CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Tonks's first thought of her cousin, Sirius Black, was that the man had the kind of handsome and rugged face that stopped you in your tracks.

Even after twelve years in Azkaban, he's still handsome, isn't he? Tonks thought as she regarded her cousin with a cautiously wary eye, feeling uncertain, and furrowed her brows as she pondered over how that could be, considering Azkaban's Dementors sucked the life out of their prisoners if they did not know how to keep their wits about them, though Black, Tonks knew, was smarter than he looked, given he was the first one in known history to escape from the guarded fortress.

She guessed he must have gotten used to that, the sudden pause in a person's natural expression when they looked Sirius's way, followed by overcompensating with a nonchalant gaze and a weak smile. Oh, he was handsome all right, but inside, Tonks knew he was beautiful.

Her cousin if anything, after twelve years locked away in Azkaban as Remus quietly made the introductions, was fitter looking than Tonks expected.

His face told of a lean body beneath his clothes, and his expression was serious but not necessarily unkind. Sirius's curls were dark, and his eyes, framed by graceful brows, were a glistening grey, not unlike that of her own, and that was the only indication given that the two of them were related.

Sirius Black's eyes were not merely gray; they were a sea. A stormy, treacherous sea that tore apart anyone who looked into them and dragged the onlooker down into their depths. The man had prominent cheekbones and a well-defined chin and nose, and two-day stubble had formed on his jaw.

Tonks blinked as she forced her attention to return to something Lupin was saying to her, and as the three of them stood in what she could only describe as the living room, an old-fashioned looking parlor, it didn't escape the young Auror's attention that Remus had yet to relinquish his grip on her arm.

"This is your home now, Tonks." Remus's words to her hung in the air like a bitter poison, slowly suffocating the young witch inch by inch as she stood, swiveling her head this way and that, trying to take in the dank, unfamiliar surroundings. Tonks bit the inside wall of her cheek and thought she would quite like to strangle Lupin, for Headquarters, Grimmauld Place, was not home.

Her home was back in her own flat in downtown London. Not here. Home was a cup of freshly brewed coffee or tea in the mornings. Home was her own bed, her own mattress, and soft goose feather down blanket, home was allowing Ptelea to rest on the potted elm tree that she had planted for him.

Not here. Number 12, Grimmauld Place, had none of these things. It was dark, damp, smelled of mold, and Tonks decided she didn't even want to see her prepared bedroom quite just yet. All of those. Nothing. Nothing in her cousin's parent's house resembled her flat. Tonks let out a barely audible sigh and cast a wary eye towards her cousin, who offered her an odd little half-smile that she wished so desperately that she could wipe that smug grin off of Black's face, and then Remus's.

For he had lied to her. He had promised to bring Tonks home, and this…wasn't it.

The windows, what few there were, were gaping holes for the wind to rush in and out through and the front door hung on its hinges at a jaunty angle, although now it was little more than just a frame that looked like one good puff of wind would blow it away. It was a rotting dung heap, bowing down, subservient to the elements.

No wonder Mrs. Weasley had expressed Tonks's interest in her help in cleaning this place once she was well enough to stand up.

"Your room is upstairs, third on the left, just across the hall from mine," Lupin spoke quietly, completely ignoring or he had missed entirely the look of dawning intrigue in his best friend's eyes as Sirius's inquisitive gaze flitted from Tonks, who was actively avoiding looking at Remus, and then back to Lupin.

Tonks nodded mutely, not sure at all what else to say to Remus or Sirius.

If she was being honest with herself, her ankle was hurting, and she was eager to get off her feet for a while. She murmured something under her breath and dipped her head in acknowledgment as she heard Sirius and Remus talk about the other members of the Advance Guard who were leaving in five minutes to retrieve Harry Potter from his wretched aunt and uncle's house in Little Whinging.

Tonks scowled, pursing her lips into a thin line as she felt her face flush in anger. She spotted the couch on the opposite side of the room and thought that more efficient than standing around here with the two men until she passed out. "Excuse me," she murmured. "I—I think I'd like to sit down."

Perhaps more violently than was necessary, she wrenched her arm free from Lupin's, entangling it from his surprisingly ironclad grasp, and as she turned her back on both men, she did not see the look of incredulous anger in Remus's darkening brown eyes as she hobbled her way to the couch and took a seat on it.

Remus bit the inside wall of his cheek and stifled a low growl of frustration, and was barely aware of Sirius laying a reassuring, firm hand, on his shoulder.

It was killing him to see his new partner in this way, so disconnected and angry, hurt. His hand drifted to the pocket of his black trousers pocket, where he'd pocketed the vials of Sleeping Draught that perhaps one of the Healers had left on her nightstand of St. Mungo's. No doubt Tonks was going to refuse it.

