Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Chapter One: The First Time

There was a soft knock at the door. Six-year old Nymphadora Tonks sat bolt upright on her bed and promptly dropped the comic she was reading. She waited patiently until she heard her mothers voice call out anxiously: "Who is it?"

Tonks could almost hear the person behind the door smile. "It's Sirius, Andromeda!"

Tonks squealed and ran to the door, slamming it open, proceeding to jump up and wring her arms around her favourite relatives neck. "Sirius, Sirius, I had been so bored lately, there's been nothin' t'do since-!"

Tonks stopped short and glanced around behind Sirius at the three men who were awkwardly standing there.

She drew her eyes back to Sirius and said sharply, "Who're they?" She wanted no one to interrupt her 'Sirius time'.

Sirius put her down, grinning hugely. "These are my three best friends," he gestured lazily toward the men, two of them managing a weak smile, the other staring pointedly down at his shoes. "I know you'll like them as much as I do," he added, chuckling slightly.

Tonks now looked at the men with growing curiosity. As they came stepped in, and Andromeda quickly stepped in to take their coats, Tonks studied them carefully.

One was rather tall and had very untidy jet-black hair, which he ruffled up ever so often, giving it the effect as though he had just stepped off his broomstick. That man had deep hazel eyes under a set of thick-rimmed glasses, which were inspecting the premises carefully.

The other man, the one who had looked down at his shoes when the others smiled, was extremely short and had almost colourless hair. His pointed nose reminded Tonks shrewdly of a rat. His eyes were very watery and unfocused, and he looked as though he'd rather been anywhere but here.

The last man Tonks found the most interesting and vowed to get to know him better. He was tall, though not as tall as the first man, and had light brown hair, and greyish-blue eyes which sparkled beautifully in the dim light. He looked extremely tired and from all the lines on his face it made him look older than he was, as Tonks knew he could be no older than her nineteen-year-old second cousin.

After awhile, the man noticed Tonks staring at him and smiled warmly at her. Tonks immediately loved that smile.

The man walked forward and greeted her. "Hello," he said, crouching down so he was eye-level with her. "My name's Remus Lupin. You're Nymphadora, correct?"

Tonks glared at him angrily, "I i prefer /i t'be called 'Tonks' a'tually. 'Nymphadora' is too long and…bothersome," she ended lamely, with a dramatic sigh.

Remus beamed at her. "Ah, I see. Though I have to say, I think 'Nymphadora' is a very pretty name." Just then, the man with the messy black hair and glasses strode smoothly up to them.

"Hey Tonks, I'm James," He had a very silly grin of his face, as if something very good had just happened in his life.

James turned to Sirius, who was chatting loudly with Andromeda and the other man. "Oi! Padfoot, I have to leave early to get home to…Lily." At this last word James' smile widened. "Oh, I can get used to saying that," he said dreamily, sitting back onto the armchair nearest them.

Sirius walked up to them, patting James on the shoulder softly and chuckling. "So, Tonks, what do you want to do? I'm up for anything you are."

Tonks pondered this for a moment before answering. "Can you teach me t'play Wizards Chess?" she asked timidly.

"Of course!" said Sirius cheerfully. "But Peter's the real pro at that."

Tonks figured this must be the last man. "So that's Peter?" she asked, pointing at the small watery-eyed man.

Sirius looked surprised. "Of course he is…! Wormtail, get over here!"

The man named Peter clumsily stalked over, slouching over so Tonks could barely see his face.

"Hullo," he said quietly, staring once more at his sneakers, which were quite dirty and untied.

Sirius and James rolled their eyes.

Tonks stole a glance in Remus' direction; he was gone.

Apparently just at that moment Sirius noticed this too. "Where's Moony?" he said, looking around Peter, as if he was hiding behind him.

"Over here!" a voice called back.

Tonks followed the sound of the voice into her very dusty living room. There, Remus had set up a game of Wizards Chess and was now straightening up the players, making everything perfect.

"Wow!" Tonks exclaimed, her eyes widening with surprise and joy. "Wow…thank-you, thank-you so, so much!" She ran up and hugged him tightly around the neck, just as she had done with Sirius earlier.

Remus blushed deep scarlet at this, but let her hug him for a while before prying her off.

"Ohhh, she likes you Moony," chanted Sirius, with an evil grin upon his handsome face.

James and Sirius roared with laughter, as did Peter. Remus sighed and rolled his eyes.

"So, Wormtail, you up for teaching little Tonks here to play Wizards Chess?" Sirius said, smiling like a madman.

Peter shrugged and excused himself for a moment to go and use the washroom. All three men exchanged glances at this.

"What's up with him lately?" asked James quietly, "He's not like himself."

Remus seemed to seriously ponder this when Sirius said, "Probably finally got himself a girl."

James laughed at this and nodded in agreement, while Remus remained silent.

