A/N: Hey, everyone. Sorry about the delay. I got very caught up with an illness in the family, the holidays, and my final exams so my writing time has been very limited. I hope this is a decent chapter, I was sort of trudging through it despite some writer's block. I'm desperately trying to get to the good stuff, so bare with me! Hope you guys enjoy, let me know what you think.

Learning from Arthur's lesson, Tonks mailed the letter successfully, with only one stamp. Mrs. Figg informed the Order that there was a pick up in the Dursley's lawn care habits and they appeared to be informing everyone of their award. Tonks beamed with pride, finally able to stick it to Snape without the usual prospect of detention. Tonks was spending a lot of time at Headquarters, getting to know her estranged cousin and the rest of the Order members.

She awoke early and got ready for work. She was beginning to feel as though she was neglecting her real job because of the Order, but Kingsley had warned her that would happen.

She arrived a tiny bit earlier than normal to find her in-box loaded with paper work. Sighing deeply, she sat and began working. About an hour into her work, a small, pale yellow memo landed in front of her. Ignoring the fact that most memo's land in the in-boxes, she picked up the letter and began reading.

Tonks,

Harry's been caught in some trouble. There was a dementor attack at his home. He and his Muggle cousin were attacked; both are alive and as well as expected. Harry performed magic and is facing expulsion and a Ministry hearing. Emergency meeting at Headquarters tonight, be there.

Shacklebolt

Tonks reread the letter to make sure that she had understood correctly. Once she was satisfied, Tonks fought with herself, desperately wanting to leave work and go to Headquarters straight away. Sirius and Remus would have heard of this news and Sirius was probably going out of his mind.

"You look like hell." Said a familiar voice. Tonks turned and saw the Auror in the cubicle next to hers had poked his head in for a quick chat. His name was Jeremy, not a favorite person of Tonks', but nice enough.

"Oh. I just got a bit of bad news. Some family issues." She said. Jeremy appeared concerned.

"Everything's alright, I hope." He said. Tonks nodded.

"Yes, fine. I'm just really worried, that's all." She said. Jeremy nodded.

"Well, if you wanted to take the day off, I could cover for you." He offered. Tonks felt as if she could hug the man.

"Would you really?" she asked, beaming. Jeremy smiled, happy to have brightened her mood a bit, and nodded. Tonks leapt from her seat and grabbed her cloak, giving Jeremy a small, one-armed hug. "Thanks so much, Jer!" she called as she dashed to the lifts.

Tonks ran down a nearby alley and Disapparated immediately to Headquarters. "Is everything alright?" she asked as she nearly stumbled off the last step. Sirius was pacing near the pantry and Remus appeared to be speaking to someone in the fire. Sirius nodded.

"Harry's fine. We've told him to stay put whatever the cost. The Muggles are furious; they think Harry attacked his cousin. What a load of bollocks." He grumbled. Tonks sighed and sat down in a chair to see who Remus was speaking to.

"What do you mean he wasn't there?!" Remus shouted to the man in the fire. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Fletcher left his post assuming Mrs. Figg would take over." Kingsley informed in his deep voice. Remus sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead.

"What was Dung thinking? He knows that Arabella is only a secondary, she can't perform magic." Remus sounded exhausted.

"What did he leave for?" Tonks asked. Remus looked around at her and gave her a half smile in greeting before turning back to Kingsley's head in the flames.

"Something about cauldrons." He said, making certain his tone showed the utmost annoyance.

"Thanks, Kingsley. We can take it from here." Kingsley said his good-byes to the three in the room and disappeared from the flames. Remus stood up and turned to Tonks.

"Tonks, could you find Mundungus for us?" he asked. Tonks stood and nodded. "Good, bring him back here. I have a feeling Albus will want a word." Tonks had searched Mundungus' home a couple of times and new just where it was. She Disapparated immediately and landed on his front door step.

"Dung, you bloody fool! Open up!" she shouted as she pounded on the door. Tonks paused for a moment and listened as she heard shuffling. The door opened slightly revealing the shoulder and one of Mundungus Fletcher's eyes. "Let me in." Tonks said warningly. Dung opened the door.

"Tonks, wha' a nice surprise." He said, acting as though this was an unexpected guest for afternoon tea.

"Surprise my arse, Dung. Let me in!" she said more forcefully. Mundungus dropped the act and allowed Tonks to enter. Once inside the dismal excuse for a flat, Tonks rounded on Dung. "Where the bloody hell were you?!" she shouted. "Do you even know what's happened?" she asked. Dung nodded slowly.

"Figgy told me. I don' know wha' all the fuss is abou'. Figgy was there to watch over things." He said. Tonks could have hit him.

