For a Thursday afternoon, Grimmauld Place was quiet. The children were back at school, Molly and Arthur Weasley had moved back to The Burrow, Remus was on guard duty and Sirius was upstairs alone with Buckbeak.

Rose sat alone in the kitchen eating her lunch. She had enjoyed having the company of the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione; they added much life to the house and guaranteed that there would rarely be a dull or lonely moment. Now that they were gone, there was only Sirius and Remus for company, though Sirius was now spending most of his time with Buckbeak, and Remus was hardly in the house at all. If he wasn't on guard duty, he would be doing some other work for Dumbledore. Sometimes he did not even come home at night. He had not even been home for three days.

Rose was not going to pretend that she was sorry he was always out of the house. It was very awkward for her to be around him, especially when she did not understand her own feelings towards him. She was extremely confused; at times she missed what they had shared, and being around him intensified that, though at the same time she has not forgotten nor forgiven how much he had hurt her.

A sound in the corridor told her that someone had arrived at the house, and she made her way quickly up stairs to receive the guest. She wondered who could be calling at this time of the day – people were always coming to leave news for Dumbledore, though they usually arrived in the evening when they weren't busy with work.

Rose reached the landing, only to find that it was extremely dark. She could see a figure near the door, though she could not even tell if it was a male or female. Taking out her wand, she magically lit the chandelier.

Light flooded the corridor and Rose was very taken-aback when she realised it was Remus.

"Oh," she said. "It's you."

She realised immediately as she said the words how rude they sounded.

Remus raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking. And your self?"

"Er, sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I was just surprised –" she said uncomfortably.

But Remus cut her off with a smile.

"It's okay. I was joking."

He took off his battered cloak and hung it near the door. As she watched him Rose quickly realised that this was the first time she had been alone with him since the night they had meet in the kitchen.

"I'm having lunch now," she said in what she hoped was a polite tone, "There's a few sandwiches left if you're hungry…"

"Thank you. I'll be down in a moment. I just need to change into cleaner robes," he said, looking down at his robes. Rose followed his gaze and saw that they were covering in mud in some places.

"How did that happen?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"The werewolves I'm working with don't live in the cleanest of environments," he said simply.

Rose shrugged

"Fine, I'll be in the kitchen, then," she said coolly, and promptly turned away and made her way back to the kitchen.

A moment later, though, she scolded herself for being so abrupt. She had promised to be civil and she really should not let her discomfort get in the way of that. She turned around to say something more polite, though she had no idea what. However Remus was already ascending the stairs and before she could think of anything to say, he was out of sight.

Rose sighed and made her way to the kitchen where she waited nervously for him to return while she continued her lunch. When he did enter the kitchen a few minutes later, she wished dearly what Sirius would stop brooding and join them.

"Hi," she said, making a point of smiling politely as an attempt to amend for her earlier behaviour. "Sirius already ate so you can have as much as you like."

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "I'm starving."

He sat down opposite Rose and helped himself to a sandwich.

"This is excellent," he said after a moment. "I'm assuming you made this? It certainly can't have been Sirius."

"Thanks, I did make them," she said, grateful, though amazed, at how casually he was acting around her, almost as if they did not have a complex history at all. "I know what you mean about Sirius, I learned the hard way not to trust anything he cooks."

Remus nodded in agreement.

"So did I."

There was a short period of silence after that during which Rose grew increasingly agitated, though Remus seemed perfectly at ease. She saw it as an awkward silence; something she could not stand.

"So, what have you been doing these last few days?" she asked.

"The usual," he said warily, as he reached for another sandwich. "Living with werewolves."

Rose remembered that Remus had hated that task back when he was on the original order.

"How is that coming along?" she asked curiously.

"Not very good, to be honest," he said, sighing softly. "I have to get them to trust me before I can really start getting the message across. It's been hard though, it is too obvious that I've been associating with the rest of the Wizarding community – and they resent that."

Rose nodded, she remembered too well the struggles he had gone through to gain their trust in the first war.

"That's a shame," she murmured softly. "Mistrusted by wizards for being a werewolf, and mistrusted by werewolves for trying to live like a Wizard."

Remus sighed but did not say anything. Rose continued to watch him. She had always hated the fact that he was a werewolf – not because she had anything against werewolves, but simply because of all the pain and hardship it had caused him; the monthly transformations, the poverty, the social rejection.

