The Second Time
There was an eerie silence as Harry swung back the Fat Lady's portrait - she blinked irritably before returning to sleep - and stepped out of Gryffindor tower. The castle, at night, had a strange but almost seraphic atmosphere.
In the large pocket of his robe was his Invisibility cloak and in his hand the old Marauder's map. He unfolded this quickly, lighting the tip of his wand to see.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Dark lines unfolded across the page, and he checked the usual spots - there, Snape still in his office - Filch still down on the first floor - Malfoy nowhere to be seen - and...
"Tonks?" he said out loud, peering down the stairs. That couldn't be right...
Just as he stepped forward a light appeared, illuminating the landing further, and there was the woman herself, holding her wand up and looking just as confused as he felt.
"Oh, Harry," she said in surprise. "I saw your light...gave me a scare..."
"This is the second time you've left your post," Harry said uncertainly as he stared at her.
"Yes, I..." The woman shifted, keeping her gaze on the floor. "I just had to speak to, erm, Filch."
"About what?" he asked skeptically.
She gave a sigh and looked over his shoulder instead, peering at the portrait as if the snoozing Fat Lady might do something extraordinary any moment. "Auror stuff, Harry."
"And Filch, he's an Auror now, is he?"
Tonks's mouth thinned out unhappily and she didn't respond.
He didn't know what made him say it - maybe he was feeling daring, or maybe it was the frustration at not being able to find Malfoy, or maybe he simply wanted to know once and for all why Tonks was so distressed. "I'm not stupid, you know," he said coldly. "Everyone's been keeping news from me about the Order long enough that I know when this has nothing to do with it."
"That didn't even make sense," she protested weakly, fiddling with the hem of her sleeve. But she looked considerably downtrodden at the mention of the Order. "What are you doing out, Harry? You know it's unsafe."
This was so unlike Tonks, who hardly followed the rules herself, that Harry simply gaped.
She added, "I am here on security."
He closed his mouth. She moved her wand upward, shining the light on her face, and suddenly he could see how very ill she looked - even worse than before, if that was possible. She was thin, pale, and clearly exhausted. For some reason this made Harry feel self-conscious.
He really didn't want to worry her, since she was so upset over...
Well, since she was so upset.
"Bathroom?" he offered weakly.
Tonks scoffed. "At midnight. When there's a perfectly good loo inside Gryffindor Tower."
"Like yourexcuse was any better," Harry shot back, but judging from the warning in her dark eyes, he decided to change tactics. "Okay, I was, erm, going to follow Malfoy somewhere." He extracted the cloak from his pocket and held it up. "See?"
Tonks tensed. "Malfoy's out after hours?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well - no, not exactly -"
"Have you told Dumbledore? I mean -"
"Yeah," he said quickly, "he knows - it's nothing to worry about..." He trailed off - it was something to worry about, in his opinion, but that hardly mattered.
"Right - well, I need to get back," she said absently, as if she'd just thought of something. She turned to the stairs. "Erm - good night, Harry, and maybe you shouldn't, y'know, wander around. I suspect Molly would kill me for that -"
"Wait," he protested, trailing after her. She tripped on the first stair-step and turned back, looking very tired.
"Yes?" she asked patiently, in an eeriely Lupin-like manner.
He fidgeted. "Erm - last time - you know, by the Room of Requirement -"
"The what?" she asked blankly, as if she hadn't heard.
Harry paused, nonplussed. "The Room of Requirement?" he repeated. "The other night, when I mentioned - Sirius..."
"Oh," Tonks said dismissively. "That? That was nothing, just, y'know, women and their hormones, Harry."
"Right, of course - I just thought, erm, since we both miss - him, and, well - we could talk about it?" He said this all rather quickly, looking between the ground and Tonks's eyes, uncertain how she'd take it. If she was - well, what he thought she'd been, in love with Sirius - then probably not so well.
But to his amazement she forced a smile and stepped closer, eye-to-eye as he was only a little taller than her, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I know you think I'm distraught, Harry," she told him, "but it's fine. Really."
After a pause she turned away once more, and for some indeterminable reason Harry's heart missed a beat. "Please?" he said desperately. She hesitated.
Then Tonks came to him a second time, sad smile still in place, and - something he wouldn't be sure actually happened, in the morning - leaned forward and kissed him lightly.
"Really," she repeated, though there were tears in her eyes.
She walked away then, leaving him dumbstruck and powerless to call her back. As the light from her wand bobbed away down the stairs, he felt an odd, almost painful feeling beneath his ribcage. But a good feeling.
And for the second time in a few short weeks, he found himself wondering just what had happened to Nymphadora Tonks.
Author's Note: This is a response to The Sober Universe's "I Never" challenge. Theoretically I could've developed it more, but it's my first Harry/Tonks piece, so I'm shy. Please tell me what you think.