She'll Get Over It

The Marauders and Lily were in James's backyard during the summer before their seventh year, getting some last minute homework done.

"Sirius!" the ball of energy known as Nyphadora Tonks yelled. "You have to see what the Giant Squid in the pond did to Kevin! Oops, sorry, James," she added, as she'd just knocked over his bottle of ink.

"No problem, shorty," James said, casting a scouring charm on his textbook.

"I'm not short," Nymphadora sniffed indignantly. "I'm almost as tall as Lily."

"Well, Lily's just really short," James said with a grin in Lily's direction.

"What's the Giant Squid doing to Kevin, small stuff?" Peter asked.

"Giving him a wedgie," Nymphadora replied promptly.

"How did he get in the lake in the first place?" Remus asked suspiciously.

Nymphadora grinned. "He fell."

Remus cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, I helped him fall a little," Nymphadora confessed.

"You can't just go around shoving people you don't like into the lake," Lily admonished.

"Why not?" James wanted to know. "I still remember that time Sirius and I played fetch with the Giant Squid."

"And Snivellus was the ball," Sirius said with a reminiscent smile. "The little Nymph is following in our footsteps. Rock on, half pint."

"Shorty, small stuff, half pint!" Nymphadora yelled. "I have a name, you know."

"You'd rather us call you Nymphadora?" Peter asked.

Nymphadora appeared to think about this for a moment. "Not really."

"How about we stick with Tonks, then?" Remus asked, grinning at her.

"That sounds better," Nympha...Tonks decided. "Tonks it is, then. No more calling me half pint."

"Alright, little girl," Remus said teasingly.

Tonks stalked away, muttering something under her breath about idiotic cousins and their idiotic friends and that idiotic werewolf idiot know-it-all.

Tonks really knew a lot more about them than was healthy.

"You all should be nicer to her," Lily said. "I don't know why she persists in talking to any of you."

"She fancies Remus," Sirius supplied promptly, grinning at Remus.

Remus blushed a little bit. "She does not, Padfoot."

"She luuurves you, Moony," Sirius said, grinning.

"I can't say I blame her," Lily said absently, causing both Remus and James to glare at her.

"She's four," Remus said with a shrug, going back to his Charms essay. "She'll get over it."

*

"Here we are," James said heavily, looking into his friends' new bachelor pad from the landing, what he deemed a safe distance away. He himself had just bought a house in Godric's Hollow with Lily. "This place is a dive."

"Look on the bright side," Sirius said cheerily, walking through the door into their flat. "We can't break anything."

"Memo to self: Never let Padfoot pick a place to live," Peter muttered, hauling a large bag up the stairs and sweating with the effort.

"Hey, here's a thought," came a cheeky female voice from down the stairwell. "How about a levitation charm, Peter?"

Peter pulled out his wand and levitated his luggage into the room, looking rather chagrined.

"Are you three going to get kicked out of this place, too?" Tonks demanded as she reached the last stair and stepped onto the landing.

"I hope not," Remus said, coming up the stairs behind her.

"Aw, poor wolfie," Tonks said, patting Remus on the arm. "Are your nasty friends getting you kicked out of perfectly good houses?"

"They are," Remus agreed. "Trashing the places we live until the landlords kick us out." He pouted at her. "It's really not my fault, Nymph."

"What about that place up on Seaweed Avenue?" Tonks asked. "And call me Tonks."

"I hold that the dungbombs were Sirius's idea, not mine," Remus said, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Well, why you're holding that," Tonks said briskly, "hold this." She shoved the large box she'd been carrying into his arms and proceeded into the flat. Remus looked vaguely disconcerted, but regained his composure and followed her.

"Is she always like that?" he heard James mutter to Peter.

"All the time," Peter replied in a put-upon tone.

"And what does Sirius think about his cousin fancying Remus?" James inquired.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Remus said, sticking his head back out the door.

Peter and James were unfazed.

"The half pint's quite taken with you," James observed.

"She's eight," Remus said, shrugging. "She'll get over it."

*

"Oh, Lily, he's wonderful," Tonks cooed, scooping Harry up into her arms. "He's got my nose."

"How on earth could he have your nose?" Lily demanded. "He's not even related to you."

Tonks scrunched up her face and her nose changed into a fine imitation of Harry's baby nose.

"You're impossible," James said, shaking his head.

Tonks concentrated and turned her nose back to normal. "Happy now?"

"Very much so," Lily said. "Take Harry out, Sirius and the others will want to see him."

Tonks walked out of the room, conversing with Harry as if he understood her.

