A/N: Hello, everyone! Finally done with the new chapter! \o/ Thank you so, so much for all of your reviews, I really appreciate them! And I'll love you forever if you let what you thought about this one in the box down there, all right? Thanks!

CHAPTER 13: Assignment

Molly Weasley, as the three of them would come to find out, had decided to prepare some lamb chops, much to Sirius welfare ("Of course! How could I forget!"). The house was, for the first time since it was inhabited once more, almost silent; the kids were all gone, which left only the three of them and the Weasley couple besides Kreacher, the house-elf. Very little chat happened during lunch for their mouths were highly busy on appreciating the delicious meal and Tonks was about to leave when Mrs. Weasley served some homemade fudge, deciding she could lose another few minutes of work, she took a bite of one; little did she know that those minutes would turn out to be more than just a few. They heard a loud knock on the door and Arthur left to greet the new visitor.

"Out of the way, Weasley," growled Mad-Eye. "Who else's here?" he asked walking his way to the kitchen.

"Hm, just myself, Molly, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, Alastor," Arthur answered. "Why? Is anything wrong?"

Mad-Eye waited until he had reached the kitchen door to announce "Found out why Sturgis didn't show up to the mission today."

Frowns and apprehensive looks were shot back at him instantly.

"Waiting for an official invitation to say?" mocked Tonks.

He pursed his lips and the disparate eyes stared at her a second longer than needed.

"Why aren't you at work, young lady?"

"Hm, lunch?" she hesitated.

"If every time you get ten minutes, you stop to eat something, you're going nowhere!"

Tonks opened her mouth to reply, but the unfairness of his say, left her speechless. Since they had woken up, she had had nothing more than a couple of toasts. She had escorted the kids to the King's Cross Station, it was not as though she had been doing nothing all day. However, all she could do was ridiculously stare open-mouthed at him.

"Sturgis stood guard last night," Mad-Eye began, "at the Ministry, but was caught, atoneinthemorning, tryingtobreakin attheDepartmentofMysteries!" he shouted at them as if it was their fault. "They'll give him a trial by the end of the week, might even be pulled since he got caught on the spot."

"SONS OF DIRT! SCUM! TRASHING MY NOBLE HOUSE ―"

Mr. Weasley disappeared from behind Moody to close the curtains around the portrait.

"Azkaban?" questioned Molly with a frown.

"But he stood guard before," testified Sirius, crossing his arms over his chest. "He knew how to get in."

"That's the point, isn't it?" barked Mad-Eye.

"Hang on! A ― Are you suggesting that he― that he's not himself somehow?" asked Tonks.

"Why else would a member of the Order of the Phoenix try to break in a place we're trying to protect for months at one in the morning if he already knew how to get in, Nymphadora?"

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she bawled.

"They wouldn't," enunciated Remus calmly and all the heads turned to him.

"That's right!" Moody agreed. "He wouldn't!"

"So, what? Death Eater disguised d'you reckon?" interrogated Sirius.

"Can be a number of things," answered Mad-Eye. "Imperius curse included."

"What if they're sabbing us?" questioned Tonks.

For a moment, all the heads turned to her, analysing what she had just said.

"Makes sense," admitted Arthur. "Everybody knew Sturgis was friends with Dumbledore."

"We'll need to be even extra careful from now on," Remus immediately looked at Sirius, but the later looked away from him with an annoyed expression upon his face.

"Did you at least get your cloak back?" asked Molly.

"Nah," growled Mad-Eye, shaking his head. "The berks wouldn't let me visit; they had taken him down by the time I got there. Gotta alert Albus, until then, constant vigilance! All of you!" he reminded them, glaring at the five pair of eyes and throwing a copy of the Daily Prophet on the table before limping away. "Thought you might wanna know."

In the paper's first page, a photo of a woman, a squat, short one that neither Tonks nor Remus were happy to see under the title 'MINISTRY APPOINTS THE NEW HOGWARTS PROFESSOR'.

"Really?" asked Arthur, incredulously.

"Umbridge?" bellowed Tonks.

"Can't be," Remus slightly shook his head.

"What?" wondered Molly.

"D'you know her?" asked Sirius.

"Sort of," answered Tonks. "She's been to my Department a few times... She's always with Fudge, though. Reckon she's his assistant or something."

"Indeed she is his assistant," informed Remus, placing his elbows on the table and intertwining his fingers, eyes completely unfocused on the wood beneath them, "and a tart."

