Consciousness crept into her dreamless sleep the way rustling leaves and obtrusive branches scratch at a window on a quiet day. Her abyss of tranquillity was disturbed. It was akin to raising your head from a warm lagoon, noise and coldness becoming ever clearer. It was an annoyance as usual, a pure annoyance to realise she was leaving this paradise.

She allowed herself the luxury of returning slowly. She didn't bother to open her eyes until it was completely necessary. Rain was lashing at the window outside and she could hear the sound of children screaming as water entered into their coats and boots.

Her first thought was work, unfortunately it usually was. It was a niggling feeling. She was strangely well rested which could only mean that she had over slept. The thought sent an electric shock through her body and a shot of adrenaline made her eyelids fly open.

The first thing that occurred to her was that she felt happy.
Maybe it was just her, but the room was the perfect temperature and she felt like she was lying on a bed of feather down.
She stretched out luxuriously, letting her fingers feel the soft sheets beneath her. Waking up to Remus' sleeping body beside her made her stomach overflow with sparkling firecrackers, just him being there made her feel golden.

His soft breathing beside her told her he was far from waking. A shaft of light was falling over the quilt that obscured part of his naked chest. It rose and fell gently like the waves of the sea kissing the shore. She propped herself up on her elbow to stare at him. The light continued to fall upwards into his hair, illuminating the different strands of brown and chocolate, highlighted with flecks of grey. She wanted to reach out and touch him, but she didn't dare disturb him in this state of semi consciousness. If she had known all those months ago that one day she would be waking up next to him, she would have told herself she'd suffered some form of mental injury.

She let her head fall back onto the pillow and a deep flush blossomed under her skin as a few images of last night flashed in front of her eyes. And then the words he had whispered to her made her feet tingle. She spread her fingers through the fabric of the quilt and smiled at the ceiling.

She wasn't really sure what to do now. She had a few options.

Number one, she could lie here and watch Remus sleeping. He had just muttered something in his sleep and his right eye brow had twitched. His one arm was resting on his stomach and the other was behind his head. Morning stubble was emerging on his relaxed face. She was suddenly struck by how few people had probably seen him like this, this vulnerable and naked. The worry and seriousness totally gone, this was him, stripped of everything, when even he couldn't pull on a mask to cover himself. A thought rowed gently into her mind, if he had woken up just then, he would have seen her, sleepy and goggling happily over him.

Option two was to try to go back to sleep and wake up when he did. She thought that this was probably the least likely as the worry of work- WORK! How quickly had that left her mind? She checked her watch, she wasn't late yet, in fact she had woken naturally a lot earlier than she thought. She peeled the quilt off her slowly, hoping not to disturb Remus at all. When she was standing she picked up her wand and summoned a dressing gown. As it glided silently towards her it got caught on the knob on the corner of the bed.

She flicked her wand and the dressing gown strained towards her, but was still stuck.

"C'mon you piece of- " She whispered furiously. Remus sighed and turned over. She was momentarily hypnotised by the muscles moving under the skin of his back as he stretched in his sleep.

"Concentrate Tonks," her voice rang clearly in her head.

She tiptoed around the room and slipped on the dressing gown as she muttered an incantation under her breath. That will just have to be good enough, she thought, as she watched her patronus glide through the curtain. They would just have to be content with the fact that she would be a little late, she had finished all the reports after all.

Her stomach rumbled. Option three, she could make some breakfast. As if on purpose her mind brought up pictures of bacon and eggs in front of her eyes. She had a sudden image of Remus coming down into the kitchen and her having prepared a banquet for him to eat, and she was dressed in Mrs Weasley's apron. She shook her head slightly.

She tip-toed from the room, taking care not to creak the door behind her. Sirius' snores could be heard softly from the room next door, she hoped he hadn't heard anything from last night.

She felt so incredibly at home here, probably due to the fact that it housed her two favourite people in the whole world. Remus would never want to leave Sirius alone in this house forever, how could he? She could come and live here with them. As she padded down the stairs she smiled at all the midnights the three of them had seen pass with a bottle of red wine. It would be like this, forever. And when the war ended, they could move away, maybe have a family. Ideas were blossoming at a faster rate than she could control them and in this blissfully happy morning it felt like there was nothing to stop this dream of perfection from coming true.

Once in the kitchen she took out a pack of bacon, 3 eggs, beans, tomatoes, bread, orange juice and milk.

