Sorry, once again, for the long lack of update. I'm sure you guys must have gotten used to this. Haha. I've just updated my profile and then got the sudden urge to write another chapter! So anyhow, enjoy… and don't forget to REVIEW! I love reviews almost as much as chocolate! -giggles stupidly-

Oh, and I've realised, Ron's birthday is in March, right? And I made it to be in the Christmas hols! Well, there's nothing I can do now because I need it for the plot, so you guys just go along with the flow, ok? Sorry about that. Haha.

To have one's diet defeated by chocolate is a delectable defeat. - Shirley Thomas

"I do miss Quidditch," Sirius commented, with a small sigh, as he carefully put down his completed Bludger.

Lupin smiled slightly. "Once you've been cleared, Sirius, you can go to all the Quidditch matches you want."

Sirius shrugged. "That'll be the day." He looked up as Tonks held up a broomstick. "Whoa, you're pretty good at this, aren't you? That's a Firebolt, right?"

Tonks nodded, beaming and looking extremely proud of herself. "Yup. Since Ron can't afford a real one, he should at least own a yummy chocolate one."

Sirius let out his usual bark-like laughter. "Not a bad idea, cousin dear." He glanced at the still-gigantic chocolate egg. "We only have the quaffle left to make, and there's still so much left…" he said. Then he smirked. "But it provides the two of you quite some quality bonding time, doesn't it?" he remarked rather childishly.

"Sirius," Lupin admonished like a teacher, though for some reason he felt his heart skip a beat when he mentioned that. He glanced over at Tonks quickly. Her face was rather pink, but otherwise she was smoothing out the twigs of her chocolate Firebolt in a composed manner.

Lupin shook his head. What is the matter with me?

1234

That night, Lupin lay in bed, thinking.

The chocolate egg was as usual, blocking his view of the window. But this couldn't be helped; despite it being half its usual size now, it was still amazingly big. At least it wasn't melting since the weather was still so cold – that he was thankful for. He tossed and turned in his bed, his eyes closed, but yet he couldn't sleep. In his mind he replayed the events that had happened in the past few days, coupled with Sirius's words.

"…quality bonding time…"

Why in the world am I so bothered by this? Lupin thought to himself. Sirius was a tad childish for his age – that couldn't be helped, he had been locked away from the outside world for too long. Yet, he couldn't remember the last time he had had so much fun. The eat-all-you-can chocolate competition, the dress-up competition, making presents for Sirius… he had enjoyed himself entirely in all these events. They had made him feel much more alive and younger, instead of the deathly old werewolf he always thought himself to be. And all these time, he had been with Tonks.

Lupin probed anxiously at his feelings. Do I…

He had had plenty of crushes in his youth, some silly, others much more serious. Most of time, he had been much too shy to make a move – it had mainly been his condition that held him back. The brief relationships that he did have never lasted. Once, he had told his rather serious stead the truth about what he was. She had smashed her dinner in his face and stalked out of his house, never to return to him again. After that dreadful heartbreak, Lupin had mostly kept his emotions to himself.

The image of the vivacious, cheerful young woman floated into his mind. Tonks. She was always capable of making him laugh, cheering up his day, and full of surprises. Lupin smiled to himself at the thought of her.

That was when he realised it. I like her, he thought. I like her – more, much more than just a friend. "I like you, Tonks," he whispered into the night, then felt shocked at how he had so blatantly declared his feelings – something he had not done in years.

But, so what if I like her? Lupin thought sadly to himself. This was probably a one-sided love. Besides, Tonks was smart, funny, and good-looking; he could not think of a single reason why she would like a poor werewolf more than ten years his senior. There's nothing I can do, Lupin thought, as he rolled over and shut his eyes firmly.

A few doors away, Tonks looked at the chocolate Quidditch set that was lying on her desk, and smiled to herself. The past few days had been pure fun for her, and indeed, it had mostly been Remus Lupin that had made it all so enjoyable.

"Quality bonding time…"

She mumbled the words without really realising it, then glanced at the photo of her, Lupin and the egg – taken on the day of the All-you-can-eat Chocolate competition, and chuckled.

She brushed her hair one last time, put down her comb and clambered into bed. The smile never left her face as she drifted off to dreamland.

