The radio was playing quietly in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Reaching the bottom of the basement stairs, Tonks was aware of someone singing softly and vaguely tunelessly along to the song. Remus was sitting at the table with his back to the door, a large book open in front of him. He didn't look round when she reached the door and Tonks smiled to herself. She was obviously getting better at this stealth thing.

'Evening, Remus!' she said loudly. Remus nearly fell off his chair.

'Hello, Tonks,' he greeted her, looking very flustered. It did not surprise Tonks that the conservative Remus was embarrassed at being caught singing. 'What are you doing here? There isn't a meeting tonight, is there?'

'I just came round to see Sirius before I go to work … isn't he here?'

'No, sorry, it's just me in at the moment. Sirius said he needed some fresh air and took Buckbeak out for a fly.' Remus smiled apologetically. 'Sorry, it looks like you've had a wasted trip, he might not be back for hours.'

Tonks nodded, disappointed.

'Oh, and keep it quiet, if you don't mind. He's really not supposed to leave the house – not that that stops him.' Remus shook his head with a slight eye-roll. 'He managed to talk me into Disillusioning him.'

'Of course, I won't say a word,' Tonks agreed. Poor Sirius.

Remus lifted a goblet from the table and sipped from it.

'Starting on the wine already, are you?' Tonks teased him before she could stop herself. Oh no, I hope he doesn't take it seriously.

'This?' Remus asked, holding up the goblet. For the first time Tonks noticed an odd, wispy gas swirling from it. 'It's Wolfsbane. Full moon tonight, unfortunately.' He drained the last few drops from the goblet and gave a slight shudder.

'Oh … sorry. What time do you … you know?'

'Not for a couple of hours yet, don't worry.'

'I wasn't worried, honestly!' she assured him hurriedly. 'I know that you – I mean, a werewolf – isn't dangerous if they've taken Wolfsbane.'

Remus nodded and smiled pleasantly at her, expectantly. Tonks guessed he was waiting for her to leave so he could get back to his singing.

Tonks sighed. 'Well, I suppose I'll just head to work early, then.'

'Fancy a cup of tea first?'

It was a vaguely better concept than an extra couple of hours catching up on paperwork. 'Go on, then,' she agreed.

After ten minutes she began to wish she had just left. Remus, probably tired and preoccupied due to the impending full moon, was even less talkative than usual and Tonks, shattered after last night's guard duty and then a long day doing other bits and pieces of Order work, did not have the energy to kick-start a conversation. She gulped her tea as fast as she could, scalded her tongue and choked, almost spraying Remus with tea. He glanced at her with alarm.

'You all right?'

'Fine,' she spluttered.

'Oh, Tonks, I've just remembered. Arthur asked me to give you another copy of this month's schedule of Order duties – he said you lost yours?'

Tonks hung her head in shame. 'I didn't lose it, I, er … accidentally set fire to it.' She remembered the ridiculous moment when she had been momentarily distracted and sent the schedule, along with a pile of important Ministry paperwork, soaring into her living room fire instead of the pile of old Daily Prophets she had meant to use as fuel.

Remus looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. 'Right … well … at least it can't fall into the wrong hands, then. Though Kingsley's code would be hard to decipher.'

Indeed, Kingsley had cleverly come up with a set of euphemisms for the various duties the Order undertook. "Walking the dog" meant you would be standing guard over Harry Potter, while "Washing the dishes" meant attempting to recruit new members.

The only flaw was that Tonks found it rather difficult to remember what was what, and was terrified she'd turn up for guard duty in the Ministry ("Visiting Granny in hospital") when she was meant to be tailing Walden Macnair ("Babysitting Wally.")

They trudged upstairs to the first floor and while Remus went to fetch the schedule from his room, Tonks waited in the chilly drawing room, having no desire whatsoever to wait in his bedroom.

'Might take me a while to find it, sorry. Everything's a bit disorganised just now.'