She leant against the counter and a dream-like trance settled over her mind. She knew that she should be thinking that last night wasn't a huge deal, it happened to people all the time, only it was a big deal. To her it was anyway. It made clear to her just how much he felt for her and it made her insides feel buttery. She hugged her dressing gown around her and smiled. It had never been like that with the others, probably because she knew they weren't in it for her, just for her body. But with Remus they were so in sync and there was a fire in him that ignited one inside her. She sighed, wishing she had in fact stayed in bed with him.

Soon the smell began wafting around the house and she wondered how long it would be before Remus was awake when she heard someone at the door.

There he was in a plain white t-shirt and his pyjama shorts; he evidently thought his previous attire wouldn't do in the kitchen. His hair was ruffled from where she'd run her fingers through it, heat boiled in her veins as she thought of it. Was this what it was going to be like from now on? As his eyes roamed over her she could feel everywhere his lips had been, where his firm hands had explored. She could feel her breathing accelerating.

"Good morning," his hoarse voice broke her thoughts.

"Morning," she said smiling. She almost felt shy in his presence. He began walking towards her and she had the sudden strange impulse to turn around and blush.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her, the material of the dressing gown was pressing into her skin making her feel snug and warm.

"Yes I did, thank you. Did you?" she asked into his chest. He leant back and looked at her, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Hm really?" His left eyebrow rose quizzically. "Yes I definitely did. I'm sorry I fell asleep, did you manage to finish all your work."

"I did, it should make up for the fact that I'll be a little late in this morning," she said.

"You should have woken me," he whispered.

"No you looked peaceful," she smiled before he dipped his head to kiss her again. The kitchen was sweeping in and out of her consciousness. She couldn't think of a better way to be greeted in the morning, than by a steaming Remus. Behind them the bacon began sizzling violently.

"Bacon… burning …" she whispered as his lips made their way down to her chest and then up to her ear again. He seemed content to make her as distracted as possible. Slowly his arms adjusted themselves, the left wrapped itself around her even more tightly, and the right fell away and clutched at the frying pan blindly.

"Careful," she laughed breathlessly.

His forearm jutted forwards quickly and she heard all the bacon flip in the pan and land on the uncooked side. Then he returned his right arm to its place around her waist.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise at how smooth that had been. If she'd attempted to do that the bacon would now be plastered to the ceiling and walls.

He noticed her surprised look. "I'm surprised that worked myself," he grinned and then laughed loudly.

"Shh," she said, "you'll wake Sirius."

"I think it's a bit late for that, he has the nose of a bloodhound for bacon. He'll be down soon." He kissed her on the forehead and then untwined his arms. She was sad to feel the loss of warmth as his body moved away from hers.
He picked up his wand waved it towards the tea and toast which began making themselves. She turned back to the bacon and cracked the eggs into it whilst smiling to herself. She had never been one for cooking with magic, she thought Sirius liked his kitchen the way it was. He tapped his wand on the wireless and a particular jazzy number came on. He began wiggling his hips and shoulders in time to the saxophone as he laid out the jams and marmalades. She laughed at him and he grabbed her arm and spun her around so he could reach behind her for the milk.

"Who are you and what have you done with Remus Lupin?" A voice came from the doorway.

Tonks turned to see Sirius standing in the doorway in a maroon dressing gown and a bemused expression on his face.

"I knew the smell of bacon would bring you out of your cocoon," Remus said.

"Good morning," said Tonks smiling. Sirius looked between them slowly with narrowed eyes, obviously unnerved by their unusual cheeriness in the morning. Then the bacon caught his eye. He began walking towards it.

"Don't let it burn, I like it without the burnt bits," he said making to take the pan off the heat.

Remus stepped between him and the pan, "Tonks likes it crispy Sirius so you'll just have to sit down and wait."

"Oh, does she?" he asked raising his eyebrow at her. She smiled at him as she laid down three cups of steaming tea.

The three of them sat down noisily at the table and they started to eat. Sirius sat next to Tonks and Remus sat across from them. The food was delicious; it almost tasted better than usual.

"So did you two do anything exciting last night?" Sirius asked innocently. In her attempt not to giggle a chunk of toast became lodged in her throat and she began choking violently and tears sprang into her eyes.

Remus had a rather sly look on his face, "Exciting is a good word I think, although maybe it doesn't do it justice."

"What word would you use instead?" Sirius asked. He popped a mouthful of bacon into his mouth.

Remus looked her straight in the eyes and licked his lips. Oh Jesus, what was he doing?

"Well I may need some time to think up a suitable adjective," he said smoothly.

"I thought you two just stayed in and played chess?" He asked with a slight frown on his face.

