Chapter 2: Early mornings and birthday parties

"Dammit!"

Tonks jumped to her feet. She should have been at headquarters five minutes ago. Mad-Eye had asked her to be part of the advance guard that would accompany Harry Potter from the place of his Muggle relatives to number twelve Grimmauld Place. Tonks had actually been looking forward to it because she was curious to meet the boy.

But once she hurried to leave, she immediately bumped into Rufus Scrimgeour, head of the Auror Office.

"Are we in a hurry, Tonks?" he asked, looking down on her as always.

"Actually, yes, I am."

"And what is it that's so urgent?" Scrimgeour had a funny expression on his face.

Tonks frowned. "It's my mother's birthday tomorrow, if you must know. And I forgot to get her a present. So unless you want to be responsible for me losing my head..."

She could tell that Scrimgeour wasn't impressed, but to her relief, he stepped aside. "Then give her my best wishes," he said coldly.

"Yeah, I'll do that." And Tonks sped away towards the lift and into the Atrium to leave the Ministry.

A few seconds later she knocked on the door of number twelve with her wand and entered. She didn't bother to take off her cloak and ran down the stairs into the kitchen.

"I know I'm…" In her hurry she tripped over her own feet and would have landed flat on her face, but she was caught by Remus Lupin. "… late," she concluded her sentence. "Thanks, Remus."

"No problem," he said and smiled.

"What kept you?" Sirius asked.

"Scrimgeour is asking funny questions lately," Tonks explained. No need to tell them that she had lost track of the time again.

"Yes, I noticed that, too," Kingsley nodded and Tonks felt relieved that she wasn't the only one who had raised suspicion or been added to Scrimgeour's watch list for whatever reason. "We need to be more careful."

"Right now, we need to organize," Moody growled and started explaining how the advance guard was supposed to work.

Tonks noticed that Lupin was still looking at her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I just noticed that you've changed your hair colour," he replied, looking sheepish.

Tonks smiled. "Yes, when I woke up this morning, I felt like violet. Did you like the pink better?"

"Wha-? No, whatever you like is fine… with me."

He seemed to blush slightly and Tonks chuckled.

"Would you two honour us with your attention, too, or do I have to separate you?" Moody barked at them.

"Sorry, Mad-Eye," Tonks said and chuckled even harder. "So, you know Harry?" she asked, turning back towards Remus.

His eyes darted towards Mad-Eye, who had started putting Disillusionment Charms on everyone, and nodded. "Yes, but only since the year I've been teaching him."

"What's he like?" Tonks asked. "I mean, being so famous and everything."

"He's an incredible young boy. Very much like his father, which doesn't tell you much of course," Remus added when he remembered that Tonks never knew the Potters.

"No, I wish I had been old enough when you were in the Order the first time. You all know each other and I'm the odd one out…"

"No, you're not," Remus interrupted her. "You're a member of the new Order as much as I am. We wouldn't want to miss you."

"Really?" Tonks suddenly felt rather warm and fuzzy inside.

"Of course," Remus said and gave her a warm smile.

Tonks beamed at him until she was knocked over the head with a wand. "Ouch! Not so hard, Mad-Eye!" she complained when she felt the Disillusionment Charm trickle down her body.

"We're leaving," Moody growled and the advance guard started moving. For a split-second Tonks grabbed Remus' hand and squeezed it before following Mad-Eye upstairs and out into the night.

She could hardly keep her eyes open and did only vaguely notice how Molly placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"'anks, Molly," she muttered.

"You look terrible, my dear cousin," Sirius told her. He was sitting on the other side of the kitchen table. Tonks only stuck out her tongue.

"No, really, Tonks, why don't you go get some sleep?" Molly suggested. "I'm sure there's a free room upstairs."

Tonks shook her head. "No, I want to wish Harry," she yawned, "good luck for his hearing."

"He will be thrilled about your enthusiasm." Sirius smirked.

"Oh, shut up! Or better yet, tell me when Remus is going to be back," Tonks demanded.

"I told you yesterday and the day before yesterday and the day before that that I don't know," Sirius sighed.

Tonks blushed. She hadn't realised that she'd been bothering Sirius with that question for days now. It was just that… yeah, what exactly was it? It seemed to be less fun when Remus wasn't around and although she got along great with Molly, Arthur, Sirius and all the rest of them, she just missed talking to Remus. Without him, it wasn't even all that important to choose a bright colour for her hair, which was why it was curly and blonde today – not bad, but without him noticing…

"At least drink your coffee then!" Molly insisted.

"Did I just hear that you can get coffee around here?"

