The pub was called Hengist's Cup. The name was written in shaky letters on a battered old sign, complete with a twee painting of a rugged man wearing a crown, lifting a golden cup up towards the sky. The sign swang back and forth, creaking rather annoyingly. Remus had been watching it for quite a long time now. The wind was not as strong away from the exposed moor, and he was fairly sure that the sign had been charmed to swing endlessly. He had walked up and down the wizarding street in Ilkley several times now, and was starting to get a bit worried about attracting attention. He did not quite dare to head towards the field to see where Tonks and the other Aurors were. In fact, he was not at all sure that meeting Tonks was the best thing to do. He sucked in his breath, dug up his courage, and walked through the door, into the Hengist's Cup.

The place was a typical wizarding public house. It was dark, dingy, and had a roaring fire set in the middle of one of the walls. That, at least, was welcome. It was also quite full, mainly with middle aged men apparently on their way home from work. Remus headed towards the bar. The bartender was a burly chap, with a rather unwelcoming smile. He nodded at Remus in greeting. "Good afternoon. What can I get you?"

Remus glanced at the pumps on the bar: Butterbeer (normal and Special Brew), Mead, Goblin's Fancy, Hag Ridden and, on special offer, Dumbledore's Old Favourite. The pump label was marked with a picture of the old man himself, winking at anyone who looked in its direction. Remus was tempted, for old times sake, but the chocolate beer was a bit too sweet for his tastes, and in addition, was fourteen percent. Sweet, but deadly. Remus knew that Albus would have thought it a fitting memorial. "I'll have a pint of Goblin's Fancy, please."

"Coming right up." The bartender started to pull the pint. "Are you new to the area, then?"

"Oh, just passing through, on business."

"Ah. With the Parkinsons, if I may ask?"

"No."

By this time, the pint had been pulled. Remus handed over the necessary money, and then moved away, finding a table in a corner where he could keep an eye on the door. He had not known that the Parkinsons lived in this part of the world. From the barman's question, it sounded as if there had been quite a few visitors to the Parkinson household recently. Still, that was not a major issue at the moment. With a soft sigh, he sipped his beer and tried to sort everything out in his head.

He had been there for about an hour when he finally saw Tonks walk through the door, looking bedraggled and rather stressed. This time, he recognized her easily. For a moment, he wondered how he had failed to recognize that heart-shaped face, especially after all that they had been through together. Even with her black robes and dark hair, she seemed out of place in the dark pub. Quite a few of the patrons had noticed her entrance and were eyeing her speculatively. Tonks looked round, and spotted him almost immediately. Hurrying over, she said, "I'm so glad you're still here. Wilkins was going on and on. Look, what are you drinking?"

Remus' glass was just about empty. He drank the last mouthful, and then said, "The Goblin's Fancy. It's pretty good, actually."

"Hah. I'm more of a Hag Ridden girl myself." With that, she whirled off to the bar. She returned with two drinks, and settled in, carefully making sure that she had a good view of both the fireplace and the front door. "So, Remus, it's been an awfully long time. And you're really not looking at all well, you know."

Remus shrugged awkwardly. "I do what I can." He was not inclined to ask anything in return, and so the conversation stalled momentarily.

Tonks pursed her lips, and then continued on regardless. "Still, I suppose it's not really your time of the ... year." Remus' eyes widened in panic. Tonks leaned forward, and said quietly, "What's going on, Remus? You recognized something out there. Don't even try to deny it."

Remus sat stock still, his heart racing. Tonks mistook his silence, and started to speak urgently, "Look, Remus, I've just spent a long time making up a cock'n'bull story about a strange man coming out of the woods to satisfy Wilkins and the other Aurors. He saw you. I wasn't quick enough. Fortunately for the both of us, he didn't see you inside the actual site. Now, you've got to come clean with me."

Remus started to shush her. "Not here, Tonks. Not here. This is certainly not the place to discuss anything like that."

"Why not? It's noisy, no one can hear us at this level. Why would anyone be listening, in any case? I am an Auror, Remus, and I wouldn't have said what I just said if I didn't think it were safe to do so."

"I know, but even so, there are some things that I won't risk, even if you will. Anyway, how do you know that your boss isn't somewhere round here?" He stared at her.

"Oh, well that I can answer quite easily." Tonks chirpy tone was back in place. "I saw them all go Apparating off back to London. They're all convinced that I'm an unreformed alcoholic in any case. I'm on a mission to investigate the safety standards in pubs across Britain!"

Remus smirked despite himself. "Better not say that too loudly, or they'll get worried and throw you out."

Tonks chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right about that." Her voice dropped lower. "But we still need to discuss certain matters. While we're finishing off these drinks, I'll think about it."

"Can't say fairer than that." Remus took a long sip of beer. "So, you're still an Auror, then? It's been, what, twelve, thirteen years?"

"Something like that, yeah. Same old, same old, though. This is actually the highest profile case I've handled in a long while."

"Oh. But, last time I spoke to Kingsley Shacklebolt, he told me you were doing really well, that you'd get promoted in no time."

Tonks snorted. "And how many years has it been since you 'last spoke to Kingsley Shacklebolt'?" When Remus did not say anything, she continued, "And you, my good man? What have you been up to? Where are you working?"

