The longer their affair remained undiscovered, the bolder they became; when at first they'd only met after Order meetings, they now dared to have a quick snog before (or, once, even during) the Order meeting, and a lot of the times not even in the one of the many closets of 12 Grimmauld Place, but in the kitchen, in the library, in the hallway... It's like they wanted to be caught, to finally have an excuse to end the clandestine meetings, the secret trysts and to just have a relationship out in the open.
The rumor of an illicit affair within the Order had been going around for a few weeks and Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were still no closer to uncovering the secret identities of the two people who had been 'knocking wands' in the closets of 12 Grimmauld Place. The summer break was coming to a close and they were getting desperate; Hermione had drawn up a spread sheet, where the four were currently huddled around, together with Fred, George and Tonks. On the spread sheet were all possible combinations of two Order members; only some possibilities were already discarded.
"Sirius and Hestia Jones", Ron suggested, not for the first time.
Hermione sighed. "It's not scandalous enough. Why would they hide their relationship from the others? Sure, the public still believes Sirius is a mad murderer, but we know that that's not true. It has to be someone unexpected. Someone who has reason to hide..."
"Glad to see I'm still in the run with plenty of possible partners", Tonks threw in with a wide grin. "Although I do not understand why you've discarded me and Hestia..."
"Well", Hermione blushed. "I... We didn't think...", she stammered.
"I'm just messing with you", Tonks laughed. "Hestia is not my type. But still, don't be too quick with your assumptions! "
"What is your type, Tonksie? ", Fred and George asked sweetly.
She raised her eyebrow at them. "Dark, mysterious, and a lot older than me." With a wink she rose and went downstairs into the kitchen. Crookshanks, who'd sat curled up in her lap, gave an indignant meow and jumped over to Hermione. "I'll go see if I can help Molly in the kitchen."
Hermione and Ginny waited until they were sure she had left and was outside of earshot.
"Sooo", Hermione began, visibly excited. "Ginny and I had a theory that one of the two is Tonks. And dear Crookshanks here", she patted him on the head and he purred contentedly, "just confirmed our suspicion."
Harry and Ron exchanged a questioning glance. "How do you know", Harry asked.
"And, more importantly, why didn't you include us?"
Hermione blushed furiously and even Ginny's cheeks were tinged with red.
"Ohhh, this must be really good!", George said with a big grin that was also reflected on Fred's face. This smelled like mischief; the twins favourite smell.
"Promise not to laugh", Hermione said.
"We promise", the four boys said in unison. Ginny glared at her brothers. "Tripple fluffy promise", she said with finality in her voice.
Fred and George heaved a sigh, then put their hands in the air and repeated: "Tripple fluffy promise. Now out with it, what did you do?"
Hermione seemed to be too embarrassed to speak, so Ginny began.
"The morning after the last Order meeting, when Hermione and I were in the kitchen, we found this", and she pulled a black lace thong out of her bag. Now it was Harry's and Ron's turn to grow tomato red. Fred and George were fairly red in the face, too, but that was because they were doing their best not to burst out laughing.
"And how do you know", Harry stuttered, "that this belongs to Tonks?"
"That's were Crookshanks comes in", Hermione, who seemed to have found her voice again, explained. "I asked him to find the person this thing belongs to. When he immediately ran up to Tonks and curled up in her lap, I knew."
"Crookshanks is not a dog", Ron interjected at the same time as Harry said: "How do you know he doesn't just really like Tonks?"
"That's true, Ron", Hermione said graciously and then added: "He's better than a dog. And while he usually likes Tonks, he's never reacted quite like that towards her. He practically bolted out of my arms towards her. No no, Crookshanks knew exactly what he was doing." She petted his head again and scratched him lightly under his chin. He purred and blinked once at Ron and Harry. Ron stuck out his tongue towards him.
"Well, even if you are sure that it's Tonks" - "We are", Ginny said resolutely - "even if you are sure", Harry continued, "we still don't know who she's having the affair with!"
"whom", Hermione muttered.
"Mayhaps..." George began, which was immediately met with enthusiastic nodding from Fred, who continued: "Mayhaps we can be of help with that!" "Mind you, it's only a prototype..." "With very few human trials..."
"Well out with it you two!" Ginny threw them an impatient look.
"Weeeell", Fred started, "there is this potion we've been working on..." "It could be the perfect solution, now that we know who to give it to."
"whom", Hermione grumbled under her breath.
"Exactly, thank you, dear Hermione. Whom to give it to. Gred, would you be so kind to fetch it? I think it's time this unusual secret affair within the Order come to light."
