Part Two

"One mission down, one to go," said Tonks as she and Remus gazed up the road to Hogwarts even though the children had disappeared from view. "Though I'm still not convinced there is one."

Remus turned to look at her and was relieved to see, in the midst of Tonks' elderly witch disguise, her familiar dark eyes twinkling at him instead of the strange, faded grey she had worn earlier. His spirits, a little depressed at parting with Harry – hoping his old friend's son would be all right, wondering if he ought to have spent more time with him – lifted at Tonks' warmth and humour.

"There really is a mission," Remus said, "but we've got to go see Dumbledore about the details."

Tonks glanced at the distant castle. "Are we meeting him somewhere in Hogsmeade, or are we waiting to go up so we don't appear connected to Harry?"

"We are meeting in the Headmaster's office," Remus replied, "but not being one of High Inquisitor Umbridge's favourite people, I cannot exactly stroll through the front doors, can I?"

"The tunnel from Honeydukes?" Tonks asked.

Remus nodded as they started toward the sweet shop. "I've borrowed Moody's invisibility cloak for when we get inside."

"If I stay like this, I suppose my cover could be that I'm Dumbledore's girlfriend."

Some minutes passed before Remus regained his ability to do anything but laugh. Even then, walking and talking remained difficult, due to the way his mirth made his sides ache.

"I had thought to share the cloak with you," he said, "but if you would like to stay in disguise, you certainly may. The Headmaster would no doubt be highly amused."

"He would," said Tonks, eyes glittering even more brightly as her smile widened. "But I'd rather not pose as anyone's girlfriend but yours if I don't have to."

"And I do hope you're not merely posing as mine."

"Well," she said, "I may have to pose a bit under the invisibility cloak."

"The suggestiveness of that remark is lost on me while you look like Dumbledore's girlfriend."

Tonks pursed her withered lips in a pout. "Let's hurry to Honeydukes so I can change back to me." She quickened her stride.

"Slow down," said Remus. "You are still undercover. You've got to walk older – think of me, after transformation."

Hunching her shoulders, Tonks attempted a hobbling gait but succeeded only in slipping in an icy patch. Remus caught her elbow and kept a firm hold as they crossed the street.

"What a nice young man," said Tonks, affecting a thin, tremulous voice. "So few help old ladies cross a street nowadays. Have you got a girl, laddie?"

"I have," Remus replied as they ascended the Honeydukes porch steps. He opened the door for her. "I believe she is in the loo. Could you send Nymphadora out?"

The sagging, wrinkled skin accentuated the deep frown Tonks pulled. "Not such a nice chap after all, calling her a name like that."

While Tonks was in the loo, Remus browsed the sweets. Dumbledore had requested a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans in return for his part in the day's plan.

"Ooh," came Tonks' voice from behind just as Remus plucked one from the shelf. "How'd you know I was craving those?"

Remus formulated a quick response as he turned to face her. Happiness rushed through him at the sight of her youthful, heart-shaped face and bright clothes, as if he were seeing her for the first time that day. It certainly felt like a long time since their interlude in the kitchen…

"Just because I was an abysmal Divination student," he replied, "does not mean I cannot read a mind now and then."

"You can't read mine."

He studied her for a moment. "You are thinking you would like me to buy these for you."

"I was thinking I'll buy them for myself," Tonks corrected, reaching for the sweets.

Withholding the bag, Remus said, "Please, it's the least I can do since we've indefinitely postponed your birthday." He meant it – though his primary goal was to distract her from seeing him buy a bag for Dumbledore. She would know something was amiss if she saw that; he hated Every Flavour Beans.

"You're sweet." Tonks rose up on her toes to peck his lips. "They're my favourite, y'know."

"Somehow I am not surprised."

"I do hope that's not a snarky implication about my taste," Tonks said with an arched brow. "I don't like the bogey flavoured ones."

"You have impeccable taste." Remus brushed a bit of pink fringe that had fallen over her forehead. "I only mean it's fitting that you would like Every Flavour Beans when you've got Every Colour Hair."

Tonks grinned. "I reckon it is."

"Now," said Remus, leaning close and lowering his voice, "while I pay, will you go outside and scope out a secluded place for us to—"

"—snog?"

"—put on the invisibility cloak."

When Tonks was gone, Remus snatched another bag of Every Flavour Beans and paid for the two. He shrunk Dumbledore's bag and stowed it way in an inner pocket of his cloak, then exited the sweet shop.

Tonks was waiting for him on the porch. "Found a place – in the alley. Where are my Bertie Bott's?"

Remus handed her the bag, and Tonks stuffed a handful into her mouth as she led the way.

"Don't eat too many," he said. "You will spoil—" He stopped himself just as Tonks glanced at him with raised eyebrows. Merlin, he had nearly ruined everything. But he fumbled for an alternative admonition, as Tonks knew he had been on the verge of making one. "Doesn't it spoil the flavours to mix them all like that?"

Tonks threw back another handful. "This way you can't tell if you get a vomit-flavoured one."

"Bogeys and vomit," Remus muttered. "Why would anybody choose Bertie Bott's over chocolate?"

Between Honeydukes and the neighbouring building, a number of wooden shipping crates were stacked next to a cluster of large bins. The couple slipped behind them, and Remus took Moody's cloak from his pocket, unfolded it, and draped it around himself.

"All right," he said, reaching out one hand to pull Tonks under with him. "Strike a pose."

Remus had anticipated the feel of Tonks' body flush against his, but holding her did not produce the sensations it usually did. Something was not right.

"Tonks," he said cautiously, "please do not take this the wrong way, but…did you make yourself…" He swallowed hard. "…slimmer?"

Her hair tickled his chin. "Yeah. I thought we'd fit better."

