"Bloody buggering hell, Mad-Eye!" Tonks yelled at her uninvited guest.
"You need to tighten your security, lass," he said calmly, as if he were discussing her need for a bell-ringer.
"You need to have your head examined!"
"It's possible. But, the fact remains that your security is lax," he said, pointing a finger at her. "Fix it."
"I'm sorry if I've not yet gone as paranoid as you," Tonks said. Annoyed or not, she knew he had a point. Now that she was an Order member and would be working undercover more, she really needed something stronger than general protective enchantments. Perhaps a recognition charm of sorts, she thought.
Mad-Eye glared at her. "This isn't up for debate," he growled. "Constant—"
"I get it!" she exclaimed, holding up a hand to stop him. "I'll work out something better in the next few days. No more surprise entries into my flat, if you please."
"I'll keep entering until your security keeps me out," he grumbled. They stared at one another for a moment—Tonks glaring, and Mad-Eye looking thoroughly unbothered. "I brought you dinner," he said, tossing a bag onto her coffee table.
"Well, then. I suppose I can forgive the breaking and entering," she said, picking up the bag and opening it to examine its contents. "I've been listening to Dawlish's constant prattle all day, and I skipped lunch to go up to the Magical Law Enforcement office." She pulled out a container of her favorite soup along with a chunk of baguette and a chocolate biscuit. "Oh, Mad-Eye, you do love me!"
He rolled his eyes at her, which she knew was as close as he would come to acknowledging his feelings. "Let's get started. Albus wants to make sure you know who to look out for at Malfoy's next week."
"All right," Tonks said, sitting on the couch with her cup of tomato soup. "I've read through the arrest reports and trial transcripts you sent over."
"That's a good start, but you'll need more than that," he said with a scowl. "I can tell you who may be in good enough graces to be back in the inner circle. You'll know better who to look out for."
"Should be a good night," Tonks said dryly. "Just me and my Death Eater date, surrounded by Death Eaters."
"It's not your place to doubt Snape's loyalty," Mad-Eye snapped. "Albus trusts him, that means you should too. Never question whether what he does is for our side."
"Calm down," she said, placing her soup cup on the table. "I never said I doubted his loyalty." She picked up a self-inking quill and a notebook, ready to take notes. "What I doubt is his ability to maintain civil conversation for an entire evening." Mad-Eye gave Tonks a conceding look that told her that an entire evening of civil conversation with Snape was probably something of an impossibility. "And since when are you a member of Snape's fan club?"
Mad-Eye gave a harsh laugh. "Believe me, lass, there's no love lost between me and Snape. That doesn't mean I don't respect what he does."
"If you and Dumbledore trust him, that's good enough for me."
Tonks sat and listened to Mad-Eye talk about Death Eaters for a solid two hours before he'd decided that he had given her enough information. Knowing she wouldn't have time to make it to Headquarters before the next meeting, she passed on her report for Dumbledore on what she'd learned from her visit to the MLE office. Before he left for the night, he informed her that she should arrive early for the Order meeting in two days because Dumbledore wanted to meet with her and Snape.
Two days later, Tonks left her cubicle for the Apparition point within the Ministry. Even with the fatigue of being up all night for guard duty the previous evening, she was looking forward to the meeting that night simply because she was hoping to see Remus again. Although first she had to make it through her meeting with Snape and Dumbledore. She hoped with Dumbledore there, Snape would be at least civil to her. She wasn't daft enough to hope he would be pleasant. As she landed her Apparition in the alley close to Headquarters, she heard a soft pop next to her indicating someone else's arrival. She knew it was likely another Order member, but didn't want to let Mad-Eye down by letting her vigilance be anything but constant. Tonks drew her wand toward the noise and found a wand pointed toward her, held by Snape.
"Wotcher, there," Tonks said, lowering her wand. She wasn't quite sure how to refer to Snape. Calling him simply "Snape" to his face seemed rather impolite, yet she didn't feel quite comfortable using his first name.
"Nymphadora," Snape returned with a slight nod to his head. He placed his wand back in his robes. "Given that you are no longer my student, you may address me as Severus."
