AN: Welcome to Part Two of the Adversus Luna Ne Loquitor Trilogy. This is the story of Tonks.

Thanks to Amy and Laura for the beta and continuity checks.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor profit from, anything in this story.

Rating: Teen

Spoilers: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Summary: As she goes deeper into The Order of the Phoenix, Tonks works hard to make sure she doesn't lose herself to her work.

Chapter 1

Nymphadora Tonks became an Auror for a lot of reasons. According to her official application paperwork, she had selected the career on the advice of her Head of House. Professor Sprout saw in Tonks a girl whose natural abilities and dedication to hard work would shape her perfectly for the role. Though she didn't mention it in her letter of reference, she also thought that Tonks's creative thinking would come in handy once it was no longer directed at breaking school rules.

For her part, Tonks emphasized her abilities as a metamorphmagus and her Hufflepuff character traits. It was those two facts that saw her admittance to the program, where she passed almost all of her classes with little effort. Her aptitude brought her to the attention of several high ranking Ministry Officials. It was her history of rule breaking that brought her to the attention of Alastor Moody.

Moody knew that no one became an Auror because their Head of House suggested it. Everyone had another reason. While Moody acknowledged that this other reason was none of the Ministry's business, he insisted on full disclosure from those who worked the closest with him. His confidence was absolute: once told a secret, he would reveal it to no one.

Soon after Tonks became Moody's unofficial protégé, he bought her a firewhiskey and sat her down in an out of the way corner of the Leaky Cauldron to determine her motivations.

"Why'd you really become an Auror?" Subtlety was not one of Moody's strong points. "And don't give me any of that dragon dung you fed the Ministry. I expect honest as much as I expect vigilance."

To her credit, Tonks didn't blink. This was, in small part, thanks to the Butterbeer she toasted her acceptance with the previous evening in the same pub, in the company of Kingsley Shacklebolt. He'd offered congratulations, warnings and advice, and she was clever enough to pay attention.

There were two reasons Tonks had not told the Ministry. The first was family. So much harm was done by Bellatrix LeStrange, and the Malfoys deserved every piece of not entirely regulated surveillance Moody could set on them. Andromeda Black's apple may have fallen far from the family tree, but her daughter felt it was her duty to help burn out the rotten core.

The second reason was Sirius Black. Tonks had idolized her cousin as a child, though she rarely saw him. Her father's Muggle family never quite knew what to make of her, and her mother's family was completely absent from her life, save for occasional visits from that one brash and laughing cousin who still admitted they existed.

She'd been heartbroken at the news of Sirius's traitorous deeds. Much of her rule breaking at Hogwarts had centred on her obsession with finding out as much as she could about her cousin and his friends. She'd even gone so far as to break into Dumbledore's office, hoping for a conversation with the Sorting Hat. The Headmaster had caught her, of course, but he'd waited until she completed her inquiries before he suggested it might be a good idea for her to get back to bed while Filch and Peeves were busy feuding in a classroom on the other side of the Castle.

Moody accepted both answers at face value, and they never spoke of it again. She completed her training with only one small hiccough, and became a full-fledged Auror in her own right.

Her first year was difficult. Moody was at Hogwarts and, for reasons that would only later become apparent, avoided all of her attempts to contact him. She spent much of her time working with Kingsley Shacklebolt. First Minister Fudge even congratulated her on her dedication, as it was her own cousin they hunted. She never told anyone that she did it mostly because she was still looking for answers. She did wonder why a wizard of Kingsley's prowess would have such a difficult time tracking one man, but she knew that before she could confront him directly, she would have to gather her own evidence and draw some of her own conclusions.

When Voldemort returned, Tonks was in a pub in St. Stephen's of Westford, watching a Weird Sisters' concert. She arrived back at her flat to Kingsley's rather impatient owl, and had gone to meet him at once. He told her of Moody's imprisonment, Sirius's innocence, and invited her to into the Order of the Phoenix. She joined at once, of course. As an Auror, she was duty bound to hunt dark wizards, and they didn't come much darker than You-Know-Who.

The first time Tonks walked into 12 Grimmauld Place, she was not entirely sure what to expect. She had certainly not expected to be shrilly insulted by the portrait of a great-aunt she'd never met, deliberately tripped up by a vindictive house elf and completely ignored by the cousin she'd so admired. But the other members of the Order were amazing: witches and wizards she'd heard of her whole life, each of them accepting her as their equal. And from the head of the table, Albus Dumbledore had winked at her.

