The day after the wedding, Remus and I brought Snuffles with us to visit the Patils.

Samy and Aashi were ecstatic to see their magic dog, but their grandmother seemed alarmed. It was hard to tell whether Mrs. Bharadwaj was afraid of large dogs, or if she worried he would overturn the photographs, vases, and statues placed on low tables. The woman sat on the edge of her chair the entire time we chatted in the lounge.

Short and slim, Ambika's mother coiled her silver-threaded hair in a bun, reminding me of my mum with her impeccable posture. She didn't smile much, though. I hoped for the children's sake that she was just nervous about Snuffles.

We ate in the dining room that I would have loved just for the cobalt blue walls. Instead of a table and chairs, there was a floor-level seating arrangement. Three soft, thick mattresses placed against walls supported the sitters. Scattered across silk fabric was an assortment of colourful cushions in an array of shapes and sizes. I admired a rust and gold embroidered cushion and made a mental note to ask Ambika where she shopped. A sea-green cushion encrusted with tiny sequins would be a wonderful Christmas present for my Gran.

Mrs. Bharadwaj's eyebrows climbed to her hairline when her daughter set a dish of Chicken Korma on the floor for Snuffles.

I said, "He likes curry, as long as it's mild, and when it's topped with ground cashews and cream, well, you can see he's a happy dog."

The woman didn't blink for so long, I wondered if we were in a staring contest. I could have looked away, but she started it, and I wasn't in the mood to back down. I sat up straight. Not since seventh year—when Charlie Weasley heard I was unbeatable and kept making me prove it—had someone challenged my supremacy in staring.

She tapped her foot in a technique I had never seen before, but like Charlie before her, it wasn't long before Mrs. B started looking watery-eyed. My eyes remained dry.

"Look, Tonks is swaying," said Samy.

Aashi clapped her hands. "Is she a naga princess, Naanii? Are you charming her?"

The woman threw me an apologetic glance before smiling at her granddaughter. "No, naatin, we were having a staring match, much like you and Samy did this morning, but if she were nagi, I'm sure Miss Tonks would bring rain and not floods."

That was nice of her to say. Even my own mother would probably predict that if I were a nature spirit, she'd brace herself for natural disasters. I couldn't blame her, even though it wasn't as if I meant to overflow the tub that summer after sixth year. I had started a bath, returned to my room to pick up a romance novel, and ended up reading it on the bed while water rose and then fell to spill onto the floor and down the stairs.

After dinner, Ambika's mother refused to allow a guest to help in the kitchen, so I volunteered to play with the kids and Snuffles in the back garden while the men discussed the latest Daily Prophet articles. Samy grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door when his father nodded in agreement. "Yes, you must be the naga princess in her human form!"

Outside, I grinned at the two who had bright eyes and rosy cheeks. "What do I do?"

Aashi touched her forehead. "You must have a precious gem that gives you magical powers."

I concentrated on morphing a ruby-shaped dot.

"That looks like an ordinary bindi!" Samy said disgustedly.

Snuffles woofed his agreement.

I increased the size and changed the colour to emerald green. "Best I can do."

The boy nodded grudgingly.

The dog made a snorting sound.

I put my hands on my hips. "Hey, furball, if I could conjure jewels, do you think I'd work for a living?"

The children giggled.

Aashi tugged on my cloak. "You need long hair," she said, "and darker skin."

I crouched down and matched the length of my hair and the shade of my skin to hers. "How about this gorgeous combination?"

She beamed.

"Can you make snake eyes?" asked Samy.

"Non-poisonous," I said. "They're the ones with round pupils." I concentrated to make my eyes mostly black with a rim of gold. "How's that?"

"Cool," the twins said together. They looked at the dog.

He gave a regal nod of approval.

The children grinned happily.

I bowed. "OK, mates, what are we playing?"

"Hide and seek," said Samy.

"No!" cried Aashi. "The naga princess in love!"

The great black dog lowered his head and placed his paws over his eyes.

"Hah!" Samy crowed. "Snuffles doesn't want to play your silly love game!"

I saw a fight brewing and tried to head it off. "I need Remus for that, sweetie, so let's play hide and seek for now, all right?" I covered my eyes with my palms. "I'm counting to one hundred, and whoever I find gets snatched away to Nagaland!"

Aashi said in a stage whisper, "No. Say you will take your captive to the naga-loka underworld!"

