Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Seven-Eight

Dinner at the Burrow

Harry enjoyed being at the Burrow immensely and it didn't hurt at all that Molly was an excellent cook and there was an open area where one could play Quidditch without having to worry about the Muggles. They had arrived two days before the Quidditch World Cup so Harry was able to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the Weasleys' home. His favorite time was when they played Quidditch and it was best when Bill and Charlie decided to play too, because then they would have three players for each side, with Ron playing Keeper against both teams. They had just finished a particularly rough match where Harry's team had won by only ten points and they were all talking about what happened when Harry noticed that the Weasleys had a guest.

"Who's that girl?" Fred asked when they had turned the corner and they could see someone setting up the table that they would be eating dinner at.

"I don't know," Bill said looking concern but almost immediately snorted when the said girl trip over nothing. "Or maybe I do know."

"Huh?" Fred raised an eyebrow at him.

"Tonks!" Charlie shouted, running ahead of the others as the girl turned to face them, beaming even though she had just picked herself off the ground.

"Charlie!" Tonks yelled back and the two old friends hugged.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked.

"With a question like that, one would think you weren't happy to see me," Tonks pouted. "Besides I'm not here to see you, I'm here to see my cousin."

"It sure doesn't seem that way to me," Harry said and Tonks smiled at him before she pulled Harry into a hug too. "It's good to see you … but really Tonks, why are you here?"

"I ran into Sirius the other day and he said that he had plans on coming here and I sort of invited myself," Tonks said.

"He what?" Harry said.

"Had plans on coming here today," Sirius said, "I know you've must be missing me already, Harry."

"Nope, I haven't been missing you at all, you can go now," Harry said and narrowing his eyes at Sirius and noticed that Remus was standing next to him too. Remus, however, didn't seem to be looking at him, and appeared to be upset about something else judging by his scowl.

"Come on Charlie, we have a lot of catching up to do," Tonks said, returning her attention to Charlie, taking his arm and dragging him to the end of one of the tables. "Tell me about the dragons you've seen."

"Merlin, I don't know where to start!" Charlie beamed. "Well, of course there's Norberta, the Norwegian Ridgeback …"

"Norberta … don't you mean Norbert," Ron said to his brother.

"Well, we are talking about the same dragon, but her name is Norberta," Charlie chuckled.

"Who is this Norberta and how does Ron know about her?" Molly asked several plates of food floating behind her and she flicked her wand so that the food would rest on the table.

"Norberta is our newest dragon, Mum," Charlie said without hesitating. "I told Ron about her when we first got her because she was so interesting, but … er … I thought she was boy when she first hatched."

"How did you find out you were wrong?" Tonks asked, though she knew the story of Norberta and how she got to Charlie.

"She's shown to be one of the most vicious dragons we have," Charlie said, his smile showing that he thought this was a good quality in a dragon. "And female dragons are always the most dangerous."

"Yes, well girls in general can be vicious, you should watch out for that Charlie," Tonks said and Charlie's eyebrows furrowed at her, she wasn't acting like herself. Still, he happily talked to her all throughout dinner and soon it seemed like old times when they had hung out when they were at Hogwarts.

"Er … Tonks, are you going to tell me what's going on here?" Charlie asked after the younger kids went to bed because they would be woken up so early the next day to go to the Quidditch World Cup.

"Going on … nothing's going on," Tonks said a little too quickly.

"Seriously, how did you ever become an Auror if you can't even tell a simple lie," Charlie shook his head as Tonks slapped him on the shoulder, chuckling. "And that right there is what I'm talking about."

"It's nothing Charlie … I've just missed you … it's been almost two years since we've seen each other last," Tonks said.

"Ah huh," Charlie said skeptically. "Tonks, the way you've been acting a bloke might think that you're interested in him … even a bloke as thick as I am."

Tonks's smiled faded and she sighed. "I'm sorry … I didn't … that's not what I …."

"Though, of course the only reason why I noticed you've been overly friendly towards me is because a certain guy across the table has been glaring at me all night," Charlie added.