"You were supposed to be watching things, Dung! What was it this time, eh? Cheap quills, second hand robes, what?!" she asked furiously. Mundungus hung his head.

"Cauldrons. They were a bloody good price, Tonks." He tried to justify. He recoiled slightly at the glare Tonks was giving him.

"Dumbledore wants a word with you at Headquarters. I suggest you get your arse there now." She said. Mundungus nodded. Just before he turned to Disapparate, Tonks grabbed hold of his upper arm and Disapparated along side him. She would make sure he got to the right destination. Both their feet landed with a soft thud on the ground outside 12 Grimmauld Place. "Get inside." She said forcefully. Mundungus walked slowly toward the house like a man walking toward his certain death. Tonks gave him a hard poke in the back to quicken the pace.

Mundungus paused momentarily on the bottom step before Tonks gave him a hard shove that sent him tumbling into the kitchen. Remus was conversing with Kingsley and Sirius at the end of the table. When the three men noticed Tonks and Dung enter the kitchen, Sirius jumped to his feet and nearly flew to the other side of the kitchen.

"Explain yourself!" he said. Mundungus cowered, but ran into Tonks' legs.

"I-I'm sorry, Sirius. This isn' all my fault, though." He tried. Sirius glared at him.

"Right, I suppose a team of house-elves coaxed you out of your sorry excuse of a home?" he asked sarcastically.

"Figgy was watchin' 'im!" Mundungus said. Remus and Kinglsey were now on their feet, ready to restrain Sirius incase he attacked.

"Mundungus, you know Arabella is only a secondary guard. She can't use magic and can't be the only person looking out for Harry." Remus said calmly. Tonks couldn't believe how level headed he had remained about this. She was about ready to explode with anger, as was Sirius, but Remus was able to keep so calm.

"He go' out of it alrigh'." Dung said weakly. That seemed to be the last straw. Sirius raised his fist and swung it at Dung's head, catching him on the side of the face. Remus and Kingsley rushed forward and pulled Sirius back. Mundungus was knocked into Tonks, who caught him under the arms to keep him from falling.

"Sirius, calm down!" Remus shouted. Sirius was struggling against both men's grips.

"Thank you, Sirius, I'll take it from here." Said a calm voice from behind Tonks. She turned and saw Dumbledore standing on the bottom step in his deep purple, velvet robes. Mundungus immediately stood and backed into Sirius, who had stopped struggling and had been released by Remus and Kingsley. Dumbledore asked the rest to leave so he could talk to Mundungus alone. Sirius grumbled something about being with Buckbeak if anyone needed him. Kingsley went to discuss the event with Molly and Arthur Weasley, which left Tonks and Remus alone. Neither were ready to leave without knowing what was going to happen, so they agreed to wait in one of the drawing rooms. On their way up the stairs, Remus glanced sideways at Tonks.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" he asked. Tonks knew he wasn't upset with her, but his voice was still rather cold.

"I got someone to cover for me." She said. Remus nodded.

"You didn't have to do that, we had everything under control." He said. Tonks sighed and nodded. They reached the drawing room and entered, closing the door slightly behind them.

"I was worried." She said. Remus looked at her.

"You were worried about Harry?" he asked. Tonks nodded.

"Harry and Sirius. I was afraid he might try something rash." Remus nodded, sitting down on the couch. A small cloud of dust flew around him. There was a moment of silence before Remus leaned forward, burying his head in his hands. Tonks moved forward and sat beside him, placing a hand on his back. "Everything's fine, Remus. Harry's ok, Dumbledore will work this out." She tried to comfort him. Remus shook his head.

"I was supposed to be on guard. I asked Dung to cover for me." His voice was muffled by his hands.

"Don't blame yourself, Remus." She said. Remus looked up at her.

"If I had been on guard, Harry wouldn't have had to fight those Dementors alone. I could have been there to fight them off instead." He said heavily. Tonks looked into his face, the deep lines more apparent in the dull light of the room.

"Sirius told me you were the one who taught Harry the Patronous Charm." She said. Remus examined her and nodded. "Then you did help. You gave him the best protection he could have asked for." Her voice was soothing and Remus' face softened slightly. The two sat in silence, staring at each other. Though Tonks was sure it was only for a moment, it felt like it lasted forever. She was hardly aware that the hand still resting on his back was beginning to draw small circles with her fingers while her other hand rested on his arm. Remus broke his eye contact and looked down at the floor.

"Thanks, Tonks." Was all he said. Tonks moved her hands off of him as the door to the drawing room opened. Kinglsey stuck his head in.

"The meeting's about to start." Tonks and Remus stood and followed Kingsley back to the kitchen.

