A Match Maker Made in Heaven

Chapter One

A/N: Here's a new story! I'm sorry, but I totally twisted ages here. I know that in canon Tonks is much younger than Remus, but I always thought it would be cute to have them in school together. For my purposes, in most of this story Tonks & Sandi are fifteen and Remus, Sirius, James, Lilly, Peter, Snape, Narcissa, etc. are seventeen. Hope ya like it!

This chapter is dedicated to legolascrazy17 for beta-ing this chapter! It is much improved from her extremely constructive comments and editing.

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful characters in this story. They belong to J.K. Rowling. I only own Sandi Michelson, who really isn't all that special anyway.

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"Really? Wow. Ya know, that's kinda weird…But I can see it. Yeah." That brilliant speech was what my best mate Sandi Michelson said when I told her who I fancied.

"It's not that weird," I protested half-heartedly, even though it was. He wasn't exactly the most popular bloke among the witches at Hogwarts. He left that job to his two best mates.

Opposites attract, I guess. Sandi stood and walked in front of a mirror. She experimentally pushed her crooked nose straight, scowled, then turned around. "Wild, clumsy-" I grinned and made a mock hurt noise. She ignored me. "fourth year girl, Nymphadora Tonks, falls for quiet, charming sixth year boy, Remus Lupin. How will her love for him progress? Will they ever be together?" She cried the last sentence dramatically and fell to her knees.

"Sounds like a soap opera," I giggled. She wiggled her eyebrows. "But Sands…will we ever get together?" I sighed, serious now. She groaned too and fake-pouted.

"Now you've gone and spoiled the moment." She joined me on my bed and stared at the floor for a few seconds. "And don't call me Sands," she added as she twisted a lock of her shoulder-length chocolate brown hair around her finger and admired the sandy blonde tip.

"Sorry," I said, gazing off into space, thinking of Remus. I barely even knew the bloke, but…he seemed so nice, just sitting and reading on the castle grounds, laughing with his friends in the halls, smiling at me when I entered the common room. Knowing that there was nothing I could do at the moment, I hefted the two Transfiguration books off the floor. "I reckon we should get started on our homework, eh?" I handed Sandi her book. She groaned and flipped it open.

"How McGonagall expects us to write a foot about Merlin knows what…" I chuckled softly and shook my head at her grumbling, then began scribbling on my paper.

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I breathed in a deep sigh as I headed toward the great hall, Sandi in tow. Finally I was back to Hogwarts. Fifth year, O.W.L. year. That wasn't for a while though so, I could relax for now.

A hand clamped down on my shoulder.

"Hey cuz!" I turned toward the voice and grinned. Sirius, black hair shimmering in the lamplight, grinned back.

"Sirius!" I cried and gave him a giant hug.

"How's it going, Tonks?" James asked and ruffled my spiky pink hair. I glared at him, but nobody could stay mad at James Potter for terribly long.

"Fine," I replied.

"And Andromeda?" Sirius asked about my mother. Even though there was a huge age difference between my mother and her cousin (Sirius), they were still close.

"Mum's good too." I steeled myself and turned to face Remus. A lock of his light brown hair was hanging in his face, enhancing the 'cute, shy boy' image. "Hey Remus." I smiled shyly.

"Hello, Nymphadora. Have a good summer?" he asked politely. He still had no idea I had a crush on him, though James and Sirius exchanged smirking glances quite frequently when I was in his presence. Such as that very moment.

"Erm, great! You?"

"All right, I suppose." He shrugged.

"Hey Sirius." Sandi grinned flirtatiously at my attractive cousin. She, like practically every other Gryffindor girl, and many Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs, fancied Sirius. All the others pursued James.

"Sandi." Sirius nodded, seamlessly transitioning from 'lovable cousin' to 'sexy seventh year' mode.

"Oy, Padfoot!" James whispered delightedly and elbowed Sirius in the stomach.

"Wha-oh." Sirius grinned mischievously. "See ya around Sandi, Tonks." He grinned at both of us, then he and James set off towards a pretty girl with long reddish hair and green eyes. Lilly Evans, I mentally registered.

"Bye Dora." Remus flashed me a smile, then slowly started off after his two best mates. My heart skipped a beat at hearing him use my nickname. It must have shown on my face, because Sandi snickered. Peter looked at us for a second, nodded, mumbled something, then raced after the other Marauders.

"Shaddup." I pushed Sandi playfully, and her snicker turned into a full blown laugh.

