A/N: Hello there, thanks for dropping by =). This fic is completely AU: for example, the Triwizard Tournament never ended after one year and Tonks was at school during the Marauders' era. I don't usually go in for the whole 'Remus and Tonks at school together' thing but this was a plot idea that just would NOT leave me alone. You probably won't catch me writing anymore fics set in this AU because it's not my normal thing, but please review and let me know what you think anyway =) I'm not sure about the title's relevance, but it's named after a beautiful piano piece by Yiruma which I was listening to at the whilst writing; it's really worth checking out – his piano pieces are so inspirational.

Also, I'm hoping the ebb and flow is okay but please bear in mind that this was born as a oneshot and, upon creation, got out of hand and has now been split into 6 chapters.

Disclaimer: I'm unfortunately not J.K. Rowling and seeing as anything recognizable from the HP world belongs to her, I make nothing from writing this fanfiction.

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Part I

There was no denying the buzz that was present within the Hogwarts castle. The teachers usually braced themselves for an onslaught of troublemaking mixed in with the usual coughs, colds and flu outbreaks during the Christmas build-up but with the Yule Ball not three weeks away the caretaker, Argus Filch, was simply inundated with teachers both harsh and kind alike begging him to give a group of students a detention or two in the Forbidden Forest. On the other hand, at least the Triwizard Tournament was going well and no one had been hurt. At least, not yet. Ever since the Department of Magical Games and Sports had implemented new, safer rules there was less to worry about and Professor Dumbledore had been less reluctant to host the Tournament at Hogwarts.

From the moment the Tournament had been announced on the first day of term, to the evening the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived and not relenting even after the Champions had been chosen, there had been a flurry of students – mainly girls – worrying about who to ask to the Ball (or who would ask them), what to wear and how to dance. Nymphadora Tonks had not been among those students right at the start of the school year. All that girly business didn't suit her at all, what was the point of worrying anyway? The parents had known about the Tournament being drawn to be held at Hogwarts anyway; the dress robes had already been purchased, what could there possibly be to worry about?

But one Sunday morning right at the start of winter she had actually unearthed her own dress robes only to find that they were, in her own words, repulsive. Recently, her mind had actually stalled enough to worry about not yet having a date but now, any person who actually did want to ask her to go with them wouldn't want to be seen dead with her in the canary yellow monstrosity currently screwed at the bottom of her trunk. The moment she had seen the dress robes she had left her Hufflepuff dormitory immediately, to save herself from tearing them up. She knew she had somewhere to be anyway and didn't want to be true to her usual form and turn up late. Teasing would only ensue.

She stuffed her hands gloomily into her pockets and trudged along the chilly entrance corridor, not bothering to watch where she was going; the doors only a few minutes away. Trust her cousin to choose to meet up with her today of all days – she had a lot of OWL related homework to be getting on with. Sirius hadn't been lying when he told her – in a gleefully sadistic tone – that the fifth year was a nightmare. It was also typical Sirius to want to meet at the edge of the Forbidden Forest; somewhere she had to sneak to and hope she didn't get caught. Professor Sprout told her off enough times per week as it was. No wonder she wasn't a prefect; much to her parents' disappointment.

She slipped and slid slightly on her journey past the greenhouses she and the rest of the Hufflepuffs were so familiar with. The ground beneath her feet was pre-snow slush; the earth softened by weeks of heavy rain and frost. She knew she had the right place when she began making her way through the trees and heard voices – it sounded as though, for once, all were contributing to the conversation equally; usually only Sirius Black and James Potter could be heard. She found them all sitting in a huddle and for the first time the forest seemed a good idea as the ground had been more sheltered these past weeks, so was therefore harder and drier than anywhere else and the biting wind did not quite penetrate as harshly thanks to the hardy tree trunks around them.

"Hey cuz!" Sirius called, standing as he saw her and pulled her into a rough bear-hug. Tonks managed to give out a strangled reply, happy as usual to put up with being called 'cuz' if it meant she wasn't called Nymphadora. "Come and sit with us, I feel as if we haven't spoken in ages!" Sirius said happily.

"That's because it has been ages," Tonks replied, "I haven't seen you all properly since the summer." She followed him over to where they were huddled and took in Sirius' friends all wrapped up in their Gryffindor scarves; she was fortunate enough to get along well with all of them, even Peter despite how trying he was at times. James looked up from an object which he appeared to be deeply interested in long enough to say,

"Alright Tonks?" and watch her nod, before immersing himself once more. Peter on the other hand embraced her immediately and Tonks hugged him back awkwardly; there was something about him that just didn't seem right to her, least of all how out of place he was with the other three. Both James and Sirius were dark haired and dark-eyed; Sirius' long and straight hair fell into his eyes with a great, seemingly unplanned, beauty. James' hair was significantly shorter and he had round glasses but they did nothing to mar his looks either. Remus Lupin...well Tonks didn't even want to get herself started on him again. Peter on the other hand, was short and plump and mousy and really just average.

She took her seat between Peter and Remus who was leaning against a tree, book in hand. He read silently, his golden eyes darting quickly from side to side, for a few minutes until Tonks presumed he finished his chapter. When he was done he closed the book delicately and graced her with one of his trademark smiles.