5678

It was Ron's birthday party. Lupin, Tonks and Sirius's present was wrapped up in a special type of paper so the chocolate wouldn't melt. They had cast a strong flying spell on the broom – it would last for about a week. It was both a Christmas and birthday party, thus it was double the celebration. The whole downstairs of Grimmauld Place was brightly decorated with colourful crepe paper, magical balloons that don't burst and a huge green mistletoe at the doorway. There was also a wonderfully decorated Christmas tree, with little fairies hanging on it. Once in a while the fairies would shout up cheery greetings like "Have a merry Christmas!" or "Happy birthday, Ronniekins!"

Everybody was in great spirits. There was a good deal of shouting and cheering going on. Every so often, it got so loud that someone had to go and stop Sirius's mother's portrait from screaming. All in all, it was great fun; and soon, Lupin found himself in a Truth of Dare game with Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Fred, George, Sirius and Tonks.

"The more, the merrier!" Sirius exclaimed as he pulled a rather reluctant Lupin in. "Come on, its Christmas AND Ron's birthday, be a sport!"

"Yeah, Remus, it's all in good fun," Tonks added cheerfully. The sound of her voice made his heart skip a beat.

"Oookkk," Ron said. "Since I'm the birthday boy, I'll spin first." He took hold of the empty butterbeer bottle and spun it hard. It landed in front of George, who groaned while everyone else shouted and laughed.

"Truth or dare?" Harry asked at once.

George shrugged his shoulders, grinning. "Well, dare, of course."

"Darn it! Knew he'd choose that." Ron said, smirking and shaking his head.

"Well, what'd you expect, lil' bro? I've never been comfortable with Truths." George told him.

"I dare you," Hermione spoke up suddenly, "to do a strip dance right now in front of us."

George looked rather shocked. He wasn't the only one.

"Hermione!" Everyone cried, and Ginny exclaimed, "I'd never expect you, of all people, to say something like that!"

Hermione shrugged. "Got it from a Muggle novel." She said, smiling.

George got to his feet gamely. While doing a sort of weird dance, he took of his sweater, his shirt, and his pants and socks. Soon he was left with nothing on but a pair of boxers decorated with weird-looking Santa clauses.

"Hey, it's only for today," he told the others as they shrieked with laughter.

Lupin smiled, amused at everyone's reactions. He was way past all these good childish fun – they were a laugh, but he now got tired of them easily. He glanced at Tonks, who was smiling too. She turned and caught his eye and they both shared a grin. She felt the same way as him, too.

George hurriedly put on his clothes before Mrs. Weasley could hurry up and admonish him for risking a bad cold. He spun the bottle hard.

It landed in front of Tonks.

"Wooo-hoo!" Ron hooted. "And what shall it be?"

"A dare, of course." Tonks said confidently.

"A dare, huh?" Ginny said, a mischievous glint in her eyes, but Sirius jumped in ahead of her.

"I dare you, Tonks. Kiss Remus. On the lips."

Everyone gasped. Lupin felt himself turn red, and gave Sirius a deathly glare. What in the world is he thinking? Does he… does he actually know how I feel about her?

Sometimes, he decided, having a childhood friend who knows you so well can be a pretty bad thing.

"Go on! Go on, Tonks!" Everyone was cheering. Tonks sat frozen, looking rather dumbfounded.

Lupin watched her face. "She doesn't want to do it; don't force her." He said firmly. Inside though, he could not help feeling rather disappointed. Disgusted with this, he shook himself and tried to keep a neutral expression.

"Who says?" Tonks had stood up suddenly. She tossed back her head and strolled over to Lupin.

"What -" Lupin began, but Tonks did not let him finish. She bent down, and kissed him hard on the lips.

Sirius let out his trademark laughter and the rest cheered and clapped. When Tonks let go, Lupin looked at her, stunned. Her smile was soft, but he noticed there was a rather confused expression in her eyes, as though she was shocked by her own sudden daring. In fact, she looked like how he had felt on that fateful night when he realised his feelings for her.

TBC

I'm done! I hope that wasn't too bad, I tried to get the two closer. I know it's a bit clichéd, so do review and tell me what you think!

And thanks toKara Adar, krumfan, Sims2lover, SilverMoonShining, Bardlover, Randomisation, TicTacTurtle, MagicalSecret, Emily-Blondie, Ethlena and of course thehpgang for reviewing! Especially to those who did not forget my story despite all those months of not updating!