"Has there been any sign of Death Eaters recruiting werewolves?" she asked bitterly, remembering that he had used that as an excuse when he choose to leave her.

Remus watched her intently for a moment before answering the question, as if trying to read her mind. Rose knew that he too was thinking back to that night. Rose watched him back, and she almost shivered from the familiarity of his gaze.

"No," he said simply, "Not yet, anyway. Albus believes it is only a matter of time before Voldemort recruites a werewolf though. He's worried. He isn't comfortable sending me to live with them anyway more. Soon, it won't be safe."

"So what are you going do, then?" she asked.

"Albus has a plan," he said slowly. "I guess I'll have to wait and see how that goes."

Rose could not help but notice that he was avoiding her gaze as he said that. She wondered whether he was hiding something from her. Before she could ask however, the sound of the front door opening filled the room and Rose, who had finished eating, stood up to receive the guest.

"I'll get it, you keep eating," she muttered.

He nodded. Rose noticed he seemed slightly tense. Brushing off the thought, she quickly ascended the stairs though before she reached the top, a tall figure appeared in front of her.

"Professor Dumbledore!" she exclaimed, very taken-aback. "What a surprise."

"Yes, indeed," he replied, smiling pleasantly. "I hope I am not interrupting anything."

"No, not at all," she said as they made their way in to the kitchen.

Rose was very surprised; the only time she had seen Professor Dumbledore at Grimmauld Place was during meetings.

Rose resumed her seat at the table and Professor Dumbledore sat down across from her, next to Remus.

"Well, Rose, it seems I have a found something that you can do for the Order," he said seriously.

Rose immediately sat up straight.

"Really?" she said hopefully.

"Yes," he said smiling gently. "I trust Remus told you about the little predicament he is in?"

"Yes," said Rose slowly, looking at Remus in confusion. "And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, you see, it will be dangerous for Remus to go alone, we have both agreed that what he needs is back-up, someone who can go with him and help him out if any dangerous situation should arise."

"Right," she said slowly as the dread inside her mounted.

"The problem is though that the werewolves are very anti-wizard and will rarely allow any non-werewolf in amongst their ranks," he continued gravely. "There is one exception, however. I trust you know that female werewolves are unable to have children? The monthly transformations always result in miscarriages."

Rose nodded. She had no idea what pregnant werewolves had to do with anything, though she listened intently all the same. She noticed too that Remus was looking rather wary, though he, at least, seemed familiar with the plan.

"Because of that, werewolves will generally be tolerant of any female witch who is introduced by a male werewolf as his girlfriend or wife, because that allows them to have children. Admittedly it is a rather rare occurrence, firstly, because most werewolves are too suspicious of non-werewolves, and also because not many witches are willing to date a werewolf either."

Rose gaped at him. Did he mean what she thought he did? Her eyes flickered towards Remus. He was starting intently at the wall behind her.

"So – so, you want me to go with him, undercover, pretending to be his girlfriend?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, that is exactly right."

Rose sat backwards in her chair, still looking at Dumbledore in disbelief.

"Why me?" she asked suspiciously, "Anyone can do it."

"No, they can't actually," Dumbledore corrected her. "No one else is free to be away for days, even weeks at a time. And even if they were, most women, even members of the Order would refuse to kiss a werewolf."

"K-kiss?" Rose stuttered. "I thought it would only be pretend?"

"Er, well yes," said Dumbledore, clearing his throat, his eyes flashing momentarily towards Remus, who was now blushing furiously and determinedly avoiding eye contact with anyone else. "You see, the werewolves tend to be, er, very rather public with their displays of affection. So you would need to kiss in public to convince them."

Rose stared at him with her mouth hanging open, her heart beating wildly. Was Dumbledore really asking her to pretend to be Remus' girlfriend and kiss him publicly? Remus Lupin, her ex-boyfriend, of all people? She felt a prickle of anger.

"And what makes you think I would be inclined to accept this offer?" she asked coldly, "I suppose you think I'm some kind of loose woman? Or perhaps you thought I might agree, because it's him?"

Rose stood up angrily and pushed her chair aside; Dumbledore looked grim and startled at her words while Remus covered his face with his hands in apprehension. He at least, seemed to have expected this reaction.

"Well, let me tell you, Professor, that I am not loose, and I want nothing to do with Lupin or this assignment! I don't like him, he ruined my life – and I'm not about to let him do it again!"

And with that she turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen once again, taking herself and her injured pride up to her room where she could fume in peace.