AN: Ok, in this little chappy we have a little heart to heart with Remus and Tonks...d'awww! They are such a sweet het-couple I can hardly resist putting in their relationship. I have tried to keep Tonks in character but that is difficult when she doesn't get as much 'air-time' as the others, please forgive me if I have failed. As for the previous chapter, I apologise, some of you don't think my description of Remus' reaction to Sirius' sudden revival is accurate. I tried to keep him subdued, especially since in Canon he is a very internal man who doesn't show much emotion on the outside, but perhaps I took it too far and glossed over their reunion. Next time I will try to put in more, I apologise most sincerely and am eternally grateful to your continued support and constructive criticism, this is how I learn. :)

At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one's lost self.

Sirius stood in the shadows of the dimly lit street, he gazed at the house for a while and watched the flickering light from the muggle's tele-vis-something-or-other through the hideous net curtains. His eyes travelled up to the top floor and he could see a light on in one of the bedrooms, he watched a shadow pass before it and smiled as he stepped into the road. He walked confidently to the door, his long robes and over-cloak sweeping behind him majestically. He had deliberately forgone muggle clothing in an attempt to intimidate the inhabitants of Number Four Privet Drive. He lifted his hand and knocked twice, he waited as he heard someone within.

"Who the bloody hell would call this late?" Vernon Dursley exclaimed furiously as he trundled to the door, adjusting his trousers and pulling it open. "He-..." He paused mid-greeting as the door opened to reveal a tall man with his face half covered by a hood, he wore flowing robes of deep midnight blue with silver thread adorning the sleeves which ended in a point over the backs of pale, long fingered hands. He could see an enigmatic smile barely concealed by the shadows of the hooded cloak, but the light from the hallway glinted off of unusually sharp teeth.

"Hello Mr. Dursley...is Harry in?" Sirius asked in his politest tone.

"Wha-who?" Vernon stuttered and he tried to close the door, but was prevented by that white hand grabbing it and forcing it back open.

"I would have thought you would be a little politer...but I suppose that's Muggle's for you. I have to see Harry..." Sirius paused. "Now." He said in a low voice, almost a growl.

Vernon Dursley stood perfectly still, amazed by the strength in that hand and frozen to the spot in horror. He hadn't expected one of Harry's lot to come to the door, and he felt a cold chill down his spine when he tried to gaze into that hood to see more of the man's face. Finally though he uprooted his feet and turned towards the stairs; "HARRY!" He bellowed. "IT'S ONE OF...ONE OF YOUR LOT! GET DOWN HERE!"

There were feet on the landing and finally a boy appeared on the stairs, messy hair damp and sticking up at all kinds of angles. Sirius sucked in a sharp breath, he had to force himself to recognise the boy as Harry, he looked startlingly like his absent father and the vision of it was agony. "Who...?" The boy frowned, his hand hovering uncertainly over his pocket above what Sirius knew to be his wand.

Sirius slowly reached up and pulled down his hood, his smile warmed and he leaned on the lintel with an easy grin. "Long time, Harry."

"Sirius!" Harry's face split into a grin and he hopped down the last few stairs. "Come in."

"Now wait just a minute there, boy!" Vernon said sternly. "I will not have..."

"What you will or will not have, Mr. Dursley, is of no concern to me." He pushed his way inside, past the spluttering fat man and into the hallway, he gazed around with fascination. "Wow..." He breathed as he took in his surroundings with wide-eyed amazement. "This is amazing..." He turned to Harry, grinning from ear to ear. "You live here? What's it like living with Muggles?" he looked up at the light. "Light bulbs...how do they work?" He reached up but at a warning noise from Harry he let his hand drop.

"They're hot, Sirius!" Harry said with laughter in his voice.

"They are? Why?" His silver eyes glittered in his pale face as curiosity nearly drove his mission from his mind and Vernon spluttered in the background as he slowly turned purple.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked, not wanting to explain about electricity and filaments.

"Oh, yeah...that." Sirius pushed hair from his eyes as he followed Harry into the living room, he reigned in his fascination and settled for snatching quick glances around the Muggle infested house. "You might want to sit down, this could take some explaining." Vernon had followed them and his skinny, horse-faced wife gazed at the pair with wide eyes, Sirius ignored them as he took a seat, uninvited, opposite his godson. "I am here to act as your teacher..." Sirius began slowly, lounging elegantly in the sofa and looking Harry directly in his eyes through his ebony fringe. "Dumbledore has asked me to teach you advanced Defence against what you must do, I am supposed to teach you about...Dark Magic."

