Tonks

She hasn't been able to sleep too well the previous evening. She has, for the most part, ignored her parents' owls; she cannot let them know, she cannot put them in danger.

'Heya, Mom, busy at work, gonna come over on Sunday, I think. Love-Dora'

She hasn't technically lied, yet she feels horrible. She needs to arrive at HQ by 9. It's already 8.45 and she hasn't packed a thing. She's ransacked her apartment, looking for anything wearable. So what if she wouldn't shower for the entire duration of the mission? Who would even know

It's 8.50 and she hears a loud rapping on her door. Fuck, she needs to Disapparate quickly, before the neighbours keep her up. She normally loves the chatter, but she is already so, so terribly late. She grabs two shirts at random and her wand, but just before leaving she hears a voice from the hallway.

'It's me, Remus!'

What's he doing here? Suddenly, she feels embarrassed at the thought of him seeing her messy flat.

'Just a moment!' she yells, preparing a spell, but she ends up tripping on a loose wise .

'Get out of the way, Lupin!'

She groans. Of course he hadn't come alone.

'Jesus, Nymphadora! I was right in suspecting you hadn't packed shit-'

'Don't call me Nymphadora!' she grumbles, ignoring Mad-Eye's death glare.

Remus stands in the corner, eyes flitting around. He's judging the mess; he must think her a-…Why does she care? She barely knows him. But then he catches her eye and smiles. He realises he hadn't been gazing at the mess but looking for her in the piles of clothes. He makes his way through towards her. 'Such a dear, trying not to move stuff around in his way', she thinks.

He reaches out for her and she grabs onto his hand, feeling herself being pulled up. She feels light, he's lifted her as if she didn't weigh a thing. Obviously, she nearly trips and he holds out his arms to catch her. She manages to stay upright by leaning a hand on his chest.

'Thanks,' she says. His scars seem more pronounced in the daylight and she has a sudden urge to trace them with her fingers. She quickly catches herself and breaks away.

'You didn't have to come and get me, Mad-Eye, I was almost re-' she stops in her tracks as it's evident even to her that she couldn't possibly have been ready on time.

'Luckily for you, change of plans; Sirius packed you both a set of old Black clothing so you can blend in better.'

'You two?' she looks sideways at Remus and realises he's coming along. She feels instant waves of relief. If he's there too, it's going to be all right. She wouldn't mess it up with her clumsiness. Remus is going to be there.

'You two have a room at the nearest inn to Malfoy Manor. For now, just stake them out, they're bound to go for a drink from time to time. If they don't move in a week or so, we'll proceed with further instructions. All clear?'

They both nod and Mad-Eye tosses them two duffel bags.

'And you cannot be seen! Especially you, Tonks!'

She nods, quite aware of this fact.

'And I'm not cleaning up here! You're going to have a bug infestation by the time you get back!'

He Disapparates and she sighs, letting her bag drop. 'Just a moment, Remus!' She cleans up and soon afterwards her wand is stashed and she's holding out her hand to him.

'Sorry about the mess-' she starts. He clearly hadn't mentioned it, so why would she have? She just looks even more stupid right about now.

'Please don't be, it was lovely seeing Mad-Eye like that, he annoyed me the entire way here'.

They arrive on an empty field. As Remus stashes the Portkey, she scrunches up her nose, trying to fade out her natural features. Lucius wouldn't recognise her, but her aunt might notice a small Black characteristic that reminds her of her sister and their cover would be instantly blown.

'How do I look?' as she asks, she realises she hadn't told him about her skills, but he looks completely unsurprised.

'Completely different and yet the same' he turns to drinks the Polyjuice Potion and she patiently waits for him to transform into a much younger man with heaps of long black hair. She stifles a visceral reaction; she knows it's still him but she would much rather have him as before.

'You weren't surprised…' she remarks as he's gathering up the bags.

'Well, when Moody told me we're saving up on Polyjuice with you, I put two and two together. If you don't mind me saying, it's quite ironic how you accused me of keeping secrets when you yourself haven't mentioned-'

He turns around to notice her glued to the spot.