Only one member had been absent that first meeting. Tonks had been looking forward to meeting Remus Lupin since Kingsley mentioned he was another member of the Order. She knew of him from Sirius's old stories and from her own research at Hogwarts, but she was eager to meet the man himself. As the full moon drew closer, she figured he would remain absent.

She was quite surprised, therefore, to find him lingering in the kitchen doorway, as though unsure of his welcome. As usual, her surprise manifested itself in clumsiness. She knocked over the foyer table, which sent a vase flying through the air, which crashed into that wretched portrait, which responded by loudly declaiming her at the top of its voice.

She bore Moody's complaint with her usual affected nonchalance, and winked at Remus before falling comfortably into conversation with Charlie Weasley. Dinners at Grimmauld Place were always rather forcibly cheery, and this one was no different. At one end of the table sat the Weasley twins, and at the other sat Dumbledore, Sirius and Snape.

Remus was islanded in the middle, engaging neither in the grown-up discussion nor the children's conspiracy. Tonks had no difficulty moving between both conversations, and she assumed that Remus's year of teaching at Hogwarts would allow him to do the same. Instead he drifted, looking more and more uncomfortable as the meal progressed. Sirius, seated at the head of the table, made no attempt to draw his friend into the conversation.

Finally, Dumbledore and Snape made their excuses and left for Hogwarts, followed by Kingsley and Moody, whose turn it was for guard duty. Sirius disappeared, but Tonks heard Buckbeak and knew that her cousin was upstairs seeing to the Hippogriff. She bid the Weasleys good night and followed Remus into the hall.

Here in the grey light of the front room, he looked ill indeed. She knew that Wolfsbane potion had that effect, something no potions master had yet been able to correct. The full moon was tomorrow night, so the effects of the potion would be nearly at their worst.

She wondered why he had come tonight, why he had put it off for so long and then chosen this night to appear. She knew he was out of work, the Ministry had seen to that, and she wondered how far his teaching salary from two years ago had stretched.

How different he was from the Remus Lupin she had imagined. The boy in Sirius's stories had laughed and plotted mischief with his friends. She could not imagine this sad, grey man doing anything like that. And why should he, really, having spent thirteen years to the lie that haunted Sirius Black, only to discover a slightly less depressing truth?

The traits of Gryffindor often manifested in strange ways. Remus Lupin was quieter than most of his house, and understandably more introverted, but he was still trying, and Tonks thought that she had met only a few wizards who were braver. Still, he was clearly in pain, and Tonks thought she might understand a little bit why.

Sirius had been ignoring her ever since his return. She had been so relieved, so happy that all of her doubts and misgivings were proven false. She had been ready to welcome him back with open arms, and he had refused to let her. Instead, he obsessed about Harry Potter and spent hours closeted with a particularly ornery Hippogriff. He cousin's disconnect upset her. She could only imagine how Remus felt.

So she spoke to him. He was surprisingly easy to talk to, once he got started, and she immediately understood why the other members of the Order had such high opinions of him, though his opinion of himself was far from flattering. He even smiled a few times during the course of their conversation.

After they shook hands, she made her excuses and left to go home. She was on duty the following night, and therefore needed all the sleep she could get. She didn't fall asleep right away, however. Instead she sat in her small living room, staring out the window at the not quite full moon and thinking.

Too much of what had happened to Remus Lupin was unfair. Life had failed to cut him any sort of break. The few good things which did befall him were tainted with past sadness and quickly brought to end by bigots and small minded wizards who hid their quest for purity behind a thin veil of concern for public safety. Remus Lupin deserved a friend.

Tonks also decided that she was the perfect candidate. She needed friends who weren't Aurors or Weird Sisters Groupies. Or both. More importantly, she had just enough connection to the past to provide common ground for a start, but not enough that her baggage would get in the way of his.

Her mind made up, Tonks forced as many thoughts as possible out of her head and prepared for bed. Finally, all that stood between her and sleep were a pair of sad, dark eyes and a tiny voice that suggested she might have ulterior motives in actively seeking the friendship of Remus Lupin.

AN: Wow, thanks for sitting through that! Now that we're all caught up, we can get on with the plot. :)