Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned. I wish. Oh well. I own the plot, though!

A/N: I don't mind if you don't like my story. Please R/R! Criticism is welcome. Dedicated to Mary because she finally got me to write a story on Speech

It was her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. It was his last year, too. Charlie, Charlie Weasley's last year. Nymphadora Tonks sighed and gazed out at the lake. It was a warm day in mid May, and school would be out in three weeks. It was three weeks until Charlie left for Romania to work with dragons. Three weeks till the love of her life left, probably forever.

A shadow blocked the sun that was beating down on her robe-clad back. She turned her head and smiled at Charlie. "Hi."

"Hey. Listen, can I ask you for a favor? Maybe, possibly?" he said, smiling at her hopefully.

"Ugh, not again! What is it this time?" Tonks laughed, breaking her intimidating (at least she hoped it was intimidating) appearance. She knew she would eventually give in, but it was one of her favorite games, trying to elude him for a long time. She never lasted very long.

Charlie grinned. He pulled out of his pocket a much blotted piece of parchment. He handed it to her solemnly. She read as much of it as she could make out.

"Is this…a valedictorian speech? If it is, then you are the worst speech-writer ever." She grinned smugly at him, relishing the sheepish look on his face.

"Umm…it is." He hurried along, "That's why I need your help. I'm awful at writing speeches."

"How could you be awful at writing speeches? What do you call all those pep talks you give the Quidditch team?" Tonks was a Chaser on the Gryffindor team.

"I call those spur of the moment," he shot back. "Those are off the top of my head.

Something to get a nervous team invigorated isn't nearly as hard to come up with as a

speech to the entire year, faculty, and parents. I'm brain-dead, Dora! You've got to help

me!" His face was pleading, aggravated with himself and with her lack of sympathy.

"Fine, fine, I'll help you." That must be a record for the shortest amount of time I've held

out, Tonks thought. She stood up and walked towards the castle. After a few steps, she

stopped and turned around. "Why aren't you coming? You're the one with the speech."

He was still standing by the lake, watching her.

He shook his head distractedly and walked towards her. "Where are we going?"

Tonks laughed at him. "That far away, unknown place called the library, of course."

3 HOURS LATER

Tonks sat back in her chair and sighed. They were finally done with his speech. It was

pretty good, too. The annoying, stupid speech contained quotes from all of the teachers

and every important person they could come up with. "Well, all that's left is the thank yous.

Let's get started, and then we'll be done!"

"Nah, that's okay. You can head out to dinner. I'll finish it up by myself."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't exactly mind helping you. With the speech, I mean."

Tonks looked at him curiously. He was hiding something from her. She could tell. She

could always tell with Charlie.

"No, it's fine. Have fun at dinner." He looked up at Tonks and she could tell he wanted to

get rid of her for some reason.

Slightly miffed and rather put out, she gathered up her things. "Okay, then, I'll see you

later." True to her nature, she tripped twice on the way out.

GRADUATION, TIME FOR THE VALEDICTORIAN SPEECH

Tonks watched as Charlie made his way up to the podium and started the speech they had

worked so hard on. He hadn't shown her the end, or even spoken to her much in the past

three weeks. She had no idea why he was avoiding her. She turned her focus back on

Charlie. He was near the end now.

"I would like to thank all of my teachers, Professor Dumbledore, all of the parents

who have come to see their children graduate, and most importantly, at least for me, my

best friend, Nymphadora Tonks, who helped me write this speech. Thanks for everything,

Dora!" He stepped down off the platform and made his way towards her. He had a huge

grin on his face, an expression that she could tell was mirrored on her own face. He

stopped in front of her. "Did you like the end?" he asked, teasing her.

"I loved the end. The end was the best part! Especially when you stopped talking. Just

kidding. Is that why you've been avoiding me? Because you didn't want me to find out

about the end!" she asked incredulously as realization dawned on her.

"Umm…yeah." He grinned at her.

She shook her head exasperatedly. "Men are so typical."

"Yeah. Uhh…that wasn't the only reason I avoided you."

"Oh?" Tonks asked, one eyebrow curving upward.

"Yeah. I wanted to do something." His trademark grin, super confident and charming,

had appeared on his face.

"Like what? Raid Honeydukes?"

"Not exactly." He leaned forward and kissed her.

Unbeknownst to them, Dumbledore had stepped up to the podium. "Well, another year

has gone by, and with it, another class. I'll miss you all. By the way, if you'll all look

over to your right, I think you might see that Mr. Weasley was, perhaps, slightly incorrect

in his wonderful speech when he informed us that Nymphadora Tonks was his best

friend. I know that I, for one, have never kissed a friend of mine quite like that." A merry

twinkle shone behind his half-moon spectacles as he watched the two students exchange

a "friendly" kiss.

The End

A/N: I really hope you enjoyed my little ficy here. It's my first and I don't know what

ship to do for my next one. IF YOU REVIEW, I'LL KNOW! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

I don't mind flames.