All the faces turned to him in complete surprise. With the exception of Sirius, none of them had seen him lose his composure. Sure, Tonks had seen him upset and angry the day they had brought Harry from his uncle's house and when he let her know he was a lycanthrope, but certainly not enough to call someone that, none of them would have been surprised to hear Sirius call her a tart, but Remus?

"Two years ago," he began looking around as if he had not seen the looks in their eyes, "she presented a draft law at the Ministry, you know, in the Being Division of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The original bit included putting werewolves under the Beast Division, during our untransformed shape as well, but it wasn't approved. Though, what she ended up doing is possibly just as bad," he sighed, taking a moment to summarise the whole story in his head. "Essentially, under her draft law, the establishment that hires a lycanthrope is obliged to display, in a well visible area, a plaque, board or something like that, that let the clients know that there is a werewolf working there; in the werewolf's tag name must read its condition as well ―"

"That's biz!" howled Sirius.

"― and under no circumstances they will receive a profit bigger than any of the others employees," Remus finished, nodding in an attempt to make them believe in what he had just said.

"Blimey!" sputtered Molly.

"Oh, come on! Sirius's right, that's pants!" stormed Tonks.

"Twunt," Sirius shook his head, as if he could not believe what his best friend had just said.

"And, when I left Hogwarts about a year ago, I had to face an inquiry on why I hadn't obeyed the law. Dumbledore got my side, but the Ministry still made me pay basically all the galleons I had saved from the year I worked there. The school had to pay as well," Remus took his time to breathe as them all stared in disbelief at him and he watched the woman in the picture smile under one of her many pink jumpers. In ten days, he would be able to swallow his feelings and ignore the entire situation, but this close to the full moon he had to stop himself from punching the table.

"A cow, that's what she is!" he roared. "How am I supposed to find a job, who would want to have a werewolf working with them like that?" He hid his face in his hands, embarrassment from yelling at them all now joining the frustration inside him.

Tonks's glance was fixed upon the paper and the more she watched the woman, the more she hated her. Remus was doing his best to be an honourable, righteous man, but Umbridge seemed to be doing everything in her power to make of that an impossible task. He had far more dignity than she could ever hope to have, how could she get to dictate what course would his life take?

"Bitch."

Silence fell upon them, gazes were lost in every corner of the kitchen, it seemed that none of them dared to breathe. The incredulity of Remus had just told them started to sink in. Moreover, if it was everything in their minds it would have been better, but what had really happened with Sturgis? Had he been abducted somehow and someone had been put in his place? Polyjuice Potion? Imperius Curse? A Metamorphmagus? Yes, they were extremely rare, but if the Order had one in its midst, who was to say that the Death Eaters did not? Furthermore, what if the Death Eaters knew who they were? What if the Order was not a step ahead of them as they had thought? What if soon they all would begin to be taken, one by one, as it had happened the last time? Would there be a next target? Who would it be? However, of one thing they all remained sure, they could not stop fighting and they would not stop fighting.

The following week went by with the Order members being extra careful with every task that was somehow related to the organisation. Prophecy shifts were took over with extreme caution with some sort of disguise or under an invisibility cloak and not before a security question or two being asked to make sure that whoever was assuming the position was indeed who was supposed to. Messages were sent only after being certain that the Order member in question was alone and it could not be tracked, under no circumstances any confidential information were to be put in it, in case the message ended up being intercepted, at least they all still had their patronuses to communicate. The worst of all is that Tonks had to clench her teeth and ignore the comments of some of her Auror colleagues, on how great was the Minister's choice for the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"Reckon she'll be a good teacher," said Scrimgeour.

"And if she's not," replied Dawlish, "what harm will it do? Minister says it's not like they need to be trained for combat, right?"

They both laughed and Tonks took in a deep breath. For the safety of the secret, she would repeat to herself every single time as a mantra.

Luckily, at least, Rufus had lessened his interrogatory to her and Kingsley; now, she would keep her distance to both of them, they could not take the smallest chance of them finding out about the Order of the Phoenix.

