TikTok and Chocolate
Chapter 18: TikTok and Chocolate
October 30, 1993
"Explain yourselves."
Liana had never before been scared of her parents, but the position she was in right now was quite intimidating, if she was being honest. Her parents were standing in front of her, her father looking like he was about to blow a fuse. Kylie was standing next to her, cowering in fear. Candice had been taken to the Hospital Wing as soon as they had returned to the castle.
"Explain yourselves."
Liana now faced her father, who was clenching his fists, and most likely his teeth, in pure anger. Kylie, beside her, looked like she could faint.
"We went looking for Sirius Black."
"You what?!" James hissed.
"Didn't you hear me?" Liana snapped. "We went looking for Sirius Black."
"Why did you do that?" raged James.
"Because we wanted to," Liana responded calmly.
"Because you wanted to?!"
"Yeah. We thought it'd be cool to find him. You know, mass murderer."
"Did you just…" Lily whispered. "You went off into the woods, looking for Sirius Black?"
"Glad you got that right," muttered Liana.
"You gave your mother such a fright!" roared James. "She cried in bed every single day about you! She was so worried! And so was I! We had to get help from the Auror Office, did you know that? You just ran off like that, not caring about the consequences, that you and your friends could be killed, and then what would happen? We went on missions, almost every night, trying to find you, trying to look desperately for a clue! If it hadn't been for Tonks, we may not have even found you by now! You could've been actively being eaten by Acromantulas this very moment! Do you have any idea the consequences of what you have done? And endangering Miss Johnson and Miss Weber along with you! Don't you think this was absolutely irresponsible, Liana? After all your mother and I have done for you, expressed explicitly not to go looking for Sirius Black, leaving the safety of the school, leaving Hogwarts, heading into a forest via Portkey, an unauthorized Portkey, and not even bothering to alert anyone where you were? What would we have done if you were killed? If Sirius killed you, or if you bled to death after an Acromantula attack, or if you died of starvation! Can you even imagine your mother's plight after that? Or how Harry would feel? Liana, you're grounded for the rest of the term! That means no Quidditch matches, no leaving the castle, nothing! None of it, young lady! You're staying inside this castle until it strikes the holidays!"
Liana rolled her eyes. "Are you done yet?"
"I… What?!"
"I mean, you've shouted more than enough. Give your voice a break, Dad. Honestly." And with that, she turned on her heel and headed down the corridor, Kylie whimpering beside her, just picturing the shocked expressions on her parents' faces.
Albus Dumbledore sighed.
He was so busy these days. He was finding he didn't have much time for TikTok anymore these days on his secret iPhone, which was a real shame. He loved TikTok.
Not right now, Dumbledore, he scolded himself. You have to write to the parents of Miss Johnson and Miss Weber.
Right. The letters home.
He had deducted fifty points each from Slytherin for each of the girls, which had caused a great uproar at the Great Hall when people saw the standings. But it was what they deserved, he thought. Sneaking out of the school in order to find Sirius… A foolish act, indeed. At least he was glad that Lily was reunited with her daughter. Dumbledore didn't know if he could stand sitting through another one of those wretched staff meetings with Lily looking so tense.
In all honesty, his life was so boring now.
The letters home!
Right. The letters home.
He Summoned a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink, and began to write, using a Handwriting Neatening Charm to neaten his handwriting, which was, in reality, quite messy.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Johnson,
This is Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I hope this letter finds you well. (And the owl too!)
He crossed out that last portion. That wouldn't do.
I am writing to you to express my disappointment in your daughter, Candice.
Oh, wait, no! Their daughter was Kylie.
I am writing to you to express my disappointment in your daughter, Kylie. For twelve days, your daughter, along with two of her friends, escaped the school in hopes of searching for and finding Sirius Black. In case you do not know, Sirius Black is a mass murderer who escaped from Azkaban earlier this year. A team of Aurors rescued Miss Kylie and her friends from a forest. However, she is in poor condition, having suffered Acromantula bites all across her body. At this rate, I would expect her to turn into an Acromantula herself.
He crossed out that last sentence. That was probably not what her parents wanted to hear.
