Okay,

Yeah its been a while, but exams, assignments, you know.

I need to set some things up for the next few chapters, so Lupin and Tonks need to have opinions about eachother first.

Yes Lupin is being grumpy for a reason, that you will soon find out.

Thanks for the reviews. I love them.

Enjoy.

Chapter 3

Nymphadora Tonks was watching the hours tick by extremely slowly as she sat in her cubicle. Kingsley was off on field work and the office was as boring as ever. Everytime she checked the clock, less time would have passed. She began to wonder if it had been bewitched to go backwards when she wasn't looking. Grimmauld Place loomed ahead of her the minute work was finished, and she couldn't wait to get there. That place was all she looked forward to now. In it were her favourite people. And tonight was the first night that the whole Weasley family were to be moving, and Tonks was more than excited to meet them all, especially Fred and George after all the stories she'd heard from Molly.

Tonks doodled on the edge of her parchment. She was imagining a horde of befreckled fire haired children each as entertaining as Bill and Charlie, both of whom she'd been with at Hogwarts. She knew of their younger brother Percy, but only from brief passing's at Hogwarts, and the rumors that flew around a few months earlier involving Barty Crouch. He had not seemed fun, but she'd be assured the rest were. Finally Tonks watched the clock tick over and she was up and out the door before the rest of her co-workers had put their quills down.

Tonks apparated right into the garden across from the hoise, and sprinted across the road, sliding her wand down the door, and shutting it quietly behind her. Straight away she could hear movements upstairs, and muffled voices, far more than she'd ever heard in this house. She grinned from ear to ear. With great care, concentrating more than ever on not tripping over, and she made it down to the kitchen. She opened the door and her eyes were drawn to feet on the table, and the Evening Prophet covering someone's upper half. She knew it was Sirius. He lowered the paper, and smiled at her.

"Good evening Tonks," he said sounding as joyful as she had ever heard.

He looked younger, and there was something mischievous about him that she hadn't quite seen until now.

"I take it you ran here from work ready to meet our many red-headed guests," Sirius said, still smiling.

"Naturally," Tonks said, sitting down on the seat next to Sirius, who was at the head.

"They're quite a treat," Sirius laughed. "I think the last time I was with this many teenagers, I was at Hogwarts."

"Somehow I think mothers around the world are entirely glad of that," came a voice.

Tonks spun in her seat and found Lupin leant up against the counter, a book in his hands. She couldn't believe she'd missed him, but he had been in the darker part of the kitchen, half obscured by a cabinent.

"Is this because of my infamous criminal status, or an attempt at Moony like wit commenting on my other infamous status," Sirius said, looking at Lupin.

"Well, I should have made myself more clear. The mother's of young daughters around the world are entirely glad of that," Lupin said, looking up form his book to Sirius, his eyebrows raised.

"Can't defend myself against that. They'd be well within their rights to be worried," Sirius grinned, winking at Tonks.

"Merlin, I've never been more glad to be your cousin and entirely off limits," Tonks said shaking her head.

Tonks heard Lupin let out a soft laugh. She looked up at him, and he met her glance. Sirius was glancing between the two, a strange look in his eye and a dawning apprehension on his face. Before he could speak, the door flew open. What looked like an army of children marched in, the voice of Molly behind them.

"And if any of you think that you can– Oh, hello Tonks," Molly said, seeing her once she walked inside.

Tonks looked at the kids in front of her, only they didn't quite look like children. There was a very tall one, though he looked younger than Fred and George, who Tonks knew instantly as they were the twins. There was a beautiful girl that stood behind one of the twins, giggling silently.

"Okay, Wealseys, this is Tonks. Days spent together have me taught me she has no first name," Sirius said loudly, and Ron looked at him his eyebrows creased. "No she actually has a first name Ron, but she doesn't want to be adressed by it. I'd tell you what it is, but she's an Auror and she has a wand."

Tonks laughed

"Tonks, here we have Fred and George, but I assume you figured that out already," Sirius said.