Remus spent the entire length of his days somewhere in the countryside of Scotland, he knew by now that a pack of werewolves was living nearby, but until now he had been unable to tell the exact location they were. New footprints and scratches were found by him every day at spot he had been just the day before, but not a single one of them was seen by him. Where on Earth were they hiding? It felt as though he had search the entire country without meeting a single living lycanthrope, every cavern, every grotto, every lair and every den. Nothing. If he could not find them at the end of this month without the Wolfsbane Potion as he had planned two months ago, he would have no choice, but to be forced to declare his failure to the headmaster. As important as it was to have more recruits to their side, he would have to admit that they could not bring the werewolves to the Order's side of the war due to the simple fact that Remus John Lupin could not locate them. Pathetic.

On that specific Thursday night, the meeting would start late, with Dumbledore now busy also running the Hogwarts School, he could no longer afford to be out at any time of the day, late at night was the one in which it was most likely for none of the teachers nor the students to need his council at any matter.

The minute she stepped inside the Grimmauld Place, Lupin knew she was there. No, it had nothing to do with her energetic voice filling the air, greeting all the members enthusiastically, nor with the usual sound of the umbrella stand being knocked down, triggering Mrs. Black's portrait and every single painting in the headquarters, muffling her desperate apologies. No, two days before the moon reached its full, it had to do with his werewolf senses nearly as sharpened as possible and that familiar scent filling his nostrils, vanilla, cream and cherry. It was her, it was Tonks. From deep down, he was reminded of a different name, not the given name she disliked so much, a nickname, in truth: Dora. He vaguely remembered a male voice saying it, but who was it? Oh, right, a fair-haired young man, over fifteen years ago, her father. Though, it was not only him, there was someone else... Charles. It seemed that not many were allowed to call her by it and he could feel the animal in him begging to be included in the tiny circle of people with permission to address to her by it. Well, it did not mean he could not call her by it, she just did not have to know. With it came a feeling he was, by now, familiar with, he needed to protect her. He could feel the wolf inside of him struggling to get out and almost hear its howl, so very protective of her as well. When he thought he knew all that was there to be known about werewolves, came a girl to his life, barely starting her adult years and threw his world upside down. Why on Earth was he so damn protective of her?

The grin she shot him the instant their eyes met, made him wish he had it all to himself, that no one else was allowed to see her lips curled that way and he felt disgusted with himself, he offered a small smile back and hurried to take his seat. But why? Why did she have to follow him and sit right beside him? A voice in the back of his mind was telling him that after so many afternoons together, keeping Sirius company, the three of them had taken the custom of sitting beside each other for quite a while now, a voice he chose to ignore, almost as if he could blame her for it all, instead of himself. Repugnant, to say the least. He would never like the way he could feel himself becoming an animal this close to the full moon. During all those lonely years, he would always hide himself from pretty much every human being, lock himself in his house and try in vain to suppress the monster inside of him. The monster he would always do his best to shut, to pretend that he could live a normal life, but the creature would never fail to make him recall what he truly was.

The meeting went just like scheduled, reports were being given, alternatives approaches were being chosen, no different from any of the ones they had had in the past month, until a patronus erupted right in the middle of the kitchen. A large winged horse almost the same size of a hippogriff, in fact, so big that it did not fit between the ceiling and the wooden table and Tonks had to restrain herself from looking under it to check if the horse's paws were indeed there. Bill Weasley, who had littered the table with rolls of parchment with plans of the Ministry's underground to check if there was an unconventional route the members could take to minimise the odds of being caught, looked at it almost as if his life depended on it, the reason was clear when it spoke with a French voice, one they all had become somewhat used to hear in the past year, Madam Maxime's, the headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

"Dumbly-dorr, 'Agrid and I finished our mission. We know we zould 'ave been back before, but we were only able to complete now. I am going back to France, but 'e eez 'eading back 'ome, might take a longer way. I'm zure 'e will tell you all when 'e arrives. 'Ope you are well."

"They should have been back by now?" questioned Bill, his features quite less crossed with angst as the winged horse disappeared.

Dumbledore nodded and for some minutes not another word was spoken. Very few of them were aware of the mission the headmaster had assigned Hagrid and Madam Maxime, but a single thought was crossing everyone's minds at that moment, if they should have been back by now, what had happened?

"No reasons to fret, I am sure," announced Dumbledore. "Not a word in Olympe's message suggests that Hagrid is hurt or that they have had some problem along the way. Soon enough, he will have joined us in our late night missions," he finished with a genuine smile and the members allowed themselves to breathe again. If the headmaster was not worried about Hagrid's situation, why should they? A few of them adjusted themselves in their seats, trying to take him out of their thoughts and regain some sort of comfort before they resumed the topic they had been discussing before the patronus interrupted them.

