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"Remember, upright posture," Antonia scolded, arranging Tonks' robes for her as they stood a few corridors from the office, tucked safely behind a corner, "Roma's family are insistent on it."
"Got it, no slouching," Tonks replied with a grin.
"I don't cut off words like that," Roma added, "I mean, I do it sometimes but I try not to. So it would be 'I've got it, I won't slouch', alright?"
Tonks pursed her lips together, "I've got it, Lord Carlson, I will not slouch."
"You kid around but that was actually better," Roma countered, her hands coming to rest on her stomach, "Remember, don't mention Abel."
"Don't worry, that's cemented into my mind," Tonks tapped her brain, "Number one priority ... sorry, that is my number one priority."
Roma smiled a little, "That's better. Thank you."
"And remember, avert eye contact, be brief but detailed and if in doubt, tremble and drop your cup," Antonia reminded her, still straightening out the collar although it was more to calm her nerves now than anything.
"Antonia, don't worry, I've - oof!" She stumbled back as Antonia launched a surprise hug attack, catching her in the ribs. Quickly, Tonks hugged her back, softly reassuring her, "Don't worry, I'll be alright, okay? I'm Tonks, if worst comes to worst, I'll become a bird and fly out of there."
"Don't do that," Antonia laughed nervously as she let go, standing back next to Roma who patted her on the arm.
"I've already done a Defence lesson, don't worry."
Roma stepped forward, staring Tonks dead in the eye, "This will be far more heavily scrutinised though, Tonks, the Defence lessons really don't compare. My Dad misses very little with me - "
"Except the massive bump under your cloak."
"Tonks! Well ... yes, he did miss that but Abel's still small and I have bad circulation anyway," Roma replied, "Just tell him what he wants, try not to betray too much attention. I'll reiterate it again, avert eye contact. You can tell so much from the eyes."
"Think I've got it, okay?" Tonks assured them, backing away a little, "Like I said, I've managed to be you before ... piece of cake."
She laughed whilst the other two exchanged a look.
"It's a piece of cake," Roma corrected as Tonks left the room. Once she was gone, Roma turned to Antonia, "I hope she remembers what happened. If I can't remember the last time, it will be awfully noticeable."
"I was thinking about that too," Antonia admitted, "Which is why the rotary phone has been abandoned, MAH is now working on something a little more helpful. We've put our best minds to it."
Roma smiled, as they decided it was safe to creep out to Roma's safe space, tucked out of sight, "And by that you mean, you?"
For a moment, Antonia appeared to be tempted to deny it before nodding, "Yes," She gave a large yawn, "It's taking it's toll..."
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As Tonks walked towards the office, she felt much less nervous than she probably should have done. Despite Antonia and Roma's warnings, she was sure she could handle it. One time, she'd been forced to do a week's detention with Professor Sinistra who was perhaps the eeriest woman ever.
Her confidence led to her cheerily knocking, which would probably come off as odd. By the time Mr Carlson had answered the door, she'd adopted the gloomy pose Roma often wore to make up for this. Forcing her lips to curve down and eyelids to hang heavy took a lot of mental effort.
"Roma. You're a few minutes late," He stated. Standing at the front of the classroom, Tonks had never noticed how damn tall Mr Carlson was. He towered over his 'daughter', a strong, stocky figure that commanded obedience. She sensed this in class but it was far more powerful now. Perhaps it was purposeful.
"I'm sorry," She replied softly, "Professor Snape gave me rather a lot of Potions homework to do. I simply lost track of time."
Mr Carlsons' brow furrowed, "I shall have a word with him. It's unacceptable that you should be drowning in homework so much that it cuts into our already limited time together."
Before she could help herself, Tonks snorted with vague laughter at the idea of loud-mouthed Mr Carlson confronting the wry Professor Snape. Now that she'd like to see.
Sitting on the desk were two cups of tea, surrounded by scattered papers. Her eyes drifted down to one that was only partially visible, covered by student papers. It seemed far more personal than the others, written in beautiful swirling handwriting.
