I was so happy when Tonks and Remus FINALLY hooked up, I could barely contain my glee. (Now all we have to do is wait on Ron and Hermione…) But it still took me a while to get this one up, you know, in between work, writer's block, and AP course packets. Bleeeeeeeh. But this isn't time to ramble on endlessly about how nobody gives a single bale of haywire telephones about Gothic architecture.

The title is temporary until I find a better one. So if you have any suggestions, please drop it in a review!

Disclaimer: I don't own harry potter.

His Metamorphmagus

Chapter I:
Potion Ingredients and a Party

Remus Lupin strolled down the crowded street lined with Muggle store filled with clothes, CDs, toys, books, and other dull contraptions invented by non-magic people to amuse themselves. Bustling shoppers gaped as he walked by in his worn clothes, staring at his empty hands in disbelief. They whispered to one another ("Who in their right mind walks down the street without a shopping bag? Even that homeless man has one!") as he ignored the bewildered glances, straightening his shabby robes with a tiny smile.

The man in his mid-thirties was off to Diagon Alley in order to purchase ingredients for a new potion Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, discovered. The brewing process was simpler than that of the Wolfbane Potion. Remus needed it for his monthly transformation into a werewolf in order to remain harmless to others.

A small dark shop was wedged between a large white bookstore and an independent record store. Remus turned the knob of the grimy black door and it swung open to reveal a large crowd of wizards and witches drinking heavily, laughing loudly, and (in the case of the man on top of a table) dancing drunkenly.

A little old man was behind the spotless bar, smiling toothlessly as Remus approached, edging around red faced man who was telling a tale about an old man and his charmed rock in a deafening tone to a group of attentive old men.

"Hello, Tom," greeted Remus as he took a seat on a stool next to the old but clean bar.

"G'afternoon, Remus," Tom returned the welcome in a bright tone as he drew a clean rag over the shining surface of the bar. "Left Hogwarts, have you?"

"Oh…yes," Remus smiled weakly as the man nodded kindly. "Amazing how no one can keep that position for more than a year." He quickly changed the subject as the barman made a sympathetic sound in the back of his throat, "So, what's the occasion?" he asked, waving at the crowd behind him with interest.

Tom waved the damp rag at a banner that had been stretched over the door of the Leaky Cauldron. Congratulations Nymphadora, our newest Auror! was printed across the cloth in curly handwriting.

"I'm off, then," said Remus, edging away from the wooden bar. "Don't want to make it seem like I came uninvited."

Tom raised a hand in farewell, but just as Remus' foot fell on the threshold of the back door, a motherly voice called from behind, "Remus Lupin?"

He whirled around, quickly wondering if he knew anyone who was associated with a Nymphadora.

"It is you!"

His serious gray eyes swept over a group of toasting witches and came to a halt on a faintly familiar middle-aged woman with a small button nose and short brown curls surrounding her tan heart shaped face.

"Hi," he said in a hesitant tone.

"Oh, you don't remember me," she chided cheerfully. "I'm Andromeda Tonks! You used to come around to my house with my cousin before going off to James Potter's house!"

Remus slowly processed the woman's words. Cousin. Who's cousin…?

"Oh!" Andromorphmagus!" he said in a low, awed tone. "You're Sirius's favorite cousin!"

Andromeda nodded slowly, her bright brown eyes fading slightly as a melancholy expression glazed over her face. "I still can't believe Sirus is a Death Eater. It never seemed to add up, especially when he started his training to be an Auror and…"

Remus ran a distracted hand through his graying brown hair. He hadmet up with Sirius a fortnight ago at Hogwarts where he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts until recently. Sirius wasn't a mass murderer, but Remus transformed into a werewolf and Peter Pettigrew (a former friend and schoolmate), who happened to be the one who truly killed a dozen innocent Muggles, got away and the innocent Sirus was on the run again.

"Ah, but let's forget these dark things for today," Andromeda clapped her hands together as though to frighten away reality. "Come meet my daughter Nymphadora."

Remus suppressed a flinch at the sound of the name. Surely having to grow up with a name like that was just as bad as being a werewolf. Brunette Andromeda sauntered forward, her curls bouncing happily as she approached a dense group of wizards and witches, all shaking hands with a laughing woman in her early twenties. Her short hair was an electric shade of pink and a small nose was perched in the middle of her heart shaped face.

"Nymphadora, dear," said the girl's mother. "I would like you to meet Remus Lupin."

"It's Tonks," said the young woman as she held out her hand, her lips stretched out in a wide grin. "Wotcher."

"How do you do, Tonks," he said as he shook the hand.

Something on the other side of the room fell with a loud crash and people near the source of havoc roared with laughter. Andromeda quickly excused herself before hurrying off to see what had happened.

"It's probably my Uncle Travis doing his firewhisky dance again," she said in a pleasant tone, craning her head in interest as the majority of the people in the room swarmed around a fallen table.

"Lovely," Remus replied in what he hoped a sincere tone.

Tonks snorted loudly, "Sure, if you think watching a drunk sixty nine year old trying to hop on a table to swing his hips around is lovely."

The man smiled faintly. "Congratulations on becoming an Auror."

"Thank you," she said graciously. Then she asked, "Did my mum invite you?"

"Oh, no," he felt his cheeks redden slightly. "I was on my way to Diagon Alley to purchase some potion ingredients and…"

"Mum wanted you to meet me?" Tonks finished. He nodded and she burst out laughing. "She insisted that we celebrate here since she didn't think our house was large enough," she leaned over and finished in a light, hushed tone, "but I think she wanted to let everyone know that I'm not as clumsy as they say since Auror's need some stealth." She straightened and motioned at a festive table covered with various party foods. "Cake?"