'So, I was just chosen to spare resources-' her voice is feeble and she plops down upon the wet grass.

Of course, idiot! Stop whining and do something more useful than making your hair longer for silly boys and party tricks. She feels a tear crawl out and looks away. She doesn't want him to see her cry, she has never felt quite so stupid.

'I'm so sorry' she hears a panicked Remus mumble, 'I really didn't mean to-'

'It's not you, Remus, it's just…. it's stupid….'

By now she's started heaving and she hears him sit down next to her. She still tries to avert her eyes, even though it's quite obvious to the both of them that she's sobbing.

'I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do?' his voice sounds shaky. 'Great, now I'm worrying him!' she thinks. As if he doesn't have anything better to do, he has to sit around and babysit her.

'It's all right, Remus, you can go ahead, the potion's going to run off,' she whispers willing herself to calm down.

'Fuck the potion!'

She feels his arm around her and a tentative pull towards him. For a moment she wishes he would let go so that she doesn't embarrass herself more, but the hug feels so nice that she leans into it. She looks up into his face and finds herself wishing that the potion would wear off.

They stay huddled up in silence for a while. She feels the beat of his heart and although it's going quite fast, it seems to calm her down.

'I'm sorry I said that…' he whispers into her neck.

'It really isn't you, Remus. You're great…. you've been great!'

Her voice falters and they sit in silence some more. She wants to look him in the eye, but she knows they're not actually him.

'I want to be chosen for more than just my skill! Like I know it's a huge asset but-' her voice gives out again. It's stupid to even voice it considering she hadn't had the guts to mention it before.

'Tonks, of course you were chosen for more than that!' he replies and his hand is suddenly caressing her arm. It stops abruptly. It was quite comforting but she's not going to ask him to do that again, she blushes only at the thought.

'You're an Auror, for God's sake! Mad-Eye himself vouches for you, you know how cool that is?'

'Yeah, I know, it was stupid….' She disentangles herself from his arms, she's bothered him enough for one day.

'It's not. It's not stupid. You don't want it to be the only thing you're known for,'

She looks at him, as the potion slowly starts to wane. Fuck, it's already been an hour. The creases of his skin are coming back and she almost smiles at the sight of them.

'Yeah, you guessed right,' she mumbles, staring ahead across the moor towards the inn where they should've already been by now.

'I didn't guess…'he says in a low voice. 'I know.'

He seems to be struggling with saying something and she watches as he scrunches up in pain.

'Remus, you don't have to-' she starts saying, reaching for his arm, but stopping herself midway.

'No, I do. I have to, you're going to find out eventually. I'm a werewolf.'

Remus

He closes his eyes while saying it. He doesn't know what's come over him. He doesn't know what had come over him but he has concluded that now was a good time as any. She'll be bewildered for a moment after which she'll be nice and accommodating, but he will know that she would never see him the same. She might not hate him, but she's certainly going to be much more reserved. He doesn't know why that bothers him, it's in actuality a very good thing, he's already brought Sirius and Harry closer. Too close for their well-being.

Tonks doesn't look like herself, but he'd still recognise her soft oval eyes and her mischievous grin. Wait, why is she grinning?

'So, we're both shapeshifters…. That's pretty cool….'

'No,' he snaps, making her jump. He instantly feels like an ass. He's an idiot. 'I'm sorry,' he clutches his head, 'Please forgive me, I-'

'It's okay, you don't want to talk about it,' her face is kind and understanding but he knows he's hurt her. His reaction and not the reveal of his condition is what might have put a huge dent in their friendship. He means to say something…. anything. to explain. But she hands him the potion.

'We really should get going,' she says.

'Tonks I'm so-'

'Remus, please, I'm the one who should apologize! Our conditions are nowhere similar and it was insensitive of me to say that, I just-' she pauses, swallowing her words.

