A/N: This is my first fanfic. Tonks & Lupin are my Harry Potter favourites and I think they didn't deserve what they got in the end. So I choose to ignore that most of the time. Thank Merlin for AU fanfics! My one shot here is not AU though, as it takes place during OoTP. I might do more one shots like this one - Trust me, I have tons of smut material lodged in that ADHD brain of mine ;)

Thank you to my first reviewer who asked me to insert more paragraph breaks. It has been done and I hope it's a little easier to read on the screen now. Looking forward to more reviews, let me know if you like it.

Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own HP. I do hope to, some day, own something of my own figment though.

Food Forgotten

Tonks was bustling up the steps to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, both her hands laden with plastic bags that kept knocking against her knees. She barely managed to get the door open with a nudge of her elbow and a kick of her right foot. She had kicked a bit too hard, though, and the door crashed open.

"Uh oh," mumbled Tonks, bracing herself for the enraged screams of the portrait in the hall.

And like clockwork the portrait of Sirius' mother started yelling at her. "Mudblood! Daughter of the blood traitor bitch! How dare you enter here! Get out of my house!" the old woman spat.

Tonks slammed the door shut with her foot, pulled her shoulders up and ran full speed down the hall past the screaming portrait, plastic bags bumping her knees painfully. She narrowly avoided slipping on a rug and threw herself against the kitchen door.

The very moment Tonks was inside she dropped her bags to the floor and without looking around got out her wand, swivelled around to face the door and muttered, "Imperturbatus." The screams that had followed her down the hall immediately ceased and Tonks drew a relieved breath.

"I'm so sorry! I was running late," she addressed the room while turning around to face the kitchen, "and then the old crone started screaming -," Tonks stopped abruptly. The kitchen was empty save for Remus Lupin who sat at the long table, his hands resting on an open book, watching Tonks with amusement.

"- but I brought Chinese", Tonks half-heartedly finished her sentence, raising an eyebrow. "Where the hell is everybody?"

"Well hello, Tonks, nice to see you too. Why yes, I'm great, thank you very much," Remus smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Hello Remus. Now, where the hell is the rest of the Order?"

Remus got up and walked over to Tonks who was still standing by the door. "The meeting has been cancelled. Mundungus was supposed to let you know," he motioned to take her overcloak, and Tonks was still so confused she simply shrugged out of it and let him take it, "but since I assume your entrance just now wasn't solely for my amusement, I reckon Dung forgot."

"I'm going to kill the git," growled Tonks under her breath. Remus smiled and folded Tonks' cloak, draping it over the back of a chair.

"What was that you said about Chinese?" he ogled the bags on the floor.

Tonks shook off her confusion, reached for the bags and placed them on the kitchen table. "Yeah, I thought I'd get us something to eat. This is enough to feed a whole… well, Order," she said, giggling, "but I guess it's just the two of us then, eh?"

Remus smiled.

"I mean, we should get Sirius, shouldn't we?" added Tonks hastily, blushing a little.

Remus' expression darkened. "Better leave him. He's having a bad day. Or… errr… a bad week. He's been holed up in Buckbeak's room most of the time. I've barely seen him and when I have he's been rather monosyllabic and unfriendly. To be honest, I'm a little starved for some human interaction that exceeds grunting and snapping at me." He sighed. "So really, it'd be great if you could stay for a little while, Tonks."

"Well, if you're begging me like this how could I say no," grinned Tonks and put the bags on the table.

"How very noble of you," Remus took a whimsical little bow.

"Ugh, don't call me noble," erupted Tonks, "that reminds me way to much of that horrible portrait upstairs. 'The Noble And Most Ancient House of Black'," she mocked and plopped down on a chair at the long side of the table that was facing the kitchen door.

Remus pulled up a chair and sat at the head of the table, leaving one chair between them empty.

Tonks put her feet up on the chair and placed the takeaway boxes on the table, mumbling, "Noodles. Rice. Chicken. Beef. Noodles. Spring rolls. And more noodles. Why the hell did I get so many noodles?"

"Because you know that half the Order prefers noodles over rice," laughed Remus, "and, incidentally, so do I." He hungrily grabbed a box.

"Hey! What if that's the one I had chosen for myself?" demanded Tonks in mock agitation.

"I guess we'd just have to share it," Remus said.

"Well, fork it over then," Tonks crossed her arms over her chest and stared impatiently at him.

"Your wish is my command, Ms Tonks," answered Remus with a glint in his eye and opened the box he was holding. He reached in with two fingers, grinning mischievously, and Tonks' face fell.

"You wouldn't," she said but didn't sound too assured.

Remus flashed her another impish glance before casually flicking a rather thick egg noodle at her. Tonks' eyes widened, her mouth hung open in disbelief and Remus had to chuckle as he looked at her, egg noodle stuck smack on the tip of her nose.

Tonks screwed up her face and morphed her nose smaller causing the noodle to drop off it. Remus laughed, but only for a second.

In a flash Tonks had grabbed and opened another takeout box and flung a handful of rice at Remus.

