A young woman with a pale heart-shaped face as sitting on the floor of the Ministry of Magic, deep in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries under an invisibility cloak with a blank notebook and quill in hand attempting to recreate a memory. Not just any memory, but a very special memory that she shared with her best mate, who was currently living in Romania, doing what he loved. She pulled back her bubble-gum pink shoulder length hair into a ponytail and tapped her quill quietly against the page. She had tried for several pages to recreate their last night at Hogwarts, but it was hard for her to capture just one moment. She had manage to sketch out the Quidditch Pitch, the night's sky, complete with a spell to make the stars flicker on the page, but she didn't know how to capture the mood of the evening.
Suddenly her thoughts were broken by the sounds of footsteps. They weren't very loud, in fact it sounded like someone walking very slowly, and very carefully. She slowly pulled out her wand, and shoved her book and quill into her robes and drew herself up to her full height. Wand at the ready she waited for the sound of the foot steps to get closer. She quickly checked her watch just to make sure of the time, her replacement should be there within the next fifteen minutes, so either her replacement was early, or this was someone new and possibly dangerous. She drew in a deep slow breath to keep her nerves in tact; this is what she had been trained for so many years.
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" a smooth male voice said in almost a whisper. The woman smiled a little, but still did not show herself, just incase.
"Because they both write flat notes." She said matching his tone.
"Nymphadora," the male said as he moved toward her, she cringed automatically after hearing her given name. He stepped into the light; he was tall, had sandy colored hair and would have been rather handsome if not for the thin scars spread across his face. She bit her lip as she pulled the cloak from off of her, still keeping her wand at the ready just in case. She thought to herself that Moody's words of "Constant Vigilance" were finally sinking in.
"On what day did the Empire of Emric the Extravagant fall in Paris?" she asked, only he would know the answer if he were really who he appeared to be.
"Emric the Extravagant Empire was not in Paris, but in Rome." He said with a faint smile. "How has it been so far Nymphadora?" The woman looked at him crossly and as she lowered her wand she rested her hand on her hip.
"For the last time, it's 'Tonks', Remus." She said slightly annoyed.
"How has it been Tonks?" he asked again slightly enjoying the fact that it annoyed her. He very well knew that she preferred to be called Tonks, but for some unknown reason it made him feel satisfied a little.
"Quiet. Nothing noteworthy." She said stifling a yawn, she checked her watch; it was almost one in the morning.
"Good to know. Why don't you get home and get some sleep." He offered kindly as he reached down and picked up the invisibility cloak. "You look exhausted."
"I might have time to make it home and take a quick nap before reporting to work." She said thinking she had to be up in a few hours to come back to the Ministry where she would resume her Auror duties. "I don't know why they like to stick me on the night shift." She said allowing herself to yawn fully now. "Not that I mind, it's just I've been on it for the last two weeks. It's just that I'd like a full night's sleep. I think my bosses are starting to notice. I can only use the pub crawling excuse for so long…" she ruffled her pink hair.
"You're young, you can handle it." He said smiling at the youngest member of the Order.
"You're not that much older than me Remus." She said with a smile winking and playfully poking his shoulder. "Do you want me to wait until your partner shows up, who are you paired with, Emmiline?" she asked with a slight curiosity. Emmiline was about the same age as Remus, and once had been a runner up in the Miss Euro-Witch pageant.
"No, just me tonight I'm afraid." He said rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh," she started "Then I should probably hand this off." she said trying to hand over the cloak, then realizing that he already had it. "Well, have a good night Remus." She said kindly taking a step forward not sure if she should hug him or not. She always hugged her friends before leaving, but they seemed to be stuck in this in between place.
"You too." He said with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, as she began to walk away, and put her wand the top of her head right before she preformed a Disillusement Charm on herself. "Nymphadora…" He said suddenly, she stopped and turned.
"Yes?" she stopped, turned to face him and spoke with hope in her voice and a small smile.
"Are you coming to headquarters for dinner tomorrow?" he asked trying to sound casual about the whole thing, though not coming off entirely as he had hoped. Tonks bit her lip as she tried to surpress a huge smile.
"I can be." She said trying not to sound too forward.
"Oh. Well, then maybe I'll see you there." Remus cursed himself for sounding like a teenager again.
"Yeah. See you there." She said nodding as she walked away, performing a charm on herself and no longer feeling tired as she made her way back towards home.