-In this time with Tenebrius-
I was getting home a little tired, I had to solve several files for Amelia in a very short time, seriously, that woman works too much. When I walked into my house, I could see that there were some Christmas decorations, and from how neat and coordinated they were, clearly couldn't be Tonks.
"Andromeda, are you here?!" I called as I took off my suit.
"In the kitchen" I got a reply.
I went over there and saw her stirring a big pot inside it with a big ladle. I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks for the decorations, you wouldn't have bothered"
"No problem, I know you guys are busy, especially when Nymphadora told me that you have a new job as an assistant. Don't force yourself so much, relax and take your time, don't pressure yourself and try to relieve some stress like a normal young man" She gave me a friendly look but also a reproachful look and her words that confused me a bit.
Tonks arrived shortly after and found Andromeda and me in the kitchen, which indicated to her that she would have to put up with her mother's comments and my jokes about them.
Andromeda left after finishing cooking, she had prepared enough food for a few days, she didn't want us to neglect our eating habits because of work.
"Your mother cooks very well" I told her while we ate.
"Yes, but I'm tired of her coming and tidying up my room to her liking... I like it messy the way I leave it, I have a hard time finding things when they're not where I left them" Tonks nodded, but complained later.
"Cares for you"
"Yeah right... I think she cares more about my 'habits' bothering you and leaving me... seriously, I think she loves you more than me"
"Haha, what can you do, I'm great" I laughed at it.
"Hey, you're not safe from her anger either" she pointed her spoon at me.
"Why?"
"She has complained to me a bit that she doesn't find anything in your room"
"What is she hoping to find?"
"Something... says that you have very few things, when she comes in, everything is in order, so she checks your things and then puts them back as they were before"
"Did she tell you that?"
"No, but I've seen her do it... she knows we don't have sex or anything like that, so she's hoping to find at least one picture of me that you'll use to relieve stress... since she can't find it, she takes it out on me for not being more active"
"Ahhh... that's why" I said as I understood more of Andromeda's words "Do you want us to do something with that?"
"Please, use your head to solve that problem because I couldn't think of anything other than taking a picture of myself, staining it with milk from the fridge and throwing it in your room..."
"That's not a bad plan, why didn't you do it?"
"When it occurred to me, I didn't have a camera and I ended up drinking the milk" she said somewhat annoyed.
"Okay…but how about we give her a big surprise?" I gave her a wicked smile.
"...just don't hurt my mom, nothing over the top...she's annoying but she's my mom and I love her" she warned me.
"Of course, it's just so she stops looking"
"Well, what do you think?"
"Let's finish eating first"
Then I do the dishes, I give Tonks a camera and tell her what shapes I want her to take and when I do, she gets a weird look.
"Are you going to touch yourself with a picture of me and one of my mother?" She asked me, not knowing how to feel.
"First, it wouldn't be your mother, it would be you looking like your mother. Second, I didn't say anything about touching myself with them. Third, if you gave me your picture and you says 'I give you my permission' then maybe I would, but if not... I respect and appreciate you and your mother enough not to."
"Okay, I hope it works" she ended up accepting and went into her room.
After a while she came out and I took some normal pictures of her looking like Andromeda around the rest of the house. Once we finished, I looked at them and realized that they weren't that bad, I just did a few tweaks to some of them to make them more...exciting.
"I think they turned out well" I nodded at my work with Tonks off to the side watching them.
"Now it only remains to do your 'part'" she emphasized her words.
"Don't say it like that, you pervert" I complained.
"Hey, I'm not the one who has to stain them with her secret sauce"
"Tonks, do you know I can use a substitute? I don't necessarily have to make it so real."
"If you don't, it better be believable enough. If my mother finds out it's fake, I'll get the punishment of my life for trying to trick her" she threatened me with her finger.
"Okay, I'll see if I really do it. It sounds weird that you force me to do this"
"All for the cause...my mother will drive me crazy if she keeps this up" She sighed, ever since her mother knows about Tenebrius her family life has been more complicated than usual.
"By the way, what do your parents like?"
"Why?"
"Christmas presents, I want to know what to give them"
"You do not have to worry about that"
"Tonks... just tell me" I looked at her reproachfully.
"Well..." she thought for a while "If you can, give Papa any economics book and he'll be happy"
"Well, what books does he have?"
"Uh... I don't know"
"Tonks... I need to know what books he has so I don't buy him a duplicate"
"But I do not remember"
"Okay, you said that your mother will come for you a few days before Christmas, right? Amelia has a lot of work and I will stay with her a little longer. When you leave and you are at home, you will secretly check what books your father has and tell me through my message ability, got it?"