Remus' face closed up. "I do a bit of this, a bit of that. You know how it is."

Tonks stared at him for a long moment, and then her face softened. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. I read about all that horrible mess with the Muggle school in the Daily Prophet. Really, it's shocking the way that the Ministry carries on sometimes." Her voice rose at the end of that phrase. She had obviously spoken from the heart.

The phrase must also have been overheard by one of the men at the bar, who turned to face the pair of them. "Aye. It really is a disgrace. Those Ministry types, don't know their ... "

The barman had strolled over by this time, and he interrupted, "Alright, Ted. That's enough now."

Ted obviously did not agree. "If they did their job properly, we wouldn't have crimes like this happening here. Not to decent folk. Now, no disrespect to the Aurors, and the fine work that they do," he nodded to Tonks, "but everyone knows that they're understaffed. It's up to the bureaucrats in the Ministry to sort out this werewolf problem." By now everyone in the pub was listening, and mostly nodding along. Ted picked up a rather old copy of the Daily Prophet and brandished the front page. "Look what happens when these monsters aren't controlled. Attacking people's children. It's just not right."

Another man joined in. "I'm right behind you, Ted. They should lock 'em all up, and throw away the key. No good can come of allowing monsters to roam around pretending that they're human part of the time."

Ted nodded magnanimously. "Jack, you don't go far enough. They don't bring anything but misery to society, and they're a risk. They should be shot on sight. When I think of the Mastersons, and their poor little boy, my blood boils." There were quite a few murmurs of agreement.

Tonks turned to Remus, and whispered, "I'm sorry - of course you were right. We'll discuss this elsewhere." Then, she stood up, pulling her Auror robes around her. "Be assured that the Aurors and the Ministry are treating these matters very seriously indeed. However, we cannot condone pre-emptive strikes on werewolves. They are, after all, human, for the majority of the year."

Another one of the patrons spoke up. "That may be the legal opinion, but it's not true is it? They're not human. They're part-human, whatever the laws say. If they were human, they'd be able to control themselves. All they can do is infect others. Who ever heard of a werewolf doing an honest day's work?"

Tonks tried again. "The Ministry is doing everything in its power to ensure that all werewolves are in strictly controlled environments at the full moon."

Before she could finish, another voice was heard. "But it's not enough, is it? That's why more needs to be done."

The barman suddenly stepped in. "Alright, people, that's enough. No need for shouting, now is there? The Auror here is just trying to do her job." He motioned for Tonks to sit down, which she did rather quickly. The other customers continued to discuss the matter rather loudly, but did not try to involve Tonks any further.

She said shakily, "Sorry about that, Remus. I really hate situations like that. I never know what to say."

He smiled at her, looking the very picture of calm. "Me either, Tonks. Me either."

She nodded firmly, fixing a determined look back on her face. "Right. Well, how about we go to my house to discuss this. That should be a safe place. I can even offer you dinner, too!"

Remus retracted slightly. "That's a nice offer, Tonks, but are you sure that that's wise. What if your boss ever found out?"

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Tonks was now sporting that reckless grin that Remus remembered from all those years ago. "In any case, you look like you could use a good meal." She reached into her robes, and pulled out a silver box. With a flick of her wrist, her wand was in her hand. She muttered, "Incendio." A small spark started up inside the box. Tonks shook it a bit, and then put it to her ear, before saying clearly, "Tonks residence, 54 Mulligan Street."

She waited for about a minute, before saying animatedly, "Hi Cal, it's Tonks here. I should be back in half an hour, an hour, something like that. I'll be bringing someone with me - can you make dinner for three this evening?"

The reply was obviously quite short, because a few seconds later, Tonks said, "Thanks a million. You're a real star. Finite." She turned to Remus, and said, "Well, that's sorted then. I hope you like kidneys."

For a moment, Remus was speechless. Finally, he decided that he had to say something. "Was that a Felly-Tone?"

"Sure was. They're standard issue for Aurors in the field. But, we prefer to use the muggle term. Mobile is so much better than that fool name Fred and George gave 'em. Also, that gives WWW an incentive to try and improve these things. They're nowhere near as useful as the Muggle ones."

Remus laughed. "I bet Arthur was proud of the name though." His smile faded rather quickly then. "Can I have a look please? I've never had the chance before."

Tonks handed over the device. There was the small hole where the spark entered, and there was the embossed WWW trademark, and there was the Floo Powder holder. He said, "Very nice. I don't think I'll be getting one any time soon though."

"Oh, I most certainly wouldn't have one if I weren't an Auror. The cost of Floo Powder these days is astronomical. The stocks haven't recovered since the Argent Birch Blight epidemic three years ago."

"I know what you mean," replied Remus. " I'm not even sure it's worth having my house connected to the Network these days. I only have a small amount of powder, for real emergencies. You'd have thought they would have managed to cure the trees by now."

They continued to discuss the Floo Powder crisis as they finished their drinks. Finally, Tonks stood up, and said, "Well, we'd best be off, or we'll miss dinner. I guess the best way is to Apparate to Diagon Alley, and then we can walk from there, as you've never been there before."

"Lead on, Macduff. Lead on." And with that, the two of them nodded to the barman, and Apparated out of the pub.