Chapter 1

(Between GoF and OotP)

The first time Remus Lupin ever saw Nymphadora Tonks he didn't recognize her.

It had occurred in fact in the middle of a raid, and rather ironically, he nearly killed her, but not in the way that you would have expected.

Mad Eye had asked Lupin, a week beforehand, to come along to the Order's first meeting at Grimmauld Place since the end of the First Wizarding War, naturally because of Lord Voldemort's return to power. The re-emergence of some the deatheaters from hiding had caused havoc for the Ministry, who subsequently wanted them captured as soon as possible. Mad Eye had investigated and come up with a plan to capture a certain group of deatheaters whom he had been observing for a long time. Lupin offered to go and help with the raid with the rest of the Order. Their plan was simple. They knew where and when the group were going to have their next meeting, so they merely had wait in hiding at the reception, awaiting their imminent arrival before arresting them.

As Remus and Kingsley waited in the shadows behind the trees in Rushmoor Forest, they heard a sudden movement, and soon in front of them apparated nine or ten deatheaters, peering into the darkness, looking at their surroundings. Lupin felt a shiver run down his spine as he recognized one of them, though he knew him to be a Dark wizard and not a deatheater. Fenrir Greyback. As Mad Eye gave his signal on the other side of Remus and Kingsley's view, the Order came out of hiding, their wands raised, forming a circle around them, leaving the deatheaters no where to run or hide.

"Now, if any of you have any sense at all, you will all drop your wands at your feet. Anything less than that, would, I assure you, make you look quite foolish," said Mad Eye threateningly.

There was a moment of silence where the deatheaters simply stood, frozen, staring at the Order. Then there was a sudden yell, one of them fired a curse at Kingsley, and abruptly everyone started dueling their opposition. Lupin was fighting a witch, who looked quite bananas, reminding him of Bellatrix Lestrange. She laughed as she dueled him, Lupin finding, to his dismay, that she was awfully good at it.

"Struggling are you?" she cackled, as she deflected one of his spells. "You know, you remind me of someone…. Do you know who it is Greyback?"

Greyback was dueling Kingsley quite close to them, and turning his head, he grinning viciously before saying, "Of course. If it isn't my fellow werewolf Remus Lupin-"

Kingsley hit Greyback squarely in the chest, taking the opportunity of his moment of distraction. The witch turned in dismay towards Lupin. She looked pissed. Proper dangerous, which made Lupin grip his wand slightly stronger.

But the Order seemed to be doing well, as one by one the deatheaters were being defeated. But the witch still held on.

"Such a shame that you didn't join ranks with us," she said, peering quickly at the other deatheaters who were still fighting. "You would have enjoyed hunting with Greyback. Isn't it horrible, having to punish yourself all the time, when all you had to do was just give in to who you truly are-"

Throughout it all, Lupin could feel a turbulent sort of rage starting at the pit of his stomach, growing hotter and larger as she went on, talking carelessly about murdering children while the other deatheaters laughed along with her. Finally he could not help but let out a roar of rage, disarming her with a flick of his wand as he charged towards her, pushing her to the ground.

"What-" she started in shock, her voice no longer snarling or bitter, but sounding rather frail and fragile. However Lupin was beyond remorse by now, and as he grasped her neck, glaring into the face that looked uncommonly like Bellatrix Lestrange, his animalistic side taking over, something which hadn't happened in a long time, due to his obsession with oppressing it. She looked up at him with alarm, suddenly realizing what he was going to do. The flash of fear and weakness that Lupin saw in her expression only pressed him on to make her pay for her foolish words. She was going to regret it.

"Stop!" she attempted to choke out, her hands reaching up to his firm grip, but Lupin remained merciless, snarling at her with absolute fury. As she felt her eyes failing her, everything turning to black, she could swear that she saw a hint of animalistic darkness in his eyes, almost wolf-like…

"No! Remus, what the hell are you doing?!" shouted Mad Eye, and with a flick his wand at Remus, he flung him off the witch who started to cough and splutter.

As he lay on the ground a few feet away, Remus stared in shock at Mad Eye, as he crouched down to the witch, and asked her if she was all right. As she nodded, he heard him say,

"We've got all of them Tonks, it's alright. Got the last one just as you were attacked by Remus."

"What?" said Lupin feebly, to which Kingsley answered, "She was a mole, working undercover for Mad Eye. She's an auror, recently qualified. We couldn't tell you Remus, it would have made it too obvious."

