And welcome to another Remadora story… well, actually, three of them! Three chronological oneshots, each an independent take on how Remus and Tonks could have met. Remember, these oneshots are independent of each other, and do not have any connection between the chapters. Enjoy!

December, 1978

(Tonks is five, Remus is eighteen)

"You owe me for this one," Remus muttered, as Sirius dragged him towards the residence of his cousin, Andromeda.

"Come on, Remus," Sirius protested. "It's not even going to be that bad. Andromeda just wants to talk about this Order of the Phoenix thingy to me."

"So why do I have to come?" Remus asked.

"Because you're my friend. And I would've dragged James along, except he and his parents are going to Switzerland. And I would've dragged Peter along too, except he's staying at Hogwarts for Christmas."

"So I got sucked into this mess because I came home for Christmas?" Remus asked exasperatedly.

"Oh, come on, it's not a mess," Sirius told him, as they trudged through the snow and towards the small house. "It'll be fun. And only about half an hour, I promise. Then I'll tell Andromeda you're a serial killer and you get impatient and that you'll blow up the house if you don't leave, and…"

"Don't you dare," muttered Remus darkly.

Sirius sniggered. "Besides, her husband's going Christmas shopping. Ted. So it's just her and her daughter."

"Daughter?" Remus asked. "How old is she again?"

"Like, four or five. A young daughter."

"So you're bringing me over here to babysit?" he asked incredulously.

"No, no, you don't have to babysit her," reassured Sirius. "She'll be doing her own stuff. You just have to hang around for thirty minutes while I talk to Andromeda about the Order."

"Are you recruiting her or something?" inquired Remus.

"No, I'm just telling her what it is. I don't think she's going to join the Order, but she'd be a good ally."

"Fine," Remus sighed. "So I hang around while you tell her about the Order. Thirty minutes. Thirty flipping minutes. You had better appreciate this."

Sirius snorted. "Your moody teenager hormones are really coming through, mate."

"Shut up."

Their bicker had led them to the front of the house, and Sirius knocked on the door boldly. Remus brushed the snow out of his hair as he waited.

A woman with curly, light brown hair, who he could only take to be Andromeda, answered the door, her face breaking out into a smile as she saw them.

"Sirius. And you must be… you're not James, are you?"

"No, I'm Remus," Remus introduced. "Remus Lupin."

"Ah, that's right, I've heard about you. Well, come on in, I didn't realize it was snowing so hard out there." Andromeda smiled and held the door open to let them in.

"How's everything, Andi?" asked Sirius casually.

"Well enough, I suppose," she sighed. "You know, all this stuff about You-Know-Who is just driving us mad. Ted worries. And Nymphadora, she just doesn't understand how dangerous everything is."

"It's hard to grasp as a child," Sirius explained. "But don't worry about any of that stuff, that's why we have the Order."

"Which you're going to tell me about," Andromeda finished. "But before you do, would you two like some tea?"

"Yes, please," Sirius said, while Remus politely declined.

In minutes, Sirius and Remus had seated themselves at the table, a mug of hot tea sitting in front of Sirius, and a plate of biscuits set in the center. Andromeda seated herself neatly across from there and turned to Sirius.

"So," she began, "this Order thing."

"That's right," Sirius answered. "So, think of it as a resistance organization. Like, to stop Vol- I mean You-Know-Who. It's a group of people that are trying to fight back, and protect our people from the Death Eaters, and the corruption of the Ministry of Magic."

Remus stifled a yawn. They had given so many people this talk.

"Mummy?" came a small voice from the doorway, and all three of them turned around.

There stood a young girl in the doorway, whom Remus presumed to be Andromeda's daughter. Her hair was bright pink and in two pigtails, and she was holding a teddy bear in her hands.

"Mummy, who's that?" She pointed to Sirius, her eyes wide and full of curiosity.

"That's my cousin, Sirius. Say hi, Nymphadora."

The child scowled. "Mummy, I don't like that name."

"Nymphadora, say hi to Sirius," repeated Andromeda, making no indication of having heard her.

The girl, Nymphadora, looked up at Sirius. "Hi."

"Hi." Sirius gave her a grin. "I'm your cousin."

She frowned. "But you're Mummy's cousin!"

"It's complicated," cut in Andromeda hastily. The Black family tree was weird that way. "Now, Nymphadora, why don't you go play something? Sirius and I are talking about something very important, dear."

"Oh." She turned to look at Remus. "What about him?"

"He's busy too, Nymphadora," Sirius said, covering for him. "He's talking to us about some really important st…"

"No, it's okay," Remus found himself saying. "I can talk to her." He was quite bored with this talk about the Order, anyway.

"Thank you, Remus." Andromeda gave him a grateful smile. "Would you mind taking her to the other room?"

"Yeah, of course." He stood up, ignoring the confused glance Sirius sent him, and walked over to where the girl was standing by the door, looking bemused. He ushered her into the room across the hallway, closing the door to the kitchen so that Sirius and Andromeda could talk in peace.

