Lupin Apparated neatly on the front step of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He pulled his wand out of the inside pocket of his robes and tapped the door handle, the now familiar clinking of locks and chains issuing from the other side before the door swung open. Lupin stepped inside, closed the front door as silently as possible, and tapped the handle again, the chains and locks re-locking. He went slowly down the hallway, careful to step over the place Tonks had stepped on that creaked so loudly.
He paused at the foot of the stairs leading down to the basement kitchen, wondering if a cup of tea might make him sleepy enough to go to bed, but he decided against it and continued on up the stairs. He walked past the room Ron Weasley was sleeping in, then the room Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger were sharing. On past the sitting room and George and Fred Weasley's room and then finally reached the guest bedroom Sirius kept prepared for him.
He walked inside, flicking his wand so the lights along the walls came to life. They revealed a once-grand room papered in fading gray silk. Orange light from a streetlamp outside caused the only window in the room to look rather dingy. He flicked his wand again, closing the black crepe curtain. He pulled his robe off and hung it on a hook next to the bedroom door. He sat down on the foot of the bed, pulling his shoes off, levitating them to sit neatly next to each other underneath his cloak.
Tonks was undoubtedly going to be a problem. He had not been able to attend meetings for the past couple of weeks as he had been living underground with other werewolves. When he had been able to get away and get to headquarters, Sirius filled him in on meetings goings-on. It had been Sirius that had said they had gained another Ministry employee, but he had neglected to say she was a very pretty young woman. When Sirius said Auror, an adorable punk-rocker was not what came to Remus's mind.
He sank back onto the bed, staring up at the canopy, his feet inches from the floor, his arms spread wide on either side of him.
He had wondered, when he told her he was a werewolf, whether he would see the mixture of revulsion and pity he saw on so many others' faces. In fact, usually he did not even see pity. Instead he saw momentary confusion and then something that had looked scarily like acceptance.
After acting on the ridiculous impulse to spend more time with her, leading to him walking her to her flat (and now he knew where he lived, a thought that made him so disgusted with himself he rose from the bed), he tried warning her. He told her about what had happened at Hogwarts. If she had accepted what he was in the basement kitchen, surely she would be repulsed by him after hearing that. Instead she had kissed him on the cheek. He lay beneath the blanket, raising his hand, again, in shock to his cheek. She had run into the house after that, without another word. He had not been kissed on the cheek since his mother had died, ten years ago.
Her heart-shaped face framed by that bright purple hair was too compelling. He would have to master the urge to spend time with her. He had nothing to offer her except exile from the wizarding community. No father, no mother would want their child becoming involved with the likes of him. Hadn't he proved he was not to be trusted? Dumbledore had given him the chance at Hogwarts to prove he was trustworthy and time and again he had disappointed him. First with James, Sirius and Pettigrew, when they were still students, and again when he had transformed on the grounds. He so easily could have turned around and bitten the students that had been fighting to find Pettigrew.
Lupin closed his eyes tightly, his lips set in a grim line. Reliving that moment would not change it. Nothing would change it. He had ruined any chance of bringing Wormtail to justice, causing Sirius's continued imprisonment, even if Sirius refused to accept it.
He would just have to stay away from Nymphadora. Tonks, he corrected himself. He would have to stay away from Tonks. He would have to ignore her light sense of humor, and her too loud laugh. He was going to have to ignore how she knocked over everything she touched, and turned so prettily pink whenever she did. Yes, he could ignore those things. He had no choice. When he saw her next she would have had time to think about his situation and she would be disgusted with him, as she should be.
He drifted off into a fitful sleep, dreams full of the cries of children and squeaking of rats.
Tonks awoke the next morning as full of doubts as she had been when she had gone to sleep.
As soon as he had disappeared, anxiety had set in. She had not been interested in a man since she had been at Hogwarts and been desperately in love with Barnaby Willis, the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team before Charley Weasley. She had gotten over that crush fairly easily, as Barnaby was a total prat. These feelings felt as new as if she truly were having them for the first time ever.