She is fine, and will be treated, but I must express the seriousness of her actions. I assure you that all is well, and all is safe, but you are welcome to come visit the castle to check in on your daughter and reprimand her to your heart's delight.
Reprimand her to your heart's delight? Hmm. That didn't sound quite right. He scratched that out too.
Have a wonderful day.
Albus Dumbledore
He quickly penned up another letter that looked similar, and addressed it to Mr. and Mrs. Weber. He would post these from the Owlery when he got a chance.
He stood up and sighed. Was now a good time for a TikTok video? Maybe not. He knew there was something he needed to do…
Oh, right. That blasted staff meeting.
Maybe he could cancel? Yes, he thought that all of the teachers deserved a nice break.
Of course, in reality, he was being entirely selfish. He just needed time for that TikTok video. But the rest of the staff didn't need to know that.
Besides, everyone had their own secrets, right?
Remus found out that his staff meeting for that afternoon had been cancelled, to his somewhat relief. The last few meetings had been quite boring, and though he tried his hardest to pay attention, it got tiring after a while of Sprout giving reports on how many near-fatal accidents she had had with her students that week, and of McGonagall expressing her disappointment in the curriculum and suggesting her changes, and of Snape going on about how terrible his students were, and of Flitwick squeaking in a voice so high he couldn't understand what the Charms teacher was saying, and of Lily talking about the subject, which was quite boring. All in all, the staff meetings were rather boring, and he was glad that he didn't have one today.
So he spent the day with James.
They talked, mostly about Liana, and about Sirius, and all of the things they would have to do to interrogate about what Liana had found, and how she had operated that mission. It was a heavy conversation.
"I just can't believe that she did that," James sighed, rubbing his temple wearily. "You know, we were so concerned about finding her that we forgot to get angry over how irresponsible her behavior was."
"You have plenty of time for that," Remus commented. "But Liana's not the kind of person who'll listen to your reprimands, James. If you want to make an impact, it's not through scolding her."
James sighed. "You're right, but what should I do? Lily's already telling me to take it easy, that they're back and that's all that matters, but how can I just let it go? My daughter's gone looking for Sirius Black and I'm supposed to just sit around and take it easy?"
"You definitely don't want to let her get away with it," Remus agreed. "Liana needs to realize that it's something she isn't going to do again." He paused. "But, at the same time, you don't want to lose your relationship with your daughter. So you have to think of a way to get the message across without being too overwhelming."
James stared at him. "You know what's funny, Remus? I've been a parent for thirteen years now, and you're the one giving me parenting advice. And you're not even a parent yet!"
Remus sighed. "Yet? Brace it, James, I'm not going to be a parent. It's okay to say it, I won't be offended."
James shook his head. "I'm not saying it because I think you'll be offended otherwise, I'm saying it because I think it's true. You will be a parent one day."
An image flashed into his mind of a pregnant Tonks, her face glowing, a radiant smile on her face, holding his hand, carrying his child inside her.
Wait. But that would mean he would've had to get her pregnant first, which meant…
Oh god.
James saved him from going down that chain of thoughts. "Anyway, if you ever have a son, don't forget to name him after me."
Remus smirked. "I'll be sure to remember that."
"Anyway," James continued, "how's your relationship with Tonks?"
"W-What do you mean?" asked Remus, fearing the answer.
"I mean," James said, "weren't you two having a row? Remember, when you told me you first met her?"
He almost sighed in relief. James really was so thick sometimes. "Yeah."
"So, is it all fixed? Are the two of you friends now?" James asked, his brow furrowing.
"Yeah, we are," Remus informed him, willing himself not to blush. "We're friends."
"Good," said James approvingly. "So do you think you could give her this?"
Remus blinked. "Huh?"
James handed him a file. "Give this to her. Tell her it's the paperwork process."
Remus accepted the file. "This is why you asked me?"
"Yep."
"Why am I not surprised? Yeah, I'll give it to her."
James grinned. "Thanks."
"No problem," Remus responded. "I'll be back in a bit."
He exited his office and started making his way towards Tonks's room, which was where he was most likely to find her. She had mentioned that she would be staying for a few days to finish up the case-related paperwork, following which she would head back to the Ministry again for training.
