Authors note: This was a fun and yet very draining chapter. I ended up shortening a lot of it though just because it was so freakin long. (and it still is). And there were so many rewrites, I can't even begin to tell you- but I think I like this current version, so its staying for now.
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Chapter Nine-'Truth'
Remus ascended the old stairs quietly. The portraits around him were sleeping, some of the older ones drooling- but one small creak and they'd probably all wake up. Step on a squeaky stair and the entire house would blow up like a landmine.
He saw the decorated house-elf heads on the wall and bit back a laugh. Sirius obviously was in a good mood. He assumed that the new company of the Weasely family was the cause of it, and Harry of course.
He reached the top safely and walked down the dark hall toward the faint glow peeping out from under one of the doors. When he reached it opened the door cautiously, more from habit than anything else.
"It's alright Moony- it's not like I'm practicing hexes in here." came a familiar, but oddly cheerful voice from the inside of the small sitting room.
He opened up the door the rest of the way, a slight frown on his face. "How did you know it was me?"
Sirius was sitting in the large uncomfortable armchair, facing the crackling fire with a large tankard in his hands. He had turned around to face him, an unusually genuine smile on his face.
"Well," he said. "I know we don't have a ghost in this dump and with the kids upstairs dreaming of dancing sugerplums, if doors start opening on their own accord at this hour, it means you most likely are behind it." He gestured carelessly to the twin armchair next to him. "Sit down."
Remus walked over and sat down. The fire was emitting a pleasant warmth and with the room finally cleaned up from the many years of accumulated dust and cobwebs, the atmosphere seemed almost peaceful and friendly. It was easy to forget that the rest of the house was cold, dark and dreary. Right then, it seemed #12 Grimmauld Place was an actually pleasant place.
"You want some?" Sirius asked holding out his tankard. '
"What is it?" he frowned.
"Oh come'on Moony, its not poison…then again…"
"What is it?" he repeated, trying to peer into the murky contents that reeked so strongly he nearly recoiled.
Sirius sighed, obviously exasperated with his friend being so unadventurous. "Well to be perfectly honest. I don't really know. Tastes like some bizarre sort of wine or brandy. I'm not dead, so I'm assuming its safe. I found it stored in that pitifully ugly safe in the dining room."
"You don't say."
"I know. There were all these protective storage spells on it, so it took awhile to break. But its worth it." Sirius said, conjuring up another tankard from the air and began to pour some of the strange brandy into it from a small vat that was sitting on the small table nearby. When done, he handed it to him.
"Sirius, I can't drink this-"
"You can and you will. It's Christmas you pathetic, miserable excuse for a bloke."
He'd probably regret it later, but he took it. "Thanks."
They sat there in silence for sometime, Remus took a cautious sip of the brandy and felt his eyes water as all the air left his lungs when the strange beverage burned its way down his throat. Whatever it really was, it was far stronger than firewhiskey.
"Dear god." Remus gasped, coughing hard.
Sirius laughed outright at his friend's reaction and then yawned loudly. "So…Christmas tomorrow."
"Yes. I saw the decorations. Marvelous."
"Thanks. Do you think Harry will like his present?"
"I have no doubt."
"Oh, thanks for rewrapping it by the way."
"Your welcome."
He watched his dark haired friend for a moment who was staring deeply into the fire. "What are you thinking about, Sirius?"
"Nothing really. Just thinking about some of the old Christmas parties. You know, the ones that James and Lily managed to throw together whenever they could?"
Remus smiled. "I don't think I could ever forget them."
"They always threw the best parties, even in the worst of times."
"That they did."
"Remember that one time we were all up on the roof, singing and Frank Longbottom fell off and broke his collarbone?"
Remus smiled. "Yes, but he didn't notice it until the next day and Alice dragged him off to St Mungos after he tried to reset it himself. Wasn't that also the same time the house caught fire?"
"No that was another party. I remember that one though, all the muggle flamemen-"
"-firemen-"
"Whatever. They all ended up coming over to put it own since we were too smashed to use magic and just do it ourselves-"
"How did it start?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"Well I always assumed it was you that started it."
Sirius frowned. "Was it? I don't remember." He appeared deep in thought for a moment until a small smile spread across his face. "Oh. Yes. That was me."
"How did it start?"
A truly wicked look lit up Sirius's face. "Sorry mate, but I'm taking that one with me to the grave."
"Fair enough." Remus said. "I can already imagine some frightening possibilities and I don't really want to pry too deeply into them."
"-I was wearing the Siegfried Gemainus tights…"
"Already too much information." Remus grimaced.
Suddenly there was a soft thud on the landing outside and a familiar voice swearing angrily but softly.
Sirius stood up and opened the door where Tonks was lying there- sprawled on the floor.
"I hate that rug." She said as a greeting. "I think it has a grudge against me. I always trip on it."
Sirius helped her up gently and she ended up catching Remus's eye. "What's going in here? How is everything?"
"Christmas nightcap." Remus said awkwardly. He had no idea what to say or do in front of Nymphadora Tonks anymore. His heart started pounding nervously. Was she going to mention what had happened between them the last time they had encountered eachother?
"How are you?" Tonks asked him.
"I'm well. How are you?"
She nodded. "Fine. Thanks."
"That's…great to hear."
Sirius closed the door behind Tonks and bowed to them both mock. "My good sir and madam, it is a fine evening for such formality. Shall we sit down, or shall we stand with pokers up our arses-?"
"Shut up!" Tonks said. She turned to Remus with a grin. "If he gets really annoying, do you want to help me hex him?"
"My pleasure." Remus said. It seemed as if Tonks was more than ready to move on from that awkward day on the stairs. Things obviously were back to normal between them. Perhaps if he could just forget about and ignore what happened that day-
She really did have such a beautiful smile.
Bugger. He thought angrily. Focus! She's your friend. Nothing more!
"Well, really you two-it's Christmas, relax!"
"I really didn't have any intention of staying here fore very long. Kingsley had just asked me to drop off some reports for Mad-Eye." Tonks said cheerfully. "Why are you here Remus?"
"I'm going with Mad-Eye tomorrow to help escort the Weasleys and Harry to the hospital. Their all planning on visiting Arthur."
"How is he doing by the way?" Sirius asked.
"From the sounds of it, very well." said Tonks. "Well…I already dropped off the maps so I guess I'll be on my way then."
Sirius gestured carelessly about the room. "Well stay for a minute, what's the rush? It's Christmas Eve cuz."
She seemed to think about this for a moment before shrugging and said, "Oh fine, what the hell. I could do with a break anyways."
Sirius beamed at her. "Excellent."
She flopped down on the couch. "So what were you two talking about before I interrupted?" she asked as Remus pushed the sofa closer over to the fire so that she could join them.
"Oh, we were just taking a stroll down memory lane." said Sirius.
"-and remembering the stupidest thing Sirius has ever done." Remus added mildly.
"What was it?"
"Almost burning down James and Lily's house at a party."
"That wasn't the stupidest thing I've ever done."
"Oh?"
"Hardly." confirmed Sirius as he poured Tonks a drink.
"Then what was it?" asked Tonks, looking rather interested.
Sirus handed her a drink before sitting down in his own armchair again.
"It was probably the day I trusted Peter and told James that he should be their secret-keeper." He said in a bitter voice. His face looked so angry and so murderous, after being so jovial that it was slightly terrifying.
Luckily, Remus had had this conversation plenty of time with Sirius before, so he knew what to say, "It wasn't your fault Sirius." He said gently. "Nobody suspected Peter would do what he did."
Tonks bit her lip nervously; looking slightly upset that she had unintentionally caused Sirius to remember something that still caused him so much pain. Remus noticed this and smiled encouragingly at her to let her know that it wasn't her fault.
"We've all made mistakes at some time or another." he said firmly.
"Yeah, except you Remus." Sirius said with a humourless laugh.
"Well actually disobeying my parents and wandering into the local woods at night was one of the first mistakes and possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done." He said coldly.
Sirius stared at him for a minute. "Sorry Moony." He said looking very sincere.
Remus shrugged. "I'm not asking for an apology."
