Chapter 3! Lupins caught FEELINGS

xxxx

The next couple of weeks raced by in a haze of meetings, missions and dinners at headquarters. Remus felt himself spending more and more time at Grimmauld place; a habit he had resisted at first, determined to pretend to himself that he had a life outside of the order. But after a while, the journeys back to his flat in the evenings after meetings felt more and more pointless, and Sirius happily made up a spare room for Lupin to take over. To Lupin's delight, Tonks was making a habit of dropping by most evenings after work. He was seriously impressed by her after their first mission together. She had singlehandedly given the order an important break in Voldemort's plans as well as the names of two other Death Eaters through her hidden parchment. He knew she was clever, but her decisive action and quick thinking was what he was particularly impressed with. It was easy to forget she'd only been a fully trained Auror for a year. He made it clear to the rest of the Order that all the sucesses of that evening were her doing, which they were, but privately teased her about falling asleep on his shoulder for most of the night. 'You did more than everyone else could with your eyes closed. Literally.' He would laugh. He found himself laughing a lot with Tonks. She seemed to effortlessly brighten his mood with tales about the ministry; her ongoing feud with Dolores Umbridge, or moaning about Fudge's incompetence.

'I'm not kidding!' She said indignantly, while Sirius and Lupin roared with laughter. 'I was standing there in the lift, fully transformed into Umbridge wearing a silk robe when the lift opened up and she was right on the other side! I thought it was going to be Mad eye!'

'You're lucky to still be in a job.' Chuckled Sirius. 'Old Umbridge would have been furious'

'Oh trust me she was. I got a very firm warning about work place decorum I can tell you that for free.'

Tonks was sitting cross legged on the counter, smiling into a cup of tea nestled in her hands, while Lupin and Sirius sat lazily on the bench with their backs to the table, facing her.

It was a Sunday afternoon and they were getting ready for the rest of the Order to arrive for a catch up meeting. Tonks had volunteered to come early and cook and clean. She said she wanted Molly Weasley to have a break; Molly always took the brunt of the housework despite not actually living there; a point Tonks would sternly remind Remus and Sirius of whenever she could. Remus willingly obliged, pretending to find it annoying but secretly being touched by how thoughtful she was- looking out for a woman over twice her age. He didn't point out it was Tonks who made most of the mess herself though.

Tonks glanced at her watch. 'I think I'll start cooking'

'What's on the menu?'

Tonks rolled her eyes as she hopped off the counter. 'You're helping me.' She shot at Lupin with a smirk

'I'm at your service,'

'Good to hear. Do I get to tell you what to do?'

'You do anyway'

'I'm not bossy!'

'Strong willed,'

'You love it old man.'

Sirius coughed and Remus blushed. He and Tonks had drifted into a habit of continual teasing of each other, but felt slightly embarrassed doing it in front of people. She'd jokingly whispered 'old man' into his ear as she helped him climb over a fence that she'd had no trouble leaping over on a recent mission together, eliciting mock outrage as well as real goosebumps which he hoped she didn't notice. Every time she'd called him old man since he was surprised to find it didn't bother him. It was probably the way she said it, with her voice laced with humour and affection made him think that she didn't really mean it.

The three of them began chopping onions, garlic and vegetables and Tonks stood over the large cauldron, gently instructing and adding spices here and there. After everything was added she covered it with a lid and looked at her watch. It will be ready in about an hour. What times everyone arriving?

Soon I think. Perfect timing

Just then, an owl scratched at the window. They all exchanged concerned looks, and Sirius went to go and check it. The order didn't tend to send owls to headquarters in case they were tracked or intercepted, and preferred to bring news in person.

Sirius opened the letter and the colour drained from his face.

Harry's been attacked by Dementors and the Ministry have expelled him. We're coming over to headquarters now. Tell him to stay at the burrow. If he leaves now he'll be a walking target to You Know Who

Arthur

'Dementors?' Gasped Tonks, shocked. 'What would dementors be doing in little winging?'

'And more importantly, who was meant to be on guard?' Sirius growled

'Mundungus.' Said Lupin quietly. 'That little git.'

Sirius swore and paced the room, still gripping the parchment in his hands.

'Sirius- 'said Remus gently. 'He'll be okay. Write to him now though. He'll listen to you. He can;'t leave privet drive.'

Sirius swallowed, nodded and scribbled a note on some spare parchment before attaching it to the owl.

xxxxx

Lupin, Sirius and Tonks sat together in the kitchen late into the night, swapping theories on why the dementors could have been there.

'I'm not being naïve Sirius. I don't think the dementors are outside of ministry control!'

'Come on Tonks, you think they're going to be loyal to the ministry now you know who is back?'

'I'm not saying that! I just think its too early for You Know Who to move to the dementors! He's keeping a low profile, right? The ministry keep tabs on the dementors and Umbridge runs a pretty tight ship. She may be a twat but I don't think she's a death eater. I'm just saying we should be open to the possibility that something else is going on here. Someone at the Ministry could have been involved.'

'I think Nymphodora's right,' said Lupin slowly

Both Sirius and Tonks grumbled

'Don't always take her side –'

'-and Don't call me Nymphadora.'

Remus sighed. Look, theres not much we can do about it now. Let's just focus on getting Harry here safely next week.

'I still don't understand why we can't go straight away'

'Dumbledore needs to sort things out with the Ministry. There's every chance we're being watched. As long as he's there, he's safe.' Said Lupin

'And we need a bit of time to lure the Dursleys out.'

Tonks sighed and leaned back on her chair. 'I think I better go,' she said. 'It's late.'

Sirius grunted, clearly still annoyed and worried about his godson to muster up a goodbye.

'See you guys soon then,' she said and headed for the door, giving Lupin a brief smile.

After a moment, Lupin found himself racing down the corridor to the front door to catch her up.

'Wait, Tonks,' he said

She turned, surprised. 'Did I leave something?'

'No I just.. wanted to say thanks. For earlier, helping cleaning, cooking, calming Sirius down.'

Tonks looked down and smiled at the ground before looking up to meet his eyes. Lupin couldn't read her expression as her eyes bore into his. Then she leaned up and kissed his cheek lightly, and he felt her lips move gently to form a whisper.

'No problem, old man,'

Then she left. Lupin stood stupidly in the hallway, and traced his cheek with his fingertips while smiling gently before walking back down the corridor.