Title: Sensitivity
Author: cinderalex (with some help from my Best Friend Becky on the storyboard end)
Disclaimer: I don't claim ownership of anything you recognize. The plot, however is mine.
Chapter Title: Lessons in Handling
Chapter Summary: Sirius is stunned. And handled.
Dedication: To everyone who, like Tonks, Sirius, and I, really missed Remus in the last chapter. (Yes, DeD kAkE, that means you.)
Warnings: A tiny bit of hyperness might have seeped into the writing in the form of giggling fits(yes, plural... there are several). I was listening to Michael Jackson... sorry.

Author's Note: Many apologies for the lack of updating. I am being plagued by the worst of diseases: Writer's Block. It's terrible.

what freedom's not some under's mere above
but breathing yes which fear will never no?
measureless our pure living complete love
whose doom is beauty and its fate to grow

shall hate confound the wise?doubt blind the brave?
does mask wear face?have singers gone to say?
here youngest selves yet younger selves conceive
here's music's music and the day of day

are worlds collapsing?any was a glove
but I'm and you are actual either hand
is when for sale?forever is to give
and on forever's very now we stand

nor a first rose explodes but shall increase
whole truthful infinite immediate us
-e.e. cummings

October 1995

Kitchen of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place

"Why that's bloody brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I bet it was Hermione's idea." Tonks added, excitedly.

But she didn't think anyone heard, as Snape spoke over her saying, "It's foolish and irresponsible. Those children might as well be trying to get themselves killed." He scowled at Sirius and his lips formed the unspoken words: "Which is fine by me."

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?" Sirius rose from his chair, roaring.

"Nothing." Snape spat back, his hand flying to his wand.

"YOU ARE A PART OF THIS ORDER WHICH MEANS YOU'RE TRYING TO DEFEAT VOLDEMORT, IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN! YOU'RE IN A POSITION TO MAKE CERTAIN NO HARM COMES TO THE STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS AND YOU'D BLOODY BETTER WELL DO YOUR GODDAMNED JOB!"

"Or what? You'll yell at me? It's not like you can come after me or protect them yourself, now is it?" Snape sneered calmly, though his body was poised to fight. He glanced at Dumbledore, who was flipping through some papers in front of him, seemingly oblivious to the tension. His demeanor fooled no one. He was listening to every word. "Anyway, I believe it's in the student's best interest to stop this at once as they will, no doubt, be caught."

Snape and Black continued to glare at each other and no one spoke.

Remus coughed, then said, "The students of Hogwarts definitely need to learn how to protect themselves what with Voldemort on the rise again and they clearly aren't learning anything in Defense Against the Dark Arts, not from that awful Umbridge." Sirius smiled triumphantly. "However, they aren't experienced enough to go about it by themselves. For example, none of them considered the danger of meeting at the Hog's Head. What they need is an adult mentor."

"I'd love to help them." Amazed be Remus'almost instant compromise, and Tonks volunteered immediately. She would love to help Harry and his friends learn some useful defense spells. Actually, helping them sounded fun.

"NO! NO! NO!" Molly shouted. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTUALLY CONSIDERING ALLOWING THIS TO GO ON! OBVIOUSLY THESE CHILDREN ARE PUTTING THEIR CAREERS AND THEIR LIVES IN DANGER BECAUSE IF THEY ARE CAUGHT THEY FACE EXPULSION!" She looked directly at Sirius. "DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT HARRY'S FUTURE?" She must have been stewing for some time, brewing up that outburst so it had the maximum potency. It seemed to have the desired effect as everyone, especially Sirius, appeared chagrined.

Tonks, though she didn't dare say as much, still agreed with Lupin and Sirius' original position. The students needed to learn useful defense spells. She caught Lupin's eye, biting her lip and raising her eyebrows. He nodded slightly indicating that he'd understood and agreed. Then, smiling gently at Molly in a way that made Tonks' heart flip, Remus said, "You're right of course."

She smiled, a bit surprised, but obviously grateful. "Thank you." Looking accusingly around the table at the rest of the Order who sat in silence, she let her gaze rest on Sirius who was watching Remus intently. Black's eyebrows were raised and he licked his lips. Tonks knew he was waiting for Lupin to explain his sudden change of heart.

