4th chapter! Was inspired by a text post on tumblr that always makes me crease about Tonks pretending to be teachers at school (not my idea!).
Tonks couldn't help herself. She spent as much time with Remus Lupin as possible, laughing with him, sitting together and meals, teasing him, winking at him. She couldn't understand how quickly she'd gone from wanting him to be impressed with her as an Auror and an asset to the Order, to wanting to spend every passing second with him. She had liked him from the moment she met him, easily warming to his kind eyes and self deprecating humour. She found him difficult to read though. At times, she thought she'd catch him looking at her and meet his eye. She'd always wink and he'd give a small smile, or look away quickly before she could be sure that she was the subject of his gaze. They'd occasionally talk late into evenings, with conversations ranging from funny anecdotes to abstract fears about the war, to probing conversations about their pasts. Tonks would always try and stay late after dinner, finding that she and Lupin were often the last to go to bed. The house was busier now that Harry and the Weasleys had moved in. Tonks liked this; she was a fan of chaos and got on with the Weasley's well. She particularly liked Ginny; she felt almost like an older sister to her, and loved hearing tales of the mischief that Ginny got up to at school.
'Trust me,' said Fred. 'You really don't want to be on the receiving end of one of Ginny's bat bogey hexes.'
I'll bear that in mind, laughed Tonks. Did you really hex a teacher? Even I wouldn't have done that.'
'That one was an accident...' laughed Ginny.
'Not that you didn't cause mayhem yourself Tonks,' Reminded McGonagall with a wry smile. She had joined them for dinner in celebration of Harry's success in his trial, and was pretending to be deaf at hearing some of Ginny's antics. Tonks however, seemed fair game.
'I was a model student!' protested Tonks.
'None of us believe that for a second.' Said Lupin with a smile in his voice, looking mischievously at Tonks before turning to McGonagall. 'What did Tonks get up to at school?'
'She was in detention every other week Remus. Much like yourself, I might add.' McGonagall said with a raised eyebrow. Tonks grinned. 'Remus, a trouble maker?'
'He was more careful than Sirius and James, but yes, Remus has a certain flair for rule breaking.'
Remus winked at Tonks and she felt herself blush. Not fair.
'But Tonks,' continued McGonagall, 'Tonks was just a wind up.'
Tonks tried to protest before McGonagall said 'There wasn't a day that went by where Tonks didn't use her metamorphus skills to turn into one of the teachers, get onto the high tables at breakfast and shout "10 points to Huffelpuff!" Hoping it would work –'
Remus roared with laughter-
'It never did' interjected Tonks, laughing herself.
XXX
The journey to Kings Cross passed without hiccup. Tonks had disguised herself as an old woman, much to Lupin's amusement. He admired that about her, that she only used her metamophus ability to play tricks on people, or make the kids laugh around the dinner table, and when disguising herself for the Order Tonks would always chose some funny character with a knobbly nose or missing teeth. She never changed her appearance for vanity. She was beautiful already though, Lupin thought. His mind drifted to a few nights ago, sat on the sofa with Tonks and a glass of wine
'I did used to change my hair more often at school! I went through a phase of one day pink, one day blonde, one day long and the next day curly. It used to drive the teachers mad.'
'I wish I could change my hair. Get rid of a few of theses greys and wrinkles,'
'I think your hair's great.' Said Tonks. 'It's better not to change yourself.'
'Do you ever change your appearance? I mean more than your hair, or disguises..'
Tonks paused. She looked thoughtful, and took a sip of wine and said
'My mum talked to me about it when I was at school. She said I shouldn't use it to change myself, that I was perfect etc. I think she was worried about me becoming an insecure teenager and doing ridiculous things to my body, my face. But to be honest, I hadn't ever thought about it'. She met his eyes. 'I'm not trying to be vain, I just always wanted to look like me. It's not that I think I look anything special, I just want people to know me, and like me… for.. me. I guess.'
She held his gaze uncertainly. Remus felt such a surge of affection for Tonks that he had to bite his lip to stop himself saying how wonderful he thought she was.
'You're anything but vain.' He said eventually, wishing he had the bravery to say more.
They looked at each other for a while. Remus felt that the space between them was huge, while she also felt tantalisingly close. They heard a door creak open upstairs, jolting him to his senses.
'It's late.' Sighed Tonks. 'I better go.' She stood up and picked up her glass to take it to the sink and wash up.
'I can do that,' Remus said gently, and took both glasses off her and filled the sink, their conversation playing on his mind.
'Thanks' said Tonks, smiling gently and pulling on her jacket. 'See you soon?'
'See you.' Said Remus. And just as she was about the head out into the hall he called softly
'Tonks?'
'Yeah?'
'I wouldn't change anything about you either.'