I swallowed a laugh to obey the pint-sized perfectionist. "To the naga-loka underworld you'll go if I catch you, children—and your big dog, too!"

My cousin, the ham, gave a theatrical yelp.

The children shrieked in pretended horror.

I sniggered and began counting aloud, "One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven..." By the time that I said, "Ready or not," the garden was quiet. I used a Sonorous Charm to project my voice. "Ssso," I said, heavy on the sibilance. "Who isss first to be found?"

A tiny squeak came from behind dense shrubbery near the back fence. I smirked. That would be Aashi. I decided to let her remain hidden while I picked off the other two. Slowly, I crept around the back of the garden shed. There was no sign of boy or beast. I headed for the shrubbery near the house. As I passed the front of the shed, the door burst open and a dark blur knocked me off my feet.

"We got her, we got her! The nagi is our prisoner!" Samy jumped up and down while Snuffles draped his legs over me in a show of canine dominance.

Aashi ran out of her hiding spot. "You let her go right now!"

"Yeah," I said. "Let me go."

Samy, into the game, said, "No! You were going to steal us away!"

I dropped back into character. "I'm sssorry. I only wanted sssomeone to play with."

"I'll play with you," said another voice—adult, masculine, and amused. It was Remus.

I tilted my head back to see his face. "Kind sssir," I said. "Release me, and I will ssshow you the pleasure gardensss of my kingdom."

"Will we gather rosebuds?"

I had to look away or laugh.

Aashi cried, "Say yes!"

I smiled at the girl. "Yesss."

She ran over and wrapped her arms around Snuffles's neck, tugging him off me. "Let her up! You'll ruin the game if the naga princess doesn't kiss the kind human and fall in love!"

"Hey," said Samy. "Snuffles and I don't want to play a silly love game!"

Remus helped me to my feet and then ruffled the boy's hair. "Someday," he said, "You might not find it so silly."

I sighed when he kissed me softly.

"You're swaying again!" Aashi said, giggling.

"I like to dance." I raised my hands as if to raise the roof and pumped my shoulders up and down in the only basic Indian move I knew.

"I like to dance too!" the girl cried. Arms down, she began moving her shoulders and alternating tapping her right heel left and her left heel right in a fast-paced rhythm I immediately copied.

Samy joined in, clapping his hands to the beat. "Balle! Balle!"

"Hooray, hooray!" Aashi echoed in English.

"Hey, hey, hey, Bhangra in the back garden!" Ambika called laughingly, as she, Neil, and her mother joined us. She held up her arm and twisted her hand in a move that reminded me of my cousin, screwing in a Muggle illumination bulb. "Are we at a wedding?" she joked.

Samy scrunched up his face. "No! Snuffles and I don't want to play wedding!" He darted over to the other side of the garden and picked up a ball. "Come on, boy!"

While the dog trotted over to play fetch, Aashi's lips began to quiver. "I wanted to be a dancer at the naga princess' wedding!"

"We'll play that some other time." To cheer her, I morphed my hair bright orange and frizzy. "What do you think? Should I wear my hair like this for my groom?"

"You look like a clown." Aashi smiled a little.

I transformed my hair to blonde waves that reached my knees. "How about this?"

"No." She giggled. "But I want to brush it!"

Ambika watched her daughter rush back into the house. "I came out to say tea is ready." She shook her head as she turned to me. "A glass of wine might be better for your health, though."

Mrs. Bharadwaj frowned. "Whatever good wine can do is accomplished ten times better with a glass of water and a piece of fruit." Abruptly, she smiled. "I would add 'exercise,' but you have had plenty of that!"

"I enjoy playing with the children."

Aashi returned waving her pink brush. "Tonks! Come in and play beauty shop!"

A gleam lit the older woman's black eyes. "I'm glad you enjoy it," she said as we walked back to the house, "because snakes lay many eggs."

.

Wednesday evening, when Remus and I got back from having dinner at a small Italian restaurant, we found Sirius in the kitchen, opening a bottle of beer. "Don't you have one of your werewolf meetings to go to, Moony?"

"Not for a little while yet," said Remus, a faint line creasing his brow as he watched his friend.

I could tell that my love wondered how many beers Sirius had opened while we were gone. To lighten the atmosphere, I held up a takeaway box. "Are you hungry? We brought you lasagne."

Sirius watched me plate the food and set it on the table with an expression that was hard to read. "What? No chips?"

"We didn't go to a pub," I said with a determined smile.

