A/N: I'm back! Anyway, I have a ton of challenges to catch up on over the break, and I decided to start with this. I was assigned the pairing of Lupin/Tonks for the "First Kiss Challenge," and although it's cannon, I'm still a shipper or Wolfstar all the way. I have a very complicated headcannon for how Remus and Tonks came to be married, but that's another story. I tried to focus a bit more on Lupin's grief for Sirius than anything happening between him and Tonks.

Enjoy, and maybe leave me a lovely review?

It was almost a month since Sirius' death, and tonight would be the first time that Remus had left Gimmauld Place since.

For the past weeks, he had taken to haunting the old house, feeling more like its previous owner than himself. He would pace the corridors, needlessly tidy things, or else just lay in Sirius' bed for hours, comatose. The only difference was that this house was not a prison to Remus, but a sanctuary. He could be alone here to grieve and think in peace.

Unfair. Everything came back to this. It was unfair that they only had two years together. They could have been blessed with lifetime, if Remus had only been brave enough to tell Sirius his feelings back when they were in school. Things could have been different if he had just grown a pair. Not to mention that the two years that they were given were hardly ideal. They rarely saw each other; first with Sirius on the run, and then when Remus began to have missions for the Order. It was unfair that Sirius, and innocent man, had spent the second half of his life locked up. His one taste of freedom had been the death of him. And the injustice that was the most disturbing was that she had gotten away. Bellatrix Lestrange—a murderer, a prime example of evil, a Death Eater—was free and at large. She had taken Sirius away from the world, and for that, Remus had sword vengeance. He wouldn't let the woman who murdered his lover get away so easily.

It was as he lay on the floor of the drawing room with the door locked against Keecher and lost again in these thoughts, that the doorbell rang for the first time in weeks. Remus jerked upright and drew his wand, before creeping down the stairs. The portrait of Sirius' mother was shrieking at the top of her lungs as he cautiously made his way to the front door to assess who was there.

"—WEREWOLVES, HALF-BREEDS, FILTH UPON THIS HOUSEHOLD—"

"Who's there?" he yelled through the door. "Explain yourself!"

There was a muffled response, but he couldn't make it our over the noise.

"—MUGGLE-LOVING FAGGOT SON, A DISGRACE TO OUR FAMILY! BRINGING THIS SORT OF—"

Remus pointed his wand at the portrait-the musty curtains on each side flew shut with a bang, and she fell silent. He turned back to the door.

"Who is here?"

"Arthur Weasley!" Came the reply. "Husband of Molly Weasley, nee Prewett. Father of seven and a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

Remus opened the door, keeping his wand raised. The man standing on the stoop did in appear to be Arthur Weasley, but he had to be sure. "What is your greatest ambition?" He asked.

"To learn how airplanes stay up," Arthur replied, but his own wand was pointed at Remus. "Remus Lupin and Sirius Black purchased a joint Christmas present for the Potters in the winter of 1980. What was it, and what did the note say?"

Remus couldn't help but smile. "I bought them a crib for the baby, and Sirius wanted it to be from both of us, since he didn't have anything. So he made the card, which read: It takes many nails to build a crib, but only one screw to fill it. Happy Christmas."

Arthur nodded, with an amused smile, and both men lowered their wands and came inside.

"Come down to the kitchen, and we can talk," Remus said, leading the way. Arthur followed, and the two were silent until they had both taken seats at the worn wooden table.

"How can I help you, Arthur? Is everything alright?"

"Fine, fine," Mr. Weasley nodded. "Things have been pretty quiet, thank heavens. I was actually here to check up on you." He looked concerned. "Hardly anyone has heard from you since what happened at the Ministry…we're al wondering if you're alright." He eyed Remus' pale, bony face, and the patched robes that didn't seem to have been near a wash pail in the recent past.

Remus averted his eyes. "I…I'm holding up. You know."

Arthur still looked worried. "I know he was your best mate, and if this is hard for anyone, it would be you. But you can't stay locked up like this forever. He wouldn't want that."

Best mate? More than anything, Remus wished that he hadn't been too afraid to let Sirius tell everyone else about how them. He was tempted to confide in Arthur, but he banished the urge. He didn't want to talk about it. "I know. I've been getting out a bit," he lied, and hastened on at the other man's skeptical look. "I've just needed some time to myself, that's all."

Arthur sighed. "Alright. But maybe you could come see everyone? Molly is having a few people around for dinner tonight, and she wanted me to invite you…She's worried sick, to be honest. You know how she is."