Soon noodles, rice and sauce were flying through the kitchen as Remus and Tonks chased each other around the table, flicking food, sometimes managing to catch it in their mouths, laughing and giggling like a pair of teenagers.

Suddenly Remus let out a yelp of pain and sat down on the nearest chair. "Aaaah! Tonks! What the hell did you throw? It hurts like hell!"

Tonks looked down at her hands holding a box of chilli rice then looked guiltily back up at Remus who was frantically rubbing his right eye and wincing in pain. "Uh… it's chilli," whispered Tonks. Then louder: "Stop rubbing it, you'll just make it worse!"

She walked over and stood in front of him. He was still clutching his eye. "Remus," she said sharply, "Stop. Let me." She turned his chair slightly and straddled his knees, bending over him. Remus obediently dropped his hands.

"Look up," commanded Tonks, so he did. His right eye was watering, a grain of rice seemed to have gotten squashed and stuck in the corner of his eye. She carefully dug it out and continued picking other foodstuff off Remus' face, trying rather unsuccessfully to dab the myriad of sauces off with a napkin.

Remus looked up at her face, all scrunched up in concentration, and had to smile. Suddenly he realised how short Tonks' skirt was. At some point he must have absentmindedly grasped the sides of her thighs that were straddling him. At first he had probably only held on for support, trying to cope with the burning in his eye, but now he grew aware of his thumb moving softly over her smooth skin.

Tonks' breathing hitched. "Got it, you're free of burning substances again," she managed a whisper. She ceased dabbing at his face and was instead tracing one of his scars with her fingertips.

"Don't," whispered Remus self-consciously and dropped his head, torn between shame about his scars and wanting to keep the wonderful sensation of Tonks' light touch on his skin.

Tonks removed her fingers but only to reach under his chin and dip his head back up again. Then she leant forward and placed a soft kiss on the scar she had just been tracing, right above Remus' right eye.

He closed his eyes and felt Tonks sliding down. His hands were suddenly on her hips instead of her thighs, her bottom planted firmly on his knees. When he opened his eyes again Tonks was gazing straight into them, her hands on either side of his face. When their eyes connected her mouth spread into a smile, her lips parted slightly. Remus had the odd feeling her stare was going much deeper than just into his eyes because what she said next was exactly what he had needed to hear.

"It's okay, Remus", she whispered and placed another chaste kiss below his left eye, "stop worrying." Another kiss. The corner of his mouth now.

He tried not to react to it but his body did anyway. As Remus leaned slightly into the woman sitting on his lap his arms came up around her waist and when her lips approached his again he met her halfway, pulling her even closer to him.

Their lips connected, softly, and only for a moment. But they had barely broken contact when her mouth came back for more, lips parted this time, gently sucking on his bottom lip, her tongue carefully manoeuvring past his now parted lips.

A moan escaped his mouth; his hands began caressing her back, his arms trying to pull her even closer.

Meanwhile her hands had somehow wandered to the back of his neck, fingers buried in his hair, grasping, tugging, fondling.

Remus felt what was left of his resolve evaporate. Before it was too late he forced himself to focus and broke the kiss, drawing back, dragging a hand through his messy hair. His hand connected with Tonks' which was still resting at the back of his head, and he grasped it and placed a kiss on her knuckles.

Tonks looked at him questioningly.

"This is… wrong," he stammered, staring down at her hand which was still in his. Even without seeing her face he could tell she was confused by his sudden withdrawal. He forced himself to look up into her eyes and continued, "Tonks, not only am I way too old for you, I also don't have steady income and oh, once a month I turn into a werewolf."

Tonks was chewing her lip, obviously considering what he had just said.

Remus' felt uneasy. Why wasn't she saying anything? Why was she still caressing his hand? Why was he still holding hers? He started to let go of her hand, loosening his arm's grip on her back.

#Just then she opened her mouth again, "So I've thought about this and I have come to the conclusion that I don't care."

Remus sighed. "I care," he said, "I don't want to ruin your life." He gently shoved her off his lap and began pacing the room, "Because what we are doing here is not just a spur of the moment thing, not for me. If I give in to this there will be no going back for me. It will inevitably lead to more and will influence both our lives. I don't care about myself, really, you could break my heart a thousand times and I wouldn't care. But I do not want to be responsible for ruining the life of the woman I'm in love with. I'm poor. I'm dangerous. I'm too old. I am no good for you, do you understand, Nymphadora?" He stopped pacing and swung round to face her, "I am no good."

"Shhh," she had caught up with him and put a finger to his lips. "First of all: if you care about me you won't do whatever it is you are doing now. Because this hurts like hell."

Remus cringed, sat down on the nearest chair and put his head into his hands. "Oh Merlin, that's the last thing –", he started but Tonks interrupted him.

"Let me finish, Remus, please," she implored, "Listen, I've always been into older guys. I don't care that you don't have any money. And I certainly don't care that you are a werewolf. I've known you for almost a year and you are the kindest, smartest, most gentle man I have ever met. I do not want to break your heart, ever, and I didn't even think that I wielded this power over you. But I also think that you just said you're in love with me." She paused and sat down next to his hunched up figure.

