"I'll hold your wand for you." Remus offered. "You've got no where else to put it."

"No thanks, I'll manage." Sirius snapped back.

"Oh-" He slammed the bathroom door shut. Remus turned to Tonks, amused. "He's locked himself in there."

"Oh, poor thing." She snorted. "He'll figure it out eventually."

They stood there for a moment. "Hey Tonks?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Do I... do I look okay?"

"Yes, you look fine." She quickly reassured.

"Do you think I should put some bandages on before we go?" He asked insecurely, touching the fresh scar on his face.

"No, you look fine."

"I know, but people are going to see us and-"

"You look great." Tonks gently patted his arm. "Honest."

"What about my clothes? Do I look like I got dressed in the dark? I don't quite know how wrinkled my clothes are..."

"No. I mean, in all of the clothes I've seen you in, you've looked rather bland. Were your clothes always like that?"

"Yeah." Remus kind of laughed. "Shabby, not fitting well at all, mostly brown? Sounds like my closet."

She thought for a second. "Is blue your favorite colour?"

"Is what?"

There was loud barking and the sound of claws dragging across wood. "There he is." Tonks sighed. She went to unlock the bathroom and a dog came skidding out of it. "Hi, buddy." She said in a babyish voice.

"You can talk to him like normal, Tonks. He can hear you like a person."

"I know, but the muggles will think I've gone complete batshit." Tonks cooed, scratching his head. "Okay, let's- Sirius! Work with me! You have to wear the collar!"

He gave a deep "boof " in response. "Come here, Sirius." Remus knelt down and Sirius came trotting over. He rubbed the dog's neck, holding out his other hand for Tonks to hand him the collar. It was a bit big, but it slipped over his ears without trouble. "Thank you."

"So I'm assuming we can't just... call him Sirius, right?"

"Snuffles." Remus informed her. "That's the name he's always been as a dog and if he hates it, he can get over it."

"Aw, you gave him a dog name?" She said excitedly.

"James did, back when we were younger." Remus chuckled. "I don't remember where it came from."

Sirius was happily wagging his tail. "You're ready to go then, huh, Snuffles?" Tonks teased. "Let Remus get the door and you can lead the way there."

It was brighter outside than anything Remus had previously seen. Summer had crept in and it was hotter now more than ever before, more than he imagined or remembered. And he loved it. Tonks has slowed down to let him enjoy the moment. As soon as he stepped outside, a wide smile crept onto his face. Tonks hadn't been kidding about how stuffy it was inside the house. Being outside made Remus wonder why he would ever want to go back to Grimmauld or why he would ever want to go back inside a house ever again.

Sirius, now returned to his dog form, was tugging on his leash. He was just as excited to get out into the world. Unfortunately, despite Sirius have perfectly functioning eyes, Tonks was still the one leading them and keeping them from doing something stupid like walking out into traffic. Initially, this seemed like a good idea, except Tonks only had the attention span of about five seconds and had no business being their leader.

Tonks let Remus put his free hand around her elbow. She put a hand on him just to be safe, and since neither of them really knew what they were doing, Remus decided to wait on asking for his independence. "Tell me where we're going, because you know much better than either of us."

Tonks was looking around. "We need to cross the street, so let's wait for this car to pass-" A car drove by quickly, the engine making a loud noise. It startled Remus and sent him stumbling backwards and then they were walking again. "Sorry, I've got you. I've got you right here."

"Thanks." Remus nodded quickly. He almost tripped over the curb, stepping down into the street.

Sirius couldn't quite make up his mind as they walked down the block. He either wanted to stop and smell everything they walked past or he wanted to gallop at a speed that left the other two trying to run to keep up. "The flowers are really pretty." Tonks told Remus. "They're daffodils. No, no, they're day lilies. They're... a golden orange colour. And they've got black spots in the middle. Here, you know what?" They stopped again and she let

"What's wrong?" Remus asked. "Did you drop something?"

"Hold out your hand." She instructed him. He carefully unfolded his palm. She placed a soft flower in his hand. It was sort of wet. He rubbed his thumb over the various little parts on it, accidentally knocking one of the fragile petals off of it. It smelled sweet and fresh like he was holding several dozens of flowers in his hand, or perhaps that was just his heightened senses from the full moon. "I don't know if that's a good enough description. I don't know if you ever care about flowers."

"I like it." Remus replied, sticking it in his pocket. "I'll try and preserve it when we get back. Or maybe you can do it for me, since... you know."

"I'll certainly try." Remus doubted she was being sarcastic, but it kind of sounded like it and he wasn't sure. She took his arm again. Sirius tugged on the leash. "Come on, someone wants to go."

They walked several laps around the outside of the park. There were a bunch of kids playing, one of which almost accidentally kicked a rubber ball at Remus's head and Tonks had to intervene with a quick spell, blowing it off as sheer luck they ducked in time (the two were continuously laughing about it while waiting for an owl to come from the Ministry to hunt them down, though she had particular "auror privileges" Tonks said). There was an elderly couple of ladies with a loud papillon that Sirius actually growled at. It also seemed like every breed of dog beside the yappy rodent-dog was attracted to Sirius, like he was some sort of charismatic magnet. Labs mutts, and an overgrown collie all wanted to bump noses with the strange new shaggy black dog that strolled through the park. Remus mostly enjoyed the sunshine when it was on him (though he knew he was going to start sweating in the July heat) and the sound of the wind when it went blowing through the leaves on the trees. Tonks would carry the conversation, describing the kids with unusual adjectives and explaining the odd features of the nearby houses. She would talk about (and frankly give quite judgemental commentary) the people and their most poignant features, out of earshot of course, pointing out things like a runner that barely got past an uncomfortable jog, the business man who had his hand a bit to touchy on his secretary during their lunch break, and the woman with a squeaky voice, talking into a cellphone in similar fashion to how Arthur Weasley had tried to use one. Remus found her sense of humour a bit crude, but nonetheless, he liked hearing he laugh at her own jokes.

