h 4.00 a.m. – The Kissing

"You fancy whipped cream as well, as a matter of fact."

"And how do you expect me to snog a cup of whipped cream, exactly?"

Remus eyed her playfully, sipping some water just to convey to her how utterly uninterested he was. Little did she know, however, it was a lie of gigantic proportions. Or maybe she actually did, but he preferred not to know.

"Shall we add it to our anomalous conversations list?" he suggested in complete nonchalance. "How to snog whipped cream?"

Tonks giggled. It was incredible how easily she could switch from sexiness to childishness so naturally and still look irresistible.

"That would be interesting." She replied. "But I can tell you by personal experience that it's way more entertaining and enjoyable to snog a cool bloke and whipped cream at the same time."

Remus sceptically looked round the room.

"Cool bloke? Where's he?"

"Probably hidden behind his distant mask, Remus."

This remark caught him off guard. Despite the light tones of the chat, little by little Tonks was showing him how dreadfully much she had figured out about him. It was a bit scary.

She was the first, after Sirius.

"I like to think my shabby, melancholic looks give me some fascinating aura of mystery."

"You got it right."

Remus lifted a brow at her sassy stare. Cubbish and innocent as she might look habitually, he was learning day by day that however hard he tried to see her as the kid he had known in first place, little Nymphadora was in fact not a kid, but rather a young woman endowed every womanly grace and accomplishment.

"I'll try not to make it a habit to receive all these compliments, otherwise it'll go straight to my head."

Tonks erupted into a sarcastic gibe.

"As if, Remus!" she scoffed. "C'mon, you're the last person in this world who could ever trust someone's compliments."

"But I do trust you." He stated.

She hesitated for a moment, apparently taken aback as much as he was. He had to admit it was rather rare of him to surprise himself, especially with such peculiar slips of unhealthy sincerity.

"I trust you, too." Tonks muttered. Every hint of defiance had vanished from her voice, which had turned quiet and soothed, almost solemn.

Her eyes now were the limpidest azure he'd ever seen and her skin looked like soft porcelain. Perhaps it was the approaching full moon awakening his most primordial instincts, engulfing him to irrational thoughts, but she looked absurdly appetising.

"I'll get some more water." He said fretfully, and immediately stood up, eager to put some distance between himself and her suggestive lips.

"I'll do this." She intervened.

"Leave it alone. You'd better stay-"

But Tonks ignored him and hauled herself up to stop him, but in the attempt her foot got struck between the chair and the table leg. Unable to keep her balance, she gasped and landed upon him.

Remus dropped the jug to catch her just in time. The crashing sound of the glass did not, however, cover Tonks' loud cursing as she grasped at his arms to steady herself. A muffled laugh shook Remus' chest, who was sustaining her in pure amusement.

"Blame it on Alastor's Firewhisky, now." He teased her, his face and hers divided but nothing more than a thin veil of air. An itchy heat rose from his neck to his whole head.

"I blame it on you." She muttered, and her eyes inevitably fell again on his close smiling mouth. "You should stop making me fall."

There was such spontaneous sweetness in the double meaning of the sentence, and such a dense dazing haze forming in his mind, that Remus simply couldn't resist. He didn't know which of her many unaware – yet so blatant – provocations made him do it, but he finally stopped fighting a long lost battle against his sensibility and gave in to his reasonless side.

Her lips felt soft, warm, nicely tender against his own. His brain turned off when he felt her fingers skim his jawline as, after an instant of stupor, she started responding to his kiss.

Washed by a violent storm of contrasting feelings, Remus breathed her like oxygen, as though all his vital functions would cease in the very moment they would depart. He had always told himself it would have been unforgivable of him to permit her to break into his heart, and even after failing that purpose, he hadn't stopped thinking it would have been extremely wrong to even dare touch her. Nevertheless, right here and right now, with Tonks' lips brushing upon his and her hands in his hair, he couldn't even remember his own name, nor where he was, nor why. All he could think was that nothing in his life had ever felt just so damn right.

When they pulled apart – whether after seconds, minutes or hours, Remus couldn't tell – Tonks bore an unreadable expression.

"Did… Did you just do what I think you did?"

Remus watched the shock twinkle in her eyes, mixed to what could only be very badly dissembled enticement. Considered all the options, he came to the conclusion that playing dumb was the best choice, so he tilted his head (which was starting feeling a little groggy) and blinked candidly in her direction.

"What?"

"You kissed me!"

"Oh, that, yeah." He casually leant back on his palms. "I have to admit I was counting on your impressive levels of drunkenness in the hope I would get away with it, but," He let the corners of his lips curl up slightly. "I, indeed, kissed you." A wicked smirk spread across his face. "And you, indeed, kissed me back."

