A/N: It took me a while but I've finally finished it. It was actually a bitch to right, and I apologise in advance if it seems choppy at times. I was in a weird mood when I wrote it. As alway thanks to all the people who took the time to read it. To all my reviewers, you made me smile even though I was having a bad week.

Sapphire1022, Flo M Nimo, CrystalClearElphaba444, Uma-Thurman, OTP, Ivonne910, Ombrerose92, Sapphiresenymph, Eragonand Arya and Heyyodude - here's to ya!

Chapter 4 - Midnight Realisations

OH MY GOD, REMUS LUPIN HAS A CRUSH ON...ME!

This one thought kept running through my head as I sat up straight in bed, the sudden movement making my head spin slightly. My mind was racing.

All the signs pointed to it but Remus couldn't fancy me, could he?

No, it's wasn't possible. Remus is smart, sophisticated, and a really great wizard and I'm... well, me. Remus is so proper, and structured, and studious, and I'm just... different. I'm young and uncouth and spontaneous. I do strange things to my hair, I wear ratty clothing by choice and I can't stay upright or walk down the street without tripping. Why on earth would he fancy me?

He wouldn't, would he? No, I was just seeing what I wanted to see. It was simple, I had a crush on Remus and it affected my judgement. I wanted him to like me as much as I liked him so I simply misread the signs. I put my great investigative skills to the test and completely messed up. I put 2 and 2 together and came up with 329, an answer so totally wrong it couldn't possibly be right. Could it?

I had to talk to Sirius. I knew that he would probably laugh his ass off at me but the longer I left it, the more hope I got that this stupid notion was correct. Remus liking me, it's ridiculous, it's ludicrous, it's inconceivable; he's way too smart for that. Sirius was going to tell me I was idiot.

I carefully extricated myself from my bed sheets which had become tangled around my body, being sure to completely remove them from my legs so I wouldn't trip again. As I walked away from my bed I stumbled on something that was lying on the ground. I grabbed my wand and cast a quick 'Lumos' spell to see what had tripped me, it was my orange spotted bath robe. Ignoring it completely, I continued walking out the door and into the hall. I figured I wouldn't need a robe anyway, since I was wearing pj's and only going to see Sirius for a second so he could tell me how daft I was being.

When I reached the end of the hall, I knocked on Sirius' door but he didn't answer. I slowly opened the door to find his room empty and his bed still made. It was 1:30 in the morning and Sirius hadn't been to bed yet. I didn't have to be a world-class investigator to figure out where he was.

The stairs creaked slowly in protest as I tried to walk down them whilst making as little noise as possible so I wouldn't disturb Mrs Black's portrait. I'd tripped over that stupid umbrella stand again after the meeting, making her ghastly portrait screech in horror. Remus had come to my aid straight away, putting a stop to the stupid portraits wailing and helping me up from the ground with a shy smile on his face. I remember that my hand tingled even after he let go, maybe he did like me. I shook my head fiercely, as if to dislodge the crazy thought from my brain, I was getting my own feelings confused with my observations again. Remus doesn't like me.

I must have shaken my head a little too enthusiastically because I could feel myself beginning to lose my balance on the precarious stairs. I sent up a quiet plea to Merlin as I desperately threw out a hand to grab the banister, I couldn't let Sirius catch me on the hallway floor again. Merlin must have been in a good mood because I managed to catch myself on the last step, narrowly avoiding disaster. The umbrella stand was one thing, but I don't think I could convince Sirius that the stairs had a grudge against me too.

I let out a sigh of relief as I straightened up but I jumped as Remus' voice filled the hallway and almost fell backwards on the stairs again.

"Sirius, have you said something to Tonks about my crush? She was looking at me strange all night."

My eyes widened as I slowly shook my head again, it wasn't possible that I'd caught them in the middle of a private conversation again. Not that it mattered; there was no way I was going to listen in this time, I'd learnt my lesson. All eavesdropping did was cause a lot of sleepless nights and confusion, not to mention mixed feelings.

I should probably have gone back to bed, there was no way I was going to get to talk to Sirius about my 'investigation' if the subject of it was sitting across the table, but I figured since I was up I might as well get some warm milk to help me sleep. I continued my way down the hall towards the kitchen, making as much noise as possible this time so that they would both know I was coming.

It worked a treat because when I had reached the kitchen, all conversation had completely ceased. I pushed open the kitchen door to reveal Sirius sitting at the table, nursing a glass of amber liquid that was unmistakably firewhiskey, and Remus walking towards the table with a cup of tea in his hands, still wearing the same brown pants and cream shirt he had on before. He looked ruggedly handsome unshaved.

