AN. When better to post a romantic Christmas story than the last weekend in May?! This fic takes places during POA though is AU (in that, we know Tonks and Remus didn't meet in the Christmas of POA). So grab a chocolate milkshake (it's too hot for hot chocolate), pull up a deck chair (remember to apply sunscreen) and join Tonks and Remus on a Christmas romp through Ottery St Catchpole. Hope you enjoy!

A Wonderfully Weasley Christmas

Chapter One – You're not a Weasley

The snow swirled, fluttered, flurried and did about four other obnoxious things that snow does. She walked as quickly as she dared, not wanting to tempt fate, which if experience was anything to go by, didn't really like her. It was slippery underfoot, with not enough snow yet to make it crunchy. She wondered for the umpteenth time if it had been wise to accept the invitation to spend Christmas with the Weasleys. It had become a tradition since she was a teenager, when her parents had decided to spend Christmas with her Dad's muggle relatives. It wasn't that she didn't love them, just that with the extra hormones that puberty had kindly gifted her, there had been a few years where she'd struggled controlling her morphs, and explaining why their Granddaughter had a duck beak for a nose wasn't something the Tonks elders could stomach. And so, the matriarch of the Weasley clan, mother of her friend Charlie, had insisted that Tonks did not stay at Hogwarts but spend Christmas with them and then go back to her parents for New Years.

This year, for the first time, she would rather have just stayed in her own, tiny but cosy flat, but there was no way she was getting that past Molly. Though Charlie was in Romania and there he would stay until Easter, Tonks had gotten to know the whole Weasley family over the Christmases of the past decade. Arthur was kind, easily distracted and obsessed with everything muggle. She couldn't wait for him to see the assortment of muggle tools she had bought him; they would keep him occupied for hours. For the twins she'd bought an old book she had found in a muggle bookshop called Ridiculam incantatorum vehementem, which though her Latin was sketchy at best, a quick peruse through the book had confirmed her educated guess that is was a book of very funny spells. The muggle bookshop owner had told her that many of the spells were very amusing, though utter nonsense of course. She'd also charmed the cover of the book so that anyone other than the twins would believe it was in fact a copy of Beating the bludgers – A study of defensive strategies in Quidditch. There was no way she was going to get on the wrong side of Molly if any of the spells caused chaos, which in the hands of the twins was fairly likely.

With Ron staying at Hogwarts again with his friends Harry and Hermione, she had sent him a letter with some money, with strict instructions it was only to spent on something frivolous the next time he had a Hogsmeade weekend. For Molly she had attempted to make a scarf in a green that would look beautiful with her red hair, but it was miles away from Molly's standard of knitting, so at the last minute she had panicked and also bought her the new authorised Celestina Warbeck biography, Child Prodigy to Living Legend.

That just left Ginny. Tonks had found lots of things she could have bought Ginny, but none of them seemed perfect.

Though she would never admit it to anyone, Ginny was her absolute favourite Weasley. In a house filled with older brothers, many little girls would have been domineered, grown to be quiet, shy – not Ginerva Weasley. She was determined to match her older brothers and even exceed them where she possibly could. She was feisty, loud and occasionally a little clumsy, though not when on a broom. In truth she reminded Tonks of a younger version of herself. Though Tonks hadn't had the fortune of growing up with so many annoying but doting brothers.

The depth of the snow was increasing at an alarming rate and as she could no longer feel her toes or nose, she decided it was worth the risk to pick up her speed a little. As the Burrow came into view she could no longer remember why she had been so against coming here. It was loud, hectic, messy and wonderful – come to think of it, there was absolutely nowhere else she'd rather be at Christmastime.

Pushing open the gate and passing the crooked sign which simply read The Burrow, she took a deep breath of cold, fresh air; it really had been too long since she had been out of London. Here with her second family, she could forget about all she was dealing with at the Ministry and just relax, teach Ginny a few new inventive hexes for when the twins picked on her, challenge Fred and George to a broom race and help Molly bake some cookies.

Standing just a few steps away from the front door she stared up at the old house, admiringly. It was a lot like the family who dwelled within it. Chaotic and held together by magic, but endearingly unique and wonderful.

It was going to be a wonderful Christmas with the Weasleys.

Moving to take the final few steps forward, she felt a familiar vaulting sensation in her stomach as her left foot, rather than making contact with the ground and remaining there, slipped. Her arms flailed, trying in vain to balance herself and remain upright. Flat on her back she lay on the snow-covered ground, wet and cold. The face of a concerned looking man appeared above her.

"You're not a Weasley."

The stranger chuckled, "Well deduced. What gave me away? Was it the hair? Are you ok?" Moving a few steps to her left so he was now stood by her side rather than her head, the decidedly not, red headed man, offered her a hand.

"I'm fine. Thank you." Taking her time to make sure that her feet were firmly planted this time, she allowed him to pull her up. "Well exactly, I'm afraid I think you'd have been disowned the minute they spotted any signs of sandy brown showing."

The man smiled, a kind smile, she decided. It reached his eyes, making them crinkle at the edges, "No such worry for you," he said nodding and looking at her own long mane of fiery red locks. "Are there more Weasleys that I haven't been introduced to? Or are you the black sheep of the family that they only talk about in hushed tones?"

She snorted, "No, that title has always belonged to Percy." Realising how rude that must sound to someone not immediately connected with the Weasley family, she winced, "sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that. Especially as I'm not actually related to them at all. In fact, this isn't even my natural hair colour."

The kind smiler pursed his lips and nodded, "Not to worry, I can see from the shade of red you've chosen that you're as much a fan of this family as I am. I'm Remus by the way."

Smiling, she took the hand he offered and shook it, "Nice to meet you Remus, I'm Tonks."

The crinkle at the edge of his eyes smoothed and his smile faded. He removed his hand from hers and placed it in his pocked. He stepped back, away from her.

"Tonks. You're Andromeda Blacks daughter?"

Great. Another person who believed that anyone remotely connected to the Black family was evil beyond redemption.

Before Tonks could reply, the door in front of them swung open, "Tonks! Remus! You're both here and I see you've met. Well come in. What a wonderful Christmas we're all going to have."

Tonks smiled as Molly pulled her in and squeezed her – he was staying for Christmas too?

Suddenly Tonks felt her stomach vaulting for reasons that had nothing to do with falling. She'd be sharing a house with a man that had judged her instantly based on a name she had never even borne.

It seemed it was actually going to be wonderfully awkward Christmas with the Weasleys.

AN. Thanks for reading! I'll post chapter 2 soon. Please let me know your thoughts. Reviews are always appreciated! What do you think Tonks should get 13 year old Ginny for Christmas? Let me know :)