Remus, Sirius, and Tonks made their way downstairs and found Molly busy making dinner for the party.
"Arthur will be here soon to join us, do you lot mind setting the table? I've got the kids scrubbing their rooms down before they come down."
"Of course, Molly," replied Remus.
Tonks felt Remus watching her as she as reached over to the cabinet to grab a few plates to set on the table. Despite trying to be careful, she tripped forward, swearing under her breath. She felt the plates leave her hands and crash down to the stone floor. She felt herself fall too, until a strong pair of hands grabbed her waist and lifted her back up at the last moment.
Tonks felt her face flush as she realized Remus' hands were at her waist. She turned around, and his hands fell as quickly as they had come to her aid.
"Are you alright?" Remus asked. His warm brown eyes met hers, searching them for any sign of pain.
"I-I'm fine, Remus! Just clumsy - part of my charm," she chuckled. She felt a little flustered at his concern. She could still feel the warmth from where his hands had helped her up; she was thankful he couldn't feel the rapid heartbeats she inexplicably felt.
"Not to worry, Tonks," said Molly. With a quick swish of her wand and a reparo! the plates came back together. "Tonks, why don't you help me with the vegetables? We can leave the gentlemen to set the table."
Tonks stepped over to Molly's side to help with preparing the vegetables, as Remus and Sirius set the table carefully with mismatched plates. Tonks' cheeks felt flushed as she hastily chopped carrots for the dinner. She could see Remus glancing back at her every few moments; every time her eyes met his gaze she felt something flip in her stomach, but she couldn't bring herself to stop trying to meet his eyes. She wanted to talk to him, to check that he'd gotten her letter, and to understand she hadn't been offended at all, but her work beside Molly kept her from Remus.
Sirius and Remus kept a low conversation between the two of them as they set the table. Tonks tried to overhear what they were saying, but Molly was happily chatting with her as they prepared for dinner.
"My youngest, Ron, and Harry of course, have said they'd like to be Aurors, but -"
"You could go for it, you know."
"-their marks will really need to pick up, especially in Potions-"
"It's impossible, Padfoot."
"-but they're just so against Professor Snape, I think it turns them off to the whole subject, you know-"
"I'm too old."
"-and it's unlikely Professor Snape will leave his post any time soon-"
"Age doesn't matter, Moony."
Tonks craned her neck a little further to try to hear Sirius and Remus, but Molly's conversation with her kept drowning out the noise. Moments later, four Weasleys and Hermione burst through the kitchen door, disturbing any conversation that had previously existed in the room.
"We're all done, Mum!" exclaimed Ginny.
"Really? The whole house?" retorted Molly.
"Well, no, but our rooms are!" replied Ron.
"I'll be the judge of that," Molly stated. "It will have to wait till after dinner, though, as it looks like your father's on his way." She pointed her spatula at the fireplace in the kitchen, with its flames turned emerald green.
A moment later, a slightly sooty Arthur Weasley arrived at the threshold to be greeted by his wife, four youngest children, Hermione, and the others.
"Sit, sit, SIT! It's time to eat!" shouted Molly, over all the hubbub.
Molly reminded Tonks of her own mother, and sat down in the first seat she found available, across from the two girls. Sirius and Remus sat down next to Tonks, with the rest of the Weasley clan filling in around them. With a swish of her wand, Molly's cooking made its way to everyone at the table, and they happily dug in.
"Is it true you're an Auror?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah! Just finished my training with Moody-" she saw Hermione's shocked expression. "-the real Moody, that is, so I'm finally able to do things on my own."
"Is it true you're a Metamorphmagus too?" Ginny asked.
Tonks scrunched her face and within moments had the whole table's attention. She switched from a duck's bill, to a pig's snout, to a familiar hooked nose, and back to her own nose. She went through the rainbow of hair colors in such a rapid succession it made her a little dizzy, but when she was done, the whole table clapped.
Tonks was beaming at Ginny and Hermione when she went back to her pink pixie and heart-shaped face. Showing off her skills was one of her favorite pastimes, especially with an enthusiastic audience.
"I wish I could change my hair! So bushy!" complained Hermione. "Changing my teeth wouldn't hurt, either, I think."
"My freckles, I'd get rid of those in a heartbeat!" said Ginny.
"Morphing has its benefits, definitely," said Tonks, grinning wildly at them. "But it also has its major drawbacks."
"Like what?" Ron asked, his mouth full of potatoes. "You can look like anything you want! I bet you could get any bloke you fancy!"
Tonks blushed, and noticed Remus' eyes on her, awaiting her reply. As soon as she locked eyes with him, she noticed Remus look away, face flushed.
"Well, I've tried that, you know, changing my appearance for a bloke," Tonks started slowly. "But I learned pretty quickly that once you do that to get them to like you, the requests wouldn't exactly...stop."
"They'd make you change yourself for them?" Hermione asked, indignantly.
Tonks looked pensive for a moment, and said, "I did when I was younger, but once I got out of school I realized I was too weird to be pretty and sexy, you know? I don't need my ass getting in the way of catching Dark wizards," she laughed. "Though I guess gigantic tits make a great distraction for the right criminals!" she exclaimed, with a wink to the girls.
