Ah yes, I circle back to my bread and butter. My gosh, Remus Lupin is so useless at this stuff. Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: That's right, I am still a university student with no actual rights to HP.

Spring Bingo entry information:

Space Address : 4D

Prompt: Purple

Word Count: 1227

Dark Magenta, Regular Magenta, Light Magenta

"Are you in a rush to get back to headquarters?" Dora asked.

"No," Remus said. "Why?"

"Well, while we're out in Muggle London, I thought we could pop into the hardware store," Dora said, nudging her head to one of the only illuminated buildings, across the street. "I mean, you don't have to come, I just thought it'd be convenient…"

"No, no, I don't mind," he said. "Won't Mad-Eye get worried if we're late?"

"Waiting an extra twenty minutes will make a great opportunity for him to practice that constant vigilance of his," she said in a rather good imitation of Mad-Eye that he couldn't help but laugh at.

"You must be one of the only people I know who gets away with poking at him so much," he said. Even in the old Order, Sirius and James hadn't dared.

"Call it a coping mechanism for Auror training," Dora grinned.

The shop was badly-lit and the rows of products looked claustrophobic and hap-hazard. Despite this chaos, Dora darted off towards the back knowingly, leaving Remus to scramble after her until he found the wall of paint chips.

"I'm just looking for a purple that doesn't wash me out, you know? I thought I had it, but it really, really didn't work," she said investigating the wall.

"This is how you shop for hair colours?" Remus asked with a grin.

"Oh, sorry if I gave you the impression that this was actually important," Dora said.

"No, no, it is!" Remus said. "Purple is a great colour. It's just about the shade."

"Well, I tried something that looked like… like this 'lilac' colour a while ago and it was not good," Dora said pointing to one of the chips. "Roommate laughed so hard, I didn't even leave the house. 'Eggplant' was better, but not quite right..."

"It's quite dark," Remus noted. "What about this 'sangria' colour?"

"Too reddish. It already looks too much like this," Dora said, shaking her hair back as it changed into another one of her regular colours. It was kind of incredible, how casually she pulled off such magic.

"Okay," he said shaking his head to focus on the paint chips again, before his brain wandered down one of his new favourite rabbit holes titled 'things Dora is incredible at.' "Something less red then... On the darker side?"

"Yes, but lighter than whatever this one's called—plum, is it?"

"Lighter than plum," Remus mused. They surveyed a range of ridiculously named purples—Royal purple, Tyrian purple, Medium purple, Orchid, Amethyst Dream, Lavender Field, Morning Jam, Mulberry, Raisin—which was somehow different from Grape, he supposed... They all started to blend together at some point, but Dora was weighing her options so carefully that it kept him focused.

He pointed to another shade. "How about this one?"

"'Dark Magenta,'" she said. "Is there a 'Light Magenta' here? What about 'Regular Magenta?' I always thought the people who named these were so daft."

Remus laughed. "There's no regular magenta either."

She picked up the slip of cardboard and examined it further before closing her eyes and scrunching her nose. The deep, luxurious and vibrant purple spread from the roots of her hair to the tips that, for today at least, hung past her chin. She turned to him.

"I don't have a mirror to look at," she said. "Do you like it?"

Remus swallowed.

"It looks nice."

"Will Sirius laugh at me if I walk into HQ like this en route to a mirror?" She verified.

"No, no," Remus promised. "Really you, umm, you look lovely."

"I'm trusting you on this," she said threateningly. Remus thought this most unwise of her since he had never objected to any of her -ah- aesthetic choices before and most likely never would.

"I have years of experience controlling Sirius Black," Remus said.

Dora nodded and put the paint chip back on the display rack. Remus frowned, but then realized that despite her Muggleborn father, Dora had probably never actually bought anything at a hardware store and probably didn't know they were free for the taking. He would have said something, but instead he slipped the paint chip in his pocket once she'd turned away and made a beeline for the door, leaving him to scramble after her.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Dora said. He'd waited all night, patiently biding his time for the other Order members to gradually go home, loaded with leftovers from the birthday feast and chocolate cake that Molly had cooked up. Sirius, living at Grimmauld Square of course, had been the last to wander over to bed.

"I know, I wanted to," Remus said. He bit his lip while she unwrapped the little wooden box. It was meant for recipes, but surely it was good enough to organize colours as well.

"So many paint chips!" Dora gasped.

"It's not that impressive," Remus said. "They're free for the taking."

"Muggles just take them?" she said. "They've been like that all this time?"

Remus laughed. Then he heard Sirius' voice in his head. She'll love it. Just don't be an ass and downplay it. You took the time to make it and it's thoughtful and very you. Again, don't be an ass. I will find you.

"It's a collection of colours you've worn, or colours that would just—I mean, that might look… that I thought you might like," Remus said, wondering if there was a worst way to explain this, or a worst idea for a gift at all, really.

Dora laughed and flipped through the box in amazement. Remus watched the tips of her hair change as she went through the colours, and her expression waver slightly as she found one she particularly approved of or liked. The smile on his own lips was rather fixed.

"I love this one," Dora said, holding up a paint chip that had been obnoxiously named Enchanting Merlot.

"I thought it would look good with the amber eyes you were wearing for most of November," Remus said.

"Oh, these?" Dora said. Her eyes went out of focus for a second as she shifted their colour. "Actually, hold on…"

She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a tube of lipstick, which she put on. She held up the paint chip, showing the near-identical paint chip.

"It's one of my favourites," Dora said.

"It looks good," Remus said. "You— you definitely know what you like."

At which Dora leaned over to kiss him. Remus' brain —being the useless, useless hunk of meat with little to no other practical use (other than obscure trivia) that it was —had nothing else to contribute to the moment than deciding that it was definitely enchanting, even if there was no wine involved. Maybe that could be for later.

She moved closer to him as they kissed, and they broke when they heard stirring above. They both looked up, concerned about the movement upstairs. When it was clear that they weren't going to be interrupted, Dora looked back at him with a massive, massive smile on her face.

"By the way, this was the best birthday present ever," she informed him.

Remus laughed. "That was bold of you."

"Yes, but was it light bold, regular bold, or dark bold?" she asked. He laughed again, and she cut him off with another kiss.