"Well the stupidest thing I've ever done is bring up this whole conversation." Tonks said guiltily.
Sirius started laughing and Remus couldn't help himself as he began to laugh as well.
"Hey!" said Sirius suddenly. "I've got an idea, let's play 'Truth'!"
"No, lets not." Remus said quickly.
"Come'on Moony-"
"How much have you had to drink already?" he asked him seriously.
"Pleeeeease?"
"You know how much I hate that game."
"What's Truth?" asked Tonks.
Remus sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's a ridiculous game, and a complete waste of time."
"What else have we got to do?" Sirius pointed out. Then he turned to Tonks. "Truth is something we occasionally used to play at school, someone comes up with a question and everyone answers it…truthfully, hence the title. Simple rules."
"Obviously played during times of extreme boredom." Remus added.
Tonks's dark eyes were twinkling. "Sounds fun."
"See Moony? Tonks wants to play it."
Remus looked at Sirius's eager face and Tonks's encouraging one and found himself quickly succumbing.
"Fine." He sighed. "I'll play it too, though I'll probably regret it in the end."
"YES!" Sirius said triumphantly.
Tonks grinned at Remus and he felt as if his hear was being tightly squeezed in a large vice.
Cut it out…he told himself sharply. Don't even start to think about her again like that. You already botched it up earlier, that day on the stairs-
"I'll come up with the first question." Sirius announced, interrupting his thoughts. He stroked his chin thoughtfully before saying. "Got it. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?"
Remus actually sighed with relief. Sirius was notorious for coming up with the most awkward and personal questions. On a scale from one to ten, this question was about a negative six.
"What exactly is the definition of 'crazy'?" Tonks frowned.
Sirius shrugged. "Well…you know…crazy."
"Does playing quidditch count?" Remus seriously asked.
"No Moony, that's not crazy enough."
"For me it is."
"It's not good enough!"
Knowing that Sirius would not give up pestering him until he retold something crazy enough, he began to rack his brain.
"How about playing this game?" Remus said as he tried stalling for time.
Sirius shook his head. "I know that your life isn't that dull mate."
Then a memory popped into his head. "Right, how about trying to convince a pack of blood covered, starving, adrenaline drunk werewolves in the middle of the Black forest in Germany that killing witches and wizards is not a good thing to do?"
Sirius grinned. "That'll do for now I guess…Tonks?"
But Tonks was staring at Remus in awe. "How on earth did you survive?"
"It's a long story." He replied honestly. "Happened years ago during the first Order."
"Yeah, it'll take him three days to explain it- he'll tell you some other day. Now answer the question." Said Sirius.
"Well compared to you two, I haven't done anything that could possibly compete with the stuff you've done."
"That's not true." Said Remus.
Tonks finally took a sip of her brandy and grimaced. "Lovely." She said sarcastically eyeing it with distaste. "Hm… let me think…crazy thing….I suppose there's always the time I broke into my bosses office."
"Whose office?" Sirius asked. "Scrimgeour's?"
"Oh no! Not him. No… it actually was Fudge."
Sirius and Remus stared at her, slackjawed.
"You broke into the Minister of Magic's office?" Remus asked weakly. "Why?"
"Well, that's the crazy part. Stupid really, now that I think about it. I was new on the job and everything, it was the first day for me and I passed him in one of the halls. He looked me over and commented how it looked like someone was trying to grow grass on my head, my hair was green that day- and so, I sought my revenge." She said dramatically. She took another sip of her brandy. "I planned it out very carefully, the following week I managed to sneak into his side office and filled one of his sugar bowls with 'Green Gerard's magical grass grower'. Well, to put it quite simply- he was obviously quite fond of sugar because I found out later that as shortly after his morning tea, he had little green leaves sprouting out all over his face for the better part of the day." She sighed reminiscently as she thought of her precious memory.
"Well Moony, I think Tonks would have made a great Marauder." Sirius said looking at his younger cousin with nothing short of glowing approval.
"Undoubtfully." Remus agreed.
Tonks's cheeks went a light pink and she tried to cover it by taking a large swig of her brandy which she ended up clumsily spilling down the front of her robes.
"Well Sirius, answer the question." Remus said hastily so that his friend wouldn't start laughing at Tonks's clumsiness.
"Ah, right!" Sirius said cheerfully. "Where can I begin?!?! I've done a lot of crazy things but today there's one that's most vividly coming to mind is the time I worked for a brief time at as strip club."
Remus's inconveniently had taken large sip of his brandy and at Sirius's words could not prevent his large gulp from spraying across the room.
"WHAT?" Tonks exclaimed, looking as if she was uncertain to be impressed or disgusted.
"Yup." Sirius chuckled.
Remus coughed hard trying to get air back into his lungs. "Do you have any consideration for my sanity, Sirius?" he gasped.
"Well you did agree to play 'Truth'. I never forced you to."
"When on earth did you work for a strip club? And how did I ever miss hearing this story?"
"Well I obviously don't try to tell it too many people Moony-"
"You worked as a STRIPPER!"
"For a short time." Sirius said lazily. "I needed money; this was shortly after I ran low on Uncle Alphard's charity donation."
Remus shook his head. "Did it every occur to you that getting a job would be a wise course of action?"
"Hey, I was rolling in galleons after that little scheme- plus the owners of the establishment said I was always welcome to come back since I was so unusually good at-"
"Stop! Stop! STOP! Stop it RIGHT there!" Tonks cried, shielding her face with her hands as if it would help block the unwanted mental images. "Dear god Sirius, do you want to scar me for life?"
Sirius grinned wickedly. "I also dressed up as a drag queen once at-"
"STOP!" Remus and Tonks cried in unison.
Sirius let out a barklike laugh. "It was for a laugh! Merlin's balls, since you two are so sensitive about it; I'll find the costume and wear it tomorrow for Christmas. Harry would like it."
"Yeah, seeing his godfather in drag is always such a warm, thoughtful seasonal gift." Tonks snorted. "I'm sure he'll love it."
Sirius grinned and took a moment to take a drink from his tankard. "Maybe I will then, come'on Moony, your question now."
"What's your favorite colour?" he asked dully.
Sirius made a noise of deep disgust but before he could say anything, Tonks had spoken up.
"I like purple." She said. "Most defiantly purple on Tuesdays."
"What do you have a favorite colour for each day of the week?" Sirius sighed, feeling obligated now to answer the question. "You come up with the most boring questions Moony, fine then. Black I guess."
"How original." Tonks said sarcastically.
"I look sexy in black." Sirius said and then started to grin. "And I looked damn good in purple too you know-"
"Stop." Remus said sternly. "We don't want to hear about any of your cross-dressing exploits."
"You've wounded me Remus." Sirius said pretending to look offended. "Sometimes I wonder why I still call you my friend. Now, answer your damn question so we can move on."
"Pink." Remus said before he could stop himself. "Most defiantly pink."
Tonks's face lit up. "I told you it grows on you."
"It did."
Sirius raised an eyebrow as he watched them both.
Tonks pulled out her wand. "And so if you're sincere about it- you obviously wouldn't mind, would you if I was to turn your hair pink again?"
Remus had his own wand out in a flash, "Do you still like grey, Nymphadora?"
"It's grown on me." She said with a smile.
"Glad to hear it."
"Knock it off you two, lets continue- whose turn is it?"
"It's mine!" Tonks said happily. "I get to come up with a question now."
"Alright then, go ahead."
She pulled up her knees to her chest and sat there on the sofa, rocking gently trying to come up with a question.
"What…" she began and then paused for a moment before smiling and saying, "is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?"
Remus groaned. Tonks was without a doubt, Sirius's cousin.
"Good one." Sirius said with admiration. "Alright then, my most embarrassing moment…hmmmm….that's actually hard, I dunno. I don't really have anything I can look back on and be truly embarrassed about."
Remus started to smile. "I can think of one."
Sirius stared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't like that sly Marauder smile on your face."
"Two- no, four words…'McGonagall' and 'the Three Broomsticks'."
Within seconds Sirius's face was a look of complete, aghast horror.
"You wouldn't dare." He croaked.
