Remus and Draco arrived back at 54 Mulligan Street just in time for dinner. When Remus walked into the kitchen, Tonks was facing in the other direction, still wearing her black Auror robes, with her dark brown hair coiled up into tight twist. Draco glanced over at Remus and said loudly, "Wotcher, Tonks, Cal. Look what the cat dragged in."

Remus sighed and pretended to cuff Draco's head. When Tonks turned round, she look surprised for a second and then started to laugh. "Cal wouldn't tell me what he did!" Before Remus had time to react, she continued, "You look fantastic. Years younger."

Remus sniffed disdainfully and pulled a chair out, trying to recover his dignity. "So, Mommy, did you have a good day at work?" He put on his best American accent.

Cal's lip twitched, and he said, also aiming for an American accent, "Yeah, darling. You stay out so late, you work so hard. I think you could at least tell the kids a story." He gestured broadly towards Draco and Remus. Before anyone could continue, Draco started to laugh hysterically.

He stopped shortly after, when Tonks reached for her wand and muttered a quick, "Silencio." She glared at him. "I know this is all your fault, blondie. You've been corrupting all of the men in my life." She raised her left hand to her forehead and sighed like a swooning lady. "They used to tell funny jokes."

The dinner-table conversation eventually turned to more serious matters, surprisingly brought up by Draco. He presented a concise summary of the information that he and Remus had collected from the Internet, and then leaned forward. "What's going on, Tonks? And what do the Muggles have to do with it? Does this have anything to do with Hermione's visit here yesterday?"

Tonks glanced over at Remus, obviously trying to gauge how much Remus had told him. "I'm sorry Drake. I can't really say too much at the moment, other than that something's up, apparently with the Muggles as well as in the wizarding world. And yes, we asked Hermione for her opinion on a couple of points. In fact, she suggested looking in the Muggle papers. I guess she doesn't stay in touch with the Muggle world, or she would have noticed all the stuff you described." She paused, and Remus had the impression that she was weighing Draco in her mind. "Why so interested, Drake?"

Draco looked down, and Remus suspected that he was busy trying to hide his interest. Finally, Draco said quietly, "The gods know that I don't give a fig about the Ministry, or the wizarding world for that matter. But I do care about my boy Cal over there. If you get into trouble, what'll happen to him? And me. Trouble by association."

Tonks looked over at Cal and sighed. "You're right. I guess this next question goes to both of you then. You both know that we're investigating something, and that I'm not confident that we can rely on the Ministry. In fact, I'm half way to suspecting a plot inside the Ministry.

"I'm not willing to let the matter drop at this point, so I guess you two are either in, or you're out. Cal, I understand completely if you want me to find an alternative supervisor for you. Drake, I'm sure you can find some other people to annoy."

Cal put down his knife and fork and looked at Tonks for a long moment, before saying quietly, "I'm in, cousin." He then looked down at his plate quietly, and Remus saw that Tonks' face lightened with sudden relief.

Draco grinned. "I'll keep an eye on the Muggle news for you. Perhaps I can try to persuade some Muggles that the full moon attacks are all linked."

Tonks nodded, but Remus turned and said, "Why? Why do you care, Draco?"

Tonks shifted as if to say something, but Draco lifted his hand to say that he would answer. "Who knows, Remus? Because."

Cal and Draco left shortly after dinner to go to work, leaving Remus and Tonks in the kitchen, finishing off the bottle of the wine they had all shared. Remus felt a pleasant fuzz in his brain, and said, "So can we trust Draco?"

Tonks laughed ruefully. "Who knows? I know that he's not going to run to the Ministry and tel them about all our wrongdoing. Beyond that, we'll see. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. So, how was your morning?"

Remus stood up to do the washing up and gave an abbreviated account of his morning at the Parkinson Manor. Tonks expressed astonishment that they were employing Muggles as well, and conceded that she could not see anything immediately suspicious, other than a certain haste in employing layabout indigents like John Lupin.

Remus set the last cup on the rack to dry and turned round, leaning against the work surface. "I take offence at that, Miss Tonks. I did buy you something on the way back, but with that attitude..."

Tonks was leaning against a cupboard, and she stuck her tongue out him playfully. "Cal really did chop your hair off, didn't he?"

Remus shrugged self-consciously. "Good job too. Without the Muggle make-up I would have been a goner when Parkinson lifted the glamours."

Tonks smiled cheekily. "Make-up! You vain man, you. Smoothing over all of your scars and age-lines." She walked over and ran a finger down his cheek, wiping off some of the foundation. She looked at her incriminating finger and then at Remus, arching her eyebrows.

Remus tried manfully to tear his gaze from her lips towards her eyes. Time seemed to come to a stand-still. He said, drily, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."

