A/N: Sooo, apparently I've come back with another cute humor story about the best and cutest couple ever... It never hurts to have some cheerful stories around, right? 'Kay. This new story is going to have seven chapters, each of which will be about a different visit Remus and Tonks will pay to his parents. It's not exactly canon, but bollocks to canon, really. It's supposed to be that famous sequel to "She Kept Me Up All Night", but can be read as a stand alone, as well.

Now I'll leave you to the introductive chapter, hoping you'll like it.

18th December 1996 – Remus' News

Tonks liked Sunday mornings for several reasons. In first place, there was the 'cuddling factor': Remus used to sleep over on Saturday nights and stay with her all the rest of the week-end, which implied that she could spend a good ten hours basking and purring within his warm arms, without having to fear very annoying improvised visits (really, who could ever come to see her when they could stay in bed and sleep until midday, instead?) or any other sort of inconvenient interruption. Moreover, Sunday mornings were her weekly chance to get a decent breakfast without even having to move a finger, meaning that she could simply slug on whilst Remus would get up and do all those domestic things she was a real mess at, such as prepare toasts without burning any, or butter them without ending up buttered himself, or put on some coffee and remember he had actually done it. Tonks thought this was absolutely amazing.

She stirred against Remus' side and stroked his calf with her foot, then enlaced her leg around his and settled her head under his armpit, placing a hand on his chest, which rose and fell with his quiet, regular breathing. Moaning in his sleep, Remus tightened his grip around her and pulled her closer, his face brushing against her hair.

Merlin, she loved Sunday mornings.

"What time is it?" he mumbled sleepily, his eyes refusing to open to the milky December morning light.

Tonks checked the alarm clock on her night stand and almost opted to lie. Ten o'clock was, in Remus' opinion, and indecent time to wake up. He was more the early bird type, contrarily from her, who would be happily ready to devote her life to slumbering any moment.

In particular when it comes to slumbering with him after a night like last night.

"Ten." she mumbled with a yawn, sincerely hoping he wouldn't catch it and just forget about silly and utmost irrelevant things like getting up.

Remus groaned, but started stirring and stretching lazily, and Tonks knew it was the sign that the good idle time was over.

"Can't we just stay here and rock each other to decomposition?" she asked imploringly. Remus let out a faint laugh and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Oh my – he just loves making me melt.

"Such a charming image, really."

His voice was low and husky, still veiled by sleep, but his eyes were fully awake, and avidly looking at her. He smiled, took her chin between his fingers and made her raise her face towards him, and placed a sweet kiss upon her lips.

Literally sweet.

Tonks scowled and gave him a puzzled look.

"How come you taste of chocolate at this time in the morning?" she asked suspiciously. Remus arched his brows.

"I can't have a piece of chocolate if I wake up hungry in the early morning, now?"

"Of course you can, I just –" she blinked in dismay. "Never mind, I've learned to live with this."

Remus pulled himself sitting, leaning back on the pillow, letting her rest her head on his bare chest.

"And this would be –?"

"The never-ending hot affair between you and chocolate," she said, running a finger up and down his torso, goose bumps rising all over his skin. "I know I'll always come second."

Remus gave a hearty laugh, which she felt with every part of her, her ear lying right above his heart, then he started caressing her hair.

"Is it just me or you're sounding a bit jealous?" he quipped.

Tonks, who initially had intended to play the offended one, found herself struggling not to jump him and take advantage of his position to climb onto his lap and show him what a jealous girlfriend was capable of with the very object of her jealousy.

After long seconds of inner indecision, she finally opted not to give him such satisfaction.

"You wish!" she stuck her tongue out to him, then started searching the floor with her eyes for her sleeping shirt.

Remus slid out from the covers, wearing one pair too many boxers, in Tonks' humble opinion, and winked at her in that sensual way that would always caused her brain to switch into 'amazed worship mode'.

"I would check elsewhere, if were you." He suggested allusively.

He sniggered and pointed a finger upwards. Following it, Tonks' gaze set on the colourful fairy lights hanging all over the ceiling of her bedroom, where her shirt was struck, lolling miserably a few inches away from the main light.

This was definitely not my fault, she thought as she stood on her feet on the bed, offering Remus a full view of all her half-naked graces. He folded his arms across his chest and said:

"That must be the most bizarre place where one of our pieces of clothing has ever ended up."

"It hasn't ended up," she pointed out, trying to grab her pyjamas without causing a massive fall of fragile, tiny lights. "You tossed it."

"You sounded like it was killing you by the way you were begging me to –"

She cast a pillow on his face, succeeding in her intent to shut him up, but he didn't seem very squabbled.

She ignored his mischievous grin as she pulled down the shirt and put in on, then jumped off the bed, arms stretched above her head, yawning loudly.

"In a week it's Christmas," she said, warning him playfully. "You'd better be a good boy, otherwise Mummy won't send your letter to Santa."

Remus stiffened on his spot and went pale, suddenly looking uneasy.

"Er, speaking of which…"

He eyed her unsurely, lips pursed. Tonks tried to read through his expression, but he faced down, licking his lips in evident discomfort. When he took a fist in front of his mouth and cleared his throat, she became absolute that whatever he was going to say, she wasn't going like it.

"We don't have any plan for Christmas Eve, do we?"

Tonks blinked blankly.

