Tonks and Remus stood in the middle of the kitchen, hands still linked, neither quite knowing what to say or do. Tonks strained to hear Sirius making small talk with Arthur on the way down the hall. She heard them both laugh before the sound of the door opening and closing. Remus' hand seemed to twitch in her own.

"Well that was entertaining," Sirius announced matter of factly as he reentered the kitchen.

This seemed to pull Remus back to the moment. He dropped Tonks' hand and turned his back to them both, presumably to collect himself.

"I'm not sure entertaining is the word I would use," Tonks replied cheekily. Sirius smiled widely.

"You could have given us a warning," Remus said. He was staring at Sirius with a disgruntled look.

"How was I supposed to know you two were too caught up in your lust to hear their was someone at the door," Sirius replied. Tonks felt certain he was trying to hold back laughter. "Really of any of us to get caught, I wouldn't have bet on you two."

Remus did not look amused.

"Well I would have never expected Arthur Weasly to be on the list of people to see me without a shirt," Tonks added, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I'll have you know Tonks that Arthur happens to be quite smooth. It's not for nothing that he has so many kids," Sirius teased.

Tonks shook her head in an exaggerated manner and pushed playfully at Sirius' shoulder. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close, snickering. She thought he was about to kiss her but Remus interrupted them.

"You know by the next Order meeting everyone is going to know, or think they know about Tonks and me?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Sirius didn't let go of Tonks' arm but turned to address Remus, "Let them. We know the truth. That's all that matters." He moved to pull Tonks in for a kiss again but Remus moved toward them and grabbed her other arm.

"Boys no need to fight over me! Plenty to go around," Tonks joked, attempting to break the tension.

Remus pulled her gently to the side of Sirius so that all three of them were facing each other. "Is that how you feel too Tonks?" he asked.

She felt put on the spot. Truthfully she hadn't thought much about the idea of having their relationship public. With Sirius still being the number one most wanted wizard in the country it had never seemed to be an option in the first place. "I suppose… well it is easier to just let people think what they will, isn't it?"

Remus' face fell. "I suppose it is," he replied, looking at his feet. Then he lifted his head to face them, his eyes alight with passion, "but that doesn't bother either of you?"

Sirius was uncharacteristically quiet. Tonks gave Remus a supportive smile. "I guess I haven't thought much about it. None of my relationships have ever really been this important or lasted very long. I've never been to the point where I really had to start thinking about it."

Remus looked at Sirius impatiently. "You already know how I feel Moony. I don't think it's anyone's business what we do."

"Well it bothers me," Remus replied. "I don't think we should be ashamed."

Sirius lifted an eyebrow, "Remus, I feel that's just a bit ironic coming from you."

Tonks ungracefully elbowed Sirius in the stomach in a poor attempt to signal him to stop talking. Both men ignored it.

"Lycanthropy is different than a non-traditional relationship," Remus hissed.

"I'm just saying that it's sort of foolish to have no shame about our relationship when you are still ashamed of yourself and think we shouldn't lower ourselves to be with you," Sirius needled.

Tonks thought Remus looked like he would like nothing better than to smack Sirius across the face. "You are conflating the issues! And I'm not ashamed of myself- "

Sirius burst out laughing and Tonks gasped. "Really Remus? How long did it take you to even touch your girlfriend?"

"Sirius! That's not fair!" Tonks shouted, jerking her arm away from him.

"You are just trying to change the subject Padfoot," Remus replied coolly. The two men glared at each other for a long moment.

"Well I'm okay either way," Tonks replied, her voice sounding artificially high to her own ears. "I'm fine with the other Order members knowing or not."

Remus broke eye contact with Sirius and turned to look at Tonks, "I don't think we have much of a choice now, at least when it comes to me and you. I love Molly dearly but she is a terrible gossip when it comes to things like this, and since Sirius really encouraged the wrong idea with Arthur-"

"Encouraged? He walked in on you with your hand up her shirt and your tongue down her throat. Doesn't take much encouragement for him to figure it out!" Sirius interjected.

"Fine! Well my point was that everyone is going to think Tonks and I are together. So our options are to either let people think that or correct them," Remus spit back.

"I just don't see the point in correcting them. Why invite all their opinions? You know hardly any of them are going to be accepting," Sirius replied hotly.

"The point is that I want to have both my partners recognized!" Remus shouted back.

Sirius seemed taken aback by Remus' admission. He paused for a long moment, no longer looking angry. "You can't always have what you want," he finally replied quietly.

Tonks gave them both a searching look. "Remus, I think maybe Sirius is right. People are not going to accept our relationship easily. I don't think we should hide forever, but maybe now is not the best time to come out about it. Especially since Sirius' name hasn't been cleared yet."

