Chapter Twenty: Tension

A/N: I apologise so much for how late my updates have been recently, but I started a new job and they've given me loads of hours so I've barely had any time to write! Anyway, thank you all who're still sticking with this story! Thanks so much to the reviewers/followers and favouriters, it's all very much appreciated. Special thanks to the two guest reviewers of the last chapter who I couldn't PM to thank. Hope you enjoy! :)

Remus POV

For definitely not the first time, Remus awoke in Grimmauld Place feeling exhausted, groggy and with a horrific headache that made him want to personally seek revenge on the inventors of Firewhiskey. He groaned loudly, rolling over in the bed and pressing his face in to the pillow, trying to suffocate the hangover. Just as he thought he might drift back in to the pleasant world of sleep, flashbacks from the night before began to unexpectedly appear in his mind.

He sat up suddenly – too suddenly, he thought, as dizziness overcame his mind momentarily. His eyes widened; He had kissed Dora. Although it was something he'd wanted to do for a while, it didn't stop him from being in a state of disbelief over his own actions. There was mistletoe, he supposed, so that excused him a tiny bit. However, he felt more than sure that Dora would be appalled by the fact that they'd kissed. She'd kissed a werewolf, and in his experience, that was never something one wanted to brag about. In fact, he imagined she'd be deeply disgusted that they'd kissed. He sighed deeply; in that moment, he wished for nothing more than for the ground to swallow him whole.

Unfortunately it was not to be. The perpetual growling of his stomach eventually managed to remove him from the comfort of his bed. He walked downstairs, careful to be as quiet as he could in order to let Sirius and Dora sleep. The ever-creaking stairs made it almost impossible but he heard neither one of them stir. He made himself breakfast and raided the cupboards in search of a hangover potion – he cursed Sirius when he found none. Just as he was considering going back to bed, Sirius himself appeared in the kitchen. He was a horrifically grey colour and he didn't even register that Remus was there before opening the cupboards frantically, his eyes scrunched up.

"If you're looking for a potion, you've drank them all" Remus told him tiredly, his voice hoarser than ever. Sirius looked over at him and sighed. Then his face brightened slightly, a conspiring look on his face.

"So what did you and Tonks get up to last night?" he asked with a mock innocent smile. Remus inwardly cringed, wondering if Sirius already knew about it.

"What do you mean?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could manage.

"Did you find any mistletoe?" Sirius said in a suspiciously light tone, his face breaking in to a grin. Remus narrowed his eyes at him and Sirius barked a laugh. With some thought, Remus suddenly came to a very startling revelation.

"It was you!" he accused, looking directly at Sirius. "You put mistletoe bloody everywhere" he said, his voice louder than usual. Sirius gave him a look which suggested he was outraged at the very accusation of him putting mistletoe everywhere. He didn't hold this for very long though, before he burst in to laughter, his shoulders shaking with amusement.

"I'm glad you find it amusing" Remus groaned, inwardly cursing Sirius for the second time that morning.

"Well I'd be dead before you'd make a move, Moony" Sirius smirked.

"And for good reason…" Remus murmured. Sirius shot him a scathing look and Remus sighed. There was something wrong with Sirius if he'd be happy to see his cousin – so bright and full of life, with him, who was the complete opposite. Nevertheless, the whole event had put a dampener on his day. It was not because he didn't want to be with Dora, no, it was because he did… more than ever. He wished he didn't feel that way, that he'd be happy being just friends with her, but he had never felt this way about anyone before; it was a new emotion, so strong and unprecedented, that frankly, it brought a whole new fear to him.

He decided then that he'd have to distance himself from Dora, to protect her from what he was. He couldn't let his feelings be known to her and he couldn't let himself ruin her life. It was painful, it really was, but he knew it would be better for her and in a way that satisfied the new emotion slightly. Locked in his throbbing thoughts, he didn't even notice Dora come in to the kitchen.

"Good morning" she said half-heartedly, her voice not nearly as bright as usual. He quickly glanced over to her. Her hair was her natural chestnut brown and ran down her back in waves; this time however, she seemed to have bright pink streaks in her hair.

