Chapter One: First Meetings

A/N: Okay, so I've been working on this story for a few weeks and decided to upload the first chapter today since it's my birthday! It's only my second fanfic, and the first that will grow to be a decent length. Anyways, it will be written the first chapter in Tonks point of view, the next in Remus' and so on. I can't promise it will be 100% canon. Hope you enjoy and please take a minute to review, Thanks! [Recently edited, 24/05/2013 – This is just to remind myself, haha!].

Tonks POV

Tonks stood outside Number 12 Grimmauld Place shifting her feet from side to side. Her heart was beating fast in her chest; her hair trapped in a mousy brown and her eyes a dull grey. There was something that felt strange about her appearance and the slight tremble that ran through her entire body told her why she couldn't seem to keep her morph today. Tonks ran her fingers through her hair, scrunching her face as she examined it's colour with distaste.

Sirius Black… She felt her hand reach the doorbell almost desperately. There was no denying the urge she felt to see her cousin, whom she had vivid, happy memories of. But when she thought of how he'd been imprisoned for so long, she realised he would never be the same carefree boy she remembered from her childhood. Tonks dropped her arm and let it lie limp by her side as her heart beat faster in anticipation. Biting her bottom lip hard, she raised her hand again to the doorbell and this time, pressed it hard.

As the doorbell chime ceased, Tonks heard hurried footsteps approach the door and a woman screeching incoherently made Tonks take a backward step and hold her breath in expectation. A dark haired man opened the door hastily before swiftly turning around with his wand pointed in the direction of the screeches, leaving Tonks craning her neck trying to get a glimpse of him.

"Tainted blood of my blood! Shape shifting freak! Spawn of mudblood filth!"

Loud, vulgar screeches made Tonks gasp and she took a step forward, trying to catch sight of the source of the screeching. Wide-eyed, she stared at the life-sized portrait of a woman. Through the dim light, she made out that the woman's face was contorted with fury, her eyes were wide and she looked manic and wild, yet strangely familiar. Even as she cringed inwardly at the screeching, she noticed the wild black hair which surrounded the woman's terrifying face was trademark Black hair, similar to her own mother's. As Tonks noticed the resemblance, she breathed in a sharp and shaky breath, allowing herself to take in the similarities and adjust to them.

"Oh shut the hell up mother!" the dark-haired man bellowed and Tonks turned her head quickly towards him. He grabbed the drapes which surrounded the portrait tightly, his knuckles white with the force of his grip. With huge effort on his part, he successfully closed the drapes and the hideous woman was hidden from sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as the hallway was rendered silent. Tonks stared at the curtains which had silenced the portrait. Realising she was standing as stiffly as a statue, she turned her gaze towards her cousin who seemed to be observing her with undue hesitation. Tonks paced towards him slowly.

"Hi, Sirius" Her voice sounded shaky and hoarse, even to her own ears. Her breathing quickened as she properly observed her cousin for the first time in over twelve years. She watched as his grey eyes, which had been dancing around the room with anxiety, became steady and brightened as he watched her. He walked towards her slowly, taking deliberate, small steps.

As he reached her, he hesitated slightly before gently putting his arms around her. She returned the hug, gripping him tightly and revelling in his warmth.

"Hey, Nymphadora," Sirius said softly, his voice croaked with emotion as he tightened his grip around her. They stood perfectly still as they held one another, as if the slightest movement would ruin the tenderness of the reunion. For the first time, she noticed how thin he was as her hands felt his spine protrude from his back and his ribs stuck out from his sides, digging in to her arms as they embraced. Tonks let him go and felt her breathing become steadier and her heart beat slowed.

"Sorry about my mother, she insults just about everyone who walks through the door and I can't get the bloody thing down" he said quickly, momentarily looking in disgust at the drapes which hid the portrait of Mrs Black. He paced from side to side as he spoke and she noticed his skin was pulled tight over his cheekbones and jaw and the clothes he wore hung off him loosely. His dark hair was in contrast to his skin, which was so pale, as if he hadn't seen sunlight in a long while, which she supposed was probably true. She took in his appearance and had the urge to hug him again, but restrained as she didn't want to come across as over-emotional.

Realising the portrait was Walburga Black, Sirius' mother; she looked at him appraisingly and compared him to the portrait. The woman in the portrait looked just like Sirius, with their shared black hair and dark eyes with sharp aristocratic features yet Sirius had warmth in his eyes which seemed to set him apart immensely from his mother.

"Don't call me Nymphadora" she told him playfully as she mock-glared at him. At the remembrance of her favourite phrase, he grinned widely at her and she smiled as she was suddenly reminded of the Sirius she'd known from childhood.

"Of course, of course, Tonks, aren't you early? I thought the meeting was at six." Sirius looked at her questioningly and she felt her face flush slightly.

"I thought I'd come see you before the meeting" she said with an air of uncertainty.

"Brilliant" beamed Sirius and she felt herself relax further. "Let's go to the kitchen. That's where we hold the Order meetings" He told her and she followed him through the hallway, not failing to notice a distinct smell of neglect. The smell filled the hallway and irritated her nostrils like an abundance of dust in the air. The dim light of the place added to the overall intimidating feel of it.

As they moved forward, Tonks almost shuddered when she observed a row of decapitated house-elf heads mounted on the wall; their huge yellow eyes seemed to glare horrifically at her as she hurried past them. She shivered as she suddenly felt the coldness in the air. The house had very obviously not been lived in for a while as years of dust and grime stuck to the neglected ornaments and furniture. As they neared a door, she also noticed that the brass door-knobs were shaped as serpent-heads, representative of the house's former occupants. Everything about the house acutely and disturbingly reminded Tonks of the Black family. She shivered involuntarily before catching a glimpse of the kitchen.