"Fine" Tonks nodded.
"And your mother?"
"Well if you can't give her a grandson like she reminds me from time to time... then you can give her a dress and I think she'll be happy with it" Tonks said somewhat distressed.
"I think the dress is fine, it's much easier to get hahaha"
After that talk, we work as we normally do. In my room, I created a little secret stash that accidentally got damaged and is now out in the open.
In one of my stress relievers as Red in the Lovegood house, when I was about to finish I took the photos and left trace evidence, it's not something I would brag about, but Tonks made it clear to me that I could not fail in this. Don't use them as material, just take them out at the last minute, it's the only thing I can be more or less proud of.
These days also Lupine came to me with the merchandise, we went to the same place as before and exchanged everything I caught with the merchant. I must say that he did an exceptional job, maybe he put in a lot of effort because he wanted to accumulate some money for the holidays.
"Here's your share" I handed him a good amount of money inside a bag.
"Thank you"
"No thanks, you earned it, it's a pleasure doing business with you. Merry Christmas, see you after the holidays" I patted his shoulder.
"Merry Christmas" he replied with a smile, I think he was satisfied with the payment.
...
A couple of days before Christmas, Andromeda had come looking for her daughter, to prevent her from forgetting or getting distracted by something else.
Andromeda entered the house and went to the bathroom, where she heard the shower running and a girl singing a song that she had heard from her roommate. Andromeda came in and said something annoying.
"Haven't you changed yet?"
"Mom, what are you doing here? Get out!" Tonks complained.
"If I don't come, there would be no way to get you out of here"
"I hate that Tenebrius gave you a copy of the house key"
"He at least had that consideration... finishes quickly, we have to go do the last shopping" Andromeda left the bathroom, leaving her daughter alone, who was now angry.
Andromeda left and went to do one last cleaning in her daughter's room, they were going to leave here for a few days, but Tenebrius would stay a little longer. After arranging a few last things, she went out, and through the open door of Tenebrius's room she could see that next to one of the legs of the bed there was a protruding board.
Andromeda looked both ways, then slipped into the room quietly. With her wand, she checked for any enchantments, but she only found a few that seemed damaged and made her even more curious. After taking a few seconds to make up her mind, she pulled back the floorboard that seemed to have been rotated and below it was a small black box.
She removed the box that didn't have any lock or the like and opened it slowly, inside there seemed to be several photos. When she knew they were photos, Andromeda seemed to find a Treasure, she slowly removed them with the tips of her fingers and checked.
She found photos of her daughter doing different things, such as eating at the table, putting on makeup, drinking water, looking for something in the kitchen and one in her underwear putting on pants. The more she saw, the more she got excited, but then her expression changed from hers as she began to find pictures of herself, cleaning the house, stirring the pot with a ladle and various other things she didn't quite remember if she had done.
When she got to the last ones, she realized that there were three somewhat 'different' photos... one of her bending down to pick something up under the table, where her butt was sticking up... Another of her daughter sleeping in underwear on her bed... and the last one was a photo edited to make it look like she and her daughter were warmly embracing. What made it a little more out of place was that these three photos were not... intact...
This was what she expected and wanted, but now she didn't know how to feel about it. She took a deep breath and then put the photos back on their place and tried not to leave evidence of herself going where she shouldn't. She left Tenebrius' room and stood outside the door, saying to herself.
"Okay, it's not weird at all, you should have known... at least you found what you wanted, just a little more than you expected..."
Tonks came out of the shower and saw her mother standing quietly in the hallway, for which she gave her a strange look. She asked what was wrong, but her mother just hurried her so they could go.
Once they went out to do the last shopping before going home, Andromeda put her arm over her daughter's head and hugged her neck to tell her.
"How are things between you and Tenebrius?"
"I already told you that there is nothing between us, Mom" Tonks repeated the same as the last few times.
"Are you sure he can't come with us now?"
"He's working hard with the head of the magical law enforcement department, he's coming over for Christmas Eve dinner."
"He won't be 'Working hard with her' hahaha... you'll have to keep an eye on him" her mother teased, causing Nymphadora to blush.
"Mom, don't make jokes like that, you make me uncomfortable" Tonks separated from her mother's hug "Besides, he has nothing to do with me if he does something with his boss"
"You should take care of him more, if not, he might go with someone else who says a few nice words to him. Although a promotion would not be bad for your future, but don't let him lower himself" Andromeda laughed "I don't worry anyway, I know he likes you, I think he likes colorful hair"
"Because what you say?" Tonks asked, confused by her mother's confidence.