Tonks let her cup slip right through her fingers and jumped to her feet. "Remus!" When she noticed her broken cup, she looked apologetically at Molly. "Sorry, Molly."

"Never mind, dear," Mrs. Weasley said and waved her wand to repair the cup.

Tonks hurried over to Remus and felt the urge to hug him, but lost her nerve and simply skidded to a stop in front of him.

"Hey, Tonks," he greeted her and sounded just as glad to see her as she felt. Or maybe she only wanted him to sound like that.

"Wotcher," she said and wished she had been brave enough to hug him. "How are you?" she asked instead.

"I'm fine, a bit tired," Remus replied.

"Join the club then," Tonks suggested and they walked back towards the kitchen table.

"Why? What's up?" Remus asked when they sat down.

"Been up all night. I think Scrimgeour has it in for me," Tonks explained.

Remus frowned. "You have to be careful, Tonks."

"I know! Kingsley keeps telling me that. Why does everybody think I don't know that?" she asked in exasperation

"You did say yourself that you almost failed Stealth," Remus reminded her and added a "Thanks, Molly" when she gave him a cup of coffee.

"Yeah, well, alright," Tonks shrugged. For some reason, it didn't make her quite as angry when Remus tried to give her advice rather than Kingsley. "I better have another one of those, too." She looked at Remus' steaming cup of coffee. "I think I've got guard duty tonight." She stifled another yawn.

"I don't think you're up for that. Looks like you need a good night's sleep," Remus said.

Tonks looked at him. "Are you worried about me?"

"Of course, I am. I mean, we all care about each other. That's why we're much better off than the Death Eaters," Remus replied, but he wouldn't look her in the eyes.

"Remus is right. I could cover for you, Tonks," Arthur suggested, peering over the Daily Prophet he was reading.

Tonks was still looking curiously at Remus, but he still wouldn't look at her. "Alright, thanks, Arthur," she replied.

It was now that Harry entered the kitchen. "M-m-morning, Harry," Tonks yawned and looked from Remus to the boy who looked quite ill.

Everybody did their best to encourage Harry, but when Tonks patted him on the arm and told him that all would be well, she knew that none of it really made a difference for him. Well, she wouldn't want to face such a hearing either.

As soon as Harry and Arthur had left, she asked, "Dumbledore will be there, right?"

"Of course, he will," Molly said, but everybody seemed suddenly tense.

Finally, Tonks leaned over to Remus, "How do you like my new hairstyle?"

When Remus entered the kitchen this morning, he was surprised to see that Molly and Sirius were busy decorating it with huge banners, balloons and stuff like that.

"Ah, morning, Moony," Sirius greeted him.

"Did you sleep well, dear?" Molly asked. "Would you like some bacon and eggs?"

She didn't actually wait for an answer before setting a huge breakfast plate down in front of him. "Thanks, Molly," Remus said, but before he could start eating, Sirius cursed at a banner that resisted his attempts at putting it up over the fireplace.

"What exactly are you doing?" Remus asked.

"Decorating for Tonks' party, of course," Molly explained cheerfully.

"We are throwing a party for Tonks?" Remus looked mystified.

"Did nobody tell you?" Molly looked surprised and Sirius a little guilty. "It's Tonks' birthday today."

Remus choked on a piece of bacon that got stuck in his throat. After Molly had patted him on the back and his eyes had stopped watering, he croaked, "Tonks'… birthday… today?"

Sirius had finally managed to put up the banner and sure enough it said: "Happy Birthday, Nymphadora Tonks".

"You might want to cross out 'Nymphadora'. I bet she'd love that," Molly suggested.

"Yeah, I intended to," Sirius agreed and waved his wand.

"Excuse me, why did no one bother to tell me?" Remus asked, slightly annoyed.

Molly looked uncomfortable. "Well, we thought you knew."

"Why would I?"

"Because you two are together all the time, mate," Sirius said with a dumb grin on his face.

"But we never talked about birthdays!"

"Tonks isn't here yet, anyway. She will drop by after work tonight. So now you know and no harm's been done," Molly said before hurrying off.

But Remus wasn't so sure about that. If today was Tonks' birthday and they were throwing her a party, was he supposed to get her some kind of present, too? But what exactly was an appropriate gift? He couldn't even remember when he had last bought a present for a woman. A woman, not just a friend? Remus shook his head. What was wrong with him?

"You better decide fast." Sirius sat down next to him. "What to get her for her birthday, I mean."

"So you think I should? Do you have a present for her?"

"I didn't really go out to get her something since… I bloody well can't. But I found something while cleaning this damn house. But I'm not the one interested in her." Sirius winked at him. "Ah, I forgot, you're still in denial."