She arrived at Headquarters on the afternoon of August the sixth with butterflies in her stomach. Her first real mission was due to start in just a couple of hours. Mad-Eye made sure that the entire Guard was very well versed in the plans for that evening. He drilled the plans into their heads so much so that Tonks found herself reciting them in her head like second nature. She groaned and shook the thoughts out of her mind for the time being as she tapped her wand on the door of 12 Grimmauld Place and entered. Giving Walburga's painting her customary two finger salute, Tonks made her way back down to the kitchen where the Guard was asked to meet.

So far, the only members who had arrived were Emmeline Vance, Elphias Doge, and Remus Lupin. Sirius was sitting with the three, looking as though he had been drinking heavily since that morning. Tonks took a seat beside Remus and frowned down at Sirius.

"Do you really think Harry's going to want to see his godfather in a drunken stupor?" she asked. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Moony made me stop drinking over an hour ago. I'll be fine." His voice wasn't at all encouraging. Tonks decided not to press the matter when Remus gave her a warning look and shook his head. "Has Harry's owl left?" she asked. Sirius shook his head.

"She's refusing to leave without a response for Harry. That's some bird he has."

"Poor Harry. Do you think he'll be angry with no information?" Emmeline asked.

"Of course he will be." Tonks said with a small laugh. "I'd be going out of my bloody mind if no one told me anything; especially after all he's been through." Tonks noticed that Remus hadn't spoken yet. "Are you alright?" she asked. Remus gave her a very unconvincing smile.

"I'm fine." He said simply.

"Albus told us about a new appointment to the school for Defense Against the Dark Arts." Elphias added.

"That's bad news, I take it?" Tonks asked.

"She's not the most pleasant woman, you see." Emmeline said. Remus gave a small huff of a laugh.

"Pleasant? She's a monster. Every anti-werewolf regulation in the last decade has come from her." He said with a very clear loathing. Tonks raised her eyebrows.

"Dolores Umbridge, you mean? Dumbledore actually allowed that brute into the school?" she asked incredulously. Tonks had heard of her around the office on several occasions and had never held the woman in very high esteem.

"It wasn't his decision. Fudge overruled his decision and put her in as a way of monitoring Dumbledore's actions." Elphias said. Tonks sighed and rested her hand on Remus' arm. He was obviously very upset about such a woman being given his old position.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Remus. She can't cause too much trouble as long as Dumbledore holds the true power in the school." She gave him a reassuring smile. Soon the rest of the Guard arrived along with a few other Order members. Ginny Weasley, who had been staying at Headquarters for the last week along with her family, hopped off the bottom step, swinging her arms dramatically. Tonks noticed a curious bounce to her step and a certain gleam in her eyes.

"Hello, Tonks." She greeted the pink haired Auror.

"Wotcher, Ginny." Tonks replied.

"When are you supposed to pick up Harry?" she asked. Tonks had the distinct impression that Ginny was trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Just as soon as the rest of the Guard arrives." Elphias Doge answered. Ginny nodded, continuing her nonchalant attitude. Tonks grinned. There was a familiar thud coming down the stairs and into the kitchen as Mad-Eye arrived shortly behind the rest of the Guard.

"Is everybody here?" he growled, glancing around the room. "Good. Let's go over the plans one more time before we head out." He said. Tonks groaned audibly.

"C'mon, Moody! We've been over the plan a hundred times! I think we've got it." She said. Moody glared at her, but seemed to agree.

"Fine, then if everyone's ready? Everyone have your brooms?" Tonks couldn't help but snicker at the thought of Mad-Eye on a broom until she felt her heart sink into her stomach.

"Oh bugger! I've left my broom. Give me two seconds, I can get it." She said, standing up from the table. Mad-Eye growled at her.

"Don't bother, Nymphadora. I had a feeling someone would be forgetting their's so I brought an extra." He waved his wand and his broom, along with a second, identical one appeared at his side. Tonks frowned at the broom. She had a perfectly decent Comet Two Sixty at home, but here she was, being forced to fly some Frankenstein monstrosity. The handle looked to be nothing more than a thin log with bristles tied to the end. The broom wasn't well kept, the tail needed trimming and the handle looked as though it wasn't even finished. To top it off, there was a horrible seat added to the top. How am I supposed to ride this thing? Side-saddle?? Tonks thought to herself as she walked over to examine the broom closer.

"Is there a problem?" Moody growled. Tonks bit her tongue and shook her head.

"No, this is fine. Thanks, Moody." She said. She heard a small chuckle behind her and new that Sirius had to be enjoying this. Tonks took the broom and went back to stand with the rest of the ranks.