"OK, so you want to learn Wizards Chess?" asked Peter from the doorway, surprising them all by his presence. Tonks jumped and crashed down on the chessboard, causing all the perfectly aligned pieces to fall all over the dirty carpet.

"Er! Sorry," said Tonks, blushing deeply. "I a'ways knock things over! I don't i mean /i too…"

But Sirius had already walked over to the board, and muttered "Reparo", which caused all the chess people to zoom up off the floor and land on the board just as perfectly aligned as ever.

Tonks squealed with joy at this, more for the neat display of magic than the fact she wouldn't have to pick them up.

"Oh, Sirius!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down with excitement, "That's so neat! I wish I could do magic! I can't wait 'til I finally getta go to Hogwarts! Is it pretty there? Is there i really /i a ghost called 'Nearly Headless Nick'? And, and, is there-"

Sirius interrupted her, though he obviously found her babbling funny, "You'll find out soon enough," he said simply. He turned to Peter, "So, back to Wizards Chess…?"

Peter nodded and immediately began to quickly explain the rules. After an hour or two of Tonks losing every game (as she refused to let them go easy on her and made them replay her if she thought they were) Andromeda came in and asked if they wanted a break from "The Little Tyke" as Tonks' mother so often called her.

"Honey, you can manage on your own for awhile, right? I have to have a little chat with the grown-ups. Just go play with your dolls…" Andromeda paused, remembering Tonks hated dolls and refused to play with them, "Or look at your comics," she ended. "Go on, off to your room."

Tonks nodded silently and started down the hallway, reluctantly going into her plain white room. She decided this was a good time to try and practice her metamorphmaging; as she still couldn't get the hang of it, yet she'd been practicing for years now. She held her breath and scrunched up her face in concentration.

After a few seconds of this, she felt an odd tingling sensation wash over her, starting at the top of her head down to the tip of her toes. For a moment she felt a little faint, then it all suddenly stopped.

Tonks touched her hair gingerly and gasped. It felt different, instead of her normal lank, mousy brown, her hair was short and springy. Tonks ran to the bathroom, peered into the mirror and shrieked with joy; her hair was curly blond!

Just then, Tonks heard rummaging around and the door click faintly from the living room.

They must be done talking! Thought Tonks happily.

She ran out, screeching happily, and began to point wildly at her beautiful new locks.

"Look, Mommy, I finally got it, I changed my hair, isn' it great? I'm so happy! Maybe I can change my nose now, I hate it so much…"

She stopped at the depressed looks on all their faces. She immediately wondered what they had been talking about. What could make them look so sad?

"That's great, honey," said her mother half-heartedly, managing a smile. "But you know, you have to be responsible about using your metamorphmaging powers, it's really something special, you know."

Sirius smiled and patted her softly on her head. "I'm so jealous," he said quietly, which took Tonks aback, as her older relative was generally loud and unruly. "I might be able to do magic, but not very many people can do that." He added, pointing to her floppy blond curls.

Tonks looked up at him, he was grinning now. She felt a little better when she saw this, and giggled gleefully.

"Well, we have to go," he said, yawning loudly and stretching. "James should be home by now, and we wouldn't want to send him off to face a fuming Lily alone." They all laughed, James looking slightly annoyed however.

"I can take care of myself thank-you-very-much." James said crossly, folding his arms stubbornly across his chest. "But Lily will be glad to have you for a visit, she's been so bored lately, after all she's so far away from her family now…" James trailed off and went over to retrieve their coats from the coat rack.

Tonks looked up pleadingly at Sirius, "Please, can't you stay a little longer?" she begged, and indicated the amount of time she meant with her thumb and forefinger.

Sirius opened his mouth, but Andromeda got there first, "Now, Tonks," she said sharply, "These men have much more important things to do. You're very lucky they even agreed to come and see you today. Now say goodbye and thank-you."

Tonks gave Sirius one more pleading look, but he nodded sadly. She sighed in defeat.

"Now, Andromeda, you know we are absolutely honored to come and see Tonks. Merlin knows I haven't seen enough of her and you these past years," he stopped and patted Tonks on the shoulder, smiling warmly.

Sirius laughed and gestured for his friends to head for the door. "See you Tonks," he said, accepting one of her hugs.

"Bye, Sirius," said Tonks, her eyes gleaming, "Come visit me soon!" She turned to his friends standing in the doorway. "It's been nice meeting you, thank-you for coming!" She gave her mother a dirty look as she said that, which Andromeda promptly ignored.

Remus and James smiled, "Anytime, Tonks," James said, and stepped out the door.

Remus waved, and called out as he too went out the door, "Goodbye Nymphadora."

A/N: If there are any spelling/grammar mistakes, please, PLEASE let me know! I am really bad at finding them. Also, please let me know if the characters aren't talking Britishy enough. Cause I am not, and I'm not sure if I'm getting it right ). Thanks.