1995-03-14: No Fooling

Participants:

Tonks_icon.gif Sirius_icon.gif

Scene Title No Fooling
Synopsis Tonks and Sirius chat at length over breakfast, and display a common trait with ADD conversations.
Location Hogsmeade - The Three Broomsticks
Date Mar 14, 1995
Watch For Teasing, fancying, extreme home makeover..
Logger The Black Heir

It's like Hogsmeade is now a second home or sommat to Sirius. He's back in the Three Broomsticks. Again. The wizard just may as well procure a cottage in town with the time he's spending here. Although, he does go 'home' at night, not that he can call his house a home. Besides, there's better breakfast to be found elsewhere this morning, since he didn't feel like arguing with Kreacher or making it himself. With a mug of steaming tea, Earl Grey from the scent of it, and a plate laden with breakfast, he's occupying a table by himself, going over the Daily Prophet.

Hey, if Sirius is wanting to shift things to Hogsmeade, Tonks will /gladly/ take over Grimmauld. She's got a few ideas for it's interior decoration that she'd love to have a go at. And it'd piss off the portrait so badly. And probably Kreacher. Then again, Tonks has proven to be a wee bit more understandable and nice to the toerag - even if it doesn't seem to work that well. But right now, she's reentering the Broomsticks, moving good and well enough for someone who took a table to the back (which isn't as bad as it sounds). Then again, she had the advantage of going home and going 'Mummy, Wagh'. And who should be there? "Wotcher, Sirius," she greets cheerful enough.

Sirius looks up from his paper, lowering it some as Tonks approaches. "Morning yourself, have a seat?" The paper is folded up and set aside before he takes in a mouthful of eggs. "Feeling alright this morning? That table to the back can't have felt too good," he says after swallowing the food in his mouth.

Tonks takes the offered seat, then rolls back her shoulders. "Eh, it wasn't anything major to begin with. I swear the lecture of 'Line of work too dangerous for her daughter' was worse than the splinters. Then I had to explain it was just a bunch of idiots that ruined what was meant to be a good night of drinking, and then I had to sit through /that/…YOu'd think Mum never did anything naughty in her life." She'll snag a menu to browse, though she's pretty much got it memorized by now. "You?"

Sirius laughs at Tonks. "You had that coming. You should have known Andromeda would lecture you." He flashes his cousin a cheeky sort of grin, "Oh, she had her share, but she hides it well." Snapping up a piece of bacon, he makes short work of it before speaking again. "So it's confirmed then? They were just pretenders? If that's the case, they should be locked up with the Lestranges to show them what happens to those who only fake being in /his/ service. Sad and sorry lot. You're too young to remember, but there were a rather large number of copycats the last time around. Granted, they waited a bit before stupidly showing themselves in the open."

"S'far as we can tell, yeah," Tonks says. "One's definitely in for it, though, casting an Unforgivable." She shakes her head here. "I'm just still of the opinion they're young, stupid and impressionable." She places an order for some eggs and hash, with a large glass of juice before folding her hands on the table. "I wasn't /that/ young, y'know. You do realize I was /eight/ when You-Know-Who," Habit, or courtesy to the establishment, you decide, "fell the first time, right?"

"Probably drinking too, then again, there's just no plausible excuse for /that/ sort of behavior. Although, I will go with incredibly stupid. There was a hit wizard, two aurors, and a retired auror who is the best of the best, and a few other known faces as capable fighters in the room." Sirius shakes his head, a bit too violently than necessary as his tone turns fierce. "At least they were more or less incompetent and easily taken care of." Idiot sisters, should have known they were outnumbered and overpowered. Not that he can complain, it was an easy fight. "Yes, yes, you were eight, remember it all as if it were yesterday." Now he's making fun of Tonks slightly.

"Obviously not, way you carry on, I was still wearing diapers when this all went down." Well, she /was/ born after it started, but it doesn't change the fact she did achieve an age of reasonable memory retention by the time it ended. She sticks her tongue out. Her juice arrives, and Tonks decides she doesn't want to talk about stupid Wannabes, or Voldemort, because that'll eventually lead to talking about work, and she's hating work right now. "So, you and the post mistress? Scuttlebutt on the way in had it that you sent her flowers…She toss them in your face yet?" Tonks smirks around the glass as she sips her juice.