"So, where were we?" the headmaster asked to no one in particular. "Yes! William?"

Bill took a moment to recall what he had been saying before the shinning winged horse burst through the place.

"Right... Yeah, so, I think we ought to use this route." He pointed to the map, a different, longer and more complicated way that would lead them to the Hall of Prophecy. "Been abandoned for years, I reckon we shouldn't have any problem there."

Dumbledore nodded, staring at the parchment for a moment.

"Very well. It does not mean, however, that we should put aside our precautions. They must be taken very seriously. Any of you wishes to speak a word on that matter?" His glance travelled through the table, but none of them made a move towards wishing to say something. "If anyone has any doubt, please, do address to William by the end of the meeting," he offered them a kind smile and Bill grinned at them, but the topic had been very well clarified previously. "Next report?"

Remus raised his hand. He felt he could no longer postpone the inevitable, he would have to let them all know that in two days, he would either have the location of the pack or desist on his quest. However, he should have foretold that she would surprise him once again, beside him, Tonks had raised her hand as well. For an instant, their eyes met and they wondered what the other would have to say to the Order, but it was soon replaced by a remembrance that they should let the other speak first.

"Oh, sorry," Remus brought down his hand and gestured for her to talk.

"No, go ahead," Tonks shook her head, lowering her arm. He had indeed raised his hand before her.

"Please," he asked with a reassuring nod.

She had opened her mouth to deny, but before she could say a word, another voice spoke up.

"If it's not too much trouble, the two of you could get the love games done with?" said Snape. "Some of us actually have something better to do than to hear to this."

Love games? But no, they were not a couple. They were most definitely not a couple. It was just a joke, right? Snape knew they were no more than just friends; the only plausible explanation was that he was mocking them, right? Everyone knew they were not together, right? Right? If their minds were not so busy wondering about the words chosen by their colleague, they would have seen the glare Sirius shot at the Potion's Master, but he merely smiled sarcastically to the Marauder.

"Thank you, Severus," the headmaster spoke up, looking at the two of them, requiring for one of them to start giving their report.

"I insist," pleaded Remus.

"Well," began Tonks, uncertain. "Three days ago, I overheard Dawlish," she paused, thinking if she should explain one more time that John Dawlish was the closest Auror to the Minister of Magic. However, Dumbledore nodded, smiling, letting her know they she should continued for he remembered very well who he was. "He was talking with Scrimgeour about ― Hm, about Umbridge and he said that Fudge said, his own words, 'they don't need to be trained in combat', like the Minister doesn't really care about the quality of the education the students will receive at Hogwarts."

"But that's outrageous!" yelped McGonagall, hearing a few murmurs of agreement from the other professors. "We must do something, Albus!"

Tonks could see a thin line upon the headmaster's jaw tightening as his blue eyes stared into hers. They all knew that the school meant everything to him, it really had a special place in his heart and it would always have. The Auror wondered if Dumbledore was trying to decide if what she had said was true or not. She swallowed hard, but held his gaze.

"And we will, Minerva," he let the professor know. "But what we will do needs to be carefully planned," he breathed deeply, finally looking away from Tonks, who let out the breath she had not noticed she had been holding. "Remus, if you please."

Lupin took his time to adjust himself in his seat and clear his throat before starting.

"I believe to be rather close on finding the location of the pack. For days now, I have been discovering new footprints, scratches and others alike in places that they were not the previous day. In fact, I'm quite surprise that I haven't at least stumbled across one of them. Sort of hard to believe that we have been basically in the same area, but we have yet to―"

"Remus?" interrupted Tonks, taking up some courage to look him in the eyes and the strength to keep her trace of thought once those piercing amber orbs were gazing into hers.

All the members had their faces turned to her. Rare was the time in which someone would stop another's report, comments were always held for when whoever was reporting, had finished.

"Yes?" he asked after a moment.

"Have you ―" she began, her voice uncharacteristically small; sometimes ― in truth, often ― she still found herself in some sort of need to prove herself to the Order, after all, what did they know about her? All her services to the organisation were no more than two or three shifts a week watching the prophecy or eavesdrop on her Auror colleagues to see if there was any new on what the Minister thought. For a second she wondered if she should indeed go on, what she had in mind would either be a silly and obviously wrong suggestion or an ingenious thought (and to her mind quite impossible that none of the members had seen the problem in his plan).

