I looked sideways at Remus while we strode toward the security desk in the Rosier Building. His face was set in determination: jaw clenched, eyes dark with resolve. My heart skipped a beat. Merlin, he was sexy.

"Tonks?"

I'd been too busy mentally drooling over Remus to hear Julia. I smiled apologetically.

"I said, shouldn't you talk to that troll? He doesn't look welcoming."

I almost rolled my eyes. He wasn't supposed to. That was why mountain trolls made great security guards. Their bulk and stony expressions were intimidating.

Remus told Sendak, "We're here to see Rosier."

His voice conveyed that we wouldn't take no for an answer. Sendak's deceptively placid gaze shifted from Remus to me. Trolls understood English, even though they chose not to speak it, since meaningful gestures got their point across more easily. A huge finger pointed in my direction as Sendak nodded. He pointed at each of my companions in turn, shaking his head. I got the message, but I wasn't going to heed it.

I stepped forward and placed both hands flat on his desk. "C'mon, Sendak," I said, leaning to look him straight in the eye. "Normal rules don't apply. These people aren't security risks, they're with me, and I'm only here to talk to Evan."

His face remained impassive.

I decided to use flattery. "Zîr TUD, let us by."

Trolls were secretive about their language, but I'd tried the few bits I knew of Westron on Sendak back when I'd been a frequent visitor, and his reaction to the language Tolkien used told me he understood it. This time, if I had pronounced it right, I'd called the troll a wise guard.

Almost imperceptibly, Sendak's lips curved into a smile. "Barrabatta," he said in a slow, deep rumble.

Quick-talker? I chose to view that as a compliment. "Ta, thanks. May we pass?"

Sendak made a noise like shifting gravel and nodded. When the others headed for the lift, he rumbled something that sounded like, "Ribadyan."

I mentally scrambled to remember the words I'd once felt so clever learning. Grasping at straws, I guessed, "It's your birthday?" His smile widened. I grinned. "Happy Birthday, Sendak!"

"Tonks!"

"She's so impatient," I told the troll, waving goodbye. I jogged over to one of the magically powered Victorian lifts and said to Julia, "It was his birthday!"

Jul rolled her eyes. "She makes the weirdest friends," she told Remus.

He smiled.

Tom smirked. "We're a little odd, I suppose, but weird?"

I laughed. Julia pinched my arm. "Ow!" I said. "I didn't say anything!"

"Exactly!"

Once the lift began to ascend, Remus said, "I suggest we wait and see why Rosier thinks we're here before asking any questions."

"Good idea. We may surprise something out of him," Tom said.

"Give him the silent treatment like a suspect?" asked Julia.

Remus nodded. "He is suspect…of any number of things."

The steely tone in my love's voice was making it hard for me to concentrate on the matter at hand. My imagination kept supplying visions of what it would be like to be alone with Remus in this lift with his hands on my body. I began to daydream.

He was pressing me back against the iron grille.

"You are suspect of any number of things," Remus murmured.

I threaded my arms around his neck. "Like what?"

His eyes gleamed with a predatory glint. "Primus, I suspect this lift 'malfunctioned' according to plan."

Oh gods, he was using Latin on me. I almost confessed everything. Instead, I slid a leg up his and wrapped it around his waist.

Remus's grin was wolfish. "Secundus, I highly suspect you are not wearing knickers."

"Nymphadora?"

"I'm wearing knickers!" I blurted, startled. Thankfully, Tom and Julia had left the lift and Remus and I were alone inside.

Remus blinked.

I said, "Panties count, right?"

He started to smile. I hurried out of the lift. "Sorry. I was…erm…thinking," I said to everyone.

Julia smirked. "I won't ask what."

Tom was already walking toward the corner office. We followed.

Catherine rose to her feet when she saw us. "I must ask you to leave. You don't have an appointment."

I saw a blonde hair on the smooth mahogany surface of her desk and picked it up. "Did you know recent usage of Polyjuice is detectable via hair sample?"

