Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. All credit goes to JK Rowling. If you see something you remember from the books or films, it does not belong to me. You can't sue me, I don't have any money.

Authors note: Pure guilt made me finish this chapter early. Sometimes we need a little help to open our eyes... Mostly dialog. You know me, if you find any mistakes, please point them out to me.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping, but it couldn't have been more than a few hours, it was still dark outside. He could hear somebody moving around just outside the door, somebody who wasn't really bothering to be quiet. Death eaters would have been far more sneaky, this had to be somebody from the order. Perhaps Remus decided to come back...

The door creaked open slowly, almost as if the person on the other side was more nervous than he was.

"Sirius?"

"Tonks?"

"Sirius, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, you're sitting here in the dark."

"I was sleeping."

There was a short pause.

"I see. When I came in your mother's curtains were wide open but she didn't say a word. She didn't even try to argue when I closed them."

"Do you think a portrait can lose its voice? I decided to just let her scream it out."

Tonks didn't respond, she just lit the collection of lamps and candles with a quick flick of her wand. She pulled out a chair and swung it around so that she could sit back to front with her legs spread on either side of the backrest.

"You've been watching too many bad muggle cop shows."

"You've been crying, Sirius."

This wasn't really a question, so he didn't say anything.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Well tough, I want to talk. Is it this house? I know you hate being here Sirius, but you know as well as I do its not safe for you out there, not with Pettigrew still around."

"It's not the house, no."

"Your mother then? I know you try to pretend she doesn't affect you, but she's your mother after all, it can't be easy to listen to her going on like that every day."

"No, I've grown used to her. She's not much worse now than she was when she was alive."

"Then what, Sirius? What's bothering you so much? Is it Remus?"

His head shot up so fast it actually hurt.

"How long have you known?"

"A while now, Emmeline Vance and I got talking one night and she told me the two of you were together before, you know..."

"Yes, well, that was years ago."

"I almost can't believe it, you know."

"What, that your devilishly handsome cousin could possibly be queer?"

"No, Sirius, that's fairly obvious. No, I can't believe two otherwise intelligent men could possibly be so bloody stupid."

"What?"

"You heard me! Sirius, I'm tired of watching you both moping around all the time."

"Look, you don't understand-"

"Bollocks! You both clearly still love each other, but you're to stubborn to do anything about it, so now the rest of us have to watch you cry and we get to walk on eggshells around Remus."

"Look, you're wrong... I thought Remus still felt the same way, hell, Tonks, I wanted to talk to him, but a few months ago... Well let's just say something happened and now I'm not so sure anymore."

"Sirius, I have no idea what happened between the two of you, but I'm not blind. I've seen the two of you together, you still care for each other. Sirius, you love him, and regardless of what you think, he loves you."

"Then explain this: After the meeting tonight Remus stayed behind and we spoke. I could see he wasn't well and I asked him about it, he denied everything. He claimed he was just tired, but I know it was something else. When I offered to pay for him to go see a private healer, he lost it and he couldn't get out of the house fast enough."

"Hell, Sirius, I don't know, pride? Money is a sensitive issue with him, maybe it upset him that you offered to pay for it."

"I don't know, if it was a stranger I could understand, but why in front of me? No, it's been too long, whatever we had between us, it's gone now. I need to move on."

"Look, I can't tell you what to do, you're old enough to make your own decisions, but Sirius, please don't give up. I know it's hard, but just try..."

"Tonks..."

"Humor me, ok."

"As you wish, my lady. Now, I have no idea what time it is, but I'm pretty sure you should be in bed. Go on, I'll be fine."

She took his hand for a moment and gave it a gentle squeeze before getting up and heading for the door.

"Tonks?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you... For everything, just... Thanks."

She smiled, winked at him and disappeared into the cold London night.