Harry went pale. "I'm not learning that!" He exclaimed.

"No, of course not...let me rephrase..." Sirius paused as he gazed at an old school photograph of a fat, ugly little boy in a silly straw hat, he played with strands of his hair absently before returning his eyes to Harry. "I am supposed to teach you about certain spells you may encounter on this...journey..."

Harry frowned. "So...are you telling me you know about...about Horcrux's?" He asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Sirius' smile was small and made Harry shudder as he felt power radiate from the man. "Intimately." He said in a slow drawl Harry had come to associate with Slytherin's.

Harry's eyes widened. "Dumbledore sent a Dark Wizard to teach me?"

"Well...that could be debated but if you wish to see it that way then yes, I suppose that would be a fair assessment." Sirius' smile became softer and he leaned forward. "It's ok Harry, I would never, ever hurt you."

The distrust in those green eyes hurt but Sirius hid the emotion easily, he had expected worse. "Then...what kind of things will you be teaching me?"

"As much as I can in the limited time we have, things like Patronus'..."

"I can do that already..."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Really? Impressive, Harry. Can you just produce mist or form a corporeal patronus?"

"Corporeal." Harry smiled at Sirius' fascinated stare.

"What form does it take?" He asked softly.

"A stag...it's always a stag."

Sirius felt his chest hitch. "Prongs..." He whispered and his smile was all at once heartbreakingly sad and beautiful to behold. "I would like to see it when we begin."

"What else?"

Sirius considered him. "I would need to test your skills to know the best level, the things I have to impart on you are going to be physically and emotionally draining, I won't expect you to get it right away but we have no choice but to speed things along as quickly as possible. Our time is limited so I would ask you to stay with me until the appropriate time when the Order will remove you from your home."

Harry nodded slowly. "What...what will happen? I mean, when I leave, what will happen to them?" He waved his hand vaguely in the direction of his muggle relatives, Sirius suppressed a smirk, the gesture had been casual and yet totally reminiscent of a typical Pureblood, dismissing those with no talent (Even though he was certain that was not Harry's intention, he was much too innocent to be cruel to that degree).

"From what Remus has told me they are planning to whisk them away, it would be safer for everyone." Sirius said with a small, uncaring shrug. "Especially you, I hear you have a... 'Saving people' thing?"

Harry's mouth twitched. "Ron told you that?" Sirius nodded and saw those green eyes survey his silent Aunt and Uncle carefully, he could almost hear the wheels turning as he considered if he really would risk his life to save them. "Well, alright...when do we start?"

Sirius smiled. "As soon as you get some stuff together...I'll wait here."

Harry jumped to his feet quickly and bolted for the stairs, pushing past his Uncle's furious face. Sirius leaned back on the sofa and lifted his legs, putting his muddy boots on the immaculate coffee table. Petunia let out a small, whining moan of horror, he smirked to himself. "So...how has Harry been then?" He asked, lifting those inquisitive, silver eyes to the adults.

"Wait just a damned moment here, young man!" Vernon blustered, his moustache quivering in his indignation. "You come into my house with that insolent manner and expect us to treat you like a guest? Outrageous! Preposterous!" Petunia nodded vigorously at his shoulder. "We don't even know who you are!"

Sirius' boots thumped loudly as he put them back on the floor, slowly and with all the grace of a dancer, he stood and towered above the shorter man. "I am Sirius Black, your nephews Godfather." He said slowly. "I haven't been able to have much of a role in Harry's life up until this moment due to personal circumstances, but now I intend to teach him everything you have failed to do so!"

Petunia looked him up and down. "That is impossible!" She exclaimed suddenly, startling her husband. "Lily was the same age as you when she died, she would be thirty five or thirty six by now..."

Sirius smiled. "Magic is a wondrous thing, Mrs. Dursley..." He said mysteriously. "I am in fact thirty-six years old."