Tonks was staring at her cousin with sudden interest. "What? What was it?"
Remus leaned back against his chair, smirking. "Sirius can tell you."
"No!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you breaking the golden rules of the noble game of 'Truth'?"
"I won't tell! Do you know how horrifying that memory is? How many times I've tried to erase it?!?! That was one memory in Azkaban that never left! It just kept haunting me….over and over…"
Remus rolled his eyes.
"I won't tell it!" Sirius declared.
"If you don't, I will." Remus said simply.
"What happened?" Tonks pleaded.
Remus cleared his throat after watching his friend who was glaring at him stubbornly, arms crossed.
"Right, well in our seventh year we were in the Three Broomsticks for a trip to Hogsmeade. It was Valentine's Day and Sirius-"
"Shut up." Sirius snapped. "I'll tell it."
"You don't trust me to tell it properly?"
"You need to hear it from my point of view."
Remus managed to hide his smile. "Of course."
Sirius closed his eyes for a moment, looking as if he were in utmost pain. "It was Valentine's Day, and as a prank I got a hold of some unique love potion. I was going to slip it into James and Lily's drinks because they had been having a terrible row for the past couple of days. But…"
"He got drunk." Remus said.
"Shut up." Sirius snarled. "Yes. I did."
Tonks bit her lip and Remus could tell she was trying to avoid laughing.
Sirius ran his hands through his hair. "I was old enough to drink legally, so I…took advantage of it."
"And what has changed in recent years?" Remus asked sarcastically.
Sirius ignored him. "So I had…one too many and by the time I slipped the potion into James's and Lily's drink I was rather sloshed. I was sitting next to James and so with the table covered in bottles, I couldn't remember which one was mine. And I took the wrong glass…"
"The unique thing about the love potion was that you would fall in love with the first person you saw." Remus said to Tonks. "James and Lily were sitting across from eachother at the table and so it was supposed to be "flawless"."
"It would have worked!" Sirius said defensively.
"It could have." Remus admitted. "But it didn't."
Sirius paused for a moment as if he were struggling for the strength to carry on. "So…I took James's potion by accident and the first person I saw in the crowded pub was my transfiguration teacher who had just stood up from her table."
Tonks gasped. "Oh god."
Remus covered his mouth with his hands to contain his laughter.
Sirius grimaced as if the memory was actually making him physically sick. "So, I got up and went over-"
"If I remember correctly you called out her name so loudly when you stood up, the entire pub fell silent." Remus said.
Sirius glared at him. "Yes." He said grudgingly. "I called out "Minerva McGongall" so loudly everyone heard and turned to watch me-."
"You said it quite ardently if I recall." Remus smiled.
"And I went stumbling across the room to throw myself into her arms."
"She was rather stunned I think." Remus said. "I might go as far to say- completely horrified."
"And she said, 'Mr. Black! Have you been drinking?!?!' " Sirius groaned "and I still had my arms around her-"
"'Your glasses are soooo…square.'" Remus quoted.
"Yeah, I was tracing the frame of her glasses-"
"Quite lovingly."
"And then…" Sirius stopped and buried his head in his hands, looking anguished. "I can't say it."
"Go ahead." Remus said encouragingly.
"I can't."
"This is the best part." Remus said cheerfully to Tonks.
"It's just too awful."
"Say it!" Tonks begged.
"No." Sirius moaned.
"I'll tell her if you don't." Remus threatened.
Sirius glared at him.
"He…" Remus began encouragingly.
Sirius buried his head in his hands. "I can't. Nooooo…"
"Come'on Sirius-"
"Nooooooo."
Remus sighed and shook his head before turning to Tonks. "He kissed her."
Tonks gasped. "NO!"
"Oh yes." Remus laughed.
"Moony!" Sirius roared, lifting his head, looking absolutely irate.
"YOU KISSED HER?!?!" Tonks shrieked leaping off of the sofa.
"I was DRUNK!" Sirius bellowed. "And completely smashed from that stupid love potion!"
Remus burst out laughing.
"Its…not…FUNNY!" Sirius yelled.
"That is…you…oh-" Tonks shuddered. "Oh sweet Merlin."
"I wasn't thinking CLEARLY!"
"YOU KISSED PROFESSOR MCGONGALL!" Tonks cried throwing herself back onto the sofa to grab a cushion and cover her head with it.
"It wasn't my FAULT!"
"You need to finish the story." Remus pointed out.
"What's more is there to say?" Sirius spat. "I kissed my transfiguration teacher in front of a whole pub filled with my fellow classmates."
"A very passionate kiss if I remember."
"It was the love potion! Not my sane mind!"
"An ardent Valentine's Day snog until she recovered her shattered wits…poor woman." Remus said.
"What happened?" Tonks asked in a horrified whisper.
"It was BAD." Remus chuckled. "Very bad."
"The mortification was BAD enough!" Sirius snarled. "Do you want to know how long it took me to live that down?"
"How many hearts you broke that day?" Remus snorted. "Half of the girls in the pub left Hogsmeade that day in tears. And the RUMORS that spread, no…exploded around the school for weeks-"
"During which I had detention every night for the weeks that followed."
"Serves you right for mixing around with love potions like that." Remus smiled. "I believe we could all take a leaf out of your book concerning them."
"It was supposed to get James and Lily to stop biting each other's heads off."
"They managed to make up at the end of the day without your help."
"Yeah, because they were both stuck waiting outside of the hospital wing, waiting for me to return in one piece and decided that a good, long snog would amend everything."
"So everything worked out after all." Remus said cheerfully as Sirius gave him a look that if eyes were daggers, Remus would be stone cold and under six feet of earth.
"That is pretty bad." Tonks said. "But hilariously funny." She looked over at Remus with a grin. "Well, Professor? What's yours?"
My most embarrassing moment was when I thought you fancied me and I almost kissed you on the stairs. Remus wanted to say, but truthfully he had thought of another incident that had taken place and didn't involve the pink-haired witch sitting nearby.
"My most embarrassing moment," Remus said slowly. "Took place a few years ago. Sirius- you were still in prison."
"Oh, this is going to be good." Sirius chuckled, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "He's already blushing."
He glared at Sirius for a moment who seemed to have quickly recovered from the retelling of the McGonagall tale before taking a deep breath and continuing on. "It was after a transformation. I had gone to some out in the middle of nowhere, far away from human contact. When I woke the next day though, I knew that there was a nearby muggle village up the coast and so I made my way there." He hesitated. "The thing is," he said, turning to Tonks, "After I transform, I'm…well…"
"Naked." Sirius snickered.
He sighed. "Yes."
Tonks's eyes widened as she realized where the story was going. "Oh." She said weakly.
"Oh indeed." Remus agreed. "And after transformations, I'm not up to my usual standards."
"He means he feels like shit and he can't think properly." Sirius interrupted.
"Thank you." Remus said wryly. "But more or less, correct. I'm usually very disoriented, very tired, very dazed. In most cases if I were to apparate I would probably splich myself."
She winced.
"But the point is," Remus said. "I wasn't thinking very clearly as I approached the muggle village and I was halfway there when I realized that I needed clothes."
Sirius buried his snort of laughter into his tankard.
"I saw a nearby cottage, far from the village. It looked to me as if nobody lived there anymore. It was in some serious need of repair. I thought it was a summer home, perhaps. So I…I broke in."
"How terrible." Sirius said sarcastically.
"I felt like a criminal!" Remus exclaimed.
"Join the club." Sirius yawned.
Remus shook his head, gathering his thoughts. "Ah, where was I? Oh, right- so I managed to break in and saw that I was in a small kitchen. And on the stove…was…" he shut his eyes and braced himself to say it.
"Chocolate."
Sirius roared with laughter and Tonks giggled.
He smiled and continued on. "As I said earlier, I wasn't thinking too clearly. If I had, I most likely would have realized that someone must have cooked it earlier and therefore people were about. But…it was just sitting there, and I was…hungry and not feeling so good. So I ate it…"
"And?" Tonks prompted.
"And…the owners of the cottage came back." Remus said, burying his head in his hands. "To find me standing in their kitchen, going starkers and eating all of their chocolate."