Remus decided to ignore that last part. "Even if I wanted to, I don't have the money to buy her anything nice, anyway," he muttered.

"And that's what you want to tell her?" Sirius asked.

"What other option do I have?"

Sirius patted him on the back. "There are presents you don't have to pay a single Knut for."

Feeling annoyed, Remus remained in the kitchen, wondering what he should do. He didn't posses anything he could give to Tonks and he couldn't buy anything new either. Obviously, Sirius was right and he had to stop thinking about material things.

He could simply invite her to go and have a nice Butterbeer, which he would still be able to afford. It was nothing special really because they had already sat here in the kitchen after meetings, drinking Butterbeer. But at least they would get out of the house and they would be alone, which shouldn't matter, but at the same time seemed most important.

When the evening drew nearer, many members of the new Order arrived. In the end, the kitchen was packed. The only familiar face missing was Kingsley Shaklebolt.

When Remus asked where he was, Molly smiled. "He's going to lure her here – to make sure she doesn't change her mind. Oh, listen."

Sure enough, they heard footsteps, hushed voices and someone knocking over the umbrella stand with a crash.

"That's her," Remus said, a grin spreading across his face, and then Mrs. Black started screaming.

"Oh, shut up, you old hag!" Tonks' voice yelled. "I'm sorry, Kingsley."

"That's alright," they heard his reassuring answer and Sirius' mother fell silent. "Now, move along."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Tonks asked while they came down the stairs.

"On the count of three," Molly whispered. "One, two, three!"

And everyone, including the banner that hung over the fireplace, started singing 'Happy Birthday'. Tonks' eyes widened in surprise and a happy smile spread from ear to ear, even though half of the choir sang 'Dear Nymphadora'.

When they had finished singing, Tonks' eyes glistened with happy tears. "Oh, you are… just wonderful! Thanks! That's awesome!" And she started hugging everyone she met. Finally, she reached Remus, hesitated for a moment, but then gave him a hug, too.

"Happy Birthday, Tonks," he smiled.

"Thanks, Remus. Did you help to organize all of this?" She looked at him with her wide and happy dark eyes.

"Uh…" Remus hesitated and saw Sirius nod adamantly. "Well, sort of. But mostly it was Molly."

"Molly!" Tonks yelled and hurried away.

"You know, sometimes it's better to withhold a little information," Sirius told him.

Remus shrugged. "It didn't seem fair."

"All is fair in love and war, mate." Sirius grinned and Remus only shook his head.

They began to eat and Tonks did a fine job of trying to talk to every single one of her guests. Eventually, she sat next to Remus again.

"This is one of my best birthdays ever," she told him.

Remus had to smile. He couldn't deny that it made him happy to see her this cheerful. "Didn't your family want to celebrate with you, though?"

"I visited my parents this morning. And this," she pointed at the crowd, "is the rest of my family. Arthur and Molly are so great and Sirius, Mad-Eye, Kingsley and… you. I wouldn't want to spend my birthday without you and the rest of them, of course."

Remus cleared his throat and looked at her. This was probably the right moment, but he got distracted by her hair once more. It was tomato red and waist long today.

Tonks smiled at him. "Do you like it?"

"Uh, yes, it's very nice." They looked at each other and Remus opened his mouth.

"Hey, Tonks, over here! Presents!" It was Sirius.

Tonks gave him an apologetic smile and hurried over to where the others were gathering. Remus followed more slowly and when she had all her unwrapped presents in front of her and thanked everybody, Remus felt like a jerk. Now Tonks had to think that he was the only one who hadn't bothered to get her a present. Suddenly his idea seemed pretty pathetic, anyhow.

Finally, Elphias, Emmeline and Hestia announced that they'd be leaving now and Tonks insisted on accompanying them to the door. Hoping to finally get a moment alone with Tonks, Remus followed them. When he reached the hall, Tonks had just closed the door again after the other three had left. She looked surprised when she saw him.

"Oh, Remus, don't go to bed just yet. It's so nice." She smiled at him.

"I didn't want to go to bed. I…" …followed you to be alone with you… "… would like to invite you to go and have a Butterbeer with me, you know as a birthday present."

"Oh, that's a great idea." Tonks beamed and Remus felt relief washing over him. "Uh… right now?"

"Oh, no, whenever you like. But, uh, maybe not next weekend," Remus said, remembering with a vile taste in his mouth that the next full moon was approaching.

"Oh," Tonks looked sympathetic. "Alright."

"Shall we go back then?" Remus suggested because he didn't want to spoil her fun.

Tonks linked arms with him and smiled broadly. "We shall."

A/N: The 'date' is coming up. So stay tuned! And thanks for the reviews. They are greatly appreciated.