Tonks
She catches a glance of him from across the table and tries not to stare too much. Soon enough she'll go around introducing herself anyway but she cannot seem to help her pure awe upon seeing him in flesh and bone. She tries to figure out the resemblance. The jawline for sure, and the small crease on his forehead. But the sunken eyes are his and his alone. He has a cocky smile while chatting with who she can only assume to be his friend, but his face stays dark.
She suppresses a shudder, mind still reeling from the shock of the century.
The dining room is dingy and grubby and Mrs. Black's screams are echoing from the hallway. She's not one to be uncomfortable in social situations, but this isn't exactly a normal social occasion.
Mad-Eye guides her towards the end of the massive table and clears his throat. Any small chatter that has been going on instantly falters. Except Sirius's.
'So then, upon seeing the pacing above Flitwick's office, they place two very strategic-'
'I'm sorry, am I interrupting you?'
Sirius's friend hastens to clumsily apologise while Sirius himself lets out a bark.
'You've spent too much time around McGonagall; if I close my eye I could swear-'
'Sirius!' his friend growls and he instantly shuts up. Her focus now turns towards the man besides her cousin. Compared to him, Sirius seems like a ray of sunshine.
Upon noticing the torn-up clothes and weary face she cannot help but imagine that it hasn't exactly been an easy week for him. Not that anyone has had it easy recently, but he definitely got the short end of the stick.
Most noticeable, however, are the brown, kind eyes, and she instantly feels she can trust him.
'Can I trust you?' Mad-Eye had asked her last week after crashing unexpectedly at her humble apartment, making her throw her boyfriend out. Needless to say the breakup that followed was not a fun one.
'Of course,' she hadn't hesitated to reply while Tim was hastily and angrily grabbing his clothes from the floor. 'Always'
'Good! Now don't make me regret this choice, Nymphadora!'
'New recruit, everyone! Nym-Tonks here will be joining us; so this week's mission plan will include her' he stops suddenly, his good eye darting around the room. 'Lupin!'
Sirius's friend jumps up; half asleep by that point, looking like he'd been caught cheating during an important test.
'Since you're off till Friday I expect you to train Tonks here. Don't disappoint me. Moving on-'
'Wait!' Sirius jumps up. 'he's exhausted; I'm not doing anything anyway, let me!'
The deathly silence that follows him shows her that Sirius isn't exactly the teaching sort. He looks around in exasperation while everyone adverts their eyes and he eventually flings himself back down into his chair.
'Great! Another reminder of how useless I am-'
'Alright, Princess, you can be the professor's assistant, happy?' Mad-Eye growls. 'can we move on now?'
He takes Sirius's pouting as a 'yes' and gives Tonks a seat.
'I need the mission table and the Ministry one. You Ministry folk will report back daily on whatever happens over there, no matter how small you might consider it. We meet here at 7pm, unless instructed otherwise.' He explains. 'DO NOT BE LATE!'
Normally she'd gift him some gritty remark, but she doesn't dare. This is too important.
She does her best to take notes of all confidence shared during the meeting and ends up being paired with Arthur Weasley on Ministry watch. Her heart sinks a bit; she had hoped to be stationed somewhere more exciting than her literal workplace, but she bites her tongue.
For a few minutes, till the meeting is adjourned. She respected Mad-Eye too much to try and undermine him in front of everyone.
'Hey, Alastor' she grins as soon as people start getting up.
'No!' he snaps, not even glancing towards her. 'Lupin!' he calls, waking the poor man up again. She notices him out of the corner of her eye rubbing his eyes but hastening towards them nonetheless.
'I didn't even say anything!' she mutters, watching him almost trip over a chair and grins.
'We need people on the inside which is why this post is vital. If I were you I'd pray that's the most dangerous mission you were to go on till this is all over.'
Before she can retort anything the man he's called Lupin comes up and she takes in his dishevelled hair. The boys at school used to do that on purpose, but on him it looks quite natural. Up close she can see the scars. They're very much healed but there's so denying how deep they had been, most probably someone, or something had almost gashed out his entire face. She shudders just thinking about it.
'Your new student. And do keep Black in check. Till next time, I'm out!'
He turns around extracting more insults from Mrs. Black on his way out.
'Heya!' she grins awkwardly.
'Sorry' he begins running a hand through his hair. 'Not at my best right now as you can possibly tell…'
'Tough mission?' she asks excitedly, hoping he'd tell her all about it, even if she has a feeling, he'll keep it to himself.
'Something of the sort…Remus Lupin, by the way' he extends his hand, and despite his state he gifts her a very warm smile.
Before she can take it, a black head of hair appears by his side.
'If I'm not mistaken, you're Andromeda's kid! She was always my favourite. Although the offer was quite scarce, but don't tell her I said that!'
Remus
He glances at the pair of them while pouring himself another Firewhisky. His hands are still trembling. He closes his eyes and envisions the tightly shut rusty lock hinging on his bedroom door. It had been gravely scratched, but remained quite well fastened.
It was still locked.
The first thing he noticed was the bright, pink hair, frankly it was impossible to miss. He couldn't help but admire the courage in expressing oneself quite so leisurely. But then, he had always had other things to factor in when leaving the house for any occasion. Maybe given the chance he could have also pierced his bellybutton like Sirius had on a dare back in 3rd year.
What if it unlocked?
