AN: I do actually have an update or two for the sequel thing, I'm just not ready to go back and look at them right this second because I wrote them during long plane rides and I know they suck.

Remus felt like a complete and utter moron.

But the oddest part of the entire thing was that nothing happened.

Right off the bat, nothing changed. Remus would pass her in the hallway and say a pleasant hello and she would exchange with a usually even more pleasant hello, and that was it. She continued to help him clean out dressers and closets and wipe the dust off old leather bound books. And they would talk, of course, sometimes in a meaningful way and sometimes about nothing at all. At least three times a week they would go out for a walk, only sometimes taking Sirius with them (who often made a point to use his large and forceful dog body to keep them separated).

But in her own way, she was quite affectionate towards him. Tonks always held his hand during the meetings and sometimes while they were walking. Other times, she would sit and lean on him while they were reading together. She had a fondness for playing with his hair, apparently, which he couldn't begin to understand. Only once, amidst a private conversation, she would simply lean over and a place a kiss on the side of his head.

It was strange. He couldn't figure out what this meant. He didn't know what they were.

And what was worse, was there was no one around that he felt he could consult. Sirius was useless at love advice of any sort. He wasn't useless in the way that he had fewer romantic encounters, he had actually had quite the many before Azkaban, but most of them ended in very specific, isolated incidents with the fingers being pointed towards him. And really, who there wasn't going to judge him for the age difference, or even the class difference, between them? There was an almost constant gnawing feeling whenever he was around her. Remus could barely even take a moment where he didn't feel guilty about touching her or saying nice things to her. He found that she complimented him a lot, but he never knew how to properly thank her or compliment her back. He still didn't properly know how to explain to her that he liked her back. It was beginning to keep him up at night and it was showing on his face. He thought that it was supposed to be a good thing, but apparently everyone had something to say about the sleeplessness on his face. It didn't help that Tonks told him he looked fine.

"Hey, Sirius...?" Remus knocked on the bedroom door. He had a large book in his arms. "Quick question for you about this-"

The door opened him and startled him. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Oh, I just needed you to tell me what this is so I can put it where it needs to go. Can you read the name of it?" Remus handed it to him.

Sirius tilted his head. "Hmm, it's in Latin. Best guess, it's a potions book by the inscription. Sorry, my Latin's a bit rusty."

"That's fine. Potions book it is then."

"Hey Remus?"

"Yes?"

"So... I hate to ask, but I really don't hate to ask because I'm genuinely curious... you and Tonks, you know, you've been spending a lot of time together..." Sirius was trailing off a bit. "Been rather touchy with each other lately, yeah?"

"Yes, and...?"

"I was just thinking, you know... have you know... you know..."

"Have we... what?" Remus was afraid to ask.

"You're always holding hands and things... have you two really... hit it off?"

"What... exactly are you referring to?"

Sirius's voice grew more urgent. "Well, have you slept together yet?"

"No!" He exclaimed quickly. "No, we haven't- Merlin's beard, Sirius, we're not- we haven't even-"

"Oh! Ohhhh..." Sirius nodded his head. "So what, is this a 'meet her parents' sort of thing? You plan keeping clean for Ted and Dromeda?"

"I don't know what we plan on doing! But we're not... doing whatever it is that you think that we're doing!" Remus said firmly.

"Are you on a first name basis with her yet?"

"What-"

"Have you even kissed her yet?"

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't, why's that any of your business?"

"First off, obviously you haven't, but it's not like I have any of my own business to be bothered with, so I assumed you at least knew something interesting."

"I really, and I mean this as sincerely as possible, really hope that you get cleared of all charges so that you can find something else to do with yourself than bother yourself with whether or not we're-" Remus told him. "Besides, I thought you found the entire thing completely repulsive."

"I mean, personally? Yeah, it's a bit icky to say the least to imagine the two of you snogging each other's brains out, but frankly- why are you making that face?"

"I'm not making any face."

"Yeah you are."

"Am not!"

"Mate, your whole bloody face is beet red right now."

Remus touched his face insecurely. "Why don't you just leave us alone, then. I thought the last thing you would want anything to do with is who your cousin is or isn't snogging."

"Well, I dunno, maybe it had something to do with said cousin giving me a pleasant earful that, to summarize, had something to you and her feelings and all that rubbish..."

"Sirius-"

"All I'm saying is... I dunno what I'm saying, but I did some thinking and maybe this is for the better."

"Sirius." Remus said firmly. His friend didn't exactly sound genuine. "I'm sure you find this hysterical but this is serious and Tonks and I need to work out whatever this is that may or may not be going on between us."

"No, no, I really want to help you." Sirius told him. "I'm being completely serious. I want what's best for you. I mean, come on, we used to pick on Lily all the time when we were younger and she had really bad pimples all over her face, if you don't remember. And look, now I'm the godfather of her son."

"I really don't need romantic advice from you of all people! Do you not remember what happened to that one girl you dated when we were sixteen and you made her feel so embarrassed after you two split that she didn't come to class for a week?"

