Nymphadora returns home later that evening to find Jordan's eyes plastered to the television screen again, the rest of the flat in total darkness. She huffs, immediately flicking the overhead lights on upon entering.

"Hey!" Jordan exclaims, bringing his arm up to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. "Val, what was that for?"

"You couldn't have bothered to clean up after yourself when I've been gone all day?" she asks, annoyed. There was a pile of dishes in the sink and dirty clothes strewn everywhere, somehow worse off from how she had left it that morning.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," Jordan replies, eyes finally adjusted enough to return to his game. She sighs, bringing her thumb and forefinger to rest on the bridge of her nose, trying not to absolutely explode on him. "Where were you anyway?"

"I told you, it was a work thing."

"Last I checked, you had Sundays off."

"I didn't know I had to run all my meetings by you before attending," she replies. He huffs, pausing his game and getting up to meet her where she stood in the small kitchen.

"Val," he starts, softly. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven't even been engaged 24 hours and we're already at each other's throats. Did something happen that I don't know about?"

She doesn't answer immediately, strongly considering taking the ring off and running. Yet, the comfort in familiarity is enough to keep her there. She thinks of the spark she felt touching hands with the shabby Hogwarts professor and shudders. No, she tells herself. This is what I want.

"It's nothing, Jo," she finally responds. "It's just been stressful since that boy was killed. You remember Cedric, don't you? He was younger than us at school."

"Yeah," Jordan sighs. "It's a shame – and a shame that Harry Potter has finally fallen off his rocker."

"What?" she breathes, taken aback by what he had just said. "You don't believe Harry?"

"The Ministry doesn't, and you shouldn't either."

She turns to begin doing the dishes and rolls her eyes so that Jordan can't see.

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July 9, 1995

Another week passes, which brings another Order meeting. However, this was the first meeting at the new headquarters – Sirius's family house. At dinner the night before, Nymphadora was practically bursting to tell her mother that she would be visiting Grimmauld Place, a house her mother had frequented in her youth. Yet, she knew she couldn't share Order secrets like that and kept it all to herself.

Her relationship with Jordan was slowly deteriorating, yet she couldn't let her parents in on that yet. They were so excited and happy to be wedding planning that she knew she couldn't hurt their feelings like that, so she kept her mouth shut. She had spent plenty of time away from their flat that week, making excuses to go into work early and stay late.

After apparating to the small park across the street from Grimmauld Place, Nymphadora peeks out onto the street to make sure the coast was clear before crossing. She walks up in front of the row of identical houses and mutters the spell that Mad-Eye had taught her earlier that week in his locked office. Approaching the front door, Nymphadora felt a flicker of nervousness in her stomach at the prospect of seeing Remus Lupin again. Stop it, she tells herself. This is silly.

A few seconds after knocking, the door swings open and there stands none other than Remus himself. He looks…. tired? Dark circles run under his eyes and his movements are slower than she remembered at the Burrow. His face is thin and pale, a stark contrast against his dark cardigan.

"Miss Tonks," he says, stepping back to let her in.

"Wotcher," she replies, faking a confident attitude. "Alright Remus?"

"As well as I can be," he grimaces, closing the door. "Got, uh, something coming up this Wednesday."

She nods, understanding he means a full moon. She remembers a girl she went to school with, Chiara Lobosca, and how she would decline as a full moon approached every month.

"This way," he says, pulling her from her thoughts. He begins to lead her down a very dark, dingy hallway, portraits of past Blacks lining the walls, including her Great Aunt Walburga, who mutters insults about her blood traitor mother as she passes. The floor is dusty and uneven, causing her to trip. This amuses him. The pair end up taking a staircase at the end of the hallway down to a large kitchen, where the rest of the Order was already seated around a large table.

"Nymphadora," Mad-Eye growls from the head.

"Sir," she replies, taking a seat next to Remus near the staircase, as they were the last ones to arrive.

"Alright," he continues. "Let's begin."

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If you're here because you subbed when I was writing my AU fic "I love you more than myself," would you be interested in me finishing that? Just kinda grew up and forgot about it but would be willing to split my time between this and that.

Please leave a review, as always,

AnM