Fear flashed in her eyes. "Mr. Rosier, Miss Tonks and…guests…are here," she said, engaging an intercom spell.

"Send them in," was the immediate response.

Evan was reading, or pretending to read, a file on his desk. Even at the end of the workday he managed to look like a menswear model. I idly wondered how many charms he had to use to maintain the image of sartorial perfection.

"Here to thank me?" he asked without glancing up. Hearing no response, Evan shut the folder. "You should thank me," he told Tom. "A lifetime of Maris would have awaited you if I hadn't intervened."

"What are you talking about?" Tom demanded.

Evan leaned back in his chair, making a steeple of his fingers. "Didn't the lovebirds tell you?"

"You tell him," said Remus.

"Since I did all the planning and execution, I will." Evan told Tom, "I came up with a plan to break your engagement. It was beneficial to all parties, but your friends refused to help."

Tom looked at Remus, who said, "He wanted to blackmail the Warringtons with compromising photos of Maris and her bodyguard, who is Muggle-born. The risk was too high that the family would simply eradicate the threat."

Julia reached out and took Tom's hand. "The way your family threatened to get rid of me."

"And now Boles is missing," said Tom.

Evan stood. "What? When did this happen?"

Tom said, "Maris filed a missing persons report this morning."

"Are you saying I'm responsible?" Evan looked from face to face, shaking his head. "I'm not."

"You manufactured the pictures," said Remus.

"Spare me your tiresome view on moral responsibility," Evan replied. "I did what needed to be done."

I asked, "Did you give Catherine a pay rise, or was she happy to help for free?"

Evan had the nerve to smile. "Why? Jealous?"

If he expected a reaction, a burst of laughter was not it. Frowning slightly, he asked, "How did you know it was Catherine and not Priscilla?"

"Catherine can keep a secret," I said.

Evan shrugged. "True." After several minutes of silence, he asked, "Am I being treated to one of those Auror techniques you used to natter on about, Nymphadora?"

I shot back, "That's Tonks to you, and if the silence is making you uncomfortable, start talking."

When Evan smiled blandly, Tom said, "If you have nothing more to say about blackmailing the Warringtons, feel free to share your ideas on who's blackmailing us."

Evan frowned. "Why are you using the present tense? Is there something I should know about?"

Remus asked, "Didn't you receive another blackmail note today?"

"Today?" Evan waved his hand over a crystal orb on his desk. "Catherine, bring in the afternoon post."

"Yes, sir."

After she handed him a stack of envelopes, he sorted through them, picked out one with no return address, and handed the rest of the post back to his assistant. "Before you deal with those, alert Cook that several guests will be coming for dinner."

"Yes, sir."

"Wait," Julia said. "We don't want to have dinner with you!"

"Too bad. I skipped lunch and I'm hungry. If you want to talk, you'll do it after dinner."

Julia looked at me. I shrugged. I didn't look forward to spending more time with Evan, but if Remus could tolerate him for the common good, so could I.

Exhaling irritably, Julia said, "We're not going to your house for dinner. You live with your mother."

"I allow her to live with me, since I inherited the home. However, if you fear her so much, I'll come to your flat." Evan told Catherine, "Tell Cook not to expect me for dinner."

"Yes, sir," Catherine said in the same, deferential tone she had used previously.

Julia didn't deny fearing Evan's mother, but she did protest his plans. "You're not coming over to my flat either! I'm not giving you my Floo direction and my nosy neighbour would owl my mother if she saw you walk up!"

"Then we'll go to Nymphadora's," Evan said, using a serpent-handled opener to pry sealing wax off the letter.

I shook my head. "No way, and stop calling me that. There's only one man I want calling me Nymphadora."

"Your werewolf lover? How sweet," Evan drawled.

I smiled at Remus. He was sweet, and I was so lucky.

Tom said, "We'll go to my house. I'll pick up takeaway. Thai or Chinese?"

"Thai," Evan said.

"Chinese," said the rest of us.