"Er, sure," Remus nodded graciously. "You don't seem clumsy to me."

She gave him a grateful look as she handed him a laden plate and turned to a row of pitchers filled with various types of mead. "What would you like?"

"Just some butterbeer, please."

She nodded and poured some into two empty goblets. She then set the pitcher down without much thought. It collided with the two goblets brimming with the heart-warming liquid. The glasses toppled over and the fluid seeped through the white tablecloth, trailing under the many bowls and plates.

"You spoke too soon," she said pleasantly as she removed the growing stain with a quick, almost automatic, jab of her wand.

"Well…" Remus mouthed in silence for a moment, not sure of what to say.

She smiled as he led the way to an empty table. He set down the plate and looked back in time to see the young woman's foot hook around the leg of a chair. Her plate of cake, crisps, fruits, and sweets flew in all directions as she lost her balance and collided into the table. The offending chair was swept off its feet and gracefully sailed down with her. The magical persons that had been crowded around the injured Uncle Travis whirled around and watched with wary expressions.

"And my mum's in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," she said as she cleaned the mess with a wave of her wand. "So we think it's all from my dad's side of the family. His lack of organization must have counted against him…" she added in a thoughtful tone.

He smiled obligingly as a tall, bald, black man entered the Leaky Cauldron with a grim expression. Many people greeted him warmly; he was obviously a well-respected person.

"It's Kingsley Shacklebolt," Tonks said in an eager tone to no one in particular. She raised her voice slightly and waved widely, "Wotcher, Kingsley!"

The man nodded serenely as he approached the two. "Congratulations, Tonks."

She quickly introduced the two men to one another before motioning at the back table creaking slightly under the many plates of food. "Cake?" she asked.

"Can't," he said apologetically in a deep, rumbling voice, "there's just been a sighting of Sirius Black."

A laughing witch next to Kingsley stifled her giggles so quickly she squeaked. The people near the trio stiffened and looked at them in worry. The atmosphere of the room hardened as Kingsley's words swept through in brief, hushed whispers.

"A muggle called in. He was at the outskirts of Dover," he continued. "I'm on my way, but I stopped in because I promised Andromeda I would."

Remus sought out Tonks's mother still standing next to an over turned table and saw her guilty expression. He turned back to the other two in time to find Kingsley sharing a hearty handshake with Tonks.

"Congratulations again," he said before nodding to various people and strolling out of the pub, leaving nervous party-goers behind.

After Kingsley Shacklebolt left, the celebrations ended as the crowd of witches and wizards bustled about nervously, exiting out the back door into Diagon Alley, shooting up the chimney amid green flames, or leaving by way of the front door and onto the unsuspecting Muggle street. Remus was one of the last to leave.

"Lupin!"

"It's Remus, actually," he corrected gently as the pink haired woman followed him to the trashcan behind the pub.

"Er…right," she smiled sheepishly as he counted bricks above the large rubbish bin. "You don't…you don't believe Sirius Black is really as bad as they say, do you?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he tapped a certain brick, which opened the gateway to Diagon Alley. "What would make you think that?"

"You didn't react like everyone else," she stated plainly as he stepped under the large archway and onto the cobblestone street. "Everyone else was worried and nervous, but you weren't." A pause. "No, you were worried too. It's just a different sort like…like a protective worry…"

"You chose the right career," Remus said approvingly as he passed Eeyops Owl Emporium, side-stepping the pellets of coughed up fur and bones. "You're sharp. Very sharp."

"So I'm right?" she said in surprise. "It wasn't just a trick of the light?"

"I used to think he was dangerous. I used to believe what everyone else thinks. But now my mind has changed."

"My, aren't you mysterious," she commented as they entered an Apothecary. "So why did you…?"

"Reasons I cannot say," he said as he purchased a string of dried herbs and a bag of Valerian roots. He spotted her frustrated look and added in a thoughtful tone, "You could ask your mother about him, though. She's his favorite cousin after all."

"I know he—" she gave him a peculiar look as he drew a small bag of coins out from under his shabby cloak. "How did you know that?"

"He was one of my best friends at Hogwarts," he replied as he took the bag of essential ingredients and started back for the Leaky Cauldron.

Tonks stopped short. "That was one of the most unexpected things I've heard all day, including what Kingsley said."

The corners of Remus's lips twitched upwards as he also stopped. "I'm pretty good at saying things of that sort."

"All right then, let's hear another one," she prompted.

"No, I think this one'll do for now," he said as he reentered the Leaky Cauldron.

"Oh, so there's a limit?" she asked in a playful tone, wagging a finger at him as he came to a halt in the empty bar.

"But of course," he said, nodding sagely. "If I ran out of random things to say, then I'd be as predictable as…as…"

"A rotting log in the middle of January?" she suggested.

"Er…sure."

He glanced as his watch. Half past five, best be going. "It was nice meeting you, Tonks," he said. "I hope we meet again."

"Well, if you want someone to catch a Dark wizard for you, owl me," she returned with a quick handshake.

"Will do," he said in a serious tone. He nodded before entering the Muggle street without a backward glance.

There you go! Chapter one is done!

So, lemme hear what you think! Drop a review. Even just a little sentence will be appreciated. Or even a word. If it just said "Sucky" or "bleh" or "hum" or "ehhh"it'd probably get the point across better! Except I wouldn't know what's so sucky, bleh, hum, or ehhhabout it…

And, again, still can't find a proper title for this one. Please help a person out and drop a suggestion! I have M&Ms!

Until next time,
Farfanugans,
Chikin Wang.