"No, we don –"

"Because, you see," he glanced at her sheepishly. "My – my mother thought we could – you know, join her and my fa –"

"No way!" she exclaimed horrified as her heart jumped right into her throat. Meeting the Lupins was something she had always known she would have to do, some day, but she liked to simply avoid it as long as she could and just ponder in her imagination all the possible meanings the word 'disaster' could assume after that very hypothetical day.

Remus had never told her much about his parents, but Sirius had. Mr Lupin was a fiftysomething-year-old Halfbood wizard with a passion for classical music and exotic plants, very friendly and polite, so everything okay so far. Tonks' real problem was Mrs Lupin.

According to Sirius' tales, Mrs Lupin was some kind of clone of his own mother, only prettier and less Pureblood-obsessed, even being a Pureblood herself, and she was very jealous of her beloved son. Consequently, Tonks had always had, when thinking of her, the unpleasant image of an old, fierce banshee brandishing a wand in one hand and a knife dripping some aspirant girlfriend's blood in the other. Not even remotely an encouraging premise.

"It's only for a tea," Remus continued, giving her a soothing – and equally useless – smile. "Official introductions, proper circumstantial chat, and so on… You know, the same old platitudes…"

No, no, no, and no again. I'm not, by any mean, letting you drag me into this, Remus Lupin, not a single chance that I –

"It would be only for a couple of hours," he whispered in her ear, his lips brushing heavenly against her lobe, sending intense shivers of pleasure down her spine. "We go there, say hi, have a cup of tea, leave and then… Anything you want."

Tonks felt she was starting losing focus as he began kissing her neck, and – oh, Merlin! – it was just too hot for her to resist. Trying to react would be a vain waste of time and energies, he would always win that kind of confrontations, because he knew way too well how to make her want to lose.

"It – it's a – a very bad –" She could hardly articulate a speech with Remus driving her to the edge of human toleration with his breath-taking kisses. "Bad idea."

"They're not going to –" his teeth bit gently the tender flesh of her shoulder, and Tonks, despite herself, whimpered. "Eat you." Another small bite. She moaned low in her throat.

"Mmmkay," she breathed as his tongue skimmed her jaw line to crawl up to her lips. "But just – just a cup of – mmmh – tea…"

In the very moment she finished the sentence, she heard a dry click, and Remus' divine ministrations stopped as suddenly as they'd begun.

"Thanks, sweetheart, I knew you'd understand." He lifted his hand in midair and Tonks saw he was holding something silvery.

"Is that my MP3 recorder?" she demanded in astonishment, not quite able to explain herself what it was doing in his hand, and where he had found it, since it'd been lost for days.

With a sly chuckle, Remus pushed a small button on the device, and Tonks' registered voice floated round the room.

"Mmmkay, but just – just a cup of – mmmh – tea…"

He smirked.

"In case you have second thoughts about this."

"You little disgusting cheat!" she bellowed at him, hands threateningly placed on her hips. "How did you dare –" She stuttered, too indignated to formulate any coherent thought apart from 'revenge'. "And, by the way, how the hell did you learn how to record with that bloody thing? It took me ages only to figure out how to turn it on!"

Instead of replying, Remus pressed the button again, and again Tonks spoke from the recorder:

"Mmmkay, but just – just a cup of – mmmh – tea…"

"Lovely, isn't it?" He teased her. "Especially the way you utter that second 'mmmh'… Just perfect."

"Git!"

If there was something about Remus that she really couldn't comprehend, it was his perpetual state of tranquillity, the disarming calmness he could keep in every sort of situation. Even now that she was practically biting his head off.

"I suggest you watch your mouth in my parents' presence," he muttered over her lips. "Mother is a bit of a bon ton freak."

Yeah, so I've been told…

"This is never going to work, Remus," she tried to complain. "I can't possibly be up to their expectations…"

"They're going to adore you as much as I do." He soothed, but Tonks wouldn't listen to him.

"I'll screw everything up, I can put a finger on it," she cried. "It's going to be an utter failure, a mess, a bloody –"

Remus silenced her by pulling her to him and closing her mouth with his own.

Tonks decided to let herself sink in his kiss and try to forget about the tragic trap she'd fallen into. It actually worked for a while, as long as she had Remus' hands roaming all across her body, her shirt gone anew, and his mouth locked upon hers. It even lasted a split second after he pulled away to walk out of the room, leaving her here, alone and stoned, without a word.

She nibbled at her bottom lip, all of a sudden feeling like a little girl who was about to meet a scary ogre. Maybe even less figuratively than it sounded.

Okay, fine, I've no choice, it seems, she told herself. I have a week or so to get ready for the big meeting… A week to learn how to be 'prime quality girlfriend material' to a mother like Remus'. I can do this.

Her look fell on her reflection in the full-length mirror hanging next to the door: she met her messy bright pink hair, the dark shades under her eyes (but that was – unbelievable as it was – the least of her problems), her old shabby shirt (lying at her feet on the floor) and the crescent moon tattoo on her inner left ankle, and her heart sank in panic.

Can I?

TBC

A/N: My inspiring muse makes a living of reviews, so we'll both appreciate it if you leave a word when you're done with the reading. For every review, a Marauder of your own choice will take you out on the most sickly sweet and romantic date at Madam Puddifoot's Tearoom. Next on Meeting the Lupins: 24th December 1996 – Awkward Introductions. Stay tuned.