"I'll go see if I can help Molly in the kitchen", Tonks said as she rose to leave the room. She had to admit, she really enjoyed this cat and mouse game with the kids; they were a lot more dedicated and resourceful than the rest of the Order, who seemed to have almost forgotten about the rumor of an affair within. She liked to tell herself she didn't mind, but deep down she did. She also liked to tell herself that her fling with Severus was nothing more than just that; a fling, a usual affair, nothing to write home about. Except that she wanted to write about, talk about it, about him and their time together. In the past few weeks, it had become more than just sex. And that scared and excited her.
When she'd made her way down, she promptly ignored the kitchen, went directly past it and made her way into the library, where Severus was already sitting alone, book in hand, waiting; for her. It made her feel all kinds of things she'd never thought she feel about him.
"What'cha reading?", she asked as she plopped down next to him on the couch. He wordlessly turned the book towards her. "A comparative history of Potions... How fascinating!" Her voice dripped with sarcasm and she saw the ghost of a smile curl his lips.
"Of course", he whispered, putting the book away, "not as fascinating as you." He leaned over towards her, his mouth hovering over hers and throwing her an amused look as he noticed her impatient tug on his collar.
"I missed you", she blurted out before she could stop herself and blushed a delicious crimson, clashing beautifully with her pink hair. He was surprised to hear her say it, because they didn't usually verbalize anything they felt; after all, it had started as just sex. Who was to know if the other felt, too, that somehow it had become more than that? He released her from her embarrassment when he replied: "I missed you, too."
With a happy sigh, she sunk in his embrace and got lost in his kisses. The door was ajar, but they didn't much care about that. People avoided Severus before (and during and after) the meetings and Tonks knew Molly would not miss her help in the kitchen. They had the whole time before the meeting would begin to themselves.
"By the way", Tonks threw in between kisses, "I think I lost my knickers last week."
They had never been as excited for a meeting to end as today. The moment they heard Dumbledore officially end the meeting, the six teenagers stormed into the room.
"We know who's having the affair", they all proclaimed. The grown-ups all turned to them, eyes wide.
"How do you even know about that?", Molly asked with a shrill voice, casting accusing glances towards Sirius, who immediately defended himself. "I didn't say anything, you don't have to give me that look! It was probably Dung who told them when he was drunk."
Mundungus started to object, but then only grumbled something unintelligible. Before more accusations could be flung around the room, Dumbledore stepped in. He raised his arms soothingly and looked over the rim of his glasses around the room. "l suggest we let the Misses Granger and Weasley and the Misters Potter and Weasleys explain themselves." He threw a knowing glance towards Severus and Nymphadora, who both looked considerably paler than normal, but no one else seemed to notice.
"Thank you, Professor", Fred and George bowed and then began. "Before we uncover the truth, anyone wanna bet?" They looked around the room expectantly, but no one raised their hands.
"Get on with it", Ginny hissed.
"Well, we present you...none other than our very own Nymphadora Tonks!"
All eyes were on Tonks, whose metamorph abilities betrayed her again, when her cheeks became the most violent shade of pink and her hair was momentarily drained of all colour. It was as good as a confession. All attention was on her, so no one - except her and Dumbledore - noticed how Severus Snape quietly gathered his things and tried to sneak out of the room.
"Well, but who is she having the affair with?", Hestia asked, while an exasperated Hermione muttered: "whom".
"We don't know exactly", Fred admitted. "But", George grinned confidently, "we have a way of finding out. Behold", he and Fred presented a pink bottle to theit very attentive audience. "Just a tiny sip of this and our lovely little Tonksie will tell us all about her little affair." The triumphant grins the six teenagers had sported vanished immediately when Tonks just shrugged and stated matter of factly: "I'm not gonna drink it." She exchanged a glance with Severus, who was almost out of the door, but relaxed when he saw her determined face. Even if the children knew that it was Tonks, they had no was of knowing it was him and Tonks. That was just too unlikely.
" Huh", Harry and Ron looked at each other. "What do we do now?"
Hermione stepped forward confidently. "I know who it is, even without Potions or magic! It's simple logic: Tonks told us her type is dark, mysterious and older than her." She looked around at her friends. Ginny gave her an encouraging nod and Fred and George made a gesture to signal that the stage was all hers. Harry and Ron looked confusedly at each other, but also nodded at Hermione.
"Tonks' lover", Hermione again blushed at that, "is none other than... Remus Lupin !"
Suddenly all attention shifted towards Remus, who felt just as confused as Tonks and Severus in that moment. "I... I think you've got something wrong...", he stuttered, when Tonks threw her arms exasperatedly in the air and shouted: "Oh for Merlin's sake, it's Severus! Severus is the one I've been... He's my... We are... Ugh!" and with that she stormed towards Snape and before anyone could react, kissed him straight on the mouth, in front of everyone. For a few seconds, everyone just watched in shock. Then all hell broke lose.