Houses

Chapter I:

"Obviously Yours From the Start."

"Completely unacceptable."

"I find it hard to believe myself."

"They had no right to place you in this position. I'm bringing it up at the next meeting."

Pause.

"Perhaps it's a rather petty thing to bother the whole order..."

"Nymphadora, in any organization the first priority, above all other agenda, must be the comfort and safety of its members."

"I don't see how sleeping up here compromises my safety..."

"The children could have been placed in the attic bedroom. They'd've enjoyed it, and you have a long work day to come home from, you deserve more than a cot and a space-heating charm--"

"Molly, I don't see how we can rearrange people now, they're all settled in and the house is full up as it is. I can make do. It's really not that bad."

"Remus should have found a better place for you. Honestly, for a man his age, he can have distressing lapses of common sense--"

"I'm positive Remus did the best he could."

He had. This much, he explained to Molly and Nymphadora in the kitchen, over tea, when the women had descended.

"...he'd failed to notify me about the business with your flat, probably because he was hoping you'd be getting it back before you'd be forced to officially move out, but by the time I heard, it was too late. Of course, the Weasleys and Harry were arriving the next day, and I gave them bedrooms because you'd not be here for another two days. Between then, Lovegood finally decided to deposit his daughter--you've met, correct? He just joined this summer. Yes, she's in Ginny's class--but she had a nasty cold from Romania, and she was catching, so we gave her her own room until she's feeling better."

It was a long speech for Remus. Outside of the classroom, he listened more often than he spoke. It was something few of his acquaintances tended to notice, mostly because when they were with him, they were too busy talking.

He drew a breath.

"Of course, you can have my room."

Nymphadora opened her mouth, but Molly swooped in verbally first.

"Now, Remus, there's no need for such measures we simply wanted to make the problem clear to you of course we wouldn't take your lovely room from you Nympha--Miss Tonks will be fine all by herself up there, I'm sure."

"Tonks has work, and I don't. I could sleep during the day, if I wanted to, if I couldn't manage it well up in the attic. Tonks should take my room."

"That's out of the question, Remus," said Molly, rising. Tonks, in wonder of the other woman's matriarchal prowess, remained silent. "Tonks, let's take our tea upstairs. I think Arthur was reading something interesting in the paper that he wanted to share with us."

"I thought I saw him nodding off--"

"Of course not my dear. Come, now."

Nymphadora, who owed Molly a debt of gratitude for--well, to be truthful, she wasn't sure what she owed Molly. The mother had been there to bring her home-cooked dinners when she was being turned out of her flat; she had helped the girl pack, to secure a place (however unsatisfactory) in 12 Grimmauld Place, had been there like a rock-solid column of matronly support in a difficult time. It perplexed the girl, however, when it came to determining why she felt such a strong sense of obligation in return; these were the things friends did, and if friends are friends, good deeds don't require payment--it had been a long day, and it was getting longer, and Nymphadora felt a headache coming on. She smiled and followed Molly.

They found Mr. Weasley reclining in a leather armchair in the parlor, snoring softly.

"Well, my dear, we must tell you about Remus' positively inexcusable behavior. I say, Arthur--"

Mr. Weasley gazed groggily at his wife.

"I certainly don't have anything against the man; and one must be kind to him, because we all know--well, at any rate, I consider this beyond that excuse. At some point, a person must move on, and if his childish behavior continues to put others in discomfort, I will--"

"Molly, dear, please tell me what he did so I can go back to sleep."

"He offered Nymphadora his room!"

"It's Tonks, Molly--"

"Of course, my dear. Now let me tell Arthur what Remus did to you."

Nymphadora Tonks bit her tongue and watched Molly rant.

"First, he placed her in the attic! The attic, Arthur! The poor thing has a job and such a busy little life and that cot cannot be good for her back at all, in fact I can't imagine how much worse it would be as soon as she must try to sleep up there with Woman Troubles and the air is so stale and nasty, but there was no other room for her. Remus made sure we understood that. Oh, he was so dithering, coming up with excuses for his thoughtless blunder!"

