REINTRODUCTION

When the new member of the Order walked in, Remus Lupin's first reaction was a gasp.

Why?

Because the second she walked in and hung up her coat, she knocked over the coat stand which hit a shelf which fell on the hall table and knocked over a vase of flowers spilling water everywhere and scattering loose petals. Sirius shook with laughter beside him.

"There's my cousin!" he said, jogging down the hall towards her.

Remus cringed slightly. That must have been reasonably humiliating.

"Scourgify," she muttered pointing her wand at the mess.

Sirius offered her his arm. She seemed hesitant in accepting his assistance. How could she not be? After all, it was only recently she had discovered that he wasn't guilty of the murder of over a dozen people. The water from the case dissolved and the shelf, petals and coat stand all returned to their original positions. Sirius linked his arm through hers and walked her towards Remus.

'My God, she's beautiful…" Remus thought.

"Remus, you may remember my younger cousin, Nymphadora."

The corner of Remus's lip quirked up in a smile. A fitting name. She was nymph-like. Petite, yet somehow tantalizing. Her hair was the color of the sun when it was setting. Not blonde or red. A sunset. That was the only way he could think to describe the short waves that went just below her earlobes.

"Don't call me that, Sirius," she hissed, vehemently.

"Sorry. This is Tonks. I think you may have met her when she was just a child. That year that we visited my aunt for the holidays?" tried Sirius.

Remus nodded once and extended his hand to her.

"Pleasure to meet you again, Tonks," he said with a warm smile.

Tonks shook his hand with energetic vigor while wearing a slightly embarrassed expression.

"I'm so sorry. I don't recall your name," she said with an apologetic smile.

Remus laughed softly as they broke their handshake and put his hands in the pockets of his slightly worn sweater.

"Remus Lupin. I wouldn't expect you to remember. I think you were only five when we met. That's perfec-"

"Oh, Remus! Yes! Sirius called you Moony," she recalled.

He raised his brows in surprise. She wore a wide grin. Remus couldn't help but smile back, laughing slightly.

"Yes, that's me."

"Question. Why did he call you Moony?"

Sirius glanced at Remus, an uncomfortable smile on his face. Remus smiled sheepishly, used to lying about his condition he came up with a quick and elusive response.

"You don't want to know. It's just an unfortunate nickname that has stuck."

She seemed to melt at the heartfelt, lopsided grin on his face Remus sent her way. Tonks nodded quickly, shaking her from herself from her trance. He was so much different than she remembered, yet in a way, the same. Not the school boy with the old soul who had helped her clean up a mess of spilt chocolate milk before her mother had the chance to observe the damage. However, his young face still obtained such wise and tired eyes.

The mysterious scars she recalled from her youth still littered his face, but the mop of sandy brown hair he had when they were young was now flecked with premature grey. Tonks had never learned the secret behind the boy with the old eyes and boyish grin. To see him again only made her once again eager to find out more about him, as she had that day at her mother's house where she probed him about his life at Hogwarts until Sirius, James and Peter collected him to go.

"Well, one day you'll have to tell me the story behind it, yeah?" Tonks smiled.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough," Remus sighed with a wry smile.

There was a small pause before Sirius cut in.

"Alright, so Molly has made dinner. Let's go have some!"

Remus gestured for Tonks to go ahead of him in a gentlemanly fashion. She accepted with a nod and continued forward.

Tonks took a seat towards the head of the table where Sirius sat, directly across from Kingsley. The chair beside her scooted out with a slight grunt and she jumped in surprise. Remus sat down wearing an amused expression. She flushed.

"Did the sound of my chair really just frighten you?" he asked holding off a laugh.

Sirius snickered softly, observing the two. He could tell something was going on. Tonks was absolutely enamored with Remus for some reason. It had only been five minutes and they'd barely spoken, but somehow she had become obviously fascinated with him.

"Just a bit. I'm fine though," she reassured.

"Here we are, everyone," Molly smiled bringing plates and bowls of food with Mr. Weasley.

