Summary: Sirius stumbles onto a memory of a lost love, but puts Tonks and Lupin in jeopardy.

Pensieve Moments
Love Betrayed

Remus Lupin donned his flannel pajamas and crawled into his cold bed feeling disheartened. He had returned to number twelve after following another dead end on a mission for the Order. Sirius was already in bed, so he didn't seek his friend out to commiserate on his bad luck. But his disappointment was enhanced when he remembered the roster for guard duty tonight: Nymphadora Tonks.

The last time they had been together, he had just held her as Tonks relayed the memory she had seen in the pensieve. He was glad to offer her the comfort of his embrace, but now he was eager for more. He sighed and let his thoughts drift to bright pink hair, dark, bright eyes in a heart-shaped face, and a mouth that invited his kisses.

His door abruptly swung open just as he was dozing off. Before he could say anything, the woman of his dreams flopped backwards onto the bed.

"Oof."

"What the?" Tonks immediately turned to find Lupin sitting up in bed trying to catch his breath. She was in the habit of just falling onto the bed when he was gone.

"Remus? I thought you were away on mission," said Tonks. She quickly brought a hand up to rub against his chest.

"I thought you had guard duty," replied Lupin. By this time Tonks wasn't just rubbing at his torso, she was unbuttoning his shirt.

"Bill insisted on switching with me, so I came here to pout, but now," said Tonks as she kissed his lips quickly, "I think I'm going to play."

"No, I think you're going to pay. I'm not touching a woman who manages to literally set me aflame until she promises to take Molly's Honey Note Rehabilitation class." His stern tone had little effect on Tonks as she managed to push the shirt off of his shoulders.

"Really?" asked Tonks as she cocked her head to the side while seeing to her own shirt.

Lupin fell back against the pillow with his arms cradling his head. "Really."

"Then you'll just have to be passive until I agree to the class," said Tonks as she leaned over to kiss him. "Now let's see, Professor. Where should my apology begin?"

Two hours later, the woman still had a satisfied smile on her face as she slept curled in the man's arms. She rubbed her cheek lightly against his arm, but knew he was in deep slumber after her ministrations.

But her peace was interrupted when she jerked awake with a start. Her Auror training had kicked in as she realized someone was looming over the bed staring at them.

"You took her from me." The harsh whisper escaped from the man as he raised his wand to strike.

Tonks didn't scream nor did she plead. She automatically allowed her Auror to surface and guide her movements. Her feet swept out to kick the man's knees out from under him while she cleanly popped the wand out of his hand. She lost no time to reached for the wand under her pillow.

Lupin stirred when he felt the absence of the warm body. He barely registered the tussle as he moved to the edge of the bed and called, "Lumos."

The Professor leaned on one elbow while one hand held a ball of light. He blinked his eyes as he took in the scene before him.

Tonks, who was wearing his flannel pajama shirt, had a man on the floor with one knee grinding into his chest. His arms were pinned underneath his back while her wand was at his throat. Then a shadow drew Lupin's attention to the ceiling. Lupin wiped his eyes and tried to form coherent thought as the wand that was stuck in the ceiling began to totter.

"Tonks, why aren't you in bed?" Lupin managed to ask. His gaze fell to the man. "And what are you doing?" He leaned over the edge of the bed to peer at her victim before adding, "To Sirius?"

"I'm not sure this really is Sirius," said Tonks in a steely voice. "He was watching us sleep and was about to attack us with his wand."

Lupin was still too groggy to think straight, but said as he sat up, "No one can penetrate Order headquarters."

"So we think," murmured Tonks. She turned to the man and asked coldly, "If you're really Sirius Black, tell me what your nickname for me was during the Christmas when I was five."

The man blinked as if finally becoming aware of his surroundings. "Tonks? You--I called you, uh, Contrary Mary."

Tonks moved off his chest although she didn't lower her wand and asked, "Why?"

Sirius used the opportunity to move his arms into a more comfortable position before replying. "Mary is your middle name and, and you spent an entire afternoon saying nothing but no until I gave in and took you to Fortescue's for ice cream. And in the middle of winter! You ate a triple chocolate sundae all by yourself. Of course, you wore half of it on your face."

Tonks lowered her wand but remained kneeling beside him. "I forgot about that. Mum thought it looked like one of her facial masks."

"I think we have the real Sirius Black here," proclaimed Lupin as he set the ball of light to float above his shoulder. He grabbed at his robe to cover his bare chest as he swung his legs to sit on the bed. "Sirius, what are you doing here?"

Sirius was now sitting up and lifted his hand to catch his wand just as it fell from the ceiling. He shook his head and asked his own question. "What are the two of you doing here? I thought you were off on that mission and that Tonks was on guard duty tonight."

Tonks scuttled back onto the mattress beside Lupin and said, "Bill switched with me. Fleur's parents are in town tomorrow, so he pulled duty tonight."

"And I was sent on another empty chase," explained Lupin as he brought an arm around Tonks and rubbed her shoulder. "We thought you were asleep, but I wager you were staring into the pensieve again, weren't you?"

Sirius bowed his head and breathed deeply. The door had shimmered into existence and he had been staring at the pensieve for hours by his estimation. All he admitted to was, "Yes."

"It's affecting your behavior, Sirius," said Lupin firmly.

"If I hadn't tempered my actions, you'd be at St. Mungo's by now," added Tonks.

"Thanks for being gentle with me," said Sirius a bit sarcastically as he rolled his shoulder. The pixie he had watched as a child was quite lethal now.