As she waited, Tonks glanced around at the oddly furnished, dreary drawing room. A large, ornate silver mirror hung at one end, very expensive-looking but rather tarnished. After catching sight of her hair a couple of times, which was currently jet-black and shoulder length, she decided it was not quite bright enough for her liking and changed it to pale blonde. Tonks shook her head impatiently at the new image she saw of herself. It still didn't seem to reflect her mood. Feeling restless, and with no sign of Remus returning yet, she moved closer to the mirror and decided to play a game she often tried.

Eyes closed, she let herself relax, breathing deeply and slowly, trying to let her subconscious take over. It didn't take long before she felt as though she was floating through a blissful sea of calm, forgetting where she was, what day it was, almost forgetting who she was. She just let her mind wander freely.

She opened her eyes and smiled. Her hair was now light brown. That's interesting, she thought curiously. A bit plain, but interesting.

Then she noticed another face in the mirror and let out a small, strangled cry of shock.

'What on earth are you doing, Tonks?' A hint of amusement played on Remus's face.

'Oh …' She felt her cheeks heat up. 'I was just … trying something.'

'Your hair … is that how it is naturally?'

'Er … I suppose.' Not exactly. She glanced once more into the mirror and suddenly felt very conscious of how different she looked with such a sober hair colour. It was quite disconcerting and she immediately she concentrated very hard on picturing her hair pink. A moment later the mirror confirmed her change in appearance. Remus's face fell slightly. Perhaps he was offended by garish hair colours. Tonks was not particularly bothered.

'Well … here's the schedule,' he said, handing it to her.

'Thanks.'

Why did this feel so uncomfortable?

'Shall we go downstairs?' he asked, in such a formal tone that once again she felt a flash of inexplicable irritation with him. It was strange: they had seemed to get on so well when they first met, but now they just seemed to annoy each other. Nothing had happened to change things. Tonks couldn't explain it. He seemed more reserved with her than he had previously, as though he barely knew her, and this overly-polite demeanour of his grated on her nerves.

'Sure,' Tonks replied carelessly with a shrug.

'Is everything all right?' Remus asked, catching her off guard.

'Er, yeah. Fine.'

'When I came in just there … when you had your eyes closed and your appearance changed …' Remus began, his expression opening up a little. 'Did you mean it to change, or did it happen by itself?'

'Both … sort of,' she replied. He looked at her, waiting for to go on, expectant, but at the same time, patient. It was very calming. 'If I let my mind go completely blank, my appearance sometimes changes by itself. I think my subconscious changes it. So I don't always know what I'll look like afterwards. It's interesting to see what I come out looking like.'

'That's amazing!' he said earnestly. 'I thought a Metamorphmagus was always in control of their ability.'

'Well, generally I am. It's just … something I try now and then.'

'So what if you were, say, daydreaming – could your whole appearance change without you realising it?'

Tonks smiled. 'No, it's not that extreme. There might be a small change. Subtle. A different eye colour, or a darker skin tone. Maybe my nose'll change shape a little. It depends what I'm daydreaming about, to be honest! It's very, very rare for my subconscious to cause a large change without me noticing it, I can usually tell. But it's really annoying when I don't notice.'

'I can imagine,' said Remus sincerely, nodding.

Tonks suddenly felt very silly when realisation dawned. 'Of course you can, Remus. Sorry, I almost forgot that you know what it's like to change into something without being in control of it.'

'I wish I could forget,' he replied with a grimace that he quickly forced into a smile.

Tonks was quiet again as she thought about his condition and her ability. She would never have dreamt of comparing herself with a werewolf before, but suddenly she could see things they had in common.

They both began to speak at the same time. 'Do you ever feel like –'

Tonks giggled. 'Sorry, go on.'

'No, what were you saying?' Remus asked.

Tonks shook her head. 'You first.' She suddenly felt that what she had been going to say was a bit stupid.

'Does it ever feel as though you're not quite sure of your own identity?' he asked seriously.

With a sharp intake of breath, Tonks stared at him. 'Yes.'

'That's what you were going to ask too, wasn't it?' he asked intuitively. She nodded.