Sirius nearly fell of his chair, crippled with laughter.
He decided the faster he finished his embarrassing tale, the better. "And so they understandably panicked and called the muggle police, who came to pick me up for breaking into a house and for…well the point is, I was so out of it, they thought I was drunk and they kept me in the cells for the rest of the day and evening. I think in the end, they managed to pick up some clothes for me." He grabbed ahold of his tankard and gulped back a large portion of its contents as if it might help him erase the memory.
Tonks doubled over, laughing hysterically with Sirius and even Remus couldn't help from smiling.
"That's…brilliant." Tonks chocked. "I'm impressed."
"Oh! I have a good question! A really good next question!" Sirius exclaimed. His eyes were lit up with a particularly wicked gleam. "Moony's naked story kindof reminded me of this. My question is…"
When Remus tried to leave the room several seconds later, Sirius wouldn't let him.
Truth, Remus decided, was not a terrible game, but instead a very cruel form of torture. They had been there a few hours and the questions thanks to Sirius were getting steadily worse and worse. Perhaps it was due to how much they had drank already, but they were wandering a lot as they played it- usually going off onto separate conversations or stories. Sirius was now, for no apparent reason that Remus could deduct- giving Remus and Tonks their anagrammed names.
"You would be…Urine lumps."
"I beg your pardon?" Remus asked raising an eyebrow.
"That's your new name." Sirius said with a drunken laugh.
"That doesn't even make sense!" Remus said.
"Sure it does."
"Give me one!" Tonks demanded.
Sirius scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Horny…"
"Oh my god." Tonks laughed.
"Hmmm." Sirius said, thinking hard. "Ad…pats…"
Remus shook his head, smiling.
"Mad to horny spank." Sirius said to Tonks.
Tonks burst out laughing, and turned to him with a smile on her face. "Can you think of one for Sirius, Professor?"
"My name's too hard." Sirius said confidently. "You can't anything out of it- I've already tried it- too many consonants."
But Remus had thought of something, his lips twitching. "Easier than you'd think."
"Huh?"
"I lick ass rub."
Tonks doubled over- snorting with laughter.
"Damn you Moony. Alright, fine- back to 'Truth'. Would you rather make out with Snivellus or bang Mrs. Figg?"
"Sirius! That's disgusting!" Tonks cried.
"Well?"
"That's not really a 'Truth' question." Remus pointed out. "It's an opinion question and 'Truth' deals more with knowledge about a person through a direct question, usually told through a story."
"Thanks for the definition." Sirius said sarcastically.
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Alright, I have a good question."
"You haven't answered mine yet!" Sirius whined.
"Then you answer it first Sirius." Remus said with a nod.
Sirius opened his mouth and then paused, drunken thinking obviously took a bit of work. His eyes widened after a moment, "Ewwwww…that's disgusting."
"My point exactly." Tonks said. "It's my turn now…First kiss."
They both looked at each other, looking rather nonplussed at why she would even be asking such a question.
"First kiss?" Sirius repeated whilst raising an eyebrow. "I'm assuming that you mean outside the family-"
Tonks nodded and Remus let out a groan, and set down his tankard but couldn't keep the exasperated smile from coming to his face.
"Alright then-" Sirius said cheerfully. "Let me think…ah- I was twelve."
"Twelve?!?!" Tonks exclaimed. "Your first real mouth to mouth, wet tongue kiss was at twelve?"
"Yes." Sirius smiled lazily. "The girl I kissed thought I was older- apparently I acted very mature for my age-"
Tonks let out an incredulous snort at that.
"At any rate, she was a Slytherin- somehow under the assumption that I was thirteen or fourteen like herself…we were passing each other in one of the empty corridors for some reason and next thing I knew she was snogging me."
Tonks giggled.
"I was pretty surprised at first." Sirius said. "I mean- it was more than a little unexpected. I didn't even know her name at the time."
"I bet five galleons that you still don't remember it." Remus smiled wryly.
"You haven't even got five galleons to bet with Moony." Sirius retorted. "But yes, that was my first ever snog." He took a large swig from his bottle.
Tonks turned to Remus who felt strangely calm and relaxed. "You?" she asked him.
"I can't wait to hear this one." Sirius said eagerly. "For one- I'm going to know if your lying or not."
"How would you know that?"
"Because I still remember your reaction afterwards."
"You all didn't know that I had been kissing."
"Au contraire my friend, we had never seen you looking so elated before. You were practically bouncing off the ceiling. We all knew but we pretended that we didn't because you would have been all touchy about it, but pardon me for saying so, it was INCREDIBLY obvious."
"Not necessarily. And I'm quite sure that you don't remember-"
"Maggie Keadle, our fifth year- in the library."
Remus looked taken aback. "Merlin's beard. You do…Well now I'm not sure if I should be disturbed or not by the fact that after twelve years in Azakaban, you still remember the first girl I kissed but not the one that you snogged."
"I'm telling you Moony, it was one hell of a day. Nobody forgot it-I think the whole school knew."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Now you're exaggerating."
"Alright, I am, but the point is we all knew, mostly because it was such a rarity."
"So what happened?" Tonks pressed, looking eager to hear the whole story.
"Well that's it really." Remus said. "There was a girl in our year called: Maggie Keadle and close to exams we were in the library together."
"We were in our 5th year." Sirius said. "So Remus was going crazy studying for OWLS."
"True." Remus agreed. "I was spending every waking hour in that library and Maggie Keadle who had been there a lot recently was always around when I was. I thought she was just studying for OWLS as well but now that I come to think of it…" he frowned.
"Ah! Remus finally comes to the realization that Maggie Keadle had no intention of ever studying for OWLS."
"No, I did come to that conclusion shortly after all that, its just that I haven't thought about that whole episode in so long-"
Sirius took a long swig of his brandy, shaking his head in disgust.
Remus cleared his throat. "Well, at any rate- we were in the library together and while I was searching for another book amongst the shelves she came by and asked if I could help her reach one of the top books. So I did and…"
"And before you knew it, you were both making out against the shelves." Sirius finished for him.
"More or less, correct." Remus said. "I was a little stunned but I remember at the time, I thought she was a very nice girl."
"Very blue eyes." Sirius said, staring drunkenly at his tankard in front of him.
"What? Oh…yes, she did." Remus said looking surprised.
"I always thought they looked like cornflowers…those pretty little blue flowers…you know…" Sirius said quietly.
Remus and Tonks exchanged a look over their friend's head which was now resting on the tabletop.
"I didn't know you liked her that much." Remus said.
Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. It's not just her- I remember little things about every girl I know. I know I had that past reputation for being a skirt-chaser and a rake- but every single girl I've met has something unique about them that I remember them for…every one…"
"What's my 'unique something'?" Tonks asked curiously. "It can't be my appearance because I can change it-"
Sirius looked up at her- his grey eyes, though slightly dazed from the alcohol were twinkling. "It's not your appearance. Not all things I remember about girls concern their appearance."
"Then what is mine?"
He smiled. "Well I certainly don't tell them to their face, it's a secret."
"I want to know!"
"Maybe someday." He promised. He sat up a bit straighter. "So what about you then- what's your first kiss Tonks?"
Tonks sighed. "To be honest- my first kiss was when I was six years old."
"Come again? How can you accuse me of being so young when your promiscuous behavior started at such an early age?"
"I'll explain." Tonks laughed. "My neighborhood had a fake marriage and I was the bride- I got married to my friend's brother while William from #6 preformed the marriage as the priest. I kissed my husband long and hard before he tore away from me and started crying. So I chased him around the yard beating him with my bouquet because I thought it was funny."
"I could see you doing that, whatever happened to your poor pussy whipped husband?"
She shrugged. "Sadly, it didn't last."
Remus smiled. "Pity." He remarked dryly.
She turned to him. "You think so?"
He shook his head. "No. Not really."
Her dark eyes were twinkling as she looked at him.
Sirius suddenly raised his glass on high, "Let's have a toast to…to- fire pokers!" he exclaimed as his eyes fell upon the one lying beside the fireplace.
"TO FIRE POKERS!" Tonks cried, raising her glass on high.