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I looked down at the paper in front of me. I smiled as I registered the large, red 'A' on the top. No matter how clumsy or ditzy I appeared, I was actually a rather good student. Of all my subjects, though, Transfiguration was my favorite. Maybe it's because I could transfigure my appearance, so I felt a kind of kinship with it. Or maybe just because I was good at it, which of course made me uncomfortable, as it was Sandi's worst subject.

I glanced over at her desk and caught sight of the large 'D-' gracing the top of her paper before she shoved it in her bag. I sighed, and she looked over at me. Guessing what I had seen, she shrugged.

"Least it's better than an 'F'," she whispered and smiled. It was really more of a grimace, though.

We continued through the rest of the class period trying to turn an orange into a hedgehog. After slipping on numerous oranges, and laughing with Sandi as mine grew quills and hers just sat there, class was over and we headed out towards the grounds.

"Hello!" Lilly Evans drew level with us in the hall.

"Wotcher!" I smiled at her, unsure of what to do. It was true that she was my cousin's best friend's object of affection, but that didn't mean I really knew much about her. Sure, I had heard James' lengthy descriptions of her intelligence, wit, and beauty, but I had a feeling he was slightly biased, seeing that he was madly in love with her. I glanced over at Sandi to determine whether she was going to speak up. Sandi was a rather unapproachable person, with a sarcastic streak and dislike for overly nice people. I liked to think that only my superior friendship skills and wonderful personality had been able to get through to her. Sandi stared at the walls purposefully, and didn't turn around. I inwardly sighed, but perked up at the thought of a new friend. "So, what was your last class?"

"Well, actually I just had a free period," she tucked an auburn curl behind her ear. Mouth twitching into a smile, she leaned towards me and whispered conspiratorially, "Big perk of being in sixth or seventh year." She straightened up and looked ahead, green eyes sparkling. We spent a few moments in silence, and I glanced over at a painting of what looked like a wizard riding a giant chicken. The chicken bucked and the man was almost thrown off. I chuckled quietly. Lilly sent me a questioning look, and I gestured to the picture. She grinned.

"Of course," she continued with the previous subject, a resigned look rearranging her features. "It's really just for doing homework, so don't get too excited. You're a fifth year, right?"

"Yup," I replied. "Sandi too." I gestured at my silent friend.

"That's nice." Lilly smiled. "Sirius' cousin, correct?"

"Yeah." I grinned at the thought of my cousin. Then, as thinking of Sirius naturally led you to think of James, I continued, "You know, James talks about you quite often." I glanced casually over at her, gauging her reaction. I thought I saw the corners of her mouth twitch up before she put on a coolly interested expression. James would kill me if he was here right now.

"Really? And what does he say?" To all appearances she looked as if she really didn't care, except for her eyes, which darted quickly to look at me, then away.

"Oh." I smiled secretively. "He talks about how…intelligent you are." She blushed slightly.

"That's very sweet of him." She looked down shyly, the blush clashing dreadfully with her hair. I beamed at her. Glance flickering up at me, she scowled. "But one little compliment doesn't mean that his head isn't so stuffed up with thoughts of himself he might float away."

"Whatever you say." I shrugged, but continued to grin. Flipping her hair, she cast me an irritated glare.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you around, Tonks."

"Bye Lilly!" I called at her back, which had sped up considerably and was almost to the doors leading to the grounds. I saw her pause, then she turned around and gave me a quick smile.

"I like your hair!" Then she turned back around and jogged out the doors, no doubt going to sit with her friends by the lake. I ran a hand through my spiky pink hair, and looked over at Sandi.

"She's finally gone," grumbled Sandi. "You're too approachable, Nym-rod." she shook her head.

"Nym-rod…That's a new one!" I exclaimed cheerfully, ignoring the first comments. She just smiled and shook her head again. As we pushed open the large wood doors I noticed the beautiful carvings and felt a little twinge of happiness. It was weird-the littlest things in life made me happy.

"Sooooo…Whaddya say we go find Sirius and Remus?" Sandi visibly lightened at the prospect of Sirius and grinned over at me.

"Let's go!" She ran a hand through her hair and muttered something about make-up. I shook my hair from spiky pink to dazzling blue curls. I set my sights on the tree where the four boys always sat. Yesterday I had hardly made a wonderful impression…Today would be different. It was only the third day of school, but already I could tell it would be a year of romance. James and Lilly, Sandi and Sirius, and Remus.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!

KW