AN: So I'm back! Hopefully I'll have readers or something. I re-read the earlier chapters, and I can assure you, there will be editing!
Love you guys! If anyone reads this!!

Remus stood slightly aside at St. Mungo's, away from the Weasley family. Tonks did the same, though she had set her hand comfortingly on Harry's shoulder as he stared blankly at Arthur. While his children and his wife doted on him, Arthur watched Tonks and Lupin as they stood apart, neither one daring to look at each other.

Now what, Arthur thought, has happened here?

With even more of a reason to celebrate the holidays, Grimwauld place was in a festive uproar. If Remus wasn't nearly toppled down the stairs by one of his former students, he was tripping around trying to avoid Tonks. Talking to Tonks right now would mean that either they were going to awkwardly talk about that night, and how it didn't mean anything, or Remus would admit that something had changed.

Either way, one did not have to be Sibyl Trelawney to foresee that it would not go well.

He spent the rest of the day between hanging Christmas lights, and detangling Sirius from them.

--

Tonks stood in the kitchen while Molly made lunch for the household. The carrots, celery and potatoes that she expertly sliced into the pot smelled garden fresh, and Tonks inhaled deeply as Molly tossed some rosemary and sage into the soup. Almost simultaneously she was brushing fresh bread with garlic and olive oil while sprinkling it with a fine dusting of cheese.

"I wish I could cook like you, Molly."

Molly smiled without looking up from the boiling soup. "Practice. That's really all it takes. Also, you let your father teach you the Muggle way."

"My mother had no patience for cooking!"

"Would you like to learn, Nymphadora?"

Tonks snapped her mouth shut and quit swinging her legs over the counter she was sitting on.

"Well, I guess I could, maybe"

"Why don't you spend the afternoon in here, dear, and I promise I'll have you cooking by dinnertime."

"Umm, Molly? Are you sure that's such a great idea? I mean you know, we might as well let these Muggles and their nuclear weapons just attack the world now, if you'd like…"

--

Remus, Sirius and the twins sat around the living room and admired their handiwork. True, the lights may have looked a little tangled, and the tinsel was more or less clumped on the tree itself, Fred and George had managed to charm some lights into spinning around the tree and changing colors, while Sirius and Lupin had created a small miniature red sled pulled by eight tiny reindeer that whizzed around the room.

"That's a beaut, in't it?" Fred asked.

"If I do say so myself" George replied.

Remus and Sirius had been covertly sneaking firewhiskey in the corner for about two minutes, and Sirius gurgled his agreement. It took about ten minutes of admiring the tree for the twins to catch a whiff of the firewhiskey, and by then Sirius and Remus had finished it all.

--

By the time when late afternoon turned into early evening, the smells of something delicious had wafted through the house, and when coupled with Molly Weasley's shrieking, drew everyone to the dinner table.

There were pasta dishes and a vegetable casserole. Three different kinds of sauce lined the middle of the table, and smells of a creamy dessert could be detected peeking from the kitchen. It was the paradise of a meal. Then again, with Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, everyone was kind of used to it.

When everyone had eaten their fill, Remus turned to offer his gratitude to Molly, as he did after every one of her meals. Molly smiled, arched an eyebrow and replied,

"Why thank you, Remus, but I do believe you'll have to give your gratitude to the real cook this evening?"

Arthur finished his biscuit with a loud crunch. "Then, darling, who shall we thank for this delicious meal?"

"Tonks, dearest."

"Tonks? How is the entire headquarters not burned down right now?" Ron shouted in shock.

Everyone laughed at Ron, while Harry punched him in the arm, and Tonks was congratulated by the consumers of her meal. Almost undetectable was the blush that spread across her face, but Remus caught it. Tonks looked from Fred to see Remus staring at her, and it deepened.

Molly, who had disappeared into the kitchen, burst out with dessert.

"Crème brulee!" she called.

Everyone looked from her to Tonks.

"Now, really, of course I made this. Tonks, erm…skills just aren't at this….level yet."

"Plus I nearly singed off her eyebrows when she let me try," Tonks added.