Ok, ok, I know I should be working on the sequel to Dreams and False Alarms, but this one was rattling around, begging to come out, and I've hit something of a block with the other one. Besides, the last time I succumbed to inspiration, Much Ado happened, and that turned out rather well…

For the record, I would also like to state that Tonks is one of my favourite characters and therefore I have no intention of bashing her… but I read a story once where she was perfectly rotten to Remus and it stuck in my head – I have a hard time writing her any more.

Do you honestly think that I would be on here if I did own Harry Potter?

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It wasn't that he didn't like her.

On the contrary, she was about as good a friend as anyone could hope for. And she was certainly kind, and loyal, and thoughtful…

And attractive, he allowed.

If things were different perhaps they would have stood a chance at having a decent relationship – even despite the age difference, and his poverty, and the fact that he was, in fact, a monster.

But things weren't different…

And Tonks didn't seem to want to take the hint.

She had been trying to catch his eye all evening, sending wistful glances his way over the massive oak table in the kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. An Order meeting was in full swing, and he was sure that if Sirius hadn't immediately sat down beside him as it had started, she would have been right there, glancing up at him, distracting him all meeting with those big, innocent eyes and smelling of cherries.

It wasn't that he didn't like cherries, it was just that – with Tonks's apparent enthusiasm for his company – these days he couldn't get away from the scent. He longed for the time when he could happily lock himself away in his room at the top of Sirius's house and escape from it. It was cloying, like a living thing that wanted his attention, and he didn't like it one bit.

He had half expected Sirius to take her side – he was her cousin, after all, and gods knew he had spent half their years at Hogwarts trying to get Remus to walk out with what he termed 'eligible women' – but of all their mutual friends, he alone seemed to accept Remus's desire for solitude. Of course, he was the only one that really understood why solitude was necessary.

And he didn't know the half of it.