A/N: TPOV

Tonks watched Molly nod briefly in response to Severus' apology before going back in to check on her other guests. Tonks took the moment to pour a shot of firewhiskey for herself. When did this become a habit? She thought, wondering if she meant the fact that she was once again stalling or the firewhiskey.

"It's not poison, Nymphadora." Although Severus' voice was tired, she could also detect an edge of dry humor.

Tonks startled slightly, realizing she was glaring down at her drink. Smiling, thankful for the rescue out of her own thoughts, she lifted the drink in a form of cheers and downed the shot. Her nose wrinkling as the liquid burnt its way down her throat.

"Better?" Severus asked calmly.

"Much…Merlin, what a mess." Tonks sighed, running a hand through her hair, a slight laugh coloring the last part of her statement. Looking up at Severus she added, "I'm sorry for the way Remus-"

"Don't apologize for him." Severus said firmly, cutting her off. "You did nothing wrong and thus have nothing to apologize for. As for him, it is just another mark on the decades old list of things he should apologize to me for. Understand if I don't hold my breath until that happens. ...How was the visit with your parents?"

Tonks eyes widened briefly at the abrupt, but all too welcome, change of topic. Her hands, already shoved in her hoodie pockets to fight the chill, fanned the hoodie out showing it off, "My parents got this for me. My dad magically added the Weird Sisters' logo to the back." She said excitedly, spinning to show it off.

"Black and pink. It suits you well. I am assuming from the lack of apparent singe marks that your parent's house is still standing and your mother didn't manage to try to teach you domestic charm work as you had feared?"

Tonks smiled at the compliment toward her hoodie, before sticking her tongue out playfully at the reference to her past failures at charm work. "Oh, she tried. She always tries. She just now knows not to turn me loose on anything flammable or breakable, which, thank Merlin, narrows down her choices considerably."

"Then it leaves to reason that using you for domestic service is out of the question?"

"Hmmmmm…depends, would I get to wear a fun maid outfit? You never know, that might be all I am missing." Tonks replied, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.

Severus arched an eyebrow as his eyes briefly traveled up and down her body, no doubt imagining just what that would look like. "Indeed."

Remus appeared in the entryway to the garden, "A moment, Dora." He glanced at Severus, before adding pointedly, "Alone."

Severus glared at Remus before turning to Tonks. She nodded in return to tell him it was fine, rolling her eyes as Severus had to shoulder past Remus to get by.

Remus ran a hand through his hair, unsure of where he wanted to start, but simply relieved to have separated her from Severus.

"We were just talking, Remus." Tonks said trying to defuse the situation a bit.

"Oh, I could see exactly what you were just doing Dora. Why did you lie about Christmas?"

"I didn't lie."

"You said you spent it alone."

"No I said it was laid back and I didn't do much, you assumed that I was alone. And you were right earlier, you should have invited me, but you didn't. Because of that, I spent Christmas with who was available and wanted me around, which turned out to be the faculty and staff of Hogwarts." Tonks responded defensively.

A guilty look crossed Remus' face before it became obscured by a dark glaze, "Do you like him?" Remus knew he was sounding a lot like Harry from the other night, but at the moment was too consumed by the possibility to care.

"What?" Tonks said breathlessly, less surprised by the question than she was by the way she wanted to answer.

"Snape. Do. You. Like. Him." Remus growled out.

Yes. Her mind thought desperately, as she turned away knowing the truth would show in her eyes. He reached out and captured her arm to pull her back. Remus cried out, retracting his hand quickly, looking at the burnt imprint of a chain on his hand. Tonks looked down at her wrist, trying to figure out what had happened, before spotting her bracelet. Silver. Her eyes darted up to Remus before darting quickly inside, where Severus had gone, and back down at her wrist.

Remus followed her eyes as he held his hand close protectively. It isn't like her to wear jewelry. However, as he thought back to all the times he had seen her recently, he wasn't sure he could remember seeing her without it. The hospital ward. I would have noticed it there. However, it was the noted glance inside, as she subconsciously moved the bracelet around her wrist that made all the pieces fall into place. A dangerous growl escaped his lips as he stalked forward, pinning both of her forearms, careful to avoid the bracelet, to the outside wall of the Burrow.

"Remus, what are you…let go of me!" Tonks protested, trying to wrench her arms out of his bruising grip. A trickle of fear ran down her spine as she saw his nostrils flare and recalled what Severus had insinuated earlier, when you are too ashamed to admit how the scent of fear turns you on? "Remus, please, you are hurting me."

"Does he think that he can win you over, Dora? He is evil. Even when he saved you, he had to resort to dark means to do so. All of these little trinkets? A plant that is dark and menacing when I know you prefer bright and jovial? A bracelet made out of silver when he knows there is already something between you and me? Don't you see? Everything he does is calculated, and none of it shows that he knows or cares for you at all, just that he is willing to play a game."

Tonks used her struggles to try to mask the actual sting his words had caused. "What would you know about trying to win anyone over!?" Tonks shot back. "Letters telling me to leave you alone! Possessive demands! Flowers only given as a silent challenge to be placed on a desk! Lies, interrogations and apologies! That is all I seem to get from you!" She was yelling, completely focused on him and forgetting the party going on inside.

Remus bared his teeth angrily, tightening his grip and moving in closer, only to freeze abruptly at the feel of a wand held to his throat.

"Let. Her. Go." Severus' deep baritone ordered, dripping with promised threat. Remus' grip loosened and Tonks was able to pull free. Glancing around she realized that in the last moment or everyone had come out to the garden, most likely due to her shouting. Severus, still holding Remus at wand point, forced him to back up a number of steps.

Given the space, Tonks realized she was shaking, the furious look in Remus' eyes as he glanced from Severus to her and back again didn't help. She hugged her hoodie closer to herself before saying, "You were right earlier, my patronus did change into you. Although, right now, I can't for the life of me remember why." She was glad that she managed to keep her voice from breaking, even as she felt like something inside her was. She raised her chin and made her way through the small group, trying to ignore how they all quietly moved out of the way. Mad-Eye made an attempt to reach out to her, but she shrugged him off as she continued into the now empty house and outside to the front, needing the quiet, chill and solitude that came with it.