He knew her reasons and could understand them. He would support her. Lupin would not walk away because she had begged of him to stay, and he supposed that, in some small way, by being assigned to the Advance Guard to go and retrieve Harry from his miserable aunt and uncle, that he was breaking his promise to her.

Was that it? Was that why Tonks was so sullen and hostile now?

The ambiguity of not knowing her sudden shift in attitude was almost killing him. Remus furrowed his brows into a frown.

Right now, what he needed the most from Tonks was honesty and a sense of cooperation. He deserved to know the truth, and soon.

For too long he'd pushed back against his pain if he could remember, medicating by leaning on his friendship with Sirius, but in times like right now, it returned to him in weaker moments, devastating his tired mind.

To keep repeating this pattern of viciousness would only prolong it, keep his pains hidden. When in truth, Remus knew he needed to deal with them.

Lupin knew that for Tonks, he'd fight for her. Kill for his partner if need be, and he almost already had. Twice. He cringed and felt the familiar welling of that hot-fire seed of anger forming deep in the churning pit of his stomach as he thought of Crouch's escape, and knowing that sooner or later, Tonks was right.

The accursed wretch that dared to call himself a man would be back. For her. His blood surged and boiled within his veins, hotter than any dragon flame.

Though he quickly shoved aside his dark thoughts and chose to focus on Tonks's needs. He gave a sharp tap of his wand and a silver tray bearing a roll, an apple, a wedge of Brie cheese, and a glass of water appeared from Grimmauld Place's kitchen in front. He carried the tray over and set it on the side table by the couch.

"Tonks?" he asked gingerly. "Here. You should eat something. I know you've not eaten in almost a full day. Alastor told me. You need to eat. You'll feel better." Remus winced as he realized his voice was pressured with ire.

He just wanted to see her smile again, and for her to cooperate with him. He swallowed hard past the lump in his throat and continued. "I didn't bring you all the way back home just to watch you starve yourself to death. Now eat."

As she blearily lifted her gaze in front to regard her partner, there was a horrible dejectedness and a listlessness in her gray eyes. The circles underneath her eyes were more pronounced, almost purple by this point, and only succeeded in making her cheeks look thin and gaunt and hollowed. She looked like Death.

In the shadows cast by Grimmauld Place's living room as the curtains were drawn, though from the outside, the encroaching heady heat of a summer storm was vastly approaching as black and purple clouds billowed in from the east, Tonks remained unstirred, her arms folded across her chest as she looked away.

Were it not for the gentle rise and fall of her shoulders, the one thing that Remus inexplicably found his gaze drawn to, he would have otherwise thought his partner dead. At that unpleasant thought, he felt his chest tighten like coils.

"I don't want to eat, Remus. I'm not hungry..." she snapped hotly.

"You haven't eaten in over twenty-four hours. I won't have you starving. Don't make me ask again. Eat." He tried again, biting the inside wall of his cheek, and he felt his temper threaten to implode as Tonks took one look at the tray of food and with one sharp flick of her finger, sent the tray and its contents flailing across the room.

"Evanesco!" Sirius barked out, waving his wand, and causing the upended food and tray to vanish just before the spilled contents of the food and its tray could cause a mess on the living room's carpet. "I don't think she's hungry, Moony," he murmured matter-of-factly, moving to occupy the seat next to her. "Don't force her to eat, Remus. I'm sure when she's hungry, she'll eat. Besides, I think Molly's making meatballs tonight for the rest of the Order, so there's that," he offered, glancing at Tonks.

Tonks blinked owlishly at Sirius and shot him what she hoped was a brief look of gratitude, trying silently to thank her cousin for his intervention with her eyes.

Remus's head whiplashed sharply back to regard his partner, feeling his temper in grave danger of about to implode, wanting to scold her for such childish and stupid behavior, though he felt himself flinch as he watched Nymphadora Tonks stiffen and recoil as he laid out a gentle hand and gave her shoulder a tug.

He blanched and frowned, removing his hand and sighing. The lack of response was the sound of Nymphadora Tonks's silent breathing and lack of eye contact. This only added cinder to the fire that begun to curdle in his blood.

If he was being entirely honest with himself at the moment, Remus knew he had every right to be angry with Tonks, for she was not cooperating with him.

Tonks wasn't eating. Did she have some kind of horrible death wish? Was that it? Or was she merely salty over the events of this morning with Umbridge?

She might still be angry over the fact that she can't go with you to get Harry, Moony. Umbridge has stripped her of her duty as an Auror, the only job she's ever known. She's injured, and she might resent that fact, thinking it's her fault, James's voice piped up from the corner of her mind. Go easy on her.

The poor thing has lost everything in the span of one night, Rem, Lily offered softly, and she sounded sympathetic to Tonks's plight. Just be gentle.