"Ready, then?" Moody asked. The guard nodded and followed Moody up the stairs.

"You kids have fun. I'll be here when you get back!" Sirius called drunkenly up the stairs.

The plan went off without a hitch, except for a broken plate Tonks gave Harry a little money to replace, and they arrived back at Headquarters only a little bit later than expected. After making it through the entrance without waking Mrs. Black, Harry entered the kitchen and was immediately greeted with a large hug from Sirius, which he gladly returned.

"Harry, dear! You're skin and bones. Here, have a seat, I've made stew." Molly ushered Harry to a chair at the table and placed a steaming bowl of stew in front of him. After a few moments of silence, Sirius decided to open a topic of conversation that the rest of the room seemed to want to put on hold.

"I'm surprised you haven't started asking questions, Harry." He said. Harry swallowed his bite of potato and looked around.

"I wasn't sure where to begin." He said. Sirius grinned.

"Well what would you like to know?" he asked. There was a loud bang from the stove as Molly slammed her spoon back in the pot of stew.

"I think we should use a little more discretion than that, Sirius." She said. Tonks sighed, they had had this argument several times already and it never ended well. Tonks sat silently in her chair; she'd tried to enter the conversation before, but was immediately butted out. Finally, Molly was shot down and they had agreed to give Harry only the information he needed to hear.

"Fine, we can tell him a little, but the rest of you go to bed." She ordered Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. This was met with outrage.

"What?!" Ron shouted.

"Bloody hell, Mum! We're of age, why can't we stay?" Fred asked.

"Harry's just going to tell us everything anyways." Hermione argued. Molly sighed, fed up with arguing.

"Fine, you four can stay. Ginny, up to bed." She ordered. Ginny's face turned as red as her hair.

"How come I'm the only one who has to leave?!" she shouted.

"BECAUSE I SAID SO!" was Molly's furious response. Ginny wisely chose not to argue anymore and headed up the stairs, followed closely by Mrs. Weasley, who didn't completely trust Ginny not to throw something at Mrs. Black's painting again. Once Molly had returned, the Order answered as many questions as Harry could think to ask.

Once the interrogation was over, everyone was sent to bed. Tonks decided to stay at Headquarters for the night, seeing as it was almost three in the morning. Sirius gave her a room on the third floor, next to Remus'.

"Harry didn't seem too satisfied." Tonks said as she and Remus headed up to bed. Remus sighed.

"Would you have been? Unfortunately we can't give him anymore information than we already have." He said. Tonks nodded.

"Do you think Sirius believes Harry is James, like Molly said?" she asked. She wasn't sure if it was a topic Remus wanted to cover, but she was curious all the same.

"I think spending years in Azkaban may have unhinged him a bit, but he knows who Harry is. Sirius hasn't had the chance to spend enough time with him to realize he's more like Lily than James." He said. Tonks noticed sadness in his voice. She sympathized with him, losing all of his closest friends.

"What did you do after they were all gone?" she asked. Remus stuck his hands in the pockets of his dingy robes and shrugged.

"I moved around a lot. Honestly, we had all been accusing each other for months before Lily and James were murdered, our friendships were already very strained at that point. I received the most suspicion so they had already stopped speaking to me almost entirely." Tonks frowned at him.

"Was it because you're a werewolf?" she asked. Remus gave her a small smile.

"Nobody is truly without prejudice, Tonks." She nodded. She wanted to change the subject, but didn't know how to. Fortunately, Remus did it for her.

"You did brilliantly tonight." He said. Tonks grinned at him.

"I didn't do much. I flew and helped Harry pack. I think I scared him a bit." She said with a small laugh. Remus chuckled.

"Why do you think that?" he asked. Tonks blushed.

"I was a bit star struck, I think. I got nervous and when I get nervous I tend to talk a lot." Remus laughed again.

"I'm sure you didn't scare him as much as you think." Tonks smiled up at him in silence for a few moments. Remus really was a handsome man now that she'd taken the time to really look. He was a good deal older than her, but he didn't treat her like a child as most people tended to do. His prematurely graying hair and lined face made him appear very dignified; they were a sign of all the challenges he's had to overcome. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Remus began to laugh softly.

"What's so funny?" she asked. Remus shook his head.

"Do you often stare at people like that?" he asked. Tonks blushed. She didn't realize she had been staring that long.

"Oh, sorry. I must be tired. I should go to bed." She said, turning away from him to hide her deep blush.

"G'night, Tonks." He said, turning and going into his own room.

What was that about? She asked herself as she changed for bed. She flopped down on the bed and rolled over, staring at the wall. Her eyes began to grow heavy with sleep as one thought passed through her mind: Remus Lupin was definitely a handsome man.