Snowy Afternoon (Remus/Tonks)

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

The November air was chilly but light when Tonks stepped out that afternoon. There was snow sticking to her boots, a chill clinging even underneath her winter robes. She had spent her day off doing nothing, mostly, listening to the new vinyls she had picked up a few weeks before, restlessly taking a mininap and several walks through London. By later afternoon, she decided to make her way to Grimmaud Place. She could take home her biscuits that were sure to get stale unless she ate them, checked up with any Order members there, and possibly clean up a bit if no one happened to be lurking around.

It wasn't the longest walk. The longest it had ever taken her was an hour and even that was without apparation (in which she would randomly go back and forth between locations in order to possibly throw off anyone who happened to be following her). As the building spread to accompany the place, she took a deep breath, her eyes closing. She worked on the door, entering with light, quick steps and locking the door behind her.

She took off her long blue scarf, hanging it and her hat up, dark amber hair showing the results of wind and, well, wearing a hat. “Hello?” she called out, taking off her winter robe and pulling her trouser legs out of her boots. She hadn’t wanted them to get dirty at the bottoms. Black showed that sort of thing easily.

“Hello?” She took a deep breath, taking in the smell of mold and long forgotten perfume. She made her way to the kitchen immediately, her wand in her back pocket. She had stuck it there after hanging up her robes (all the while imagining Moody growling at her not to do it, which made her want to either A. laugh or B. stick her tongue out). Digging out the biscuits from the cupboard, she put them on the counter so she wouldn’t forget them.

A sound. She reached back for her wand slowly. “Hello?” she repeated once more, not wanting to get riled up over Kreacher or one of the paintings. “Kreacher?” Tonks called. The bastard never responded to her orders (not that she ever made any that were unreasonable. Merely ‘Kreacher, close the portrait curtains, please) but he normally began a rant under his breath when she spoke his name directly. “Sirius?” she tried. He was here. It was stupid of her to forget that. Getting all riled up over what was probably Sirius running about.

[remus john lupin]

Remus hadn't really been needed lately, or at least, that was how he felt. He was unable to get a suitable job anywhere because of his well-known status as a werewolf and because of that, the things that he was able to do for the Order were limited. While this unlucky turn of events left him feeling quite useless, it did allow him to catch up on some badly needed sleep. Usually after a full moon, he would force himself to get up to either go to a job if he had one, go looking for a job, or do some kind of research to write a paper he might be able to sell under a different name.

Lately, though, he had started to get a lot more rest than he usually did around the full moon time, so he was feel much more rested. While 'rest' didn't actually mean sleep because the pain and his worries often kept him awake when he was trying to sleep, but it at least allowed him to rest his body and he did drift off every now and again.

This afternoon, he was resting in a room in Number 2, Grimmauld Place that he usually crashed in when he was worn out or wanted a quick nap before an Order meeting. Just as he was beginning to drift off, he heard a sound coming from downstairs, which caused his eyes to snap open. Remus groggily sat up on the bed and rubbed his eyes, trying to listen for the sound again. He assumed that it was probably just another Order member visiting the Headquarters, but his paranoid mind caused him to think that it might not be.

After pulling on his shoes, he made his way down the stairs, as quietly as he possibly could, so as to keep the paintings from waking up...a certain painting, specifically.

"Oh, it's you, Tonks," Remus said, pulling a newspaper out of the back of his pocket. He put up an air that nothing at all had happened between them. "What brings you to Headquarters today?" he asked as he walked over to the stove to start a pot of tea. "Oh, would you like some?" he asked, as he headed for the cupboard that held the saucers and tea cups.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

Tonks shook her head, embarrassed by her paranoia. The war they were waging had gotten to her to the point where she assumed that nowhere was safe. Ridiculous. She couldn't feel that way all the time else she would eventually go mad. It was probably Sirius. The gait was familiar and she was sure when she heard a voice drift through the old walls, it would be her cousin's.

She did not expect the aloof, disconnected tone of a man who, apparently, had no woes. He had a newspaper and was making tea. All was dandy and fine.

"Oh," she said, a faint echo. "No, no thank you." Tonks held up her biscuit box as if it were some sort of explanation. She was thrown off utterly by this, expecting awkwardness or some sort of frigid silence. Instead, she was getting pleasantries and offers of tea.

"I was in the neighborhood," Tonks told him, finding that her own tone was a lot colder than she intended. She hadn't intended to talk to him now. No, she was planning on waiting until December when she could collect her thoughts. The cold air was always better for planning or thinking or . . She didn't know. All she knew was that this was irksome, frustrating.

She leaned against the wall, opening the box and eating one biscuit. She couldn't keep it at bay asking him why he was there. For all she knew, he was out of his rented room and was staying at Headquarters. She couldn't ask how he was doing. She wouldn't be able to tell if he was lying or not and it would just be makeshift conversation. She didn't want that. She wanted him to come out and admit that he felt something for her.

Though Tonks had to admit that she had doubt. Great, horrible loads of doubt piled onto her psyche like whipped cream on hot chocolate, sinking into her and making the next words from her mouth incredibly difficult to say. She had to say something. Letting this issue go . . wasn't an option. Something in her gut wouldn't allow it.

