For the first week that Remus was living with her, Tonks didn't know what to do with herself. Things were awkward and stiff. Both of them were still mourning Sirius, but Tonks' sadness had nothing on Remus'. She came home each evening to find him in his room with the door shut. The only time he came out was to cook them both dinner, something he insisted on doing as a way of thanking her for letting him stay.

They would eat together as Tonks regaled him with the less than glamorous stories of her day at the Auror Office. Remus always listened, thankful for updates on how the Ministry was handling Voldemort now that they acknowledged he was back.

She knew Remus left during the day and searched for jobs, but she never pushed him to talk about it. He would allude to what he'd gotten up to, his discomfort apparent, and Tonks knew he was being rejected more often than he wanted to admit.

They'd eat dinner; Tonks would share her day; and then Remus would go back to his room and close the door. Tonks would putter around the flat for a few more hours, trying to occupy herself and hoping Remus would come back out to talk some more.

He never did.

When Tonks came home at the end of the work week to find him neither in his room nor cooking but instead sitting on the sofa and staring at a wall, she was surprised. She hovered in the doorway and watched him. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed her come in. His face appeared even more lined than usual in the dark light of the room. He hadn't bothered to turn on the lights or light a candle as the sun had gotten lower in the sky.

"You know the TV remote is right there if you want to watch anything."

Remus jumped, his hand flying to the pocket of his jeans where he stored his wand. Tonks held her hands up, regretting that she hadn't made more noise as she'd entered. Sometimes, in the comfort of her flat, she forgot how dangerous the world outside had become, but Remus never forgot. He'd lived through this before and knew what threats they were facing.

"Sorry," she said, giving him a sheepish smile. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Remus sighed and settled back against the sofa cushions, his wand forgotten about. "It's all right," he promised. "I should have trusted your wards to hold up. They're strong; even the best Death Eater would be hard-pressed to make it through them."

Tonks smirked as she sat down in the armchair. "As an Auror, I'd hope I could perform some decent security spells."

Remus smiled at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. He glanced at the remote that Tonks had mentioned when she first came in. They'd talked about the TV on his first day in the flat, but Remus hadn't touched it since. Tonks had turned it on some nights, hoping the noise would lure Remus back into the living room, but it had yet to work.

Her friends from school had always been impressed when she'd shown off Muggle technology to them, but Remus was different. He had a Muggle mother and had grown up around more Muggle technology than Tonks had experienced during her occasional trips to her grandparents.

"I'm not in the mood for TV," he said.

"Are you in the mood to talk?" Tonks asked, her heart racing. She knew that, if he said yes, their conversation was going to be different than the times when Tonks had narrated her entire day from start to finish.

Remus gave her a small smile. "I have to return to the werewolves soon," he said. "Dumbledore wrote to me today." He motioned at the envelope Tonks hadn't noticed on the coffee table. "Voldemort is ramping up his efforts now that the Ministry knows he's back. He doesn't have to hide what he's doing. We need someone monitoring the situation with the werewolves for the Order. You know the Ministry won't do it. They've assumed that we're already on his side."

Tonks was quiet for a moment. Convincing Remus to stay with her had felt like such a victory, yet he'd leave almost as soon as he'd gotten there. But he was right that it was necessary, and she knew from her own experience at the Ministry that they'd never reach out to the werewolves. They didn't even have someone in the department who could do what Remus could.

"Sounds like as good of a reason as any to have a bit of fun before you go," she said. She brandished the remote in her hand. "Nothing is as good a distraction as a movie night, and I don't know about you, but I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow. Nothing's stopping us from making a full night of it. We can make popcorn and see what the Muggles are into these days. How about it?"

For a second, she thought Remus would refuse, but he surprised her.

"Yeah, all right. A movie might do me some good."

Tonks beamed, and it earned her one of the few genuine smiles she'd gotten from Remus in the past week.

"Great!" she said. "I don't know what's on, so I can't promise it'll be good. But the bad ones are always a good laugh anyway."

Remus chuckled, and Tonks felt like she was floating. This, finally, was what she'd been hoping for, and if they only had it for a few more days, she was going to make the most of it.