He looked into her eyes thinking what could possibly be going through hers at that moment. She had always be one to say her opinion, either it being on how many would be necessary to escort the kids to the King's Cross Station or that they would not need clouds to hide themselves in the sky. Why suddenly she had become so... insecure?

"Have you thought of looking for them at night?" she enquired, rather pleased for having finally voiced it. "You know, 'cause if you pass by a spot and there's nothing, but the next day there's a scratch, a footprint or whatever it is that wasn't there before... It could only have been done at night, right?"

Remus held his breath, he knew he must have been looking ridiculous staring with parted lips at her, but who would notice him when nearly every member of the Order of the Phoenix had their eyes upon her. Nevertheless, he could not stop himself from mentally punching himself, how could he have been so stupid? He had for so long tried to pretend he could live a normal life that he did not even stop to think, once he was given the mission, werewolves were indeed creatures of the night, how could he have let the immense flaw in his plan pass by?

Tonks swallowed hard as his eyes unfocused for a moment. She was completely aware of everyone's eyes upon her, but she did not dare to look away from him. They all have heard, for two whole months, Remus's reports, of course it must have been no more than twice that he should have mentioned the fact that he would spend the days and not the nights searching for the pack, but still she could feel the tension that such a small detail passed by them all.

"I ― I ― You're right," he finally broke the heavy silence. "I actually never had the chance to meet other lycans that I completely forgot they would... be more active during the night whilst in the wild." He took in a deep breath. "I'll return as soon as the meeting is over."

Snape snorted and Sirius gritted his teeth.

"Not a word, Snivellus!"

"As we're talking about this," Tonks re-started. "Don't you think that it'd be easier if there was a... bait? To lure them, I mean. They'd come after the bait, you could follow them to wherever they are hiding and once you were there, the bait would walk away," she finished matter-of-factly.

Remus furrowed his brows, taking a not so short moment whilst considering what she had just proposed.

"But the pack would certainly be distrustful," he pointed out. "A human showing up in the middle of the forest, nowhere near any civilization..."

"Not if it's the full moon."

"No," stated Lupin, loudly. "That's too dangerous! A whole pack of full grown lycans against a single human being? That's not even something to be taken under consideration!"

"Why not?" retorted Tonks. "We just need the perfect bait."

"We don't have the perfect bait," indicated Eliphias. "We all know that Greyback prefers children."

Remus's teeth clenched, every single time he heard those words, memories would come rushing through his mind.

"We don't need a child," notified Tonks. "We just need someone who looks like one," a smile was tugging on the corner of her lips as they all looked at her, slowly comprehending what she had in mind from the beginning.

"By no means, Tonks!" pleaded Remus. "I cannot protect you from a whole pack even if I had Wolfsbane, since I don't―"

"I don't need protection," she attested. "I just need to hide up there, on the trees until morning. If something goes wrong, I'll become an animal, my scent would be covered and I'd be safe, they'd never get to me."

"You can't hold it for long, you said it yourself!"

"I just need a few minutes to climb a tree," she reminded him. "I'll be completely safe at the top of the trees."

"Tonks ―"

"Lupin," Mad-Eye stopped him before Remus could have said another word, his tone was somewhat different from the one he usually had, almost as if he was ordering for him to pay attention. "That is indeed a very good plan and for the state things are going right now, I say we use it," he stopped for a moment, both his eyes were focused at him until now, when they moved to look at his protégée; by the corner of his eye, he was able to see Tonks steadily holding his gaze. "And if you don't trust that girl right there beside you to go and hide herself, you won't trust a single soul in this room."

Tonks was nothing less than shocked with what Moody had just said. Yes, she knew how much he was aware of her capabilities, specially her disguise ones and she also knew how much he cared for her, but having him say it like that in front of the whole Order? Well, that was a blow to say the least. She took in a deep breath, gazing back at her mentor and trying to show Mad-Eye how thankful she was that he had spoke so high of her to them all.

Remus held his breath as Moody looked at her and slowly his eyes, too, drifted to look at Tonks, who was still holding her mentor's gaze firmly. Surely he knew about how Moody and Tonks cared for each other, but after, what he had just said, how could he turn to them all and say he still thought she should not go? He was also aware that no one became an Auror if they were not at least excellent, let alone become Mad-Eye Moody's protégée. But still... that overpowering feeling that he needed to protect her would not leave him and taking her with him during a full moon night to a forest where he was certain to have a pack of lycanthropes was everything but to keep her safe. However, in face of the recent events, he really saw no other way out and nodded at them, defeated.