"All right, then, Severus," Tonks said tentatively, walking out of the alley onto Grimmauld Place. "Could you use some manners, then, and call me Tonks? I'm sure you know by now that's what I prefer."
"Unlikely," he said with a smirk.
Tonks rolled her eyes at him. "You're a rather unpleasant bloke, you know?"
"So I've been told."
They climbed the steps to Headquarters, Snape opening the front door for them once they reached the top step. Immediately, Tonks could hear chaos from inside the house. They entered the entrance hall to hear Mrs. Black screaming her usual insults—her tirade spurred further when she caught sight of Tonks and Snape—and saw Sirius' giant black dog form bounding through the hall, Fred and George standing at opposite ends of the hall tossing the red squeaking toy between them.
"Tonks, catch!" George yelled, tossing the doggie toy toward her.
Tonks reached out a hand, but missed the toy as Sirius leapt at her, knocking her body back into Snape. She tumbled to the floor, Sirius giving a loud bark before snatching his toy from the floor and running back towards the twins and dropping the toy at Fred's feet.
"Would you three idiots stop that racket!" Molly's voice carried down the steps from somewhere upstairs. Fred picked up the toy at his feet and tossed it once more to Sirius who deftly caught it in his mouth. As Molly's steps began their descent, Fred and George Disapparated, presumably to the sanctuary of their bedroom, away from their mother's wrath. Molly stepped from the stairs into the entrance hall, taking in the scene in front of her. She looked down at the dog sitting with the toy in his mouth, head cocked to one side as if attempting to appear innocent, and placed her hands on her hips with a noise of irritation. "Those boys are impossible!"
Snape pulled out his wand to silence the portrait and reached a hand down to Tonks. She looked up at him with an expression of disbelief, but warily took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
"I may be unpleasant company, but I'm not completely devoid of manners," Snape said in response to Tonks' look of surprise. "Unlike your fool of a cousin." He gave a look of utter loathing to Sirius. "You are an intolerable nuisance, Black."
Sirius returned to his human form. "Coming from you, Snivellus, I'll take that as a compliment."
"That's enough, both of you," Molly said. Neither Sirius nor Snape wanted to argue with Molly, and decided to ignore each other, Snape heading for the kitchen while Sirius passed Molly to go upstairs.
"Dinner tonight, Molly?" Tonks asked hopefully. After guard duty the previous night, she would be thrilled to have some of Molly's cooking before heading home for bed.
"Of course, dear," Molly said quietly, not wanting to disturb the portrait once again. "Although, Albus said to serve dinner after the meeting since he's meeting with you and Severus before."
Tonks nodded and followed Snape to the kitchen to wait for Dumbledore to arrive. They walked into the kitchen to find the twins standing at the cooker with a kettle. Tonks glanced at them quizzically. "I thought you two trouble-makers would be hiding in your room," Tonks said as she took a seat at the table. Snape chose to ignore the three of them and busied himself with preparing coffee.
"Tea is in order after we knocked you to the floor," Fred said.
"Or so Mum would say," George said.
"That's oddly thoughtful of you two," Tonks said, eyebrows raised in surprise.
"That's not fair," Fred said with mock astonishment on his face. "Some of what Mum bangs on about sinks in."
The twins finished preparing a mug of tea for Tonks and turned towards the table—Fred levitating the mug in front of him—just as Snape turned from the counter with his mug of coffee. Nearly bumping into the mug and spilling tea down his front, Snape snatched the levitated mug from the air. "As impressed as we all are with you two being of age," Snape began acidly. "It is unnecessary for you to use magic for every miniscule task." He handed the mug to Tonks before taking seat at the head of the table closest to the door, a scowl fixed on his face. The twins left the room without so much as a word, giving each other sideways glances.
Tonks took a sip of her tea and found a warm, relaxing sensation flow through her body. She took another sip. Snape was sitting in his chair, arms crossed at his chest with his legs stretched out in front of him crossed at his ankles, eyes fixed on his boots. She felt an oddly compelling feeling to pay him some sort of compliment.
"I like your nose."
He brought his eyes, now narrowed in suspicion, sharply up to hers.
Tonks took another sip of her tea, then set it down on the table. She turned to face Snape, ignoring the wary look on his face, and scooted her chair closer towards him.