Remus clenched his jaw shut as he felt fires of fury and hatred towards Crouch for doing this to her smoldered in his light brown eyes as he weighed the pros and cons of discussing what exactly was on his mind with Tonks and Sirius.

Though he didn't know if there was an ever appropriate time to broach the subject of if Tonks thought that she could grow to like him as a friend one day. Lupin knew that what hides behind the lies and the secrets were truths that failed to get to the light. What laid behind Tonks's sudden sullenness and secrecy was a mystery to him. One that he fully aimed to get behind the truth of it.

Too many questions swirling in his mind, not enough answers, and he reflected back to what little of Umbridge's little interrogation that he could hear.

He hadn't been able to pick up much, but he could have sworn that Tonks had murmured his name once or twice and that she had…she had defended him.

But why? Had Umbridge made some threat? Was it out of fear for his life?

Remus furrowed his brows in confusion at that thought. He did not know how he could possibly be worth anything to Tonks, for he was nothing but a beast. A monster. The Mad Beast within that lurked in its cage, set free once a month. He felt so incredibly confused over this but had to trust Molly's words, that everything would come out when the time was right when she was ready to talk to him, and Remus would be there for Tonks whenever she was ready.

Lupin bit the inside wall of his cheek in a sense of nervous anticipation as he watched Tonks's head whiplash sharply upward and her gray eyes narrowed.

Though she did not immediately look at him, instead she glanced towards Sirius, who shot her a sympathetic smile that he could have sworn the corners of her mouth twitched upward at, and for some reason, it invoked a foreign feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was not necessarily a pleasant feeling, this hot rage.

He shoved aside thoughts of how Tonks returning Sirius's smile but not his was currently making him feel. Vexed. Angered. Hurt. Confused.

"I can't let you starve, Tonks," he murmured, lowering his voice, and rubbing the two-day stubble over his jawline in thought. "I'm your…" His voice trailed off and Lupin bit down on his tongue hard enough to bleed. What exactly was he to Tonks? Oh, he was her partner, of course, but…

Certainly not a friend, though he could not deny that he wished for it. More than anything. He blinked, trying to sort through his emotions and clear his mind. Remus felt his left hand curl into a tightly clenched fist and he practically growled with the effort to restrain himself.

Exhaling a shaking breath and feeling his nostrils flare at his frustrations with his partner's animosity towards not wanting to eat, and the unfamiliar hot fire-seed of anger that came the very second that he saw Sirius's hand drape over his partner's shoulder, he closed his eyes tightly shut.

He had no right to be so incredibly with his best friend, so why, then, did he feel this way?

Lupin took in several deep breaths, in and out, in and out, and when he finally opened them again, to his inexplicable great relief, Tonks had shrugged out of Sirius's grasp, and her attention still remained fixated on an old bookshelf.

"I…you need to let me help you, Tonks," Lupin heard himself plead to his partner desperately, reaching out a slightly shaking hand to brush back a lock of her dark pink pixie that had fallen in front of her eye and tucked it back behind her ear where it belonged. "I can't let you starve. Tell me what it is you need."

"How?" Remus flinched at hearing how flat and numb his partner's voice sounded. "How can you help me, Remus? No one can help this," she snapped, lifting her wand hand, and attempted to flex it and make a fist, and she couldn't.

"I—I don't know, but I can try," Remus confessed, hating hearing the crack and dip in his voice. He sighed and reached up his right hand to card back that one stubborn lock of light brown hair that never failed to annoy him by hanging limp in front of his eyes. "As your partner, Tonks, I have to try. Let me."

Remus knew that even as he spoke the words to Tonks, they were hopeless and bounced off the young witch as good as hard rain. There was a silence to her soul and personality as she no doubt was still struggling to process everything that had happened to her in the last twenty-four hours, like she was the fall leaves under a thick mountain of icy frost. She felt the chill in her blood, the coldness bringing the synapses of her brain to a standstill. And Lupin hated it so very much.

How he longed for nothing more than to put his arm around her and tell her that it was not hopeless, that there was still meaning to her life, but he knew that Tonks would not listen to his words in her current emotionally vulnerable state of mind. Lupin swallowed hard down past the swelling lump in his throat.

"I've got a few vials of Sleeping Draught to help you sleep tonight. I can promise…." Here, he glanced towards Sirius and saw that his best friend had an uncharacteristically somber expression on his handsome face, and he nodded, "that we aren't going to let Crouch come after you again, Tonks. I promise you."

Lupin glanced down and realized his hands had curled into fists without him realizing and they settled on his lap as he took the seat on Tonks's other side.

Though they shook, to prevent himself from striking out in anger over his worried state of mind for his partner's condition, and he was loath to leave her.

Dumbledore's already assigned you as part of the Advance Guard tasked with bringing Harry home, though, James piped up unhelpfully. You have to go.