"Too obvious? You couldn't trust me?" he asked, overwhelmed.

"Well, it was just extra precaution. Anyway, we got all of them. Your little fiasco made the last one lose focus for a second, but it was enough for me to stun him."

"Tonks" stood up, and Remus watched in amazement as she changed her appearance at will, no longer looking like Bellatrix Lestrange, but with the same heart-shaped face. Her hair was not long, black and curly as it had been but short and the colour of bubblegum pink.

"She's a metamorphmagus," explained Mad Eye. "And her name is Nymphadora Tonks, our most recent member of the Order of the Phoenix."

…

Following the capture, Kingsley and Mad Eye took the prisoners to the Ministry to await trail while the rest of the Order returned to Grimmauld Place. As Lupin entered the house, he paused hesitantly before asking Nymphadora for a quick word.

"Er, I'm um, really sorry about-" started Lupin awkwardly, before Tonks interrupted him with,

"Trying to kill me? It's ok, you didn't know who I was. If anything, it proved how convincing I could be! I'm really sorry about the things I said, but there were still some deatheaters dueling and I was desperate to stop one of them from poking Mad Eye's remaining eye out. My name's Nymphadora but I prefer to be called Tonks. My mother still calls me by my first name though, really annoying but I've given up trying to persuade her otherwise…"

Throughout Tonks' rambling, Lupin could not help observe her quirkiness and rather vivid personality. True, she seemed to be one of the careless sorts, acting-before-thinking types, but Lupin didn't seem to mind that too much. With her he actually found it quite charming. Her eyes seemed to emit a sort of glint of mischievousness, which Remus found himself smiling at.

"Dora?" he questioned, trying to get her attention, a subtle smile playing across his face.

"Sorry," she said bluntly, blushing as she looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights. "I sort of ramble when I feel er-"

"Elated from having nearly been choked to death?" tried Lupin, but Tonks could see he was playing with her.

"Yeah," she said, laughing lightly, but accidentally knocking over a cane which lay on the side of the wall.

"Whoops," she muttered, "I'm a bit clumsy-"

"I'm sorry," he said gravely, the tone of his voice changing abruptly, avoiding her gaze as he looked left at the ground.

"For what?" she asked, bemused at his sudden change of character.

"I shouldn't joke about that sort of thing. I could have killed you if it wasn't for Mad Eye-" started Lupin gravely but Tonks interrupted him, causing his gaze to turn hesitantly towards her.

"Remus, can I call you Remus? You're talking to an Auror, who's done her fair share of martial arts. I could have easily kicked you off in a heart beat."

Remus studied her firm expression and folded arms before saying with doubt,

"And you didn't because-"

"I was providing a distraction to the final deatheater. I'm sorry about Greyback. If I'd known you were coming I would have-"

"It's fine. If anything, seeing him locked up makes me feel at peace. Well, nearly, if I'd had the chance-"

"You would have done what you tried to do to me, yeah, I guessed as much. Would have thoroughly deserved it too," said Tonks, her voice trailing at the end.

There was an awkward silence where Remus gazing questioningly at Tonks while she stared at her boots.

"How much- do you know about Fenrir Greyback?" asked Lupin gently.

"Quite a lot. I know that he's probably the most dangerous werewolf that's around nowadays. It's grotesque, what he does. Sometimes, I think, he's worse than my aunt Bellatrix," said Tonks gravely, looking at Lupin with eyes which were filled with sadness. Lupin felt his breath hitch in his throat slightly before saying,

"Bellatrix Lestrange is your aunt?"

"Yeah. Her sister, my mother, Andromeda Black, was banished from this house when she married my muggle-born dad," said Tonks, gazing around at the portraits that hung miserably along the walls. "Not that she missed it much. Sirius is my cousin-"

"REMUS WHERE ARE YOU?" came a voice that bellowed from the downstairs kitchen. The voice was undeniably that of Sirius Black.

"Speak of devil," said Tonks with a laugh.

"Indeed," said Remus smiling at her tentatively.

"Well," said Tonks awkwardly, tearing her gaze from Lupin's, "I need to er-"

"Yes, same, I'd better, um, well see you around, Nymphadora," said Remus with a mischievous grin as Tonks started to walk up the staircase.

"Don't call me-" started Tonks in annoyance, turning around. Except Remus had already disappeared. She couldn't help but smile. That man had, only an hour ago, tried to kill her, and yet now they were talking in quite civilized terms. Something told her that you would have to get along quite well with someone in order for that to happen.