I gave my boyfriend (it still gave me tingles to think of Remus that way) an inquisitive look. It was a bit awkward to do considering I was currently the little spoon and in this snuggling arrangement. There was something odd in his tone the way he replied to me. I was normally good at reading people's faces but Remus was equally as good at hiding his emotions. It was quite frustrating.

"What?" he asked once it became evident to him that I wasn't going to elaborate on my story.

"Something up?" I asked, tilting my head to one side, absent-minded noticing that the ends of my hair turned [++++].

"Nothing," he said quickly.

Now Sirius was also looking at him oddly. Maybe he would have a better clue of what was going on so I turned my attention to him. Sirius shrugged at me.

"Your boyfriend's weird," he pronounced. "On with the story."

"He's you're best mate."

"Boyfriend trumps best friend," Sirius decided, giving me a poke. "Story!"

I swatted it away. "What are you, five?"

"I'm right here," Remus said mildly.

"And being weird," Sirius declared. I nodded in agreement.

Remus looked away, his face flushing and a guilty look plastered all over it. My eyes narrowed. I'd seen this expression before...

"You're jealous!" I exclaimed, poking him on the chin.

He grabbed my hand and gently pulled it away from his face. The man never did anything aggressively. Except eat chocolate and - well. I tried not to colour up too much.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," he said in a stilted tone.

"Jealous?" Sirius repeated, a look of utter glee coming over his face.

"I have nothing to be jealous over," he informed the two of us in a lofty tone.

"Uh, uh," I said, shaking my head and standing up so I could face him with the appropriate scolding pose. "You are so jealous."

He just harrumphed at me.

"She's right, Moony," Sirius said solemnly.

"You're jealous of Charlie Weasley! " I crowed, finding this completely hilarious. Charlie? Really?

"You have nothing to be jealous of," I assured him, giving him a hug.

He held me tightly. I liked this possessive side of him. It was rather nice.

"Because you're mine," he informed me in a growl possessive tone.

I kissed his nose. "Damn right."

A pillow hit us both in the face.

"Get a room!" Sirius declared, acting like a child and covering up his eyes.

"We are in one, Padfoot," Remus pointed out and gave me another kiss just to prove it.

"You're own room."

"I'm good with snogging somewhere else," I said brightly, tugging on Remus' hand so he got up with me.

"No!" Sirius' tone was no longer jokey and actually had a hint of desperation underlying it. "Don't go. You, you," his voice faltered as he tried to think of a reason. "You have to tell us the story, Tonks!"

I was about to point out that we could do that later when Remus elbowed me and gave me a pointed look. Not understanding, I stared at him only comprehending when he jerked his head to one side. At Sirius. My cousin was very pointedly not looking at us. A wave of guilt crashed over me. He really didn't get many visitors now since all the kids were at school. This House was no longer new to any of the Order members so people only came for meetings and didn't stay long, though I suspected that Molly left food. He was basically all alone if Remus or I weren't here. Easter wasn't for weeks and the kids might not even come here. I sat myself back on the couch.

"Want to hear about me and Charlie being incredibly awkward and somehow ending up in Madam Puddifoot's?" I asked.

That got several raised eyebrows.

I settled into the still musty cushions.

14th February 1990

"Tonks! Hey, Tonks!"

It was the end of the day and Tonks was trying to fight through the crowds of students to get back to her common room. Her bagged weighed a ton and she just wanted to put it down and give her shoulders a break. Why were the textbooks so big?

"Tonks!"

Turning around against the flow of students was difficult but she managed it with a few well-placed elbows. Looking across the hall she saw the red hair of Charlie Weasley squeezed between two students. He came to a skidding halt in front of her, hair going every direction.

"Tonks!" he panted out.

She shifted her bag on her shoulder. "Yes?"

"You doing anything this weekend?" he asked abruptly.

"Well, going to Hogsmeade, I suppose," she answered, adding in her head, "And avoiding all happy couples."

"Want to go with me?"