"You're going to love it here, Harry my boy," Tonks said happily. "It's a beautiful house, and your mum is great. Your dad's a bit of a prat, but he's funny. You look just like him. Your Uncle Sirius is the clown, though, and you have to watch out for dungbombs when he's around."

"Let me see him," Remus said, walking down the hall to meet her. Tonks obligingly handed the baby over. Harry smiled up at Remus.

"This is your Uncle Remus," Tonks informed Harry. "He's a bit quieter than Sirius. You don't expect pranks and silly things from him, so he kind of sneaks up on you. All in all, he's not a bad guy."

"Oh, gee, thanks," Remus said. "This is Nymphadora, Harry. She's a klutzy one, so we won't let her hold you very often. But she's a riot, so we'll just get her to tell you jokes."

"Don't call me that, Remus," Tonks said.

"She prefers to be addressed by her surname only," Remus added. "She's a bit touchy about the whole Nymphadora thing, so keep it on the down low."

"Is that my godson?" Sirius yelled, racing down the hall and pulling up beside Remus, who obligingly handed Harry over. "He looks just like James. I'm your Uncle Sirius, kiddo. I'm also your godfather. You sure caused your mum a lot of trouble today. She was screaming like crazy."

"I'm going to go get Peter," Tonks said, and rushed off.

"She fancies you," Sirius said evenly, still looking down at Harry, who was grinning up at him and drooling slightly.

"She's ten," Remus said. "She'll get over it."

*

Remus, being the great guy he was, had offered to take Tonks trick-or-treating. They'd stopped off late that night to deliver a bag of Halloween candy to Harry at the Potters house.

"No," Tonks whispered, disbelief and horror mingled in her eyes as she stared at the wreckage of the familiar house in Godric's Hollow, illuminated in the darkness by the green emblem glowing in the sky above it.

"It can't be," Remus said hollowly.

"Sirius wouldn't do that," Tonks said desperately, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

"Apparently we didn't know him as well as we thought," Remus said grimly.

"He's my cousin," Tonks continued in an almost-whisper. "I know him, Remus. He wouldn't betray them."

"Who could it have been, then?" Remus shouted, his anger at Sirius and the world taking reaching a breaking point. "Sirius was their Secret Keeper! He was the only one that could betray them! And he did!" His voice descended to a quiet, sad tone. "He did, Nymph."

Tonks bit her lip, and reached her hand out to him. "Come on," she said. "We've got to get away from this place."

Remus took her hand, and they walked away from the wreckage with devastated expressions.

"Harry's alright," Tonks said. "How bad can Lily's sister be?"

At the mention of Lily's name, Remus bit his lip. "I just can't imagine life without them," he said dully. "I can't believe they're gone."

Tonks lost the battle with her tears, and they began to roll down her cheeks in a silent flood. "It's not fair."

Remus nodded, and squeezed her hand.

*

"Hey, shorty," Remus said, yawning as he walked in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place.

"I'm not short," Tonks shot back. Her hair was siren red and curly this morning.

Remus rummaged about until he found a coffee cup, and then noticed with a frown that there was no coffee.

"Sorry, Remus," Tonks said, though she didn't look sorry at all. "I just pulled an all-night watch, and I finished off the pot."

"Gee, thanks," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "How was your shift?"

"Pretty uneventful, if you don't count Nott sneaking around," Tonks said.

"What'd you do about him?" Remus asked, in the process of making a new pot of coffee.

"Threw him in the lake," Tonks replied with a grin.

"Coffee," Sirius croaked, stumbling bleary-eyed into the room.

"I'm on it, Padfoot," Remus replied, as Sirius sank into a chair at the table.

"You are way too dependent on caffeine, Sirius," Tonks informed him.

"It happens when you get old," Remus said, setting a cup in front of Sirius and pouring one for himself.

"You're not old," Tonks said.

"Practically ancient," Remus disagreed.

"If you say so," Tonks said, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to go take a nap. I'm dying of exhaustion here."

"Sleep tight," Sirius chirped, the coffee having permeated his bloodstream enough so that he was awake.

"Don't drink all the coffee any more," Remus admonished.

Tonks, in a very mature, grown up fashion, stuck her tongue out at him as she left the room.

"She fancies you, you know," Sirius said, taking another sip of coffee.

"She's twenty-five," Remus said. "She'll get over it."

"She will not get over it," Sirius said exasperatedly. "She's fancied you since she was four!"

"So?" Remus said, a calm look on his face.

"Do you fancy her?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"I'm thirty-six," Remus said with a shrug. "I'll get over it."