"What's with the crazy hair?" Sirius immediately asked and she grinned tiredly at him.

"Too hung-over to morph it completely, brown's too boring on its own" she explained seriously. Sirius barked a laugh and Remus supressed a smile at her vibrant hair. "Please tell me there's some hangover potion somewhere…" she pleaded.

"There's none left, blame Sirius" Remus told her, his voice slightly shaky. Her dark eyes caught his for a moment before she turned her gaze to Sirius, scrunching her face at him.

"Tonks, you make some. If you can make Wolfsbane you can definitely make a simple hangover potion" Sirius smirked at her. Remus jerked, becoming more painfully aware of how much she'd done for him, and how much he truly didn't deserve her kindness.

"I would make it… if I wasn't so bloody hung-over" Dora complained, resting her head on the table. Sirius barked a laugh. It didn't take much longer until Sirius' constant whining and begging led Dora upstairs to brew a hangover potion. Remus shook his head.

"You're unbelievable…" he remarked to Sirius, who simply grinned tiredly at him.

"You've not said much this morning, Moony" Sirius commented, looking at Remus with his eyebrows furrowed together. Remus shrugged… He was far too tired to delve in to a huge discussion with Sirius, who would ultimately disagree with everything he said.

The hangover potion took away the throbbing in his head and the churning in his stomach but he still couldn't help but think about the night before. And he found that he didn't speak very much at all that morning; he was too absorbed in his own thoughts. With the full moon lingering just a few days away, he was already feeling the effects. The moon phase didn't particularly help his emotional state either. Dora kept looking at him strangely as well, as if she wanted to say something to him but didn't know how. He was also working pretty hard to avoid that conversation.

He did wonder what she wanted to say to him though; he imagined she might speak to him about last night and although he already vaguely knew what she'd say, for some reason he thought it would hurt more to hear it straight from her. He noticed that her pink streaks had faded throughout the day and he thought she actually seemed more tired when she went to bed than she had that morning. There had been an awkward tension in the house all day and he felt like he was the main cause of it.

"You're so moody today, Moony, is it the moon?" Sirius asked him suddenly; his voice sounded worried.

"'I'm fine" Remus told him absentmindedly to which Sirius raised his eyebrows knowingly.

"Ah, it's about Tonks… that's why you've barely said two words to her all day" Sirius said. Remus looked at him suddenly.

"That… that wasn't intentional" Remus said hurriedly. Although he knew he hadn't been overly talkative today, he didn't want to appear rude towards Dora. That was the last thing he wanted.

"You know, mate, I think she really likes you" Sirius told him. Remus looked over to him and was surprised to find that his expression was serious. He shook his head quickly, his face screwed up in confusion. There was no way that was possible.

"No, really, she seems sort of… besotted. I know what she's like… and I've never seen her like that before" Sirius told Remus honestly. Remus stared at him for a minute or two, trying to decide whether he was actually being serious or not. Having decided that he was, in fact, serious, Remus rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"No, you're definitely mistaken Sirius. That's impossible" Remus decided. He knew for certain that Sirius was mistaken. There's no way that Dora would think of him as anything more than a friend.

"Why is it impossible?" Sirius asked blatantly.

"This conversation is over" Remus said as he stood up, deciding that there was no point in having this discussion with Sirius.

"You'll have to face Tonks at some point, Moony. In fact, tomorrow night, you're on guard duty with her, remember!" Sirius called out to him as he left the room and headed for the stairs, his head throbbing worse than ever before.

Sirius had reminded him of the guard duty he had tomorrow night with Dora, which he'd completely forgotten about. It would be hard, he thought, to keep his distance from her when that was the last thing he wanted to do. After last night, though, that might be exactly what she wanted to do. He sighed deeply. The carefree friendship they'd both had might never be the same again…

A/N: Okay, so I know it's probably not the fluffy next-morning thing you might've had in mind and I feel really bad posting this after it took so long for them to have their first kiss but I just really do think that Remus would more likely be like this than all romantic in the morning. What do you think?