VI

The first thought that occurred to Cassiopeia when she opened her eyes was that she wasn't alone. Right in front of her and between her arms was a warm and toned body that wasn't usually there when the girl woke up in the morning.

When she took a long breath, her brain quickly identified George's scent, and she relaxed into him.

"Morning," he said in a rough and groggy voice, squeezing her a bit, making Cassiopeia open her eyes and raise them to look at him.

"I guess you're really here," she whispered. "Good morning."

Her boyfriend laughed, and the girl moved a hand up, moving the mess of red hair off his forehead.

"How did you sleep?" she questioned, trying to make herself smaller and getting closer to his embrace, searching for his warmth. This was good. She liked this. She could get used to this.

In response, George's hand moved to her face and Cas smiled at his thumb making patterns on her cheek.

"Well, I had you right here and Fred was nowhere around to wake me up with his snores," he pointed out. "This is one of the best nights of sleep I've ever had in my life."

The girl let out a very soft giggle.

"I could get used to it," he moved the hand that wasn't on her face to hold one of hers, interlacing their fingers and raising them a bit, so they could both see it. "Waking up next to you."

Cassiopeia just closed her eyes, breathing him in, but their moment was soon interrupted when the door of the room was opened.

"Good morning, kids," Mr Tonks said with a huge smile, moving his eyes over the two of them, clearly trying to see any evidence of what they were doing prior to his arrival.

"Good morning, sir," Cassiopeia moved away from George slowly. "I… Uh… Assume it's not as early as I thought."

He just shrugged.

"Don't worry, Andromeda just finished putting breakfast on the table."

Cassiopeia pushed the sheets away from her body hesitantly. She didn't want to leave her bed, but to leave her Aunt waiting wouldn't be very polite.

"We better brush our teeth," she pointed to the ginger following her steps, but Mr Tonks raised his hand.

"You go, Cassiopeia," he instructed. "I want to exchange a few words with George. Don't worry, I'll be quick."

She looked between the two of them, already feeling embarrassed, but didn't protest. The girl was in the corridor when she heard her aunt's husband's voice again, this time much more serious than when he was talking directly to her.

"George, I'm unsure of how much of this your parents have talked to you or how much information on the topic the school provided…" he started, and the sound of the door closing interrupted his speech, preventing Cassiopeia from hearing anything else.

Merlin… She did not want to be in her boyfriend's place right now, that was certain.

When she left the bathroom from brushing her teeth, Cassiopeia stopped by her cousin's door. Andromeda had asked her to talk to her the previous night, but Tonks was apparently asleep. Maybe she was up now.

"Hey," Cas opened the door, putting her head inside. "Tonks?"

"I want to be alone," she groaned. "Leave."

The blonde girl frowned. That was unexpected.

"Hey," she entered, confused, and closed the door behind herself. "What's wrong? What happened?"

She waited for a bit, and her cousin finally turned to the door's direction, still lied on the bed. Her usual pink hair had turned into a brown that was a nice mixture of her parents' hair colours, which was very unusual, and her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

Cassiopeia couldn't quite react at first. She'd never seen Tonks like that. She was always happy and bubbly, and the teen just couldn't understand what was wrong.

"I'm gonna get my wand," she straightened her back. "Who do I have to torture?"

But the brown-haired girl only offered a sad smile.

"Don't," she muttered. "You're gonna be arrested. And I'll probably have to be the one doing it."

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and walked to her, sitting on the mattress and moving to touch her, a bit hesitantly. She didn't really know what to do to comfort her.

"What happened?" Cas questioned.

Tonks bit her lower lip.

"You remember that Remus had dinner with us the other day?" she asked.

The blonde nodded.

"Well…" she hesitated.

The understanding suddenly hit her. She was in love with him.

"Oh," she whispered. "Tonks."

Tonks closed her eyes, and Cassiopeia touched her cousin's face.

"I'm sorry," the girl whispered. "Did he…"

"He rejected me," she finished her sentence. "Said he was too old and damaged for me. That I was a child and didn't know what I was doing or thinking. I've never felt so humiliated!"

Her sobs interrupted her words, turning Cassiopeia's insides into fire, and she had to swallow down a curse. How dare he make her feel like that? How dare he spoke to her like that?

"I'm gonna go talk to him and get this right," she decided.

Tonks held her cousin's wrist before she could even stand up.

"You can't force him to love me, Cas."

Tonks was right, she couldn't. But she could at least make him apologise for the words he used to respond to her.

"No. But I can't let him hurt you like this and leave it this way," she retorted. "He might not love you back, but he can't talk to you and leave you humiliated like this."

Tonks took your hand in both of hers.

"Don't talk to him," she whispered. "Please."

Cassiopeia stopped in her spot, just looking at the face of the girl who'd simply taken her under her wing when she had nowhere to go. Merlin, she looked so broken. She couldn't leave her to that.

"Come eat with us," Cassiopeia said to her. "Aunt Andromeda is worried. Knowing that you're at least eating is going to calm her down."

She moved a hand to brown mossy her hair – a difficult and weird image, come to think of it –, pushing it away from her forehead and face.

"I don't want to see anyone," she closed her eyes.

But the request wasn't up for debate.

"I wasn't asking," Cassiopeia pointed out. "I'm commanding you to come to have breakfast with us."

Tonks raised her eyebrows in surprise but didn't say anything when her cousin pulled her to sit up on the mattress and took a comb from her bedside table, working on the knots in her hair as delicately as possible. Once they were done, Cassiopeia brushed it the way Tonk's usually styled her locks and dragged her cousin off of her bed.

"Go brush your teeth. I'll be at the table," she instructed and stopped herself from leaving the room when a thought crossed her mind. "Don't make me come back here and carry you out, you know I would do It,"

She shook her head, but Cassiopeia could see a tiny smile breaking from her lips.

"Fine," she sighed.

And with that – finally satisfied – she left.