"Her name was Penelope, and in my defense, it was her idea to use bubotuber pus to-"

"Whatever you're about to say, don't do it." Remus cut him off. "I'm warning you, I know what happened and you know what happened, and I don't want to relive the shame of it, and it wasn't even me. Neither of us are going to want to hear it, so just shut your trap."

"All I'm saying is, maybe it's not my fault she had bright green boils on her p-"

"Stop it!"

"Come to think of it, we probably would still be friends if she didn't think I murdered sixteen people and am on the run... actually, she was such a sweet girl, I'm sure she would be understanding. Maybe she would even join the Order..."

"What was her last name?" Remus asked.

"Baunhauf."

"Penny Baunhauf, right? I thought she was killed back in the first war."

Sirius got rather quiet. "Was she? I had completely forgotten." He was a bit more than bummed at the news of this. "Oh... well... never mind that then."

"Just... maybe leave Tonks and I alone? We'll kiss when we feel like kissing or... don't, if we don't feel like it."

"Were you wanting to kiss her?" Remus didn't say anything. He crossed his arms. "You have to be the one to step up to her! She's going to know if you are or aren't ready to move forward and I can tell you she's getting kind of antsy."

"Sirius, we're moving at the pace we want to move at. I'm not even sure if I'm ready to make this work." He confessed. "Okay? I'm bloody terrified because I can't help but feel like I'm some sort of creepy old man preying on someone half my age!"

"Half our age would still technically be legal, but again, I can see how that's still a bit nauseating-"

"It's weird!"

"Just... you know what?" Sirius placed a firm hand on Remus's back. "Just keep holding hands with her and let the rest figure itself out."

"That sounds derogatory." Remus told him. "Like you're just going to make a joke out of this whole thing."

"Honest?" Sirius got quiet. "I'm more interested in what's best for you and I think you've really been a lot happier since you met her."

"Thanks." Remus said dryly. "You think this whole thing is still funny though, right? You're not actually being serious."

"I'm always Sirius, thank you very much. Remus, look, when you first went," Remus physically recoiled when Sirius said the word that he hated more than anything. "you never came out of your room, you never wanted to do anything but sleep, you wouldn't consider even coming out to the meetings. She's giving you something to look forward to. She's given you a lot of hope and that's something you should take advantage of and not look so lightly at."

"But it's... look, please just stay out of it, okay? I'm sure you feel like you're doing a tremendous job of helping me, but I need you to do less now than ever." He told him. "Please just remain neutral in this. For both of us. We need to work this out and we don't need you to help us right now."

"I'll back off it, alright?" Sirius nodded. "Whatever you need me to do."

"Thank you." Remus sighed.

"But just one more thing-"

"Sirius-"

"If you two are going to be doing any messing around, could I at least ask you for the decency of a silencing charm?"

"Why, because you so kindly had all the decency all those other times when you were the one with the date?"

"Okay, maybe it was a bit more of a suggestion." Sirius's remarked. "Just... I dunno... take care of her, okay? I think that's really all I wanted to ask the whole time. Take care of her and just... don't crush her heart into a million pieces if you can help it?"

The conversation had grown profoundly solemn for a moment. Neither of them spoke and Remus could almost tell that Sirius wasn't looking at him. It occurred to him that they were barely getting into making eye contact again. Remus has never exactly had a problem with finding people's faces when they spoke and he knew he was bad at staring towards people, but Sirius was bad about refusing to even look in his direction since the accident. He was afraid of him, and Remus was afraid of that. What if, one day, Tonks was afraid of him? What if she saw him for who he really was and she didn't like it very much? Or rather, what if in her young immaturity, she grew bored of him?

"I don't want to do that. I really don't want to hurt her and I want you to know that." Remus said.

"Do you... I'm assuming you must, but do you really admire her?" Sirius asked.

Remus had to muster up his courage. "Sirius, she's the first person in a long time that I've genuinely felt comfortable with. She's the only person that's made me feel this way, and I don't really even really know what this is yet, and I'm not used to it, and I'm quite frightened to be honest."

Sirius laughed. "Your biggest fear is to lose the people that you're so close to, to be abandoned by them. Your biggest fear is to lose her too, yeah? To lose her contact?"

"I... suppose." Remus said uncomfortably. "I don't want to talk about that. That was so... it was embarrassing and... humiliating, and..."

"I didn't know that was going to happen, but if I did, I would've done something." Sirius said lightly. "Though, come on now, if you went and played it up for Tonks..." He made his voice become lilted. "...'oh darling, you just don't understand how much I miss you, how much I'm afraid to lose you, oh, you're my whole world-'"

Remus took a swift swing at his arm with the book. Sirius withdrew, cackling with laughter. "It's not funny!"

"Oh Remus, if you told her that, she'd drape herself over your arm for you and you'd never have to do a thing more!" Sirius poked. "You say that and you could just sweep her right off her feet and disappear off into the sunset."

"It's not funny."

"It's a little funny."

Remus was clenching his teeth. "It's really not."