A gentle rapping at the window startled Remus. A handsome tawny owl hovered near his window with a small parchment attached to one of its legs. Remus opened the window and the owl swept into the room with an excited hoot. Remus untied the parchment from the owl, and he flitted off back into the night.
His name was scribbled on the parchment, and he unrolled it to find a short note. The handwriting was a bit messy, but as he read the short message, he let out a relieved sigh.
He had no idea what possessed him to write a formal apology for his stammering that morning. As soon as Tonks had gone down the stairs to her work, he quickly panicked over his supposed wrongdoing. What if she'd been offended? What if she never wanted to see him again? The thought poked him for the better part of an hour before he decided to send an apology her way. As soon as the owl had left with the apologetic note, he immediately regretted it.
"What kind of nutter sends a formal apology for a quip?" he muttered. Why had he bothered? He barely knew her, but he felt that she deserved the very best treatment he could give anyone. She was young and talented, and he knew that they would have to work together again for Order-related business. He already felt terrible about having to subject her to working with an older half-breed; the least he could do was be as polite and pleasant as he could towards her. At least she had been kind enough to send a letter in return, even if it had been short. She was kinder to him than he deserved.
His hunger caught up to him, and he decided to leave the room and head towards the basement kitchen. He opened the door and found Sirius noisily rearranging the dishes.
"'Bout time you made it down here," he remarked at Remus. "Have you been sleeping all this time?"
"Yes," Remus lied. "It was a late night last night."
Sirius' eyebrow flitted up. "And that wouldn't have anything to do with my cousin staying over, now would it?"
"No! Nothing of the sort!" Remus replied, flushing.
"I didn't mean it that way, mate," rolling his eyes. "Funny you thought that's what I meant though," Sirius continued, with a smile cracking over his face. "Thought my cousin would have her own place to stay by now."
It was Remus' turn to roll his eyes at Sirius. "She does, but I think she preferred to stay here rather than travel again late at night. Can't blame her, really."
"We should invite her to stay more often, then."
Remus said nothing. He was both excited and terrified of the prospect of having Tonks so close again; he longed to get to know her better, but was afraid that spending more time with Sirius would make that impossible. Whenever it came to women, Sirius always did better than Remus did. Not that it was hard – although he wondered if it was really worse to be with a werewolf than an escaped convict who also happened to be your cousin.
"I agree. I think she'd be an excellent addition to our otherwise gloomy evenings," suggested Remus. "I don't know if she'll want to live here though once the kids get here."
"Shit, I'd forgotten about them."
"I'm sure they won't stop her from coming over. If anything, I'm sure they'll be delighted with her."
"She's a kid herself sometimes," chuckled Sirius. "Part of her charm."
Remus contemplated this for a moment and said, "We could use more of that though, don't you think?"
Sirius patted Remus on the shoulder and said, "You know, mate, I think you could use more of that charm."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, nothing," said Sirius, as he grinned mischievously. "It's just that for a bloke who should have been sleeping all day, I heard quite a bit of pacing from my room downstairs."
Remus blushed. "I didn't think you could hear that."
"So, what troubles you, Moony?"
"I said something stupid to Tonks this morning and-"
"-and you immediately regretted it?"
"Yes," Remus responded, through gritted teeth.
"And you think she'll hate you for it?"
"Yes." Remus' face was now stony.
"I'm sure she won't, Moony. She's a tough kid."
"I sent her an apology note."
Sirius looked like he was holding back laughter. With some effort, he managed to choke out, "A fucking apology note?"
"She was kind enough to accept it."
"She wrote back?!"
"Mercifully, yes. I feel like a prize idiot."
At this, Sirius barked a loud belly laugh. "Leave it to you to ruin things with a lady before they can even begin."
Remus stared at him, and stammered, "I d-don't know w-what you mean by that, either."
"Let's just say the last time you were this jumpy about a girl, you kept all of us up all night with that damned pacing in our dormitory."
Remus blushed more furiously than before. "It's not like that, I assure you."
"Well, when you're ready to tell me who the lucky lady is, I'll be right here." Sirius had a triumphant smile on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest and leant against the kitchen wall.
Remus let out a heavy sigh at him, hastily grabbed pasties from the kitchen, and slowly went back upstairs, no longer hungry.
...
Three days later, a storm of Weasleys and Hermione Granger appeared at Grimmauld Place to stay for the summer. Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione warmly greeted Remus, much to his surprise. The last time he'd seen Ron and Hermione, he had transformed into a bloodthirsty werewolf.
Hermione exclaimed, "Professor Lupin! It's so wonderful to see you! Defense Against the Dark Arts was so much better with you as our teacher!"
"You don't need to suck up anymore, Hermione, we're not students!" Fred laughed from behind her.
Hermione scowled. Ginny said, "She's right though! Professor Lupin was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had!"
Remus smiled at them, grateful for the kind words. "I do miss being your teacher, but I daresay I'm being put to better use now that I'm in the Order."
They beamed at him, as Molly shouted, "Up the stairs, you lot! We've got loads of work to do to make this place habitable again! Wash up and get down to the kitchen as soon as you can!"
The Weasleys and Hermione trudged up the stairs, muttering under their breaths. Remus could hear one of them from where he stood. "We just got done with exams, we're supposed to be on holiday!"
Remus looked at Molly and said, "I'd be happy to set up for dinner tonight. How many?"
Molly thought for a moment, counting in her head. "With you, Tonks, and Sirius, it'll be ten!"
Remus' heart thumped a little more loudly under his threadbare jumper. He hadn't seen Tonks since the embarrassing morning they'd shared a few days prior. He began to feel a little nervous about the whole affair. Would she be nervous too? Would he be too awkward around her? Worse yet, would Sirius embarrass him further?
"Wotcher, Remus!" Tonks' lively voice came from behind him.
He spun around to face the source of the sound, alarmed.
"Blimey, Remus, it's just me! Not a Death Eater!" Tonks smiled at him.
"I just wasn't expecting you so soon, that's all," said Remus. He gathered himself and added, "How have you been?"
"I've gotten my own place!"
"That's wonderful. I'm happy for you, Tonks."
"Thanks! I'll have to have you over sometime so you know where it is! Next time we're on a mission together, we can Apparate there first."
"Apparate where, my dear cousin?" asked Sirius, on his way down the stairs.
"I've gotten my own flat in the city!" exclaimed Tonks, proudly.
"Need any furniture?" asked Sirius. "If you don't mind pureblood, serpentine paraphernalia, I've got loads to spare."
Tonks laughed, her bubblegum pink hair shaking with her guffaws. "No, no, I've got plenty of Muggle furniture from my Gran! Besides, I don't think our Black family heirlooms would match with my Hufflepuff treasures."
"I doubt you want that Slytherin nonsense alongside your Hufflepuff pride," Remus said.
"Should've been a Gryffindor, like us," Sirius remarked.
"You Gryffindors think you've got all the bravery," Tonks said, "Hufflepuffs are brave and daring too!"
Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes at her. "Well, put that Hufflepuff finding skill to good use. We've got to set dinner for ten tonight, and I think Kreacher's hidden most of the plates."