Fifth Secret

It is the anniversary of the first year, the first year alone again without Sirius, and everyone is pretending not to notice. Tonks is curled quietly in a chair in the edge of the room and pretending not to notice as he gets more and more drunk, toasting himself in front of the fire, the silent tears working down his cheeks. Finally, everyone else has left, and she crosses the room to stand next to him but ends up tripping over a footstool and cursing loudly. He does not move, so she comes over to stand behind him, her arms twining around his waist.

"You know," he says, as if they had been in the middle of a conversation, "I was always a little bit in love with Sirius."

She nudges his side with her cheek. "Remus, everyone was."