Sirius smirks across at Tonks, "May as well been.. All I meant 'Dora, was that while some major things may be recalled, a lot of the finer details may not be." There, soothe those ruffled feathers! He's quick on the uptake, realizing Tonks doesn't want to talk further about the nastier aspects of the day, so is happy to change the subject. Although, he does choke a bit on his tea at the suggestion conversation. Chuckling, he sets his mug down. "She's feisty and interesting. Didn't take kindly to me thanking her for her testimony at the trial, nor to my concern that she was wandering about with an untended curse. Like I said last night. I tended to it for her, and she took offense to me hexing her in the process." Most people would, he realizes this, but he also did her a favor! "She said she used them as kindling."

"Most people would've taken offense, cousin," Tonks says with this lazy sort of tone, still smirking. Apparently, people need to seriously watch out for those 'duffers. "She probably just needs to get used to you. I mean, she probably thinks you did this massive breech of privacy by hanging around as Padfoot. Which, she probably wouldn't be too far from the truth…"

"It was a very effective disguise," Sirius says rather matter of factly. "My point was, she shouldn't have just ignored the problem and let it fester and worsen. /Regardless/ that it was I who stated it." Stubborn witch. "Listen for the screech. I'm having more flowers sent today. I like seeing how she reacts."

ANd food arrives! Tonks reaches for the catsup and douses the plate. "She probably wasn't aware it was a curse. Not everyone's savvy that way, y'know. I keep having to tell mum that. Sometimes, she doesn't understand that the common person might not know what Dark magic was if it smacked them in the face. You have to remember that the average witch or wizard really doesn't have a clue. She probably just thought it was just a stubborn wound, and if she did enough basic medi-spells on it, it'd fix itself." She glances up and she shakes her head, smirking. "So, should I tell Kreacher to pick out your Wedding Robes?"

"No, but she probably didn't believe me when I told her as such. It has been over two weeks since the attack and she was still limping about. No point in that when a healer could tend to her in no time at all." Sirius is more than a bit annoyed at the fact the woman was ignoring a problem that was easily resolved. The response to the rest? He plucks up a muffin and chucks at Tonks.

*Piff* Tonks now has muffin crumbs between her eyes, just as she was lifting hash into her mouth. She picks up the muffin, dips it in the mess of hash, eggs and catsup, and then takes a bite. Shrugging, she decides the combination isn't that horrid and continues on. "Mum'd agree with you at that point. But that's probably when she was thinking it was coming from you and she'd rather deal with the leg and not you. Still doesn't excuse you from paralyzing her, though." A pause. "Again, Mum'd agree with you, but still. If you're wanting to get on her good side…"

"How else was I to get her to sit still?" Sirius asks, as sometimes, he's as subtle as a brick to the face. Way back when, he probably could have charmed the witch into letting him have a looksee based on sheer personality.. but .. we all know time hasn't been kind to him. "You're probably right that she was balking at the source," he says with a flippant shrug. "Who said I wanted to get on her good side? She's fun to irritate."

MMm….muffin. "Sirius," Tonks says, lowering her hands. "When I first got into Hogwarts, there was this boy. He annoyed me to no end. Picked on me, bullied me a little, things like that. More than once I wrote home in a fit, warning mum I'd be in detention again if he didn't stop it. She eventually just told me that boys like to do stupid things like that to girls they fancy. Sure enough, a few years later, he did ask me on a date or three when we were able to visit Hogsmeade." She pops the last bit of muffin into her mouth with an expression of 'You're not fooling anyone.'

Sirius rolls his eyes at Tonks as he shovels in a mouthful of eggs. He's no longer a child and is above such school-aged tactics. That was the sort of thing James did towards Lily until he suddenly got soft in the brain around sixteen. Finishing off his eggs, he flashes a rude and childish gesture at Tonks. "Lovely story, sounds quite familiar, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm no longer in school."