"Molly, he was just explaining what had happened so we wouldn't resent--"

"And then, to add insult to injury, he offers her his own room! To be sure, he let us know just how uncomfortable that would be for him, how much of a sacrifice--"

"He just wanted us to know that even if it was uncomfortable, it matters less to him than it does to me."

"So, I think you'd approve of this Arthur, we turned his offer down. I know I'd rather suffer than provide anyone else in this house with an excuse to moan."

"It's not really suffering, Molly, and I don't think he'd complain so much."

Arthur, who'd been nodding off during the more involved parts of Molly's speech, perked up once again.

"Let the girl take the room, Molly. If it makes them happy, who are we to judge? They're the ones sleeping in these rooms, after all."

Molly blustered for a moment. She lowered her voice, as if to prevent Nymphadora from hearing.

"Dear, what if he's Changed in there? I don't have any bad thoughts about Remus individually, but we must draw the line somewhere."

"Well, in the state he's in now, at any rate, I don't think he's catching."

"I don't think it's quite right for her to be in there, nonetheless."

"I don't think it's quite right for her to be in the attic, either, but I suppose it's up to you."

Molly straightened up.

"Well, if you think so, I'll go have a chat with Remus about that room. No, there's no need to come with me, Nymphadora. I can handle him on my own."

A few minutes later, Molly marched back into the parlor.

"It's settled. You'll have a room on the first floor, and Remus will sleep in the attic."

"Thank you Molly--really, it's too much of you--I could have done it on my own."

"It's no trouble, dear. I promised your mother I'd keep an eye over you, and I have."

"Really, Molly, I can take care of myself, though."

"Collect your things, dear. I'm sure Remus will be wanting to go to bed soon."

Nymphadora left the parlor with a nod to Arthur and climbed the stairs. She walked down the corridor, past doors hiding the muffled murmurs of newly-deepening voices, the airy laughter of newly-graceful throats, and the lonely sneezes of an ailing girl. Up more stairs, rickety ones that folded down only with a sharp tug in just the right angle, and then, into the attic.

It smelled damp and dusty, and the light was gray, even though the light bulb of her lamp was charmed a warm yellow. Most of her things were still in boxes, and most of the boxes were still stowed in the library, so she swept the pajamas she'd laid on the bed into her case, and gathered all else she'd distributed in the room into her arms. She turned to go, and ran into Remus coming up.

"Sosorry," she said.

"Don't worry, you didn't break anything." He smiled. He carried a small carpetbag in one hand and three books in the other. He set these on the bed and turned to Nymphadora. "Would you like some help taking your things down?"

"No, thanks, I think I've got it." A journal slipped out from under her elbow and flapped onto the floor. "Except that."

He picked it up, and she indicated with her chin where it could be placed on the pile of her belongings held in her awkward embrace. It balanced easily enough between her forearm and her favorite pillow.

She could smell him when he stood close. He smelled like dust and the warm kitchen and shaving lotion or something like it, though why he'd smell like shaving lotion this late in the day, she didn't know. In fact, she didn't properly know what the scent was; she simply assigned any sort of lingering, masculine scent to shaving lotion.

It was pleasant.

"Thanks again."

She clattered down the stairs. When she arrived at the bottom, she turned right and strode down two doors to find Remus' (former) door already open. When she entered, she closed her eyes and inhaled the same scent she had caught on the man who had just moved out. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself smiling.

Nymphadora was on the verge of releasing the burden of her most comforting possessions onto the bed when she noticed Mr. Weasley's newspaper resting on the coverlet, next to his nightcap.

Molly entered soon after her.

"No, no, my dear, Arthur and I will be taking Remus' old room, and you'll have ours. I believe this is the best situation, for the all of us."

"But--Remus didn't say anything--you said I was to have a room on the first floor."

"And you do, my dear. I just didn't say which. You're to have our old room. It's smaller, but it's much cozier, and, well, we thought you'd be more comfortable in a room where you wouldn't be troubled thinking about what may have been in it on certain--well, go on, the door's open there, and you'll drop something soon if you don't put those things down."

"But, Molly," said Nymphadora, as she was bustled out of Remus' room, "that was your room, and you must have had more things in there that you have to move now..."

"No, no, my sweet," crooned Molly impatiently. "It was obviously yours from the start."