"He has?" Tonks asked, her expression brightening up immediately.

"Tonks, Tonks, Tonks," Charlie said shaking his head and trying to give her a stern look. "I never thought I would see the day when you would use normal girl tactics to make a guy jealous."

"I …" Tonks was at a loss for words as she bowed her head again. "I didn't mean it like that. I've just been so confused. The last few times I saw him he seemed pleased to see me and then suddenly he can't wait to get away from me. I'm not even sure if he likes me … I just wanted to see if maybe he might…"

"You really like this guy," Charlie said surprised, "even though he's old enough to be your dad."

"He's not that old!" Tonks glared at her friend and he chuckled.

"So you thought flirting with your dashingly handsome and very charming best friend would help show whether the guy liked you or not," Charlie said looking smug.

"That would have helped, but it seems flirting with a smug and bigheaded friend of mine worked just as well," Tonks said, chuckling herself when Charlie pouted at her.

"I'm not bigheaded," he complained and she laughed. "And are you still trying to make the guy jealous, because Remus just gave me a murderous look."

"No," Tonks said looking over to where Remus and Sirius were sitting talking to Bill, Molly and Arthur. Remus was looking down at his plate as if he found his dessert very interesting. She realized that any time that she had looked at him, Remus had been either looking at his food, or talking to Sirius and she wonder how much he had been looking at her throughout the night. She then looked back at Charlie and gave him a more genuine smile than she had given him all night. "I have missed you Charlie."

"Yeah, me too," Charlie smiled. "So how long have you liked this guy anyways?"

"Remus," Tonks said and her cheeks started to flush. "Well … for as long as I can remember I've had a crush on him."

"Oh, so that must have been why you didn't fall for the good old Weasley charm," Charlie waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Must have been," Tonks said drily. "But you didn't seem to mind much … I recall you having a girlfriend every other week."

"Yeah, those were the times," Charlie smiled fondly at the memory of his last few years at Hogwarts.

"You never thought of me that way, did you?" Tonks asked suddenly aware that if he had, her choice to flirt with him might have been very cruel.

"Huh?" Charlie said as if he wasn't sure what to say to that. "I don't think so …"

"You don't think so … wouldn't you know something like that?" Tonks asked intrigued by his answer.

"Well, you are my best friend, I wasn't about to think of you that way," Charlie shrugged, though he couldn't help but think of his youngest brother and how Ron had reacted to his female best friend when she had first arrived. There was ever likelihood that he could have fallen for his best friend, but it just never happened for him. "I supposed that's my answer isn't it. I just never put any thought into it before."

"Good," Tonks said relieved.

"You don't have to be so happy about that. You should know what a wonderful catch I am," Charlie pouted.

"I do know that," Tonks said sincerely. "I'm just glad that I wasn't using you too badly right now."

"I suppose that would be relieving," Charlie agreed with her. "So, what are you going to do about Remus now?"

"I don't know," Tonks sighed and Charlie gave her a long look.

"I've never seen you like this," Charlie said. "You never had a problem with going straight up to a guy and telling them exactly how you felt before. You've always been direct about how you were feeling, so why are you playing games now?"

Tonks didn't answer as she looked at Remus who was now talking to Sirius. "I've never felt this strongly for someone before. And I'm afraid that even if he does like me …"

"Oh, he likes you, I'm sure of that," Charlie said and he did seem sure of himself in concerns of this.

"Be that as it may, he might still turn me away," Tonks said.

"Because he's older than you or because he's a werewolf?" Charlie asked.

"Both reasons I think …" Tonks said. "I've heard Sirius telling my mum that Remus didn't like dating because he's a werewolf … and I can't really think the fact that he has babysat for me when I was younger helps me seem like eligible dating material."

"No, I won't think that would help," Charlie snorted at her last sentence and Tonks slapped him in the arm again.

"This is serious, Charlie!"

"I know, sorry," Charlie said, rubbing the spot where she had hit him, she always did have a strong arm.

"What should I do?" Tonks said miserably, though she was thankful that she final had someone to talk to about this.