"Who's your mother insulting now?" added a slightly-perplexed sounding voice from inside the kitchen and both Tonks and Sirius entered the kitchen. Unlike the hallway, light saturated every crevice of the kitchen and there was warmth in the air like the heat from an oven which made Tonks relax almost immediately. She soon found the owner of the perplexed voice. There was a man seated opposite the door at the long wooden table in the kitchen and he observed them curiously through startling blue eyes. His eyes were a beautiful colour, Tonks thought; dark blue and deep, like the depths of the ocean. She made a note of their distinctive colour in case she wished to morph them on to her own eyes.

"Oh, this is my best mate Remus Lupin. Remus, this is my cousin Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," Sirius said pointedly. He sat in the seat beside Remus Lupin and visibly relaxed as he slumped forward on his seat. Tonks sat opposite them both and suddenly realised something about the other man.

His name… Remus Lupin was familiar. She racked her brains but couldn't seem to think of where she'd come across his name before. Although she eventually concluded that she must have heard it from Sirius when he was younger, she wasn't entirely convinced.

"Nice to meet you, Nymph...erm... Tonks" Remus said, holding his hand out for her to shake. He couldn't seem to maintain eye contact with her and she thought he seemed rather hesitant.

"And you, Remus" His hand felt coarse as she shook it carefully. He gave her a small smile which she returned happily. Remus ran his fingers through his sandy brown hair and it was only then that she noticed with curiosity, a deep scar on the side of his face. It ran down his jawline, the skin was a raised dark pink rather than red, indicating that it was by no means a new wound. He looked at her and stood up abruptly from the table, almost as if noticing her curiosity and offered them both drinks. She also noticed that Remus' clothes were well-worn, patched up in some places, fraying in others.

"Coffee with Firewhiskey would be lovely, Moony" Sirius grinned mischievously at Remus, who rolled his eyes in response.

"Tonks?" Remus offered, looking towards her patiently.

"Um, hot chocolate would be brilliant if you have any" she said quickly. "I definitely need some sugar" she added.

"Well Tonks you've come to the right place then" Sirius said smugly, "Remus here has a slight chocolate addiction, there's never any shortage of sugar here" he added whilst both him and Remus laughed. Tonks welcomed the scents of the brewing drinks; chocolate, coffee, tea, firewhiskey… all combined to create a sweet, soothing aroma in the air, which almost made her want to curl up and sleep. After a minute or so, Remus brought over the drinks. She placed her hands over the mug, revelling in the heat which warmed up her hands considerably. Tonks took a sip of the drink and savoured the taste of sweet chocolate on her tongue, the warmth of the liquid spreading to every part of her body as she kept drinking.

"So anyway Tonks, what've you been up to the past um… twelve years?" Sirius asked her, his eyebrows furrowed together in thought. "I hear you're an Auror now, Mad-Eye Moody's little protégée" he added, raising his eyebrows playfully at her.

For the first time that day, Tonks laughed out loud. Feeling the tension in her body begin to ease as the chocolate soothed her and the company relaxed her, she managed to morph her hair easily in to her favourite shade of bright pink, much to the surprise of Remus who suddenly stared at her with his eyes wide. Tonks laughed at his expression and spurred on by this, she turned her face in to an exact replica of his.

"W-what! But h-how are you doing that?!" Remus said to her, his eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes still wide. This immediately caused Sirius to burst in to fits of laughter and Tonks couldn't help but smile before she also began laughing uncontrollably at the sheer expression of shock on Remus' face. As she laughed, she also lost her morph, though she was too caught up in the fun of it all to care much about it.

"I-I'm a-a metamorphmagus" Tonks eventually spluttered between fits of giggles. Remus's face dawned in comprehension and he chuckled with her as she proudly turned her nose into a duck's beak, a pig's snout and finally a cat's nose.

"Show-off!" laughed Sirius as Tonks changed her face to his. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"That really is amazing!" remarked Remus, an amused smile played on his lips yet his eyes gazed at her in awe.

"Really? But Auntie Walburga reckons I'm a shape-shifting freak" said Tonks petulantly, morphing her face in to an exact replica of the dreadful portrait of Sirius' mother.

"Now that is just creepy!" stated Sirius, though he couldn't seem to stop himself from laughing even harder anyway.

"Well it definitely has its advantages, brilliant for the Concealment and Disguise part of the Auror exam" Tonks told them honestly.

"Yeah, but how you of all people managed to pass Stealth and Tracking, I will never know. Reckon Mad-eye let you away with that one."

"Thanks for the support, Sirius. I'm not that clumsy you know!" she said as she hit him in the arm playfully. Sirius scoffed and laughed at her and the conversation between the three of them continued to flow without hesitation. The time seemed to flow extremely quickly and by the time the Order members arrived two hours later, she was wondering where the time had went.

Seeing Sirius smiling and laughing made Tonks grin as if she'd won five-hundred galleons. Although it was obvious Azkaban had taken its toll on him, it was equally obvious that some part of the Sirius she remembered from childhood remained. Remus Lupin seemed nice as well, she thought. He seemed to be amazed rather than freaked out by her Metamorphosing ability which was rare in itself. She also saw how he helped Sirius recover and that made her first impressions of him even stronger.