Tonks laughed giddily and then leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Remus hesitated for a moment, and then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, kissing her back. He felt her laughing beneath his lips and allowed her to pull him away from the sideboard to wrap her arms around him in return. They stayed entwined for several long minutes, and then Tonks hugged Remus tightly and rested her cheek on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and sighed with pleasure. His hand wandered to her hair and stroked the dark brown strands. He located the chopstick holding the twist up, and quickly pulled it out.

Tonks lifted up her head and arched her eyebrows. "What do you think you're doing, buster?"

He drank in her heart-shaped face and smiled lazily before sticking his tongue out at her. "What, I'm not allowed?" She gave an exaggerated hmmph, but eagerly moved forward to kiss him again.

A little while later, Tonks said playfully, "So what about this present, then?"

Remus grinned bashfully. "Don't get your hopes up. Nothing too serious."

Tonks sniffed. "Well, I shall retire to the living room. You can follow with the tea."

Remus made a loose salute. "Yes, sir." As she turned to leave, he grabbed her arm and pulled her in for another kiss, before turning to busy himself with boiling the water.

Once she had left the room, he located the shrunken egg and returned it to full size. He unwrapped it quickly and noted the incantation necessary to prime the illusion.

Once the tea was ready he levitated it in front of him, and held the egg behind his back to hide it. In the living room, Tonks was sitting on the sofa. She had removed her work robes, and Remus noted that she was wearing a rather tasteful blue blouse with a pair of black trousers. She grabbed her cup of tea out of the air and placed it on the ground.

Remus stayed standing, and said, "I know that you've been working hard on your new project at the Ministry, the dragon egg smuggling thing. Well, I stumbled across something that I thought you might find relevant."

Swiftly he pulled the egg forward and threw it to Tonks, muttering the command word. Surprise flashed across her face and she automatically reached forward to grab it in two hands. Remus had had a picture in his mind of her catching it, only for a mini Chinese Fireball to burst forth, breathing fire.

Nothing happened. A few seconds later, Tonks looked up. "Erm, Remus, I appreciate the thought, but, um, you do know that dragon eggs are illegal goods?"

Remus shifted and said, "Touch it again." Tonks did so obligingly, but nothing happened. Remus said the command word again, but still nothing happened. Finally he walked forward to touch it, but the egg remained inert. He shrugged sheepishly. "It's supposed to be fitted with an illusion of a dragon that jumps out at whoever touches it. I picked it up at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

Tonks started to laugh. "You sure know the way to a girl's heart, Remus."

He coughed, a little embarrassed, and picked the egg up, looking all round it for any sign as to why it had malfunctioned. He passed it back and asked to Tonks to hold it while he tried a basic detection spell. The result showed that,whilst the egg was clearly magical, there were no actual spells laid on it. Tonks balaned the egg on her knee and fished her wand out and cast an identification spell. A smoky cloud containing the words "Chinese Fireball dragon egg" drifted out of her wand.

"Blimey," said Tonks. "I think you really have bought me a dragon's egg, Remus."

Remus grinned weakly. "Yeah, five Galleons at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. A real surprise."

Tonks frowned. "I wonder if this has any link to the stuff I'm investigating. Who sold it to you?"

"Some woman. A blonde girl, very impolite. Nobody else was in the shop."

"That must be Henrietta Valduc. I think she works there part-time. She's a right nasty piece of work; don't know why the Weasleys hired her. She's got a bit of rep for shady dealing on Knockturn Alley, although we've never managed to directly pin her with anything criminal." Tonks brushed her hair behind her ears, and her voice adopted a more professional tone. "This might be the break we've been looking for. I bet she's taken the job to act as a front for the distribution of the dragon eggs. If the stock is checked, it will be the fake eggs, and she'll have hidden her stock of real eggs for her real customers. The shop manager would never know." She smiled at Remus. "You must have looked very dodgy, mate."

He splayed his hands wide helplessly. Tonks stared at the egg, and then stood up slowly. "I'm sorry, Remus, I'm going to have to take this egg somewhere safe. Fireball eggs need to be kept warm, and I don't want to damage the baby dragon. And then, I'll need to get a headstart on checking out Valduc. It won't be long before she realises that she made a mistake with the stock, so me and my colleagues will want to move first thing."

She holstered the egg under one arm, and then bit her lip. Remus watched as she walked towards him and gave him a peck on the lips. "Hold that thought for another day, buster. I'm sorry. Duty calls."

With that, she Apparated away. A delayed flush of adrenaline washed through Remus' system, chasing out the fuzz. He sighed and made his way into the kitchen, deciding that he wanted something a bit stronger than tea. With a glass of Firewhiskey safely in hand, he collapsed into the sofa, muttering, "Women!"