"Does our reputation precede us?" One of them asked Sirius.

"Of course," Tonks said, and they both grinned at her.

"The other is Ron, he is Harry's best friend," Sirius said. "Finally we have Ginny, who has the misfortune of being the youngest and only girl. She seems to take the title in her stride, having all ready dropped Dungbombs in the hallway this morning."

Molly made a noise of anger, but Tonks only grinned at her as well. Had she not heard the Dungbomb comment Tonks may have been quick to judge her, but she had the distinct feeling Ginny and her would get along very well.

"You all remember Professor Lupin," Sirius said, stressing the word in mock disgust.

"Hi professor," they all said in their own ways.

"Now that's done, you lot set the table," Molly breathed.

They each got to work grabbing plates and cups. Lupin had struck up a conversation with Sirius, a private one by the looks of it, but Tonks was very busy watching the Wealseys. When the job was done, Tonks found herself between Fred and George and she knew it was not by accident.

"Tonks," one of them said in a smooth sounding voice, "would you happen to think witches and wizards of age are old enough, and mature enough, to accept extra responsibilities?"

"Depends on what they were," Tonks muttered caustiously.

"Say, joining some clubs?" the other twin said.

"What clubs?" Tonks asked, already knowing where this was heading.

"Oh I don't know, the Order of the Pheniox? Seems like a nice outside activity to be involved in, what say you Fred?"

"Absolutley," the first twin said.

Sirius laughed, and Tonks did the same.

"Nice try," Sirius said.

"But why can't we join?" George cried.

"Yeah, we're of age," Fred finished.

Tonks quickly had the impression with was a common question as Molly gave an exasperated sigh.

"I've told you why," Molly growled. "I don't see knives and forks boys."

Tonks laughed as they rolled their eyes and stood up again. Lupin excused himself and disappeared out the door, and she began a conversation with Sirius, which soon after the table had been set, the Weasley children joined in with.

"Yeah, and I can do a ducks bill too. Check it out!"

Tonks concentrated hard, and with a familiar tingling feeling around her nose, a duck's bill formed over her face.

"Whoa!" said an impressed looking Ginny. "When did you learn to do all that? Teach me, I could freak Ron out!"

Tonks laughed, everyone always wanted to know how. She loved having something that made her so unique.

"No, you have to be born with it. Mum said I changed my hair color a lot when I was young. But I didn't really learn to control it until I was about ten. They took me to St Mungo's just to find out what I was."

"Oh," Ginny said, her face falling slightly. "Still, that's so cool."

"Thanks. After dinner I'll show you this neat trick with dungbombs though," Tonks said as they opened the door to the kitchen again.

Tonks had followed Ginny to wash her hands in the upstairs bathroom, mostly because she'd been halfway through explaining something when Molly had asked Ginny to wash. They sat side by side at the table, and Tonks and the Wealseys, which now included Arthur ate dinner in a loud rambunctious way that she was yet to experience here in Grimmauld Place. She felt like she'd sat at that table for hours, having had courses of delicious food. Ginny got the attention of her brothers as Molly made cocoa for Arthur.

"You guys have to check out this thing Tonks does," Ginny said proudly.

The eyes of the whole kitchen were upon her, and she felt the tingling again. Everyone laughed, except for Ron, who locked stuck between fear and shock, much to Ginny's delight.

"Aw poor ickle Ronnie is afraid of a duck," George cried upon seeing his brother.

"Don't worry Ronnikins, duck wont harm you while Fred's here," Fred exclaimed, flexing some non-existent muscles.

By chance, Tonks had taken a mouthful of pumpkin juice, but upon seeing Fred making a fool of himself, she choked, and dribbled it down her front. The children and Sirius burst out laughing, yet over all the commotion, Tonks heard Molly very clearly.

"Ah, Remus, you're back. Did you want some dinner dear."