"Fire pokers." Remus toasted, as he rolled his eyes.
It was later still that Sirius had decided to contribute his loud impersonation of Moody walking in on him and Marlene McKinnon, Christmas Eve at the headquarters from the last Order of the Phoenix. And yet after the fifth time of telling it that night, it still was as funny as ever, though perhaps the alcohol had something to do with that.
"What is this?!?!" Sirius roared, teetering unsteadily on the table. "A liar of infatuous ardors? Shameless hussy!"
Tonks doubled over laughing and even Remus couldn't help but wipe tears of mirth from his eyes.
"And then-" Sirius continued. "If you'll believe it- he- he-"
Sirius fell off the table and hit the floor with a loud 'bang'.
"I think Mad-Eye needs a girlfriend." Tonks announced.
"That would be a scary thought." Sirius chuckled as he lifted himself off the floor.
She grinned. "I know, wouldn't it? Right in the middle of a highly passionate moment, 'Constant vigilance! Constant vigilance!'"
Remus grimaced at the disturbing mental image. "Thank you Tonks, I will never be able to look at him the same way again."
"No problem."
After several more exuberant toasts to things such as Christmas pudding, The Weird Sisters, (which was closely followed by The Screaming Skulls, at Sirius's insistence) and 'funny-shaped Christmas bows', Tonks was now contributed her version of a certain song-
Remus stared up at the pink haired witch who was swaying as she stood on the sofa as she sang drunkenly. If you could call it singing. The words were terribly slurred and altogether it sounded a lot like a dying augury.
"Aaawhooooo!!!" Tonks was singing loudly. "Werewolves of London! Aaawhoo!!!!"
"Shhh! Try to be a little more quiet Tonks or you'll wake the kids." Lupin hissed.
Sirius chocked on his brandy at that one and began coughing heavily.
"What's so funny?"
"Their just going to hear Tonks howling, and wonder why-"
"Shut up you dirty minded criminal."
"No, they won't." Tonks said suddenly.
"Why's that?"
"Because I put a silencing spell on the room before I came in. I don't trust any of us."
"That was quite sensible." Remus said. "Alright then, I suppose you can-"
"Aaawhooooo!!!"
Sirius actually shoved his fingers in his ears to block the noise.
"Werewolves of London! AAAAAWHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
"What an accurate representation." Remus said, the corners of his mouth twitching.
"Really?" Tonks asked.
"Unbelievably so."
"You howl with me then."
"No thank you."
"Why?"
"Perhaps some other time."
She flopped down on the couch. "Why do werewolves howl?" she asked curiously.
"I'm not sure."
"They always howl up at the moon."
"As opposed to the ground?" Sirius asked dully.
"Shut up." She said. "It's true though, why do they howl up at the moon?"
"I imagine that its because…" he paused and thought about this for a moment. "I think its because they want to reach the moon, and they always try to aim for it- but they can never reach it no matter how hard they try, so they howl their sadness and disappointment. The moon is bright, high above in the dark sky, outshining all the other stars and its the only real source of light during the nighttime hours. And everything that crawls down below on earth can never reach it as much as they want to. Some people are like that in a way, trying to reach for something that is unattainable, so in the end all they can do is stare up at it and wonder."
"And have you ever reached for the moon before?" Tonks asked.
"I've tried to reach for something, that I know I can't have." Remus said quietly, his eyes never leaving her face.
"I think wolves howl at the moon because their horny little bastards." Sirius said loudly.
"Well, that's another possibility I suppose." Remus said.
Sirius's eyes widened significantly, and he almost dropped his tankard in shock. "It's not possible." He said dramatically, staring at Remus. "I just heard the sly Remus Lupin voice."
"Shut up, Padfoot." Remus smiled.
"I thought I would die before ever hearing that voice again. You have a trick up your sleeve, don't you? It would make me even happier if it involved cousin Tonks."
"Perhaps it does."
Sirius's eyes widened. "Well I always thought that you leaping onto her and giving her a good shag on the spot would be a nice place to start."
"SIRIUS!"
"Well, I won't keep you two waiting. Look-I'm conveniently leaving now to go and see a man about a dog. Enjoy yourselves."
Sirius shut the door behind him as quietly as he could and there was a long silence where Remus closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the chair.
"Remus? Do you like me?" Tonks asked suddenly.
Remus's eyes snapped open and he looked over at Tonks who was on the edge of her seat, watching him.
"Yes…of course I do." He said slowly.
Tonks wiggled about nervously on the sofa and hugged a pillow to her chest. "I meant, more than liking…more than friends."
He should have thought this out more carefully, he knew it was only a matter of time before this conversation would be brought up- but he had not planned anything as to what he should say. He turned his head away and said nothing- deep in thought of how to reply.
"I mean….that day on the stairs, that was more than friends- don't you think?"
Remus slowly nodded.
"So what was that all about?"
For a moment Remus struggled and fought the urge to run over to her- pick her up in his arms and kiss her long and hard to show her exactly what he meant. He managed to resist it and instead he stared at the opposing wall and quietly asked. "You're not upset about it, are you?"
"No, of course not." She said quickly and then blushed.
She was simply adorable, with that blush matching her pink hair. Remus was silent and then realized that Tonks was still waiting for an answer from him. "I don't know what I was thinking that day." He lied. "I shouldn't have done it though- I'm sorry."
"Why shouldn't you have?" Tonks asked. "There wasn't anything wrong with it. It was just a kiss."
"I didn't mean to do it." Remus said quietly.
Tonks sat back, an angry expression on her heart-shaped face. "So you're saying that you wouldn't want to kiss me?"
"No!" said Remus hurriedly. "That's not what I meant."
"It's because you think I'm ugly, isn't it?"
Remus's mouth dropped in horror. "Where on earth did you come up with that? Of course not!"
"It is." Tonks said mournfully, looking as though she were about to cry. "You don't like my pink hair-"
"Tonks, this is ridiculous-"
"You think its childish, don't you?"
"I don't. I think it makes you look very pretty." Remus said honestly. "It suits you wonderfully."
"Well then you think I'm stupid and clumsy!" Tonks cried, burying her bubble-gum pink head into the pillow.
Remus gaped at her, wondering how on earth he had caused such a disaster. "Tonks-" he said firmly. "I don't think you're stupid and clumsy. I think your one of the nicest, bravest, most clever persons I've ever met and as for your clumsiness-" he paused and decided to continue telling the honest truth. "It doesn't bother me at all. There are worse things to be rather than ungraceful and I still like you…very much- clumsiness included."
Tonks looked as though she were still crying into the pillow- Remus bit his lip feeling torn between getting up and comforting her and staying where she was so he wouldn't upset her even more.
"Then why-" she sniffed, her head still buried in the pillows- "Did you kiss me-if you didn't mean-to do it?"
"I…" Remus began and stopped. He swallowed nervously and forced himself to continue. "I…I wasn't sure if you would kiss me back."
Tonks's head snapped up and Remus saw her eyes were quite dry and she was wearing an enormous smile.
"Haha. Got you." She said.
Remus stared at her, feeling that the situation had just gone if even more possible more nightmarishly worse. "What?"
Tonks kicked her purple socked feet out onto the table and looked at him smugly. "I just wanted to know for certain you kissed me with the real intent of doing so. I wanted to make sure you really liked me."
"You mean-" Remus said, his throat very dry. "You weren't really upset at what I had said earlier?"
"No, of course not. I just wanted you to confess that you honestly liked me more than a friend."
"How did you know that I liked you more than friendship?"
"I didn't." Tonks laughed. "I just found out."
Remus could only stare numbly at her. Oddly he felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest.
"Oh come'on Remus, you aren't mad at me are you?"
"Well I can't say that I'm too pleased that you just tricked me."
"It wasn't really tricking you- I was just…tricking you." She said slowly, her words slightly slurred.
"I think you're a little drunk Nymphadora."
She giggled. "Maybe I am…hey! Don't call me that."
"Nymphadora…"
She threw a pillow at him and it missed him by a good ten feet.
"It's a lovely name." he chuckled.
"Your just rubbing it cuz I found out you liked me." Tonks grumbled.
