AN - Better late than never...I really do want to get this story finished and it's just about there, so I do apologize to everyone who has read and followed this over the years! Drop me a note, let me know you're still there and interested in me finishing this if you are!

Chapter 48

The Auror and the Troublemaker

"I am glad you've accepted my invitation with so little notice. No telling when next I'll have a free moment," Osiris said, to the newly blond-haired woman walking next to him.

The great benefit to Tonks' abilities was that she could be whomever. In Osiris' position, that made it far safer for them both. He did not yet have enough skill in Occlumency to be flippant with what made it into his memories, and he was somewhat lacking in ones that he could push forward if necessary.

"I don't even like shopping, but I'm not missing an opportunity to dress you again," she teased, alluding to their first meeting.

"Nor do I, but I need clothes. I'll take any time spent away from people twice or thrice my age." Truth be told, he felt horribly old lately. As if there were many lifetimes compressed inside his young body. First term seemed a decade ago. That Osiris seemed another person too.

"Such a great testimonial for my company!" she returned with a laugh. "You certainly know how to flatter!"

"I mean the shopping, as you well know." He rolled his light hazel eyes. "I'm looking far more forward to our lunch."

"Will you buy me ice cream afterward?" she asked, trying to conceal her juvenile smile.

He snorted, "You make it sound as if you think that a great generosity! Or that I'll think that's silly. Hard to tell."

"Well fine then Mr. Galleons. Three scoops with all the toppings it is!"

There was something about her response that made him realize that she thought he was not very well off in life. He thought about correcting her assumption, which had some merit given he was something of an orphan, but then decided against saying much. He was never one for the rich boy monikers. He'd just try to clue her in to him not being dependent on the professor.

"With having to buy new clothes however shall I afford it?" he said, instead, with a sly grin. "And I'll have you know I've probably done more sneaking around Diagon Alley than you've ever dreamed, and a good portion of it spent with ice cream." The many benefits of playing delivery boy through the floo network for his mother. A lifetime ago.

She giggled. "Whatever would Professor Snape think if he knew!" She imagined him larking off on Professor Snape while enjoying an ice cream!

Osiris laughed too. "Yes, well, I should clarify…not lately. When my mother was still alive, I played delivery boy for her business." He chortled more as he imagined what Professor Snape's response would have been had he tried that on him. Said response was only funny because he would never see or experience it.

"Surely you would never do anything so undignified now at your advanced age," she replied, teasingly, clearly imagining the same thing.

"Technically, it is my business now. I can stop for all the ice cream I want. If it weren't for apprenticeships and Professor Snape."

"Then you wouldn't want me to have one of the other Aurors tell him that they saw you two weeks ago getting ingredients and an ice cream?"

He rolled his eyes, "That's not even funny." He did smile, though. "I don't think he knows how to appreciate a joke."

"So, what do I get if I refrain from ice cream jokes around Professor Snape? I won't have to pay for lunch either?"

He huffed in amusement, shook his head and said, "I don't have a problem paying regardless. It's not the seventeenth century, I'm not financially dependent on some miserly master, exchanging labor for learning. Well, the second part is true. The first part not."

"You know, what you're saying is that you are an impeccable bargain for Professor Snape, because he doesn't have to foot the bill for you!"

They shared a laugh.

"If only it were that simple." He smiled at the thought. They both knew it was not. They both knew about the Mark on his arm. He liked that she could make him smile despite it all, because it was not naiveté that made her say such things or make light of them; it was because she did know. "But the one who has gotten the impeccable bargain is Professor Slughorn." He chuckled at that thought. "He gets to have an apprentice without having one at all. It is the only way I do anything with Potions while Professor Snape teaches Defense."

"Professor Snape could probably use you better in the Defense classes." She gave him a knowing eye. After what he'd been through and his already-confessed knowledge of Dark Arts, he could help equally much with that class if not more.

"True, but he tries to respect my apprenticeship as much as possible no matter how much time is taken away in other…responsibilities. He also respects Professor Slughorn and knows that he could use my help at his age. And he likes to keep my ego and impulses in check by not leaving me to my own devices."

"I wouldn't leave you to your own devices either, Mr. Self-Confessed Troublemaker! And you need taken down a peg or two!" She greatly enjoyed taking the piss out of him.

He snickered. She was not off the mark. He'd gone crashing into Hogwarts life like a drunken, rampaging Hippogriff. She'd clearly enjoyed his stories from the last time they'd been together.

"Tease me if you like, but I was close to my mum."

"You know, in the Muggle world, bad boys frequently have mum tattoos…must be a correlation with being a mummy's boy." She smiled as he chuckled and rolled his eyes. "What, you said to tease you if I like. It is fun! And you need to laugh more or at least smile."