Tonks turned in her seat slowly, knowing exactly where it would be standing. It was just her luck. Lupin was directly behind her, surverying her with a very unamused expression, his eyebrows raised. Tonks had never been the kind to feel self conscious, but something in his stare made her feel absolutely self conscious, and embarrassed. She swallowed her feelings, and put on a voice that did not sound at all flustered.

"Hello again Remus."

He gave her a weak smile, and shuffled past, taking a seat next to Sirius. Seeing him up close for the first time that night, she couldn't help but notice how exhausted he looksed. Tonks, ready to shake her feelings, began to gather her dishes, but soon found her mug fall from her hand.

"I did forget to mention, Tonks has a slight problem staying on two feet, and can turn any innocent piece of china into a helpless victim," Sirius muttered with a laugh, and Tonks scowled at him.

Over the week, Tonks spent every single spare moment at Grimmauld Place. This had been an entirely fun experience except for one moment. Tonks had found a sweet on the kitchen table, it looked entirely appetizing , and she had a slight sweet tooth, and ate it. Instantly she started vomiting in a spectacular fashion, until Molly had screamed for the twins and they came running with a way to stop it. Sirius, who had been in the kitchen with her, had laughed harder than she'd ever seen him. Since that day, the twins, perhaps because they felt sorry for her, let her in on some secret business that had.

On the Sunday of that week, Tonks found herself in the company of Ginny, Fred and George again. The twins were in the process of explaining their latest invention, Extendable Ears. Something she had learned allowed you to listen to something that was happening far away, or through doors.

"So they work on any type of door or wall?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah, we've tried them out on all the doors here," said George proudly.

"We're waiting 'till we get back to Hogwarts to try them out there." Fred finished.

"Wow," Tonks couldn't help but say as she held what looked like a piece of fleshy string between her thumb and forefinger. "Can I try?"

"Go ahead," the twins replied in unison.

Tonks moved across the landing towards Sirius' bedroom door as George put it all in place for her. Tonks couldn't hear much but Sirius groaning in frustration and what sounded like paper being scrunched up and then landing on the floor. However, the brilliant part, it sounded like she was hearing it as if she was in the room.

"There are bloody brilliant guys! You reckon I could get some of these to listen in on people at work? I'd love to hear what Scrimgeour gets up to in his office," Tonks said, keeping her attention on the door.

She was perplexed not to hear any form of response.

"Fine then! Hog them all for yourself," Tonks sighed.

Still they didn't respond. She found it so odd for the twins to be silent, and Ginny too.

"Guys?" Tonks asked, still not turning around.

She turned after more silence. Lupin was standing between Ginny and Fred, in his traveling cloak, looking incredivly impatient and not the slightest bit amused.

"Excuse me," he muttered, giving Tonks a displeased stare as he made his way around her to the door.

The minute the door shut, Fred George and Ginny burst out laughing. Tonks looked stunned. She couldn't help but wonder why he always had to catch her looking like an idiot and why he was so harshly judging her these days?

"You should have seen your face," Ginny choked.

Tonks was just about to jokingly accost them for not helping her, when she heard a voice from the Extendable Ear she hadn't taken out yet.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked.

"Just Nymphadora, misbehaving with the Wealseys," Remus sighed frustratedly.

Tonks felt her stomach drop, misbehaving? She pulled the fleshy string piece out of her ear. She was faced with three laughing teenagers and had no choice but to pretend to laugh along with them instead of scowl like she desired to.

On Monday night, there was another long Order meeting. Dumbledore had spent most of it stressing to Mundungus the importance of his duties following Harry. Tonks was excited to soon be faced with her frist guard duty. Dumbledore was telling the Order a lot in regard to Voldemort and what it was they were guarding, and explaining its absolute importance.

On top of that she sometimes helped the Weasley's clean out Grimmauld place. They'd started in the kitchen and finished it without her help and it almost looked brand new, even though it was still cold, damp and grey. One day, Tonks, Sirius, and the Weasleys, were all cleaning the dining room, or at least making it inhabitable. She was hovering the long table in the air and because of its weight she needed help from Bill and Sirius.