"I have a thing for noses." She morphed hers to resemble his. "Yours is lovely." She changed her nose back, a bit horrified at her flirty tone, but she couldn't stop herself. "Not only do you have a lovely nose, but your voice is absobloodylutely wonderful. Would you talk with me?" Before she could reconsider the gesture, she reached a hand up towards Snape's face—which was now looking at her as if she had sprouted a second head—ready to brush back his long curtains of black hair. Looking at her sharply, his hand reached up quickly and grabbed her wrist.
"Perhaps, but first I need to make an inquiry with the Weasley twins." He released her wrist as he stood abruptly and took a step towards the door, stopping suddenly with his eyes at the floor. Tonks followed his gaze and noticed a flesh colored string peaking from under the door. He roughly kicked the door open and Tonks heard a loud thump and some muffled swearing coming from beyond the door.
"But I don't really fancy a chat with Fred and George, I'd rather chat with you," Tonks found herself saying, much to her dismay.
Snape pushed through the door and reentered the kitchen a moment later, pulling the twins in roughly by their scruffs. "What in the name of Merlin did you put in that tea?" he spat at the twins as he pushed them towards the counter.
The door of the kitchen opened once again. Remus walked through, stopping in his tracks as he took in the scene in the kitchen. "All right?" he asked looking from Tonks to the twins.
"Oh, Severus, don't let them interrupt us," Tonks said, feeling bewilderedly annoyed at the twins' and Remus' presence. She stood and walked towards Snape, the warm sensation still present throughout her body, as if she'd downed a shot of Firewhisky. "I was getting ready to tell you how lovely I find your hair." Tonks turned toward Remus, who was standing very still watching her with a look of confusion on his face. "Remus, don't you think Severus has the loveliest hair?"
"I must confess I've not given much thought to the subject," Remus said carefully, staring incredulously at Tonks.
Tonks was now standing just behind Snape, reaching her hand out once more. "Well, I think it's gorgeous." Snape caught her hand again before she could reach his hair. "He's being rather funny about letting me touch it, though."
"You had better have an antidote, or I will be forced to hex," Snape said through clenched teeth. "Now, what did you give her?"
Fred and George went from fighting back grins to shrinking back slightly from Snape's murderous expression. "It's something we're trialing, sir," Fred began. "We've been calling it 'Flirting Fancies'."
"It was just a couple of drops," George chimed in. "We wanted to test the strength. If we dosed it correctly it should just make her a bit chatty…and make her want to say nice things about who ever gave it to her."
"Seeing that I don't particularly care for her repetitive compliments, I suggest you remedy this situation before I assign you both detention until Christmas, never mind that term isn't currently in session," Snape said in his lowest, most dangerous voice. Fred reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial and handed it to Snape.
"Severus, are we going to continue our chat?" Tonks said from where she stood behind Snape. She was watching their exchange with interest, not understanding why Snape seemed so angry and why she continued to feel the need to flatter him. "I do quite enjoy hearing your voice."
Snape reached out for the vial, keeping his eyes locked on Fred and George. "We shall continue our discussion in a moment. For now, I believe you should have more tea," Snape said, keeping his hand clasped around Tonks' wrist. "Lupin, I require your assistance in order to remedy this situation."
Remus took his eyes from Tonks, giving his head a slight shake and stepped forward to take the vial from Snape. He prepared another cup of tea and emptied the contents of the vial into the mug along with the steaming liquid. "Here," he said handing the mug to Tonks. "Why don't you sit and drink this and then you and Severus can continue your conversation."
Tonks gave a small shrug as Snape released his hold on her wrist. She took the mug from Remus and carried it back to the table, taking a drink as she sat down. She slowly felt the warmth filtering away from her body as she took another drink of the hot tea. Tonks lowered the mug to the table, becoming very still as the warm feeling that had been flowing through her faded further. As she pondered through the things she recalled saying over the past few minutes—and who she'd said them to—she slowly turned in her chair to look at the twins.
