and at the same time hadn't changed at all. It was true that he smiled much less nowadays; but she was sure that, was she to grab a toy car and start rolling it on the floor, he'd grab one too and join her for a race.

Sirius would, too. But for some reason, she liked Remus's company better, just like she did back then. Sirius was the one who would challenge her, tease her, tickle her; every time he'd find a new way to make her laugh. Remus was the quiet kind of fun; he played along with her, let her set her own rules and followed them no matter how absurd they were. In a way, he took her seriously; and this was a big deal to a little girl who wanted to feel important.

"He won't wait forever," Sirius told Tonks, making to fill her glass. "Quick, start seducing him!"

Tonks studied Remus's face. Her gaze travelled from his hazel eyes to his nose and his thin lips. Taking one last overall look at him, she decided that Sirius's idea didn't sound all that bad.

And, by the way Remus was looking at her, she could tell it wouldn't be too difficult, either.

-The End-