"Maybe I should get a mum tattoo on my other forearm, balance it all out," he said in an amused whisper. He would never do it, of course, but he didn't want her to think him humorless. "She was the one who kept me down a peg or two."

"I have not heard many of the students complain about Professor Slughorn, so he seems kind. I doubt he'll take you down any pegs no matter what Professor Snape thinks of your ego and impulsivity." She giggled.

"Oh, no doubt. Professor Snape warned me that I might receive this thing known as compliments…" He made a whoosh in the air with his hand. "Professor Slughorn is also happy to sit there grilling me on my studies while I brew what they need for the Hospital Wing."

"Eating bon bons?"

"Pineapple candy," he replied, with a bark of a laugh. "I don't mind. It is a benefit to me to have two masters to work with. Things for the Hospital Wing are old hat. Pretty simple. Professor Snape would have expected the same things from me anyway. None of those responsibilities seems bothersome or difficult anymore."

"How could it be after…"

"Exactly," he supplied, showing he followed what 'after' she was speaking about. "I will happily prepare ingredients all day or scrub floors and cauldrons without magic all night." That was blissfully easier than Death Eater acts and his issues with Dark Magic. "Though I'd rather avoid the last two."

"I would think the unpleasantness these days is more in the pieces that are the role. He looks at you differently. He is fond of you."

"Who? Professor Slughorn?"

She whacked his shoulder, "No you idiot, Professor Snape."

He looked at her incredulously, as if perhaps she was making another joke. He sputtered some. "You're serious?"

"Either Auror training makes you more observant to note subtle changes, or you men are just altogether daft and we women are just more skilled."

"You're mad. Stunningly, barkingly, mad." He laughed. "Fond?"

She pushed him. "Stop laughing!" She laughed some too. "You look up to him. Do not deny it. You are fond of him too."

"Fond is not the word…I do admire him, yes-"

"Fond!" she interrupted, trying not to snicker.

"If you say so," he allowed, his eyes reflecting his dubious acceptance of her insistence of fond.

Soon clothing was purchased after much teasing that Professor Snape would only approve of black and bat-like from Tonks. Lunch and ice cream were both had, payment for which was split as she wasn't letting a man - much less a younger one - pay for her. Or so she said.

After apparating back to Hogsmeade, he walked back with her to where she was staying. He had been raised solely by his mother after all; it was an ingrained politeness rather than a statement that she needed him to do so. As an Auror, he figured she was self-sufficient in that regard.

"You coming with?" she asked him when they arrived at the door, tilting her head.

His hazel eyes followed. He blinked.

This was a first for him. He was fairly certain she wanted him to come in with her for…well…something more than tea and biscuits. Was this how the adultier adults did it? He suddenly felt bathed in nothing but schoolboy experiences, followed by the occasional summertime lark. He felt vastly underqualified.

He realized he had been struck silent for too long. "Ohh. Erm. I." Surprise, hormones, and responsibilities all collided in his brain at once. His brain stumbled another moment before he pulled together, "Fuck, I don't think I have the time." He had to get back. And nobody wanted to rush that.

Her barked laugh made him realize he was absolutely lame.

Well done you tosser…he thought of himself after he'd checked his watch. Actually checked his damnable watch.

"So, to clarify." She snickered, unable to continue for a moment. "Your excuse is not because you find me objectionable?"

She really found this amusing.

"No, of course not," he replied, mortified she thought he was running away from her…advance? Then he was mortified he might sound infantile in his eagerness. He just barely kept himself from issuing a groan at his lackluster performance. Then he blinked and said, "Hang on…have I even seen the real you? Totally?"

For some reason, this must have been the exact right thing to say, because she just grabbed him by the front of the shirt, just under his collar, and kissed him. Like a boss.

She gave him a little push when she released him and said, "Next time, then." That might have been the only time someone had confessed to so eagerly wanting to sleep with her where appearances could have nothing to do with it. Quite flattering.

"Well, better hurry up," she said, shooing him off, looking ready to laugh her pants off at his stunned expense. "Don't want to end up scrubbing floors and cauldrons anyway, after doing the responsible thing…Troublemaker."

AN - Don't forget I started this story long before Lupin/Tonks was a canon thing, and I also think that's one of the most wasted and silly relationships in canon. I'd be interested to know if others agree, ha ha!

Also, who noticed the potential...dilemma...introduced between the last two chapters?

UP NEXT: Some Snape & Osiris...then some more Dark Lord...then in a few chapters we get around to killing Dumbledore.