"What the bloody hell were you two thinking?" Tonks shrieked at them, suddenly tipping her chair backward as she jumped from her seat. "What did you give me?" She lunged for them, hoping to employ a trick she'd seen Molly use a number of times and grab them both by an ear. Before her hands hit their mark, she felt a pair of strong arms grab her around her waist from behind. She realized it was Remus who was pulling her back against his body. Snape had moved out of her path, seeming unbothered at her attempt to attack the twins. "What if I'd needed to leave for a mission?"
"We knew you would be here long enough to meet with Professor Dumbledore," Fred said, having the sense to look at least mildly sheepish.
"Don't you prats understand that I was on guard duty last night!" Tonks yelled, struggling against Remus' hold on her. "I've not slept in almost two days! And I've got to make it through a meeting with the Headmaster and an Order meeting this evening. Ah!" she cried out, reaching her hands up to cradle her forehead. "Merlin's bollocks, now I've got a bloody headache!" She raised her head to glare at the pair of them. "Reckon you can add that to your list of experiment results." Tonks stopped struggling in Remus' grip. She leaned her head back to rest against his chest.
"As impressed as I am that you've decided to take the subtle science of potion-making and apply it in a practical application, from now on your little experiments need to be conducted on one another," Snape said in his dangerous tone.
"We couldn't rightly practice this one on each other, Professor," Fred said, quelling at the murderous look Snape was giving them both. "Sorry, sir."
"If you use test subjects, it must be done with their absolute consent," Snape said. "Now, then." He grabbed them both once more by the necks of their shirts and pushed them towards the door. "We are going to go ask your mother for Headache Relief Potion for Nymphadora and fill her in on the reason why you require it." Fred and George were led out of the kitchen quickly with a hasty "yes, sir" from both of them.
Remus loosened his grip around Tonks' middle and lowered his head so his mouth was close to her ear. "Why don't you sit and relax a bit before Albus arrives," he suggested, his hoarse voice sending a little shiver down her body. She reluctantly left the comfort of Remus' arms to move towards the table, stumbling over one of the outstretched legs of her over-turned chair. Remus reached a hand out to steady her and bent down to right her chair, guiding her to sit. As Tonks was about to lean her head forward and place it in her hands, she felt Remus' hands on her shoulders, pulling her to lean against the back of her chair. Standing behind her, he placed his hands at the junction of her neck and began massaging. Tonks gave a low hum of approval and closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of his long fingers easing the tension from her muscles.
"Haven't you got clever hands, Professor," Tonks murmured as she tried to keep her thoughts away from what else his hands could be good at. She was extremely happy that she'd morphed her hair to her favorite pink pixie style that day since it gave Remus unimpeded access to her neck and shoulders.
"It's the least I can do after a rough end to a couple of days of non-stop work," Remus said softly. "It can't have been fun being dosed with an experimental Weasley product."
"Maybe I should go as paranoid as Mad-Eye," Tonks said as she let Remus' fingers work through the stiffness in her shoulders. "Start drinking from a hip flask."
Remus gave a chuckle as he continued massaging her shoulders, moving his thumbs in deep circles at the base of her neck. "At least around Fred and George."
Tonks noticed that she still felt a little bit of warmth tingling in her fingers. Before she could help it she asked, "When do you suppose Severus will be back?" With a huff of annoyance, she opened her eyes to locate the mug of tea that still held the antidote. The chuckle she heard from behind her thankfully reassured her that Remus was amused rather than horrified at her continued preoccupation with Snape. "Pause for moment, Professor, and brace yourself for something most people have never seen." She reached out her hand for the mug, closed her eyes in concentration and morphed her hair to its natural brown state. She hastily downed the rest of the contents of the mug. "Now, you'll know I'm not under the influence when I say I'm enjoying myself."
Tonks blew out a long breath as Remus continued where he'd left off with his thumbs on her neck, pushing her brown hair off to one side. "Glad you came back from your mission in time to help me relax," Tonks said with a small smile. "How'd it go?"
"Not nearly as stimulating as the last mission, but informative all the same," he answered with a sly grin. He moved his thumbs to knead her upper back, Tonks giving an approving sigh. "Do you have to be in your natural state for antidotes?"
"Repairing any damage to my body is more effective if my body isn't morphed," Tonks said drowsily. She was beginning to feel like she might fall asleep in her chair as Remus continued massaging her. "Something that Madame Pomfrey discovered when I was a student."
