I Wonder (Tonks/open)

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

Lexi sat off by herself in the Ministry's lobby, waiting for the day's babysitter. Julius was with their uncle Damie that day, but uncle Damie's girlfriend didn't like Lexi. She refused to babysit the girl. Papi was working, so Lexi was left sitting there with her picture of Mommy while she waited to see who would be watching her.

Her hair turned its natural brown as she peered around the room. She'd been told that the day's sitter was a lady. She wondered if she'd be nice like Mommy and Miss Sophie. She hoped that she was. She hoped that she'd take her for ice-cream; Lexi liked ice-cream. Papi said that it made her hyper and didn't let her eat a lot of it, though.

She glanced down at the picture and smiled a little.

"Mommy, do you see this place?" she whispered. "Papi works here! It's so big!"

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

Tonks got short notice call saying she was watching a kid today. Since when we she a babysitter? She'd rolled her eyes and taken the job but who knows? Maybe this girl was sweet and was the kind of kid the wanted to have. She put her wand in her back pocket and went out to the lobby. She looked around for about ten minutes when she heard a little girl ask her mommy what she thought of the place. She looked at where the voice came from, it was a little girl with a picture of her mother. Awh, poor girl's mother must've died. She walked up to the girl.

"Hi sweetie, are you Alexis?" she asked crouching low enough so she could see the girls eyes.

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

She looked up when she heard a lady talking to her. She smiled brightly, hair turning that pinkish-whitish color it always turned when she was happy. She liked the color, personally, even if Juli thought it was girly. Juli was a silly boy; what'd he know?

"Yup! Lexi!" she giggled, pointing at herself. "Nice to meet'cha, miss!"

The lady was pretty. Was she a Meta...Morpha....a Metamorphagus like Lexi? Lexi hoped so. She didn't like being the only person with funny hair...

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

Tonks smiled at the girl when her hair turned a pinkish color. Hers turned a bit of a bright greenish color. She was happy but she was starving, she had been for about three weeks. She had lied to her husband about what the reason was. She'd told him it was hormones, but she knew the truth, but she wasn't ready to accept it yet.

"Hi, Lexi, you can call me Tonks. You are really adoreable you know? I could just hug you forever because you are that cute." she said touching the girls nose. "I'm going to be watching you today, so is there anything you really want to do today? If you want to go eat anywhere I am all for it."

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

Lexi giggled again and her hair turned an even brighter shade of pink. She liked her new friend, she decided. Ms. Tonks was nice, and maybe she'd let Lexi have icecream! Papa didn't have to know...he didn't really care if she ate icecream
so long as she didn't get hyper and took her nap. Ew, she hated naps, but Papa said that she needed them to grow.

"Miss Tonks want icecream?" she asked, smiling brightly.

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

Tonks smiled at the girl and chuckled. She was so cute. She stuck out a hand and stood up. She liked this girl, Lexi, she should say. She wanted to take the girl for ice cream, snacks, anything that involved food, she was starved!

"Of course, lets go get some ice cream." she nodded, "We can get some on Diagon Alley."

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

Lexi hopped down from the bench, holding the picture of Mommy in one hand and using her other to hold Miss Tonks'. She liked Miss Tonks; she was one of the nicest babysitters she'd ever had. She didn't mind Lexi's funny hair! (Lexi knew the word for what she was, but she couldn't pronounce it.)

"Yay! Icecream! Lexi likes icecream, but Papa says that it makes her hyper," she chattered away as they left the big place. "Mommy used to take Lexi and Julius for icecream all the time, though. Hey, Miss Tonks, what's your mommy like?"

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

Tonks followed the girl out of the Ministry, sometimes being the babysitter was a good thing. She got food, and time with a little kid, and she was a metamorphagus! This girl was like her, maybe she'd help the girl choose a certian look. No no, that was foolish.

"We won't tell your dad, he doesn't need to know anything." she said putting a finger to her lips. "My mum? My mum is a very clean lady, she loves cleaning, and she'd love to talk to anyone about me." Tonks chuckled. Then she remembered, "Sweetie, I'm not a miss. I'm married to someone who's perfect to me, maybe one day you'll find someone like that."

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

Lexi blinked owlishly then grinned again and nodded. Mommy had told her about this. Married ladies were missus, not miss. Mommy said that it was very important to remember, so Lexi tried to really hard. Lexi tried really hard to remember everything about Mommy, but she was already forgetting certain things, like the way Mommy sounded when she sang lullabies or Mommy's pretty laugh.

"Okay, Mrs. Tonks! Lexi'll remember that!" she promised. "Lexi's mommy was really pretty and nice, but she got in a bad accident last year and had to go away. This is Lexi's mommy and Auntie Lizzi!"

