the family man

She was seeing what they had available, making sure to make something Ted and Dora would both love. She could hear the giggles in the living room, and Ted being the wonderful father that he was, was the source of it. 

The preparations took most of her focus, she let the task just wash away any worry and then, she felt the embrace. She yelp and then noticed it was just Ted and Dora on top of her, laughing their hearts out. “Edward Tonks, how many times I’ve told you not to scare me when I’m near a knife?” she asked, but there was no bite to her bark. 

Ted feigned innocence, his face becoming bashful with Dora mimicking his actions perfectly. “Never?” He said, giving her doe eyes and batting his lashes. He loved this game with her, the push and pull of playful and serious, warm with love and security. He pulled his wife close to him, his head nestling in the crook of her neck. “Somehow I think I may be forgiven though?” 

What the witch hadn’t anticipated was the people she’d walk into. Most of them seemed like the polite yet typical ministry worker; just another bee within the endless hive they all seemed to be buzzing about within. Everything, though, had its time and as such there was a time for even the most bizarre or unwelcome of faces to show. Upon hearing a frantic voice did she turn, wand moving quickly to draw in the slip of paper the other seemed to be so desperate about. Only upon second glance did the face appear more familiar. It wasn’t a face she’d have ever claimed belonged to someone she herself would consider close to her. No, in fact, quite the opposite. Calculated steps allowed her to move forward, hand outstretched with the missing paper in hand. “Ted, is it?” Her head moved, motioning for him to take the sheet off her hands. “Perhaps a charm to keep the papers secured may work wonders in this case.” @tptcnks

Shame coils in his stomach. It always does when he sees one of them, with their perfect posture and the glint in their eye that is so glaringly not present in his wife’s. It’s a glint that has always told Ted that everything they see is through the eyes on an opportunity. What that opportunity is for Ted doesn’t want to know. He already knows enough to make him feel insignificant, something that hadn’t bothered him all too much until it came to Dora. What they refused to see in him he knew transferred over to her, and that sense of injustice makes his blood boil. 

He had stopped to look at the fountain for a moment when he heard a shout from behind him. Turning in time to see one of the papers disappearing into the floo gate as more papers scattered in his direction. He bent down to catch the rouge paper holding it up to the frazzled wizard a small smile on his lips. His state reminded him of himself at times. “Here you are… One of those days?”

Ted had to laugh-- it maed it easier than screaming in frustration. And would probably scare the bloke in front of him. “Unfortunately “one of those days” seems to be “all of those days”.” He cracked a smile to comisserate with the man, who seemed more familiar than not. “Thank you.” He grabbed the paper and shoved it back into the stack, spelling the papers down like he ought to ijn the first place. “I feel like sometimes I’m the only one who forgets that I have a wand-- you know?” 

He took two steps forward, flattening himself against the wall. Locking eyes with Dora he held his fingers to his lips, indicating silence. She tried her best to follow his instructions, little puffs of air leaving her mouth as she tried to contain her giggles. Ted raised his eyesbrows, as a faux warning. Two more steps forward, with Dora following behing him as a shadow at half size. 

He waited, took a silent breath, and lunged forward, wrapping his wife in a hug as Dora bumrushed them, wrapping her small arms around their hips as she squaled in laughter. 

“And that, my dear, is how you sneak attack” 

“Paper snagged,” Fabian smiled lop-sided as he walked up to Ted. “Pesky papers, that.” The corners of his eyes crinkled in friendly amusement. “Longs to be far away from the Ministry, it seems.”

“Bless you” He grabbed the paper gratefully before remembering that he was, in fact, a wizard and that the flurry of paper at his feet was more managable than he anticipated with a clumsy flick of his wrist. The papers, almost unwillingly, settled themselves neatly together, with Ted adding a sticking charm for extra measure.

“So it would seem. Though considering they contain a perspective on the accidental integration of magic in muggle civilian life, perhaps it’s not the only one that wishes that these papers would leave.” He shrugged halfheartedly, realizing that he couldn’t place the fellow’s name. “I’m Ted Tonks.” He shuck his free hand out for a handshake. “I apologize if we’ve met before-- I’m ghastly at remembering names.” 

BOGGART :

Ted’s boggart, though he’s never seen it, is what would be expected of a loving father and husband. Dora wrapped in Andromeda’s arms, both gruesomely dead. Those two are simply his existence for being, and any harm coming to them would be the equivalent of harm coming to Ted.

AMORTENTIA:

New Pencils: The combination of rubber, wood and paint just get Ted overly excited. When he was a young child, picking out his pencils for the first day back to school was one of his favorite traditions, and that continued into Hogwarts where he often favored his pencils over his quills. To this day nothing seems quite impossible when Ted’s got a fresh pencil between his fingers.

