Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter... yea right i wish... still own nothing
Tonks woke up with a huge, stupid grin on her face. She had been having the most wonderful dream, and to her dismay, she couldn't remember anything about it. Only that it included a moonless sky and the faint smell of chocolate. She flopped out of bed in an uncouth manner, and scrambled to her feet. She felt her spirits lift as she remembered her destination for today. The house itself was depressing and stark, but the people in it sure as hell weren't. Her dear cousin Sirius, her old friend's mom Molly and the interesting werewolf, Remus. She grabbed one of her weird sisters t-shirts, slipped on some shorts and started on her hair. She went blonde yesterday and didn't fancy going with the same style two days in a row. After ten different hair options she decided on shoulder length, layered with bangs, tomato red, and left for Grimmauld place.
When Tonks entered the house she heard two screaming voices, squawking, one eerie scratchy voice and a deep calming tone. Sirius was yelling at both Kreacher and the portrait of his mother, while Buckbeak was in hysterics and trying to flap his large wings in the small hallway; Kreacher was yelling right back at Sirius, and Lupin was trying to clam Sirius down, before he really did commit a murder.
"TAINTED BLOOD OF MY FORE FATHERS, HOW DARE YOU CLAIM MY HOUSE!"
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP MOTHER! YOU ARE NOT HELPING THE SITUATION!"
"Master has no right coming back here. And with the foul in tow."
"squawk!"
"HE'S MORE CIVIL THAN YOU, YOU USELESS PIECE OF—"
"Now Sirius, calm down. I'm sure we can solve this out."
Tonks screamed, "Immobilus!" everyone in the hallway froze, except for Buckbeak and Mrs. Black. Damn her charmed portrait. Tonks closed the curtains and turned to the Hippogriff to calm him to silence. She then turned to Remus, Sirius and Kreacher, all still immobilized.
"Now, I'm going to release one of you and you are calmly explain to me why you are breaking all of the glass in this house with your voices." She looked to Remus, who was easily the most calm in this situation. She flicked her wand and released him.
"Thank you Nymphadora." He ran a hand through his hair as he began to explain.
"Kreacher played a ruthless prank on Buckbeak to try and rile him up. Buckbeak then rampaged though the house chasing Kreacher, and obviously disturbed Mrs. Black, Sirius and I." she nodded in understanding.
"Ok." She looked at Sirius and Kreacher. She flicked her wand and released Kreacher first.
"If you know what is good for you you'll go and hide in your little moldy corner for the rest of the day." Kreacher shot her a dirty look, but did as she suggested. Tonks then released Sirius.
"I'm going to kill that little piece of vermin one day." He guided Buckbeak back to his room and shut the door for solitude.
Lupin heaved a great sigh.
"He really needs to get out."
"They why doesn't he?" she asked.
"Because it's far too dangerous for him. Even if he was in animagus form, the death eaters would recognize him."
"He's going to loose it in this house if he stays in all the time." Remus sighed again.
"I know" They stood in the hall in silence.
"What if we take him to another part of the country?" she asked
"What?" he looked at her with confusion.
"What if we take him away from London for a couple of hours?"
"Tonks that's insane. The death eaters will notice him."
"But if they do notice him they won't go after him if there are muggles around. And if they report it to Voldemort they'll say he's in St. Ives, not London. And this is all if there are even death eaters around." Remus looked at her in bewilderment. She had a point.
"What about Buckbeak?" she thought for a second.
"We could send him off in the totally opposite direction, flying over Norwich or someplace. So if someone identifies him they'll say Sirius is in Norwich and they'll get confused as to where he actually is." Remus still looked skeptical.
"Come on Remus. He needs it. And we'll be super careful. Plus lets face it I'm an auror I can protect you guys." He looked at her with mock indignation.
"Ms. Tonks I do believe that I am a capable of protecting myself." She laughed.