Instead of doing so, he said, "Black was going to floo Harry again this week. He can convey the message to your children then, through Ron. Though I suggest you also tell them yourself. A lot of repetition might be needed." He smiled again, this time mischievously, his eyes flashing. The smile was aimed at Sirius, and she felt a flash of jealousy. She realized he was only trying to placate Molly. No amount of heckling from their mother would stop the Weasley children from participating in Harry's defense club. Sirius obviously understood this as well, for he nodded his agreement with a wide-eyed innocence that didn't fool her, but seemed to convince Molly.

Most of the Order had gone on their respective ways and Remus found himself sitting at the kitchen table with Sirius and Tonks sipping tea. The two hadn't left their seats since the beginning of the meeting, forcing him to see people out the door, not that he minded. Tonks often stayed late after meetings and stopped by often 'just to visit.' Her continued presence didn't surprise him, in fact he might have been more surprised had she left with the others.

He leaned back in his chair with a sigh and let his hand rest on his tea cup, observing Sirius and Tonks who were both beaming at him with admiration. "What did I do?"

Sirius snorted, not duped by Remus' guileless tone. "I forgot how well you handled people, Moony."

He shook his head at Sirius. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Though his tone was convincingly flat, he had to hide a smile in his tea cup, which he brought to his lips.

"That was impressive." Tonks added, smiling mischievously, her eyes lit and fixed on him. Obviously she wasn't fooled either.

"You've always had a special talent with the women." Sirius jeered, winking. Remus dumped the remainder of his tea on Sirius's head, and his eyes immediately flew to Tonks wanting to see her reaction. She was giggling uncontrollably and watching as Sirius sputtered angrily, hot tea dripping down his chin. Turning, she caught Remus gaze and he couldn't help but laugh with her.

"I don't know what you two find so damn funny!" Sirius pulled out his wand to clean himself.

Remus was laughing too hard to reply, but Tonks calmed herself enough to say, "You look like a wet, angry she-dog." She burst into a renewed fit of giggles.

"I think your cousin just called you a bitch." At Remus' comment Tonks laughed so hard she snorted and Sirius' barking laugh joined that of the others. Tonks blushed in embarrassment, though several more snorts got out before she could calm herself.

"This defense club of theirs is quite brilliant." Tonks said when the laughter had died.

"I just wish there was something we could do to help them." Remus added. He didn't like the idea of Harry, Hermione and Ron having to, not only prepare the lessons, but also worry about how to keep the club hidden and secret. Already they were doing a poor job. Mundungus, Ministry spies, and countless other unsavory creatures had witnessed their first meeting.

"Forget helping them." Sirius poured a dollop of liquor into his teacup. "I bloody well want to join them."

"You'd want to join club of teenagers? They're just like the Order, only underage." Tonks observed him, frowning curiously.

"I don't doubt all of us could use some practice with the basic spells and hexes used in dueling dark wizards." Sirius muttered defensively. "Anyway, it sounds fun, like something Moony, James and I would have come up with in our school days." He looked to his friend for support. Remus smiled slightly, noting the purposeful omission of Peter's name.

"More like something you and James would have created and pestered me into joining, despite my nobler instinct to follow rules."

"Well, you're wrong." Tonks said abruptly shooting a challenging look at Sirius. "You might need practice, what with being housebound and in Azkaban, but I'm an Auror, fresh out of training. I don't need any more practice with basic defense spells." But Sirius wasn't looking at her anymore. His gaze was fixed on Remus and a maniacal smile hovered about his lips.

"Oh no, Padfoot. Whatever you're going to say, my answer is no."

"Let's practice. Right now."

Remus set his jaw and glared into his tea cup. "I thought you might be thinking of something like that. I suppose it could have worse, though."

"Please." Remus' cup was empty, though a brown ring of residue remained on the bottom. He tried to concentrate on that ring, instead of on Sirius pleading noises. He knew if he looked up into Sirius' face with his lips no doubt pouting and his eyes filled with hopeful desperation, he wouldn't be able to say 'no.'

"You're decent at handling people as well, Sirius."

"Only you, Moony, only you." His eyes snapped up from the dirty tea cup. Sirius was grinning triumphantly. He already knew Remus' final answer.

"You win. We can practice."

"I've cleaned out the upstairs parlor. Let's do it there."