Emanating a tense exhale through his nose, Lupin shook his head vehemently and carded back that one stubborn lock of his hair, that no matter how often Molly tried to trim it for him, never failed to annoy him and get in the way. He stifled his growl of frustration and continued. "Doesn't it seem easier to accept the fact that Crouch won't hurt you as long as you're under my protection than it does to continue letting him do this to you, Tonks?" he asked.

"Maybe, but it's not that simple, Remus, so why don't you just get out of here? The Order needs you. I would only slow you down, and I am keeping you from your duties," she answered flatly, a muscle in her jaw twitching, and Lupin felt himself bristle as she turned away and still pointedly refused to look Remus in the eye.

She was well aware she was being incredibly rude to her partner, who was only trying to help her, but he had done more than enough. She'd not asked of him to risk his life for hers, and she would bring Lupin no further pain tonight.

Remus bit the inside wall of his cheek and checked his watch he wore on his right wrist.

"I'm afraid I need to leave with the others," Remus spoke up quietly, a pained look on his handsome, lined features, and he truthfully did sound apologetic as he raked his fingers through his tuft of light brown hair and shrugged back into his brown jacket, which he'd draped over his arm as he had escorted Tonks into Number 12, Grimmauld Place's living room. "But the Advance Guard will return with Harry, hopefully in an hour or two," he explained softly.

It did not escape Sirius's attention that Remus's gaze never left Tonks as he spoke. Tonks knitted her brows together in confusion, hurt, and betrayal.

"Fine." Tonks visibly winced as she recognized her voice sounded curt and clipped. "You need to leave, Remus. You have your orders. I have mine. Then go. I'll pray to the Light of Merlin for the Guard's safe return with Harry," she sighed, folding her arms across her chest and shrinking into her blanket sweater as much as she could for warmth, wishing for nothing more than to retreat inside herself and not talk to anyone else for the remainder of the day.

"Don't worry, Moony," Sirius piped up, his tone, which was usually jovial and humorous on a good day, now bore none of his trademark characteristics.

Lupin felt the familiar spark of anger ignite in the confines of his chest as Sirius reached over from his spot on the couch and gave Tonks's shoulder a squeeze. "I'll look after my cousin while you're gone," Sirius said somberly.

Remus nodded, his brows furrowed in a frown as he could not seem to quell the sudden uneasy feeling, and in his mind, an unwarranted and unnecessary feeling of uneasiness at the thought of leaving his partner alone with Sirius.

He cast one last longing glance towards Tonks as she remained still on the sofa, her arms folded across her chest, a heated blanket draped over her lap.

Lupin halted, one hand on the doorway to steady himself as he could hear Mad-Eye barking orders from just outside the door for the rest of the Advance Guard to go and retrieve Harry to assemble out front when her voice stopped him dead in his tracks. "I'll pray for the Guard's safe return. And Harry's…"

The question tumbled unchecked from his lips before he could stop himself. "And mine?" he asked, biting his bottom lip in nervous anticipation.

Lupin felt the sweat become trapped in between his clenched fists as he nervously awaited her answer, suddenly needing the truth from her lips more than he needed air to breathe. He needed to know if she trusted and cared for him.

Then he would know. His stomach shifted uneasily, and he noticed that his nails were digging into the wood of the door as his hand hovered over the knob.

It seemed to take Tonks an eternity to find her voice, and when she did finally answer Remus's question, her voice was so soft, he had to strain to hear.

"Yes." Her voice cracked and broke as she lifted her head, and Lupin had no time to dwell on the sudden and unexpected flood of warmth that spread like fire in his chest, and Moody barked out another order and he knew his time had come.

He loathed to leave her alone with Sirius, and he did not know where this sudden feeling of anger was coming from at seeing Sirius's arm draped around his own cousin's shoulder, his partner, not Sirius's, but he had to leave, and now.

He let out a sigh and raked his fingers through his hair and regarded Sirius.

"I'll be back in an hour. She needs to eat," he commanded, hardening his voice slightly, and was internally relieved when his best friend gave a nod, signaling that he understood. "She'll feel better the sooner she does, Sirius…"

Lupin offered a small smile and gave a curt nod towards Tonks and Sirius, who returned the gesture with brief nods of their own before turning away.

Remus was getting used to the dryness of his mouth and the constant swallowing of nothing, though now as he thought of Tonks's one-word answer, there was the slimy sensation of something thick and the taste of iron on his tongue and in his palette.

He swallowed the blood that formed on his tongue from biting down on it too hard and his last thought as his smile faltered as he closed the door and tried to ignore the swooping sensation in his stomach as he moved to join the rest of the Advance Guard was that he hoped he had not made a mistake in agreeing to leave Tonks alone with Sirius. He shivered at the blast of frigid cold air and shrunk into his brown jacket as much as he could for warmth.