Evan curled his lip. "At least have the decency not to order those asinine fortune cookies," he said, while reading the blackmailer's demands.

Remus and I traded smiles. They faded when Evan began to laugh.

"Are you becoming unhinged at the thought of paying that much money?" I asked warily. I had only seen him laugh this freely when he'd been drinking.

"What precisely do you find amusing?" asked Remus.

Evan covered his mouth with his hand for several moments. "I'll tell everyone later," he said after regaining his composure. "First, I'm going home to select an appropriate wine and change. I'll Floo over in half an hour, Tom."

"Fine," Tom said.

Julia waited until we were back in the lift to ask her partner, "He didn't ask for your Floo direction. You've had Evan over before. Why didn't you tell me?"

Tom said tightly, "We were discussing solutions to a mutual problem. We weren't drinking beer and listening to a Quidditch match on the wireless."

"I wouldn't care," I said to everyone's surprise, including my own. I had forgotten the times Julia and I went shopping while the guys stayed at Evan's, playing billiards and listening to Quidditch. I smiled at Tom. "It meant a lot to me that you chose my friendship over Evan's, but just because I don't want be friends with him again doesn't mean you can't."

"You honestly mean that?" Julia stared at me in disbelief.

"Yeah."

Remus slid his arm around my waist, smiling with his eyes. "The opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference."

I leaned against Remus and listened to Julia tell Tom she wasn't going out with Prissy and Evan ever, and to invite Evan over only when she wasn't going to be there. I appreciated my best mate's support, and I loved the clean, slightly musky scent of Remus's skin.

At the end of Julia's list of stipulations, Tom said drolly, "Yes, dear."

When the lift opened on the ground floor, I said, "You two go on ahead. We'll catch up in a minute. I need to talk to Remus."

"Uh huh." Julia rolled her eyes and walked out of the lift.

"Rolling your eyes is a sign you'd be easy to hypnotise!" I called after her.

"Enjoy your talk!" she shot back.

"What did you want to say to me?" Remus whispered in my ear when the lift began to rise.

I pressed him back against the grille, urging his mouth to mine with eager hands and seeking lips. He smiled and kissed me in a way that had me wanting to do more than wrap a leg around him.

"OH! Pardon me!"

The lift had returned to the ground floor and a cleaning witch, wand and sweeper in hand, was staring at us in shocked fascination through the open doors. I had to bite my lip so I wouldn't giggle.

"Good evening," said Remus, steering me out of the lift.

"Good evening," the grey-haired witch said with a smile.

Outside the building, we saw Tom buying Julia a bouquet of flowers from a florist cart a few metres away. I rushed over and said, "I'd like that posy of blue violets, please." After handing over the Galleons to the vendor, I told the others, "I'll be right back!" and returned to the Rosier building.

Sendak's face softened in surprise to see me again. "Happy Birthday!" I said, handing him the flowers. He stared down at the violets before eating them in one bite. As I left, he was trying to smile and chew at the same time.

Remus was waiting for me just outside the glass doors. "That was kind of you."

"I almost got him day lilies, but I remembered they can upset the stomach."

"How did you know that?"

"Personal experience," I said ruefully. "When I was four, I heard Mum tell an Auntie all the flowers in our garden were edible, so I decided to try them all."

Remus chuckled. So did Tom, walking up with Julia, who snickered. "I've heard this story before. Your Mum said she didn't know who was sicker, you or that poor stray dog you fed flowers to."

I watched Remus's eyebrows rise and changed the subject. "How about we go get Chinese?"

Tom asked, "Any restaurant in particular?"

"Yeah," I said. "Lee Ho Fook's."

"Is that a Muggle place?" asked Tom.

He obviously hadn't been exposed to the musical genius of Warren Zevon. "Is that a problem?"

"No, I carry pounds as well as Galleons. I was only curious."

"It has a special place in my heart," I said, blowing Remus a kiss.

In the small, family run establishment, a familiar young man took orders and money at the front counter. "Hello, John!" I said.