Everyone else was frantically running underneath bashing the dust out of the rug. Tonks knew it was pointless. The rug had to have been charmed to retain dust, because no matter what Ron, Ginny, the twins and Molly were doing, dust would just keep flying out of it. A girl called Hermione, who Tonks had assumed was Ron's girlfriend, had arrived the day before and she had her nose buried in a book of Sirius', looking up different charms and curses for dust removal. It was pointless though, mainly because Molly had a commanding ability when it came to household charms. Tonks had just stepped away from Sirius and Bill, not remembering she was keeping the table up, to tell Molly that maybe the rug had been cursed, when she heard a hoarse voice yell.

"Nymphadora! Watch out."

She turned to see Lupin looking at her with concern, and an arm out towards her. It all seemed to happen in a second. Ron and Ginny were pushed out of the way by Molly. Tonks, after looking up to see the table falling, jumped to get out the way only to get her foot caught around the bottom of Lupin's robes, sending herself backwards towards the rug.

Tonks lay face down on the carpet for a little while; the fall had knocked the wind out of her. She heard the table crash to the floor just behind her. When she was about to push herself up, she heard a loud sneeze coming from her right. Lupin had fallen with her and the amount of dust in the carpet that had been shaken loose by their bodies, seemed to have gone straight up his nose

Everyone in the room was already laughing and at the sight of Lupin continually sneezing. Sirius was bent over double holding his stomach and through a strained and breathless voice was yelling things like

"The look on his face," he bellowed through a strained and breathless voice. "And she couldn't have fallen more if she tried."

Lupin's sneezing seemed to have settled slightly but after every random sneeze he made, people would snigger again. Lupin stood up and turned around holding a hand out for Tonks. When Tonks looked up at him she was surprised to see he was nearly scowling with very flushed cheeks. She hadn't thought about the fact that maybe she'd embarrassed him, but even so, she felt he needed to grow up if that was the case. Tonks stood up by herself, glaring at him as she did so.

"Well Moony, at least we can say you've fallen for a new girl," Sirius barked, still laughing to himself.

Tonks laughed as she felt herself, and obviously her hair, blush. Lupin turned quickly and exited the room with one last sneeze. Out of the corner of her eye Tonks saw George and Fred pocket some of the dust on the floor. Quietly she hoped that she wasn't the one to fall victim to whatever they'd turn it into.

Tonks woke up the following day in her bed, with excitment buzzing in her stomach. Tonight was her first guard duty at the Ministry. Dumbledore had said she was going to be perfectly fine and she was more than capable. She couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of guarding a glass orb that changed the course of the Wizarding world.

She floo-ed to work, like always, and spent most of the day inside her cubicle going through useless documents about the dangers of sneakoscopes, and memo's about Ministry cover-ups for incidents she personally knew were Voldemort related. When Scrimgeour had finally skulked out of the office late that night, Kingsley appeared over her cubicle.

"Don't be too worried Tonks," his deep calming voice said, "it's not difficult at all. The hardest bit I found, was staying awake the entire evening."

Tonks laughed and took the invisibility cloak he was holding out for her.

"I'm not nervous, this will be fun," Tonks half lied. "Who do I contact if there's trouble? Where do I send the talking patronus thing Dumbledore taught us?"

Tonks had tried hard to sound confident, truthfully she was, she was an Auror and she loved a challenge, but she couldn't help feel a few nervous butterflies flapping around in her stomach.

"Don't worry, I'm sure someone will explain it."

Kingsley flashed her an all-to-knowing smile and then turned and left, leaving Tonks more confused than she'd felt before. Who could explain something if she was by herself?

After slipping the cloak on, and resisting the urge to go and trash Scrimgeour's office just to pay him back for all the work he'd given her, she made her way down to the lower levels of the Ministry. It was colder than she'd expected and she had to walk extra quietly because of the echo she was making on the stone floor. As she turned the corner towards the Department of Mysteries the hair on the back of her neck stood up and she stopped moving instantly. She had the strangest feeling like she was being watched, even though she was invisible.

