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LIKE A CAT IN THE SUN

Summary: Remus is in a house full of women.

Characters: Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Andromeda Tonks, Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Fleur Delacour

Words: ~1,000

Notes:

Yet another story inspired by something stereolightning said. Thank you for being a wonderful muse!

In my head, this takes place very shortly after "Easter Sun," i.e., after the start of Hogwarts' Easter break, but before the Weasley family has to go into hiding, during Deathly Hallows. An incongruous time for a happy, sunny scene, perhaps, but I really wanted it to be there.

Story:

Just because the Order of the Phoenix would be gathering this evening for a rare instance of a meeting attended by as near as possible to the group's full membership didn't mean there needed to be a feast on hand to welcome them, but Remus wished good luck to anyone who tried to convince Molly Weasley of that.

Remus himself was stretched out on the sofa under an afghan in the Burrow's living room, fairly useless, still recovering from a full moon two nights before. The rest of the house, though, was abuzz with activity.

Molly was in the kitchen, supervising, with Ginny as her half-willing sous chef. Fleur, Remus was glad to see, was also here and helping. He remembered all too well the friction between the two women over Christmas a year and a bit ago, so it pleased him to see Molly and Fleur working side by side, even if Fleur did still tend to launch into asides about all the ways cookery was better in France. But the diatribes were shorter nowadays, and Molly's reaction to them was less intense as well.

It was an improvement. And that was all anyone could ask for.

Andromeda was here too, despite not being a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Tonks had asked her to come along and help with the cooking, and Remus suspected he knew why. As the weeks dragged on without any word from Ted, on the run now from Voldemort's minions at the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, Andromeda showed little outward sign of worry, but Remus could only imagine she was inwardly frantic.

And Tonks, who was less adept at hiding her worry, wearing her heart beautifully on her sleeve as she did, kept finding pretences for why Andromeda needed to join their activities, rather than be alone.

Tonks herself, as Remus could just glimpse if he lifted his head up from the sofa and craned his neck, was hard at work at the kitchen table, but not with cookery. Rather, she was drafting an agenda for the evening's meeting. Her brow was furrowed with concentration, her gaze intent on the parchment in front of her, and Remus was struck yet again by the single-minded determination with which she turned her attention to any task she considered important.

Months into their marriage, mere weeks away from welcoming a child together, she had not ceased to impress him. He strongly doubted she ever would.

From the kitchen, Fleur's voice rose above the general hubbub. "But in France," she was saying, "zis is not at all ze type of appetiser we would serve to guests. I believe–"

"Yes, Fleur," Remus could hear Molly say, with far less impatience than she would have shown a year ago, "but I'm expecting a large crowd of hungry British witches and wizards tonight, so I think it's safe to say they'll be all right with sausage rolls."

Just then, Ginny darted into the living room to collect something off an end table. She glanced over at Remus and whispered, "You should have seen the row they had over whether or not devilled eggs count as hors d'œuvre," before dashing back out to the kitchen.

Remus chuckled appreciatively. Yes, that sounded like the sort of row Molly and Fleur would have. Luckily, their conflicts these days seemed to be largely academic in nature, rather than a play for power or dominance. Remus harboured a secret suspicion that Molly was coming to like her daughter-in-law, although it was unlikely she would admit to it.

Next to pass through the living room was Andromeda, who cast a critical eye over Remus and asked, "Do you need another pillow?"

"Thank you, Andromeda, but I'm fine," he said. Tonks complained often about Andromeda's fussing ("I'm pregnant, I'm not an invalid" was a frequent refrain), but Remus saw Andromeda's questions and offers for what they were, an expression of her caring.

He smiled at her now, and Andromeda smiled back, a fragile smile with a great deal of worry behind it, but none the less real for that.

"All right," she said, giving him a last looking-over. "But just call out if you need anything. I imagine we can spare a minute or two from our bickering over canapés, if the necessity arises."

Remus chuckled again, as Andromeda disappeared back into the fray. They had a way with a pragmatically wry turn of phrase, these Tonks family women.

Not long after, his very favourite woman of the Tonks family herself popped into the living room. Tonks laughed the moment she looked at Remus, then came and stroked a hand through his hair. "You're loving this," she declared. "I can tell."

"Am I?" asked Remus, turning so he could better see her, as she perched on the arm of the sofa next to him. "And what exactly am I loving?"

"Being here, in a house full of women all capably doing our thing," she said. "You've got that smile that says you just want to sit here and soak it up. You look like a cat that's found a perfect patch of sun."

Remus couldn't help but smile – she wasn't wrong at all, though Remus himself hadn't thought to define it that way – and Tonks laughed delightedly.

"See?" she said. "I've got your number, Lupin. You like running around with Marauders, but you like being here, too."

"Of course I do." Remus reached up to find her hand, and tugged it towards him. Tonks grinned back at him and squeezed his hand.

"Will you be okay out here for a bit longer?" she asked. "I've still got a few more things I need to write up, and then I'm afraid Molly's going to rope me into rolling out pie crusts, despite my best efforts."

"Yes, of course." He leaned up until he could reach their joined hands, and kissed the edge of her palm. "Go on, Auror Tonks, make this meeting the best it can be."

She smiled and lifted their hands so she could kiss his, too. "All right. But holler if you need anything."

"Will do, I promise."

But Remus, watching Tonks as she slid from the sofa arm and returned to the others in the kitchen, knew he didn't need anything more.