He did his best to curb his pained breaths. It hurt as hell, to see Tonks this way, and to leave his partner alone with Sirius.

She was his responsibility. Not Sirius's. His. His hand curled into a fist in the pocket of his jacket.

If Crouch ever comes back for her, he thought, fuming and seething as his jaw tensed and locked in anger as he blocked out Moody's barking voice as he went over again their plan to rescue Harry for what had to be the tenth time, then I'll kill him. I swear to Merlin above as my witness, that I will kill Crouch…

Remus almost swallowed his tongue, resisting his urge to roar like an enraged dragon at what Crouch had done to his partner. A single, wretched tear began to form and blur at the edges of his vision, rendering the rest of the outside world around him in a hazy blur, though thank Merlin's beard, no one noticed.

But the worst part was not the stinging in his eyes, but the simple fact that it was not enough to swap with the anguish over Tonks's condition that pierced his broken heart, and he could not quell the uneasiness he felt of leaving her alone with Sirius, who was admittedly, something of a womanizer when he was young.

Though he'd never settled down with a particular witch, the fact that Sirius had an opportunity to spend time alone with Tonks alone and he did not, did not sit well with Remus and made the man feel incredibly uneasy as a result.

Poor Tonks was looking absolutely flabbergasted, Sirius thought, clearly not having anticipated the type of reaction Moony would have towards her well-being. He barely repressed his forming smirk as the corners of his lips twitched.

Merlin's left testicle, Molly, and Dumbledore were right. Moony's developing feelings for her whether he knows it or not, but I don't think he does.

His cousin let out a tired-sounding sigh and turned back away from her spot on the couch, where she'd poked her head behind the window's curtains and watched with no small measure of disdain as the rest of the Guard took off.

"Don't worry, I won't make you eat if you aren't hungry. Molly's cooking anyway, and I'm sure she'll take one look at you and call you a skinny little shrimp and force second and third helpings on your plate, and you won't be able to get out of that, cousin, so don't even think about refusing her food if you want to offend Mrs. Weasley," Sirius snorted as he rolled his eyes at Tonks, shaking his head in bemusement. "Remus means well, but he tends to hover sometimes and make you feel like you're being smothered. He did it to me and James all the bloody time during school. Don't be too hard on him. He cares for you, in his own way, I think…"

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely above a whisper after spending several long minutes that felt like an eternity in silence. "For opening your home to me while I…heal," she finished lamely, biting her bottom lip.

Sirius brushed away his cousin's concerns with an airy wave of his hand. "Think nothing of it. You're my cousin now, after all, so that makes us family."

Black fell silent for a moment, giving his cousin the once-over and chuckled. "I can see why Remus likes you," he complimented, snorting as a light pink blush speckled its way along Tonks's pale cheeks, and she knitted her brows together in a slight frown as she slowly swiveled her head and regarded Sirius.

"Oh?" she prodded, wiggling her brows, and quirking one Black's way.

"He does," Sirius continued, pretending to be interested in a book the girl was eyeing on the wall. His curiosity piqued, he retrieved it from the shelf, frowning at the immense amount of dust that coated his fingers as he wiped it off. "You're a Shakespeare fan? I wouldn't have pegged you as one, Tonks. No offense," he murmured, well aware he sounded surprised.

"Yes. well, appearances aren't always what they would seem, are they, Black? You'd know all of the madness within, wouldn't you, cousin?" Tonks's answer was immediate, and if he wasn't mistaken, sounding slightly defensive. Sirius smiled as he turned back around and held out the huge compendium of Muggle playwright William Shakespeare's entire collection of tragedies and chucked it at her lap. "Macbeth and King Henry are my favorites."

He chuckled. Of course, this girl with the dark pink hair and an incredibly talented Auror would be drawn to the more macabre pieces of literature. "Here, then. Something for you to read since you'll be spending a lot of time in this bloody place," he sighed, collapsing back onto the sofa next to Tonks and practically sinking into the couch's cushions. He was silent for several long minutes as he watched the vibrant, pink-haired young Auror cradle the book close to her chest and flip through a few of the pages, an intrigued look in her eyes, though Sirius had a feeling that she wasn't exactly thinking of Shakespeare.

Finally, he could bear it no longer. "I can see it in your eyes, Tonks, so don't even try to bloody lie to me. I'll know if you're lying," he added warningly. "What do you think of your new partner? I think it's evident how Moony feels about you, but I've not yet heard your opinion of the man, and I sense there's more than you're letting on, dear cousin. You have a strange look in your eyes."

Damn. Tonks felt her eyes widen and her already pale face drain of color as she promptly looked away. "How long has Remus been a werewolf, Sirius?"