Tonks is smirking, "No, you're not. But you're still picking on her like you are. Doing things to see how she'd react. And the more she resists, the more interested you are." And here, she'll just giggle, because she finds it funny. "At least she's cute. You'd have cute kids."

There's another rolling of the eyes at Tonks and Sirius takes a rather forceful bite of his remaining bacon. "Please. There's a war brewing. I've no time for wooing witches or even /thinking/ about it. I'm having a laugh, that's all." What Tonks is suggesting? Has not even crossed his mind at all.

What Tonks is suggesting is mainly just to get a rise out of the man. Though, she'll still be adamant about Sirius fancying the woman a bit, the part about the kids? PUre teasing. She does lift her hands up in a semi-surrender. Mainly because, Mmm, food.

Sirius chucks another muffin at Tonks, now grinning like a mischievous third year. "Just you wait. The day you set your sights on a young wizard, you'll never hear the end of it. I'll even beat Ted to vetting him."

Tonks barks a laugh at this. "I have to set my sights on a young wizard first," She says with a cheeky grin. She pushes her empty plate to the side, and marks her glass for a refill.

Sirius barks out a laugh for seemingly no reason. He doesn't let on as to what's so funny until he's had a few sips of tea between laughing. "I can just picture it now.. So Miss so and so, if we're to be fancying each other, I should introduce you to my mum." Then, he's laughing more at the mental image. "She'd run screaming for the door."

Sirius' laugh almost gets Tonks' paranoia up. Mainly because she thought, after she said it, he'd find some way to twist her statement around and poke back at her. But no, it has to deal with the portrait. "Consider it a test. Any girl who can't handle Aunt Wally is not worth your time. However, if she hexes the piece of canvas…"

Sirius's laughter finally subsides and gets under some semblance of control. "Perhaps.. and y'know.. you say you haven't your sights on someone yet.. Although I could have sworn you were eying Remus a few times.." Oh ho, turning the tables now with the teasing!

…Where's her plate of food when she needs to conveniently stab something with a fork. She goes over her mind the multitude of things she could say. She even starts a few of them, such as the beginning of 'Don't you think he's a bit old?' or 'He's nice and all but…'. Eventually, it just ends in a shrug of one shoulder and any vocal answer being drowned out by her drinking juice.

Sirius snorts into his tea, "You're no fun. I thoroughly blame Moody's training of you." He was hoping for blustering, blushes, stammering retorts and denials. "He's too old for you anyway. Over the hill, worn out, furry problem.." he says all of this casually, as if he weren't talking about his best mate.

Oh, she's blushing alright. "I just didn't see the point. All it'd do is confirm it," She sticks her tongue out here. "You're in girls' conversation territory here. I know all the tricks. Stammering and blushing just means it's true." Still, she looks rather…perturbed…at Sirius' reasons on why it might not be in her best interests. "I don't care about the furry problem. Don't care about the rest of it either."

"Relax, stop being so serious," he says over the rim of his teacup. Sirius looks far too amused to just let this go so easily. But he may. For now. Perhaps. "It's good that you don't care about those things. They don't matter." Wait, what? Oh look, he's taking a serene sip of his tea.

"Sorry," she mutters. "Just hadn't thought of it much since that mess with Holly and all." Sirius' amused look is just met with a pout, and Tonks is good at pouting. "It never really did. The only time the 'problem' really was a problem was when I thought he might've been a Dark Wizard. That was when we first met. So… but really. It's one day out of the month, and mid-thirties isn't all /that/ old, really."

"So.. you /are/ interested in him," Sirius says, shockingly now his tone is sober as is his expression. Oh he's basing this on some of the prying questions Tonks has asked. Maybe a few glances, and just the way she's turning around here.

Oh look, BRIGHT SHINY. Over there. "Rather amazing how things've shaped up, huh? Hardly can tell that a couple of bints showed up and started blowing up tables, huh?" Tonks' ears are pink, but she's doing a very good job at trying to control her embarrassment right now. Finally, there's that shrug again.