My cousin sat and began to eat. "I wish I could go to a pub," he said between bites. "I wouldn't care if the drinks were watered down and the food was crap."

Remus shot me a concerned look. "Perhaps another flagon of Polyjuice."

"No." Sirius pushed his plate away and stood. "I don't want to be you, quiet and polite. I want to take Cami dancing, sing along if I feel like it, and be me."

"Did Cami have to work tonight?" I asked. "Is that why you're in this mood?"

"She's on overnight surveillance," he said shortly, "and what do you mean by mood?"

My eyes flew to Remus. He gave a slight shake of his head, a warning not to argue with a drunk.

I kept my tone light. "Let's just say you're not your usual charming self."

Sirius snorted.

I turned to Remus. "Help me find a book on snakes before you go?"

"Of course."

Sirius drained the beer and set it down on the table with a thud. "Got you wrapped around her finger, doesn't she, mate?"

I left the kitchen before I gave Sirius the fight he was spoiling for. Remus followed. Upstairs in the library, he pulled me into his arms. "Don't be angry with him, love. He's miserable trapped in this house."

I wrapped my arms around his waist. "I know he is." I sighed. "I still want to hex him."

Remus brushed a kiss across my hair. "Perhaps a Rictusempra would do him good, at that."

"Laughter is the best medicine?"

"Since the other is currently doing surveillance."

I hugged him, wanting to burrow into his solid warmth.

I felt Remus's chest shake with silent amusement. "If you wriggle any closer," he said, "I'll be looking for something in the library, but it won't be a book."

My body arched. His head bent. Our lips met in a kiss that made me wish I could wind myself around him like a snake.

His hands slowly caressed my back, smoothing down the fabric until he reached the base of my spine and slipped lower. My fingers clutched his shoulders when his flexed and kneaded.

"Nymphadora," he said on a groan.

I slid my leg up his. "I know," I said, "I should have worn a skirt."

He smiled against my lips. "If you had, I would be late to the meeting."

I let my leg drop to the floor, even while I said, "Punctuality is over-rated."

His smile became wolfish. "I'm tempted to agree, and yet I must go."

I snuck a last kiss. "When you get back, I'll probably be napping on the sofa over there, having nightmares about snake attacks."

Remus huffed with amusement. "Snakes avoid people. We're too big to eat and big enough to eat them."

"Do they avoid wolves?"

"Yes."

I winked. "Then I'll have a different kind of dream, about the snake maiden and her kind human."

He backed away. "I'll look forward to hearing about it."

I held up a hand, twisting my wrist while I shook my hips.

.

After Remus left, chuckling, I scanned the shelves until I found a section that looked to be children's resource materials. Encylopaedias of Spells and Herbs were grouped with books on the natural world. I found a text on reptiles and amphibians and took it over to the sofa.

I was curled up, wishing I had a fluffy blanket or Remus there to take advantage of the wide cushions, when Sirius entered the library, bottle in hand.

"What'cha readin'?"

I showed him the cover.

He squinted as he padded forward. "S-snakes is it?" Sirius sprawled on the other end of the sofa and took a drink. "That was my book."

"I would never have guessed by the Regulus caption beneath a dead snake and Sirius written above the mongoose holding it."

My cousin's lips turned down. "And now he's dead, the Slytherin snake." He held up the beer. "To Reggie, wherever you are...I told you so, you arrogant little asp." Sirius drained the bottle and threw it across the room. He laughed shortly when the glass hit the carpet and rolled to a stop against a bookcase. "It was s'posed to break. My grand gesture ruined." His lips twisted. "Along with the rest of my life."

"Your life isn't ruined." I put the book aside and reached out to touch his arm. "You have people who love you and believe in you—who need you."

A corner of his mouth tugged up. "Doesn' seem like it, when I'm rattling around here like a ghost who hasn' figured out he's dead."

I dug my nails into his forearm. "Don't say that!"

A strange look crossed his face as he stared at my hand. "Mother used to do that." Sirius's gaze turned inward. "Never play hide and seek in a shop again," he whispered. "Mother couldn't find you, and now she is very, very upset." He focused on me with a crooked smile. "Are you going to hex me too?"

Overwhelmed with pity and guilt for wanting to hex him earlier, I pulled him into a hug. "Even if I think about it, I won't do it," I muttered.

"Then you're not a true Black."

"No, I'm a Tonks and proud of it!"

"So you should be." The words were muffled against my shoulder.