"Yes, I beat him, again," said Tonks quickly, she wasn't sure she wanted to be here when Sirius quizzed Remus on it. Remus raised an eyebrow at her.

Sirius turned slowly to look at her with an almost shocked expression on his face,"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you lie to me Nymphadora."
Tonks frowned at him, he turned back to look at Remus, "and I'm going to pretend that I didn't have to try to get to sleep with my fingers jammed in my ears."

Tonks who had been taking a sip of tea spluttered and Sirius had to wallop her on the back. She began coughing uncontrollably as her body tried to stop the liquid entering her lungs. She got up quickly and ran for the toilet. "Be… back," she whispered before she began coughing again.

She ran to the toilet and coughed herself silly. She wiped her streaming eyes and then made her way back to the kitchen. They hadn't moved but their food seemed untouched since she'd left. She felt their eyes snap to her as she walked in, yet she couldn't look in Sirius'. She sat down next to him and soon she was aware that his body was shaking with silent laughter.

"Shut up Sirius," she said whilst watching him trying to subdue his hysteria.

"What did you say to him?" She asked Remus who was being very quiet.

He held his hands up in surrender, "nothing."

"All you need to know is that I spent the night with Remus, and yes I stayed in his room over night." She tried to remain dignified as she buttered her toast.

"I bet you did," he said snorting.

Tonks laid down her knife quietly and took a deep breath to control herself. She knew it was in Sirius' nature to pounce on something like this in order to make her feel as embarrassed as possible, but she could feel herself about to crack. But before she could say anything Remus leapt up.

"Damn! I totally forgot I was supposed to meet Alastor today, I'll be back in a little bit. I can't believe I forgot about this," he grabbed his last slice of toast and ran out of the room.

As Tonks piled the last pieces of her bacon and egg onto her fork she could feel Sirius' eyes on her.

"Don't look at me like that," she said, as she knew his eyes would be gloating.

"Thank you," he said.

Her eye brows shot up and she turned to look at him. His face was soft and he looked at her calmly, with no hint of teasing.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean," he said, leaning his forearms on the table and turning his body to face her. "Thank you for making Remus so happy. I've been his best friend for decades; I can tell that he's a lot happier than he has been in a very long time."

"Wha- "

He held up his hand, "He deserves it, he's been shut out of everywhere because of his condition, shunned everywhere. But you're making him feel differently about himself, showing him that he's not a monster. God knows I've been trying to get the message through his thick skull for years," he smiled.

She opened her mouth to speak but no words emerged.

"I can't possibly think of what you've got that I don't have that has made him listen to you instead of me," then he cupped his hands by his chest and mimed having large breasts.

"Shut up Sirius," she giggled, slapping him on the arm.

"He's had a thing for you for a while now," he said grinning. "I think he just needed me to give him a little push into it."

"He has?" She asked, suddenly really wanting to hear about it.

"Oh yeah, I mean he didn't say it out right until the day after you left him with that note before you went into the Ministry. I mean I had to drag it out of him," he stuffed some bacon into his mouth as he spoke. "I had an inkling after he started asking about you when you weren't here, if I knew if you were coming to the next meeting, if I'd heard how your duty had gone etc. And the fact that he could barely keep his eyes off you every time you were together."

Tonks felt like she was positively glowing.

"But seriously," he said, "it sounds like it's going really well."

"It is," she said smiling so wide her cheeks hurt. Sirius beamed back at her. Then before she knew what she was doing she flung her arms around him.
She felt his body tense in surprise and then he wrapped his arms around her. It was exactly like hugging a brother, a best friend. He smelt like the house, Firewhisky and trouble. His wavy hair was tickling her nose. She hugged his velvet jacket and thin torso to her one final time before releasing him.

"To be honest when I planned to come down here and make fun of you two, I didn't expect to end up teary eyed," he said as he mockingly wiped away an imaginary tear from his eye.

She chuckled at him.

A minute later Remus hurried back into the kitchen, his arm half in his jacket and his morning stubble still visible. Sirius got up and edged around him, muttering his thanks for the breakfast, on his way up to feed Buckbeak.

"Tonks, I'm really sorry about this, I totally forgot," he looked flustered and disappointed.

She reached up and grabbed his face between her hands, and kissed him softly.

"Its fine," she said quietly, "I'll see you later."

He nodded at her and pulled her gently into him, "have a lovely day."

"I will," she smiled.

He released her and turned to walk out the door.

"Bye", she called.

His head turned as he got to the door and a gigantic smile spread across his face. "Bye."