"Here," Tonks carefully led him in a particular direction. "Let's have a sit. You look a bit overwhelmed, to say the least."

Remus stuck out his arm, feeling around for the metal bench she had led him to. He was just glad he didn't fall over onto the ground as he tried to sit. Tonks sat down beside him and a large creature jumped up. Sirius prodded at Remus's face with a wet nose and the heavy stench of dog breath, his tongue flopped out. Remus scratched behind his ears, burying his face in the coarse fur around his neck. "I'm sorry." He said softly. Sirius whimpered back. "One day we'll come back here, just you and me, and we won't have to do this." Sirius whimpered again. His tail was wagging and thumping the side of the bench. He was trying to climb into Remus's lap, leaning his weight against his chest, his large paw closer to his groin than Remus would've wanted. Tonks reached over, scratching his head.

"I let you get out and stretch your legs and you immediately want to sit with us." Tonks said lightly. "Why don't you go run around? I dunno, does... Snuffles like to chase squirrels?"

"Doesn't matter." Remus shook his head.

"Can I please pet your dog?" A soft child's voice asked, running up to them.

"Sweet- Excuse me, I'm very sorry," a woman's voice scolded. She appeared to be the child's mother. "You can't just go and pet other people's dogs, you know that. That's his seeing eye dog. It's a special dog."

"He's just learning. He's a uh... more of a family pet than anything." Remus smiled, handing the leash to Tonks. He could hear Sirius wagging his tail hard enough to hit the bench they were sitting on. "Here, Tonks, I'll let you watch him. His name is Snuffles. He's typically a fairly good dog, but he gets excited sometimes, so please tell us if he bites. It's been a long time since we've gone on walks."

"How old is his?" The mother asked.

"Old as dirt." Remus replied.

"Does he like to fetch?" The child asked.

"Of course." Tonks replied. "You could give him a ball or a stick, he'll fetch it for you. Unfortunately I don't think we have either at the moment."

"Here!" The child was running around in an undetermined direction. "Can I play fetch with him?"

Tonks knelt down to unhook him. The large dog jumped down. "Have at it. He'll come back when he's all tired out."

Remus leaned over and quietly said in Tonks's ear, "So... I think I need to apologize for how Snuffles is being a bit possessive today because he apparently thinks we spend too much time together."

"Does he now?" Tonks replied.

"He thinks you're a flirt." Remus replied. He tried again to roll his eyes, but he made a close enough gesture for her to understand.

"Oh does he now?"

"We were just, you know... talking and he's jealous that I spend more time with you than him and he doesn't know what to do."

"You didn't answer my question."

"No, Tonks, I don't think you're flirting."

"What if I was?"

"Snuffles has been between a high security prison, the wilderness, and that godforsaken house we keep him in, for the past 13 years," Remus said in a quiet voice. "He doesn't know how to talk to people. I'm trying to be patient with him, but he can read people about as good as I can read a book right now."

"That's a pretty good metaphor, how long have you been brewing that one?"

"Mm, dunno, I've have a lot of thinking time lately."

"You need a hobby." Tonks suggested. "No offense, really, just... maybe you have Molly teach you how to knit or something."

Remus laughed, amused. "You didn't have to drag us out here."

"No, I didn't." She said, she slid closer to him, close enough that her head almost sat on his shoulder. She was barely touching his arm now, reaching out her hand to take his, but waiting for him to retaliate with the sign of affection. He held her hand. "But it's not fair to either of you. You should be able to get out more. Is this weird? I feel like this is weird. I made this weird, I'm sorry. This is too much, I'll scoot over." Tonks shifted away from him. "I'm sorry, I'm like this with most of my close friends and I didn't mean anything by it-"

"I smell like a gross dog." Remus said. "But no. I much prefer having people I know touch me. I'm struggling a touch with um... object permanence? Obviously I know Sirius- ah... Snuffles is still alive and well, just playing with someone's child, I just... I get this anxiety. I don't know where he is, I don't know if he's okay, I don't know when he's coming back. He's gone and I'm trying not to panic and I don't know why."

"You has something extremely precious stollen from you with no rhyme, reason, or warning. Of course you're not used to it and you're scared." Tonks reassured.

"I miss just sitting face to face with people. I feel so... awkward and rude all the time." Remus confesses. "Harry's coming tonight. I don't want to scare him."

"You won't scare him, Remus. He's almost a grown adult. He might just not know what to do with you." Tonks said, looking down at her shirt. "Does Snuffles always smell like this or is it just a dog thing that he does?"

"Oh believe me, we tried bathing him, human and dog, the smell doesn't ever go away." Remus was laughing now too.

"Hey, I never got to ask you. Is your favorite colour blue?"

"Um, why do you ask?"

"Because it's the only colour you ever wear." Tonks said simply. "I mean, you wear brown and grey, and sometimes black, but sometimes you'll wear a blue shirt and it looks really nice on you."

Remus let out a sigh and smiled. "At least now I know Snuffles hasn't turned all my clothes lime green. That's one less thing I've got to worry about."