Disclaimer: The usual.

Chapter Eight: The Ugly Filler Chapter

I have officially been homeless for three hours now. Some guy actually put a dollar in my hat! It's all fun, really. I mean, all I'm doing is sitting on the park bench, looking poor, and people give me money!

I mean, apart from the whole everyone-hating-me-spiking-Lupin's-potion thing, this has been a good day!

…

I am not going to cry again, I am not going to cry again.

"Tonks?" something whispered into my ear.

I screamed and jumped up.

Hands held me down. Shaking hands. I turned slowly. They were very skinny, long, white pretty hands. I knew these hands. I looked up. And … I knew that face.

"Nice disguise, I must give you credit," said Lupin, quivering slightly. At first, I thought it was from strain or weakness or something, but then I realized he was laughing.

I think the shock of what happened has made him mad.

"Why are you laughing?" I said hoarsely, clutching my newspaper blanket to me tight.

He shook his head, and continued laughing.

"This isn't making me feel much better," I said weakly. I had driven him mad. Good job, Tonks, a new personal first!

His thin lips were still curled into a strained smile, but he was no longer laughing. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't say that," I said tersely.

"I mean it," he said, suddenly solemn.

"Please, just don't …" I said, shutting my eyes, and biting my lip hard to stop it from quivering.

"That was mean," he said, sounding so sincere I wanted to punch his annoyingly handsome face. "I shouldn't have laughed."

"That's not it," I tried again, brushing a hand through my hair nervously. "I-I could have killed you, doing what I did, you have no…no need to apologize. I don't have a right to hear that."

A smile glowed upon Lupin's tired face again, and he hung his head, but I could still see his large grin.

"Please stop," I whispered. "Why aren't you mad?"

He shook his head, looking serious again. "Tonks … you had no way of knowing. I should have told you. The blame, really, lies on me. I get Molly to make that potion for me, it's her favour, I should need not depend on it to get me through."

"But … but it was awful," I said, quickly losing wind of what I was supposed to be guilty of. "I spiked it with paprika!"

"And I have to say, it's never tasted better," he smiled. I didn't.

"But it didn't work," I said weakly.

"No, it didn't work. But I have enough years of changing fully to be able to hold on to my mind, for the most part, anyways … and with Sirius there as Padfoot, it was fine."

I blinked. "Excuse me?" Who the bloody hell was Padfoot?

Lupin blinked right back. "Has Sirius never told you of his Animagus form?"

I blinked back back. "Uh, no."

Lupin blinked back back back. "He learned in Hogwarts. He turns into a large black dog."

I almost giggled. Now it's actually true when I call him a son-of-a-bitch. Oh, happy days, happy days.

"Well, you never told me about being a werewolf," I said.

Lupin looked ashamed. "I was afraid of your reaction."

I almost felt guilty. I was keeping something from him, too. For a moment, I almost told him. Almost. Then I saw his face. He was smiling. He was happy. He liked me. As a friend. Not as some bed buddy. I didn't want to lose that. I couldn't.

"I don't care," I said, and he smiled. "I really don't."

"Lupin, dear!" A voice behind us called. A middle-aged woman with wiry hair and a lopsided grin approached us. "Wonderful to see you again!"

She hugged him, which looked terribly awkward for Lupin, who looked like he'd rather not hug her at all. Still, he embraced her back. He was too nice.

"Matilda." He nodded at her. She blushed. I tensed. Did everyone have a crush on Lupin?

"Remus. So wonderful to see you again," she repeated. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, and shot a glance at me. "And who is this?"

"Oh," Lupin grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. "This is my mother."

"Excuse me?" How dare he! I mean, I noticed I've been looking a bit under the weather lately but that's no reason to --!

"Yes, my mother," he said through gritted teeth, shooting me a pointed look. "With her greying brown hair, and few teeth …"

"Well, I never --" Wait. I held up my hand to my eyes, and realized I was still in my metamorphosed homeless old lady form. Oops. "Oh, indeed," I said, adapting a Swedish accent for absolutely no good fathomable reason. Lupin stared at me incredulously. "I am his mother. He is my son. It's just … great." I smiled. Matilda raised an eyebrow. Lupin face-palmed.

