Halloween

(AN: we finally get a little more insight on who Ashlee is, what what her role in the order is.)

Tonks sat at her desk, filling out some end of the day paperwork. It was only Tuesday but it felt like it could have been Friday. The week was certainly dragging on.

Tonks looked at her watch, noticing that it was almost time to leave for the day. She sighed in relief.

Sirius had asked her to come over after work that day, and she was secretly hopeful to see Remus. She knew Halloween wasn't their favorite day of the year, so she was hopeful she could help keep their spirits high. Tonks bit on the end of her quill, thinking more about Remus.

She internally scolded herself, over her crush, before putting the finishing touches on her paperwork for the day.

There was an Order meeting later that night, so Tonks made sure to wait around for Mad Eye at the end of the day, as they always walked to the meetings together.

Tonks was lacing up one of her boots when she heard Mad Eye stomp into her office cubicle.

"Hi Mad Eye. How're the newest recruits treating you?" Tonks asked.

Mad Eye had come back to the ministry after Voldemort had come back and had been stuck training new auror since his return.

Moody grumbled on about the newest recruits all being incompetent, while Tonks just smiled and nodded. Moody always said he didn't like his trainees but Tonks knew very deep down he had a soft spot for them.

Soon, the pair hurried away from the ministry, disapperating to headquarters.

Once at headquarters, Tonks made her way to the kitchen, looking for Sirius or Remus. She was hoping that Remus would be around. Ever since Sirius had told her that Remus liked her back, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

Down in the kitchen, Sirius was reading the newspaper with a wrinkled brow. While Remus sat writing in his journal, which he had found himself using more and more.

'I had mentioned weeks ago that we shouldn't have a meeting on Halloween. But, this suggestion appears to have gone unheeded...' Remus put his quill down, unsure of what to say next. Before he could continue his thoughts though, Tonks walked into the kitchen.

He smiled at her.

"Wotcher." She greeted them both.

Remus politely acknowledged her, while Sirius appeared to not have noticed her.

Tonks and Remus both looked over at Sirius, who was being uncommonly quiet.

Tonks and Remus talked to each other until the other order members started to come down to the kitchen. Remus had secretly been very relieved for the distraction.

Tonks and Remus sat together as the meeting began, and Mad Eye discussed the agenda for that night.

As Mad Eye talked, Tonks occasionally found herself glancing over at Remus, who was too focused on the actual meeting to notice. Tonks bit her thumb nail in an attempt to not fantasize about him but it wasn't exactly easy when he was right next to her.

Eventually, the other members started to discuss their recent movements.

Tonks attempted to not zone out while Snape droned on about recent death eater activities and Voldemort's plans.

Remus looked over at Tonks, and smiled slightly at her facial expression of pure boredom while Snape was talking.

after what seemed like forever, Snape finally shut up.

Ashlee started talking next. Tonks knew her job mostly revolved around surveillance. But, other than that she hadn't really gotten to know the younger woman. Tonks was kinda surprised they never met at Hogwarts, they had to be pretty close in age, she thought. Ashlee didn't look like she was a day over 25. Tonks vaguely wondered if she just looked young...she didn't look like she got very much sun.

Tonks realized then, that she had not been paying very close attention to what Ashlee had been saying. She was only broken out of her internal monologue by Snape' voice echoing through the kitchen.

"That doesn't sound very risky, tell us all again, what exactly do you bring to the table?"

Ashlee scoffed at him, turning to face him.

"I'm sorry, do you have a problem?" Ashlee asked roughly.

"Well, I don't know. But it seems to me that we are all out here, or most of us anyway, and we're risking our lives for the cause, but really what risk is it to you if we loose?" Snape said, as rude as he possibly could've.

"So your saying I don't have skin in the game?" She spat.

Tonks was shocked, she knew Snape could be unpleasant, but he was clearly insulting her.

He clearly thought that he was a more valuable team member than Ashlee was. Tonks really wasn't sure where he got off making comments like that, it wasn't like he was the MVP of the Order or anything like that.

"It's true. What do you bring to the table...other than being a vampire. You certainly don't win any competitions just because of that. You need real skill."

'Holy Shit." Tonks thought. Everyone else must have thought the same thing because the room was eerily quiet.

Ashlee just looked at Snape, glaring through him.

Suddenly, Ashlee kicked his chair out from underneath him, breaking the leg of his chair. Severus looked up at her from the ground, livid.

Sirius could barely contain himself, laughing into his hands.

"Hmm, seems like being a vampire suited me just fine for this competition." Ashlee said, as she walked passed Snape, out the door.

Snape looked over at Mad Eye, as if he was going to take his side. "She's not allowed to do that!" Snape sneered.

Med Eye just stared at him, no one wanted to even say anything.

Tonks couldn't help but think Snape was horrendous, she wasn't surprised no one wanted to say anything to him.

Suddenly, a voice next to her spoke. "And you're not allowed to out people but you do anyway."

Tonks was a little shocked, it had been Remus.

Remus was glaring at Snape, while Snape just looked shocked that Remus had addressed his rude behavior.

"What is wrong with you?" Remus posed the question to Snape before getting up to leave the room.

Afterwards, Mad Eye quickly ended the meeting while most of the Order started to stream out of the kitchen, leaving much quicker than typical.

Tonks thought briefly about leaving with them, considering that perhaps she should let Sirius and Remus be together on such a difficult day.

Tonks decided she would at least go and look for Remus, at the least she wanted to say goodbye to him.