"Oh I'm sorry did I offend the little wolfie's pride?" he smiled and moved closer to her. Her breath hitched at his near proximity. She had caught a whiff of chocolate and old books. He had an intense and mischievous expression as he whispered,
"There's nothing little about a werewolf Nymphadora." She forced her self to ignore her quickened heart rate.
"Fine you can take care of yourself, big wolf man. I'm going to get ready. You go tell Sirius the good news."
Tonks filled a picnic basket with some of Mrs. Weasley's cooking from the cupboards. She flooed to her flat to gather some things for the day: like her swimsuit, a muggle Frisbee, a beach blanket, a book and sun block. She apperated back to headquarters and found Sirius bouncing off the walls with excitement.
"Tonksie!" he exclaimed
"Where're we going?" he asked with excitement.
"We're going to St. Ives for the day." She responded "we can play in the park and then maybe sit on the beach for a little bit." His features lit up and he looked so young and carefree. Remus had a smile on his face from his friend's excitement.
"Remus what are you wearing?" he was in trousers and a jumper.
"Uhh. I'm wearing cloths." Sirius gave a bark of laughter.
"Moony we're going to the beach! You're going to sweat yourself into oblivion."
"I'll be fine padfoot." He protested. Tonks pulled out her wand.
"Sirius is right. It's hotter than hell out there." She transfigured his trainers into sandals with thick straps, his trousers in to kaki shorts, and his jumper into a white t-shirt with a swish of her wand.
"Tonks!" Remus yelped in surprise. He didn't like showing skin if he could avoid it. His scars discussed people and he was quite ashamed of them. He folded his arms to try and cover up the scars self-consciously.
"Oh Moony don't be so insecure." Sirius conjured two pairs of brightly colored sunglasses, and placed one pair on Remus and one on himself. Tonks laughed at how ridiculous they looked. Sirius wrapped his arm around Lupin and posed as if he was a rock star, which only caused Tonks to laugh harder.
"Ok Padfoot we better get going if you want anytime in the fresh air. Come-on on all fours." Sirius smiled as he changed into snuffles with the sunglasses still on his snout. Tonks took off the absurd sunglasses and put them on her own head. They stepped onto the front step of the house and disapperated with a low pop.
Tonks apperated the trio behind a nice cluster of trees in the park. Snuffles immediately ran out from behind the trees and chased some seagulls. Lupin and Tonks watched for sometime with amusement.
"Snuffles, here boy." Tonks called to Sirius. He obeyed and came to Tonks' side. She pulled out a collar and secured it on his neck. She produced a modified charm on the collar, like the one she uses with her parolees out of Askaban. If the collar went out of her sight the person, or dog, would appear right by her side for a good scolding. Sirius panted with excitement of being outside, and having some form of freedom.
"Ok boy go wild." Snuffles took this to heart. He ran after birds, squirrels, leaves, really anything that moved. He would play with near by children and other dogs. Remus and Tonks watched him with delight while sitting on a beanch and reading or casually chatting. They marveled at Sirius' energy and glee. This was the best thing for him. He was obedient and stayed in their sight, but soon he got bored with the same surroundings and tugged on Lupin's sleeve towards the ocean breeze. Tonks picked up their basket, which Lupin promptly took from her, and walked down the hill to the beach.
Tonks and Remus were constantly watching for any sign of death eaters or suspicious activity. They made a point to always be around muggles and not loose sight of Sirius. They laid out their beach blanket and settled down only a few meters from the water. It was a sweltering day, but the ocean breeze made the heat bearable. Lupin settled down on the blanket and opened his book while Tonks set up minor protection spells. If they lost Sirius for being careless, they would never forgive themselves. Once she was finished she started digging in the basket for something.
"What are you looking for? Asked Lupin.
"The sun block." She replied.
"But aren't you a metamorphagus? Can't you just morph away the burnt skin?"
"Yeah." She said while pulling out the sun block.
"But it hurts to morph burned skin, so it's easier if I don't burn it the first time." Lupin nodded in understanding. Sirius returned to the blanket from chasing seagulls for a quick rest while Tonks was applying sun block to her arms and legs. Lupin patted Snuffles' head.