"Wotcher fella's!"

As I called my greeting to the room, I heard the unmistakeable crash of expensive Black china shattering on the floor. I looked from the mess of broken china and splattered tea on the ground, to Remus' face and was surprised to see him looking at me with his eyes opened wide and his mouth hanging open, a look of utter shock across his usually calm face. A blush began to make its way onto his cheeks as his eyes continued to rove over my body and as I looked down to see what he was staring at, the same blush began to tinge my cheeks to.

I was wearing blue sleep shorts, which cut off a bit higher than mid thigh, and a white tank top that was far too tight and exposed a little of my tummy. Now whilst my pj's had seemed reasonable before, when I thought I was just having a quick word with my cousin, they seemed completely ridiculous now and I felt naked and on display as I stood by the kitchen door. I wouldn't have minded Remus looking at me of course, except he looked more uncomfortable than appreciative. Damn, why didn't I grab my stupid bath robe off the floor? I'd even tripped over the stupid thing; I should've taken that as a sign.

Sirius must have noticed the silence because he looked at Remus, and the mess he'd made on the floor, with a confused expression on his face. Then he looked at me and slowly began to shake his head in what seemed like understanding as a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He kicked out the chair across from him and I self-consciously slid into the seat as he turned his attention back to Remus again.

"Moony, why don't you stop ogling my cousin and clean up the bloody mess you made."

Whilst Sirius' words seemed stern, he appeared rather amused by the whole situation. He even let out a chuckle as Remus' blush deepened a little and I felt a little bad that Sirius was getting entertainment out of Remus' embarrassment. Suddenly the liquid mess on the floor disappeared and the shards of the broken china pulled together to form a flawless cup once again, despite the fact that I never heard an 'evanesco' or 'reparo' charm cast. Damn he was good.

Remus bent down and retrieved the cup from the floor before heading back to the kitchen bench. I tore myself away from staring at Remus' best feature when I heard Sirius cough. I looked across the table in his direction to see him watching me expectantly. His eyebrows rose high on his forehead in and inquiring look as he silently mouthed 'Well?'

I screwed my forehead up in confusion as I tried to figure out what the hell he was asking. Surely he didn't want to discuss Remus' crush whilst he was in the same room. I raised my eyebrow back at him in response as I leant forward in my chair and mouthed, 'Well what?'

Sirius let his head loll back as he let out an exasperated sigh. He mouthed, 'Well?', again as he nodded his head in Remus' direction and raised his eyebrows again. When I continued to look at him with a dazed expression he let out a huff of annoyance and mouthed the word 'crush'.

Why was he doing this now, with Remus in the room? I couldn't tell him I thought it was me because he would most likely piss himself laughing, and then Remus would want to know what was so funny and then they'd both be laughing at how stupid I was. Sirius was still staring at me expectantly from across the table and when I shrugged my shoulders in response, his quizzical look turned into one of disbelief as he slowly dropped his head into his hands and shook it melodramatically.

He was just about to give a response but stopped abruptly when he saw Remus turn from the kitchen counter and walk towards us with a mug in his hands and a curious look on his face. It must have seemed strange to him that we were sitting in apparent silence when usually you couldn't shut us up. The steam billowed from the top of the cup and the smell of tea filled my senses as Remus offered the mug to me. I took it from him and a jolt of electricity rushed through my body as my fingers lightly brushed his, the same feeling as when he helped me up from the ground earlier. I wondered if he felt it too.

I looked from the steamy mug on the table to the steamy man in front of me and slowly smiled when I met his gaze. His eyes seemed to suggest that maybe he had, and he hadn't moved his hand away even though I'd already taken the cup.

"Thanks Remus, you didn't have to trouble yourself to make me a cuppa."

"It was no trouble at all."

As he spoke the words he gave me a warm smile that made him look years younger, then turned and walked back to the bench to retrieve his own cup. I took a sip of the warm liquid and was pleasantly surprised, strong tea with a little milk and a hint of honey. I'd never told him how I took my tea and yet it was the exact way I liked it. Either he was a legilimens or he knew how I liked my tea because he'd watched me make it. Maybe he did like me after all, why else would you notice something like that?

With an added strength of courage I turned back to Sirius, who leaning back in his chair and watching me with an amused expression on his face as he slowly shook his head. He raised his eyebrows again in question as I mouthed, 'Maybe.'

