February, 1986

(Tonks is fourteen, Remus is twenty-six)

It was a bright February morning, and Tonks was getting ready to go to Hogsmeade. Her hair was its standard pink, in shoulder-length locks. She was wearing a fluffy, light blue jumper and blue jeans. Her friend Morgan, a Ravenclaw, had promised to meet her in the Great Hall so they could head out together.

She skipped down to the Great Hall and after a quick breakfast, found her friend.

"Hey, Dora," Morgan greeted. "Ready?"

"Ready," Tonks confirmed. Morgan insisted on calling her Dora, though Tonks didn't protest. Most of her other friends called her Tonks, but none the dreaded Nymphadora. Not even the teachers called her that.

The journey to Hogsmeade was pleasant; it wasn't too chilly, considering it was February, and snow fell gently once they reached the village and were prodded with Secrecy Sensors by Filch, the caretaker. Tonks and Morgan chatted cheerfully on the way.

"So, where to first?" Tonks inquired.

"Zonko's," Morgan replied immediately. Tonks grinned.

"Zonko's it is," Tonks agreed, as they made their way there. "Hogsmeade is so cool. I can't believe they didn't let us go as first and second years."

"Probably because first and second years are immature," Morgan replied, rolling her eyes.

Tonks shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't think I changed much in the summer between second and third year. If I was immature then, I'm immature now."

"You're not immature," Morgan told her. "You're just mischievous."

Tonks laughed. "That's right. Mischievous. But so are you. This is a team thing."

"Absolutely." Morgan patted her arm. "And that's why we're going to Zonko's right now. Morgan Lorenz and her pretty friend Dora, heading over to cause a heap load of trouble."

Tonks snorted. "I'm not pretty."

"Daniel Combs seems to think otherwise," Morgan said slyly.

Tonks swatted her arm. "I thought you were my friend! I don't like Daniel."

"I didn't say that. Daniel likes you. That Valentine was absolutely hilarious."

"Oh, shut up," muttered Tonks, remembering the Valentine that had exploded in little pink hearts all over her for the entire day. Daniel was a decent guy, but he was a bit of an idiot. "Well, what about Charlie Weasley?" she countered. "He likes you."

Morgan rolled her eyes. "That was a dare. There's no way he would ask me out like that in front of everyone otherwise."

"He's a Gryffindor," Tonks said idly, as they reached the outside of Zonko's Joke Shop. "There's no telling what they get up to."

Morgan snorted. "True."

They bought several interesting items that they promised to prank Snape with, including Nose-Biting Teacups and Frog Spawn Soap. Then the two of them headed towards Honeydukes.

"Have you tried the Sugar Quills?" Morgan asked on the way.

"No," Tonks answered. "What are those?"

"They're basically these quills that have sugary ends," Morgan explained. "And you can suck on them while you work, only the teachers think you're just trying to figure out what to write next."

"That's clever," Tonks mused. "A clever way to sneak candy into class."

Morgan nodded, her dark black hair rippling with the wind as they stepped into Honeydukes, a warm burst of air greeting them. "Yeah. With some teachers you don't even have to sneak it, though. Like, Flitwick lets us eat candy in class sometimes."

"True. But Snape and McGonagall hate it."

"Yeah, but I don't know how you'd be able to sneak quills into a Potions class. We never really use them, anyw…"

"Hey," came a voice, and the two of them whipped around.

"Charlie!" scolded Tonks. "Do not do that again!"

He gave an apologetic grin. "Sorry, sorry. Morgan, can I talk to you for a second?"

Tonks smirked. "Oooh."

"Shut up," Morgan muttered, turning to Charlie. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay," Charlie answered. "Tonks, if you don't mind…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tonks smirked at her friend. "Have fun, you two." Laughing at their red faces, she turned and headed out of the aisle to the next one, where there were many different flavors of chocolate bars situated neatly on the shelves. She browsed through the shelves, looking through slabs of peppermint white chocolate and sea salt caramel dark chocolate when she heard a small cough from behind her. She turned around, expecting it to be Morgan and Charlie, but it wasn't.