The door was slightly ajar, so he pushed it open, finding Tonks sitting at a desk, wearing a large, hot pink sweater that was pulled to the side, revealing a generous amount of shoulder, and track pants, her hair a soft shade of lavender. She was reading through something and nibbling on a large bar of chocolate.
"Hi," he said.
"Hey," she greeted, not looking up from her book. "What's up?"
"Er, James asked me to bring you this."
"Oh, thanks. Just leave it somewhere."
He placed it on the tabletop next to where she was working. "Okay. I'll leave, then, it looks like you're…"
"Don't go anywhere, just give me a second," she interrupted. "I'm almost done with this one."
"Er, okay." He complied, standing there patiently until a few minutes later, when she closed the book with a tired sigh.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I have a theoretical exam coming up, and I just needed some time to study."
"No worries," he replied, smiling. "Your training is important."
She smiled at him, and as his eyes traveled to her lips, he was suddenly struck by the thought that she looked so adorable with that chocolate on her lips. He wondered how delicious she would taste at that very moment, with the chocolate intensifying the rich flavor of just her…
"Do you want some?" she offered.
"Oh," he said, trying to clear his not-so-appropriate thoughts from his head. "Sure."
She broke off a tiny chunk of the chocolate bar and held it up to his mouth. "Here."
He gently nibbled at the chocolate, which turned out to be a rich coffee. Her fingers brushed against his lips, sending jolts of electricity down his spine. In some ways, he really was still a teenager, feeling like this.
"Really good," he managed.
She grinned. "I know. Honeydukes, obviously. I thought I'd grab something while I study."
"Do you want me to help you?" he offered, gesturing to the books she had been studying.
"Oh, it's okay," she replied politely. "This is really low-level stuff. You're like… a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and all that. I'm not going to bother you with this."
Remus frowned at how she was putting herself down again. "No, Tonks. Nothing you're learning is low-level. And I don't have anything to do, Dumbledore cancelled our staff meeting. Would you like me to help you?"
"Uh, yeah, that'd be great," she stammered. "Only if you're sure."
"Absolutely positive," he assured, offering her a smile.
"Thanks," she replied with a smile so radiant, he wanted to snog her senseless right there. "Er, you're the professor, so… whatever you think works best," she said sheepishly, handing him the book.
He took the book from her and flipped it open to the bookmark, which was painted in streaks of vivid colors. "Okay. Let's see. What do you do if you're face to face with a criminal?"
"That's… not in the book, is it?" she asked, frowning.
"No, but it's application. You need to be able to understand what you're going over and apply it to real-life situations."
"Oh. Okay. Well, I'd start by determining what kind of criminal he or she is. Like, Muggle or magical? And does this person even know about magic? Stuff like that."
"Keep going," he encouraged.
"R-Right. First step after that is to Disarm him or her. Actually, better, Summon his or her wand, if he or she has one, so you have it with you. Then make sure that you block or at least control all exits, so said person cannot escape. Restrain if necessary, so chains and rope. An Incarcerous should work… Am I completely wrong?"
"You're doing really good, Tonks," he assured her. "One thing I might add is that if you can, you should check out the person you're chasing down. So, obviously, you'd do your research, but maybe see if there's records about how fast his or her reflexes are. So you get a sense for what you're up against, you know? See how good they are with spells, maybe if they have a signature spell, so you're prepared for a confrontation if it comes to that."
"That's a… really good point," she agreed. "Thank you, I'll be sure to remember that."
"Of course," he replied, smiling. "When are you… heading back?"
"To the Auror Office?" she asked. "A few days, maybe. I have training with Mad-Eye on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Thursdays and Fridays I do paperwork. 'To get into the routine', is what they say, but everyone knows it's just a whole bunch of trash that they make me write." She scowled. "Obviously, being a woman, being a young woman, has its disadvantages. There are definitely nice people, like James and this bloke named Kingsley, but most of them are absolutely sexist and don't believe in women. Of course, there's also the fact that I'm the only woman in the department other than Edna, who likes lettuce. Seriously." She rolled her eyes, but then her face grew worried. "Sorry, I don't want to make it seem like I'm complaining. I like the Auror Office. I just think there's scope for improvement."
"I… definitely agree," he replied, a little overwhelmed by everything she had just told him. "So you have weekends… off?"