She seemed stoned by his absolute lack of denial attempts – which, incidentally, was the very effect Remus has intended to get.

"You are a git, Remus Lupin." she said. "You really, really are."

He lifted a brow, sitting back on the table, arms crossed.

"I believe it was you who pretended to trip into your own feet only to fall into my arms with a – forgive the irony – breath-taking precision."

Tonks' cheeks turned a peculiar, bright tint of pink, which matched delightfully with her hair.

"I did not pretend!" she retorted, although a light vibe in her voice suggested Remus it was all another story. He took his chin between his fingers and nodded thoughtfully. Teasing Tonks was a pleasure, especially when she couldn't quite discern between seriousness and humorousness.

"On the other hand," he said, taking his glass of water into his hand. "I am fairly sure I had vividly tried to dissuade you from standing up so quickly, given the amount of alcohol in your system."

"What do you know about the alcohol in my system?"

"Your hair shifts colours when you pass the limit." He explained, casting an eloquent glaze at her violet-streaked pink head.

"That's… That's not true." She bubbled, but in the same moment several strands of her hair turned deep blue.

"Oh, yes, it is." He insisted, his cattish tone testing her patience and temper. "And you also get some sort of permanent blush on your cheeks, and you keep moistening your lips, and…"

"Remus…"

"Your balance loses stability – as we have had the pleasure to ascertain – and your voice gets husky…"

"Remus, please…"

"I think I've seen you drunk only once or twice, not counting now, but I'm pretty sure it's like this every time…"

"Bloody hell, I got it!" she yelled, so loudly that Remus was afraid she had waken the whole house, but he just took his half empty glass from behind him and ignored her.

"And you do that cute thing with your teeth, sucking your bottom lip in and-"

"Snape got me pregnant."

The water he was sipping ended up in his lungs and he started coughing furiously, receiving a well deserved triumphant chuckle from Tonks.

"Sorry, this was heavy," she apologised, but her tone sounded anything but sorry. "I had to stop you, somehow."

Still engaged in his fight against dry drowning, Remus pierced her with a glare. When he finally managed to regain a regular breath, he glowered at her massaging his throat with his fingers. If on one hand his mind was rationally conscious she would rather sleep with Voldemort than with Snape, the stroke had all the same been fairly strong.

"You'll be pleased to know it worked." He announced throatily. "With my heart, in particular."

Tonks jumped sitting on the counter, literally purring in self-satisfaction.

"Is it a tiny whiny bit of jealousy I am detecting?" she cooed, two sly curls tickling at the corners of her lips.

Remus recomposed himself and absentmindedly fiddled with the fragments of the jug with his foot.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." he said enigmatically. Tonks made a face and snorted.

"Diplomacy's not exactly the best way into a woman's panties, y' know?"

"What makes you think I want to get into your panties?"

"You nearly choked on your own tongue when I mentioned Snape getting me-"

Remus held a hand up to silence her.

"Save it, please." He begged. "One trauma a day is enough, I reckon."

There was a brief pause, in which his eyes roamed up and down her, studying every inch of her body. She probably noticed, because her eyelids lowered and she looked at him almost challengingly.

"Confessing, Lupin?"

"Dream on, Nymphadora." He repaired the broken jug with a silent spell and flew it into the sink, then sent her a lopsided grin. "Weird Conversation Number Six: how to get a man's attention by causing him a breathing crisis."

Tonks abandoned every composure and tittered gingerly.

"That's sheer genius, man. Besides, if you ever needed a mouth-to-mouth, I'm very good at it."

"Make sure I have passed out, before."

Tonks blinked confused.

"What?"

Remus sneered wickedly with a light shrug.

"Were I conscious in the process, I'm afraid you'd soon find yourself reconsidering the subject in that 'Snape got me pregnant'."

Tonks lips opened a little, just enough for him to catch a glimpse of her white front teeth.

"Are you deliberately tempting me?" she asked, oozing malice from every syllable. Intrigued and dismayed at the same time by her unexpected audaciousness, Remus displayed his best roguish smile while his fingers tapped onto the table.

"Maybe." He reclined his head to one side. "And maybe we should do something to ease all this sexual tension, don't you think?"

Tonks mirrored his gesture, smirking. She looked like a cat that had just caught her mouse.

"I might have an idea…"

TBC

Tonks – er – Thanks for reading so far! Reviews are very welcome and will surely boost my will to continue this story, especially now that I have read the last book and need emotional support. Keep my spirits up, guys, I need it.