Snape strode into Grimmauld Place early the next morning in a terrible mood. Saturdays were usually dedicated to marking a week's worth of student's homework, but now he had to include his daily check-up on Harry on top of everything else. Marching down the long corridor into the living room he paused and rolled his eyes at the sight before him; Remus lay sprawled on the couch, mouth open and snoring loudly, dead to the world while Harry sat on the floor with his toys, a plastic snitch and a stuffed lion levitating in front of him. Harry looked up at Snape and smiled broadly, and the stuffed lion glided over to him. Snape took the offering and smirked with amusement.

"Very impressive, Mr. Potter," he murmured. "If only you applied your talents more constructively, you would be doing more than scraping a pass in my classroom."

With lightning speed Harry crawled over to Snape and tugged at his trouser leg, reaching up to him desperately. Snape glared down at the baby. The last thing he wanted to do was play Mother Goose to the boy; he had more important things to do with his time. He considered waking up the exhausted werewolf to attend to the child, but he wasn't in a rush to spend any more time in his company than he needed to either. Weighing up his options, he concluded that the infant's company was more preferable to that of the Marauder.

He scooped Harry up in his arms and held him at arms-length, "For four years I have watched you run head first without thought or foresight into one dangerous situation after another. I've lost count the number of times I have had to step in and stop you from getting yourself and your friends killed. Now I am yet again tasked with saving you from your own ineptitude. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Harry gurgled and laughed in a wide toothless grin. Snape sneered, "Well, I see your conversational skills haven't much been affected by your transformation."

Snape deposited Harry in his high chair in the kitchen and quickly prepared his breakfast. He may detest the boy, but he wasn't going to let him go hungry. Snape pulled a chair in front of Harry.

"Porridge oats with mashed banana," he showed Harry the contents of the bowl. Harry scrunched up his nose, "Lots of nutritional benefits for growing infants like yourself. Here."

Snape scooped up a small spoonful to Harry's mouth but he kept his lips pursed shut. Snape tutted, "Come now, you must eat your breakfast."

He pressed the spoon a little more firmly to Harry's mouth, trying to coax the contents passed his lips, but Harry growled and turned his nose up at the offering. Snape felt a hot flare of anger rise up inside of him, "If you do not eat this, then you will go hungry."

The threat didn't seem to perturb Harry. A chocolate frog shot across the room and towards Harry's outstretched hand, but Snape snatched it from Harry's grasp.

"Nice try," smirked Snape. "But I am faster than you are. You need to eat this before you can have a treat."

Harry screamed in indignation and Snape took the opportunity to slip a spoonful of porridge into Harry's mouth. Harry's scream was immediately silenced by a mouthful of food and his eyes widened in shock, then narrowed. The next moment, the contents of the bowl exploded all over Snape's face, drenching his hair in oats and chunks of banana.

"Count your blessings that you are too young for retribution, Mr. Potter," he seethed, picking porridge out of his hair. "But the second I figure out how to restore you to your proper state, you are in detention until you graduate."

"Wotcher, Sev," chimed Tonks sauntering into the kitchen and sinking into the seat next to him. She picked a piece of banana out of his hair, "Got some porridge on you Sev, don't know if you realised."

Snape glared at her, "Is this another lame attempt at humour, Nymphadora?"

Tonks rolled her eyes, "Obviously you're not a morning person, either. I saw Lupin conked out on the living room couch. Where's Sirius?"

"Probably still in his pit," grumbled Snape, frowning at Tonks. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"Just got off the night shift," she explained shrugging out of her cloak. "What are you doing here so early? It's Saturday, figured you'd be getting a lie in."

"I am much too busy to spend my mornings lounging in bed," he replied silkily.

"That's a shame," said Tonks sympathetically. "I don't get many chances to lie in myself these days; what with all the hours I put in at the Ministry, and missions for The Order…plus lie in's aren't as much fun without company, wouldn't you agree?"

She winked at Snape and his pale cheeks flushed red, "I wouldn't know since I never lie in."

"Well, maybe you just haven't found the right person to try it out with," she gave him a coy smile. Her eyes lingered on his lips for a few moments before she changed the subject and asked, "You want some help feeding Harry?"

"I can manage perfectly well without your assistance, thank you," he grumbled. Tonks laughed.

"Sure you can. So you're wearing Harry's breakfast on purpose? Here," She took the bowl and spoon from Snape's hands, her warm fingers brushing against his cool hands. Snape felt his pulse quicken, but he kept his expression impassive, "Here's a little trick to get any baby to eat their dinner."

She scooped up a spoonful of porridge with one hand and held the chocolate frog up to Harry with the other. Harry's licked his lips hungrily and opened his mouth to take a bite of the treat, but Tonks quickly swapped it out for the spoonful of porridge. Harry glowered at Tonks, but ate the porridge nonetheless. She demonstrated this a couple more times before passing the spoon and chocolate frog back over to Snape. Once Harry was fed, Snape spelled his hair and face clean then proceeded to conduct his next run of tests on Harry. Tonks watched on with interest, "Any closer to finding a way to reverse the transformation?"

"No," he replied shortly. Tonks shoulders sank.

"That's unfortunate," she sighed.