Wondering around, she eventually found Remus in the second floor sitting room, Sirius and Ashlee were talking in the far corner of the room, and Remus was sitting on the opposite end of the room.

"Wotcher." Tonks said, walking over to see Remus.

Remus gave Tonks a small smile.

"Hi." Remus greeted her.

"So, good meeting, ay." Tonks joked.

Remus smirked fondly.

"Yeah, that pretty much couldn't have gone worse. Remus said.

"It was nice that you said something to him, Remus."

Remus just shook his head a little, before looking at Tonks.

"I just- I don't understand why he did that." Remus murmured.

He looked so puzzled.

"I mean, isn't Snape kind of an arse to most people?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, but you don't know the whole story." He added.

Now it was Tonks turn to look puzzled. Before Remus had the chance to explain further, Ashlee spoke up from across the room.

"Voldemort killed my best friend. That's why I'm here, Snape knows that. Voldemort and I went to Hogwarts together. This. It's personal for me."

Tonks was shocked. "That's horrible." Tonks said, "I'm really sorry."

Ashlee nodded, "thank you, it was a really long time ago, but I have no intention of letting him get away with it."

This made it all so much worse. Snape had suggested she didn't have as much of a reason to be there than the rest of them, and clearly that was very untrue.

"That's why I said something." Remus said, "he was wrong." He continued.

"I'll survive, I promise." Ashlee said, and soon after said goodbye to the three of them, leaving headquarters.

"I had mentioned that maybe a meeting today wasn't the best thing, maybe I was right." Remus mentioned.

Tonks couldn't help but feel badly for Remus in that moment.

"I know today is really hard for a lot of people."

Tonks said, hoping to give some comfort.

Remus sighed, looking at Tonks. "That's certainly true."

Tonks thought that she should probably leave, not wanting to be intrusive on a difficult day.

"Well, I think I'm probably going to go walk home now." Tonks said, saying goodbye to Remus and Sirius.

But, before Tonks made it to the front door. Remus called out from behind her.

"Hey, I'll walk you home. If-if you want." Remus hoped he sounded casual enough, he didn't want her to know how he felt about her. He knew he probably shouldn't even have offered, he just didn't want to leave her yet.

Tonks was surprised, she had wanted to get him alone for awhile, ever since Sirius had mentioned that Remus liked her. Deep down she still worried it wasn't true, but figured this might be her chance to find out for sure.

"Yeah, I'd like that." She said smiling, putting her jacket on.

Together they walked towards Tonks apartment.

"Remus, can I ask you something?"

"Mhmm, yes."

"What's the deal with Snape? Like, he clearly has an issue, and it definitely wasn't Ashlee..."

Remus considered the question. She wasn't wrong, he certainly wasn't ever a very pleasant person.

"Well, like I said, we probably shouldn't of had a meeting today, but um , I think he might have always just been that way." Remus mused.

"Abrasive, and rude?" Tonks asked. Silently wondering why today would be hard for Snape ...

Remus laughed at her joke.

"Yes." He chuckled.

"Speaking of today, how are you and Sirius holding up?" Tonks asked.

Remus smiled sadly. It had been a genuine question, but he just wasn't sure how to answer it.

Remus sighed. "I figured Sirius could do with some time alone. He likes the space, and I figured fresh air couldn't hurt me."

Tonks just looked at him, he hadn't particularly answered the question.

Remus sighed. "We're holding up." He said, answering her question.

Tonks nodded in understanding.

"It's a shame really, that you never got to meet James and Lily. They were both so great. James certainly would have enjoyed himself at the meeting tonight."

Tonks smiled, chuckling. "You mean like Sirius? The bloke was practically in tears when Ashlee broke Snape's chair."

Remus laughed, "yeah he would have particular enjoyed that."

Tonks smiled, she enjoyed hearing Remus talk about his friends.

As they turned the corner onto Tonks street, the pair continued chatting happily. But, Tonks kept thinking about Ashlee.

"Was I the only one who didn't know about Ashlee?" Tonks asked, Remus.

Remus smiled. "No, you were not the only one. Ashlee was in the Order before, so pretty much all of the past members knew. Snape just felt like everyone needed reminding apparently." Remus shook his head at the thought of Snape.

He had technically done the same thing to him when they worked together.

"Well, this is my flat." Tonks pointed towards the lightly blue colored building.

Remus thought it suited her well.

"Thank you for walking me home, Remus."

"Oh, don't mention it." He replied.

Tonks kinda moved oddly, and Remus was shocked because he thought that she was going to give him a hug. But she kissed him lightly on the cheek instead. if he had been shocked by the idea of her giving him a hug. this completely flabbergasted him.

"Goodnight Remus." Tonks said smiling at him.

"Um, G-Goodnight Tonks." Remus sputtered back.

Then, she went inside, leaving Remus outside blushing furiously and in a state of complete astonishment.

Remus decided to walk back to Headquarters that night. He needed the time to think. despite a lot of evidence to suggest differently, Remus still attempted to convince himself Tonks only liked him as a friend.

"She just felt badly for you. She doesn't like you like that...she can't." He thought as he started walking up the steps in front of Grimauld Place.

Remus' thoughts stopped him dead in his tracks halfway up the stone steps.

"Oh, Fuck." He thought, horrified. Realizing, that if she did like him back, that the situation had just gotten a lot worse off. It wouldn't be just his disappointment he'd have to live with, but he'd have to live with hers too.

(AN: JK talks about vampires in every single one of the HP books, but only ever gives us a single example in the last book about them. Figured I'd fix that!)