Roma was right, however, Mr Carlson was attentive. The moment he saw her eyes looking at it, he stashed it underneath the papers. Today, he looked somewhat agitated.
"Sit," He instructed and Tonks did so automatically. For a moment, she slouched before straightening up as quickly as possible. This was noted.
"You look agitated, Roma," He said. Tonks dared to look up, avoiding his eyes as instructed. His lips were turned down as his long fingers drummed on the desk. It was odd but she got the feeling he was just as angry about something too, especially given the particularly stern entrance today. Nothing Roma said implied it would be this harsh.
Now the nerves were kicking in, so Tonks sat back, gripping the tea tightly, waiting for the inevitable question about her day Roma promised he always led with. Instead, there was merely silence as Mr Carlson drunk his tea and Tonks' eyes began to drift to calm her nerves. They came to rest on a wall display of the seven children. The short descriptions Antonia had given was prominent in each picture, Tonks was able to identify each one from the photos alone. It was almost as if the children wanted to amplify their stereotype on purpose. Curiously, there were no remnants of Adelaide in the office whatsoever, just the children; if Tonks didn't know any better she'd think Mr Carlson was a single father.
"ROMA."
She jumped instantly, the tea spilling onto her hands. For a moment, the hairs on her head almost began to turn a deep yellow from the fright but Tonks managed to tame them.
His brow furrowed, "You seem incredibly off today, Roma."
Tonks shivered, never before had she been found out so fast, this was new territory for her. This wasn't for fun. This was serious.
"I ... I had a bad day - "
"Was it Snape's doing?"
"No - "
"Pippie?"
"No - "
"Antonia?"
"NO!" It came out louder than intended but Tonks reckoned that Roma would be just as defensive ... hopefully.
"Then who? Roma, I can't do all the guessing here," He snapped, "You're always gloomy around me but I see you in the corridors and you're not like this. It's almost as if I'm the cause..."
"You um ... catch me at the end of the day," Tonks replied, her voice soft despite the fact she seriously wanted to give this awful man a piece of her mind, "I'm tired, that is all."
"I'm tired too yet I still manage to keep a smile on my face," He replied sharply, "Sometimes you just have to pretend, Roma, not let people catch on, you see?" Tonks was pretty sure if she opened her mouth, she'd start yelling and her hair would turn bright red ... just a little bit of a giveaway, "There's no point being gloomy, it takes and doesn't give. Your Mother wouldn't like it if you came home like that, now would she? You'd smile for her, right? So, how come you cannot extend the same courtesy for me?"
This was different from anything Roma described, not quite a rant. It was more akin to a tantrum than anything as he slammed his hands on the table.
"Your Mother wants me to return home to her," He said, staring Tonks dead in the eye or at least attempting to. Tonks wasn't going to let this awful encounter get any worse by making eye contact, "Would that make you smile? I know it would make Pippie happy, she doesn't even look at me, even when I wave. She could at least wave at me - "
"But Pippie's a bitch."
"Don't use that word to describe her," Mr Carlson snapped, "She's merely going through a phase, just like you. You've been meek and gloomy since I arrived, Roma, this isn't the daughter I raised or your Mother wanted," He leant forward a little, taking her face in his hand as if admiring it, "Your face is ruined when you frown, a smile suits it far better ... it helps nobody, Roma."
Tonks was speechless, watching this grown man berate his daughter in such an bizarre manner.
"And it's contagious too. Once one person frowns, others do. You've brought my mood down many a time when I try so hard," He suddenly turned to her accusingly, "So why do you do it, Roma? Why do you choose to be sad when she so badly wants you to be happy?" His face seemed to soften a little, "Is it a punishment - "
"No, it's just N.E.W.Ts are stressful and I ... I had a bad day," She repeated, gripping the chair tightly, "That's why I'm gloomy and ... off. That's why.