"Indeed," he agreed and continued his tests in silence. It irked him that he had failed to reverse the effects of the transformation so far, equal parts impressed and furious at the potency of the Weasley twins' concoction. He was certain there was a means to reverse the effects, but it was taking much longer than he had originally anticipated.

Tonks clapped her hands together, "Well, since you're here, you might as well join me for breakfast."

"That won't be necessary," he declined, but Tonks waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm not asking you to join me because it's a necessity Sev, I'm asking because I enjoy your company."

Snape balked, "You jest."

"I'm not!" she laughed rising to her feet. "You might act like you're an old dungeon bat, but I know you're hiding a wicked sense of humour under that cloak. And a few other things worth investigating, I bet…"

She swished her wand and several pots and pans flew in the direction of the stove. The pantry door flew open and eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and black pudding soared through the air and into a large skillet. "How does a full English breakfast sound?"

Snape hesitated before nodding, "That sounds…good."

Tonks flashed a brilliant smile at him and he felt his stomach do a backflip. Merlin, get a grip of yourself, he thought. Tonks busied herself making breakfast while Snape prepared tea for both of them. Tonks disappeared into the pantry and reappeared a few moments later brandishing a loaf of bread, "Do you like it fried or- SHIT!"

Snape spun on his heel and his eyes widened in horror. Both of them rushed towards the skillet pan, now aflame. Tonks tripped over her own feet and stumbled, but Snape caught her by the waist and pulled her upright, her body crashing into his own. Snape pointed his wand in the direction of the fire and cried, "Furatus Respirare!" and the flames were immediately extinguished. Snape shook his head in disbelief, "Even simple tasks like cooking breakfast isn't without its drama when you're involved, is it Dora?"

Tonks gave a shaky laugh and leaned closer to him. Snape felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as she whispered, "I know I used to cause mayhem in your dungeon, but you were always on hand to save me from burning the place to the ground. And here you are, saving me again."

Snape loosened his grip on her waist but didn't let go. Tonks looked up at him, her eyes wide and expectant, and he suddenly had the overwhelming desire to kiss her, but once again his nerves got the better of him. He cleared his throat, "You are perfectly capable of rescuing yourself; I just wanted to rescue my breakfast."

Tonks laughed softly and touched his cheek and he froze, paralysed by her touch. She carefully traced her thumb over his cheekbone and moved her face closer and whispered, "You know, you're a funny guy, Sev."

"I am?" he asked uncertainly. She nodded, her expression quite serious now. He swallowed hard, his heart pounding so hard in his chest it hurt. Tonks moved a little closer, her eyes swirling orbs of black like his own, and as their lips barely brushed against one another Snape forgot how to breathe.

Just then hurried footsteps approached and they quickly broke apart just as Remus came crashing into the kitchen with an expression of mild panic, then immediately relaxed when he saw the two of them, "Thank Merlin. When I woke up and Harry was gone I thought…am I interrupting something?"

Snape's impassive expression was betrayed by the pink flush on his cheeks, Tonks' hair was the same shade of scarlet as her face. Harry, taking advantage of Snape and Tonks being distracted by the fire, had summoned the chocolate frog and had chocolate smeared all over his hands his face and looked absolutely delighted about it.

"I should be going," croaked Severus striding out of the kitchen.

"But what about breakfast?" asked Tonks making a move to chase after him but she hesitated, glancing at Remus to gauge his reaction. He shrugged his shoulders.

"You're not going to get his phone number standing here in the kitchen with me, are you?"

Tonks grinned and hurried out of the kitchen after Snape.

"Sev!" she called after him. "Sev, wait up!"

He pulled on his cloak and avoided her gaze, "I have a lot to do today Ms. Tonks, so you better make it quick."

"Ms. Tonks," she scoffed rolling her eyes then in her best impression of Snape she declared, "You will address me as Tonks, Auror Tonks or Dora."

Snape raised an eyebrow, "Is this another attempt to humour me?"

"It is," she gave him a sly grin. "I'm determined to make you smile, Sev. I know there's a ray of sunshine beneath all those black robes and frowns."

"If it is there, then it has always eluded me," he muttered. Tonks chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder.

"See? That was funny, Sev! I always knew you were harbouring a sense of humour."

Snape suppressed the slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "I am not adverse to humour. There just isn't much to laugh about these days."

"True," she nodded, then added more seriously. "Look, we've been dancing around each other for weeks now. Don't you think we should talk about what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on," he replied shortly, buttoning up his cloak. Tonks rested a hand on his arm and he stilled.

"That's what I'd like to talk about," she said quietly. "Come around my place later. Just for a chat."

Snape considered her request in silence for a moment then nodded, "Alright. But only to talk."

Tonks flashed her toothy grin and squeezed his arm, "Great, I'll see you tonight then."

Snape watched Tonks stride back towards the kitchen with mixed feelings. It had been a long time since feelings like this had stirred in him, so long that he wasn't entirely sure how to handle them. He had wanted to kiss her, but had almost been relieved when Remus had interrupted them. He wanted her, and she'd made it clear that she wanted him too, but he was afraid that the more he had to gain, the more he had to lose. Don't let your heart overrule your head, he warned himself. This was a foolish endeavour that would only end in disaster. Especially now with so much at stake.