"Right."

Tonks suppressed the urge to dump her own tea on Black's head. Not only was he purposefully trying to embarrass her by acting conspicuously homosexual, but Sirius had blatantly not included her in the invitation to practice dueling, which only added to the innuendo. Not that she needed the practice. Perhaps she shouldn't have told them as much.

Both men rose from the table, Sirius, humming with excitement and Remus, sighing resignedly. The latter shot her an apologetic look.

Reaching the door to the kitchen, Sirius called over his shoulder, "Oh, yeah. Tonks, you can come to, if you'd like."

"Alright!" Tonks didn't even attempt to keep the enthusiasm from her voice. She grinned broadly at Remus, whose gaze hadn't left hers. She tumbled off her chair, righted herself, and ran to the stairs, grabbing Remus' hand and dragging him behind her.

Sirius was already in the parlor by the time Tonks and Remus reached the top of the stairs. "Sirius?" Tonks started into the room, reaching for her wand. Not finding it in its usual pocket, she began to search frantically through her robes. "I think we should beg–"

"Impedimenta!"

Tonks flew backwards, caught unaware, crashing into Remus, who stood close behind her. He caught her around the waist, set her upright, and breathed "I thought you were an Auror," into her ear. She ignored, or rather tried to ignore, the tingling sensation that shot through her and drew her wand at Sirius. Luckily, he was busy shooting a silent spell Remus, which the latter ducked, giving her time to fire a Tripping Jinx at Sirius.

Falling hard on his bottom, Sirius let out a stream of curses that began, "Sodding-"

"Now really, Sirius, is that language neccessary?" Remus asked creating a shield charm to protect himself from the blue jet coming from Tonks' wand and aimed at his person.

Getting back to his feet, Sirius sent Disarming Charm at Remus, but it was blocked by his Shield Charm which was still in tact. Sensing Black refocus his attention on her, Tonks dashed behind Remus. Sirius moved to follow, while Remus let down his shield charm and turned toward her.

"You didn't really think I'd protect you after you started shooting hexes at me, did you?" He questioned, muttering a Knee-Reversing Hex which she was able to deflect.

As she was distracted in fending off Remus, Sirius had the chance to come round behind her and hit her with another hex. Whirling round to see him, she felt her ears begin to twitch uncontrollably. Sirius was laughing at her.

"Adorable look, Tonks. I think we should leave them that way." He managed to say through bark-like shouts of laughter. Behind her, Remus was chuckling too.

"Good one." His tone was congratulatory, and Sirius winked, wickedly back at him. But then, quite suddenly, he stumbled as his wand flew from his fingertips and across the room.

"Why you little– "he cried, calling Remus many nasty names, and beginning to move towards his wand. However, Remus was already heading toward it, and probably would have reached it first if Tonks hadn't raised her wand at him.

"Rictusempra!"

Immediately Remus collapsed on the floor, in a pool of robes, laughing and moaning. He rolled around feebly, clutching his sides. "Tonks! Stop!" He sounded quite desperate. "Make it STOP!"

Instead of focusing on the whining man, Tonks turned her attention to Black who had almost reached his wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Sirius stiffened and then fell to the floor. Tonks crossed her arms and smiled at her handiwork. One man lying trapped in a full body-bind and the other screaming with laughter and pain. She did deserve her Auror badge after all.

She exited the room, fully intending to leave the two men there while she poured herself a drink to sip, slowing and relax with. Sirius deserved a bit of punishment. After all, he'd hit her with the initial Impediment Jinx before she'd even fully entered the room. His unexpected curse had caught her off-guard and she wasn't able to recover for several minutes. And Remus...

"TONKS! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" His cries broke through her thoughts. Poor Remus. She turned back around. He didn't deserve to spend an hour under the Tickling Charm.

Remus could barely breath. He felt like someone or several someones were attacking him with light, finger-brushing caresses all over his body... in a torturous way. He couldn't believe Tonks would leave him like this. Surely she didn't want him to commit suicide.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay like this?"

Relief shot through him, though he couldn't relax as he was still being tickled mercilessly, and he knew he loved her. She'd come to rescue him, never mind that she was rescuing him from her own spell. "Just make it go away," he whimpered, too tired to shout anymore.