Sirius smirks at Tonks, and he decides to let it go. For now. She can have her change of conversation, even as he notes the blushing. Mmhmmm. "No, not amazing. Just predictable with the way things are going. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were a few other events similar."

She's thankful for the drop, momentary as it is. She's sure it'll come back up at some point in time, and maybe she'll have more of a solid answer instead of just acting in a girlish denial. Anyway, "Was it like this before hand? Like you keep reminding me, I wasn't involved in the first round. You think it'll get as bad?"

Another smirk is made as Sirius pushes his now empty plate aside, and favors sipping on his tea. Savoring it as if it might be his last cup. "Smart alec, and yes. Although, the wonder twins have acted quite quickly. Not everyone knows he's back afterall. The news has been kept rather quiet to avoid a panic." Clearly, the man doesn't agree with this logic. All it does is give Voldemort more time to rally his followers and regain his strength so that everyone is caught with their trousers down. "But as long as Dumbledore knows, and the old guard as well, we're prepared and a step ahead. For the time being at least. I wouldn't be surprised if there were to be some odd disappearances soon. Attacks.. rather coordinated and all official-like, or more of what those silly girls put up."

"Well, he's already made my life interesting. That prison break…" Tonks focuses her vision back on her cousin. She doesn't really talk about it, considering they both know who was in that break out. "You'll be alright, right?" she asks of him. "I've got mum making sure she's got people around her at work, not that it'll help much considering… and I've taught her a few extra security spells for the house." She drains her juice and asks for some tea to wash the juice and breakfast down. "You don't think she'd decide to come pick off the burnt spots, do you?"

Sirius waves a hand idly, "You know me. I'll manage. I'm already working to make sure she can't set foot in number twelve, Grimmauld Place. You'll see soon enough." Yes, preparing it all for headquarters and for war. "Good.. good.. I'll wager Andromeda can hold her own." She's tough and a survivor, he has faith she can stand on her own two feet in a fight. He lowers his voice and leans in over the table in Tonks's direction, and there's a faint, uncomfortable look in his grey eyes, "Probably.. probably not. It depends on how busy she's kept by Voldemort. I wouldn't worry too much about it." There's not very many disowned Black's still living. Uncle Alphard passed years and years ago.. so it really just leaves him, Andromeda and her daughter. Ted obviously isn't counted when going by bloodlines.

It's a concern for Tonks. Not because of herself, for clearly, if Bellatrix decided to go popping off wayward Blacks, Tonks surely has herself out there with a target painted clearly on her back. She just wants to make sure her family's alright. "Still, she's a danger. As is that husband and brother in law of hers. They've taken your old position, actually. Even those who refuse to believe anything about You-know-who's return know that those need to get back into Azkaban. Not to mention, any other allies. And then, we'll all be on goose chases trying to figure out if we're dealing with the real thing, or dealing with more Debbies and Janines." She eyerolls here. "Waste of time. Waste of resources."

Sirius is clearly trying to brush off the concern. There's so many others that weigh on the mind. Any attempts by Bellatrix to prune the family tree would just be annoyances in the larger scheme of things. Not to mention, he's got a target of his own painted on his own back too.. and by the general populace. "I disagree. They need to be six feet under, not in Azkaban where they can escape from again.. and by escape I mean let walk free." Those dementors are bad news as guards for a variety of reasons. He snorts derisively, "My old position.." No, he's not liking at all being lumped with them. "Now you see my annoyance for the copycats and attention seekers. They waste everyone's times and their own lives." It's a bit why Jilly was annoying him. He saw the waste in not getting tended to.

Tonks gives Sirius a very curt nod on the subject of Dementors and letting those lunatics walk. "Sorry," is given at the snort. "Want a complimentary Wanted poster for dart practice?" The light comment falls to the side as she simply nods. She deals with her tea now that it's arrived. "Just think of it had the group there not been there. If it were people just like Miss de Riviat," Ignore the sound of Awe there as she says the name, "and Miss Gale. They'd have to call in /us/," meaning Aurors, "because they were throwing around that Dark Lord nonsense. Taking people away from legitimate cases…I think I'll go back to the ministry and administer a couple more boots."