"Hello Nympha – I mean, Tonks, how are you?"

"Wotcher, I'm fine thanks, and you?" she replied almost nervously, if a little irked that he couldn't call her Tonks like the others. Of the whole group Remus Lupin was the one who made her stomach knot slightly. Partly because of all the 'Marauders' or whatever it was they called themselves these days, Remus was the one she knew the least about and his clipped, closed exterior only made him more of mystery, a conundrum. Not that Tonks thought there was anything overly wrong with his exterior; she'd failed to notice anything wrong with that and she most definitely had looked.

"Very good, thank you," he answered, although Tonks had forgotten she had asked him a question.

There was a silence for a moment before Tonks remembered she had interrupted something.

"What were you all talking about before? I didn't mean to butt in,"

"Oh nothing exciting; just the Champions," it was Sirius who replied. This was not at all surprising; the Triwizard Champions had been the topic of much conversation recently. There had been only one challenge so far and they all appeared to be evenly matched. This year's Hogwarts champion happened to be a Slytherin named Rodolphus Lestrange; much to the disappointment of the students in the other Hogwarts houses, although mostly the Gryffindors. He was competing against Célestine Aucoin of Beauxbatons and Josef Heskin of Durmstrang and there had been great speculation as to not only who would win but also, more cosmetically, on who they'd be attending the Ball with as, in-keeping with tradition, the three couples would open the dancing.

"So, who do you want to win then?" Tonks enquired brightly,

"The Beauxbatons girl for sure," Sirius replied without hesitation, which caused Remus to smirk noticeably.

"What...?" Tonks asked him, sure she had missed something, "I'd agree to be honest. I don't want a Slytherin to win; I don't care if they are representing us. Having a Durmstrang Champion would be just as bad; I mean, they're like Slytherins in my opinion. So by a process of elimination the only one left is Aucoin."

"Oh I definitely agree," Remus replied good-naturedly with a ghost of a smile flitting across his face.

"So why the grin before then?"

"It was just the way Sirius said 'the Beauxbatons girl'," he replied ambiguously,

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius cried immediately, jumping straight into defence mode – he was a little too defensive and quick off the mark though, Tonks noticed.

"Oh come on, mate you're making it sound like you can't even remember her name!" James said, giving up with his mystery endeavour and joining in, "you haven't stopped harping on about her since they turned up and sat with the Ravenclaws, not that that's a surprise. They always do, so I'm told. It's been 'Célestine this' and 'Célestine that'," he paused and turned to Tonks, stage-whispering conspiratorially, "Sirius fancies her and he's asked to the Ball,"

"Ooh, have you really Sirius?" Tonks half cried, half squeaked in reply; excited for her cousin. In return he replied with a sort of non-committal grunt. "What did she say?" she continued unperturbed,

"Yeah," he muttered almost inaudibly. Still, James heard nonetheless and gave a sort of roar of delight, firstly clapping him across the back and secondly breaking into a fit of laughter.

"You're going to have to open the Ball, you do realise!" he exclaimed needlessly. It was clear from Sirius' face that this fact had failed to stray far from his mind.

"Yeah I know," Sirius replied moodily and ran his hand through his hair in an agitated motion. There was a pause in which the others struggled to hold in laughter and Sirius struggled equally to come up with a suitable retort. "Anyway, I don't see you three asking girls out, who d'you think you're going with James?"

"Going to try and make it up with Evans, aren't I?" he said gloomily, now taking his turn to look awkward. Tonks, who was mystified, waited and looked from face to face for clues.

"Oh, didn't you hear Tonks?" Sirius asked gleefully and she shook her head.

"James and Lily argued, nothing more, nothing less," Remus, who obviously sensed a situation that needed diffusing, replied sensitively and James looked gratefully in his direction.

"It's what they argued about that's the problem," Sirius chuckled, unperturbed. "Evans doesn't like Prongs here picking on Snivellus Snape, so when he does put the greasy-haired urchin in his rightful place, she gets upset. Prongs took it a step too far last week though," Sirius paused, which Tonks knew was all for dramatic effect.

"Fancy breaking it off just for someone like Snape," he finished with a bark-like laugh.

"Bloody Snivellus," James muttered darkly. "Hang on! I've just had a thought!" he cried, his head snapping up and his expression brightening. "Tonks, you're a girl!" he said and turned his attention to her.

"Oh thanks James!" she replied in mock-offence, "Yes I am, thanks for noticing."

"Well then you'll be able to help me! How should I make it up with Lily?" he asked a hint of desperation in his voice that Sirius did not fail to notice and he broke into a fresh bout of laughter. Glancing over she saw that Remus had gone back to his book and that Peter was amusing himself by...well actually, Tonks wasn't totally sure what Peter was doing. Turning back to James she gave a world-weary sigh and began listing ways in which girls might like to be wooed into forgiveness although she was fully aware that it was likely that Lily had forgiven James anyway, it was no secret that Snape was going round calling her a Mudblood again. Nonetheless, she deigned to secrete this last titbit of information from James; there were some secrets that would stay with female-kind forever.