Only now did she meet his eye, not even trying to hide the shock on her face. Mr Carlson didn't look happy now but he didn't look angry anymore. She watched as he slowly took a seat once more, his eyes not leaving her once.
After a pause that seemed to last forever, he sighed, "You do seem off but I'm sure I do too. It's been a..." He glanced down at the corner of the letter he'd so desperately hid earlier, " ... tiresome day for me too."
She smiled weakly, quickly sipping her tea as he asked the question she'd been prewarned about, "How was your day, Roma?"
The nerves dissipated a little, replaced by vague confidence once more. Luckily the rest of the meeting went by exactly as she'd been warned, her responses almost pre-prepared at this point. Still, the feeling of unease lingered in her stomach, right up until she'd left the office, closing the door behind her.
Antonia and the real Roma had promised to stay tucked away in Hogwart's Ghoul Studies classroom so Tonks immediately began to head there, morphing back into herself as soon as possible. Roma's attitude to life, caution laced with paranoia and pessimism was starting to make a whole lot of sense to Tonks. She'd only been to one meeting with Mr Carlson and already was looking over her shoulder just in case he had another gloom speech prepared.
The man was terrifying.
To ensure she was a bit cheerier upon meeting the girls, she began to prepare another joke pick-up line to use on the increasingly receptive Antonia. Sadly this plan was cut short.
"Hey Antonia, I hear you like bad girls, well I'm..." She trailed off, realising Antonia was curled up, fast asleep on Roma's lap. Pure awkwardness came between the girls as Roma's eyes widened, glimmering in the dull light, "Oh ... I thought she'd be awake."
"Me too," Roma admitted, "But as it turns out she's been sneakily working nights on a pair of radios or something," She looked down at her sleeping friend with a fond smile, "She's exhausted."
"Well, that's adorable," Tonks said, shutting the door behind her.
This clearly made things a little worse as Roma murmured, "Yeah ... um, you can finish your um ... line, if you'd like."
"Oh, yeah, that," Tonks mumbled, "I hear you like bad girls, well guess what I'm bad at keeping my cool during Mr Carlson's terrifying outbursts."
Immediately, Roma's hands jumped to her mouth, "He didn't ... Tonks, I am so sorry. I should have seen this coming, he was funny in Defence a few days back. Oh Merlin's beard, I can't believe I let you go that ... Tonks, I do apologise."
"S'okay," Tonks shrugged, "If I can survive that the others will be piss easy, right?"
"... you'd think that but no," Roma laughed softly, "He's very good to us but no, he's not an easy man."
"He was angry about me or you, rather being gloomy," Tonks explained, "I reckon it was this letter on his desk. He may be observant but I am too, his eyes kept flicking down to it. Hey! Maybe you know who it's from, the handwriting was beautifully swirly!"
Roma smiled a little, before holding out her wand, "Accio quill," A quill whizzed into her hand, Tonks watching as she retrieved ink from her bag. Slowly, Roma wrote the first four letters of the alphabet onto the back of her hand before holding it out, "Something like that?"
"Yeah, almost exactly..."
She smiled at her hand before wiping the wet ink off, "We all have it. My parents like pretty handwriting, it could be any of them."
"Oh boy ..." Tonks lay back.
"Indeed," They fell silent before Tonks heard a rustling, sitting up a little as Roma held out a chocolate frog, struggling between her fingers, "Do you want one?"
"No ..." Tonks shivered at the sight of the squirming being, "It would be cannibalism, eating a fellow hybrid," She morphed on of her hand into green, webbed frog ones. Roma laughed, looking strangely unnerved although eating the chocolate anyway.
Neither of them spoke but the silence produced was far from comfortable. Tonks longed to break it. Usually, she had at least some tact of situations but the experience with Mr Carlson left her rattled so her icebreaker was far from calm, "So, Roma ... who knocked you up?"
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The entire Carlson family scares the shit out of me but they're also my favourite family just because they're a creepy bunch. I always get way too into the backstories without meaning to - E x