'If you can look whatever way you want to look …' he began.

'… does that mean nobody really knows who I am?' she finished for him. 'Yes, I've thought about that. Far too much, actually. But no one seems to really know what I'm talking about when I try to explain it.'

Remus nodded in empathy.

'I understand it. But you should know, Tonks, that to anyone who knows the real you, your appearance doesn't have any bearing on who you actually are. Even when you look different, you're still you to us.'

'I just sometimes get lost in it, you know? It's hard to know what my real identity is if my appearance isn't a constant.'

'I suppose in that way we're quite similar,' Remus said, looking thoughtful. 'You don't know what your real appearance is, and I don't know whether my true self is the person I am for thirty days of the month, or whether it's what I am that one other night.'

'Yeah, but at least I can control mine most of the time. You don't really get much of a choice, do you?'

'No I suppose not … You know, I really do think it's fascinating that your appearance can change without you knowing it!' he said eagerly, looking very thoughtful.

'I'm glad I'm such an interesting subject matter,' she told him, grinning.

'Oh … Tonks, I'm sorry, that was most insensitive of me.'

'Don't be silly, Remus, I was kidding. I don't mind.'

'No, I should know better. I mean, I hate to talk about my condition. I should be more sensitive to other people's –'

'… conditions? I wouldn't exactly call mine a "condition". It's a good thing, it makes me "me".'

'Whereas mine is …'

'It's part of you, too. You wouldn't be the same person without it.'

He gave a dry laugh that Tonks had never heard from him before, a laugh more like one Sirius would use. 'And what a shame that would be.'

'It would,' she replied simply. 'I wouldn't want you to be any different, and neither would anyone else.'

Remus looked thoughtful again. 'So … what about when you were a child, were you able to control your changes in appearance as you can now? Surely when you were very young you couldn't?'

Tonks laughed. 'You're right, it was quite erratic back then, or so I'm told. When I was a toddler, and I was too young to understand any of it, I really didn't have any control over it. It drove my mum mad – whenever we were out, I would change how I looked and she wouldn't be able to find me! Apparently there was one time I wandered off in a park full of muggle children and she had to go and report me missing to the park keeper – he thought she was nuts when she said she didn't know what I looked like!'

Remus smiled at the story, but did not laugh. 'Your poor mother,' he said. 'It must have been difficult for her.'

'I suppose,' Tonks agreed slowly. 'I never really thought about it like that before. Gosh, that's quite selfish, isn't it? I can't believe it never occurred to me that it might have been tough on my parents.'

Remus shook his head. 'Tonks, you don't have a selfish bone in your body … no matter what form your body may take!'

She giggled. 'Thanks, Remus.'

'Well … the sun's going down. The moon will be up soon so I'd better go to my room.'

Tonks nodded, watching him thoughtfully as he stood up and carefully smoothed out the creases his robes.

'Remus …?'

'Yes?'

'Haven't you ever let anyone ever see you transform?'

'Of course people have seen. When I was younger and didn't have Wolfsbane it was unavoidable. My parents saw, and then my friends at school when they were in their Animagi forms.'

'But … have you ever let anyone see you transform? On purpose, I mean, with Wolfsbane? I mean, you're not dangerous, surely there's no harm in it?'

Remus looked very uncomfortable. 'No, I haven't. And I don't plan to.'

Something in his tone was very final and Tonks just said, 'Okay. See you in the morning.'

He nodded at her without smiling and left the room. Tonks suppressed a shudder as she remembered Remus's description of the pain of transforming and realised he would be going through it once again in the next couple of hours.

Walking into Auror Headquarters, Tonks found a rather tense atmosphere and her heart sank slightly. Three weeks ago Rufus Scrimgeour had hauled Tonks, followed by even the much more senior Kingsley, into his office for questioning about their recent behaviour, thinly disguised as a "Performance Review": Scrimgeour had noticed them talking much more than normal with people outside of their department and had even intercepted a couple of inter-Ministry Owls between the Order members who worked throughout the Ministry of Magic. Scrimgeour had not actually made any accusations, but it was clear he knew something was not quite right. Since then, Tonks and Kingsley had barely spoken to each other at work unless it was strictly business, and had avoided contact with Arthur or any other Order members.

