Title: Cloaked Love
Fandom: Harry PotterPairing: Lupin/TonksRating: T
Warnings: Just mentions snogging.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Alas.

(A/N: This takes place at the beginning of book five)

Cloaked Love

Nymphadora Tonks was standing under the hot summer sun outside of # 4 Privet Drive under a very heavy, very sweaty and very terrible smelling invisibility cloak, on duty. Whoever had been wearing it last was in terrible need of a shower, whoever it was. Perhaps Mr.Weasley? She mused? No, Molly was much too concerned with hygiene and cleanliness to not allow her husband to shower daily. Bill? Young men were highly stinky, no matter how much they showered. Maybe if she could have a fresh-air charm or something...her hand twitched towards her wand, but she stopped herself just in time. The ministry would be able to detect even the tiniest bit of magic and then they (especially Harry!) would be in a lot of trouble. With a quiet sigh, she rocked back and forth from toes to heels, bored beyond all belief and terribly uncomfortable. She drew back her foot to kick at a rock but stopped herself just in time (again!)--Harry was only a few feet away! A flying rock would have been highly suspicious in a muggle neighborhood like this. It was actually a miracle that Harry hadn't noticed her at all before. She had tripped over the car on her way up the driveway more than once, and there was a very tense moment a few days ago when she had accidentally cursed when she hit her shin on one of the decorative rocks in the front garden. (She had, to relieve her boredom, stood invisibly looking into the window, watching the muggle soap opera that Petunia liked and not seen the large rock until it was too late.)

And it wasn't like Harry was doing anything interesting either. He was just inside the window one floor up, presumably moping. Not that Tonks blamed him...she never could have dealt with that whole graveyard scene when she was his age. When Dumbledore and Kingsley had first asked her to join the Order of the Phoenix, she was ecstatic that she'd get to finally meet Harry Potter in person, and fight for something worthwhile. Of course, she had envisioned something a bit more dramatic than invisibly watching over the Boy Who Lived. She had envisioned duels with Death-Eaters and Daring Disguises! Not that being an auror was a boring job, but she, like Kingsley, wasn't hugely impressed with the Ministry had set them.

With another tiny sigh, Tonks thought over the people who she had met so far in The Order. Besides being reunited with her cousin, she had met the Weasley family, Remus Lupin, Mundungus...her mind paused for a moment on Remus Lupin. She had a dream about him last night...but she could only just remember it. Thinking as hard as she could and trying to recall everything about waking up this morning, Tonks pondered. What had that dream been about? It was a good dream, of course. They had been alone...and...Tonk's face turned tomato red. It was a good thing she was invisible, or her sudden embarrassment would have been very difficult to explain. In her dream...she and Lupin had snogged! She checked watch under the cloak. Twenty more minutes before someone came to relieve her. Plenty of time to NOT think about that. But all of a sudden, her dream was all she could think about. How he had French kissed her on the front porch of Grimmauld place, how her chest had rubbed against his, her hands in his soft hair. His hands had been—POP—there was the tiniest of pops, and Tonks knew that her replacement, under the other invisibility cloak, had appeared beside her. She thanked Merlin that whoever it was couldn't see her face, or know what she was thinking.

"You can go back now, I'm here to relieve you." Said a low whisper.

"Right. Thanks." Tonks said. She began to walk a few paces, and then froze. It was him! Tonks disapparated, her face so flushed that she seriously almost passed out. When she apparated back to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, she was pleased to find that only Sirius was there. Tonks tugged off the invisibility cloak with a sigh and sat down, exhausted, at the table.

"Alright there, Tonks?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow at her flushed and slightly sweaty state.

"Of course I am." She snapped. "It's just…hot out there, you know?"

"Hm." Sirius said. Tonks didn't meet his gaze. It was as if he…knew. He was still looking at her with interest.

"Are you sure you're not blushing pink for some other reason?"

Tonks glared at her cousin.

"I'm sure."

And with that, she stomped upstairs to see if Molly needed any help cleaning, her face still matching the vibrantly pink hair on her head.

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