"Did you visit the hospital wing often?" Remus asked with interest.
"There are 142 staircases throughout the castle." With no traces of warmth lingering in her fingers, she morphed her hair back to its usual pink pixie. "That's a lot of opportunity for injury."
Two almost simultaneous cracks of Apparition startled them apart. Tonks gave a growl of frustration and turned her head to see the smirking faces of Fred and George.
"Well, isn't this cozy, George?"
"Indeed it is, Fred."
"Haven't you to idiots caused enough trouble for one day?" Tonks asked in irritation.
"Not possible," George said, with a wink.
"But, really, we came to apologize. The potion was supposed to make you flirt with me," Fred said, having the grace to look at least mildly embarrassed. "Not the word's grumpiest professor."
"Next time make sure your testers are willing participants, will you?" Tonks asked. "Or at the very least make sure you don't bollocks -up your delivery."
"Believe me," George said. "Professor Snape made his point very clear. And if by chance he didn't, Mum certainly made her point clear."
"And if that wasn't enough," Fred added. "We met the Headmaster on our way up the stairs. He joined in the discussion too."
Snape and Dumbledore pushed through the kitchen door, Snape giving a curt "out" to the twins with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder. He handed Tonks a vial of headache potion, which she gratefully downed. Remus left to gather Sirius for the meeting that would be starting soon while Snape and Dumbledore sat to discuss the upcoming mission to Malfoy Manor. Tonks informed Snape of her cover story, which he met with "That will be acceptable". She was shocked that he didn't have anything disparaging to say to her so far and wondered whether it had anything to do with Dumbledore being there, or if he was actually beginning to stop thinking of her as one of his students.
"I assume you'll be attired properly," Severus said with a sneer. "And will be able to conduct yourself appropriately during such an event?"
Ah, there it is. Tonks rolled her eyes. "First of all, Severus," she began in annoyance. "I'm not one of your dunderhead students any longer, so I'm not about to shiver in my boots over what you say. Second, you're forgetting that my mother comes from a rather prominent pure-blood family, even if she did throw them all over to marry my dad."
"Meaning?" Severus asked with an arched brow.
"She made sure I knew all of the things a young witch should know. I can sit properly at a well-dressed table. I can dance properly. And." She grinned sweetly at him, earning her a huff of annoyance. "With my mum's help, I can even dress appropriately."
The details for the mission were decided, and they talked briefly of the information she'd received from Mad-Eye before other Order members began assembling in the kitchen for the meeting. Snape rose to take his customary seat in the corner of the room, and Tonks rested her aching feet in his vacated chair. She gave a wide yawn and rubbed her hands over her face, feeling exhausted after two days of work, guard duty and the odd events of the afternoon.
Sirius walked in with Remus and sat Tonks' book, Forbidden Love, in front of her on the table. "Finished my entertainment," Sirius said with a roughish grin. "Could I persuade you to supply some follow-up reading?"
"Liked that, did you?" Tonks asked. Sirius made his way around the table to sit across from Tonks, while Remus reached down and pulled her feet off the chair where they were resting. He settled himself in the chair and placed her feet across his lap, his hands resting on the laces of her boots. Tonks gave him a smile, which was answered—to Tonks' delight—with the shy grin of his own that she was coming to thoroughly enjoy. She removed her gaze from Remus as she became aware that Sirius was speaking to her.
"The parts about witchcraft were rubbish, but the naughty bits were quite good."
"You'll have to wait until I can shop for something new since this is the only one I've got," Tonks said, picking up the book.
"If Sirius is finished with the book, do you mind if I borrow it?" Tonks was surprised to look up and see that the question had come from Emmeline. "I could do with a little romance," she said with a smile.
"Of course," Tonks said, handing over the book.
"I could help you with a little romance," Sirius said.
"Yes, I seem to remember that you could indeed help me with romance," she said with a coy grin. "Although, I also remember you could help many witches with romance back in the day."
"Perhaps I've become more temperate in my old age," he replied with a wink. Emmeline smiled and shook her head slightly before crossing the room to speak with Hestia, tucking the book in the pocket of her robes. Tonks looked over at Remus with eyebrows raised in question. He simply gave her a small smile and shook his head.
