By Your Side // Bill Weasley

Chapter V "Tonks birthday"

Chapter V "Tonks birthday"

Avalea was cooking breakfast, a very late breakfast, due to Bill and her having slept in. Tonks' birthday had come, Charlie had arrived one day ago and was staying with his parents. Bill had been staying with Arnica and Avalea for a week, he wrote owls with his mother and father that Arnica would stay with them this weekend. Arnica was gone since the day before and they would go to pick her up Sunday evening. Bill had calmed down a lot more and was contemplating to go back to the Burrow and stay there after Tonks' birthday. She didn't expect anyone until later that afternoon so they still had time. Avalea finished breakfast and set the table just as Bill came out of the bathroom and went to the guest bedroom only wearing some shorts and a towel on his head. Her eyes widened for a moment but she was able to catch herself a second later.

"Breakfast is ready!" She called. Shortly after Bill came out of the guest room fully clothed and sat down to eat. Avalea had noticed a slight change in her feelings again towards Bill since their talk at the girl's night Ava had. The comfortable feeling hadn't changed but she got a little more nervous when they sat on the couch and he would hug her or when he called her Lea. She had been getting suspicious lately that her crush hadn't actually gone away. Or rather that it came back. She looked at him while eating and wasn't fast enough to look away when he looked up from his plate and caught her gaze.

He smiled. "This is good."

"Thank you." She said smiling softly. After they finished, they took their dishes to the kitchen and Avalea jinxed the dishes to wash themselves. She decided to go and start getting ready for Tonks' party.

"I'll go now and decide what to wear today." Avalea said to Bill and went to her wardrobe. She looked through it for a while and finally settled for a white short top and a dark long skirt that ended just below the knees. Casual but pretty. She gave herself a nod and went to take a shower. After she was finished, she dried off and started to dry her hair too. With a flick of her wand her hair was dry and in its slightly wavy look. She decided to keep it like that and went to get dressed. She exited the bathroom and walked quickly back to her room and got dressed into the outfit she laid out. Shortly after she started doing her makeup not too much but just enough to accent her eyes and lips. She went a little bold with the lipstick and took her favourite slightly dark red lipstick and applied it to her lips. She looked herself up in the mirror and smiled. After she was satisfied with her look she walked out of the room with the lipstick in hand towards the kitchen where the dishes had long finished and put themselves away. She put the lipstick in her little purse that she had magically enlarged. She thought about putting her wand into the purse but quickly decided against it and instead charmed a hidden pocket into her skirt, specifically for a wand.

"Perfect, I should've become a designer instead." She joked out loud.

"Your fashion taste is very unique though. I wouldn't be too sure a lot of people shared it." Bill said grinning coming into the kitchen.

Ava turned towards him with a fake offended look. "How dare you! Remember I can jinx you." Bill laughed and then looked her up and down.

"You look very beautiful." He said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Thank you, that's very sweet of you. You look very handsome too." She replied blushing, while walking past him. She came to a stand right next to him and kissed him on the cheek. Her heart skipped a beat and she kept walking.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked him and he replied with a yes following her. Avalea made sure she had everything before the both of them disapparated to Tonks' party. They arrived only moments later in Andromeda Tonks' garden that she had lent to her daughter for her party. Ava looked to Bill who was holding his present for Tonks in his hand.

"Do you want to put it into my purse, then you don't have to hold on to it." Avalea asked him and he agreed and gave her the present for Tonks. Ava put it into her purse and the two of them went to look for Tonks to greet her. Tonks' birthday was the day after the party but most of their friends and all had to work the following Monday which led to her having a party on Saturday to party into her birthday.

"Avalea, Bill!" They heard a familiar voice call and turned towards it to see Bill's brother Charlie, Avalea's other best friend.

"Charlie! Look how tanned you got. Maybe I should have stayed in Romania, a little colour would do me good." Avalea laughed hugging him.

"You look great just the way you are." Charlie said kissing her forehead. Avalea was like a sister to him and he would bet with anyone she would legally be exactly that at some point in the future. He let go of Avalea and hugged his brother.

"Hey big brother, we miss you at home." Charlie said.

"I know but mum made me crazy and I couldn't handle it anymore. How are you holding up?" Bill told his brother.

"Well she's nagging me now but I try to ignore it as best as I can." Charlie said.

"Hey have you seen Tonks?" Avalea cut in, tired of the same old subject.

"She was talking to her mother last I saw her." Charlie replied. Ava and Bill looked around and then decided to go look for their friend. People were still popping in while Ava and Bill looked for Tonks. They spotted her just ending her conversation with her mother and walked up to her. They got their presents ready to give to her just in time as they reached her.

"Tonks hi. Happy early birthday." Ava said.

"Thank you, hi you two. I'm so happy you could make it." Tonks said hugging her and then Bill.

"We wouldn't have missed it. Here you go." Bill said and the both gave Tonks their presents.

"Hello Mrs. Tonks." Avalea greeted smiling and Bill also greeted the woman.

"Hello dear, you look great. How are you?" Andromeda Tonks said, hugging her daughter's best friend. She had met Avalea and her family a few times before when the two were still in school.