"I've got a few. I think I'll be using them as pick up lines." Sirius is joking. Didn't he already say he hasn't time for flirting with witches or muggle girls for that matter. "I know. It's not a pretty thought. Even if you, David and Faulkner had not been present.. we could have taken on the situation fine. Although, we still would have had to have called in the Ministry to clean up the remains." Not that he bothered terribly with something like that back the first time around.

She gives him a smile. Still back to the subject at hand. Though, there's little she finds herself being comfortable to saying about it. She can talk shop, talk business. But her own feelings about it? It causes her to pull her lips thin. "We'll see. Maybe luck'll be on our side." One thing she had drilled in her head by Moody is to always expect the worst. And if she's not doing so with Voldemort returning, she's doing something wrong.

Sirius reaches over to pat Tonks on the hand in a brotherly fashion. "Perhaps, but it wouldn't do to be too relaxed." He's not terribly good at optimism. He's been through too much to not be a realist. "If Bellatrix comes knocking, there are things we can do to protect Andromeda and Ted. I know they can take care of themselves, but extra protection would be wise." He's thinking Tonks is still worried about her parents, and she would be right to be.

She smiles at the pat. "I know. I'm worried about everything else…" She could gleam that's what he's suggesting. She lifts her tea. "You think less of me if I said I was scared? I am, a bit." More than a bit, but she's trying to keep pride here. And how did they go from discussing fancying people to this?

"No, I wouldn't think less of you. Because I know you're telling the truth. If you said you weren't scared, you would be lying, and then I might have to get cross with you." Sirius drains the rest of the tea in his cup and pushes it aside. Folding his arms, he leans forward against the table, and promptly changes the topic. Bah, he stews in depressing thoughts when he's on his own! Why do the same around others!? "You know.. I haven't gotten much else cleaned of the house. Kreacher's been as belligerent as ever and refusing to clean properly despite orders. He always finds a way through, or winds up mumbling to the point I say nevermind." It doesn't really settle in Sirius's mind that a little kindness goes a long way with Kreacher. His loathing is too great. "I should redouble my efforts, since I did tell Harry he was free to spend Easter break with me if he wanted."

She seems thankful that her admission of being scared about all of this goes well. She does have her pride, even if she does fall on it all the time. But she's keen with the subject change. Seems that if either of them were to find someone, they'd have to be really comfortable with how Black conversation goes. And Tonks doesn't even have a drop of the mental issues Sirius has. "Maybe reward him?" Tonks offers about Kreacher. "I mean, he /has/ been alone for how long? And you know how the saying goes, you can attract more flies with honey or something like that. Maybe less yelling and maybe a bit more honey? But barring that, I can see if Mum's free. She's really good at that house cleaning stuff." A Domestic Slytherin. Run for your lives.

Sirius doesn't see the shame in admitting when one is scared. He wore his fright for all the world to see just a few short weeks ago. At the suggestion of rewarding Kreacher, he snorts, "What? He'll come to expect it all the time. I shouldn't have to reward him for doing his job." For all the philosophy he can spout about Master, house-elf relations, they just don't seem to apply to him and Kreacher. "That little toe-rag.. hahah.. no.. I'd rather not have Andromeda see the state of the place. I'll never hear the end of it." Although the quickest and simplest solutions to the dilemma would be to destroy the place, he just isn't keen on that route. For some reason, he still hangs onto the house he hates.

"Well, that's why it's a reward. Not an allowance. You make it known that it's a special deal. When he does really well, he might get something. Maybe let him keep one of your mum's things or something on occasion. And only trash the stuff that's truly Dark, and keep the rest on hand, instead of throwing out everything." She sips her tea. "Or…you could just get a new house elf. But you should be a bit more careful with Kreacher. A little kindness can go a long way."

That's a good idea, but Sirius doesn't like the prospect of rewarding something so despicable as Kreacher. Judging by the sour look on his face, this is most likely going to be a 'no' to that idea. "I can't toss out the miserable little…" Insert here a word too rude to be uttered aloud. "He knows too much already."