"It's just what I think... it's not like I found anything" she tried to hide it, but it sounded suspicious.
"Hum..." Tonks just snorted, she thought that maybe her mother did find the photos they prepared and from her happy expression, everything went according to plan, although she didn't understand why her mother also had a strange look in her eyes.
"Nymphadora..." Andromeda took some time in silence to think and then speak to her daughter
"Yes mom?"
"When you do it with him, if he wants…change to whatever shape he likes, no matter what…just to warm things up at first" she took her time to tell her seriously.
"MOM!" Tonks yelled at her mom and ran into the store to avoid that awkward talk.
...
On the afternoon of December 24, Tenebrius was in Amelia's office, still working. Both myself and Amelia were still filling out a ton of paperwork.
"You don't need to stay until now, enjoy the holidays" Amelia said without looking up from her parchment.
"Will you go too?"
"I have a lot to do, the holidays add more work than the usual days"
"Then I won't go... abandoning someone when they need it most is a very bad thing" I replied.
"I'll finish this alone, you can go with your family"
"You have a family?"
"I have a niece"
"And you're not going to go see her and spend Christmas Eve with her?"
"I'll do it when I'm done"
"Then I'll go with you and help finish this sooner so you can spend more time with her."
"If that's what you want"
Time passed like this and at one point, with the excuse of going to the bathroom, Tenebrius fell apart and as Red, instead of creating a Tenebrius with magical powers like before, I created two non-magical Tenebrius. One went back to Amelia to help her with work, while the other went to get ready for dinner with Tonks.
...
Outside the Tonks house, I stood with a bottle of wine, smiling as I realized that the time I've had the most wine was with this family. When I approached the house, Andromeda had opened the door and greeted me with a big smile.
"Tenebrius, you're here. I was afraid you'd get stuck at work, I almost sent Tonks looking for you"
"I was just a little late, I hope I didn't bother you"
"No, you're right on time, come in"
When I entered I could see the decorations, there were many but they did not give the feeling of overloading the image of the house, it must be Andromeda, since the distribution is identical to the one she did in our house.
Edward was on his couch having a drink while he was reading a book in front of the fireplace, when he saw me snort and went back to his book. Andromeda scolded him and forced him to greet me, which was hilarious to watch.
Soon Tonks came down and when I saw her I couldn't help but laugh out loud, since she had a pair of small reindeer antlers on her head, as well as wearing a green almost Christmas elf outfit. The moment she saw it, she came at me angrily and pushed me with her horns, when she told me about how her mother insisted that she wear them I had a lot of fun and it seems that was what Andromeda wanted.
Andromeda went to the kitchen to finish dinner and Edward went to get something from his study, leaving me and Tonks alone.
"You have no idea what this day was like" she complained.
"What happened? It couldn't be that bad" I asked.
Tonks put her hand on her waist and pulled her clothes down a bit, letting me see that her underwear, at least the bottom one, was green with a snowflake pattern.
"hahaha" I couldn't help but laugh.
"That is not the worst"
"haha really?"
"Mama is wearing one just like it... but red"
After she said that, we both noticed Andromeda's head sticking out from the kitchen watching as Tonks was showing me her underwear and gave her daughter an approving nod. This caused Tonks to hit her face with the palm of her hand, and I couldn't stop laughing.
A little later, we started with Christmas Eve dinner, but not before first seeing how Edward spent some time removing all the mistletoe from the house without his wife finding out.
When we were all seated dinner started and it was quite nice, Andromeda told many anecdotes about Tonks being little that kept embarrassing her. Edward also told some anecdotes from his youth, while Tonks told many stories of things she did at Hogwarts. I was the only one who didn't have real stories to tell, so I modified some that I knew, but I didn't give many details or insist on speaking so as not to reveal my lie.
For a moment I was annoyed with myself for lying to them, but I knew I could only go on like this for so long, at least until Tenebrius is no longer needed.
We drank a lot that night, although the only one who was a little drunk was Edward, who at one point challenged me to a duel because 'You want to steal my princess'. It ended up with a victor, 'the Andromeda duster', who beat him until he accepted defeat and sat on the couch, where he ended up falling asleep.
It was past twelve o'clock when I took out some gifts from the inventory.
"Tonks, come here" I called to Nymphadora who was arguing with her mother.