There was a young man standing there, inspecting her curiously. He had brown hair, swept to the side with one strand sticking up, and he was wearing a set of black robes that looked worn, but in decent condition. He had a… she didn't want to admit it, but a good-looking face, although it wasn't necessarily a pretty face. And his eyes were a shade of warm amber. Definitely crush-worthy.

"Are you Andromeda's daughter?" he asked her. Gosh, that voice. It was soft with a slight roughness to it, but it was soothing and friendly. Tonks had never heard such a nice voice in her life before.

"Er, yeah," she admitted, straightening her jumper nervously. "How do you know?"

"One of my best friends was cousins with your mother," he replied with a small smile. "And I remember one of them mentioning the pink hair. I just thought…"

"Oh," said Tonks. "Yeah, that's me. But my hair isn't pink all the time. That's just how I tend to keep it. I could change it to anything."

"That's right, you're a Metamorphmagus. Do you use it often?"

"Sometimes," she answered. "Some of the teachers don't like me using it, though, so I've had to learn to control it."

He tilted his head to the side, still smiling. "That's unfortunate. I feel like natural abilities shouldn't be repressed, especially not in learning environments and such."

"Tell that to Snape," muttered Tonks. "I'm sure he'd like to hear it."

"Snape acts like he's the boss of the world." He rolled his eyes. "Don't let him bother you."

Tonks laughed, realizing that she didn't even know who she was talking to. "Who are you, by the way?"

He laughed. "Sorry. My name's Remus. Are you here on a Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Yeah. That's why there's a bunch of kids all around. What about you, why are you here?"

"It's my father's birthday next week," he explained kindly. "So I'm trying to get him something."

She nodded. "Oh. That's cool. Er, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Er, do you know which of the sweets over there would be the best to prank someone with?" She was definitely blushing now.

He laughed. "I do, as a matter of fact. There's a lot of different options, depending on the prank. Acid pops and blood-flavored lollipops are good if you're giving an unsuspecting someone a bad flavor in their mouth. Cockroach Clusters are good to fool people into eating, obviously. Er, and Exploding Bonbons, if they still sell them, are really good too."

"Thanks," Tonks said, trying to remember all of the things he had said. "How do you know all this?"

His eyes glinted. "My friends and I did a lot of experimenting when we were at Hogwarts."

"Ah. Wait, was Sirius one of them?"

His face turned a little sad. "Yeah, he was."

"Oh." Tonks cursed herself mentally for bringing that up. She knew how hard Andromeda had taken it when Sirius had gone to Azkaban, and the two of them had only met a few times. She couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for Remus to lose a best friend to treachery like that. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"You're fine," he assured her, giving her a small smile. "Anyway, I don't want to take up any more of your time. It's a Hogsmeade weekend anyway, and they don't give a lot of those."

"Yeah. Thanks,…" It felt weird to call an adult by his first name.

"Remus," he finished for her.

"Thanks, Remus," she tried out. "Nice talking to you."

"You as well, Miss Tonks." He smiled and reached for a bar of dark chocolate from the shelf, walking away down the aisle.

Tonks stood there and stared for a second, trying to remember what she had been doing before running into this man, who was a complete stranger. Well, not really. He had known who she was, so he wasn't really a stranger, was he? Even if she hadn't known who he was?

"Tonks!" called a voice, snapping her out of her reverie. Morgan jogged up to her.

"Hey," she said. "What did Charlie want?"

"Oh," Morgan said, blushing. "Well, nothing, really."

"Did he ask you out?" Tonks asked.

"No, he just told me that if I was free next Hogsmeade weekend he wanted to show me something… why are you laughing?"

"He just asked you out," Tonks pointed out, giggling. "You and Charlie, alone, on a Hogsmeade weekend! That's as good as a date!"

"Well, I mean…"

"Morgan, don't deny it. You've got yourself a date with Charlie Weasley! What say we go to The Three Broomsticks to celebrate?"

"Okay," Morgan agreed, smiling vibrantly, and the two friends made their way down the snowy lane.

A/N: So here's when Tonks is in school, and Remus is living his bachelor life. Remember, this does not pick up from the last one! They're independent.

Please leave a review if you enjoyed it! Even if it's short, it's always appreciated :)