Despite the embargo on Order communication at work, Tonks was slightly comforted to see that Kingsley had not left yet. He was looking extremely grave as he conversed with Rufus Scrimgeour, and from the snatches Tonks heard it sounded like they were disagreeing about something. Tonks heard the name Sirius Black and smiled to herself at how well Kingsley was doing at directing the search for Sirius to completely the wrong places. She wondered what the pair were arguing about, but knew she would have to wait to find out. She had no valid reason to ask Kingsley about it at work without raising even more suspicion

In fact, Tonks did not even dare acknowledge Kingsley with any more than a slight nod, which was very frustrating. He was her only ally in the Auror office, and she was beginning to feel she needed one. It was starting to feel like work was a series of mere formalities, chasing wizards who had done next to nothing compared to Voldemort. And yet they were all just sitting there, ignoring the one wizard who could cause unimaginable destruction. It made Tonks want to scream, and she often needed reminding by Kingsley to keep a cool head and act normally at work.

During the night as Tonks worked, her thoughts kept straying to Remus, in his werewolf form, holed up in his room. He must be so lonely like that. She tried to imagine what it would be like being in the room with him. He would still have his own mind so of course he would recognise her, but would he be able to understand her? Probably, although he couldn't actually talk to her. It was fascinating. Tonks was dying to ask him more about it, but he seemed very reluctant to talk about it, and she couldn't blame him.

During her shift, Tonks and a fellow Auror, Dawlish, spent most of the night trying to locate a group of wizards who had attracted the Aurors' attention with a series of horrific attacks on muggles. The ringleader was Francis Henderson, whom the Ministry had been after for weeks.

After several hours holed up in Headquarters poring over enough information about them to make Tonks sleepy, they finally headed north to Scotland to try and locate the gang. This was the part of her job Tonks liked best. Stuck in the office, she was often bored and restless, having too much time to think. Out in the field, which was how she had always imagined an Auror's job would be, was ideal. Dawlish and Tonks captured three wizards that night with little difficulty. They were relative amateurs, easily apprehended, the only downside being that their much more cunning ringleader, Henderson, had eluded capture once again.

Several days and not enough sleep later, Tonks arrived at Grimmauld Place for an Order meeting and was amazed to find for once she was one of the first people in the kitchen. Molly and Arthur were whispering together at the kitchen table and Tonks, reluctant to disturb them, glanced around for someone to speak to. Her eyes alighted on Remus, but he was busy talking to Hestia Jones. Tonks sighed impatiently, dropped into a seat and drummed her fingers on the table, feeling restless. In a strange way, the less sleep she'd had, the more nervous energy she seemed to have to burn.

The room began to fill up and Tonks was not bored for long.

'It's like drawing blood from a stone,' Hestia muttered out of a corner of her mouth as she slumped into the seat next to Tonks a few minutes later.

'Sorry?' said Tonks.

'Talking to that man,' Hestia elaborated, rolling her eyes. She clocked Tonks's confused look. 'Remus. He's really hard to talk to, isn't he?'

Tonks stared at her blankly. 'Remus? Do you really think so?'

'Yes! I mean, it's fine if it's about Order work or something, he just tells you what you need to know. But I asked him about his family – just making conversation, you know – and as soon as you touch on anything personal he just … shuts down.'

'Don't be daft. Remus and I chat all the time and he's always fine with me,' said Tonks dismissively.

Hestia shook her head doubtfully. 'Well, I suppose it's just me then, maybe he doesn't like me.'

'No, no, I'm sure he does …' Tonks assured her, trailing off half-heartedly.