The girls, Molly, and Sirius broke out into laughter, and Tonks noticed all the Weasley boys' ears turn a bright shade of red. Tonks noticed that Remus kept his head down, turning a delicate shade of pink.
"Bet it makes you a great Auror, though," remarked Ginny, after wiping the tears from her laughter.
"I passed my Disguise and Concealment exam with flying colors, but I nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking - I'm dead clumsy," Tonks said. "It's useful to have one of me in the office, especially with spying."
The girls continued their animated conversation with Tonks, while the conversation among the Weasley boys had finally restarted, with the twins asking Remus and Sirius to recount many of their favorite adventures around the castle, as they swapped stories of their various rule-breaking. Dinner conversation was merry, and as the dinner guests stuffed themselves with Molly's treacle tart, Molly reminded the kids that it was nearly bedtime.
"We're not little kids anymore, mum!" exclaimed George.
"I don't care if you stay awake, as long as you stay out of my way!" retorted Molly.
The teens glanced at each other, and with faces filled with regret, huffed back up the stairs to their rooms. Molly, Arthur, Remus, Sirius, and Tonks remained in the kitchen.
Remus said, "I'll help you with clean up, Molly."
Molly replied, "Thank you, Remus. If only our boys had seen you offer help, they could take a page out of your book. I'm sure you'll make a woman very happy someday with that attitude!"
Tonks saw Remus turn pink again at Molly's comment, and hid her own face in the remains of her treacle tart. It would be nice to have someone who was decent at housekeeping spells, she thought.
Remus and Molly made quick work of cleaning the kitchen. An exhausted Molly took Arthur up the stairs to their new quarters for the summer, leaving Remus, Sirius, and Tonks in the kitchen.
Sirius summoned three butterbeers to his spot. "Care to join me upstairs in the drawing room for a nightcap, you two?"
Remus and Tonks followed Sirius up the stairs to the now-familiar drawing room and sat in their previous spots: Remus and Sirius in the armchairs, and Tonks curled up on the sofa, with mismatched socks showing from under her knees.
They sat down, musing on the merriment of the night's dinner.
"It's not going to be quiet here for awhile!" Sirius sighed happily. "I just can't wait till we get Harry here. Poor kid's probably having a terrible summer already with the Dursleys." He frowned, thinking of Harry's Muggle relatives.
"Trust Dumbledore, Sirius," said Remus. "We'll see Harry soon."
"At least you get a new prison guard, Sirius," said Tonks. Sirius and Remus looked at her quizzically. "Molly!"
They roared in laughter at this, imagining how Molly would react whenever Sirius would inevitably help the Weasley twins in their hijinks. They had barely moved in by the time they found unique sweets leaking out of the twins' pockets.
The grandfather clock in the drawing room chimed midnight before they knew it, happily full with friendship and butterbeer.
"I should head back to my place," said Tonks. "I've got more reports to complete for Scrimgeour." She stuck her tongue out at this.
"I should give Buckbeak a midnight snack - I found a family of rats in the cellar today. He'll be so pleased," said Sirius. He slowly glanced at Remus and then Tonks, and asked, "Tonks, didn't you need to show your flat to Remus for future missions? Have you moved in yet?"
Remus looked sideways at Sirius, but Tonks broke into a big smile. "I'm so glad you reminded me! I JUST moved in. It won't be perfect, but if you're up to it, let's go now, Remus!"
Remus stood up and walked down the stairs with Tonks, careful to guide her away from the troublesome umbrella stand on the landing. They made it out to the top step of 12 Grimmauld Place, into the humid summer night.
"Side-Along with me again?" she asked, offering her arm to Remus. He grabbed her arm, and with a pop they arrived in a narrow alley.
"My flat's up here, Remus. Come with me so I can show you which one," she gestured to him to follow her. She felt nervous again to be alone with Remus, especially to show him her own little flat. She led him up the stairs to the third floor and unlocked her door with a few spells.
A flick of her wand, and lights came on in various places in her flat. It was a cozy space. An unmade bed with a small pile of colorful clothes could be seen just beyond a screen. The living space held a squashy couch and two mismatched, upholstered armchairs. The kitchen was small, with enough room for a table set for one. A curious set of eyes peered at them from the armchair.
"It's not much, but it's finally mine," Tonks said, with a smile. "That's Ophelia, my cat. My parents didn't want me totally alone, so she came with me. I wish I'd gotten Callisto, the owl, but she'll do." She rolled her eyes a little.
"It's lovely here. Really," said Remus. "Very cheerful. Very you."
Tonks beamed at him, delighted to have gotten his approval of her new quarters. She hadn't realized she wanted his approval, but it felt good all the same to have it.
"While you're here, can I offer you anything?" Tonks blurted. She hoped he would say yes - the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to know this gentle, kind man who happened to be a werewolf. It seemed impossible that he was really a werewolf.
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose on you, especially if you've got to work in the morning," Remus replied.
"No trouble at all, I promise! Please, stay. You're my first real houseguest."
"If you insist, Tonks, then I will stay."
Tonks beamed at him again, and gestured for him to sit on her squashy sofa.