Nymphadora Tonks was an intriguing young woman. That was what Lupin thought. Almost every day the girl would appear sporting a different color on her long hair, but was never seen wearing anything but black or grey on her outfits. That day she was all in black, from her combat boots, passing through her skinny jeans, her plain shirt till her jacket. Her locks were a very light shade of blonde, and her eyes were brown like the creamy hot chocolate he enjoyed on snowy days. She was a mysterious person, although no one else on the Order would agree with him. They thought Nymphadora was only a quiet, reserved girl, which pleased especially Molly Weasley who was very disapproval of some girls' - Fleur's - need for attention. Tonks would politely talk to anyone who'd speak to her and would join the pos-meeting gatherings if invited, but the werewolf noticed that if she could, she would rather leave, being on Remus' opinion, one of those persons who enjoyed their own company more than other people's.
She had been recruited personally by Dumbledore who had been succinct when he first introduced the girl to the members of the Order. Nymphadora was 25 years old and was a metamorphmagus, one of the fewer left of her kind. She was there with one specific task: spy on Death Eaters and bring to the Order information about their plans. She was working under the strict command of Mad Eye Moody, whom, after a couple of beers, would never cease to compliment the girl's abilities. According to him, she could morph into anyone, male or female, from kids to elders, so far, never coming out of the character during a mission.
Unlike Remus himself, who was always there, Nymphadora would only appear at 12 Grimmauld Place sporadically, usually for meeting purposes, but that Tuesday morning he had been informed that the girl would be staying for a couple of weeks, therefore, he and Sirius would be in charge of accommodating her and it was on that day that he discovered the girl's talent for music. It has become a habit after the end of the first week: after supper and a polite socialization with whoever appeared for the meal, Tonks would excuse herself and go to the attic to play guitar, activity that passed unnoticed by everyone, but Remus. The attic was situated on the last floor of the house, and no one usually came there, simply because there was nothing to see. No bedrooms, no bathrooms, just and old, dusty chamber full of Black relics, and the only reason Remus was aware of the girl's nocturne hobby was because of his acute hearing - werewolf hearing. Lupin too would excuse himself after dinner on the pretense of finishing a book he was long reading, and would go to his room and listen to the girl playing. It was like a private concert and he secretly enjoyed the idea that he was the only one listening to it.
More than once Lupin considered the possibility that the girl had somehow brought friends to the attic to play with her - even though he knew she wasn't allowed to do that. The thing was that it didn't seem to him that all the melody he was listening to was being produced by only one person. Tonks would play for hours, the sound of the strings of her guitar navigating through the air and flooding Remus' ears, taking him far away. Sometimes the songs were jolly, others, hectic. That particular night, her chords were sad and nostalgic, making Remus remember with wet eyes, tender moments with his mother when he was little, when he was still himself. That night he fell asleep with the smell of fresh green grass and his mother's voice telling him not to run so fast through the meadow.
It was Sunday morning and Remus was heading to the study when he heard the sound of strings being plucked. The melody was coming from the said room and because the door was half opened, he was able to see Nymphadora inside. She was sitting on the edge of the couch, her guitar was strapped to her torso and her brown hair was hiding her face. She was hitting the strings on the neck of the instrument with her left fingers, while her right hand tapped rhythmically the wooden topboard. One thing was hearing it, the man thought; other entirely different thing was seeing it. The girl was handling the instrument with such intimacy that one could think it was part of her own body. Every place she touched elicited a different kind of sound, which gave the song a depth Remus had never thought possible to be achieved by one single player. He was so immersed on the tune that he was taken aback when he found the girl's gaze locked on him. He was caught snooping and he could feel his ears getting redder and redder with embarrassment as the girl's steps closed the distance between them and she opened the door.
Much to his surprise, she didn't look angry or annoyed. He tried to apologize but she rapidly cut him off, saying no apology was needed and inviting him to enter. That day he did something he had never done before, he had conversed with her. Not the small talks he sometimes had with her after discussing something related to the Order. They started talking about her music, and soon were comfortably questioning each other's preferences on literature, movies and even food. She preferred salty and warm meals, and was a fan of thrillers, both in literature and cinema. She reveled enjoying the anxious anticipation that preceded the scenes where it was known something freighting was suppose to happen, and he tried to imagine her sitting on a dark living room, watching a horror film with a big bowl of popcorn on her lap. He couldn't refrain himself from smiling when he caught her laughing for the first time.