Shut up, it was locked, Sirius attested to it.
Sirius fell asleep.
He would've heard me-
Laughter pierces his nervous thoughts and he looks up. She is wiping away tears from her eyes, while Sirius has one of his rare smiles plastered on his face. She should have left long ago, there's a long day ahead of her. And he wants to quickly show her around before curling up in bed. But he can't bring himself to interrupt them.
He can't say no to Sirius these days. They are both too lucky to have found each other again, well and alive-or as well as either of them could be, all things considered. However, he can't help but notice that he has been twitching at the thought of being locked up all the time. He has a looming feeling of anxiety that sooner or later Sirius might go on and do something stupid. Him and James would always go about and do something stupid. But he's here this time, he is not going to let that happen.
'Soo, Tonks, what ya say about slipping in a good word for me to your good friend,' he hears Sirius and his stomach drops. He gets up, knowing that it's time to intervene. 'I see you have quite some privileges with old Alastor here'.
'No can do, dear cousin,' she grins before he can say a word. 'If I had that much power, I wouldn't have ended up on Ministry watch in the first place,'
'At the risk of echoing Alastor, it really is an important position,' he jumps in the conversation. He cocks his head slightly to the side, suddenly noticing the mischievous glint in her eyes. Probably a Black family trait.
The door, idiot! What if it unlocked?
Shut up!
She turns around to him and without a warning grabs the glass from his hands and smells it.
'Damn, Remus, you're really making me crave some and I have work in the morning, that's not very nice!'
'Go on, take a sip!' He doesn't know what the devil pushed him to say that, he needs her to be attentive to his instructions and show up tomorrow with Arthur at the post. It's her first day too, she can't afford to be kicked out this quickly.
But before he can ruminate too much on those thoughts, she chugs the remainder of his glass and instantly starts coughing and spits it back. He cannot help but let out a bark of laughter.
'You've broken him' he hears Sirius say and he gives him a push.
'Just so you know, you're washing that!' he tells her.
'What did you put in it man?' she asks wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
'Just the 1800-'
'The 1800, are you kidding me? Is your brain all right?'
'Tonks, that's your professor right there,' Sirius warns and she instantly gets flustered and starts apologizing.
'You're forgiven for now,' he grins.
THE DOOR, IDIOT!
IT WAS LOCKED, SHUT UPP
'Anyway,' he shakes the thoughts once again, 'let me give you a quick introductory course before you head off home,'
'And that's my cue,' Sirius seems to have instantly deflated as he realized he would be alone again for the time being. Remus cannot help but feel a knot of guilt, but before either one of them can interject anything else, he has left.
'Is he….all right?' Tonks asks, clearly worried.
'He'll never be all right again.' He answers grimly. Perhaps too grimly, this woman seems too well adjusted to burden her with their depressive bullshit. So, he instantly clears his throat and changes the subject. 'But right now, he'll have to be a big boy and go to sleep by himself, we have things to do. Don't worry, I won't keep you long, it's already getting late.'
He picks up the plans and rolls them out on the table. He shows her the strategic entries and exists to the house as well as the emergency evacuation plan. He also tells her that they are all Secret Keepers and that she will probably be initiated once she talks it up with Dumbledore.
'Isn't that a bit dangerous?' she asks wearily. 'What if someone turns?'
'They won't!' he almost spits out.
Peter turned because you were all idiots and trusted him.
Shut up!
Peter turned and ruined everything!
Shut up!
He wants to yell. He needs his awful brain to shut up. He cannot yell in front of her. She's not Sirius, he can't make a fool of himself. She seems funny and smart and a very good sport. He is not going to yell.
'Fuck, I'm so sorry, I hadn't realised,' she gasped and put a hand on his shoulder. He winces at the touch; he always does after a full moon. She doesn't know, there's no way she could've known. But he doesn't shrug it off. In a few moments it starts to feel quite comforting. But then she pulls it away and sits down.
'I'm sorry, I'm an idiot I always blurt out stuff like that without thinking.'
He notices her happy demeanour has faltered and he instantly tries to reassure her. It's quite all right. It really is not her fault. She pretends to believe him and he pretends it will be different this time.
'We just need to trust Dumbledore on this,' he mumbles.
Dumbledore couldn't save Sirius, fuck that old man.
Dumbledore couldn't save you, why should you trust him?
'How do you know Sirius?' she asks and he's grateful for her changing the subject. He sits down next to her and pours himself another drink, trying not to laugh at her stares.
'Your liver's going to hate you, man!'
'Feel free to help me out with this bottle then!'
'Not making that mistake again! So, Sirius?'
'Right, Sirius. We were friends. Good friends, back at Hogwarts. Not much more to say there'.
She doesn't know about you. She seems all fun and nice now, but wait until she learns about you. You shouldn't have let her talk this much with you, now she will find out and she's be disgusted.
'I'm sure there's more to say on that. But for now, unless you're planning to dish out the whole story, I think it's high time you leave that bottle cause we have lessons tomorrow and I'm here to ace the exam!'
He lets her grab the bottle from his hands. The pain has barely subsided, but she's right, he needs to go to sleep and be sober for the next day. He'll grab an Anvil and hope to get some rest.
As he walks her out, she notices his limp and he assures her it nothing more than was a small accident. He doesn't know this woman, but he's certain she has not believed him.