h 5.00 a.m. – The Cooking

"Are you absolutely sure you know how to make pancakes, Tonks?" Remus inquired dubiously as he peered into the bowl in which she was stirring what looked dreadfully like thick glue.

Tonks removed a lock of hair from her forehead with the back of her hand and nodded firmly.

"Positive," she assured him. "It's just that this flour is really, really hard to amalgamate."

He said nothing, but he was still not entirely convinced that anything even remotely similar to pancakes would ever come out of that sticky batter.

"Hey, could you please tie my hair back?" she asked, after the third time she'd brushed her hair away from her face. Remus tugged delicately at one of her spikes.

"And I will do this how?"

"I'll grow it, you genius."

He watched her screw her eyes and concentrate, and in a couple of seconds her messy hair straightened down in a shiny bubble-pink cascade along her back.

"Here you go." She said, keeping stirring with energy. "I must have a hair band in the back pocket of my shorts."

She rolled her eyes when she met his meaningful look, but Remus opted not to reply. He instead approached her in silence and slowly ran his fingers up her hip to sink his hand in the pocket of the light-fabric shorts, where he found the hair band. He didn't miss her shiver when he slid it out, nor he missed her smile when he started collecting her hair into a low tail and tied it loosely. When he eventually stepped behind, she had light goose bumps all over her shoulders and arms.

"That was so very mean of you, professor Lupin." She commented, and though all he could see was her back (which, by the way, did not exactly bother him) he knew she was gloating.

"I'm a Marauder, remember? You can't expect me to play the good boy all the time." He positioned himself beside her and watched her hands work the hopeless batter with a wooden spoon. "Just because I used to be the only one with some reasonableness, doesn't mean I can't be…"

"Horny?"

"Do you young people always have only that in mind?" he breathed on her bare neck, and her skin crawled again.

"Only when you and your equipment are around." She answered in her best tongue in cheek tone.

"That was copyrighted, you know?" Remus informed her, stepping a little bit closer, so that his mouth could mutter in her ear. "You can't steal my witty quips to use them against me."

He didn't know if the banter they had started at the beginning was still going on, because the tones had become very different, now. He knew it was not entirely Tonks acting that way, because he well remembered the effects that even the slightest excess of Alastor's Firewhisky Special Brew could have. In spite of this, there was a part of him that recognised a discrete amount awareness in her actions, and he was kind of absolute that she knew very well what she was saying or doing. This, above anything else, made him wonder if things hadn't gone too far. Still, although the very weak sapient voice coming from his brain told him to put some distance (both physical and emotional) between himself and her as soon as possible, before the inevitable could happen, his heart felt the deep, untamable desire to stay in her company, because there was something in this incredible young woman that made him feel alive like he hadn't felt in years.

"Fair enough." She acquiesced in amused annoyance. Remus was bolted back to reality. "But don't say 'you young people' as if you were one hundred years old, 'cause thirty five is not old at all."

"I am."

"Are not."

"We're not stating this again, are we?"

"Will you admit you're not old?"

"Nope."

Tonks turned round and folded her arms over her chest, still holding the caked spoon in her hand.

"Then," she stated severely. "We're starting this again."

Remus arched his eyebrows, hoping this wouldn't sound too much like a spineless imploration. He really didn't feel like arguing trivialities with her, not now he was having so much fun, at least.

"I thought we'd be making breakfast, actually…"

Tonks cast an eloquent look at the bowl on the counter.

"I want to hope that thing doesn't look like breakfast to you."

"Isn't that concrete for the Weasleys' yard?"

"Shut up!" she exclaimed, but her effort to sound indignant soon vanished into a deep laughter that she unsuccessfully tried to stifle.

She was a joy for his eyes, her vitality was contagious.

"Leave this up to me, Tonks dear." He said, in a perfect imitation of Molly, and took the spoon from her hand.

"Didn't know you were a superlative cook." She said, apparently pleasantly surprised.

"Am not." He replied, placing the spoon into the bowl, then turned to face her with a wink. "But I can make excellent pancakes the good, old way."