Petunia's jaw dropped as she eyed the extremely handsome man before her, his long hair brushed his shoulders, tied back with a satin ribbon in an old fashioned style that highlighted the aristocratic bone structure beneath skin as smooth and white as milk. Those beautiful silver eyes made her cheeks heat with an unbecoming blush and she knew just by looking at him that he would be rebellious and possibly dangerous...so why was she feeling this odd attraction to him? She spluttered in confusion at her own strange feelings but her husband saved her from having to speak. Sirius was slightly repulsed by the attraction he saw in those pale, ugly eyes and he couldn't stop himself from stepping back a little...it wasn't simply the fact that she was female and ugly as sin, but also because he had, in recent years, never been one to find himself attracted to anyone without power...without some form of magical prowess, and he simply couldn't even stand the thought of her even touching him. In the seconds in which those thoughts shot through his mind he felt a sudden, sickening swooping sensation in his gut as he recalled his encounters with the brown, curly haired muggle of his youth. He felt a moment of confusion, finding it disturbing how his mind had even come to such a disturbing revelation and he swallowed hard, turning his back on the Muggles and looking down at his hands in utter shock and self-disgust.

Vernon had been speaking, but he had ignored it until he heard the words; 'Useless, ingrate Potter.'

Something snapped in his mind and he spun on the spot, eyes narrowing furiously. "What did you just say?" He whispered hoarsely.

"...I was saying that the boy has been an ingrate since he was first dropped on us, and now here he is trying to have us removed from the house so he can sell it for himself! It must be inherent in the genes like Margery has always said...his Father was a useless..."

Sirius had drawn his wand and the black tip was now pointing directly into the Muggle's face. "Repeat it." He demanded. "Repeat that and I will hex you so thoroughly the Ministry will have to reassemble your mutilated corpse from the tiny pieces I will leave to identify you! Do you understand me? Give me the pleasure of doing it, I would love to see your eyes as I rip you to shreds! I dare you! Push me!" His voice was as soft as silk and as dangerous as a Basilisk waiting to strike, Dursley seemed to have lost his previous bluster and outrage when confronted by a man with murder in his eyes.

"Siriu-what's going on?" Harry asked as he dropped his suitcase and gazed at the scene of Sirius pointing his wand into his Uncle's face while his Aunt gibbered in terror.

Slowly Sirius forced his emotions under control, with a huge wrench of his will he let his wand drop to his side and took a shuddering breath. "Do not ever insult Harry or James in my presence again, you filthy Mu-muggle..." He winced at his near-slip and turned to Harry. "I apologise, shall we go?"

Harry frowned slightly at his Godfather's back as he stepped out into the hallway, he was not disillusioned, he knew what Sirius was about to say and wandered if he was doing the right thing of trusting this man...Dumbledore himself had paid the ultimate price for misplaced trust, Harry had no intention of doing the same, but he had little choice as his arm was taken in a tight grip. "Have you ever apparated before?" Sirius asked, trying to change that horrible look of suspicion on Harry's face.

"Yeah, Dumbledore..." His voice tripped over the name and he cleared his throat with a frown. "Dumbledore took me once, Side-along..."

"I see, then, hold tight."

They spun into suffocating darkness.

XXX

Remus lay on the sofa, his hands stuffed into his thick but greying hair. He had his eyes closed tightly and his lips parted slightly as he tried to regain his composure. He hadn't meant to see it, he hadn't even been aware she was in the bathroom, he had just unwittingly blundered in and seen Tonks in all her naked glory with wet purple hair and wide violet eyes. He remembered the way the water had dripped tantalising down the soft curve of her hip and well rounded breasts, with a shiver he hit himself in the head for being such a perverted old man. Living with her was harder than he had thought it would be, they had decided to go slowly in their budding new relationship and so they slept in separate beds, not to mention he was afraid his self-control would slip if they lay beside each other.

He was humiliated, and yet, that dark part of him that wanted nothing more than to give into that animalistic lust that he felt whenever he was around the petit woman threatened to turn him into a rampant teenager again. He groaned and rubbed at his cheeks with his palms, he had to regain some control, he was supposed to be the elder!

Slowly Tonks pushed the living room door open, it was a small, neat and homely room with a huge fire built in the grate and books lining the shelves in copious numbers. She smiled to herself as she spotted her Werewolf lying on the sofa contemplating his embarrassment, she was confused by it but it was endearing, Remus' old fashioned views on propriety and proper social conduct made her frustrated but happy. Tonks had never been bothered by it, she had been perfectly happy to flaunt her nudity for any of her lovers, confident in her body and self image, a rare thing for any modest Hufflepuff, but she knew Remus' self consciousness about his own scars and the pain that he associated with them, so she let him be the Gentleman and only smirked deviously when he became flustered and uncomfortable in her presence.

