A/N: I've read some fics that show Remus and Tonks meeting before OOTP, and they served as my inspiration. I hope you enjoy it in the spirit of the season.
The Five Kisses of Christmas
Chapter 1
1993
Third year Auror cadet Nymphadora Tonks was sitting at the bar in the Three Broomsticks. It was Christmas Eve, and, while she supposed that she should be with family and friends, she didn't particularly care to listen to another of her mother's lectures about her lack of a significant other.
She ordered a firewhiskey from Madame Rosmerta and furtively glanced around at the clientele. The normally crowded restaurant was practically empty; the only customers were those with no where else to go.
She heard the tinkling of the bell on the door as a new patron entered. He was nothing remarkable. His slim frame was on the tall side, and he wore shabby robes with multiple patches. His sandy brown hair was lightly streaked with gray. His face seemed prematurely lined. But his eyes. His eyes were an arresting amber color with an inner light that spoke equally of deep sorrow and profound compassion. She turned away so as not to be caught staring, but the man was walking toward the bar anyway.
"Excuse me, but do you mind if I sit here?" he asked in a low slightly hoarse voice.
She considered him a moment before shaking her head. "It's a free country." He sat down and ordered a butterbeer. She knew he was a stranger, but company always made her feel more cheerful. "What brings you here on Christmas Eve?"
He looked as if he had no real desire to talk, but he answered, "I have no where better to be." He didn't seem angry or bitter, but there was a certain wistful quality to his tone. It took him a moment to realize that he should probably reciprocate the question for politeness' sake. "And you?"
"Same." There was a slightly awkward pause, and most people would have ended the brief conversation there. Tonks was not most people. "So, what do you do for a living?" she inquired brightly.
"I teach at Hogwarts." He raised an eyebrow in a question as to her profession.
"I'm in my third year of Auror training." They both seemed a little impressed at the other's vocation. "Do you teach Defense?" He nodded. "I wish I could have been in school last year when Gilderoy Lockhart was teaching. I would have loved to learn from him. I'm sure all the girls absolutely swooned over him." With her natural proclivity for putting her foot in her mouth, Tonks realized that she might have offended him. "I'm sure you're a great teacher, though," she added apologetically.
The man grimaced. "I'm sure my predecessor would be delighted to know that you're a fan."
"Oh, I think you misunderstand me. I've always thought he seemed a right git. He was always posing and smiling that ghastly fake politician smile. I never believed that one man could do so much in so little time. I bet most Hogwarts students know more defense than he did by their third year. I would have loved for him to get something wrong while I was able to correct him and wipe that smug grin from his face."
He looked a little dazed for a minute before breaking out into a bold laugh that lit up his face and smoothed away the lines on his face. Tonks found herself unable not to laugh in the face of his mirth. It took several disapproving stares from the other customers for them to subside. The man said in between deep breaths, "Well, I don't think he would often find that reaction. It would have been good for him, although his current malady is unfortunate."
She nodded, still smiling. "Do you think the post really is cursed? They haven't been able to keep a DADA professor for more than a year in a few decades."
The smile that had also lingered on his face faded. "I don't know. I would be inclined to say no, but the number of unfortunate occurrences that have befallen them in the past seem to be beyond coincidence." He looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Was Professor Snape your Potions master?" There was a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Yeah. We didn't exactly get along." She vividly remembered a particular fall when she tripped and took out a whole crate of flasks with her. It was her NEWT year, and Snape had questioned how a girl like her could ever hope to become an Auror while drawling out her dreaded Christian name to add insult to injury.
That seemed to be the answer for which he was hoping. "Then you might appreciate this story. I was teaching my third years about boggarts the other day. I had them practice with one in an armoire in the staff room. One of them is terrified of Professor Snape. So, with some gentle prodding I suggested how he might make the Potions master less imposing. When I opened the door and he managed to say 'riddikulus,' Snape came out dressed as the boy's grandmother, complete with a large red handbag and a stuffed vulture hat." By this point, Tonks was doubled over from the hilarity. "Naturally, the tale was all over the school within a few hours. As you might imagine, he was most displeased." She gave renewed shouts of laughter.
The other patrons were glaring at her again, but her companion was simply smirking a bit smugly. "I can't believe you got Snape to dress in drag."
"I have to say it's a story that I enjoy telling." He stopped for a moment, and then asked hesitantly, "May I ask how you achieved your hair color?"
She blushed. "Well, I'm a metamorphmagus." She changed her hair from bouncy red and green curls to her characteristic vibrant pink spikes for emphasis. She cringed slightly, waiting for his reaction. Normally men got a glazed and dreamy look in their eyes as their fantasies ran away with them and they imagined what she could transform into.
He simply considered her with interest. "I should have guessed. It must be a useful talent for disguises as an Auror cadet." She almost gaped at him. It was by far the best reaction she had ever gotten after admitting what she was. This stranger remembered her job and did not treat her as an oddity or an object. He was obviously not most men.
She smiled at him. "Yeah, it probably saved me. I'm dead clumsy; I nearly failed stealth and tracking." She went on to recount the tale of her first practical exam when she tripped and set off every single defensive ward that Mad-Eye Moody had set up to test the cadets' investigation skills. Her companion smiled sympathetically and remarked that she must have perfected her other talents, besides being a metamorphmagus, to have pulled through after a disaster like that. She didn't know what it was, but there was something about that man that made him easy to confide in.
They chatted amiably for roughly another hour. The time passed quickly, and Tonks was surprised when she looked at the clock and it was past midnight. "Well, I should head back to my flat." She got up slowly.
"Oh, it is late, isn't it. I suppose I'll head back to the castle." He also rose to his feet. They walked toward the door. They both looked up a bit nervously to see that there was mistletoe hanging above the entrance. Tonks didn't normally kiss strange men that she met at bars, but she supposed there was no harm in a friendly seasonal gesture with a man whom she would probably never see again.
As they leaned in together awkwardly, their lips barely brushed each other. Tonks felt something. She didn't want to call it a "bolt of electricity" because that phrase sounded like something out of a trashy romance novel. However, whatever it was, it was pleasant. They grinned sheepishly at each other as they exited into the cold December night.
"Good luck with getting your Auror certification. And happy Christmas," said the man, as he raised his hand in farewell.
"Good luck to you, too. I hope you break the curse. Happy Christmas!" Tonks exclaimed as she Apparated home, still smiling.