She should not have kissed him on the cheek. He probably thought her as big of a prat as she thought Barnaby was. The thought of him thinking her a romantic fool, or, worse, a desperate child made her feel like shriveling up in embarrassment. When would she learn to think before she acted? It was why she was so very clumsy - she didn't reason before moving.
Well, she wouldn't see him for another two days. Maybe by then she wouldn't feel so silly.
She continued to dwell miserably on what had happened with Remus all morning, until she finally gave in and went to work, just to give herself something else to do.
He must be attracted to me, she thought, checking off files.
Stop it, her mind countered. You'll not get anywhere thinking this way.
He did walk me home. There was no call for it. He himself admitted to knowing I'm a capable Auror.
He looks at you like a kid. That's the only reason he walked you home. You're being silly.
Then why did he look so happy after I'd kissed him?
You only kissed him on the cheek. He might not have even been happy. You only saw him for a fraction of a second. He looked a lot more confused than he looked happy. He was confused about why someone who had only known him for a couple of days had the gall to kiss him!
Tonks sighed. She really wasn't going to get anywhere like this. Maybe food would distract her.
She left the papers as a bad job and walked down the stairs. Though half the department had turned up yesterday on a Saturday, not many people came in to the Ministry on Sunday. She figured she'd walk by the door to the Department of Mysteries and if no one was around she'd say hello to Podmore, who was on guard at the moment.
When she reached the basement, no one was there. She had not run into one person coming down either. She approached the door. It was slightly ajar. She frowned, and reached around the corners, searching for an invisible Sturgis Podmore. There wasn't one. Unable to resist, she pushed the door open.
She was in a dark circular room. She kept the door open, not wanting the doors to spin around once it shut. The small blue lights set in sconces all around the room on the rounded walls were the only light. Tonks could see the light coming in from the door in the hallway but it didn't penetrate the gloominess of this room.
She opened one of the other doors. There was a small office. No one was inside. Tonks shuddered. She quickly transformed herself into the shape of Broderick Bode, one of the Unspeakables that worked in this department. She had no idea who had left the door open. The door to the Department of Mysteries had never been left ajar, not in the entire time she had worked at the Ministry, nor in the time when she had been training at the Ministry to become an Auror. She couldn't help but think that someone else was taking advantage of the emptiness of the Ministry.
Tonks opened a filing cabinet at random. A huge drawer kept coming out. It was full of large hanging file folders. She opened one and saw the plans to the Ministry.
She drew it out, tapped it with her wand saying, "Gemino," and a perfect copy appeared. She quickly furled the copy into a tight roll, and put the original back in its folder in the cabinet. She ran out, closing the office door, pushing the door just to as it had been when she found it.
She ran flat out up the stairs, across the Atrium and grabbed some Floo powder, tossing it into the grate, stepping in and shouting her home address.
She spun around, keeping her arms tight to her sides, elation coursing through her. Anyone could get plans to the Ministry building of course, but the plans in the Department of Mysteries actually had the plans to the Department of Mysteries on it, which none of the other plans had. She laughed as she stumbled onto her carpet, unfurling the blueprint and laying it on the floor.
She went to her bedroom, where her owl, Gemini, was sleeping in her cage. She pulled a sheaf of parchment out of her desk, dipped her quill in the ink pot and wrote Dumbledore a note.
Dumbledore -
Amazing plan - I can't wait to hear more! Inform me of your earliest convenience to discuss.
Yours,
Tonks
She woke up her owl, furled the scroll, tapped to it seal it, and tied the scroll to Gemini's leg. Gemini hooted softly, and flew out the window to Hogwarts.
It was written in code of course. Amazing plan meant something important had just happened. Can't wait to hear more meant she needed to speak to him immediately. Inform me of your earliest convenience meant call a meeting with everyone.
Generally the Order only met once a week, if they could even manage that, and only two meetings had been held with every member. Excluding Severus, herself and Remus of course, none of whom had been able to attend a real meeting for the past month. This was definitely important though. She thought perhaps even Snape might need to come to this one.
A/N: Please comment! I would love to know what you think.