"Did that girl go missing again?" he asked cheekily, referring to Melanie. I was sure he had seen her several times since Christmas, so he felt at ease to joke about it.

"No, she's fine. How's your mother?"

He grimaced. Mrs. Woo must have kept tight control of her son. "Fine. You want Beef Chow Mein?"

Tom had been reading the menu board on the back wall. "A few other items as well," he said, rattling off a list that made John smile.

"I'll add our new specialty fortune cookies," he said. Watching us all shake our heads, he said, "You must try them! They're romantic!"

"Evan would love those," Julia said.

Remus said straight-faced, "Then perhaps we should get them."

Tom grinned. "We need five," he told John.

.

The four of us were still grinning over the fortune cookies while walking up the steps to Tom's house. The townhouse located in a desirable area was a comfortable mix of elegant and contemporary, although Tom seemed slightly embarrassed by its size. "Don't know why a log fire is needed in an entrance hall," he said, ushering us through to the kitchen and breakfast room. He gestured to a door. "Guest cloakroom."

In the kitchen, Evan stood by the granite-topped island, pouring himself a glass of white wine. "I was hoping you'd bring something Szechuwan," he said, "but since different wines suit different dishes, I brought a selection." He waved a hand. "Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, red Bordeaux, Pinot Noir…"

Tom and Julia unpacked the food and asked for wine while I went straight to Tom's coolant cupboard. "Do you have any beer, Tom?"

"Sure, I've even got some Chinese beer, Tsingtao."

"I'll take one of those," Remus said.

I handed him a green bottle, whispering, "We'll eat fast, hear what Evan has to say, then leave."

Remus kissed my cheek. "If he doesn't upset you, he won't upset me."

I gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I love you."

Dinner was awkward, with Evan at one end of the table and Remus and me at the other, but with Julia and Tom acting as buffers, carrying the conversation, there weren't too many dead silences. The beer went well with everything from Beef Chow Mein to Kung Pao chicken, cooling my mouth after the spicier dishes. I complimented Tom on the French doors leading out to the communal gardens.

"Took loads of spells to re-finish them, but I'm pleased with the job," he said.

In the next lull in conversation, Evan asked, "Would you like me to pass down the sesame noodles, Tonks?"

"No, thank you."

"But they were your favourite," he said.

Beneath the table, I reached for Remus's hand and squeezed gently. "Tastes change."

"So I see," Evan replied dryly.

At the end of the meal, Tom opened a small take away carton and picked out a fortune cookie.

Evan said, "Don't offer me one of those."

"Why? Are you afraid of what your fortune might say?" Julia asked mockingly.

I smiled at Remus. "Maybe there's a reason he likes Kung Pao chicken."

"My tastes haven't changed," Evan said, "but to humour you people, I will participate in this idiotic ritual." He regarded the cookie like a glass of cheap plonk. "Someone else may do the honours and open theirs first."

"I'll go first," Remus said, breaking his cookie apart and holding up the slip of paper. He looked at me while quoting, "Soul meets soul on lovers' lips."

I sighed.

Julia said, "That's lovely!"

"Did you make that up?" Evan demanded. "I never heard a fortune like that."

Remus waved his wand and sent the slip floating down the table. Julia broke open her cookie while Evan curled his lip over Remus's fortune. "All I know of love is that love is all there is," she read, smiling at Tom.

I used the flat of my hand to smash my cookie apart. "Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

"Very true," Remus said.

"Very suspicious," Evan said, "this trend in fortunes."

"You're paranoid," Tom replied, neatly snapping his cookie in half. He read the fortune silently and then repeated, looking directly at Julia, "In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities."

"I'm holding you to that," Julia said softly.

Evan asked, "What does my fortune say? Something equally insipid, like 'love one another and you will be happy'? If it does," he told Tom, "you're getting a hex."

Tom chuckled. "I'll start casting a Shield Charm."

"Is this a joke?" Evan asked a moment later, holding up his slip.