The effect was instantaneous; he let his chair spring forward and sat up straight. His eyes lit up and a small smile spread across his face as he waved his hand, urging me to continue. This was it, at least I'd know now if Remus did fancy me, and if not than at least I'd be the one responsible for taking the haunted look out of Sirius' eyes, at least for a little while.

I looked towards Remus, to make sure he wasn't watching, before turning back to Sirius, who was waiting eagerly. I slowly pointed towards myself and mouthed, 'Me' with an unsure look on my face.

Sirius' face broke into a full blown smile and he let out a small chuckle but before he could answer me back, Remus made his way to the table and sat in the seat beside Sirius. Our silent conversation was over and now I didn't know whether Sirius had laughed because my answer was so ridiculous or because he was glad that I'd finally got it.

Silence fell across the table, only being broken momentarily by a small chuckle from Sirius, so squelching my disappointment, or perhaps my impending mortification, I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"So what were you guys talking about before I came in here?"

I winced immediately at my question. I knew what they were talking about, I'd overhead them when I came down the stairs, they were discussing me and my strange behaviour at the meeting. Remus had asked Sirius whether he had revealed his crush to me. Why did I ask something so stupid?

Sirius continued laughing and a momentary look of horror crossed Remus' face before he recovered and answered me with an obvious lie.

"We were just discussing who'll be coming to the little Order get together."

Sirius sobered up enough to add, "Yeah, you'll come won't you Tonks."

I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about; nobody had mentioned a party to me.

"Erm, what party?"

They both looked at me in shock before Sirius answered my enquiry.

"The party we organised at the meeting tonight. Weren't you listening at all?"

I gave him a non-committal shrug and he thankfully continued without enquiring as to why I wasn't listening at the meeting.

"We're having a little gathering here tomorrow," he looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, "er, tonight. Just some last minute 'adults only' time before the Weasley kids arrive. You'll come, won't you?"

I thought about it for a second; I didn't actually have anything on but I didn't want them to know I had no social life. When I thought an appropriate amount of time had passed I answered.

"Erm, yeah sure, I'll be here."

Sirius didn't even acknowledge my answer; he was too busy looking at Remus with a satisfied smirk on his face. I turned my head slowly to see what Sirius was looking at to find Remus - oh my god - he was staring at my chest. Ok, I know that my shirt was a little too tight and that it kind of accentuated my boobs but, damn, he was full on entranced by them.

"Why don't you take it picture Moony, it'll last longer, and you can stare at it in the privacy of your room."

My face flushed a deep red as the meaning of Sirius' words sunk in and Remus, faced flushed to match mine, looked mortified at being caught ogling my chest. His momentary humiliation only lasted a moment however, before he struck back at Sirius' crass words.

"Despite your crude words, Sirius, I was merely looking at Tonks' shirt."

He then turned to look at me, with a slightly guilty look on his face.

"Perhaps you shouldn't wear that once the Weasley children arrive. It might be a little bit too provocative for 3 teenage boys."

At first I thought he was talking about the tank top accentuating my assets and a look of indignation crossed my face quickly followed by another blush as I looked down at my shirt and realised what he meant. The tank top that I thought was plain white was actually emblazoned by the words "DO IT EVERYNIGHT" in dark blue glittery ink, under which was a picture of a toothbrush.

Sirius was pissing himself laughing and Remus looked slightly amused, whilst I couldn't look either of them in the eye and instead kept glancing around the room. I felt naked and on display yet again, and not in a good way. Why didn't I grab the damn robe?

Remus must have sensed my embarrassment because he sent me an apologetic look before engaging Sirius in a conversation about who was cooking for the party, which thankfully sobered his laughing fit. Whilst they were busy discussing the details, I silently finished my mug of tea and stood up to put it in the sink; I didn't trust my magic right now.

"I think I'll head back to bed now, night guys."

I let them know my intentions as I made my way past the kitchen table. I was just about to push open the kitchen door and run up to my room where I could scream about my embarrassment in private, but Sirius' voice made me stop.

"Tonks, about what we were talking about before," I turned around, "you were right. It took you a while to get there but you came up with the right answer in the end."

My face broke into a full smile as I turned around and continued on my way out of the kitchen, leaving a beaming Sirius, eyes still twinkling, and a very confused Remus in my wake.

OH MY GOD, I WAS RIGHT.

REMUS LIKES ME.

Ok, I've decided to give people an incentive to review. Everybody who clicks the lovely little box in the left-hand corner and leaves me a review, will receive a little teaser from the next chapter (Trust me, it's a good one). I don't know when I'll be able to update again so you might want to take this chance. THANKS

Please Review.