"Tired already old boy?" Snuffles head instantly shot up. Lupin turned his head to where Sirius was looking to see what caused the weird reaction, fearful that it was a death eater. Remus suddenly had a mind lapse on how to breathe. Tonks had pulled off her t-shirt to reveal a purple string bikini, and was in the process of taking off her shorts. She was perfectly tan and ton—No. thought Lupin firmly.
'Don't think of her like that.' With her natural clumsiness she caught her foot in the shorts and fell over. Luckily Lupin had enough brain cells working to move to break her fall.
"Oomph."
"Oh gosh I'm sorry Remus."
"Its quite alright." He said his voice a little higher then normal." She gave him an apologetic look as he helped her to her feet. Always the gentleman she thought. He sat back down and opened his book, but found it increasingly hard to concentrate on the words while Tonks was rubbing sun block on her bikini clad body. Sirius saw his friend's eyes flicker and stare at his baby cousin. He laughed inwardly at his werewolf friend. Snuffles emitted a low growl to Moony. Lupin could have sworn he saw Snuffles wiggle his eyebrows suggestively.
"Sod off padfoot."
"What was that Remus?" Tonks asked.
"Nothing." He replied. Tonks was trying and failing desperately at covering her back with sun block. She made a noise of agrivation. She was just about to morph her arm when she heard a quiet question from Lupin.
"Need help?"
Damn! He thought.
What possessed you to ask that Remus?! She looked over her shoulder at him. She was going to yell at him for being a creep. She was going to tell him that he was a lecherous old man, and to keep his hands to himself. Crap! He thought. But her answer came sweet and almost timidly.
"Sure." Sirius was rolling on his back obviously in a fit of laughter. Remus shot him a piercing glare. Git. He thought. Tonks handed him the sunscreen.
"Right around the strap." She directed. He nodded with comprehension, feeling that he would sound like prepubescent boy if he spoke. Tonks tried her hardest not to pay attention to the hands on her back.
Oh sweet Merlin. She thought. He has lovely hands. No! Bad Tonks! Don't think of him like that. She was focusing on a grain of sand on the ground, but easily lost track of which one she was looking at and thought about his firm, but gentle hands. She prayed to any higher power that existed that her hair was still red; and that it covered her blush spot. What was probably about thirty seconds seemed like at least an hour to Tonks. She smiled brightly at him.
"Thanks Remus." He smiled and nodded still not trusting his voice.
"Snuffles look what auntie Tonks has." Sirius snapped out of his fit of laughter to look at the Frisbee. He jumped onto all fours and panted with excitement. She flung the Frisbee down the beach with Sirius bounding after it. One of Tonks' throws curved and headed towards the water. Sirius ran towards her soaked, but with the Frisbee in his mouth headed right for Auntie Tonks.
"eek!" she yelped as a wet Sirius knocked her to the ground. He had enough presence of mind to get off the auror and run.
"I'll get you Snuffles!" she ran after the dog right into the water. He was running and turning and trying to splash her, while she was successfully splashing him. Remus gave a good hearty laugh at their antics.
"Think this is funny do you Lupin?"
"As a matter of fact I do Nymphadora."
"Don't call me Nymphadora."
"Nymphadora." He said menacingly. Tonks crossed her arms and gave a mischievous look to Sirius.
"Sick 'em boy." Sirius charged towards Remus dripping wet. He leaped on Remus with glee licking his face.
"Padfoot!" Remus yelled, trying to push off the wet dog. Sirius merely shook his body raining sea water on the helpless werewolf. Tonks laughed as the professor chased his school friend down the beach and into the water. Not being the least worried about looking foolish.
"Find this funny Nymphadora?" she tried to stifle her mirth.
"No not at all Professor." An impish glint was in his eyes.
"I think your lying Nymphadora." He started to walk towards her.
"What did I say about calling me Nymphadora Remus." Remus looked to Sirius.
