At the next order meeting, Tonks found Remus in the sitting room. The room was now dust free and shining, and many order members were gathered there. Tonks made the rounds, saying hello to Dedalus Diggle and Kingsley Shacklebolt, who were both advising Mundungus Fletcher on how illegal his latest business venture was.

"They don't bite that much, and the Muggles will hardly feel it!" she heard as she passed by. She stopped to talk to Hermione and Ginny, including about the Holyhead Harpies performance in their Quidditch match last night, and Fred, George and Ron bellowed their hellos from across the room. By the window she spotted Remus, Sirius and Arthur talking quietly and made her way over.

"Evening, Tonks," said Arthur as she approached. Remus and Sirius turned their heads and greeted her as well. "How are you? Remus was just telling me about the house on Tuesday."

"Evening, not bad thanks, Arthur. Yeah, loads of them there was. Must have been some Death Eater meeting. Or maybe it was just some sadistic birthday party, bring-your-own-ominous-robe theme, who knows? I assume Dumbledore will be talking about it tonight?"

"That and getting Harry here. People aren't happy with this no contact rule, so the sooner we get him here the better." Remus said.

"That's so exciting! I can't wait to meet him." She noticed that Sirius was frowning and staring into his drink. She said to him as gently as possibly, "I'm sorry you can't go to fetch him, Sirius."

Sirius shrugged and fixed a superficial smile on his face. "At least he'll finally be safe here and not with those awful Muggles."

At that moment, Kingsley called Sirius over. Hagrid had arrived a few minutes ago with much commotion in the room, and apparently now was backing up Dung on the only-slightly-biting items topic. Kingsley and Dedalus did not want to be outnumbered in the debate.

"I'd better go and see how Molly is getting on," said Arthur as he excused himself and left the sitting room, leaving Remus and Tonks alone.

"Oh, good, you found it! I forgot to say the other night. What do you think?" asked Tonks, noticing that Remus was wearing the deep green jumper. She observed that she had made a good choice. The dark colour made his light hair and eyes stand out.

Remus smiled warmly at her, his blue-green eyes shining in the light. "Yes, Sirius found it. You really didn't have to Nymphadora...But thank you, I like it very much."

"I'll accept your thanks if you don't call me Nymphadora, Remus," she said reprovingly, crossing her arms. Remus held his hands up in supplication.

"It slipped out, sorry." He smiled, but then his face assumed a more serious air. He opened his mouth as if about to say something, then closed it again and frowned. He took her arm gently and drew her towards the window, further away from the nearest group of people. "I just wanted to apologise for the other day...I'm sorry you had to see that," he said quietly, barely meeting her eyes.

Tonks raised her eyebrows, uncomprehending. "I'm sorry Remus, I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about. See what?"

"The scars," he said. "I take care usually that people don't see them. I know they're quite horrible to look at, and I hope it doesn't put you off spending time with me."

Tonks was too shocked to reply. Whatever she had been expecting Remus to say, it had not been that. She did not know what to say. She wanted to pull him into a massive hug. She wanted to tell him not to be a bloody imbecile. However, the discomfort that was evident on his face, and the fact that they were surrounded by people made both of these options unsuitable. She was just about to open her mouth to put together something a little more tactful, when Molly bellowed down the hallway, "Food in the kitchen everybody!"

Remus threw Tonks a small smile that did not quite reach his eyes and excused himself. She remained in the sitting room for a few minutes after everyone had filed out, trying to think of how she was going to approach this conversation again. She was still in shock. The thought that he was worried about the fact she had seen his scars had not even crossed her mind. He had scars on his face and hands which she had seen, and she was fully aware of the process of werewolf transformations, so she was not surprised that he had them elsewhere at all. She shook off the image of the thin white line on his lower stomach, finishing Merlin-knows-where, and went downstairs.