Tonks looked across the table at Sirius. "Taking your personal growth seriously, are you?" she asked with a smile.
"I've been inspired by some recent late night reading," he replied with a look over Tonks' shoulder to where Emmeline was standing with Hestia.
"In the interest of romance, I suppose I'll have to provide you with further literature for your revising," Tonks said. "Maybe we'll start a book club for all of the romance starved Order members," she added with a laugh.
The kitchen began to fill with the rest of the Order who would be present for the meeting. Much to Tonks' displeasure, Remus lifted her feet off his lap and placed them on the floor so he could stand and turn his chair to face the room. Tonks sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, trying her best not to pout as she heard Dumbledore call the meeting to order. She looked over at Remus again as she felt him tap her knee to get her attention. She raised her eyebrows at him in question as he patted his lap and gave a flick of his head to motion for her to place her feet as before. Tonks smiled and settled happily with her feet resting on Remus.
As Tonks listened to the updates being given, she willed her eyes to remain open. She had little trouble, of course, while giving her own report and was able to likewise keep her attention while listening to Remus give his report of his meetings earlier in the week with other werewolves. She was even able to stay focused while listening to Emmeline talk of goings on in Diagon Alley. But once Bill began speaking of Goblin relations, she felt her eyelids grow heavy. She scrubbed her hands over her face in an attempt to wake herself up a bit, but found her eyes just as heavy once she crossed her arms again over her chest. She realized she must have dozed off at some point as she opened her eyes upon hearing "Nymphadora" whispered close to her ear. Tonks looked up to see Remus' face close to hers and smiled sleepily at him.
"I thought you could use this," he said quietly, holding out a mug of coffee. She took the mug, realizing she hadn't even woken up when he had moved her feet to rest on his chair. Tonks looked around the room, hoping nobody had noticed her falling asleep. Her hopes were dashed when she met the piercing gaze of Dumbledore who, thankfully, was looking at her with an amused expression.
"Sorry, sir," Tonks said as she sat up, pulling her feet off Remus' seat. "With all that talk about Goblins my mind must have travelled back to a History of Magic class and thought it needed a nap." Bugger. "I mean—" Tonks took a deep breath. "Oh hell, sorry I fell asleep, sir."
"Quite all right, Nymphadora," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "As I understand it, you've had an interesting day. In any case, we're close to finishing up."
The meeting came to an end while Tonks finished her coffee. As the kitchen began to empty of those who weren't staying for dinner, she leaned forward and rested her head on her arms. "Is it time for me to go to bed yet?" she asked, her voice muffled against the sleeves of her robes.
"Not until you've eaten something," Molly scolded from across the room, pulling two large Shepherd's pies from the oven. Tonks raised her head and nodded, not having the energy to argue.
Dinner luckily turned out to be a good way to keep Tonks awake until she could head home and collapse in her bed, with the conversation being light-hearted and lively. Sirius heartily debated Quidditch with the Weasley boys while Molly badgered Bill over wanting to meet the new girl he was seeing. Mad-Eye and Kinglsey both stayed and were happy to listen to the interesting events surrounding Tonks' trial run with a Weasley joke product. Tonks laughed at Mad-Eye's vehement suggestion that she should indeed begin drinking from a hip flask.
The kitchen cleared further and Tonks decided to go home for bed before she embarrassed herself by falling asleep at the table again. Just as she was getting ready to say goodnight, the fireplace at the far wall lit suddenly with green flames. Scarcely sooner than it was lit, a form came tumbling through the opening, landing in a heap on the kitchen floor. Closely following the heap came Albus Dumbledore, stepping neatly out of the fireplace with a look on his face Tonks had never seen him wear; anger, fury, the likes of which she was sure would terrify her if directed at her. He took two quick strides, bringing him to the form still laying on the floor. As Dumbledore reached down and dragged the heap up by the scruff of his neck, Tonks realized that the heap was Mundungus Fletcher.
A/N: Heehee, it wasn't Snape breaking into her flat! Although, that does leave with me with some ideas as to who else Mad-Eye could use to encourage Tonks to tighten her security:). As always, Betas rule!
Thanks to those who have reviewed! Coffee and reviews make my day:)