Sirius felt his face blanch and he blinked owlishly at the young witch.

This was…new. It was but only one day into this girl and Remus's new 'partnership' and for the young witch to have already figured out the nature of Lupin's 'furry little problem,' with no prompting from anyone else that he knew of, was remarkable. He knew that Moony wouldn't have said anything to her as of yet.

Now it was his turn to stare at the young witch, who was, admittedly, something of a mystery to Sirius. Black bit the inside wall of his cheek as he swiveled his head to the left slowly to study the witch's rapidly paling face.

"I…ever since he was five years old, but…how did you figure it out?" Sirius asked hoarsely. His cousin had made her big declaration that she knew.

She knew. How in the name of Merlin's saggy left buttock did she know?

And now, the thick silence lay on both their skins like a deathly poison. It seeped into Sirius's blood and paralyzed his brain as he bit down on his lip.

Tonks's pupils had become dilated in the darkness of the living room and there was a horrible tremor in her hands. The young witch rolled her eyes at Sirius's dumbstruck look of awe and sighed. "It was easy to figure out, Black. The pieces of the puzzle were all there, I just had to put two and two together. The scars on his face. Too thick and jagged to be a dog bite. His…attitude towards me the other night when he and Mad-Eye, I—it was like…he was incredibly possessive and volatile, and once I figured that out and put together the characteristics of his rather monstrous behavior towards Crouch," here, she scrunched her nose in disgust, thinking that he had almost killed a man for her, though she swallowed hard and continued, "and the way he yelled at Umbridge earlier this morning, and given that it's…" She had to pause to tick off the number of days on her fingers since the full moon cycle's end, "now six days past the full moon, it's obvious."

Tonks's pale face was one of awkwardness as she waited for Sirius to respond to her claim that she had figured out Remus John Lupin's dark secret. Not even hurrying to save her feelings. Sirius picked his eyes up off the dusty hardwood floor of the living room, unable to detect any hint of animosity in the young witch's tone towards the unfortunate nature of Lupin's condition.

Merely, there was a certain trace of curiosity and a hint of pity in her tone.

She was resting her chin in her hands and had leaned forward slightly off the couch cushion, one leg crossed over her injured ankle, careful to mind that damned blocky black boot, one of her hands lowered and rested on her knee.

Sirius could tell by the way his cousin's brows were furrowed in contemplative thought that she was thinking of Remus's scars, how it must hurt.

Though there was an indiscernible expression on the young Auror's face, though he could tell by the curious way his cousin had spoken of Moony just now that this young witch had not flinched nor did she seem particularly bothered by the usually troublesome revelation that Remus John Lupin was a werewolf.

"He thinks too little of himself. I know that he sees himself as some sort of…of monster, when he is not," Tonks growled, more of a whisper as her pale hands clutched into bone-white fists and scraped down the black fabric of her black leggings. "Remus should not talk about himself like that, Black. Why?"

To that statement, Sirius could not have agreed more and said as much.

"No, he is not," Black sighed wearily, looking towards Remus's new partner, wondering just what exactly the young Auror's interest in his best friend was, aside from their partnership, and he recollected on Molly's words from earlier. He cares for your cousin, but I don't think him to be aware of it just yet.

And what about this one? He pondered, wondering if the girl felt the same.

But there it was again. That look. That strange, inquisitive look that suggested Tonks was not afraid of Lupin, nor his condition, for which Sirius was grateful. His best friend was such a kind man, who did so much for others and asked for very little, if ever anything at all, in return, and the fact that Moony might never know what it meant to love a woman, to know the simplistic joys of being loved and cared for in return was rather heartbreaking, Sirius thought.

Though if he and Molly had their way, this new partner was 'the one.'

"Now that you know what your partner is, you aren't afraid of the man?" Sirius couldn't resist asking. "The man is very much my last surviving best friend when I have no one else in my life, and he's been alone all his life, with no one."

Tonks didn't respond at first, and Sirius thought perhaps his cousin had been struck dumb or was simply at a loss for words as to how to respond to him.

"You couldn't ask for a better partner, Tonks. Remus won't hurt you, would never betray your confidence, nor would I. He's one of the kindest men I think I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He's…rather timid at times. Shy. And...even knowing the nature of his condition, you are not afraid of him? Of what he is?"

Sirius Black glanced towards his cousin again, well aware that the young Auror's expression most likely bore the look of disbelief, of doubt while he waited for her to answer him, and for a moment, he believed that Tonks would not.

"No. I'm not." Tonks's voice was so incredibly faint that had Sirius not already been hanging onto his cousin's every word, he definitely would have missed it. "His lycanthropy does not define his status. Who he is, as a man. I got all 'Outstanding's' in both my OWL's and NEWT's in Hogwarts, and I know exactly how to make the Wolfsbane Potion. I will make it for him every month if I have to," she snapped hotly, folding her arms across her chest, and picking at a loose thread coming undone on her black sweater. "If I have to slip the vials into his jacket pocket and keep what I'm doing a secret from him, then I will."