She shrugged, her sweater drooping even further down to expose even more of her shoulder, and Remus couldn't bring himself to look away from the skin it was exposing. "Well, sometimes. If I'm on a training case, like this one, then no. Otherwise, yeah, I have weekends off."
He nodded. "Okay. Sorry, went a bit off topic there. Let's get back to studying."
She smiled. "It's fine. It's fun talking to you."
Remain calm, Lupin.
"Thanks," he replied, unsure of what else to say. "I… You too."
She smirked. "Thanks. Let's continue."
Draco trudged up to the Hospital Wing, slinging his bag over his shoulders and running a hand through his sleek blonde hair. He said hello to Madame Pomfrey and talked to her for a few minutes about how he was doing, and then he walked into the wing towards where Candice, Liana, and Kylie lay on three orderly beds. Liana seemed to be asleep; her eyes were closed, and she was lying face-up with her silky, flaming-red hair sprawled across the pillow, with a hand over her stomach, her chest rising and falling steadily. Candice had her eyes closed too, but she was shifting in her bed, so Draco figured she must be awake. Kylie was staring at the ceiling, her eyes bored. He headed over to the edge of Kylie's bed.
"Hi!" she exclaimed as he approached.
"A hundred and fifty points," he hissed. "You three lost a hundred and fifty points from Slytherin! Wait until Potter gets a whiff of this, he's going to go crazy! Where were you, anyway?"
"We went looking for Sirius Black," Kylie informed him promptly.
"Kylie!" Candice moaned from her bed.
"No point in keeping it a secret anymore," Kylie replied with a shrug. "And we're sorry about the points, Draco! I'm so sorry about that! I promise to make them up."
He snorted. "It's okay. But there's no possible way you can make up a hundred and fifty points. Only Potter can get away with that at such a prejudiced school."
"I know," trilled Kylie. "We'll work hard, I promise! I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay, I guess. Wait. You went looking for Sirius Black?!"
"Yep!" announced Kylie proudly. "We almost found him too, until Candice got scratched by an Acromantula and we decided we had to head back."
Candice mumbled something about "not my fault."
He winced. "An Acromantula? That sounds kind of…"
"Grotesque?" offered Kylie, sitting up in bed. "Yep. It definitely was. But it was really cool to see the blood and stuff. It was purple!"
"Oh," remarked Draco, amused. "That's cool."
"Seeing me bleed is cool?" protested Candice. "Some friend you are."
Kylie laughed. "Sorry, but it was. Anyway, Draco, are you going to stay?"
"No, I have a class to go to. Sorry."
"Oh." She pouted. "Well, that's okay! Have fun with your class!"
He snorted. "Having fun with Transfiguration? Right. See you guys. Tell Liana I dropped by."
"Okay," Kylie replied. "Bye!"
Draco walked out of the Hospital Wing smiling to himself.
James and Lily were doing a lot of gossip.
It was totally understandable. And as Lily was the gossip queen of Hogwarts, or according to Dumbledore, anyway, they were catching up on all of the gossip that had happened recently.
"Oh, and by the way," James asked, "what were you saying the other day about that Asian girl? Chang?"
"Cho Chang, James. She has a name." Lily rolled her eyes. "Next time you're around here, watch Harry closely. Especially when the subject of Cho Chang is up."
"Why?" James asked. "Does he hate her?"
Lily sighed. "No. He likes her."
"He…" James's eyes widened. "He likes her? Harry likes someone?"
"It's obvious," Lily replied. "I haven't been inspecting her all that closely, though. I'll try to see if there are any feelings on her end."
James grinned. "That's cool. Hey, do you think Moony's seeing someone?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. What makes you think that?"
"Well, I sent him to deliver something to Tonks, but he didn't even come back until like… a long time later. I think he probably stopped to talk to someone on the way."
"Ooh," Lily said, interested. "Who could it be, though? Not one of the professors, you think?"
James snorted. "What, you think Moony fancies McGonagall?"
She laughed and swatted him on the back affectionately. "No, silly. But there are other, younger professors."
"Yeah? Like who?"
"I don't know," Lily mused. "But that's an interesting thought, James. We need to look further into this case."
James grinned. "Yes, we do."