She showed Tonks the photo of Mommy and Auntie Lizzi. Mommy had wrapped an arm around Auntie Lizzi's shoulders and pointed at the camera with a big smile, Lexi's smile. Auntie Lizzi didn't smile like Mommy, and her smile was more crooked than Mommy's when she tried. In the photo, though, Auntie Lizzi's eyes were laughing like they usually did. Auntie Lizzi and Mommy had been really close; Auntie Lizzi was really sad when Mommy went away...

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

Tonks kept walking and soon they reached the Leaky Cauldron. She kept thinking about her mom and how mean she'd been to her. It was horrible to think this little girl's mother was gone and she loved her so much. She wished she had loved her mother that much. She figured that night she'd be nice about everything else.

"Lexi's mom was really pretty. And so is her auntie." Tonks smiled at the girl. "Maybe you'll get to meet my husband today, he's a very nice man. And I think you'd like him." she chuckled.

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

Lexi looked up and hummed happily as they walked through the doors into another big building. (Being very small, even for a four-year-old, all buildings were large to Lexi.) Papa said that Miss Lisa was staying around there; Lexi wondered if they'd run into her. She liked Miss Lisa; she'd always been such a nice lady. Miss Lisa's sister, Miss Jak, was Auntie Lizzi's age; those two and Yuki-chan (Yuki-chan always called Lexi "Lex-chan," so Lexi called her Yuki-chan) used to watch Lexi all the time before that Voldy guy came back; now they were always busy.

"Auntie doesn't really smile much, but she's pretty when she does. Auntie is Mommy's younger sister. Lexi was supposed to spend the day with her brother Julius and Papa's brother Uncle Damie, but Uncle Damie's girlfriend Brooke doesn't like Lexi so they're only watching Juli," she explained matter-of-factly. "Oohh! Mrs. Tonks' husband? What's his name?"

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

Tonks walked the girl through the building to the back to where the brick wall was. She wondered if Sophie was there at the moment, she hadn't seen the girl in a while. Maybe she had candy too...

"Maybe you should tell her she's that pretty next time you see her, maybe she'll smile more. And why doesn't Uncle Damie's girlfriend Brooke like you? Is she a big meanie?" Tonks asked. "Mrs. Tonks' husband is called Remus, like one of the founders of Rome. His cousin is staying in the building we just passed through. She tapped the brick to get into the alley, and waited for the bricks to move aside.

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

Lexi wondered if Miss Sophie was in that funny Alley place. Papa took Lexi and Juli there sometimes. It was fun when he did. They usually met up with Auntie Lizzi, and they'd spend the day together and sometimes Auntie Lizzi would smile. It made her aunt look much younger, in Lexi's opinion. Auntie Lizzi seemed kinda sad a lot of the time. Mommy had told Lexi once that a lot of bad things had happened when Mommy and Auntie Lizzi were growing up, and Auntie wasn't totally past it all yet.

"Lexi told Auntie that she's prettier when she smiles once, but Auntie laughed and said that maybe she'd smile more, then. Why do grown-ups always say maybe instead of that they won't do something? And, yeah, Brooke's a big meanie. She's always fighting with Papa and Auntie Lizzi, but Uncle Damie likes her. Lexi doesn't, though. Brooke yells at Juli. That makes Juli cry, and then Lexi gets mad," she huffed. "Oh! Papa told Lexi about Remus and Romulus once! He said that Remus was the one that jumped over the wall! That's a funny story. Why would anyone jump over a wall?"

[Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin]

"Because they don't like saying no. If anyone tells you no about something like who you marry, or who you date, tell them that Dora Lupin once told you that love knows no boundaries. Like I said, love knows no boundaries, he's a nice man right? Always looking out for those he loves? And maybe she doesn't like you because you take the attention away from her, she might be an attention hog.." she shrugged. "Maybe there was someone on the other side he wanted to see, but Remus is my husband. He's older than me, but I love him, and he loves me. I'm actually going to have a baby, I just haven't told him yet." She held a finger up to her lips telling the girl to keep that quiet, no one could really know.

Tonks looked around and saw the street wasn't as empty as last year but it wasn't full of people. She took Lexi to a no name ice cream shop and looked around, there weren't many people at all in here, maybe they'd get a good amount of ice cream.

[Alexis Rienne Cavaliere]

"Auntie Lizzi said that if anyone tells Lexi who she can and can't date, Lexi should tell them to shove it. What does shove it mean? Grandma Ada got mad at her for saying it. Papa said that Lexi's Grandpa Vinny was older than Papa's mommy, but that didn't matter. Grandpa Vinny was Papa's papa, but he went away, too. Lexi never met Grandla Vinny. Papa says that Grandpa Vinny was really funny, though," she rambled. "Oh, yay! Lexi likes babies! They're cute!"

She looked around the icecream parlor still smiling until she noticed a pair of familiar brunette heads sitting at a nearby table. She didn't know that Miss Jak had come to England early for school.

"Miss Jak! Miss Lisa!" she called.

The two young women turned in her direction and Lisa smiled.

"Ah! Hello, Lexi!" she replied.