"Well if you want to put it that way then, I have every right to do so."
"Don't call me-well…I dunno….maybe you can."
"Pardon?"
"Maybe you can call me Nymphadora, but no one else."
"Why?" he asked in confusion.
She shrugged. "I like the way you say it."
"The way I say it?"
"Yeah, you say it differently from everyone else."
"I do?"
She nodded. "Mm-hm. It sounds different."
"Alright then, Nymphadora, I will call you that for the rest of your life."
She cringed. "Maybe not."
"You just said I liked it when I said it."
"No I didn't."
He smiled. "Yes…you did."
She frowned. "When?"
"Just now."
She seemed to think about this for a minute before her eyes widened. "Bollocks…I did."
He watched her curiously as she seemed to be deep in thought.
She likes the way I say 'Nymphadora'…is that true? Is it just some drunken babble or is it something more? Is it…is she…
He couldn't think it…it couldn't possibly take that for anything other than…
Does she truly fancy me then? Sirius has always said so; you've always noticed that she acted like that around you…
"Maybe…" Tonks said slowly. "You shouldn't call me anything than Nympha-I mean, Tonks-"
"Why?" he asked his heart sinking.
"Cuz I can't think straight. I don't want to embarrass myself more than I already have."
"You haven't, 'Nympha-I mean, Tonks'."
"Yeah…what?"
" 'Nympha-I mean, Tonks'…this is what you wanted me to call you, remember?"
"No! Just Tonks for now."
"You told me your name is 'Nympha-I mean, Tonks."
"You know what I meant!"
He grinned at the look of playful indignation on her face. "Nympha-I mean, Tonks' sounds so beautiful."
"ARGH! Stop messing with my head!"
"Nympha-I mean, Tonks…Nympha-I mean, Tonks…" he chanted.
"If you don't shut up right now I'm going to get up and hit you myself." She threatened.
"You wouldn't want to do that…"
She stared at him.
"Nympha…"
She gave him a warning eye.
He stared back, fighting the smile from his face.
She watched him for a few moments and finally opened her mouth to speak but-
"-I mean, Tonks." he finished.
Tonks flew to her feet but had barely taken two wobbly steps forward before tripping over the edge of the carpet and falling flat on her face.
Remus immediately jumped up and went over to her. "Are you alright?"
But she was laughing. "Being clumsy and drunk is no easy feat!" she tried to sit up and nearly fell over again.
Remus half-laughing took hold of her hands are with a bit of effort helped picked up of the floor. She wobbled violently, Remus put his arms out again to steady her and nearly stumbled when without warning she fell right into his arms. Their bodies met, Tonks's hands flattened out against his chest to stop her fall.
Tonks's smile and his own quickly faded as they stood there staring at eachother, unmoving.
They were close.
Very close.
Too close…
He saw her lips gently form his name through no sound came from them.
Dear god. He couldn't fight it. With lowered defenses from the alcohol and Tonks in his arms all of his rational thoughts he had ever possessed were completely shattered.
Before he could even stop himself he put an arm around Tonks's waist and pulled her closer.
"So you didn't mind it the last time I kissed you?" Remus asked, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. His heart was pounding furiously against his ribs, not in fear but from something else instead.
"No. Why're you asking?" she said softly.
"Because if it really didn't bother you- I'd like to do it again…"
His hand around her waist was tingling as if it were burning pleasantly from a warm fire. He leaned forward further still; he was already so close- inches away from her pale, beautiful face. The voice of reason that was screaming for him to stop had somehow been silenced by a larger portion of his brain that had a very different thought on its mind.
They were inches now from each other.
He was going to regret this in the end.
He closed the last gap of space between them, placing his lips over hers. She didn't pull away or hesitate but kissed him back as if she had been waiting for it forever. It was a slow kiss and yet undoubtfully passionate in its own right. Everything just seemed so natural. Remus could not recall kissing a woman like this ever before. It had been so long since he touched or held a woman like this-but this was all so different. And what felt like a jolt of lightening that shot through his entire body when their lips met was enough for him to forget everything else that ever mattered.
The kiss deepened and all Remus could think of was that he was so stupid to have fought this off for so long. This was so overwhelmingly wonderful, it was beautiful, it was…perfect.
He pulled away for a moment; slightly breathless to gaze into her dark eyes before they both went forward this time, kissing each other with much more intensity and less restraint. Tonks's arms were around him now, her fingers making their way along the back of his neck and through his hair. His already tingling skin erupted into goose bumps. The blood in his veins seemed to have turned to fire. The pink-haired witch he had in his arms was suddenly more irresistible than ever; he ran a hand gently across the side of her face, her skin was making his own tingle and burn with even the lightest touch.
He pulled away again, trying to rearrange his thoughts. He had to stop- get control over himself, not stand here snogging Nymphadora Tonks on Christmas Eve with-
A sly smile was playing in the corners of her mouth. Without warning, Tonks threw her weight unexpectedly on him, causing him to stumble backwards and fall heavily onto the floor with her on top of him.
"Tonks-" he said, his voice was almost amusingly husky.
"Shut up." She murmured before covering his mouth with hers, sending the last thoughts of protest out of his head. The weight of the young witch on top of him, and her warm, burning lips now making their way to underneath his jawline was causing his breathing to become increasingly restricted. He could smell that gentle vanilla perfume on her that suddenly seemed so intoxicating and thought that for once in his life; he preferred it over all the chocolate in the world.
He reached out and stroked the sides of her bare arms and noticed that this sent a small shiver through the pinkhaired witch. As he kissed her again he lightly began caressing the outline of her jaw with his thumb before sliding his hand down the side of her throat and resting it on the hollow at the base of her neck. Her skin was so soft and fascinating to touch he couldn't help tracing the line of her collarbone with his pale fingers. He suddenly noticed with some amusement that Tonks had closed her eyes and was looking rather helpless.
Carefully, he rolled over with her underneath of him and watched her for a moment to see if she had any more protest.
Apparently all the self defense classes were useless.
He found himself very appreciative of the fact that Tonks still found it habit to wear her band t-shirts even in the middle of winter. He slipped a hand underneath her shirt and slowly slid it up her back, and over her warm, smooth skin-her breath hitched suddenly and he looked at her nervously but Tonks grabbed the front of his robes and roughly pulled him towards her, one hand resting on his chest, the other still tightly holding onto the front of his robes as they started kissing again.
He was all but drowning in the moment; nothing else would bring him down back to reality, nothing at all, nothing except maybe-
"ARGHHH! Get your werewolf paws off my cousin when I'm in the room!" Sirius bellowed, averting his eyes.
Remus and Tonks sat up quickly, the spell broken. Remus supposed he ought to feel terribly embarrassed but all he felt was distinctly annoyed that Sirius had come back when he did.
"Dear god," Sirius groaned, staggering about in the doorframe whilst clutching his head. "I'm gone for two seconds and I come back to find you two almost shagging on the carpet!"
Tonks stood up and was actually glaring at her cousin. "Why don't you go away then?"
"Well I can't leave now. Someone has to act as the chaperone around you two or the multi-coloured werebabies will be running around soon enough."
"Sirius-"
"Sorry, not sleeping out in the hallway so you two can have your cozy, Christmas shag session." He announced as he went over to the large armchair and fell into it. "Merlin's beard that was fast- and not even a sprig of mistletoe to provoke it."
As Sirius sat there, sleepily cursing them out from under his breath, Remus grabbed his tankard and began bolting down what was left of the contents. Tonks looked at him for a moment before grabbing her own drink and finishing it off as well. He looked worriedly at her, but she smiled back warmly. For some reason, (perhaps because part of his mind was still back on the floor replaying what had just happened) he was oddly calm and detached about it and had no desire to take back anything that had already occurred. She liked him…she really did truly fancy him, afterall. He smiled back as he took another swig. His thoughts would be clearer in the morning and he could figure out what to do then, for now- another drink would suffice…
The ashes in the fireplace were still smoldering when Remus painfully opened his eyes. He was lying on the sofa, hanging precariously near the edge. His eyes flickered over to his dark haired friend who was sitting upright and appeared to have just woken up himself.