Tonks propped back to the counter and pouted at him as he started waving his wand to enchant the bowl and the spoon to prepare a new batter on their own.

"Any chance you'll snog me senseless – whipped cream or not – by the time the whole house is up?"

Remus barely moved his head to look at her with a gentle smile.

"Are you still convinced that I want to get into your panties?" he questioned, as if asking about the weather.

"After WCNS, I was under the impression you were quite anxious to do that."

"WCNS?"

"Weird Conversation Number Six."

"Ah, I see." He nodded solemnly. "I am a bit disappointed, I admit, that you consider me such an unmannered man."

Tonks' hands went up to undo her tail. A mane of long, purple hair scattered on her back.

"Actually," she interjected. "I happen to consider you a sadly excessively mannered bloke, Remus."

There was no taint of sarcasm in her voice, she was serious

"Since when have courtesy and chivalry become signs of bad manners?"

"Since, because of your stupid nobleness, you can't admit you want to snog me, and get into my pants, and take advantage of my easiness in getting laid."

A sneer tugged at Remus' lips.

"I don't remember myself denying any of this." He declared. Warm golden sparkles appeared in Tonks' eyes, but he had not finished. "Nonetheless," he added. "I, by no mean, am intentioned to give you the satisfaction of hearing me confirm this, either."

The mouse had broken free from the cat's paws, but it was weird how eagerly, in truth, he wished to return in them.

Tonks tutted disapprovingly.

"You have no idea of how disgustingly boring and overcautious you can get, I swear, Remus."

"Another very spot on description, Nymphadora." She winced at her name, but didn't open her mouth. Remus went on undisturbed. "Though I think I liked the git one better… What was that, again?"

"A naughty, evil, bloody git." She uttered, grinning despite herself. An intense warmth spread one more time inside Remus's chest, a warmth that had nothing to do with the two glasses of scotch he'd drunk. It was a kind of warmth he hadn't got from a person in a very long time.

"For what it's worth, anyway," she added with a sudden shyness. "I really like naughty, evil, bloody gits."

Remus felt profoundly grateful to her, in that moment, for no particular reason except the fact that she was just there.

When had he become so fond of her? When had mere affinity turned into this powerful emotion? And why – and how, on earth – had he possibly missed such a remarkable change in his feelings?

He refused to analyse the situation any further, afraid of what he might discover.

"I feel very lucky for being a naughty, evil, bloody git, all of a sudden." He commented. He took his wand anew and pointed it at the table, where the candles were still burning luminously, then turned back to Tonks. "We were up for breakfast, if I remember well…"

She gazed at the window, beyond which a pink and purple shaded dawn was rising over the hills, on the horizon.

"Unleash all your considerable talent, Mr Lupin, 'cause I have the feeling we're not going to be alone for long."

A nice tingle fluttered in his stomach as his ears perceived an unmistakable hint of frustration in her words. He made sure to carve that feeling clearly in his mind, then directed the wand to the table and a brief flash of yellowish light lit up the whole room. When it was gone, the table was laid for a princely breakfast.

"We'd better go upstairs and get changed before sitting down, perhaps." He suggested. "You don't look exactly fresh and restored as you usually do after a good night of sound sleep, and I have the sensation I don't look great myself, either."

"We have good excuses," she said, shrugging listlessly. "I was drunk and you were haunted by insomnia… We needed a distraction to spend the night away."

Remus stopped next to her before passing her by and bent toward her ear.

"Make sure to put it differently, when Sirius will question about it," he whispered maliciously. "Because he has one single concept of 'distraction to spend the night away', and I assure you nothing we've done is involved." He left her by the counter and went to the door, and there he stopped again to glance behind with a half sneer before disappearing beyond the door. "Well… Almost nothing."

TBC

A/N: Thanks everybody for the awesome feedback! Keep it coming, because next chapter's the last, and I need to keep my spirits up... I have a few nices ideas, already. Little clue: Naughty!Sirius, of course!