His hands are shaking on the flash as he understands. They have something in common and she likes that. Her transformations are useful, not shameful and at will and for a moment he wants to yell that, indeed, their conditions are nothing alike. But in a very rudimentary way they are. And he too likes finally having something common with her. She's young and pretty and joyful, they might as well have this one thing in common. He decides he quite like it too.

He gulps down the potion, not before smiling, trying to achieve a truce.

'I don't know what to say about my powers but yours are pretty cool indeed!'

'Names?' the old witch at the front desk asks.

'Bones. Amelia and Chris Bones.'

They are handed a key and they make their way upstairs. Remus's heart starts beating fast. How had he not realised this before. Moody had checked them in as a couple, there will certainly only be one bed. That's all right, he'll obviously just left her have it, why is he even stressing out about this? He's just embarrassed, he thinks. It's strange, he realises, the idea of them as a couple. He's ashamed to pretend to be married to her even only for a mission. He hasn't felt so out of place in a while…

Tonks opens the door and there's two beds. His heart sinks. You pervert! Were you secretly hoping to get her in bed? Or did you just crave playing the gentleman and do the whole 'I'll take the floor' dance? What is wrong with you!

SHUT UP! He yells at himself. It was a silly, instinctive reaction and doesn't mean absolutely anything.

'I'll take the one by the window!' she says before plopping down. They had spent what felt like ages in an awkward silence by the bar, waiting to see if the Malfoys would show up before going upstairs. They had only exchanged some meaningless pleasantries and he tried to be happy about it. he had distanced himself; it was what he should have done. And yet he couldn't shake the awful feeling of nervousness.

He also laid down still fully dressed, listening to her soft breaths. Even if they'd never talk again, he'd be content to listen to her breath. Then, unexpectedly, she talks.

'It's not always so cool, you know. People start…expecting things of you. And just now, I'm still not quite sure if I'd even be here had I not been a Metamorphagus….'

'Can I ask what you meant by 'expecting things from you'?'

He turns towards her and he notices her suddenly getting uncomfortable.

'Like…being asked to change to be more…. cool….or seem smarter….or prettier…'

'You're always pretty-' he couldn't help it. He'd been feeling rage coming up upon hearing her talk about her having to morph around like a circus animal. He feels embarrassed and now she's looking at him. She's going to think he's a massive creep, he'd got to correct himself somehow! 'I mean,' he blabbers, 'All those people are idiots and you look just as nice now as you did before!'

'You think I'm pretty….' She smiles and he turns away. His hands are all clamming and his mind starts fogging up. No. well, she is. But he still shouldn't have said that and now he couldn't very well unsay it.

'Well…' his eyes flit around the room, wishing he could just disappear. 'Well, you're not…not pretty. And who are those people to comment anyways. Like they have any special skill set of their own!' Good, Remus, you've made the conversation move past that awkward moment. It has passed and you are certainly not sad about it. 'And you're an amazing Auror with or without your powers and if you dare contradict me on this, I'm leaving you here with those shitty relatives of your!'

She laughs and he feels lighter, the tension having dissipated.

'Well, good thing my mom grew balls and fucked off with her sexy high-school sweetheart'

'Ew, Tonks, those are your parents' he can't help but grin.

'So what? They have an amazing love story and I stand by it! so great it ripped apart the noble house of Black!' she mocks and then suddenly falls serious. She seems lime she wants to continue but ends up deciding against it. He doesn't push.

'Think we should get some sleep,' he mumbles and she agrees.

The lights are off and he cannot sleep. He listens to her soft breathing. Has she fallen asleep? He'd left the room to allow her to change and since then he cannot stop thinking about it. you filthy, filthy man, he tells himself. He's just lonely and having some intrusive thoughts, it's normal. He doesn't like her. Well of course he does, she's great, but he doesn't like her like that.

Tonks

She can't sleep. She listening to his breathing. She feels strange, it's the first time she'd shared a room with a man, purely platonically. It's also the first time she'd gone to bed without a man asking her to change her appearance around.

It's midnight and his breathing is slow and regular. He has probably fallen asleep ages ago.