"Oh god." Sirius moaned. "My head…"
Remus didn't feel much better. He winced as he lifted his head up a bit. It felt like is head felt like it had been hit multiple times with a large sledgehammer. He thought hard trying to remember the events of the previous night…Truth…joking…singing…the kiss.
The Kiss.
He sat bolt upright, ignoring the raging pain that shot through his skull when he did so.
He had kissed Nymphadora Tonks. Again. Not just a questionable kiss like the one on the stairs that day. A full out passionate snog. More than a snog even- they….OH DEAR GOD…. He looked nervously over at Sirius who was massaging the sides of his head.
"I don't remember anything." Sirius croaked. "What happened?"
"We got drunk." Remus said slowly. Perhaps Sirius didn't remember what had happened between him and Tonks.
"We played Truth…" Sirius said. "I remember that."
"Yes."
"And joked around abit…but that's it. The rest of the night is all a blur." He frowned, pushing back some of his long black hair out of his face.
Remus let out a small sigh of relief.
Sirius stood up with a loud groan and stumbled for a moment before retrieving his balance. "Merlin's beard. I need to sober up. My godson is under the same roof for christsakes."
Grumbling and muttering under his breath, he made his way slowly through the bottle littered and very messy floor. He was halfway to the door when suddenly he froze and spun around, his grey eyes wide.
"YOU KISSED MY COUSIN!" Sirius bellowed.
Remus winced from the loud noise on his pounding skull and the accusation itself.
Sirius strode over and pulled Remus to his feet by the front of his robes. "YOU DID! I REMEMBER!"
"Yes." Remus admitted. "I did."
"AH-HA!" he said joyfully. "How was it?"
Remus stared. "What?"
"Did you like it?"
"I-I-"
"Yes or no?"
"Yes." Remus said bleakly. "Very much."
"No need to sound too excited Moony." His friend snorted. "Did you plan it beforehand or did it just happen?"
Remus frowned. "It just sortof happened."
"Spontaneous." Sirius nodded. "Very nice."
Remus sat down again and sighed heavily. "My head feels like its been hit with a sledgehammer."
But Sirius was looking thoughtful and didn't appear to have listened to him. "You two were really getting it on, weren't you? Probably would have ended up having sex right there on the rug if I hadn't come in when I did. You're right. I pop in at inopportune times. Sorry. I'll work on that. I didn't mean to break up your passionate make-out session, but I was really drunk and didn't really expect to find my cousin and mate swapping spit and with his hand up her shirt."
Remus felt his face turn an alarming shade of red.
Sirius was grinning at him. "You aren't denying it."
"How can I? You bloody well saw everything."
"Can we say that you have gotten to play Keeper?"
"I've kissed girls before!"
"But how many years ago?"
"That's none of your business."
Sirius snorted. "Probably thirteen years?"
"Shut up."
"If I had been gone longer- how far do you think you would have gotten?"
"Can we please drop this conversation?"
"How far?"
"Chaser?"
"I have no-"
"My guess, from the way you were both at it, the desperation of young Tonks, you finally cracked after weeks of holding back and including the helpful aid of the alcohol you both could have easily gotten to seeker."
Remus ignored him. "Where is Tonks?"
Sirius shrugged. "Why? Do you want to continue last nights session?"
"No, I have to figure out what I'm going to say to her when she gets back from wherever she is now. I don't even know what to say."
"Well think quickly."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I think I can hear her coming up the stairs now." Sirius said calmly.
"WHAT?!?!" he croaked.
"Yup."
Remus in his near panic considered throwing himself out the window till he could come up with a proper greeting but it was too late, the door opened and Nymphadora Tonks appeared in the doorway carrying a small tray piled with blackened toast and some tea.
"Wotcher." Tonks she said with a nervous smile.
Remus was torn between dying of shame and going up to her and kissing her again. "H-h-hullo." He managed.
Sirius sat there on the sofa watching them both, a huge smirk on his pale, waxy face.
Tonks opened her mouth but shut it looking oddly unsure of herself.
Remus struggled to find the right words to say, but all he could think of was how soft her skin was when he had caressed it with his lips a mere few hours ago. His brain was numb and seemed to have stopped working altogether.
The seconds lengthened as they stared at each other in silence.
"Right," Sirius said loudly after letting out a loud, bark like laugh, "This is really quite amusing and all, but you two both have places you have to go today, so I suggest that perhaps for now we ought to just focus on the present and we can discuss last night later."
Remus nodded his approval.
"Presents!" Tonks said enthusiastically.
"How can you be so awake?" Sirius groaned.
She pulled a small bottle from her pocket, "'Anti-hangover potion,' look who was thinking ahead."
Sirius eyes widened as he stared hopefully at it. "Give it to me." He growled.
"Looking for a magic word…"
"Please?" Remus asked.
She handed it to him with a small smile.
"HEY!" Sirius cried. "NO FAIR! YOU GIVE IT TO HIM BECAUSE HE BLOODY SNOGGED YOU-"
"If I had given it to you first, you would have drank it all for yourself." Tonks pointed out.
Remus took a carefully measured gulp and instantly felt the pain in his head start to recede. He handed it to Sirius who drained the rest of the bottle in one go.
"Here, have some toast." Tonks said enthusiastically.
Sirius gave a snort at the sight of it. Remus took one however and used the butter knife to scrape off some of the charcoal.
"Sorry about that." grinned Tonks.
Sirius went over to the corner of the room, opened a small writing desk and took out two awkwardly wrapped presents.
"Here you go." He said, tossing the presents to them.
Tonks eagerly tore at the wrapping paper.
"I had to get help from Remus when it came to buying it." Sirius admitted. "Can't just up and go Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley these days."
"Aw, brilliant!" Tonks exclaimed. She turned over the present in her hands, it was a signed poster of the Weird Sisters that Sirius had given Remus the money for so he could get it for her. She gazed fondly at it for a minute longer before peeking from around it with a smile.
"Now, where's the broom?"
"I got you something better." Sirius grinned. "Check the wrapping."
Tonks searched frantically through it as Remus and Sirius exchanged a grin over her head.
"You git!" Tonks said. "I hate you!" But she was half-laughing.
"Now you can add that to your popular music."
"I HATE the Screaming Skulls! I am not listening to any of their records!"
"That's one of their first ones!" Sirius said. "Look at number four-"
Tonks tossed the record carelessly onto the wrapping as she let out a snort of laughter.
Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out his two neatly wrapped and tied presents for his friends in the middle of their small circle.
"Aren't you going to open your present Moony?" Sirius asked, his eyes twinkling.
"I was planning on opening it up later." admitted Remus. "Past experience has told me to wait and unwrap presents from you all alone, far away from plausible humiliation from the giver and others gathered."
"Oh come'on. You're so sensitive sometimes."
"You got me a book: 'Werewolf sex: Pack orgies, erotic bondage and more' that time."
Tonks chocked on her toast from across the table. "Sirius!" she exclaimed.
"It was funny." He smirked. "Funnier still to see Moony's face."
"I was only fourteen." Remus replied. "And rather traumatized by the whole thing if you wanted to know the truth."
"Sirius, that's just cruel." Tonks said.
"The sad thing is the presents got worse and worse with each passing year." Remus smiled.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You probably still have that book somewhere."
Remus shook his head, exasperated. "I'm still amazed that you managed to pick out something sensible for Harry actually."
"Well you helped with that. My suggestion of-"
"getting him a yearly subscription of 'Wizards Only' porn magazine-" Remus finished for him, taking a sip of his tea. "was not well received."
"Yeah, he has to save the wizarding world all the time- it's a little too time consuming for the simple pleasures of life-poor kid."
"He's your godson-" Remus said. "And it might be a wise course of action to get him something meaningful and thoughtful."
" 'Wizards Only' is thoughtful." Sirius grinned.
Remus sighed as he moved Sirius's shoddily wrapped present (probably wrapped when he was drunk, Remus was guessing) to the side.
"Here open mine!" Tonks said brightly, throwing her own strangely wrapped present into her cousin's lap.