"How quaint," drawled Matilda, looking very suspicious. "I'll just leave you two …" And she walked off.

I immediately changed back to my … 'normal' form. Lupin scowled down at me.

"I'm sorry?" I tried.

"Swedish?" he questioned, now almost smiling.

"Oh, go away," I snapped.

As we neared Headquarters, I could see Lupin visibly shrink away.

"Sirius is mad at you," he told me.

I sighed. "Oh, well."

"I'm just warning you …"

We entered the building. It seemed to be empty. Quite glad I wouldn't have to face Sirius just yet, I turned back to Lupin. "It looks pretty deserted, doesn't it?"

He nodded, and I went to shut the door. Suddenly, from behind it, Sirius jumped out, causing me to fall back onto Lupin, screaming bloody murder.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," Lupin chorused, as I attempted to pull myself off of him.

"You scared me!" I cried. Sirius just looked angry.

"Don't you know what you've done?" he snapped

"Of course I know!" I shot back, accidentally falling back on Lupin.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," he moaned, unheard by either Sirius or me.

"You could have killed him!" Sirius was barring his teeth, like an angry dog.

"Oh, I know, all right? I feel so bad. You couldn't even imagine," I looked away, forgetting Lupin was crying in pain underneath me.

"Ow…"

"You should know better than to mess with potions!" he snapped.

I glared at him. "He should have told me he was a werewolf!" I yelped, and Lupin opened his mouth, momentarily ignoring his pain.

Sirius cut across him, "He has a right to keep those things private."

Lupin sighed. "Ow, ow, ow …"

"Oh, just like you have a right to keep it private that you're a bloody dog!"

Sirius looked gob smacked. It was silent for a moment. Lupin looked around wildly, then, "Ow…"

"How do you know that?" he whispered, sounding dangerous.

I narrowed my eyes, "Lupin told me. Why didn't you tell me before?"

Sirius glared at Lupin. Lupin looked quite scared indeed. "Ow!" he tried, as Sirius advanced on him.

"Why'd you tell her?" Sirius snapped.

I said, "I do have a name!" just as Lupin muttered something like, "Can't breathe, get off, can't breathe, can't breathe …"

Sirius pulled me off Lupin, and I glared at him. Lupin let out a deep breath, looking relatively less blue. "Why shouldn't I tell her?"

"My name is Tonks, people …"

"Because that's my business."

"Sirius, it's not a secret."

"Oh, and your condition is?"

"Yes. And Sirius, you don't have a condition."

"Yes I do!"

"Mental, maybe, not physical."

"Sod off."

"I would, but I think it'd be impolite."

"You're so queer."

"I think that's you," I murmured. No one seemed to hear.

Sirius and Lupin were glaring at each other. The silence seemed to be pounding down on us, becoming quickly unbearable. And just as they opened their mouths, a loud noise from upstairs sounded.

"I do not have a crush on Harry! I do not have a crush on Harry!"

The slim figures of Fred and George Weasley appeared, running through the landing as the burnt. The very angry-looking Ginny Weasley, carrying a fire-poker and chasing them furiously, soon followed them.

"Ginny you're going to have to admit it someday!" cried Fred, looking quite pale.

"I do not like Harry Potter! And I need not have to go into the bathroom worried that the toilet seat is going to bellow it out to the whole world!"

Fred and George looked slightly proud for a moment, before a small prod in the back with the poker alerted them once more of reality. "It only tells the truth!" George protested.

"Oh, yes, because I have a rubber chicken for a boyfriend and have purple warts covering my feet!"

Just as they span behind a corner, Fred yelled back, "It's always possible!" Followed shortly after was a yell off in insane rage, most probably on Ginny's part.

There was dead silence for a moment.

"Should we go after them?" Lupin asked.

"Nah," answered Sirius.

"They deserve what's coming to them," I said.

There was a pause.

"Well, see you around," Sirius said, nodding.

"Yep," I answered, walking off toward the bedrooms.

"Been a nice talk," Lupin said, before disappearing around the corner.

I had quite a nice sleep that night.

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