"Remus?" She broke the silence and watched him jump as he sat upright, carefully she stepped into the room holding her dressing gown closed. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes I..." Remus felt his pulse speed up at the flimsy garment wrapped around his (...what? Girlfriend?) housemate. It was barely covering anything, the hem of the soft purple material came up to the tops of her thighs and she annoyingly sat right next to him on the sofa, interlocking their fingers together and ignoring his discomfort and sudden, childish blush. "...Sorry..." He muttered, lowering his head so hair fell into his eyes.

"It's fine, we've already slept together." She soothed, gently stroking his back and smiling adoringly at him.

"B-But that was...I was drunk...and I...Merlin why is this so hard?" He put his face in his hands. "James never had this much trouble with girls!"

Tonks chuckled softly, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck absently. "What was he like?" She asked curiously.

"Arrogant..." Remus whispered softly, the respect and utter devoted love in his voice made her happy, Remus rarely expressed emotion openly and she felt proud that he felt comfortable enough around her to be so expressive. "Arrogant and charming, he managed to bed Julia Argon in our fourth year if I remember and she was a prude...he gloated about that one for weeks..." He trailed off, remembering Sirius' badly disguised hurt. "He was...brave. Brave and beautiful and so, so wonderful. I have never known a man who could make anyone, including Mad-eye, like him instantly!"

Tonks smiled affectionately, enjoying the way her werewolf became so animated when speaking of his friends. "And what about Sirius? I've heard bits from my mum, but she didn't really like to discuss her side of the family..."

Remus' shoulders tensed, he didn't seem able to meet her eyes. "Sirius is darker, a force of pure, uncontrollable emotion..." He whispered the words in a low, reverent tone that showed his respect for his friend but also something deeper...either fear or some other unidentifiable emotion, Tonks wasn't sure she really wished to know. Once he started, Remus was unable to stop. "Sirius Black is the a-typical Pureblood, arrogant, disdainful of all those he deems 'unworthy' of his attentions, he can be quick to anger, easily infuriated and yet...yet he can be so kind and gentle, he is loyal to a fault and that has caused some greater issues. He's like lightening, once he is in your life he makes everything so hectic, so full of this barely concealed passion and it is enough to take ones breath away and perhaps his wits when he's at his most passionate..." He swallowed, remembering the few times he had had Sirius, he remembered the fire of the man beneath him as it soaked into his soul and consumed him. With a violent shudder he continued. "He's addictive, his eyes are enough to drown the unwary..."

Tonks paused in her slow, comforting strokes of her boyfriends shoulders. A small frown dawned on her pretty face as a dark, terrifying thought descended upon her. "Remus...are you in love with him?" She asked, feeling slightly breathless and scared of his answer.

Slowly he lifted his head, those deep pools of chocolate brown gazing at her with a deep sadness as he lifted his hand and traced her jaw. "I was...for a long time I wanted him, but he's always been James' creature."

"Y-You..." She felt her stomach evaporate. "You...and...Sirius..."

Remus withdrew. "I'm sorry." He said. "I know, many people find it repulsive and I will understand if you decide not to pursue a relationship with me, but you must know that Sirius has been the only man I have ever been with, and I have never wanted another man in that way. It has only ever been him...but like I said, he belongs to James and always will."

Slowly Tonks digested his words, she had very few memories of her cousin in their past, but what she did know of him came from her mother. He had been a rebel, making sure to go against everything he had ever been taught and breaking away from the family who despised him, much to Andromeda's pleasure. She had also known, from her mother's random mutterings, that he was a deep, secretive man who preferred to keep his real soul locked away behind bars of iron. Slowly she decided that actually she didn't mind that Sirius was gay, or that Remus had been with him at some point in their pasts, because she had experimented, in the darkness of the Hufflepuff dorms with her girlfriends, and where it had been nowhere near as exciting as the hot, hard muscles of a male it had piqued her curiosity non-the-less...she could hardly condemn anyone else who found pleasure in the touch of the same sex without being a total hypocrite. So, with a small sigh, she touched her Boyfriend on the arm and smiled. "I don't care...it's all in the past and I love you here and now."