"I'm good, how are you? And how is Mr. Tonks?" Ava replied smiling.

"Oh, we're good, Ted is still at work but he might join us soon. Bill, how are you? You're getting more handsome every time I see you." Andromeda said and Bill and Ava laughed while Tonks groaned.

"I do agree with you Mrs. Tonks." Ava said smiling cheekily.

"Oh, call me Andromeda. I feel so old being addressed as Mrs. Tonks." She said to the two.

"Thank you, Andromeda." Bill smiled.

"Enjoy the party you lot." Andromeda said kissing her daughters head. "I'll see you tomorrow dear." She said and then disapparated.

"She's not going to celebrate with us?" Bill asked Tonks who just shook her head.

"She said she doesn't want to crash young adults partying. We'll have a nice day tomorrow." Tonks said. Suddenly two arms wrapped around Bill and another two around Avalea and they turned to see their friends Leo and Lavea.

"Leo hi it's been so long." Avalea said and hugged him while Lavea hugged Bill and then Tonks. Leo and Bill gave each other a bro hug. Leo was just as tall as Bill but with more muscles. He had dark blonde hair and had the same smile as his sister. Quidditch had given him enough training to be almost as fit as Charlie had become. The group was shortly after joined by the two-missing people, Charlie and Diana who hugged the twins as well.

"The complete group reunited at my birthday." Tonks smiled and they all joined in. "It's great to have you all here." Tonks added. She looked around and excused herself as she had to greet her other guests that just arrived. The remaining people talked about settling into work and living in a different place and anything that happened since they last saw each other on New Year's Day. As the afternoon turned into evening and Tonks had started the grill putting a lot of people in awe. Charlie, Bill and Avalea were standing together talking.

"Charlie, I hope you're okay with it but I offered your siblings to come with us to the Magic Zoo, Ginny looked very interested when I talked about the creatures and I bet the twins would love to see it too." Avalea told Charlie.

"Yes of course, I'll talk to mum and ask her and my siblings if they want to come." Charlie said smiling.

"Arnica was thinking about asking the muggleborn girl that saved your brother's arse this year too, can you ask Ron if he'd be okay with her joining?" Avalea asked him again and then looked to Bill. "Do you want to come too?" Bill looked at her and nodded.

"I would love to." He said.

"Okay perfect, I will check with work and then owl you the date and you just have to tell me who is coming." Avalea smiled.

"Ava!" Their conversation was interrupted by Diana walking up to them. "I have a question, a favour to ask more so. Are you currently seeing anyone?" Diana asked hopeful and Avalea just looked at her a little suspicious.

"No..." Ava said suspiciously, dragging the word a little.

"You remember the man I told you about? My date?"

"Yes of course, how did it go?"

"We didn't have it yet. But he has a cousin called James who is visiting him at the moment and what Thomas told me about him sounds like you two would probably get along great. He asked for a double date, would you be up for it?" Diana asked her prepared to beg if necessary.

"Ugh Diana you know I hate blind dates. I haven't had a good date in way too long. I swore off men for the time being." Avalea groaned.

"Please, you won't have to see him ever again if you don't like him." Diana pleaded.

"I will think about it." Avalea groaned.

"Yes, thank you!" Diana exclaimed and hugged Ava. She smiled at the two boys and then walked away.

"Are you honestly going?" Bill asked with an intriguing expression.

"Like I said, I will think about it. She has to give me some more information first but it can't hurt right? The last date I've been on was some time last year and it was a disaster so maybe I'll give it one more shot before I give up men completely and buy a dozen cats." Ava said, shrugging and took a sip from the drink Charlie had given her earlier. Charlie and Bill chuckled at her joke. The first round of food was done so they started eating and talking to some of Tonks' other friends and colleagues who came.

"So, what do you do?" A female colleague of Tonks asked Avalea when they were sitting together with Bill and her boyfriend that wasn't introduced to Ava.

"I'm a Magizooligist. I travel a lot and find creatures around the world, fix them up and find a new home for them. I work for the Magic Zoo here in London." Avalea said smiling, she was very proud of her job.

"Sounds exciting. What about you Bill?" She said slightly faking her enthusiasm.

"I'm a Curse-Breaker working for Gringotts in Egypt." Bill said, also with a smile. He was just as proud of his career choice even though he didn't really like the distance to his family.

"That sounds very exciting. Tell us some stories." Her boyfriend said genuinely interested in Bill's work. Bill dived into a story about one of his experiences. Ava remembered hearing it, but only the main parts so she listened to his story with genuine interest. The evening and most of the night went on like that, light conversations with different people, dancing to music and singing happy birthday at midnight until a relatively sober Bill decided to apparate himself and his best friend home to her place.

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Here you go with another chapter, what do you think should happen next?

The outfit she's wearing is at the top. Just imagine black hair please.

P.s. I need to rant a bit, can we talk about Johnny Depp getting sacked from Fantastic Beasts for a second while his bitch of an ex-wife still gets to stay on Aquaman 2? I am furious honestly and I will not plan on watching any of these movies.

#JusticeforJohnnyDepp #AmberHeardisoverparty