Noble Mistake—Prologue

I don't own Harry. Unfortunately. If I did, there'd be a whole lot more of Remus and Tonks and a whole lot less of Ron and Lavender.

A/N: HBP spoilers, major ones. I've been a Remus/Tonks fan since last fall, and I can't even describe how happy I am with pages 623 and 624. So, here it is, my second Remus/Tonks fanfic, which will follow them through book six, and provide a bit of back-story. It begins in November of Book Six, but the italics indicate flashbacks from OotP. Remus's version next chapter. RLNT signifies scene changes.

RLNT

"Really, Molly, I'm not very hungry," Tonks protested as Molly bustled around her kitchen, looking for food. "Tea's fine, thanks."

"You need to eat something," Molly insisted. "You're getting too thin."

Tonks sighed heavily before curling her hands around the warm mug that Molly had just levitated in front of her. She shivered slightly, hoping that Molly wouldn't notice, but it seemed as though the red-haired matron had eyes out of the back of her head. "You need to get out of those wet clothes," Molly admonished as she set a newly heated bowl of stew before Tonks. "You'll catch your death."

"It'll take more than wet clothes to kill me," Tonks said. "I'd be more worried about Death Eaters or Dementors." She picked up her spoon and began to eat half-heartedly

Molly sighed exasperatedly as she took the seat across from Tonks. She stared for a few minutes, effectively making Tonks wish she had never accepted the invitation. When she opened her mouth, Tonks was expecting a scolding about ignoring her food, or being sarcastic, or staying in wet clothing—something motherly, in short. Instead, Molly said, "Tonks, we're all very worried about you."

A feeling of dread bloomed in Tonks's stomach. "Nothing's wrong with me."

"Pish-posh. You're dreadfully thin, you've looked the same for months, and I hear tell that your Patronus has changed. Patroni don't change except—"

"I know, I know," Tonks interrupted. "Emotional upheaval. It's nothing. A lot has happened to me lately."

"Yes, dear, I know," said Molly looking skeptical. "A death in the family—"

"That's what everyone thinks!" Tonks exploded. "I knew you'd think it too! I'm not taking Sirius's death harder than anyone else, thank you very much. Yes, he was my cousin, and yes, I was very fond of him, and yes, I am feeling guilty about letting Bellatrix get the better of me. But I'm not sitting around at home dwelling and crying, like everyone thinks. I'm quite old enough not to fall apart every time someone dies. Besides, how could I be an Auror, if I couldn't accept death? I'm around death every bloody day!"

Looking apologetic, Molly said, "Well, if it isn't Sirius, then what's bothering you? I know something is; I haven't raised seven children for nothing."

"Well, Molly," Tonks said stiffly, "it isn't any of your business, now is it?"

Molly bristled at that. "When something's affecting an Order member so severely, I think it's everyone's business."

"I'm fine," Tonks half-shouted. "Just fine!" She pushed her chair violently away from the table and stood up. "Thank you for the tea," she said, "but I best think I'd be getting home." With that, she stomped angrily out into the chilly October rain.

RLNT

She never could pinpoint when exactly it happened. Falling in love with Remus Lupin, that is. He had been Sirius's friend, yes, and she had stayed around old Grimmauld Place quite often, as he had, but it had never been a given that they would become friends. Sometimes all three of them would lounge in the sitting room, talking about old jokes, old friends, and old times in general. She felt comfortable around him, because he didn't judge her.

When she told him that, why she felt comfortable around him, he laughed genially. "I don't see how I could judge you without being a hypocrite. You have the remarkable ability to change your appearance to almost anything. I have the remarkable ability to turn into a child-eating monster every moon cycle. We're in the same boat." He often talked frankly about his lycanthropy, spinning it into something humorous or bitter, depending on how he was feeling.

She had a million things she admired about him. How he took everything in stride, how he remained calm in the face of adversity, how she could talk to him for hours and still have something more to say when the conversation ended. Slowly, this admiration had grown into something more powerful, more tangible, more dangerous.

It was around December when she became clumsier when he entered the room. She would knock things over and blush, feeling like she was still a sixth year in the Gryffindor Tower, pining after the Head Boy. Lupin pretended not to notice, polite man that he was, but Sirius found it the most amusing thing since his school years.

"You like Remus, don't you?" Sirius asked Tonks conversationally one night when they were alone, sharing a bottle of firewhisky.

Choking on her drink, half of which she had sprayed across the table, she denied the whole thing. "You must be more pissed than I originally thought, Sirius! Me? Liking Remus? You'd better give me that bottle before I find you in you with your head in the toilet; we have no Sobering Potion on hand tonight."

Sirius laughed briefly, a harsh, grating sound. "You're lying, Nymph. I can always tell when you lie, because you can't keep your eyes from moving."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"They're moving again. Now tell the truth, little cousin of mine. Do you want to shag Remus senseless, because I'm getting the feeling that you do."

She blushed deeply. "Shut up, Sirius."

"It is true, then." He laughed again. "Well, you've sure chosen a hard man to fancy…I think Remus's been celibate since we got out of school. Too noble to get involved, if you catch my drift."

Tonks thinks, that in the end, it was Sirius's prodding that started any sort of physical relationship she could've had with Remus. Two weeks after her non-verbal confession to being hopelessly taken with Remus, Sirius cornered her in the hall and said, "Oh, by the way, cousin, I've had a chat with dear old Moony."

It was only by pure luck Tonks didn't knock something over in her fury. Morphing herself into a seven foot tall grotesque troll, she loomed over Sirius. "I'm going to kill you Sirius, and then I'm going to let Bellatrix hex your ashes"

"Calm down, calm down, Nymph. You weren't even part of the conversation—wait, I take that back. You were the center of the conversation, but Moony doesn't know anything about your feelings."

Tonks shifted back to her most recent form, but she was still red in the face. "What did you say to him, then?"

"It went something along the lines of...hmm, let me see. I asked him what he thought of you and he said you were a very nice person, blah blah. And then I asked him if he thought you were fancy-able, and he blushed and said something about being old enough to be your father, and then I said, why let age stop you. He told me to be quiet, and then I told him that if he didn't shag someone soon, he was going to go nutters, and then he hexed one of Mum's awful dead plants to attack me, and I lost my train of thought. So, if you want to snog him in the hallway, or something, now's the time to do it, because my devilish skills of persuasion only last so long, and then he'll be listening to that prudish voice in his head again."

Later, Tonks would assume that Sirius was definitely a major influence in Remus's life, because when she kissed, without warning, in front of her flat when he escorted her home one night, he kissed back and let her eventually draw him into her bedroom.

He didn't stop it until six months later, when they were standing isolated in King's Cross, watching Harry disappear into London traffic.

RLNT

End Prologue