Once she had imparted some well-needed female wisdom she asked James what he was doing. He replied with a totally inaudible mumble.

"Sorry, I didn't hear that," she said politely but was rewarded with that same mumble.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, we all know what he's doing; he's trying to fix Evans' camera in a vain attempt to win her over," Sirius cried after the 'I beg your pardon' followed by a mumble sequence had repeated itself three times.

"Well it can't hurt can it?" James countered, looking wounded,

"No, it can't," Remus answered with a note of finality that indicated the bickering should stop there and then and that it did, the five sat in silence for a brief moment.

"Well done, Remus," Peter said with admiration in his voice,

"I fear it would have turned into something more serious the longer it went on," he replied absently, reading what appeared to be a few more lines and then closed his book.

"What is that, anyway?" Tonks asked, more as a way to inject conversation than anything else.

"Oh, nothing overly interesting just something to help the NEWT revision for Transfiguration,"

"Not that he needs it..."Sirius began,

"...little swot," James finished and Remus raised his eyebrows in an expression of delicate disdain.

"So Tonks," Sirius began, turning his attention to his cousin – a mischievous grin on his face. "Who's your date for the Yule Ball?"

"Oh I don't have one yet," she said as casually as possible, but feared the tilt of her chin had well and truly belied her.

"You don't have one yet?" Sirius exclaimed, "Blimey! Come on, get a move on Tonks, or all the good ones will be gone. If they're not all gone by now that is," he concluded, his eyes widened in what appeared to be genuine concern.

"Calm down Padfoot, she'll get a date alright," James replied confidently in a muffled voice because of the way his chin pressed into his chest as he stared back at the camera in his lap. "Oh bollocks!" he proclaimed a moment later after he'd prodded it with his wand and a stream of yellow smoke (not dissimilar from the colour of her own Ball robes) shot back at him, "that's just made it worse!" This caused Sirius to indulge in a bark of laughter before returning to Tonks.

"Yeah, I s'pose cuz," he said, paused and continued, "and if not you can always go with Peter can't you?" there was a scatter of laughter, to which Tonks forced herself to contribute. That would not be happening.

"I don't hear Remus getting involved in this date conversation," Peter bit back, face tight and cheeks red. Was that because he knew that, essentially, Sirius was poking fun at him again, or did he think of Tonks as a potential date in the same light she thought of him? Tonks prayed to God and even to Merlin that it was the former.

"Too true, mon ami," Sirius replied gleefully, "so Remus, care to involve yourself?"

"No," came the light, playful reply,

"And why not?"

"You know full well why not," the tone had changed to one of both anger and embarrassment. Tonks got the impression that this was a topic Remus had asked not to get involved in and Sirius was not respecting his choice.

"Do we?" Sirius asked, looking around at the others with his eyebrows raised, for dramatic effect, "I don't think that's true at all,"

"Because I do not yet have a date, Sirius,"

"Sorry Moony, what did you just say to me?"

"You heard, Sirius,"

"Nope, not sure I did,"

"Oh Sirius, don't be so bloody immature," Tonks cried, beginning to enjoy her meeting with her cousin less and less by the minute. She was quite glad she had played the immaturity card; it was the one most likely to throw a seventeen year old boy off course.

This cut off the conversation abruptly, with no reply from Sirius and a grateful nod and smile from Remus that, to her utter irritation, caused her stomach to erupt into butterflies.

She chatted awhile longer with the four about OWLs and NEWTs but made her leave just before lunchtime because of the amount of homework she had waiting for her.

"It's been nice talking with you all," she said as she stood up.

"Yeah definitely, we'll have to do this more often Tonks," Sirius said brightly (he had forgiven her) and with his usual enthusiasm before giving her another bear-hug. This time, even James was enthusiastic (or maybe grateful) enough to hug her goodbye and as soon as she had quickly said goodbye to Peter she turned to say the same to Remus who hugged her too, although she felt it was an awkward gesture that may have been more out of duty than anything else, considering how shy he seemed around others.

Just as she was departing she heard a bang and saw a great deal of black smoke: this time, the camera had exploded. She just heard Remus say,

"Oh, look do you want me to help?" exasperatedly and detect James' small squeak of reply.

She turned to wave and met Remus' gaze. When she looked into his eyes to tell him she'd 'see him soon' that she felt her heart give that funny sort of jolt. His liquid gold irises possessed such a delicate charm and it was something she had taken great delight in noticing before.

It was a well known Hogwarts fact that the 'three' Marauders – for Peter was not generally classed among them on the looks scale – were like celebrities and were all worth a spare glance over your shoulder when they passed by: two glances of Sirius Black, James Potter and Remus Lupin were always better than one. In the precise moment he opened his mouth to say 'goodbye' the all but extinguished flame Nymphadora Tonks had once held for Remus burst fully into life once more. New crushes at times when dates for dances had to be hurriedly found were not always a good thing.

A/N: Thanks so sooo much for reading. Reviews actually brighten my day (I know that's a bit sad but they really do) so please click that little button down there and make me smile =) I'll try and update every day or two days, depending on my workload.