"Remus. Are you in love with me?"

He looked up and into her eyes. Then nodded, glumly. "Very much so, I think. For a while now", he said.

A smile spread over Tonks' face. "And I'm in love with you, Remus Lupin, you wonderful stubborn man," she whispered and reached out to cup his face in her hands. She could see he was fighting her but she could also see that she was winning when he closed his eyes and whispered softly "Okay. I give in, Tonks, I give in". And he did.

When their lips connected this time it was much more fervently than before. Her tongue entered his mouth and he went along with it, his tongue roaming in her mouth, exploring, caressing. When he let his lips wander away from her mouth, down her jawline and towards her neck Tonks looked up at the ceiling and smiled. She sunk her hands into his hair again, a moan escaping her lips as Remus' hands wandered under her T-Shirt.

She dove down, nibbled on his earlobe, and found a place on his neck to suck on.

He gasped and his fingernails raked over her bare back, before his lips crashed back into hers with a force that took both their breaths away.

Kissing him hungrily Tonks got up and dragged Remus after her by his collar. A chair toppled and fell to the floor with a loud bang. He pinned her against the wall and her legs came up and clamped around his waist. She was surprised to find that despite Remus' bedraggled looks he was rather strong as he planted his hands firmly under her buttocks and carried her over to the table, set her down on the edge of it and with one sweep of his arm made a clearing in the food strewn about. She only broke away from his lips to scoot back on the smooth but sturdy table, dragging him onto the table and on top of her.

She desperately tugged at his cardigan until he shook it off and it fell to the floor. With shaking fingers she started to unbutton his shirt, longing to touch the warm skin underneath it, and in her haste tore off a button.

Remus looked at her for a moment and the goofy grin that appeared on his face made him look years younger. Beneath the scars and the usually sad eyes one could still see the mischievous Marauder whose Hogwarts antics were the stuff of legends.

Tonks smiled back and visibly relaxed. She found that she had a much easier time unbuttoning his shirt now that she was a little calmer. She barely made it halfway down the row of buttons though before her breathing hitched again. Remus had let his hands wander up her thighs underneath her skirt.

She somehow managed to open his shirt completely and he shrugged it off, revealing a pair of well-toned shoulders and arms. Tonks looked longingly at them, wanting to caress and touch his skin, but felt her grasp slipping as Remus slid down the length of her body and lifted her t-shirt, trailing kisses on her stomach that made her quiver all over.

As Remus plunged further down Tonks' arms flew over her head and her fingers gripped the edge of the table.

Remus tugged at her waistband and kissed her hipbone before his hands slid down the outside of her thighs and up again on the inside of them, lifting her already short skirt further up. His hands gripped her thighs, his mouth trailing kisses and little bites all over her thighs, wandering constantly further up, making her moan so loudly that for a moment he was very glad about the imperturbable charm she had placed on the door earlier.

His right hand was slowly making its way further up her leg and found the edge of her pants, pulling them slightly to the side. Tonks gave a shudder and a low moan as his mouth crashed into her and his tongue began to explore. One of her hands found his head and entwined with his hair, giving it little tugs as he made her moan harder and louder.

Suddenly Remus found himself being yanked upwards and onto Tonks, her mouth fastening on his, her fingers raking down his bare chest and tugging urgently on his trousers until they had found and unclasped his belt. Remus' eyes were still wide with shock at the way she had suddenly taken control by the time her fingers had nimbly opened the buttons of his trousers and reached inside, making his eyes widen even more. As her hand began to move she looked straight at him, grinning slyly.

Remus' arms gave way and with a quiet moan he collapsed on top of her, his face buried in her neck, his hips moving with her hand until she apparently decided to rid him of his trousers entirely, tugging them off along with his underwear.

"Remus", she rasped as she pulled his hips closer and locked her legs on his back.

"Tonks….", he murmured as he hoisted himself up again and pushed into her, over and over again, first with deliciously delicate long strokes, later with a burning fervour that made both of them groan loudly until they finally collapsed together in a shudder and their bodies went limp on the hardwood table.

He rolled off of her, lay on his back and immediately drew her into his arms, holding her close, her head resting on his heaving chest.

Her fingers were absentmindedly caressing the scars on his chest and he found himself not minding it at all.

He kissed her hair, breathing her in deeply, and gave a sigh.

"Huh?" inquired Tonks, lifting her head slightly to look at him. He smiled at her.

"S'nothing," he murmured thoughtfully. "Just… while I fancied myself in love with you before, I am now pretty sure that I do, you know… love you, Nymphadora Tonks." He blushed a little.

Tonks grinned and stretched up to plant a little kiss on his mouth. "I love you too, Professor," she said before dropping her head again and snuggling up to him. Remus groaned in annoyance.

"Well, if you call me Nymphadora, I get to call you Professor."

"I see," Remus said, smirking.

"Yup. Glad we're clear on this now", she mumbled sleepily and chuckled.