Remus looked from Sirius to Tonks and back again, his eyes sad and soulful. "Sirius, you are really fine with everyone thinking I'm dating just Tonks?"

"The best lies are partly true," he replied.

Remus gave him another lingering look. "Fine. But I want you to know if it were up to me, I'd be telling everyone about both of you."

He turned and marched out of the kitchen leaving Tonks alone with Sirius, who was staring at the doorway with his arms crossed. "He can be so naive," he announced, turning to look at her. "He still believes love can conquer all and all that rubbish." When she didn't reply he added, "No one is going to accept me and him being together. They might hold their tongues because of Dumbledore but it's not going to be winning us any friends. And Molly alone is going to have a fit of historic proportions when she finds out we've involved you in it. I can already hear her shouting about how I've corrupted you."

Tonks gave him a curt smile. "I can handle Molly you know."

"The last time you upset her, you hid in a broom closet," he pointed out.

"Oh you know that was mostly an attempt to get in Remus' pants," Tonks replied with a wink.

Sirius smiled briefly. "Still, it's just not worth the headache. And what's the point? It's not like we are ever going to have anything resembling a normal relationship while I'm still trapped in this fucking house." His smile faded to a frown at the mention of his imprisonment. "Remus will get over it."

Tonks nodded and drifted toward the table, hoping to use the Order mission schedule as an excuse to end the conversation. She wasn't fully sure how she felt about the matter yet and felt a change in subject was in order. "Oy Remus must have taken the schedule with him!" She gave an exaggerated sigh. She had wanted to give Remus some time to cool off but she really did need to check the schedule in case she had an Order obligation tonight.

"He'll be in the library. He always is when he's sulking," Sirius said in a bored voice, as if he didn't really care where Remus was or what he was doing. Tonks knew better.

She blew Sirius an exaggerated kiss before making her way to the library.

Sirius knew Remus well she thought when she encountered the closed door of the library. It was only ever closed when Remus wanted to be left alone for research or sulking. She knocked lightly.

"Yes?" Remus called out. He sounded annoyed.

She pushed the door open as quietly as possible. "Sorry to be a bother but I think you took the schedule with you," she replied.

He looked down at a pile of parchments that were stacked in a half-hazard pile in front of him. "Oh sorry," he replied, plucking up one of the sheets and holding it out to her. "You don't have anything tonight, if you were wondering. I checked."

"Thanks," she answered, taking the schedule. Nothing today, but plenty the rest of the week she observed.

"Tonks," Remus nearly whispered. She looked up from the parchment to meet his eyes. "I am sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that."

She smiled at him. It was hard for her to be upset with Remus, especially when he always seemed to look at her like she could do no wrong. "It's fine, really. It's not like we expected Arthur to walk in on us. It was all rather unexpected."

"I know Sirius is probably right for now. I just hate how cynical he is about it," he paused, shuffling his papers. "And honestly I know he says he doesn't care what people think, but I worry he's going to be upset if people start treating us like we are a couple and he's left out."

Tonks ambled into the room and took a seat next to Remus. She put her hand on top of his to stop his anxious paper ruffling.

He looked up at her. "He can be so immature sometimes. I know it's not all his fault. He's lost so much time in Azkaban and honestly he's never worked through all his feelings about James and Lily. And it's not like he has ever had a real relationship before that either…"

Tonks laced her fingers through his. "I think we are all a bit new to this. This is just about the longest I've ever made it in a relationship without plotting my escape," she joked. "Really I think maybe someday I might even tell my parents about you."

Remus gave her such an anxious look she couldn't help but laugh. "Not anytime soon mind you! Mum's not going to be enthused about two boyfriends, especially not two that are also dating each other and Dad's a muggle born so he's probably going to have a lot of concerns about the whole cousins thing. And that's not even getting into lycanthropy and how it is actually my job to arrest Sirius... Still I haven't even ever considered telling them about anyone in my love life before."

Remus put his head in his free hand. "Well when you put it like that, who can wait?"

Tonks chuckled, pulling his hand away from his face. "My point is I am really serious about this relationship!" Remus smiled and kissed her hand. "So someday when the time is right, I do want to tell the world, or at least the important people."

Remus gave her a lingering look, then suddenly he pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her, "You always make me feel better."

"Glad to be of service," she replied, hugging his arms tightly to her. "I think Sirius is just frustrated. I think talking about this just reminds him that he's stuck here and he has no idea when that will change."

He nuzzled the back of her neck, "You are right, love. I wish there was something more we could do."

"I guess we'll just have to keep shagging him to distraction," she replied with a giggle.

"It's not the worst idea," Remus replied warmly.