Sirius unwrapped it and his face split into a grin. "Aw- Tonks, this is brilliant!" he said happily. "Look at this!" he said waving it at Remus.
It was an enormous book bearing the title: 'Crossword Puzzles for Wizards Who Have Too Much Time on their Hands'
"This is bloody fantastic! Where did you find this?" Sirius asked flipping it open and skimming the pages.
"I'm opening your present now Remus." Tonks said as she took hers.
"Alright." He smiled, his heart skipping a beat from jittery nerves of anticipation and from Tonks's eyes meeting his.
"Ha! I know this one!" Sirius said to no one in particular- completely immersed with his new gift.
Tonks slowly opened the neatly wrapped box and pulled out the necklace her expression caught between playful indignation and barely contained laughter.
"Ohhhh…I really do hate you."
Remus burst out laughing. "I saw that and I couldn't help thinking of you."
"What is it?" Sirius asked, finally looking up from his book.
With an exasperated smile, Tonks held up the necklace for Sirius to see. On the delicate chain, at the very end was glittering charm in the shape of a small bird.
"Hullo? Who's in here?" came Mrs. Weasley's voice from the doorway.
"Come in Molly." Remus said.
Mrs. Weasley pushed open the door and stood there in her slippers and her morning bathrobe. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect you here Tonks, and Remus- I didn't expect you to come for another few hours at least."
"I ended up spending the night." Remus admitted.
"You're all up rather early," she said. "Were you…" she trailed off as she stared at the chaotic, disorganized state of the room from the night before. "…up very late?" she finished.
"In a manner of speaking." Remus said hastily.
Tonks grinned at him and stood up, "I should probably be heading out soon actually. Can you help me with this Remus?" she asked, holding out the necklace.
"Oh, right. Of course." He said, getting up to go over to her.
Molly glanced at them with an oddly knowing look before turning her attention to Sirius who in turn was staring at her defiantly. He begged inwardly that she wouldn't say something to the dark-haired man that involved cleaning or he had a feeling that Christmas day wouldn't be very merry at all.
"Perhaps when we get back," she said slowly. "We can all sit down and have an early Christmas dinner together."
Sirius nodded stiffly. "That would be nice."
Mrs. Weasley smiled hesitantly. "Happy Christmas, Sirius."
"Happy Christmas, Molly."
She beamed at them all, "Well, I'll be downstairs." She frowned as she caught sight of the blackened toast. "Perhaps I'll fix some breakfast for you all if you would like to come down and have some?"
"Thank you Molly." Remus said as he took the necklace from Tonks. "I'll be down in a minute."
She shut the door quietly as Remus turned his attention to fastening the clip on Tonks's necklace for her.
"There you go."
She turned and before he could do anything she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks."
He smiled warmly, his cheek tingling pleasantly from where her lips had touched him. "You're welcome Nymphadora."
"It's TONKS!"
"Tonks, we've gone over this so many times-Nymphadora is a much more suitable name for a young vivacious witch such as yourself-"
"I've warned you-"
"Stop the starry-eyed flirtations you two and get out to continue it elsewhere, you're going to make me regurgitate my breakfast." Sirius yawned as he stretched out with his new book of crossword puzzles.
Tonks rolled her eyes and headed out the door a smile on her face, Remus was about to follow her when Sirius suddenly spoke up-
"Oh Remus,"
"Yes?" he asked poking his head back inside.
"I'm impressed with the present you got her. Very flirty. Good job."
Remus smiled and was about to shut the door when Sirius spoke up again, "And don't shag each other in the middle of the hallway as soon as you shut the door. If we could at least maintain the illusion in front of the kids that we are responsible, it would make everything much more helpful."
Remus gave him an exasperated look before shutting the door behind him with a small snap. Tonks was standing there, still looking very tired and disheveled from the long night before but hardly any less beautiful in his eyes. He cleared his throat nervously and dropped his eyes to the ground as he struggled to say what was on his mind.
"Er, perhaps after I get back, we could- er- get together sometime."
Tonks's eyes widened.
"Not…necessarily for Order work or anything, but just the two of us…I mean-"
She waited patiently.
"I mean, you know, for- for…," if he kept opening and closing his mouth like this she was going to think he was a giant fish that had flopped onto land by mistake. "For…dinner, or something."
Her eyes were sparkling. "I'd love to!"
"Really?" he felt as if he could have fainted from relief right there.
"Yes!"
"Oh…right then. Well, I don't know if you've heard already, but I have to leave soon and I'll be gone for a couple of months."
"A couple of months?" she asked sadly.
"Two." He admitted.
She pouted. "Why?"
"Dumbledore wants me to help him with something…" he said slowly. He couldn't bring himself to say it, not when everything was going so well. To do so would bring reality back for him-
Tonks seemed to have understood more than he let on however. "Does this have anything to do with werewolves?" she asked suddenly.
Remus nodded sadly.
She looked at him closely for a minute. "You'll be back by March, right?"
"Most assuredly."
"How about we do something for your birthday then?"
He looked at her in surprise. "How do you know-?"
"March 10th right?"
He nodded numbly, wondering how on earth she knew such a thing.
"I say we plan something. As soon as you get back, we'll set up the particulars."
"That sounds…great."
She grinned. "That's one word I'd use. Oh and here," she said shoving a small package into his hands. "This is your Christmas present."
"Thank you."
And suddenly, she started walking away down the hall.
"I'll miss you." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
She turned. "Doubly."
She was standing there on the landing, looking at him almost expectantly.
"Err- right- well, er-" he stuttered as he grabbed the door handle behind him that he had just come out from. "Bye then."
Before he fell backwards into the room, he saw that she was still smiling at him. "Bye." She said cheerfully.
He shut the door before he could embarrass himself anymore.
"Oh my god." Remus gasped. "OH MY GOD! What did I just DO?!?!"
"Steady on!" Sirius said, looking alarmed at his friends behavior. "What happened?"
"What was I thinking!?!?!" Remus exclaimed. "Oh my god…" he went over the coffee table and grabbed what was left of the brandy from last night and began bolting it down.
Sirius leaped to his feet and grabbing the front of Remus's robes, began shaking him. "Remus! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!"
"I'm sorry." Remus breathed as he felt some sense get thrown back into him. "I- I- just lost myself for a moment- I-"
"What did you just do?" Sirius asked, his face paler than usual.
"I- I- I JUST ASKED YOUR COUSIN ON A DATE!" Remus cried, loosing self-control again. "I don't know what I did! Why did I do it?!?! What was I thinking? I must have been bloody mental or something, maybe I'm going mad- I couldn't have just-"
Sirius slapped him very hard across the face, but he was grinning when Remus straightened up from the blow.
The slap had hurt very much. Remus rubbed his stinging face, his breath shaky- but his shattered nerves very much intact again.
"Merlin's beard Remus, never do that to me again. I thought someone from the Order had died or something from the way you came crashing in here." Sirius said letting go of his friend and flopping down into the armchair.
Remus frowned and followed him to stand in front of his friend. "I just asked Tonks on a date."
"You told me. Very good, about time already."
"But…she said yes!"
"As opposed to 'no'?" Sirius snickered. "Remus where have you been these past few months?"
"But…" Remus said, however before he could think of a proper argument, Sirius cut him off.
"What about last night, eh?" he said wagging his eyebrows. "It would've been odd if you two were having a pash like that on the rug and then not set up a date. My Marauder senses and logical suspicions suggest that you two are already past the first few dates thanks to last night, had you been officially dating."
Remus turned his face away hoping his face wasn't as red as he thought it was.
Sirius grinned and headed out of the room humming a song that Remus realized with a jolt of surprise was 'White Christmas'. He wondered how on earth Sirius knew such a song. He collapsed onto the sofa, feeling exhausted.
He was still holding the present Tonks had given him. He set it aside for a moment, thinking of everything that had happened in the past few hours. He had kissed a girl that he had wanted to for ages, she liked him just as much as he did her, and most unfortunately he was going to be leaving soon to start some rather un-enjoyable work for the Order, but when he got back…he felt his heart skip a beat, when he got back, he was going to take his first real step with Nymphadora Tonks…