Her heart suddenly pounded in her chest. Did he realise what he was asking? And on what day? Okay, Charlie could be pretty oblivious so she was going to have to spell it out.

"Uh-"

"Like on a date," he continued as she gaped at him. "Because Mark and Hugh have been telling me that that's what teenager 's are supposed to do for Valentine's day and I asked why. They weren't too clear but they said it was for couples to spend time together?"

He sounded so confused; it was kind of cute. Just one problem.

"We're not a couple," Tonks pointed out.

"Well, we could try it. Because we already get along and we're good friends. And apparently if you're our age we should be dating?" He frowned at that statement and shrugged. "I told them that dating wasn't really something I wanted to do but they told me I had to try."

"And you chose me?" she asked sceptically.

There had to be loads of prettier girls that he could have asked. Ones that squealed over him.

"I like you but I don't know if I want to kiss you or anything," Charlie explained. "But you're fun and you don't mind that I talk about dragons and maybe we would like kissing?"

Tonks had to choke back a laugh at how totally Charlie this whole thing was. Honestly. But she was flattered.

Suddenly, he looked panicked. "You don't already have a date, do you? I don't have any other friends who are girls that I'd want to try this with."

"No," Tonks replied softly, shaking her head. "I'm no one's Valentine."

"Really?" He sounded surprised; she didn't know why.

"It'll be like a non-date date," Tonks suggested, wanting to get away from the subject of people not liking her.

His brown eyes lit up and he pointed triumphantly at her. "Exactly. A non-date date. We're friends seeing if we can do the date thing."

"Sounds good," Tonks agreed, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

Actually, he sounded brilliant. Much better than all her current experiences.

"Where are we going?" she asked, expecting him to already have a plan.

"Go?" he asked, confusion lacing his tone.

"Most people already have a plan in place before they ask a girl out," Tonks told her friend, amused but feeling a bit excited.

She knew that Charlie wouldn't be like all the other prats and treat her horribly, he was her friend. At the very least, they'd have fun and, she fought to keep the blush off her cheeks and hair, he was kind of good-looking. Especially the way he was growing his hair out like that.

"Really?" he asked, frowning.

"That's why people ask other people out," Tonks explained.

"Oh." Another thoughtful frown. "Well, where do you go on a date?"

Tonks shrugged. She didn't really think her list of failed 'dates' counted towards what was normal behaviour on these types of things. Especially when she spent most of it trying to stop guys from groping at her.

"Go for a meal?" she suggested with a shrug.

"That sounds good, let's do that," Charlie replied happily. "I'm always hungry."

"I know," Tonks teased, punching him in the arm.

Charlie nodded.

"So, a non-date date?" Tonks said awkwardly, shooting him a sort-of grin.

Charlie looked quite pleased with himself and nodded. "Yes. That's right."

"So, Saturday morning?" Tonks repeated, knowing that he'd probably forget if it wasn't pounder into his head.

"Yep. Meet you in the Great Hall?"

"Sounds good," Tonks agreed.

"Great."

The two of them stood in silence again, not really knowing what to say now.

"Well, I'm going to go see Hagrid. He promised to show me this ashwinder-" Charlie excused himself.

"Cool," Tonks agreed nodding.

The red-head turned away with an absent-minded wave.

"I just need to check what you're supposed to do on a date," he mumbled to himself.

Shaking her head at her friend, Tonks rolled her eyes and smile. Like she said, it will definitely be fun on Saturday.

"That was how Charlie asked you on a date?" Sirius asked disbelievingly.

I shrugged. "I never claimed it was romantic."

Remus snorted something under his breath. I glared at him, just because it wasn't anything serious didn't mean he had to right to laugh. Charlie was much better with animals than people. Always had been. No one got to make fun of him when I was around.

My boyfriend held his hands up in defence.

"I wasn't laughing at Charlie," he tried to reassure me. "I was remembering some of Sirius' failed date requests."

Sirius coloured up.

"We swore never to speak of those!" he whined.

"No. You did. I did no such thing," Remus retorted. "I'll tell you later," he told me.

"Hey!"