I ran a hand over his hair and then realised I was treating him like I would Snuffles. I almost sniggered at the thought that he would probably smell better as a dog. Currently, Sirius reminded me of Mundungus. He had that same unwashed, alcohol-seeping-through-pores odour. That gave me an idea. "Why don't you transform and keep me company? I haven't had a cuddle with my favourite dog since he used to attend my tea parties."

I felt him shake with laughter. "Think Remus wouldn' like coming home to find me getting a little comfort in human form?"

I tugged his hair for being cheeky. "If I saw Cami like this with Remus, I'd drag her off the sofa by her hair and then kick her arse Muggle-style. What about you?"

"I'd kick Remus's arse."

I yanked a strand of his hair again, but the gesture was affectionate. "Git."

Sirius's arms tightened. "I hate being alone," he said thickly.

I patted his back, feeling maternal and oddly weepy. I sniffed. "Get furry, and I'll massage the spot at the base of your neck that makes you rumble contentedly when Cami does it."

"Be gentle with me," he said with a hint of his usual mischeviousness, before transforming into his Animagus form. He stood next to the sofa, resting his head on my knee.

I leaned down to rub the spot above his spinal column between his ears, his temples, down the side his neck and along the sides of his body, making little circles with my fingers or stroking softly, depending on the area. It was very relaxing. After my eyes grew heavy, I swung my legs up onto the sofa and got comfortable, patting the cushion beside me. "Let's take a nap."

When Snuffles clambered up, I turned on my side to give him room and trailed my hand down his back. I fell asleep smiling to hear throaty rumbles.

.

I awoke to the sound of someone clearing his throat. I raised my head, but there was no one in the library.

"You know," said a man's voice, "while many a Black has slept with his cousin, I believe this is the first time one was a dog while doing it."

I shook Snuffles's shoulder. "Wake up and transform!"

The dog blinked at me and then became a man. "What's going on?" he asked, sitting up to rub a hand across the stubble on his face.

"How the mighty House of Black has fallen," the unknown voice said in a sneering tone.

I realised the source was an oil painting depicting the ruins of a castle. Propping a green-robed shoulder against a crumbling wall was the figure of a man with a pointed beard and thin, clever features.

Sirius growled. "My great-great-grandfather," he told me. "The most unpopular Headmaster in Hogwarts history. Since his portrait hangs in this house, he mistakenly believes he's welcome in any painting." He stood. "Go back to snogging the Fat Lady, Phineas. Nobody wants to hear you go on about the youth of today."

"Dawn and I are merely acquaintances who enjoy the same landscapes," the man said sharply. Lips thinning in irritation, he said, "I am not here to watch you carry on family traditions. I bear a message from Dumbledore."

Sirius prowled toward the painting. "Spit it out!"

Phineas shrank back, a faint look of apprehension crossing his features. "Very well. The Weasley family and Harry Potter will be arriving here shortly. Arthur is gravely injured."

"What happened?" Sirius demanded.

"Oh, no," said Phineas. "I was only instructed to impart a message. I shall return and tell Dumbledore you will be delighted to play host." He bowed mockingly and vanished.

"Delighted?" I repeated numbly. "How could he—"

"Because it's true," said Sirius, already heading toward the door. "I'm not happy that Arthur's hurt, but I have been waiting for the chance to do something." He paused in the doorway to say, "And I am delighted to take it."

.

.

A/N: Okay, maybe most people wouldn't think to segue into Arthur-gets-bit-by-the-giant-snake with the Patils, Nagas, and a dance called Bhangra, but diversity is a good thing, and I hope readers enjoyed the lighter moments before the darker bits. Special thanks to Sivaroobini Lupin-Black who did me the favour of beta reading that part of the chapter to ensure accuracy. Balle! Balle! (which, interestingly, is also a name of a song in a 'Bollywood' film called Bride and Prejudice. :D)

The scene with Phineas was inspired by his antics in OotP, chapter twenty-two. The bit about the Fat Lady was a joke for anyone who got queasy, heh. Jo said about portraits that they are not as fully realised as ghosts, and that while they leave behind a faint imprint and while they can give some counsel...it is not like being a ghost. (That means Sirius was being snide about Phineas snogging the Fat Lady. :D) Writing the scene inspired a two-part story about Phineas. The first chapter of Paint it Black: the Portraits of Phineas Nigellus has posted, if anyone is inclined to acquiesce to my request to read it. :D