Lupin learned that talking to Nymphadora Tonks was easy, as long as he didn't ask anything personal. He noticed how she had tensed when he had asked her about her previous work and her family. She had mumbled something about not being working for a while and her family living abroad. There were so many things he wanted to know about her, but he didn't utter any more questions, talking instead about her abilities as a metamorphmagus. She explained that she could change her appearance since she was a child, but her hair kept changing its color without her will every time she had a brusque change of humor, which happened quite a lot when she was a teenager. She said she tried to control it and eventually succeeded, but that the task required so much attention and concentration that she just gave up. After a few years and with her hormones in control, she was able to pass a day with one, maybe two different colors on her hair without much fuss.
From that day on it was common to see Lupin and Tonks talking or just hanging around. Sirius had started feeling jealous, not because he secretly nurtured romantic feelings for either of them, but because he felt left out when the two decided to go for a walk, a coffee or to the bookshop. He hated being stuck on that house. Once Tonks took Remus to a music store and he passed the rest of the day telling Sirius about the girl's many talents for music, but it was on the night the pair came back from the cinema that Sirius, plastered, snapped. In a torrent of curses and defamations, the black haired man accused the girl of trying to seduce Lupin, saying that he was letting the little wench walk all over him. Remus denied the accusations and replied saying that even if it was the case, Padfoot had nothing to do with it. When Moony tried to take the firewhisky bottle from his friend's hands he was pushed, stumbling and crashing on the kitchen table. The werewolf looked at his friend, dumbstruck, and without a word, left the room.
The following days were filled with silence from both men's part, and everyone who came to the house noticed the tension between them. Tonks had just arrived from a mission and Kingsley was talking about the importance of the information gathered. According to her, the Death Eaters were planning on attacking a muggle village in the West Country. Arthur was on the opinion that they had to act immediately, but Moody retorted, saying they had to wait for Dumbledore's instructions.
After the mission to the West Country, Lupin noticed a change on Moody's behavior toward Nymphadora. One time during an Order meeting he stared so hard at her that Lupin thought the girl was going to burst into flames at any minute. He was so focused that one could think he was trying to curse her. After the meeting Kingsley commented nonchalantly that Moody was staring so intently at Tonks that he was either desperately in love with her or expecting her to turn into a Chimaera and rip someone's head off.
It was hard for Remus to think that Alastor Moody was interested in Tonks, not because she wasn't worthy of such attentions, - on the contrary -, but because he could not imagine the ex-auror dating the young girl, his callous hands wondering over her body, his magical eye rolling in its socket while he kissed her. The image made Remus sick. No, that certainly wasn't the reason of the man's looks, besides, even if it was, it wouldn't matter because Nymphadora would never reciprocate. Right?
Lupin passed the next two days sulking and avoiding Sirius, who was not talking to him. It wasn't his intention to overthink things, but every time he lowered his guard he found himself thinking about the young metamorphmagus. It usually started with images of her playing her guitar or simply talking to him, and soon he was imagining how it would feel to touch her face or smell her hair. He was sitting on the study's couch, daydreaming when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jolted and turned, finding Tonks peering inquisitively down at him. She was silent for a moment, just looking at him, then calmly informed him that she was going to be out for a few days and asked him to communicate the fact to anyone who might ask for her where abounds. He wanted to ask her where she was going, but he didn't have the guts. They had had a few conversations and had passed a few afternoons together but they weren't that intimate, so he just nodded, thinking that her absence would probably be a good thing, since the next day would be a full moon and he didn't want her to see how he looked like after his transformation.
Remus had never touched the subject of his lycanthropy with Tonks, although he was certain she was aware of his condition. Everybody was. After the full moon he had spent the most part of the day lying in his bed, drifting in and out of sleep, thinking that unlike most people, Tonks had never looked at him with judgy eyes, not even for a moment, which made him wonder if it was possible that she didn't know he was a werewolf, and it was because of that persistent thought that he lured her out of the kitchen one night after supper and invited her for a walk.