Dumbledore, who had been looking from one to another, eventually stopped his gaze at glancing deeply into her eyes, he awaited her to look back at him and spoke.

"Nymphadora, do you understand the risks of this mission?"

"Yes," she breathed. "I do."

"Are you fully aware that you could get hurt, that Remus could get hurt and you, most likely, would not be able to aid him in any way?"

Remus? Getting hurt? And not being able to help him? But... She clenched her teeth and before they all could say that she took a moment longer to respond, she answered "Yes, I am."

"You do comprehend that there is a risk, and not exactly small, that you could be bitten and become a lycanthrope yourself?"

"Yes, I do," Which was certainly the easiest answer from the ones she gave him, that had been the first thought that had crossed her mind when she first thought of that plan.

"Excellent!" the headmaster smiled. "You two have been assigned with this mission. Full moon is two days from now and you have until there to prepare yourselves."

Two days? Remus shut his eyes closed. How were they supposed to get ready for this insane mission if they had less than forty-eight hours to prepare?

Her eyes widened as she remembered that she would not have those two days to prepare, the Ministry would find suspicious if she suddenly skipped two whole days of work, surely they would send someone after her.

"Don't worry," growled Mad-Eye, who had seen the look upon her face. "If that Auror Headquarters still has any dignity left, I get that covered for you. Still think they'd owe me a bit."

"Thanks," Tonks knew that her mentor, despite what everyone thought, was still viewed with a great deal of respect inside those walls. They would buy whatever excuse he decided to give for her absence.

Mad-Eye barely nodded in response and Dumbledore spoke.

"Does anyone else have any comment to make?" Seeing only heads being shaken around him, he clapped his hands once. "I now, end the meeting."

The sound of chairs being pushed aside and the murmur of the members who started to talk with each other began to fill the room. Mad-Eye found his way to Tonks and she got up, turning her back to the table and almost sitting on it, she smiled at him.

"You be careful."

"You know me, always am," she grinned.

"Don't you joke on me!" he growled. "You know how this things work, wand always at hand. If your partner tells you to run, you run! If he tells you to go away and leave him behind that's exactly what you'll do!"

"Yeah, about that..." Tonks frowned. "I still have some problems on talking with werewolves, bit hard to interpret what they mean when they howl, y'know. Though, if you have any tips, I'll be glad to hear," she finished using all her strength not to burst out laughing, but it became easier when she saw him glaring at her.

"Just stay out of their way," hinted Mad-Eye. "And great pain, that should do the trick to keep them away."

"Not gonna Cruciate him!" protested Tonks.

"Fiendfyre him then, or Incendiate."

"You've really lost your mind if you think I ―"

"Your own safety always comes first!"

"And how does burning down the forest will keep me safe?"

"It'll give you the second you need to disapparate."

"Fine," she lied. "I'll do it," She could not help but to think that killing him would me more merciful than to leave him burning there, not that she would ever do either.

"Remember, constant vigilance," he reminded before limping away.

"How could I forget?" she winked.

Across the room, after speaking with Dumbledore for a minute before the headmaster left, Snape was passing by Remus towards his way to the door.

"Well, well, Lupin, saved by the girl who barely stopped using nappies, weren't you?"

"Better than to be saved by the guy you hate the most," Sirius pointed out, standing from his chair.

"Bit hard for you to know, isn't it?" Snape's brows furrowed slightly. "One must be out there to be saved and you... are hiding here, for how long now?"

Snape started to look disgusted at the room around him when Sirius made a move to reach him. Remus stood up and grasped his arms to prevent him from jumping on Snape and start punching every inch he could reach of the Potion's Master.

"Don't, Pads," he warned him. "Calm down."

"Lemme go, Moony!"

"However, I'd certainly need to think about that, my rival still being a strong man and all..."

"Well, don't think too hard, Snape," said Tonks coming to stand beside Sirius when Moody finally left. "We eat here, you see, wouldn't want this place to stink," she raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. "Also if you're an arse-bandit, don't blame 'em for rather being saved by a girl, all right?"

Sirius's bark-like laugh filled the room as Remus continued to restrain him, but now, his eyes were staring at Tonks as if trying to decide if he had indeed heard what he thought he did. Snape, on the other hand, glanced at her for a long minute.