She took up her first post in front of the entrance door. She stood beside it, unsure what to do. Should she pace up and down in front of it? Now that she was here her nerves had gone, she was in her element really and when she really thought about it she wanted to run into some trouble, stun some death eaters, escape from the grasps of trouble. As time passed the only thing that bothered her was that she was alone. Kingsley had been right, it really was dead boring. After the first hour she decided to do a walk through the actual department, but when she turned to put her hand on the door handle, she heard a noise somewhere nearby. Instinctively Tonks grabbed her wand, spun around and came face to face with a man. Lupin to be exact.

Tonks couldn't help but blink to check if he really was there. Her heart was going a million miles an hour, and her hand was shaking as it gripped her wand.

"Uh, Nymphadora, could you lower your wand?" Lupin said, gulping.

Tonks hadn't even noticed that she was still holding her wand at his throat.

"Sorry I'm just– what are you doing here? Don't call me Nymphadora," demanded Tonks.

Holding someone hostage with her wand was giving her a bit of an adrenalin rush.

"Well Dumbledore and I just thought– well I suppose, I thought, that because you're new and– "Lupin stuttered

"You thought I couldn't fend for myself?" Tonks interrupted, feeling a tiny bit of resentment building in her chest

"No, it's not that, I just meant– " Lupin muttered

"Because it's not like I'm this defenseless little girl. I mean I'm an Auror aren't I? I do dangerous things all the time, and I haven't been knocked off yet have I?"

Tonks could feel the resentment turning outrage. What right did he have to think she was useless? She could feel the tingling on her head and knew that her hair was changing colors the more she yelled. His sudden appearance here had touched on a nerve with Tonks. She hated people thinking that just because she was a girl, or a little clumsy, that she was incompetent.

"Just because you think I'm an idiot doesn't mean I am, you know. You just happen to see me when I am actually being an idiot, but I'm not always like–" Tonks went to continue but Lupin spoke over the top of her.

"Nymphadora," he said, pausing after she glared at him, "my apologies, Tonks. I'm not here because I think you need to be assisted. I think quite the opposite actually. I just, well, Moody sends Kingsley or myself for the first hour to be with the people on patrol who are new to the Order, just in case. He didn't want to risk anyone. But we aren't meant to reveal ourselves or say anything to the person. I'm guessing your feelings towards me in this moment is why."

Tonks looked at him for a moment. He looked so remorseful, and guilty, that it was too difficult to stay mad at him.

"So, why did you reveal yourself?" Tonks asked, curiously after a long pause.

"I, er, I'm not - I don't know," Lupin finally added honestly.

He stood still for a moment, biting his lip and Tonks could see lines form on his forehead, as he was no doubt thinking. He went to speak a few times, but would open his mouth before closing it again.

"It just felt like it was very wrong to be near you and not talk to you," he finally said..

There was a long awkward silence as Tonks digested his words. How could he go from being so rude and grumpy with her when they'd been together over the last week, to saying things like that, which were so adorably honest?

"My sincerest apologies Tonks, truly," Lupin said, looking at her with guilt. "If it is not too much, would you mind if this stayed between us?"

Tonks looked at him, she hadn't been this close to him ever, and here he was, standing very near her in a small hallway, begging her to keep a secret. A smile spread across her face.

"I can do that, if, you stay the whole night with me and keep me company."

"I think I could do that. Deal?" Lupin said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

She grasped his hand, trying to ignore the tingling on her scalp. Lupin smiled at her and sat down on the floor, his smile inviting her to do the same. Tonks sat down as Lupin cast the Silencio charm and another Tonks didn't know which allowed them to see each other through their invisibility cloaks.

"So, what's Harry like?" Tonks said after a silence, ready to hear about the famous boy everyone seemed to know so well.

To be continued…