Sirius blinked, feeling his lips part open slightly to speak as if to ask a follow-up question, and the intelligent young witch caught the man's intentions.

Tonks shook her head and glanced down at her hands in her lap, fidgeting with her fingers. "Remus doesn't know that I know. And it stays that way," she growled, a low warning growl escaping her chest as she fixed Sirius with an unusually somber glower as her glistening gray orbs narrowed slightly in mistrust.

"You don't want to let him know that you know?" Sirius prodded gently. "Why is that?" He quirked a thick dark brow in his cousin's way and awaited her answer eagerly.

"Not yet," Tonks sighed, reaching up a shaking hand and raking her fingers through her thick dark pink pixie cut. She gave a shrug of her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "His business is his. When he is ready to come to me and share it, then I will let him know that I know his secret. Besides…" she murmured, reaching down at the foot of the couch for her small black crossbody purse and dipping into the bag's main zippered compartment and pulling out two empty small glass vials.

No doubt she intended to brew Wolfsbane Potion for him and slip some in them, and possibly put them in Lupin's drawer in the night table by his bedside.

Tonks did not look at Sirius while she spoke. Instead, she fingered the little glass vials almost tenderly so between her knuckles, shifting them in between her fingers. "He needs help. What does it matter why? I slip this somewhere where he will find them in the morning, help him heal, and the next day, he helps someone up when they fall, because of what I have done for him," she said. "We aren't meant to be alone," she murmured, tucking the empty vials back into her purse's pocket.

Sirius furrowed his brows as he struggled to place his cousin's accent. Mostly English, a slight tinge of Wales, though he caught the soft susurrations of a French accent as well. Sirius felt like his mind was reeling. He hoped that in time Moony would realize just how incredible this young woman was, how selfless she was being.

"He's been alone for most of his life. Very little people to turn to," Sirius heard himself confess, a look of exasperation on his features as his beard twitched.

"He should not have to be, and he is not anymore, not as long as I'm his partner. I tire of the way our civilization treats werewolves. I always have, even before I knew of Remus's condition. Or anybody else for that matter that's different," Tonks answered shyly, lowering her head, and grunting with the effort to remove herself from the couch.

The young Auror gave a muffled squeak of surprise as she felt a strong hand grip onto her right forearm and very gently pull her to her feet, one of his hands hovering just over her waist but not touching it, just in case Tonks lost her balance.

"Thank you," Tonks murmured, shuffling towards the stairwell that led up to her new bedroom, a look of trepidation and exasperation on her pale, pretty features as she scrunched her nose in disgust and looked down at her black boot.

"Think nothing of it," Sirius retorted immediately without even having to think of his response. "I hope you know that Lupin is incredibly lucky to have someone like you in his life now. The man's my best friend. Take care of him."

Tonks blinked, startled at her cousin's words as she rested at the foot of the stairs, for the way Black was speaking to her just now, he was making it sound as though the man was already beginning to have...feelings for her, which was absurd, and proceeded to blink owlishly at the former prisoner of Azkaban Prison.

She felt her jaw drop slightly in shock and her lips part open as she started speaking, but did not get a chance as a startled squeaking followed by the horrible yowling of a cat reached Tonks's eardrums, and she blinked.

Tonks turned her head sharply to the left as she watched a great big orange cat that looked half Kneazle more than anything else, scamper down the hallway, and she realized only a fraction of a second too late that damned monster was chasing Ptelea, and those squeaks she heard were little noises of terror, and she watched with a heavy heart and a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as the little Bowtruckle scrambled up the wall and took refuge from the cat, squeaking in anger, inside of the house's air vent.

"Oh my God," she moaned, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head."Was that a bloody cat?! That was, wasn't it? Whose cat is it? I'll kill it!" she groaned, bringing her hand to her forehead and dragging her palm down along her cheek in anguish. She shoved her knuckles in her mouth and bit down to stifle her yell of utter frustration.

As if this day couldn't possibly get any worse!

This was bad. If she would have known there'd be a cat here at Headquarters, she would have made other arrangements for Ptelea, who was terrified of cats.

Tonks sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, hearing Sirius's startled shouts of surprise at the fact that he just witnessed a Bowtruckle of all creatures climb into Grimmauld Place's shaft.

"Damn," she swore under her breath and looked back towards the air vent before swiveling her head slowly back to regard her cousin, who was staring at the air vent shaft with a look of dawning intrigue and confusion on his face.

"Wha—was that a—a Bowtruckle?!" Sirius stammered, shaking his head in disbelief, as though the man was refusing to believe what he'd just witnessed.