"Well, if you are really asking me, I think you should just tell him how you feel," Charlie said and when Tonks looked at him with shocked fear he sighed. "Look, it's like I said. Being direct has always been your strong suit. You shouldn't back down now."

"But what if …?" Tonks started to ask.

"As a Gryffindor …" Charlie started and Tonks glared at him.

"I'm a Hufflepuff not a Gryffindor," she said knowing what he would say next.

"I made you an honorary Gryffindor in sixth year," he said like she knew he would.

"Which I refused to recognize! You Gryffindor's always thinking you're the best," Tonks huffed but soon she and Charlie were both laughing, remembering the numerous times they had a conversation like this.

"As an honorary Gryffindor …" Charlie said, paying no attention to Tonks's protest, still smirking, though when he started talking again he was more serious. "Tonks, you're one of the bravest people I know. Don't back away from your feelings just because you're afraid of what might happen. If your feelings are as strong as you say they are, then you can't let them go to waste. I know that as soon as I find a girl that I feel like that about, I'm not going to just let her get away," he smiled sadly as if he would like to meet the right girl and settle down now.

"I thought you were happy at the dragon reserve," Tonks said.

"I am," Charlie chuckled. "And I don't mind the fun times I've had with several women that I've met in the last few years … doesn't mean that I can't hope that the right girl will walk into my life one of these days."

"I hope you find that too," Tonks smiled at him.

"So are you going to take my advice?" Charlie asked.

"And tell Remus how I feel … I don't even know how to start that conversation," Tonks sighed.

"Can't help you there," Charlie shrugged. "But if neither of you say anything, then nothing is going to happen between you too."

"I suppose you have a point," Tonks sighed, "thanks Charlie."

O

"Well that was fun," Sirius said, as he opened the door to Grimmauld Place. He was looking slightly amused as he turned to face the two people behind him. He had noticed Remus less than pleased express he wore all night and heard the werewolf muttering things under his breath. He had also been aware of Tonks looking at Remus more times that night than was necessary, as if she was trying to see how he was reacting to her 'talking' to her old friend. "Did you have fun talking with Charlie, Tonks?"

"Yeah, it was nice to catch up with him," Tonks said, smiling way too brightly at Sirius and he could tell she was nervous about something.

"You seemed really happy to see him," Remus said in an emotionless voice. "I'm glad you could talk to your friend."

"Er … I think it's time that I get to bed," Sirius said suddenly after Tonks had given him a pointed look, and he fled the room, trying not to smile too much.

"That was odd," Remus frowned at the fleeing Sirius.

"Remus I …" Tonks started to say, but couldn't think of how to phrase what she wanted to say to him. She was trying to take Charlie's advice and just tell Remus how she felt but the words wouldn't come. Before she could lose her nerves … she had been resolved to tell Remus tonight … she stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the mouth.

Remus's eyes widened as he watched her come towards him, his heart hammering in his chest and he couldn't seem to move his body at all. When her lips touched his, however, his eyes closed and relief washed over him in waves. This whole night, he had been preparing himself to let her go … to let her be happy with a man her own age that was nice and had obviously cared about her. He was sure that he had been too late in telling her how he felt … sure that even if he had, she would have told him that she didn't feel the same way about him. He couldn't be happier that he was wrong.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Tonks said as soon as she moved her lips away from his, and she was standing on the balls of her feet again, looking embarrassed and sad. "I just didn't know what to say and I needed to let you know how I felt. I'm sorry about trying to make you jealous … being so close to Charlie but it was so frustrating not knowing whether you liked me or not. Charlie said that you did, but I'm still not sure if that was true or not, but I had to see. Because Remus …. I really, really like you …"

"Tonks," Remus said soothingly.

"I've wanted to tell you this for the last …" Tonks said, continuing to talk as if she couldn't stop herself.

Remus moved one of his hands up so he could cup her cheek, which had stopped her babbling much more effectively than saying her name had. Then he was beaming at her as he said, "I really, really like you, too."

Before she could take in what he was saying he leaned down and kissed her.