"If said girl was able to, at least, walk through a corridor without breaking something, I could consider the hypothesis of letting her save me," he was out the door before any of them could think of something to reply.

Tonks glanced at the door Snape just passed through, her eyebrows quite furrowed. She was able of walking through a corridor without breaking something, of course more often than not she would trip over the most unlikely furniture, but indeed she could.

"Moony," came Sirius voice as a warning and Remus was brought back, setting his best friend free. He had to admit, that girl was cheeky. "You shouldn't have held me."

"You'd've missed the best part," Tonks reminded him.

"Arse-bandit... James'd have definitely approved of it," Her cousin inhaled deeply looking at her, for an instant she wondered if what crossed his features was pride, but before she could have got to a conclusion, he pulled her to a tight hug. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not that I recall," she joked, wrapping her arms around him.

"Yeah, so much we could make you an Honorary Marauder," announced Sirius, letting her go. "What d'you think, Moony?"

"She's got potential," answered Remus, letting out a small chuckle, "but we did have an agreement of not taking girls. Sorry, Tonks."

"Think I'll manage it," she shrugged with a slight tilt of her head.

"Oh yeah, right," remembered Sirius. "That day Prongs tried to bring Lily in... was a mess!"

"We all stood against him," Remus told her.

"And every time Peter ended up with a girl," Sirius laughed. "Would think she was the most special of all!"

"Luckily, it wasn't you!" exclaimed Remus. "Otherwise we'd have admitted every girl in the school."

Tonks joined Sirius and she, too, started laughing.

"I'd never have wanted 'em all to join," Sirius replied. "They'd never have left me alone again!"

As their laughter subsided, Tonks hit Remus lightly upon his ribs.

"So, you and I got some planning to do."

Remus took in a deep breath. For a short moment he had been able to forget about the dangerous task ahead of them, the dangerous task he had agreed on putting her through and of one thing he was sure, he did not like to be reminded.

"Oh, right."

"If you don't have problems with a bit of mess," she began, "I can offer my place," Tonks was fully aware of her flat's state when she left it on that morning, several hours ago, but well, they really needed to start working, otherwise they would not be prepared to face the werewolves a couple of nights from now.

"Given the state of the house I've been living in for the previous months, I think you can find the answer for that yourself," grinned Remus, getting a sheepish smile from her, one he did not recall ever seeing upon her face and once again, wishing he had her smile all for himself, he could nearly hear the creature in him howling in delight.

"Glad to know I'd have made my mother proud," mocked Sirius, however neither of the other two offered him any sign that they had heard.

A part of Remus insisted upon telling him that going to a girl's flat at this late hour was not the right decision, but what could he offer her in return? His own house was practically abandoned for two whole months, certainly full of dust, if only, at this point. Sirius would most likely hang around them and very little progress would have been made if the two of them stayed at the Headquarters; not that he would have minded, but since they had no more than two days to prepare, they really needed to focus. Thus, he raised his left hand, indicating the way towards the kitchen's door still smiling back at her. "After you."

Tonks's gaze slowly fell to his hand. When was the last time someone had done something so... chivalrous to her? Had it even happened before? She could not remember. Should she thank him? Or simply walk as if it was not a big deal? Would he think less of her if she demonstrated such insecurity on not knowing how to act? Of course he would! What kind of girl did not know how to react when a man was courteous towards her? She offered him a curt nod and started to walk, however, Merlin knows how, her left foot got stuck on the chair's foot and by domino effect, tumbling another two.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," she apologised standing to her feet with Sirius helping her.

"Don't worry," he tranquilised her.

With a simple flick of his wand, Remus had put the chairs back up.

"Thanks," she said, grateful, before turning to her cousin. "Cheers!"

"See you, Sirius," Remus nodded.

"Later."

Tonks and Remus walked their way to the door. A good stroll until they reached a desert alley was what she had in mind, a few minutes not working, but they would certainly be bonding. However, the London weather had other plans. The moment she opened the door, a cool breeze hit her face and she knew her idea had been ruined.

"Piddling it down," she remarked.

"Yeah..." said Remus, half-closing his eyes to protect them against the few drops of rain that were getting to his face as he closed the door behind him, standing on the last step.

Quite upset for having the weather blowing up her plans, she shrugged slightly and whilst smiling and listening to Sirius magically close the many locks on the door, she offered her hand to side-apparate him and, for a second time, he was more than jubilant to take it.