"Yes," Tonks groaned. "That's Ptelea, he's mine. I—I'm so sorry, I—I should have kept a closer eye on him, I hadn't realized he'd gotten out," she groaned, glancing down at the open compartment of her black purse slung over her shoulder. She scowled and knitted her brows together in quandary.

He must have gotten out to go explore when I wasn't looking, she thought and sighed. "This is all my fault. I—I have to get him out of there. He can't stay trapped up there, Sirius, or he'll die. I might… I might need your help."

Tonks felt her face pale in shock as she watched as her cousin raised his wand and pointed it at the air vent, fully prepared to utter the Summoning Charm. "NO!" she screamed, shooting out an arm and prying his wand out of his hand and lowering her cousin's arm, to which Sirius looked utterly aghast. "Don't! He...he's afraid of magic!" she protested pleadingly. "You'll only scare him further and then I'll never get him back."

The young Auror's outburst even caught her off guard, and she'd been in mid-step at the time, her black boot of her injured foot resting on the first step of the stairwell, and she slipped and felt her body begin to tilt and fall backward.

Sirius's strong arms caught her promptly around the shoulders and suddenly, leaning over her was her cousin. Sirius offered her a kind white smile, his gray eyes twinkling mischievously as he offered his cousin a furtive little wink.

Black must have sensed the sudden discomfort on Tonks's face, for he quickly set her upright, his hands hovering over her shoulder, just in case she fell.

"That was a close one, Tonks," Sirius joked. "Wouldn't have pegged you for being so clumsy, dear cousin. You might want to watch your step next time."

Tonks felt the heat creep maddeningly on her cheeks and she huffed in frustration and stomped her good foot in a moment of agitation and frustration.

She did not appreciate the fact that Sirius had blatantly voiced it out loud like this.

So far, in the few times, she'd almost fallen in front of Remus, he had never once said anything about it. He just told her to be more careful and hold onto his arm. He never pointed it out and made sly quips about her clumsiness.

Tonks scowled, pursing her lips into a thin line. She hated this aspect of herself, the clumsiness.

She was always tripping or falling over herself in some manner or other. Though thus far, in the short timespan of her and Lupin becoming more acquainted, it had not escaped her attention that save for her visit to Alice, the man rarely left her side, and always seemed to be hovering over her.

The young witch could not help but wonder if he liked being around to catch her when she fell. "Yes, well, appearances aren't what they seem, Black."

Sirius's face became crestfallen as his cheerful laughter died in his throat. "You're right. They aren't. And Moony knows all about that. But…" His voice trailed off as he clutched his wand in his hand as he looked up at the air vent.

Tonks noticed where her cousin was looking and sighed. "He—he doesn't respond too well to magic, Black, so I don't use it around him. And he doesn't take kindly to strangers, I'm afraid. So far, the only ones he's responded well to are me and Dumbledore. I think it's best if I get him out, but Crouch destroyed my wand and, well I…"

She swallowed hard and lifted her trembling wand hand to Sirius's eye-level as if to prove her point, and his expression became even grimmer.

"So, if we can't use magic to lure your Bowtruckle out, and he can't stay up there forever or he'll die and starve, or get caught in one of the fans as you said, then what exactly do you propose that we do to get him out? He has to come out," Sirius challenged, stowing his wand.

Tonks bit the inside wall of her cheek as she looked towards the air vent. She could no longer see Ptelea and that could only mean one thing. That he'd gone further down the ventilation shaft. "Shit," she swore through gritted teeth.

The young Auror slowly swiveled her head towards Sirius, whose eyes had dawned in recognition and understanding. "Oh, no, no, no, absolutely not! You can't tell me that's what you're thinking, Tonks! No. Way!" he protested, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Moony would murder me. You cannot possibly tell me that you're standing there in that damned bloody boot of yours and thinking of…" Sirius gestured wildly with his hands towards the vent.

"I have no other choice!" Tonks shouted hotly. "Were that I did, I would do it, but I don't see any other options, here, Black, do you? Without my wand, I'm pretty much powerless, so let's just go off the basis that for right now, I am completely and utterly powerless, Black. My nonverbal magic skills aren't all that great. I—I can do it, but it takes a great deal of concentration and this way is fastest. I have to climb in there and get him out. It's the only way to save him, Sirius. Please."

Sirius was silent for several long minutes before emanating a tense exhale through his nostrils and cocking his head to the side, a morose, unhappy expression on his face, he was very clearly not happy with his cousin's little 'plan.'

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"What do you want me to do? We'll get your Bowtruckle back, Tonks. How can I help?" he asked, albeit reluctantly, after a long and awkward silence.

Tonks bit her bottom lip and stuck it out in a slight, pleading pout.

"Don't tell Lupin…"