She glanced up and watched as Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the kitchen and immediately walked purposefully toward Remus. Kingsley's booming voice carried across the kitchen and she heard him asking Remus what nights he was unavailable for Order duties next month so that he could make up October's schedule. Tonks listened as Kingsley pressed Remus for details about how his transformation affected his energy, and she took in Remus's body language. He crossed his arms, barely made eye contact with Kingsley and was obviously trying to evade the conversation.

Tonks gave Hestia a side-long glance. Maybe she was right. Maybe Remus did not open up to many people. Tonks smiled to herself, glad he saw her as a friend. At least someone does. Sirius had just entered the kitchen and barely acknowledged Tonks as he sat down.

Remus, his manner calming enough to make everyone at the meeting feel at ease, addressed the group.

'Our first order of business – Sturgis Podmore's arrest. He has been, in effect, our first casualty of this war.'

Those were frightening words. Casualty. It made it sound as though he had been killed.

'What we need to do is work out exactly how it happened: how did Voldemort –' a shiver went around the room at the name, though Tonks felt a small swell of pride that she, too, could now say it, '– get at Podmore to Imperius him? Was it a Death Eater? Maybe someone who works in the Ministry?'

'But who?' said Arthur. 'We've been watching everyone we know about.'

'I'm more concerned with how the person managed to overcome Sturgis,' said Sirius. 'He's a good wizard, he should have seen it coming, had some kind of warning. Why was there not even a sign of a struggle?'

Severus Snape, wearing his typical sneer and as usual speaking only when necessary, interrupted.

'If I may add, Black, that we don't know for certain that Podmore was not acting of his own accord.'

'Sturgis would never turn on the Order,' Sirius argued, and several people nodded in agreement.

'Perhaps. But we cannot exclude the possibility,' said Snape coolly. Sirius bristled. Tonks flinched, waiting for yet another argument to erupt between the pair.

Remus intervened. 'We don't know the facts. We know Sturgis was on duty, we know he had Moody's invisibility cloak, but that's about all we know. There's no point in second-guessing. We all just have to be much more careful.'

'Indeed,' Snape agreed, his lip curling. 'Podmore is not the only one who has had a recent close shave, is he, Lupin?'

If Remus was phased by Snape's comment he did not show it, much to Tonks's admiration, and the discussion continued with no further friction.

'Are you working or on duty tomorrow night?' Hestia asked Tonks after the meeting. Tonks shook her head.

'Let's go for a drink again. We can get Bill and Fleur to come along too,' Hestia suggested, then made a slight face. 'On second thoughts, preferably not Fleur.'

Tonks giggled. 'Sure. And don't worry, Fleur's in France visiting her family.'

Hestia smiled with relief. 'Great! We can get lovely Bill all to ourselves then!'

Tonks grimaced. 'You're joking aren't you?' Lovely Bill?

'Come on, are you telling me you don't find Bill remotely attractive?'

'Nope.'

'Wow. Are you human?'

Tonks chose to ignore this.

'I'm sure Andrew will really appreciate you drooling over Bill all night, Hestia.'

'Nah, he's not coming this time. He's still recovering from his last night out with us magic folk. There's only so much of our world he can handle.'

Tonks rushed straight from work on to meet Bill and Hestia in The Spotted Kneazle, a small, lesser-known pub in Diagon Alley that was more popular with young witches and wizards than the Leaky Cauldron. Tonks had guiltily invited Remus along too, much to Hestia's consternation. Tonks was still confused as to whether Remus had actually wanted to come with them last time, or whether he had frowned upon them going at all; but this time, anyway, he had declined and looked very unwilling to even consider it. Tonks was worried he suspected she was inviting him out of pity, though she had to admit that was partly true. Although she enjoyed his company, it was very difficult to imagine him sitting in the pub with them and joining in the loud, raucous conversation.

Last to arrive as usual, Tonks saw the pair already sitting with half-finished drinks. Lucky sods with their nine-to-five jobs, she thought, though she didn't mean it. Tonks knew she could never keep to anything as dull as a nine-to-five schedule. Where was the excitement in that?

She waved and made her way over to the table, reminding herself not to succumb to any of Hestia's ideas of Firewhisky this time.