"We shall fit just fine if you retain your own shape. Do change back."

"Why?"

Remus' face grew considerably warmer than the rest of him. "Because you don't feel like you."

Tonks turned in his arms, and relief mingled with other pleasant sensations as her familiar curves pressed against him. She leant up and kissed his lips gently.

"What was that for?" Remus asked.

"For knowing what I feel like." Tonks gave him another kiss, deep and lingering. Her voice was high and breathless when she said, "And that one's for not liking the feel of another witch's body."

"Do other witches have bodies? I've only noticed yours for months."

It was difficult to see much under the cloak, but at this proximity, Remus thought he detected a blush on her cheeks. Her smile was half-shy and pretty.

"D'you mean that?" Tonks asked. "Or d'you just want another kiss?"

"Yes."

Her arms wound around his neck, and they kissed slowly, thoroughly. Around them were the sounds of Hogsmeade, and the side door of Honeydukes creaked open. Remus' immediate impulse was to break away, but then he remembered that while they stood in plain sight, they remained unseen. James told him once about the wonders of snogging under an invisibility cloak. Remus had not believed it could possibly be as heady as his friend described it; he was delighted to be proven wrong.

Inside the cloak was a world in which no people but them existed, and the only matter was sensation. Here Remus breathed deeper than her perfume and inhaled the fainter scent of her soap – raspberry, like her hair. Her little sighs and sounds which he had always loved amplified, and he heard a language he understood; when he answered, she moulded more perfectly to him, because she could not be anywhere else. Her heart pounded against his, and Remus' body hummed.

Was it the cloak that made him sense so acutely? It wasn't that he had never noticed these things before; it was just that he had never noticed only them, with no other thought or concern. Had the cloak allowed him to let go and simply feel? Or was it that he had permitted the Marauder to come out when Tonks beckoned?

He unwound her scarf and trailed kisses down her throat.

"I thought," she gasped, "you were…all business…today." She stepped back, leaning against his encircling arms.

Remus drew deep breaths to calm his racing heart. "I thought so, too, but you did say you knew how to bring out the Marauder."

He wanted very much to go on being a Marauder in this vein, but he had to stick to the plan. It was time to get to Hogwarts. He turned Tonks so that her back was to him again, cast a silencio spell to complete their cover, then initiated their slightly awkward, shuffling walk to the side door.

Remus pulled the handle and found the door unlocked, and to their benefit, it led to the back storeroom where the stairs to the cellar were located. Descending in their position was a great feat, and he had visions of Tonks losing her balance and taking them both down. They could not remove the cloak, however, lest they encounter someone in the cellar. By some miracle, Tonks managed to keep her balance, and the darkness of the room indicated they were the only ones in the cellar. They peeled off the cloak and ascended through the trap door into the tunnel.

"Lumos," Tonks muttered as Remus slowly lowered the door after them. "Y'know," she said, glancing around, "if we didn't have a mission, this would be a right private place to snog. Are you sure that's not why we're down here?"

Her renewed scepticism made Remus' stomach tie itself in knots. He had always considered himself good at keeping secrets, but he supposed one of the pitfalls of dating an Auror was not being able to avert suspicion. He would simply have to play off her comment.

"That is a thought," he said levelly, lighting his own wand. "Perhaps after our assignment we can come back." The Maurader compelled him to lean close to her ear and murmur, "Though I am personally quite fond of invisibility cloaks."

Tonks giggled, and their free hands clasped as they started down the tunnel. "Wouldn't Mad-Eye be horrified if he knew we snogged under it?"

"Don't tell him," said Remus. "The last thing I want is for him to lecture me about constant vigilance, among other things."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, but Tonks finally said, "You and Sirius already knew about this tunnel when Dumbledore told the Order. How long?"

Remus grinned as a thousand images of himself and his mates at various ages within these tunnels swirled vividly in his memory. "Let's just say if the Marauders happened to have detention during a Hogsmead weekend, we were not deprived of our Honeydukes supply until the next one."

"Didn't your other friends suspect?"

Remus shook his head. "James and Sirius had so much money, everyone assumed they could afford enough to last months."

Tonks stopped walking and dropped his hand. Folding her arms across her chest, she regarded him through narrowed eyes.

"Have I said something offensive?" Remus' hand wandered up to scratch his head as he struggled to account for this abrupt mood swing.

"You were more badly behaved than I ever dreamed of being," said Tonks, "yet you still made prefect. Really now, you lacked the 'certain necessary qualities', too."

"I told you I did," said Remus, maintaining a straight face when he saw how hard she was trying not to smile. "I sense lingering bitterness about this."

They resumed walking, and Tonks' voice became wistful. "I really, really wanted to make prefect."

"I must confess," said Remus, taking her hand again, "I am rather surprised. Not that I find you irresponsible, but you're not—"

"A goody-goody? I know. I had ulterior motives."

"Such as?"

"I thought it would be really cool to be the undercover prefect. You know – I could morph, people wouldn't know it was me, I could catch Slytherins up to no good…"

"Everything is clear now," said Remus. "You were born to a career in law enforcement."

Tonks smiled. "When Professor Sprout found out, she encouraged me to think about becoming an Auror."

They reached a dead end with a ladder fixed to the wall, and they looked to see a wooden plank door overhead.

"Hogwarts?" Tonks asked.

Remus drew out the invisibility cloak once more. "Coming with me, or would you like to be Dumbledore's girlfriend after all?"

Tonks pressed herself close to him as he drew the cloak around his shoulders. "I've got a new appreciation for these things, too. Pity they're so rare and expensive…"

Remus allowed himself the indulgence of one lingering kiss, but decided if he was to surprise Tonks at all today, he had best adopt a professional front befitting a covert errand. "All right then. Let's go see what Dumbledore's got in store for us."