Sirius and Remus were taking a bit of a detour to their next class. They were just going through the Forbidden Forest in third year for no reason. It was completely normal…for them, and the headmaster had promised that he would try to keep it secret. He knew Remus's…condition.

"So, you think Lily and James are a good couple?" Remus started a conversation in his strong, calm voice.

"Maybe." Sirius answered in his rough one. "I mean, they both have at least one thing in common; they wouldn't know a joke if it hit them in the eye."

"That's not true!" Remus said, though a grin lightened his face. "Well, maybe Lily doesn't."

"Evans is a very serious girl." Sirius allowed. "And James is a…I have no words to describe him." Sirius smirked.

At first, Remus frowned. "Lily. Her name isLily." Then, as Sirius shrugged, he moved on. "No one has words to describe him. He's not exactly an explainable part of the universe." Remus ducked to avoid a tree branch.

"Like gravity!" Sirius started to hop on one foot, over rocks and thorn bushes.

Remus looked on, unimpressed. "Gravity says that if you keep doing that in an unbalanced way you'll –" Sirius cut him off, hopping towards him. "What? I'm an Animorphagus, Remus, do you really think I would-!"

There was a loud, painful-sounding thump, and Sirius was on top of Remus on the ground. There was a scramble to get up, and Sirius grinned at Remus as Remus dusted off his jacket, annoyed.

"A damn clumsy Animorphagus."

"That was awesome!" Sirius instead answered, pulling a thorn out of his hand. "And I think I have a word to describe him."

Remus looked at Sirius, still annoyed. "Who?"

Sirius, still grinning, gave a bark of laughter. "James!"

Remus gave a small smile, the recent conversation coming back to him. "Really? What?"

"Reckless!"

At last, Remus laughed. "No, that's what we'd call you!"

Sirius pretended to punch Remus, hitting his arm lightly. "Hey!" Then, lowering his voice, he bent close to Remus and whispered, "I bet Sniveling Snape has a word for James, too."

Remus whispered back, "Or a couple."

The two pulled back from each other, and then said loudly, at the exact same time…

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Suddenly there was a rustle in the bushes. Sirius and Remus, turning serious in a moment, both drew their wands, ready to utter for real the same spell that they had joked about only milliseconds before. However, instead of a centaur, goblin, or other dark creature, stumbling out of the bushes came a small girl, third year like them. They recognized her from their common room late at night. She mostly kept to herself.

"Nymphadora?" Remus said incredulously as he finally realized who the girl was.

Unsettlingly, the girl's hair turned bright red, orange and yellow-tipped like fire. "Don't…call me… Nymphadora."

Remus stood for a moment, confused, until her nickname dawned on him. "S-sorry. Tonks."

Her hair became mousy brown again, and she, satisfied, stepped the rest of the way out of the bushes, making the bangles around her wrists and on her scarf clink together like bells. She brushed herself off, and amusedly stared at Sirius, who was still standing unmoving, wand out and mouth open. Tonks walked right up to him and shook a hand in front of his face.

"Sirius?" she asked. "Close your mouth, dear. Something dark and mysterious might fly into it."

Sirius shook his head, and put his wand back into his robe. "What are you doing here?" he asked protectively.

She looked at him, smirking, hair changing colors so it was as black as the forest surrounding them. "You're not the only one who likes to take walks where they're not supposed to."

Markade Mercer, thanks for letting me use your edits! Markade is responsible for the detailing and the epicness of the story, so thank her! And thanks for reading!