Harry quickly (and silently) headed down the stairs. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was silent except for his soft foot-falls. Aside from the fact he was in the hallway which contained the screeching portrait of Mrs. Black, it was also extremely early in the morning. Having been unable to sleep, Harry had decided to head downstairs and sit in the kitchen until breakfast. Or, whenever it was Mrs. Weasley woke up. Groggy with thoughts of how early it was, Harry barely noticed anything odd until he was at the kitchen door.
Pausing, he tried to realize what was different. His hand moved back to his side without even touching the door. Candlelight was flickering through a small crack, the door was open. Soft voices came to his ears, and immediately assuming it was an important Order meeting, strained his ears to try and hear everything that was being said.
"R-really?"
He didn't recognize the voice, but whoever it was sounded extremely nervous. Poor guy, Harry thought, wondering why on earth he was so jittery.
The reply didn't reach his ears, and all he caught was some murmuring, and then a chair moving. He leaned his ear closer to the door.
"This isn't a joke?" The man's voice suddenly sounded strangely familiar, but Harry still couldn't place it.
"Of course not Remus!"
That was Tonks.
Why was she talking to Lupin?
On second thought, how come Harry hadn't recognized his old professor's voice? Tuning back into the conversation, he heard the sound of another chair scrapping against the ground.
"I'm so old Tonks- really. This is foolish." Lupin seemed to have suddenly regained control, and sounded much more like his old self.
He wasn't that old. Why would his age matter to her anyway? Harry leaned even closer to the door, even feeling his ear touch the cold the cold surface didn't make him pull back. Mind still slow and groggy, he tried to make sense of what he was hearing.
Something that sounded like a muffled sob reached his ears. Who was crying, and why were they crying?
"R-Remus!" Tonks was crying?
"Oh- I didn't…" He sounded extremely flustered and Harry couldn't understand why.
"Harry?"
He jumped in surprise, and turned to see the face of his god father.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh-I couldn't sleep."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "So you decided to eavesdrop?"
"Well-no, no I just-"
"Harry, it's ok. If it was something you really weren't supposed to hear, you wouldn't have heard it." He ruffled his hair, which only served to confuse Harry further. Sirius lowered his voice, "Whose in there anyway?"
He blinked in shock. "Uh- P-professor Lupin and Tonks."
A grin split his god father's face, and he was sure if they hadn't been next to the kitchen, he would have burst out laughing. "Really?"
Why was he so happy? About to ask just that, Harry was suddenly ushered away from the door. Something else had moved on the other side of the door, and he wondered if Sirius intended to go inside and check on them.
"Go up to bed Harry."
"Huh? Why?"
"It's far too late for you to wait around here until everyone else wakes, go up back to sleep." He gave him another little nudge towards the stairs.
Not quite awake enough to complain anymore, Harry complied by shuffling forward on his own. Before reaching the stairs however, he heard the kitchen door open, and Sirius's excited whisper.
"Really Remus, I would have expected you to go for someone your own age!"