As Tonks rummaged in her robes for her wallet, a folded piece of parchment fell onto the floor. Bill picked it up for her.

'What's this?' he asked.

'Oh, I forgot all about that! It was delivered this morning just as I was running out the door to work …'

She tore the parchment open and skimmed over the small, neat handwriting. It was from Ginny Weasley.

'It's a letter from your sister,' Tonks explained happily. 'She asked the new Quidditch captain, Angelina, if she can be a reserve. Angelina said she's seen Ginny flying and been really impressed and might use her as a reserve Seeker! Isn't that great?'

'Well, well … looks like my little sister could give Charlie a run for his money at being the best Weasley at Quidditch!' Bill grinned. 'And I know it was you that encouraged her, Tonks – good on you.'

'Thanks,' Tonks said proudly. 'Have you seen her play much, is she any good?'

'Please don't descend into Quidditch talk again, you two,' Hestia complained. 'It was bad enough the other night at Ron and Hermione's party.'

Bill grinned at Tonks then said 'Okay, Hestia, fair enough!'

'Are you sure you don't fancy Bill?' Hestia interrogated her when Bill went to the bar, prompting a loud groan from Tonks. 'It's just that you get on so well, you never run out of things to talk about. I bet if it wasn't for Fleur ...'

'If it wasn't for Fleur, what?' Tonks sighed impatiently.

Hestia's suggestive look said it all.

'We just have a lot in common, that's all. We're mates. It doesn't mean I fancy him, Hestia. Get your mind out of the gutter!'

Hestia did not look convinced, but Tonks had never been more sure in her life. Bill was just not like that in her head. She barely saw him as male. Which, now that she thought about it, was maybe a little odd. Normally if she got on with a guy that well she could almost begin to imagine a spark between them, even if she hadn't fancied him to begin with. But with Bill … absolutely nothing. I've just got too much going on just now to think about men, she decided.

Early on Saturday morning Tonks finished work and considered her options. She could go home. But there was an Order meeting in … well, actually it was hours away. But even if there was nobody at Grimmauld Place just now, she would rather be there, in the nice warm kitchen, than at home. Molly might be there, though she was often too busy for a chat. And Sirius was always around. Maybe he'd be in a cheerful mood.

Tonks let herself into the house and found Sirius reading the Daily Prophet at the kitchen table, surrounded by a couple of dirty plates and several empty mugs that looked like they'd been there a few days.

'Hi, Sirius,' Tonks said brightly.

'All right,' he greeted her, his eyes momentarily flicking up from the paper.

'Remus not here?'

'Nah, he's still out doing something for the Order. He'll be back in a little while. Why?'

'No reason.' Tonks sighed. She had recently realised it was much easier to spend time with Sirius when Remus was in the room, too. She almost couldn't be bothered now if he wasn't here.

'What are you reading about?' she persisted.

Sirius tossed the paper aside. 'Nothing much, most of it's crap,' he said, looking very bored.

Tonks racked her brains for something to talk about. 'Heard from Harry lately?' she asked.

'Not yet, but he's only been back at school a week,' Sirius replied. He got up to make more tea.

'I suppose – he can't have got into any trouble that quickly!' Tonks joked, and Sirius raised his eyebrows.

'Oh, I think James and I could have managed it. I think our record for getting detention was, oh … seven minutes after we walked into the castle.' Tonks laughed, waiting to hear the story, but Sirius's momentary smile faded quickly and he didn't say any more.

Sighing, Tonks lazily pulled the Daily Prophet towards her, flipping through it absently. She hesitated at an advert for a sale at Madam Malkin's … she could really do with some new robes, though finding time to get them fitted could prove slightly –

'Shit! Have you seen this?' Tonks exclaimed. Sirius looked round questioningly. 'It's about you, Sirius – you've been seen here in London!'

Sirius was by her side in a flash, poring over the small article. He rubbed his pale face anxiously.

'Shit. Dumbledore's not going to be happy,' he muttered.

