A/N: written for sick-atxxheart's 178 moods challenge
"Moony, I'm… confused."
Remus looked up from his book, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "Did you only just notice your brain has a slight glitch? I hope you kept your receipt."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. Very funny."
"Well, then what are you confused about?" Remus asked.
"Well, you know that Tonks is absolutely smitten about you. So why haven't you told her yet?"
Remus bit his lip. "Because she doesn't need to know, Pads! And how do you know she's smitten?" He added. Sirius pointed to the other side of the library.
Tonks was sitting at the desk, notebook opened, her Walkman on, drowning out their conversation. She was starring at Remus, with a vacant expression and an open mouth. When he turned to look at her, she blushed a deep red and looked back down at her notes, and started doodling with her quill.
"That doesn't prove anything!" Remus hissed.
"OK… So maybe that doesn't… but if you take a look at these notes she took the other night…" Sirius handed him Tonks notes from the last meeting.
"What about them?" He asked.
"Just read them." Sirius said, shaking his head.
"Guard duty on Thursday- 9:00 - 4:00… Remus is sooo hot…"
"What!" he couldn't believe it! Did Tonks really drift off in meetings like that? She must have been pretty out of it to write that…
"It gets worse," Said Sirius, grinning. "Turn it over." Remus did, and was shocked to see little hearts with his name inside.
"Ok… so maybe she is a little bit smitten… but its not as if I'm going to do anything about it!"
"Geez, Moony! Don't you think she should know anyway?" Sirius groaned.
"No." Said Remus stubbornly.
"Come on, she's going to find out somehow. Everyone else knows."
Remus sat, thoughtful for a moment. He sighed. "I suppose you're right. I should tell her."
"Fantastic! Well, off you go! Ill give you some privacy…"
"What?" Remus stood, pale. "I'm not telling her now!"
"Why not? No time like the present!" With that, Sirius pushed Remus over in Tonks' direction. "See you later!"
Frustrated with how easily Sirius had conned him into doing this he approached Tonks desk.
"Hi Tonks." he pulled up a chair and sat opposite her.
"Oh! Hey Remus! What's up?" she quickly shoved her notebook in her bag, but Remus was sure he saw some more hearts on the page she had been doodling on.
"Oh, not much, I just came over to see how you're coping with all the extra work."
Tonks rolled her eyes. "The paper work, I can live with. We aurors are trained well in the area of speed writing." She snorted.
"So you're enjoying being in the order?" Remus asked.
Tonks' eyes lit up. "Its awesome! I love breaking the rules! Its nice to know that I'm pissing Fudge off while saving the world." She laughed. "I feel so… rebellious!"
Remus grinned. She certainly liked to talk.
"So… anything else you wanted?" She asked, ruffling her short pink hair. He wondered if she was being Flirty on purpose.
"Um… no. I've got a report to finish though, so I better go do that. Ill… see you round." he stood, and left quickly. Sirius was waiting with his ear at the keyhole. "Ah…"he muttered, ashamed of being caught eavesdropping. "I couldn't hear… did you tell her?" Remus shook his head.
"Why not, Moony?" Sirius groaned. Remus shrugged. "Well, you're either really stupid, or you're just a total pessimist and you thought shed take it badly." Remus shrugged again. "You're not saying much." Sirius observed. "Do you like her?" he asked brightly. Remus shook his head quickly. A bit too quickly. "No… it just wasn't the right time." he left, avoiding Sirius' eyes, and headed for the Kitchen.
Sirius stood, rooted to the spot, extremely annoyed. Moony could be so stubborn, especially when it came to girls. Wheeling around, he almost crashed into Tonks.
"Oh, Hey! I was looking for Remus- he left his book behind." Tonks held up a large copy of war and peace.
"He's just gone down to the Kitchen." Sirius said, eyeing the book. "That looks… boring."
"Yea… well, I should go return it." Tonks made to go downstairs, but Sirius grabbed her sweater.
"You might want this back. Just think, if I hadn't picked it up from the kitchen table… who knows who could be reading it right now?" Sirius held up Tonks notes. She snatched it, blushing. Sirius sniggered.
"Shut up." She pulled out of his grasp, and went down the stairs as fast as she could without tripping. Sirius followed gleefully. This could be fun…
"MOONY!" He yelled. Tonks winced. Man, he could scream. Remus' head stuck around the corner.
"What is it, Pads?"
"You left your book upstairs." Tonks cut in, praying Sirius wouldn't mention her notes.