Mint: There’s nothing quite like waking up at six in the morning and sneaking out of bed to brush your teeth, pretending when you wake up in a half hour’s time that your mouth really is just that fresh in the morning. Especially when you find that your wife of two weeks has done the exact same thing when you pull her in for a kiss.   Mint’s fresh taste and smell just brings Ted back to Andromeda, every time.   The scent follows Ted wherever he goes. It’s unlikely that you’d find him without a package of mints in his pocket, or a stick of gum in his mouth

Nymphadora: He smelled his Amortentia at the age of seventeen, two of the scents coming to him as naturally as breathing. But the third had left him scratching his head until one day Dora ran into his arms, the scent coming back to him like a lightening strike. Sunshine, Fresh Air, and something indescribably sweet- his daughter and his universe, nothing else could smell more like comfort to him.

PATRONUS : Ted’s patronus is a Tortoise.

“  To see a tortoise in your dream symbolizes perseverance, determination, and longevity. You need to take some chances in order to get ahead in life. The opportunities for advancement are opened to you, but you need to take the next step. Alternatively, the tortoise represents the need to be sheltered or protected from life's problems “

⎨❍  T H E M E  S O N G S 

blood brothers - ingrid michaelson

work song - hozier

semi-automatic - twenty one pilots

giving up the gun - vampire weekend

paperback writer - the beatles

⎨❍  T V  T R O P E S  

adorkable

team dad

no social skills

meekness is weakness

real men wear pink

⎨❍ F A V O R I T E S 

Color : The pink in Dora’s cheeks after she runs in the park, the color of Andromeda’s painted fingernails, the blue in the vest he lent to Frank and never got back, the color of his morning coffee.

Weather : Whatever drives him into his sweaters the quickest.

Music : He’s got a soft spot for light jazz or anything he can fumble around with Andromeda too- he can’t dance but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Scent : The smell of his bed- it’s a mix of Andromeda’s shampoo, detergent, and the combination of their natural scents. Ted can be found face down on his bed after a long day of work, breathing deeply into the sheets and letting his muscles relax.

Beverage : Tea, preferably if Dora is serving it at a tea party.

Food : When Ted is home alone for the night (a rare and blessed treat) he might order himself a large bacon pizza with a side of bread sticks and some chocolate cake. And he might devour the whole thing in one sitting. But you can’t find the boxes so you can’t prove it happened.  

Animal : Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. He wants a puppy- “For Dora” he says, greedily eyeing a particularly cute Golden Retriever. But in all honesty he’s not picky as long as it will let him dress it up in a cape.

⎨❍ G E N E R A L  H E A D C A N O N S

- He doesn’t tell her about the little blue baby shoes he has in the back of his closet. Like usual Ted doesn’t know what she’d say, and he’s too afraid to find out. When he saw them at a garage sale, thrown in among the scratched vinyl ad the ripped sweaters, he didn’t think. They were purchased and shoved in his pocket before the implication of the purchase hit him.  They burned a hole in his pocket for two days before he finally shoved them in an old shoebox and hid them in the shadows of his closet.

Ted is a Master of Puns involving his own name. Get him too excited and you will never hear the end of how educated he is in the art of puns that will give you a tedache.

In the final days of his Hogwarts Career a notebook was leaked to in the Hufflepuff common room, the contents of which were three pages with Mrs. Andromeda Tonks doodled all over it.

Food. Ted is here for greasy, sweet, salty, healthy, grainy food. Pull out any of his desk drawers and find a snack based on what he might be doing/his mood. Nervous because he’s a about to present his findings? Pumpkin Pasties in the middle left draw. Tired and bummed out? Sugar Quills in his filing cabinet. It’s not uncommon to walk past his cubicle and hear the telltale crunch of something sugary, though he does his best to swallow it as fast as possible when someone addresses him, which has led to a handful of choking incidents. But it’s not just about the snacks- Ted is a complete secret foodie, refusing to cook with the use of Magic. There’s a belief that food tastes better when prepared with love and positivity, and Ted knows that his muggle made lasagna has no equal. 

“buggering shit blast damn” Ted watched as one of the pages from the most recent chapter of his report flew from the stacks of his spilled paperwork, floating so elegently into the floo of a random ministry worker, someone that he both could not track down, but now was in posession of any number of theories that he was currently working on. He could already see the hours of work it would take to source the mistake, and felt himself deflate. 

It was one of those days, and unfortunately one of those days happened far too often for Ted’s liking. He could never just stumble along and find a big stack of galleons in the middle of the road, could he? It always had to be a near disaster moment, threatening his peace of mind at every turn. He turned to scoop up the rest of his paperwork when yet another rogue page went flying. “Excuse me! Excuse me, please snag that!” before I have a complete breakdown in front of the entire ministry.