"You're Nymphadora?" he asked kindly, crouching down onto his knees so that he was at her level.

"I don't like that name," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't call me that."

"Why not?" he asked in surprise. "It's a pretty name."

"It's hard to say," she complained. "Nym- Nyf- Ny- I can't say it." She pouted.

He didn't want to admit it, but she looked extremely adorable, with her bright pink pigtails and that pout on her face. He fought a smile. "Good point. So what do you want me to call you?"

"My friends call me Dora," she offered. "You can call me Dora."

"Dora," he mused. "I like that. I like your hair. It's pretty."

She giggled. "Look what I can do." She scrunched up her face in concentration, and her hair started changing colors rapidly: from bright pink, to dark orange, to forest green, to cherry red, to baby blue, to indigo, and then settling on a rich shade of magenta.

His eyes widened. "How… did you do that?"

"I'm a Morphagus," she told him proudly. "Mummy said so."

Remus had no idea what that was. "That's… really cool."

She giggled. "I can also turn into animals! Watch me!" She scrunched up her nose and turned it into a pig snout. "See?"

He laughed. "Wow. That's amazing."

"I know! Can you turn into animals?" she asked.

Yes.

He could.

He could turn into a werewolf. He had to. Every month.

"No," he lied. "I can't. I'm not as cool as you."

She frowned. "Oh. That's okay. You're still nice." She patted his arm.

A smile played at his lips. "Thank you."

"Will you be my friend?" she asked, her eyes wide. "I like nice people."

"Of course."

A bright smile appeared on her face. "Wait till I tell Daddy! No grown-ups talk to me other than Mummy and Daddy. But you're a grown-up, and you're my friend!"

He laughed. "Sometimes grown-ups don't understand."

"Yep. They talk too much." She rolled her eyes, which looked super cute on a five-year-old. "Like that woman who comes here for tea. She said she was going home, but she kept talking to Mummy. For hours!"

Remus smiled at her observation. "Grown-ups tend to do that a lot."

She nodded, brushing a lock of hair (which had resumed its previous shade of pink) out of her face. "Are you cousins with Mummy too?"

"No, I'm friends with your cousin Sirius."

"Oh. So you're Mummy's friend?" she inquired.

"Yes, but I can be your friend too." He didn't know what else to say.

"I know. Nice people are friends with lots of people. Daddy says it's not about lots of friends, but good friends. I want to be a good friend to people."

Remus was impressed at her maturity. Most people her age would be hoping for good friends, while she was hoping to be a good friend. "That's very mature, Dora."

"What's mature?" she asked, staring up at him with her wide, innocent eyes.

"It means grown-up," he explained. "It's a good thing."

"Oh." She examined him closely, and then reached out to touch a scar on his face. "Where did you get this?"

He tensed immediately. "Er, I got scratched."

She frowned. "Did it hurt?"

"Yeah. A lot."

"I have one too. See?" She pulled down her sock to show a long red scar running down the side of her foot. "I tripped over a knife on the ground. I didn't see it was there." She pulled her sock back up. "But Mummy says it shows that I'm brave. That means you're brave too!"

Something inside him was melting. He felt tears well to his eyes. Imploring himself not to cry in front of her, he took a deep breath.

She tilted her head towards the side. "Right?"

He managed a nod, but she didn't seem satisfied. Her big brown eyes watched him for another moment; then she gave him a hug. He wrapped his arm around her in response, unable to help but smile at how genuine she was.

"That means a lot to me, Dora," he said quietly, when she pulled away. "You'll be a really good friend."

She grinned. "You're really nice. I have to tell Daddy all about you."

He fought the urge to smile. "Yes. Definitely."

Just then, the door opened, and Remus and Dora both whirled around to see Sirius standing there. "Remus, we're going."

"But… he and I were just talking!" protested Dora, running up to her cousin. "Five more minutes?"

Sirius cast Remus an amused glance. "Were you, now?"

Remus rolled his eyes and stood up. "Shut up, Sirius. Where's Andromeda?"

"She's inside," answered Sirius, his eyes still glinting. "Dora, I'm sorry, but we have to go now."

She looked up at Remus. "Do you?"

"Yeah, we do. Sorry." He reached his hand down to ruffle her hair affectionately.

"Will you come meet me some other time?" she asked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"Of course I will," he assured her. "Promise."

She beamed and wrapped her arms around his legs. "Okay. Bye!"

He laughed. "Bye, Dora."

Later, when they were walking back home through the snow, Sirius asked, "What did you do to her, Moony? She was all over you."

"That's because I'm nice, thank you very much," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I didn't do anything to her."

"Whatever you say," said Sirius slyly.

A/N: So here's part one! I loved writing five-year-old Dora. I think she was a very genuine child and Remus would've loved her. Please leave a review if you liked it!