Tonks looks like she's going to say something then shakes her head, deciding against it. She'll just deal with Kreacher when she's there, to which she does offer, "I can help when I've got some time off. I don't do anything else, might as well help you get the place suitable for human occupancy."

"Thanks.. To be honest, since the pardon, I can't stand being in there for too long, now that I can walk about freely." And who can blame him, honestly? For so long, Sirius only had a small cell that you can't properly prowl or pace in, trapped in his own miserable thoughts. Since breaking loose, there hasn't been much enjoyment, and now? That happy pardon may mean his freedom, but he's trapped again by his own standards and code of honor.

She beams a smile here. "I'd be happy to! I'm sure that place is great once we get it fixed up. I've got some great ideas. I've even been looking in some decorating periodicals. Some of them are Muggle, just for a few ideas, and I swear, they're not /completely/ over the top, but let's be honest. THe Blacks that ran that house are gone. It needs a /complete/ make over, now."

"I suppose.." Sirius really doesn't think much of the house, but Tonks has a fair point. "I'd love the help in a bit of a make-over on the place." If all goes according to current plans.. the place will have a stream of people coming and going, possibly crashing in one of the many bedrooms. He'll probably need a new elf too, unless Kreacher can straighten up. "Muggle decorating you say? It's done." Oh yes.. Tonks has won him over with that one word.

Whoohoo! Tonks even does a little wiggle dance in her chair. "don't worry, I'll double check it with mum and dad so ti's not too outlandish. You're still 'noble' after all. You'll just have to let us know what's off limits." She taps her chin. "Maybe I can get Adam and Jamie from the charms department on that portrait…"

Sirius rolls his eyes heavily. "Noble.. whatever the hell /that/ means anymore." Since he's getting parched, he signals for a refill on his tea, "No. The portrait stays. I need to rub a few more things into that hag's face." Nevermind the fact that she's dead. The portrait isn't like a ghost, it's just a representation of the woman's personality on canvas. It's cathartic okay? "Should hear the nightly howlings when I park my motorbike in front of her."

She can't help but giggle with that. "I'm sure. She probably has a lot of things to say. But we'll focus first on the cleaning before the redecorating. Not going to do any good if there's things under the bed that'll eat our legs off."

"A lot of the furniture is still comfortable and can be repaired, reupholstered.. but the wallpaper, the doors, the frames, just replace it. Maybe replace all the crested silverware and goblets in the kitchen." A small fortune in family heirlooms.. most would faint at the galleons they'd rake in and Sirius is willing to just toss the lot! "I think after I leave here, I'll see about clearing out a few items from the drawing room. I swear the house is putting up a fight, thanks to all of the spells on the place." And items within. "I want my old bedroom left alone. I've already cleaned it up for Harry, I want him to have it as is. I'm not sure about Regulus's room yet."

She nods here. The brothers' rooms'll be left alone. "Just put the stuff in a box. I'd like to go through it." Having /not/ grown up in a Proper Black Upbringing, she never got a chance to look at all the gaudy snake stuff. Also, she'll probably check it for curses and stuff before it gets circulated in Knockturn Alley. Maybe it'll end up in Bella's hands. won't she be pissed. Though, at this point, Tonks stands up. "I should go peek in at the office, make sure that my day off is still remaining a day off." though just peeking her head in might mean she'll get drafted to work, but she's willing to risk it! "I'll be by later today. It's not going to bite my head off if I let myself in will it?" Just in case he's not home.

"Hmm.. fair enough. There's no telling what sort of curses are on everything. Can't just toss it out for an unsuspecting person to touch." That would be irresponsible, because knowing the Black family? There are probably a hundred and one ways to kill a person sitting in one room alone. "Alright, take care. I'll see you later." He doesn't get up just yet, he'll have his second cup of tea, then head out. "We can talk color schemes. Besides.. once the postmistress warms up to me, I have to have a nice home to show off, don't I?" Cheeky bugger.


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License