Remus bit his lip, deliberating. He really didn't want to be with anyone, but at the same time, he knew that he couldn't be alone forever...and it would be rude to turn down a direct invitation. Knowing Molly, she would come bursting in tomorrow anyway with a full pot of stew, and wouldn't leave until she was convinced that he was quite alright-which could take forever. He had made up his mind.

"What time would you like me to come?"

"Can you be there by Floo in about an hour?" Arthur asked.

Remus nodded, and after a few more minutes of pleasantries he was alone again. He quickly went upstairs to shower (he had lost track of when he had last done this, and was a bit ashamed of himself) and then found the cleanest set of robes that he could (Which were still rather shabby and had a slight stench to them.)

Within the hour, he was down in the kitchen again, digging around for the Floo powder. After finding it five minutes later under a container of rancid fish, he threw some in to fire grate. He stepped into the emerald flames and yelled: "The Burrow!"

The uncomfortable spinning went on for about a minute before he stumbled out into the Weasley's sitting room.

"Remus!" a female voice squealed, and before he had even stood up all the way he was caught in a rib-cracking hug.

"Hello, Molly," he gasped, resisting the urge to push her off.

"Oh Remus, we missed you!" She mercifully let go, and led him to a place at the dining room table. He looked around, spotting the other guests. Their eldest son, Bill, was sitting between his father and a stunning blonde girl of about nineteen. Next to them were the twins Fred and George, then Ron and Ginny. He was seated next to Tonks, who was looking a bit less colorful than usual, but smiled in greeting. Molly sat on his other side.

Dinner progressed, and he had to admit that it was nice to have something other than Sirius' death to think about for once. He mostly listened to other people's conversations, and averted all questions of his own well-being. The only thing that really bothered him were the small glances that Tonks kept shooting him, with a look that he either hadn't seen, or hadn't noticed, before. It was a cross between worry and…well, he wasn't sure, and he didn't want to assume anything.

After about an hour, Remus was pleasantly surprised when he realized that he had eaten a full meal for the first time in weeks, and that he was actually content. He was carrying on a conversation with Mr. Weasley about his new position in the Ministry, and the trade for illegal and fraudulent objects that had cropped up. As it turned out, the Weasleys had been wanting to have a get-together for some time, but Arthur's schedule was simply to busy to allow it. This was his first night off since being promoted.

Things began to wind down at about nine o'clock, and Remus began insisting that he really did have to get home, but he would come back soon. Eventually, Molly was willing to let him go, but not without nearly a week's worth of food. After about three good-byes to everyone, he was walking out to the garden, beyond which he could Apparate back to Grimmauld Place. Just as he reached the gate, he heard the back door of the Burrow open and close, and the voice of Tonks called out:

"Remus, wait!"

He turned, and watched her sprint towards him. She was in front of him within a few seconds, catching her breath.

"Remus, can we talk?"

He was taken aback. "About what…? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, its fine…" He couldn't see her very well in the darkness, but he could make out the stars reflected off of her wide eyes as she looked up at him. He had an idea of where this was going, after his earlier suspicions, and he wasn't comfortable with it at all.

He laughed nervously. "Well, that's good then."

She was quiet for a moment. "I've been really worried about you…you can't just stay cooped up like this all the time."

She was moving closer, but with his back against the fence, he had nowhere to go. He began to panic a bit. "Well, I'm fine, and I'll get out more often…" He didn't want to sound rude, but he had no other way of avoiding what he saw as inevitable. "But right now I really do need to go. I'm pretty tired…"

He began edging away, but she reached out and took his hand. "Remus, wait."

He froze, and she continued. "I don't want you to be so sad all the time...I don't like seeing you like this. And if I let you leave, who knows when I'll see you again?"

Remus bit his lip. "It won't be long, okay?"

Before he had a chance to move further away, he felt her throw herself into his arms and press her lips against his. He stumbled back a step, and it took him a moment to get over his shock and pull away. He had never wanted to kiss anyone again. Especially not here. Now. With her.

"N-Nymphadora!" He spluttered. "What-?"

He couldn't see her face, but he could almost hear the blush. "I just thought that maybe if I told you how I felt, you could be a bit happier...with me…"

He didn't know how to respond, and stumbled through the back gate before Disapparting.

Once back inside Grimmauld Place, he tore up to Sirius' room in a frenzy. What was he going to do? Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius' blood relative, was in love with him…and he knew that he couldn't love her back.