"What's the matter?"
"Merry Christmas" I said, handing her a big square box.
"Thank you" she said very cheerfully and went directly to place it on the table and open it.
Andromeda also walked over to the table to watch as Tonks opened her present like a rabid dog, judging her in the process. When the box was opened, inside was an 18-inch snowman, made up of two snowballs, with a carrot nose, stick arms, charcoal buttons and eyes, and a little hat. The Snowman was not motionless, it moved from side to side with very human movements.
"This is..." Tonks said with wide eyes.
"It's a pet, a living snowman, it's almost like a dog"
"Is it really alive?" Tonks asked.
"Don't be silly, you're in your last year of school" Andromeda hit her on the head "It's an enchanted Snowman"
"In fact... he's alive, he's a living being," I clarified.
"What?!" x2
"Yes, as I said, he is a living being just like you and me"
"How is that possible? Is it a new kind of creature?" Andromeda asked.
"That means I have to feed him and all" Tonks quickly found a fatal flaw.
"Hahaha, I'll never think of giving you something alive if I know you're going to starve it Tonks" I laughed "It's a special creature that a friend got me, you know who is Tonks. The Snowman doesn't have much intelligence, so it just it will go from here to there. It eats snow or ice cubes, although you don't need to feed it as often, but it will shrink if you don't. As you were the one who opened the box now it belongs to you and if someone tries to steal it or similar it will melt, you can get it back accumulating a certain amount of snow, from where it will be reborn, just like a phoenix... but of snow"
"Really? Let's see" Tonks took out her wand and conjured some small pieces of ice that she put in her hand and brought it closer to the Snowman.
The little Snowman reached out its hands to the ice cubes in Tonks's hand and scooped them up, then popping them into its mouth and chewing on them like his was a squirrel.
"It's great!" Tonks exclaimed.
"Surprising truth" Andromeda commented. She did understand the true value of an unknown creature like this, which caused her to take a few deeper glances at Tenebrius and she felt more at ease with some of the things she had done. She also arranged to tell her daughter that she should hide certain things to avoid problems.
"But... you don't want to leave it in a warm place because it will melt, and when it's hot it will wet the whole floor. It's good for nothing but acting cute or decoration, sorry about that. I thought I'd call it Frosty, but it's yours choice"
"I think it's great, I'll be able to have fun with him at the office when you're not... Frosty doesn't sound too bad, I was going to call him Snowball, but I think Frosty is better" Tonks said as she held the doll's hands and danced with him.
"Andromeda, I have your gift here" I told her, taking out another box less tall than the previous one.
"You wouldn't have bothered, having you with us is the best gift" she said sincerely.
"Here, it's my gift, and thanks for your company in our life" I forcefully handed her the box.
"Okay, I'll take it" she said and she went to a cabinet where she took out a gift package and handed it to me "This is from me to you"
Andromeda and I open the packages that we deliver to each other. Andromeda gave me a wizard hat, from what I saw it seemed that she had made it herself and I must say that it was quite stylish, it was not the pointy wizard hat and it had a big brim. It was black and reminded me of a vampire hunter's hat, maybe with my 'hunting' outfit it would look great.
"I hope you like it... When I asked Tonks what things you liked she didn't know how to answer" Andromeda complained "So I made something with my own hands that I thought you would like"
"It's not my fault, Tenebrius likes the same things I do" Tonks said.
"It won't be that Tenebrius only does things that you might like" Andromeda commented.
"That could be too" she answered without looking at us, she was concentrating throwing snowballs at Frosty.
"Ohh Merlin…don't let her lose this boy or she'll be single forever" Andromeda prayed softly.
"Thank you Andromeda, I think it is perfect, and I would have accepted with love anything you would have done for me, no matter what it is"
Andromeda smiled and opened her package, in it there was a beautiful crystal violet dress, very similar to the color of her lock of hair. When she saw it, she was very excited about a moment, but then she put it back in her box.
"I can't take it, I can see it's too expensive, maybe not as much as Tonks's gift, but it's still too much… you have to save for your future" She handed me the box.
"Andromeda, that gift is my feelings, I may not have made it by hand like you, but I hope you accept it, since it is my most sincere thanks" I looked at her seriously as I pushed the box again "If you don't accept it, I promise I won't set foot in this house again" I threatened her, although without hatred or similar.
She hesitated for a moment, but then squeezed the box in her hands.