After a few moments of everyone listening to Molly prattle on about how happy she was they were there and how she hoped they liked her meal, everyone delved into their own conversations.

Moody and Kingsley talked in hushed tones. Probably still on about Order business.

Molly and Arthur chatted in their usual fashion of her bitterly addressing various matters concerning her children, then concluding that she adored them while Arthur smiled, happily indulging her.

Two wizards whom Tonks had not met yet sat at the far end, laughing grandly.

Tonks sat awkwardly between Remus and Sirius. She searched her mind trying to come up with something to say as she pushed food around on her plate. For once she was at a loss for words. However, Remus decided it was up to him to remedy the situation.

"So, Tonks, why don't you tell Moony about your favorite subject at Hogwarts," Sirius pressed, sipping wine from his goblet.

Remus turned his attention to Tonks, brows raised as he awaited her answer. Her eyes flickered from an amused Sirius to Remus. She was shocked and elated to have his attention.

"Well, it was Flying for my first year, but that ended second year and I found that I particularly enjoyed Defense Against the Dark Arts. Third year, I really liked Care of Magical Creatures, but after that and until I graduated I found myself completely obsessed with Defense Against the Dark Arts again. Howev-"

"Moony, tell her what you taught a few years ago at Hogwarts," urged Sirius.

Remus smirked at Sirius's obvious attempt to get them to bond.

"Oh, I'll let her take a wild guess," replied Remus flatly.

Tonks sniggered and turned her eyes skyward with feigned contemplation. She released a loud, dramatic gasp.

"Not Defense Against the Dark Arts!" she exclaimed.

Remus nodded, smiling at her again.

"Why, yes, Tonks. That's correct," he said dryly.

They both looked at Sirius knowingly who beamed back. Finally tired of the staring contest, Tonks decided to have an actual conversation with Remus.

"How long did you teach at Hogwarts for? It couldn't have been long. I wasn't there but seven years ago."

"A year," he replied softly.

Sirius gazed at his friend with concern.

He remembered all too well what had happened and why Remus had been found out. He'd ran to the Shrieking Shack to defend Sirius and help prove him innocent. That noble act resulted in him forgetting to take his potion and transforming in front of Snape who doubt let slip what happened. A member of the Order or not, Sirius still considered him a foolish child with a grudge. A grudge he saw fit to take out on one of the people who had been least involved with his school boy troubles, even prevented them at times. Remus had loved teaching at Hogwarts and Severus had sullied the opportunity.

How Remus managed to civilly converse with him at the Order meetings, Sirius could not comprehend. He admired his last living friend for it though.

"Why so briefly? Oh…were you sacked?" asked Tonks, concernedly.

Remus shook his head taking a sip of wine. His eyes stayed glued to his plate of almost untouched food.

"I resigned actually."

Tonks cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowed in confusion. To her, he seemed brilliant and clever and kind.

Why would he resign?

"Any particular reason?"

Remus's eyes quickly snapped to Sirius then back to his plate. Sirius fought off a frown. He wanted to interject but something about the look he'd just received from Remus told him not.

"Well, to make a long story short, I found myself uncomfortable with living up to the standards they had set for me."

Tonks went back to eating and felt slightly angered. It was clear the staff had made him feel inadequate.

She hardly knew Remus, however she felt exceptionally protective of him. She shook herself from her reverie and managed a rational reaction before responding.

"Well, seem very smart to me, teacher or not. I can't see you not living up to their standards," she stated.

Remus looked at her, his face complacent but his eyes truly touched.

"Thank you," he said genuinely.

Tonks smiled at him with a shrug. Sirius finally felt like something good was happening for his friend. Remus however, was terrified and touched all at once.

*JUST A FEW ONE SHOTS. I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW THEY'RE GONNA GO. I'M JUST GONNA KEEP WRITING THEM FOR FUN BUT HEY! IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS OF WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO SEE, LET ME KNOW! I LOVE INSPIRATION FROM READERS!*

P.S.

I know that I am going nuts with Remus Lupin fanfiction!