"Oh, Thanks. Do you want a coffee, or tea?" he asked, taking the book.
"Sure." Tonks smiled. Remus had never noticed quite how vibrant her smile was. She followed him into the Kitchen, and sat at the table with Sirius, fiddling with her necklace. Remus gave her and Sirius coffee, while adding sugar to his tea. He could see Tonks was bursting to ask a question, but he didn't fell like breaking the comfortable silence. Finally, she opened her mouth.
"where do your nicknames come from?"
Shit. Crap. Any question but that… Remus could see exactly where this would lead…
"Well, my animagus is a dog, so I'm Padfoot," Sirius was saying. Tonks turned expectantly to Remus. "What's your animagus?" She asked.
"Ah…." his mouth had gone dry. "I'm not an animagus." he said quietly.
"Oh. So where does yours come from?" Tonks asked, confused.
"Special talent." Remus mumbled. Tonks opened her mouth again, but then Molly came in, chatting to Bill. He turned and grinned at Tonks. "Hey Tonks!"
"Hey Bill!" She got up to give him a hug.
"So I was visiting Dad, and I saw Kingsley, and he told me to give you this." Bill handed her a folder. She rolled her eyes.
"Ta. Hows it going with…" She lowered her voice, "Fleur?" Bill grinned back.
"Great! We went out on Friday…"
Remus was fascinated by the way Tonks spoke, and he couldn't help but stare at her mouth while she chatted to Bill. He had completely forgotten about Sirius until he came up behind him.
"Tell her!" He hissed in her ear.
Remus pulled his eyes away from Tonks face to Sirius rather less attractive one. "NO!" he hissed back, careful to make sure that Tonks and Bill didn't notice their argument. They had to stop after a few minutes, as more order members arrived for dinner.
Molly served the food shortly after, and, with most of the order in the room for the meeting afterwards, and Molly's children, it was a very tight fit. Sirius, of course, made sure that Tonks took the spare seat beside Remus. He felt rather awkward; Tonks kept glancing at him, then quickly looking away, and blushing when he noticed her.
Finally, he turned to her. "What?"
"um… its nothing, I was just wondering… never mind." she looked determinedly away.
"Tell me. What is it?" he pressed. She bit her lip.
"ok. Bu if I'm being rude, or… too forward… I'm sorry. I was just wondering… where you got all those scars." She said quickly. Sirius was staring at them from across the table.
"That is none of your business." Remus said harshly. Tonks winced away from his hard words.
"Geez. Moony, just tell her!" Sirius said loudly. For once, Remus was glad the room was full of people, all talking over each other.
"Tell me." Tonks said softly, staring intensely at him.
Remus was starting to feel guilty now. He was going to ruin her evening. "Fine. You want to know how I got all these scars? You want the truth? One word: Lycanthropy." he spat. He was on his feet now, and was dimly aware of the whole room watching. Tonks was looking at Sirius for reassurance. Sirius nodded. Remus left the room, hurrying up the stairs, and swearing loudly when a magazine fell off the rail a floor above him. He picked it up, fully intending to throw it at something.
"Hey Remus! Wait up!" He turned to see Tonks running up the stairs. She finally caught up with him.
"Are you ok?" she asked tentatively. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Sure. Fine. I just need a minute." Tonks nodded, glancing down at the magazine. A small giggle escaped her lips. "Ill just… ah… leave you to it, then." she said, smirking.
"Huh?" Remus asked, confused. Tonks was blushing deep red.
"You might want to put a tie on the door or something though."
"What are you-" he glanced at the magazine he was holding. "Ahh! No, its not like that!! I wouldn't…" he dropped the magazine, and ran a hand through his hair. He was going to kill Sirius for leaving those smut magazines of his lying around!! Tonks giggled.
"I had a feeling it wasn't yours." she said, grinning. "Anyway, I just came to tell you that you really should be more optimistic."
"About what?" Remus asked.
"Well, only an asshole would hate you for something out of your control. And I, sir, am no asshole."
"Oh." was all Remus could think to say. He felt so stupid, and ashamed that he had thought she would think the worst of him. Not to mention, extremely embarrassed by the whole magazine incident.
"Are you going to come down for dessert? Molly made a plum tart." Remus nodded.
"I suppose." he felt something small and warm in his hand, and looked down to see hers entwined with his.
"Well then, we should probably go now." she smiled.
"Yea. Now." Remus muttered, as they made their way down the stairs.
'Oh, and Remus? You don't need those smut magazines while I'm here," Tonks said cheekily.