"None of them were jokes, just specialty fortunes," answered Tom. "What does yours say?"

"Nothing romantic," Evan said. "The time is always right to do what is right."

I glanced sideways at Remus. He had a mischievous glint in his eye. I laughed. "I think that's very romantic," I told the others when they stared at me.

Julia snickered. "Oh, yes, wildly romantic."

The two of us began laughing as if we were back in school and exchanging looks was all it took to set us off into fits of giggles.

Tom shook his head and began to pick up plates and cutlery.

After four of us cleared the dishes and leftovers, Tom led everyone up to the reception room on the first floor. Remus and I sat together in an oversized chair facing the sofa. "Nice view, huh?" I whispered, gazing out the French windows to the gardens beyond.

"Beautiful," Remus murmured. I turned my head. He was looking at me. I wished we were alone so I could kiss him.

"If I could have everyone's attention," Evan said. He stood in front of the fireplace.

"Stop posing and start talking," Julia ordered, tucking her legs up on the sofa.

Tom gave her a chiding look. "We're listening," he said.

Evan cleared his throat. "I have good news and challenging news."

"You mean bad?" I asked.

"Always so quick to judge." Evan shook his head. "You'll see what I mean…if I may continue?"

I made a shooing motion. Beside me, Remus murmured, "Pontificate away."

Evan ignored the stifled laughter of his audience. "The good news," he said, "Is that I've discovered the identity of our blackmailers."

"More than one?" asked Tom.

"Yes, there are two," Evan replied smugly. "Maris and her accomplice, Boles."

Julia said, "That's barmy."

"Actually, it makes sense," said Remus. "If the Warringtons were responsible for Boles's disappearance, they would have done it in order to remain in negotiations. They gained nothing by his death after the betrothal offer was withdrawn."

"Listen to the professor," Evan said. "I don't believe there's no such thing as co-incidence, but exorbitant demands sent immediately after the Warringtons pulled out of settlement talks? That strains credulity too far."

Tom appeared stunned. "Why would Maris do such a thing?"

"She's mental," said Julia, gripping her boyfriend's hand tightly.

"Crazy about Tom," I said. "That day I met her, she said, it made me feel better, knowing we're in this together."

"What do you mean, 'the day I met her?'" Evan demanded.

I didn't answer. He could figure it out.

Remus ignored Evan to ask Tom, "How many times did Maris visit you to discuss the blackmail?"

Tom appeared almost sick. "I don't want to remember."

"At least we know why we failed to catch the blackmailer," I said.

"I thought it was because you didn't plan for all contingencies," said Evan, in a low, sarcastic tone.

"Stop mumbling. We can't understand you," I retorted.

"Then I hope I'm speaking clearly enough now, because here's the challenge." Evan waited for everyone eyes to rest on him before he asked, "How are we going to stop them?"

.

.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed Evan's Red Herring act, and the amusement at his expense. When I wondered what language the trolls in Middle Earth spoke, of course I had to look it up. ; ) Not much remains of Westron since Tolkien translated it into English so often. A few 'genuine' words in appendix F to LotR, among other places, so I chose ones that were fun to use. Almost as much fun was revisiting the restaurant inspired by Werewolves of London and having Remus slip the quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into a fortune cookie. (Don't ask how, it's another marauder secret, lol) The readers whose reviews were more than fun to read last chap were…... 40/16 alix33 amattsonperdue Audrey Bardlover cupcakeswirl die Loreley ElspethBates Embellished Enorance Fauzia FNP Freja Lercke-Falkenborg GraceRichie ishandtwofourths Kates Master n1264 (katieweasley) Kileaiya ladyofthebookworms LaneTechFreshie Lerie Lizet M MamaLisa Mii-chan1 MollyCoddles mon-ami-runa Moonlight Nethiel Nessime petiteloupegarou Polaris101 RahNee remus R us rillie siriuslycoco Slipknot-3113 Sophia Loren and sunny9847