'Can I do anything?' Tonks asked, though it was a pointless question. It suddenly occurred to her that this must be the reason Kingsley was arguing with Scrimgeour: Kingsley's false information had clearly been contradicted.

Sirius shook his head. 'I'm not sure which is worse: the Ministry knowing I'm in London, or what Dumbledore will say,' he said, sinking into a seat with a huge sigh.

'Well, maybe it won't come to anything. The Ministry can't get to you in this house, and Dumbledore's still preoccupied with what happened to Podmore, isn't he?' Tonks tried to reassure him.

Sirius shook his head again and gave her a condescending look. 'If you think that would mean Dumbledore missing something like this, you really don't know the man, Tonks.'

She felt her cheeks colour. 'Yeah, I suppose.'

In fact, now that she thought about it, she suspected that Dumbledore had heard about it long before them.

'Oh, hello, Tonks,' came a tired but nevertheless cheery voice. Arthur Weasley walked into the kitchen. Sirius glanced meaningfully at the newspaper and shook his head slightly at Tonks: clearly he did not want Arthur to hear about the article.

'Sirius, an owl's just brought this for you.' Arthur handed Sirius a folded square of parchment and Sirius's face lit up immeasurably as he tore it open.

'I'm off to work for a while, see you later,' called Arthur as he left the basement again, and Tonks felt bad for him – she knew he'd been on duty in the Ministry all night.

'Who's the letter from?' Tonks asked. Sirius did not answer for a while, and as he read the letter his brow became more and more furrowed.

'It's from Harry. 'Scuse me, Tonks, I've got to go,' Sirius said abruptly, and left Tonks sitting alone in the kitchen feeling very neglected.

Even when Sirius didn't come back downstairs, Tonks couldn't bring herself to go home. She stayed in the warm, cosy kitchen for a couple of hours, drinking tea and sleepily reading the Daily Prophet. She felt as though she was waiting for something, though she wasn't sure what. It seemed perfectly clear that Sirius had forgotten about her.

A clattering of footsteps on the stairs wakened her up a little and she looked up, expecting Sirius. Instead, Remus walked in. Tonks felt a flicker of what she decided must be disappointment in her stomach.

Remus smiled warmly at her. 'Here again, are you?' he greeted her, and Tonks was indignant.

'Yeah, is that a problem?'

'Of course not! You're welcome here any time, Tonks.' He removed his threadbare cloak to reveal his usual shabby robes and reached for the kettle.

Tonks snorted. 'Shame you're the only person who thinks that.'

'What's the matter? You sound a bit tense,' Remus commented as he searched for a clean mug.

'Nothing, really. I just came round to see Sirius and as usual he couldn't be bothered with me.' Tonks knew she sounded very sorry for herself, but Remus always had a sympathetic ear for her. 'He rushed off ages ago when he got a letter from Harry and never came back.'

Remus turned from the kettle, looking surprisingly indifferent. 'And you've just been waiting here for him to come back?'

Tonks was uncomfortable. 'Yeah, I suppose.'

'Tonks …' Remus looked slightly exasperated.

'What?' she asked irritably.

'Don't you think you're putting a little too much effort into this? He just needs time to get used to you.'

She exhaled loudly. 'I don't see that making any difference. He just doesn't like me.'

'Of course he does! What makes you say that?'

'He just … he just won't open up to me. I'm trying so hard but I just get nothing in return.'

'Look, Tonks, can I say something?' He sat down in front of her and looked troubled. 'I understand why you're upset, but I just don't see why you're so intent on getting close to Sirius.'

'Because we're family! Family is important!' Tonks insisted. How could Remus not understand that?

'Well, all right. But family isn't the only thing.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Well … there's friendship … and things.'

'Yeah, so?' She fiddled moodily with the newspaper.

'Well, I'm just meaning … why try so hard with Sirius when there are plenty of other people who … you know … want to have you as a friend.'

Tonks looked up at him. 'You're a little strange, Remus, you do know that?'

He sighed. 'Yes.'