"Some people like to be tickled." But she was already drawing her wand and he knew she was just teasing. And then she stopped, mid-draw, and watched him. He changed his mind; he hated her.

Giggling at his grimace, she murmured, "Finite Incantatem!" Upon being released from the spell the first thing he noticed was that her ears were still twitching. He decided not to mention it.

"That was brutal." He turned toward Sirius, moving to release him from his spell, but Tonks caught his arm.

"Leave him. He deserves it. He's a cheater."

Remus laughed, observing the outraged glare Sirius was sending them through his petrified eyes. "Agreed."

He was certain that once Sirius was released from the spell, he would never hear the end of this which was all the more reason to leave him that in the body-bind.

"You look a bit shaken. Let's have a drink."

"I sit with you, maybe have a cup of tea. But I don't drink, as a general rule."

"Why's that?"

From her teasing tone, he gathered she'd already guessed. "To be honest, I don't have the stomach for it. A couple drinks and I'm giggling or barfing."

"Already had enough of that tonight, have you?"

He laughed and nodded. Her ears gave a particularly jerky twitch, and he laughed harder. Tonks didn't notice as she was already heading down the stairs.

When they were settled, Remus drinking tea and Tonks, wine, he smiled wryly and said, "You seemed to come out of that fight without a scratch."

"Yeah, I was hit by Sirius' first jinx, but after that I deflected..." She put her hands up to feel her ears, which were, indeed, still twitching. "Stop laughing..."

He reached out with his wand to end the charm, but he did not stop laughing. "I thought you're ears were rather cute jerking around like that."

She huffed and sipped her wine. "I should have left you up there forever."

He was silent, but smiled broadly, confidently. She couldn't have left him up there in that state and they both knew it.

She sighed. "Perhaps I should go free Sirius. Or better yet, you could do it."

"Too soon, yet, I think." The bloody cad was not going to interrupt his tea time.

Tonks looked at him concernedly. "You're angry at him." He must have spoken his thought out loud.

"Not at all."

"I think you'd better talk to him. He's probably not too happy with me at the moment."

Author's Note(s):

Reviews always help cure writers block with which I am currently afflicted.

I had doubts about making Remus manipulative, but I looked back through PoA and OotP and decided that manipulative!Remus is cannon.

I love hp-lexicon. I used them to find spells for the fight.

Sorry about the massive amounts of Sirius/Remus innuendo, if that bothers you. I have been on a major Sirius/Remus kick, devouring every story I could get my hands on. Actually, mostly just shoebox project, which happens to be my favorite fanfiction or what ever it is, EVER. Thanks so much to Kati who introduced me to it! If you are a Marauders lover (and you haven't read this yet), you need to read this. If you aren't, you need to read it anyway; I guarantee you'll become a marauders lover. I tried to put in the URL last update and it didn't work. So I'll try again. http/ size=1 width=100% noshade>Review Responses:

To all: I hope you are all still reading and have forgiven me for the missing updates.

FLUFF MASTER: You rock. It made my day to have someone excited about being my first review. Sorry about ignoring your harassments the last few weeks. What with writers block and massive amounts of papers due for college, updating has become difficult.

DarkSideoftheMoon: Sirius didn't really do anything wrong. Well, maybe he did. Anyway, I think that Sirius paid the price for his indiscretion in this chapter.

ellieo: I have found a beta! Brilliant Roommate Bridget has finally caved. Thanks for your offers!

Brilliant Roommate Bridget: Mmm... what I didn't tell you before is that you already own my soul.

zan189: I definitely agree that Tonk's biggest problem is her presupposition about Remus' homosexuality. And I don't think that Remus being a werewolf wouldn't really phase her, which is why I don't really deal with it in this chapter. It will come up later though.

bri007: Thanks! I love Sirius. He's my favorite. Sometimes. When he's not being selfish and immature.

smellycatwantstopee: I can't get past your name.

DeD kAkE: Can I have my chocolate back now? It might help with the writer's block.

Celi: Yay! Thanks!

Alli-Baby: I'm glad you feel the UST because UST is my favorite and this is my first foray into writing it.

Valkyrie228: I apologize for not updating and keeping you in 'misery.' But now have updated. So hopefully that makes you as happy as it makes me.

Kerichi: Umm, yes. I do answer questions like yours in e-mails.