"We bankrupt you with these gifts, you make me feel horrible"
"Not so much, in fact your dress was more expensive than Tonks' gift, although that one can only be bought at Christmas. Besides, I got everything with a Christmas discount, don't worry"
"Even so, I have another gift for you that I hope will make up for something" said Andromeda determined "look inside your hat"
I was a little surprised but I did what she told me and from inside the hat I was able to take a picture. In that photo were Tonks and Andromeda only dressed in their Christmas underwear, it looked like a photo taken inside a secret store fitting room. After looking at the photo for a few seconds, I looked somewhat surprised and confused at Andromeda, who was smiling at me.
"It's so you can start things between you with some emotion" she said and then gave me a kiss on the cheek "Thank you for the gift"
It was awkward but exciting at the same time, luckily for Tonks she didn't see the exchange between them. After that, I took out the last gift, it was Edward's, which I had to end up giving to Andromeda because he was still asleep. It was an economics book written by a Wizard 100 years ago, signed by him; I went to many places until I found a place where they sold one of these signed books and then I could get it from the merchant.
"Thank you for everything Tenebrius..."
"There is no reason to"
"Tonks, aren't you going to give him your present?" Andromeda yelled at her daughter, who now had Frosty riding on her back.
"What? Ah...yeah! That..." Tonks jumped and dropped Frosty to the ground disarming him, but he quickly snapped back into his original form "Yeah...well...that...isn't a gift that I can give here" Tonks seemed a little nervous or uncomfortable.
"Oh..." Andromeda was quite surprised "... Right, I'm a fool for asking, there are gifts that can't be given anywhere" she elbowed me and winked at me before giving her a thumbs up to her daughter with full approval.
When Andromeda went to order some things in the kitchen, I took the opportunity to go to Tonks side and speak to her in whispers.
"I'm pretty sure you're not going to give me the kind of gift your mother thinks"
"Of course not, I just didn't want her to find out"
"About what?"
"I forgot to buy you a present"
"What?! How did you forget that? I wouldn't be the least bit mad if you said you didn't want to buy me anything, but... Forget it? How did that happen?"
"Do you remember that I had to prepare flowers for you?"
"Yes"
"That I did remember... and I forgot the other"
"You're amazing... I love you, but I hate you, silly" I laughed at how distracted she can be.
"I'll buy you something later"
"I don't want to, I'm already offended... besides don't worry, I didn't care if you didn't really give me anything, your company is enough"
"But you gave me a very valuable mentally retarded snowman" she said, seeing how Frosty kept walking against the wall without advancing.
"Your mother already gave me something more valuable"
"Did she suck you?"
"Coghh... what?" I looked at her in amazement.
"Sorry, I think I'm a little drunk, but you said something more valuable and I couldn't think of anything else. It would have bothered me, but I loved Frosty, and alcohol can be blamed for a lot of things" She moved the glass from her hand while looking.
"Tonks... how many fingers do you see?" I told her, raising my index finger.
"... Three...no...no, yes three" she answered very badly, but from her face she seemed to be perfectly sober, an impressive skill.
"Put down that glass, it's enough for today"
"Well" she said and gave me a kiss on the cheek before going to a chair and falling asleep instantly.
I was in charge of accommodating her in the armchair, and I went to Andromeda to say goodbye to her. She was washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen. When I went to tell her that she was leaving...
"It is necessary that you go, you can go tomorrow" She looked somewhat listless.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go"
"Tonks asked you to leave?" She looks seriously.
"…yeah…" I decided to tell the truth, by the look on her face I could tell that she would know if I was lying.
"She's a fool… please don't leave her, I can give you more pictures like the previous one… if you leave her she will die alone" she had a very pitiful look in her eyes.
"Haha, it won't be like that... well... 50-50. And the photo isn't necessary, but thanks... that's fine, I'll tell you the truth, the photos you found were put on purpose" I told her the truth, I felt that it was necessary.
"Oh... so you don't want the picture I gave you"
"I'll keep it as a good memory... and I'll stay here if you want, but I'll sleep on the couch... no exceptions"
"But we have a guest room"
"I want the sofa, please don't argue"
"... well" she decided not to object, it didn't make a difference, anyway Tonks was unconscious and nothing could be done... unless... no.
After that Andromeda and I took our respective partners to her rooms, once I finished she wished me good night and she went to sleep, but not before bringing me some blankets.
I sat on the sofa with the blankets on and started to read a little, something that happened with the other clone made me realize how good it would be to have televisions in the magical world, but I had no idea how they worked or how to make it possible to use them with magic so I decided to study some more.