AN: Hello everyone! So lately I've been working a lot on my OC fic, but I've felt the need to write something a little more canon. I hope that you enjoy it. Oh, and I've taken a few liberties with their ages and such. I made Tonks a little older, like she's in her early twenties and Remus is in his late twenties to early thirties. It might not be too exact, so please forgive me.
It was the evening of December second, and Christmas was in the air. Cheery decorations adorned the shop window displays, and tinny Christmas music filtered from a cheap radio somewhere. A young man trudged past the holly wreathes and jolly St. Nicks without giving them any thought; his mind was elsewhere this cold winter night. He was young, with shaggy hair that nearly brushed the collar of his worn coat. A well-darned scarf was draped carelessly across his thin shoulders and his hands were deep in pockets. A pair of battered boots left light tracks in the scant layer of snow that covered the pavement.
Dean Martin crooned "baby it's cold outside" from the open door of a twenty-four hour Quik-Mart and the young man paused for a moment, listening to the music, then moved on. Perhaps the canned melody reminded him of a better time, one not so consumed by fear and worry. After a second or two, he moved on and eventually turned down a long street lined with row houses. It was a grim place, many of the windows dark at the late hour, and even the street lamp's beams seemed suffocated by the dullness of the air and duplicate row houses.
The man paused between two of the homes, number eleven and number thirteen. There was no number twelve. A mistake, the neighbours often said, result of some builder's stupidity. The man knew better. He muttered something and stunningly, a house appeared from the narrow crack between Number Eleven and Number Thirteen.
A sudden flurry of snow extinguished the man's footprints as he stepped inside, erasing all evidence that anyone had been there at all.
"Remus!" A voice called from the dim interior of the terrace house, and a shadow emerged from the stairwell and flung itself at the tattered young man. The shadow was actually not a shadow at all, but a lanky young man with dark hair that was, if possible, even shaggier than Remus'.
"Sirius," Remus said pleasantly, extracting himself from his friend's grasp. "How have you been?"
"Corking!" Sirius crowed, brushing some snow from Remus' shoulders. "Just great. And you?"
Remus gave a heavy sigh.
"There is a war going on, Sirius. And it's not been long since the full moon…"
Sirius' face morphed into an expression of understanding and he patted Remus' arm.
"I've heard rumours about Severus…" Remus began, but his remark was cut off by something tumbling down the stairs. There was a flash of pink, red and green, and someone crumpled at Sirius and Remus' feet. From the heap came a muffled,
"Ouch." Sirius grabbed the person and hauled them to their feet, revealing a young woman sporting a pair of bright pink pigtails and a jolly Christmas sweater featuring a dancing Santa Claus.
"Sorry 'bout that," she said brightly, apparently oblivious to the fact that she had just fallen down a flight of stairs.
"My cousin, Nymphadora," Sirius introduced. The woman rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" She turned to Remus and stuck out her hand. "Everyone calls me Tonks."
It was either a funny pet name or a surname. Remus guessed the latter; he vaugly recalled Sirius mentioning something about a blood-traitor Black marrying a Muggle-born with the surname Tonks.
"Erm, nice to meet you, Tonks." Remus shook her hand. Her skin was soft and smooth, with short nails painted a festive magenta. Sirius suggested that they move the conversation to the kitchen. Tonks trailed behind them like an eager puppy.
"As I was saying," Remus continued their earlier discussion, "I have heard rumours about Severus…."
Sirius twisted his face into an ugly sneer.
"Slimy git. Always knew he'd go wrong…"
Tonks' bright face popped up behind Sirius.
"Who's a slimy git?"
Sirius grabbed her playfully by the arm and jostled her to and fro.
"No one, little cuz. And stop eavesdropping. This is Order business."
Tonks pouted.
"I'm a member of the Order, Sirius. I'm an Aurur, for crying out loud…"
Sirius gave her a light shove towards the door.
"Go paint your nails or something, Dora. Or whatever girls do."
She stomped from the room, cheeks flushed, muttering something about how bossy Sirius was.
Before Remus and Sirius could continue their conversation, there was a lould crack and Albus Dumbledore spun into view in the kitchen fireplace. He coughed, adjusted his half-moon spectacles and brushed Floo powder from his spangled robes.
"Professor," said Remus, bowing. Despite his age and the fact that he had graduated from Hogwarts years ago, he still addressed his former teacher as such. Albus smiled and clapped both Sirius and Remus on the shoulders.
"Nice robes, sir!" Tonks bounded into view, skidding through the kitchen door and colliding with the table.
"Ow," she muttered, rubbing her toe. Albus inclined his head in a bow towards her, and Tonks blushed and giggled.
"Thank you, Nymphadora." Tonks did not insist on the use of her surname. "I trust that you're preparing adequately for your latest mission?"
Tonks bobbed back and forth on the balls of her feet, a grin spreading across her face.
"Yeah." She paused for a moment. "Like my hair? I think it's a bit bland for the occasion…"
And then she screwed up her facial features and with a loud popping noise, her hair turned from shaggy pigtails into bright red curls. Remus started.
"You're a Metamorphagus!"
She and Sirius both snickered, not unkindly.
"Very good, mate," said Sirius. Tonks chuckled.
"Made my teachers mad at school…I used to pretend I was other people."
Remus could easily imagine a younger version of Tonks running around Hogwarts, masquerading as others and driving her teachers up the wall. Despite her angelic curls, she had the darting eyes and cagey expression of a trickster. She clearly had the charm and good looks of a Black, and the wily wit to accompany it. Remus was strongly reminded of Sirius during their school days.
Later that evening, when Albus had long since been carried away in a rush of green flames and Number 12 Grimmauld Place was settling down for the night, Sirius began his usual interrogation of Remus.
"So what do you think of my little cuz?"
I should have seen this coming, he thought. Remus shrugged.
"She's very nice."
"You bloody moron," Sirius scolded. "Not nice. You don't describe a girl as being nice. Hot, maybe. A good snog, maybe. Shaggable. But not nice." These clarifications being made, he leaned in closer. "So?"
"She's very pretty," Remus admitted, not wanting to confess the little leap that his heart had made when he first saw her. Remus hadn't been with a girl in a long time, and he assured himself that it was just testosterone that made his stomach flip when Tonks shot a cheeky wink in his direction.
Sirius rolled his eyes.
"My God, mate. You need to shag someone."
"Why, Sirius, if you wanted me that badly you only have to ask…" Remus joked lightly, steering the conversation away from Sirius' attractive cousin. He couldn't deny the fact that Nymphadora Tonks was very, very pretty. However, he couldn't allow himself to make a move on her. She was Sirius' cousin, and he was a werewolf for crying out loud. He would never, ever impose his condition on someone as young and innocent as Tonks.
You're getting ahead of yourself, Moony, he thought glumly, it's not as if she fancies you at all.
Remus assured himself that this was the way it always would be. Love for Remus Lupin was an endless circle of fantasies and broken hearts in both directions. As a young man he had lusted after various girls, always fearful, however, of imposing his condition upon them. Now he had given up, surrendered to the fact that love was painful and ever out of reach. Amor laedit. Love hurts.
Thanks for getting through this chapter, and I hope that you enjoyed it. I would love to hear what you all think of it (cough cough hint hint) and if anything is confusing and must be changed. Some reviews would be great. I hope you all have wonderful weekends.