"Padfoot? What do you say we teach Nymphadora a lesson about respecting her elders?" Sirius barked in agreement. They all started fighting and splashing. All of them got water in the face and at one point Sirius broke his pack with Remus and it was everyone for them self.
Soon their hunger became too great to be ignored. Remus pulled out their lunch as Sirius rested and Tonks morphed her hair dry. She wrapped a towel around her torso to dry off the rest of her body. This covered the enjoyable view which Lupin wasn't sure if he was happy about. Tonks tried her hardest not to ogle at Remus. His shirt and pants were soaked still and it clung to his body. Now she could see what he hid under those oversized jumpers, a well toned, but scared torso. He was tall but modestly muscular. They ate in comfortable companionship and conversation. They lounged for an hour or so just playing in the sand and relaxing. Tonks made a very impressive sand castle at Remus' feet. Which Sirius later took great joy in trampling. All too soon Remus said the words that were dreaded to be heard.
"We better get going." Sirius whined.
"I'm sorry Snuffles, but Molly said she would be over at two and we can't let her know we let you out." He rubbed behind Snuffles' ear.
"He's right Snuffles. We better go if we want to make it back in time." They packed up their basket and walked back towards the park.
They apperated on the front stoop of headquarters and walked in without disturbing Mrs. Black. Sirius heaved a great sigh.
"Home sweet home." He said nastily, but the smile on his face was genuine when he turned to them.
"Thanks you guys. It was the best day I've had in a long time. It—it meant a lot to me; being able to get out." Remus patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Alright you saps," Tonks said feeling like she should give Sirius a big bear hug.
"We need to get out of these cloths if we don't want Molly to suspect anything." Sirius let out a light chuckle,
"Tonksie we know you've got the hots for moony, but you don't need to put it so bluntly, as to 'get him out of his cloths'." Tonks immediately went tomato red, but she pushed it back almost as fast as it came on. And Lupin looked like he was going to go all werewolf on Sirius and beat the crap out of him.
'Why does he have to make every single thing a sexual, embarrassing joke?' but Remus knew that was just accepting Sirius for being Sirius. One minute you feel bad for his misfortunes, and then you want to punch him for his bad jokes. Sirius laughed, and they laughed with him out of sheer awkwardness. They uncomfortably departed to their respected rooms to freshen up and change before the Weasley monarch arrived.
When Molly came through the door the three of them were finishing off the last of the rooms. They were pleased with their progress in half and hour. They finally made about 90% of the bedrooms safe. There were still some unknown dangers in some of the rooms, but their chance of being deathly injured or harmed was greatly lowered. Molly was just as pleasant and maternal as ever. She was unaware of the outing that they took and the danger they might have imposed. Buckbeak was safely home in his tower squawking with the rush of freedom still raging through his body. He soon calmed down and Molly was still ignorant. They took on a couple more rooms and settled in the kitchen for comfortable company, and wondrous Weasley food in the oven, waiting for tonight's meeting to start.
Order members trickled in all complementing Molly on the enthralling smells of her food. The hectic buzz of people quieted instantaneously as Dumbledore entered the dark kitchen. He started off the meeting with the reports of the dark lords movements and Snape's action, being as he was absent from the meeting.
"I would like to introduce a veteran of our group Hestia Jones. She has agreed to rejoin us and fight the forces against us." Tonks peered down the table to the woman. She had somewhat sharp features and light brown hair that fell just past her shoulder blades. Her features were graceful and feminine. Her shoulders were a bit too wide, and her figure was a tad muscular and short, but Tonks was one to talk. Her eyes were round and strict. Her face was slightly lined with age. Tonks noticed Hestia's eyes flicker to Remus more than once, but convinced her self that it was her imagination. And what right did she have any way felling annoyed that some other woman, who would be considered attractive, would look at Lupin? Tonks wished for the meeting to come to its end so she could spend the rest of the night on guard duty with Remus.
A/N: Hope it wasn't too bad... still looking for a beta. thats why there may be a butt load of grammar issues. please review so i don't wither and die... just joking i might cry though so seriously review