-1The Lost Years: Chapter One

Author's Note and Introduction: Tonks and Remus lovers everywhere will tell you how positively annoyed they are with JK Rowling not focusing in on their favorite couple enough! Hopefully this fiction, which focuses on the years and lost times JK Rowling left out, will clear things up.

Disclaimers: All characters belong to JK Rowling (-sniffle-).

Enjoy! Critiques very welcome.

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Chapter One: Introduction and Beginnings

Remus Lupin

Remus John Lupin was a very stran-, well no, no he wasn't. He was actually quite the opposite of strange, comparatively

speaking. Sure, he had his problems like everyone else, but he seemed to be relatively normal despite a few quirks such as his

"monthly" issues and an unnatural love of chocolate. As everyone knew he was one of the four elites back in school. One of the

Marauders, along with the best friends anyone could possibly ask for, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew. They had

stuck by him through thick and thin, even when they discovered what he was. As terrifying as his secret was, they accepted him

and treated him no differently after they had found out then when they first met him. In fact, they did the opposite. They worked

long and hard to become Animagus, so that they could be with him while he transformed. It was rather sweet, how could he ever

be so lucky? Of course, with his problems he recognized and accepted that unless he found another werewolf to share his life with

(highly unlikely), he could never have a family of his own. And most likely, he would be alone forever. It didn't help that his friends

were either dying off, becoming traitors, or in hiding. Once he had joined The Order, his fate seemed to change. He met a

wonderful girl! She was perfect. Sweet and beautiful and smart in every way. Quirky and klutzy and ditzy as well, but her faults

only enhanced her perfection to him. He couldn't act on his feelings of course. It would be too bold, too daring, too….stupid.

Besides, she was thirteen years younger then him and he was old and ugly and a werewolf on top of all that. There was no way on

Earth that she would ever accept him, especially if she found out about who he really was. It was too much to even dream about it. He wouldn't want to hurt her.

Remus Lupin Was Destined To Be Alone.

Nymphadora Tonks

There were a few things that you should never tell Tonks. Above all, you do NOT call her Nymphadora. Nymphadora. It was so

contrary to her personality. It was a relatively sophisticated name and Tonks was NOT sophisticated in any way, shape or form.

She tripped over whatever happened to be in her way or even whatever happened to be three or four feet away from her that no

one else could possibly manage to trip over. Tonks was so much more suiting! It was cute and quirky! Just like her. Tonks was a

Metamorphmagus, meaning she could switch hair colors, eye colors, shapes, and forms at will. Like a shape shifter almost. Her

favorite color seemed to be a bright pink, though the color of her hair changed with mood. These moods weren't temporary

emotions, such as red with anger as you would expect. No, they would have to be strong feelings over a long period of time for

them to affect her that much. For example, if she were unusually sad or hopeless for a long period of time her hair might turn to a

mousy brown color. If she were in love, her hair might return to a vibrant pink and she would seem to glow with the emotion. Right

now, she felt neither of these emotions. Nothing extraordinarily powerful lately. However, something was surely building up. She

had recently completed her training as an Auror and had joined The Order Of The Phoenix, where she met some very powerful,

very interesting Wizards and Witches. Among them the handsome and sophisticated Remus Lupin. He was all that she wasn't and

worldly, intelligent…graceful even! And he could cook. He could cook a whole lot better than her anyway, which wasn't saying

much considering that a bowl of cereal turned into a fire in the kitchen when she knocked the milk onto the working stove. It

wasn't pleasant, and highly embarrassing, but easily fixed. She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever have the courage to ask

him to go somewhere. She imagined it in her head time and time again and every time she didn't like the results! After all, he was

experienced in multiple things, including relationships she assumed, while she was rather ignorant to things. She was young and had

only even graduated Hogwarts less than a decade ago! He had already graduated and taught and now he was a part of this Order,

though she was too. Well, one day she would muster up some courage and ask him to accompany her somewhere for a

Butterbeer and manage not to fumble on her words or set a fire to anything or break anything or trip and fall.

Nymphadora Tonks Was Determined To Find Someone.

Beginnings.

"I will make cereal. I will make Cereal and I will not burn anything," Tonks was busy, very carefully trying to measure out the proper amount of milk to put into a bowl with two cups of her favorite cereal. (When she could actually make it).

"How do you burn something that doesn't require an oven?"

Being Tonks, she predictably whirled around causing the bowl to be hit somehow into the cupboard, nearly missing Remus' head and shatter on the floor. She winced as her face went from pale to bright red in a total of .3 seconds once she realized what had happened. "Lupin! Whoops, sorry! You should know not to startle me after the portrait incident…s."

"It's alright Nymphadora, no harm done." Remus replied easily as he scooped up the remains of the bowl and cereal and threw it away. Then directing his attention to the milk she was going to pour in measuring cups, he chuckled. "You were using those to make cereal?" He asked her, retrieving a new bowl from another cupboard.

"Well, yes. That's how you cook! Isn't it?"

"Making cereal is hardly cooking! Watch." He said and poured the cereal into the bowl and poured in the milk. "See?"

Tonks stared at the cereal and then at the measuring cups, and looked back up to Remus. "You don't need measuring cups? But look! It says right here, that you need one cup of milk for two cups of cereal!" She replied quickly, dumbstruck. Though, it was muggle cereal after all, they tended to do things backwards anyway.

"No, you don't need them." Remus cleaned up the measuring cups and taking out a spoon, which he placed in the bowl of cereal and gave to Tonks. He turned away rather quickly and turned his attention to dutifully cleaning up the spots and mess on the counter.

Tonks leaned against the counter, contently beginning to eat her cereal. It was completely silent in the kitchen now, save for the squeaking noises that the cloth Remus was using made when combined with soap and the counter. "You know, you don't have to clean like that either. You can just use your wand." She suggested through a mouthful of cereal, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh I know, it gives me something to do. Besides, I like to clean." Remus admitted with a sheepish smile, returning to his cleaning.

His smiles! They were lovely. His smiles weren't forced or awkward like others, including herself, they came easily to him. She found it endearing, and adorable! "Yuck, I prefer my wand." She admitted. While setting down the bowl of cereal near the sink and glancing toward the door. "Well, I'd better go now. Thank you for the breakfast! And sorry for the near-decapitation by cereal bowl." She said with a grin, walking backwards toward the door. Of course, this was a mistake as she tripped and whirled around quickly to run out of the kitchen, subtly, before she happened to do anything else clumsily.

"Goodbye Nymphadora." Remus said to himself after she left. She was a sweet girl. A little strange, but he liked her nonetheless. He stared off at the doorway where she had gone before forcing himself to return to cleaning the same spot on the counter pointlessly. It didn't matter, he wasn't thinking about cleaning. He had his mind on someone else.

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Author's Note: Yay! First Chapter complete! Leave me comments, critiques, suggestions, whatever your heart desires. 3