"You were raising your wand to cast a spell at us," explained Tonks. The way Sirius winced at the image made her voice gentler. "You mumbled something about taking her away from you."

Sirius and Lupin both looked taken aback by this revelation, but Sirius covered his face with a hand. He said a name that Lupin recognized, however. "Madeline Faust."

"Madeline Faust? She was a Slytherin, right, about a year behind us? She transferred from Hogwarts? I don't remember her there in Seventh year," said Lupin. "Did you fancy her?"

"I didn't just fancy Madeline, Remus, I loved her." Sirius voice sounded hoarse as he admitted this. A sardonic laugh escaped him. "And she was perfect--although, James didn't like her."

"Neither did I, come to think of it," said Lupin. "You got together with her on summer holiday? Didn't your family approve?"

"Oh, my father couldn't have been more delighted," began Sirius. "In fact, he was so enchanted with Madeline that when I actually invited her to the noble house of Black for the weekend, he seduced her."

"But she couldn't have been more than fifteen," said Lupin. He shuddered at the thought.

"Believe me, she was a willing partner. Her parents decided to have her finish at Drumstrang rather than let her continue the affair with Father." Sirius released a sigh. "And I decided I'd rather live in James' backyard than come back to this house."

"I'd have thought the old hag wouldn't put up with your father's philandering," said Tonks, referring to Mrs. Black.

"Mother was fifteen years older than Father, you know, so she never cared as long as he was seducing purebloods. He was a handsome enough fellow at forty. Good looks run in our family," said Sirius as he tried to regain his arrogant demeanor by tossing his head back.

"Stealing a child's lover seems to run in the family, too," murmured Tonks from her own experience in competing for men with her mother. She brought her legs under the blankets and curled her arms around her knees. Lupin just rubbed her back in understanding.

"Madeline had been using this guest room. I suppose I got so caught up in the pensieve, I lost track of where I was--and when I was." Sirius stood up abruptly. "I'm sorry, both of you."

"Sirius--"

Tonks called his name, but he just shook his head and turned his back to them. He was out the door before Lupin could even think to follow, so the man just fell back onto the bed with a great sigh. "I'm really worried about Sirius now, Tonks."

"So am I, Remus," she said as she took his hand. "We need to get rid of that pensieve. I won't let Sirius suffer any more from those memories."

The Professor nodded grimly. "Obliterating a pensieve is no small thing. First you need to tag Sirius so that we know when it appears again. Then we'll have to invade the memory to break the pensieve from the inside."

Tonks swallowed as she considered what the next memory in store would be. "Can we do it, though?"

"Sometimes being venificus primo has its advantages," murmured Lupin as he brought her close for an embrace. "Working together, I think we can."

"Thank you," whispered Tonks. She added softly, "I love you."

"I love you, Nymphadora Mary Tonks." Remus kissed her gently then asked, "Why don't you use the name Mary?"

"It's such a common name," began Tonks.

"So is John," he said.

"I like the name John," said Tonks.

"And I like Mary; it's quite lovely."

Tonks smiled as she leaned against him. "Mary was the name of Pops' mum, but every aunt and female cousin on his side of the family is named Mary."

"You're joking," said Remus in disbelief.

"No, it's true. Pops has four sisters: Mary Catherine, Mary Margaret, Mary Elizabeth and Mary Patricia."

"And they all named their daughters Mary?" His tone was still skeptical.

"Mary Lynne, Mary Anne, Mary Jane, Mary Pat, Mary Lou," began Tonks in a singsong voice, "Mary Ellen, Mary Beth, Mary Joan, Mary Kate, Mary Sue--no, wait, there is no Mary Sue yet." She tapped a finger to her lips, "Mary Sue would have been me except for my Mum's intervention. Did I mention that Pops' side the family is Roman Catholic?""

"Aha, so I suppose that Tonks became the easiest way to distinguish yourself amongst all these Marys?"

"Pops and the rest of his side of the family could never quite get Nymphadora right. He'd pronounce it Nimfa Dora instead of Nim Fadera. I don't know what Mum was thinking when she named me."

"Just avoiding a Mary Sue, I guess," offered Remus. "Tell you what. How about you sign your notes to me from Mary."

"That means you'll get a lot of Dear John letters," quipped Tonks as she settled against him.

"I can live with that. Let's get some rest. Dealing with the pensieve is going to be a challenge."

Tonks settled against him and clasped his hand as his arm curled around her again. Together she was confident they could remove the pensieve and save her cousin's sanity.

TBC

Author Note:

We were having a discussion about Tonks' middle name over at David Thewlis online. I decided that Mary was the best match for John, but had to come up with a reason for avoiding the name in favor of Tonks. So, the Tonks family background was born. And, yes, I couldn't resist playing with the Mary Sue name. Please take it with the humor that was intended.

The memory in this chapter was an effort to explain why Sirius remained gun shy of committing to a woman as he grew up. I know I've painted his father very darkly, but I think it falls within the realm of the Blacks. I also thought seeing his father steal his girlfriend would be the last straw before Sirius leaves his house.

On pronouncing Nymphadora. The website on the Harry Potter Word Wizard actually has audio pronunciations. They don't have it yet for Nymphadora, but in the written pronunciation key they place the accent on the second syllable, not the third that would emphasize the -dora, so I'll use that. However, if you prefer it that way, I am not going to argue until I hear it in the movie.

Thanks for reading. I have this story in hand and only two more chapters that I intend to post in a few days. They are almost done, so there shouldn't be much delay in finishing the story.