"You could've just turned me down," she said. "Didn't have to lie to me too."

[remus john lupin]

Tonks wasn't exactly the person that Remus was in the mood to see. But at least, he'd just had a nice rest, so he wouldn't be snappy or overly depressing. He hadn't spoken to the girl, ever since the night that she forced him to allow her to spend the night with him on the full moon. It still irked him that she was so stubborn and immature about the subject. She could be such a child sometimes.

"Oh, alright then," he said, with a smile before turning back to the cupboard. Since Tonks didn't want any tea, he only got out a single setting of a tea cup and saucer. He wandered over to the cupboard by the stove to pick out a tea bag to use. Remus wasn't really one for tea leaves. He opened the cupboard and smiled when he saw the practically full box of Earl Gray. Of course. After all, he was pretty much the only one that ever used that particular tea. He just found it so soothing and comforting.

Remus was both surprised and not by the tone in Tonks's voice. He was surprised because it was a drastic change from the way her voice sounded only moments before, but he wasn't surprised because he knew that she couldn't be very happy with him, still. "Oh, yes, of course," he said, in his same friendly tone, disregarding Tonks's harsh tone. "I thought you might be coming to visit Sirius. I know he's lonesome for company." he said kindly thinking of his friend. Sure, he had been there to keep Sirius company, but he was sure that Sirius would like to chat with someone besides the werewolf.

As Remus set the tea bag into the tea cup, still waiting for the tea pot to go off, he froze. His back was turned to her, so she couldn't see his facial expressions. "I'm afraid I don't quite know what you're talking about, Tonks," he said, glancing back at her. Being in the Order and being a werewolf, he had grown quite accustomed to lying and tricking people into thinking one thing when the truth was something else.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

It would have been a bit better if he didn't seem so perfectly cheerful, with his afternoon tea and his perfectly pleasant tone. Tonks wondered, briefly, what was in the news. She hadn't had the heart to read the paper in too much detail since Thursday. She would pick one up later, read through it if only to pass the time, or to keep 'informed' on just what everyone was considering news these days.

"Where is he?" Tonks asked. "I thought that was him coming downstairs." She moved the box from her left to her right hand, as if just looking for something to do. She didn't like to think of her cousin as starved for company. She tried to come as often as she could, but he was bound to get bored of her eventually. It almost made her glad Remus had hung about, if only because he and Sirius were so close.

"Of course," she muttered. "No memory at all on how pitiful you made me sound. 'Oh Tonks,'" she said in a crude imitation of his voice, not cruel so much as annoyed. "'Tonks this is a schoolgirl crush,' and then you go off as if it were purely one sided, totally and utterly me being silly and young." Vincent was wrong, there was nothing even remotely possible between the two of them and she was just going to make herself look even sillier if she went on. She was assuming and it would make a total ass out of her.

Tonks fell silent, fiddling with the biscuit box. This made her wish she had taken up Barnabas Kellen's offer of a date in her fifth year. He was the type who would've dated her until she got to the Ministry and had an on and off relation with until she was thirty.

No, that was even worse than this. Plus, Barnabas probably had a dreadful mother who'd force him to propose and she'd have to turn him down because, well, he was boring and she had not the least amount of fondness for him. Sure, he was in her house and was on the Quidditch team, but there were more important things.

Things like her trying to distract herself from the situation in the present by thinking about one of the few guys who had actually asked her out in school. If she was, there were a lot of better options, for one (like Jake T from her third year) and secondly, she had better things to focus on. Like Remus if he actually looked at her.

[remus john lupin]

"Oh, in his room, most likely" Remus said, turning to shortly glance at her. "It's the one place in the house that Kreacher wouldn't dare go, Sirius is safe from his harsh comments there." he said, shaking his head. That poor, demented creature. The Blacks had twisted him into thinking the way they did and into believing that they were the only people that would ever be kind to him. This kept him from ever being truly happy. Most people didn't see house-elves as Remus did, but he couldn't help but sympathize with them. After all, according to the Ministry, there was hardly a difference between the two.

Remus frowned and lowered his head when he heard what Tonks said to him. He was so hoping that she had just accepted what he said. Hadn't he made it clear that he wasn't interested in her like that? And of all times, she told him this right after a full moon, which was possibly the worst time.

The tea pot went off, screaming and steam coming out of it's spout, but Remus didn't move a muscle. He could hear the pain in her voice and it was killing him. This wasn't what he meant to do. He had hoped that just one denial would get the message through to her.

He tried to think of what may have made her re-think what happened that night. Had he spoken to anyone about it? Then it dawned on him: Vincent Dorée. That boy! Of course, Remus hadn't exactly told him not to say anything... He was sure that whatever Vincent said to her, she must have misunderstood.

With a sigh, Remus grabbed the tea pot and the tea cup and poured the hot water into it until it was almost full. "I take it you have met my young student, Vincent?" he asked, setting the tea pot back on the stove. Perhaps if he set things straight, Tonks would understand things better.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

”At least he’s among friends,” she said half-heartedly. ”And visitors and . . Well, people.” And not dead, half-eaten rats. The stories he had told her about his months staying ‘dead’ haunts the back of her mind sometimes and she felt guilty that she couldn’t have just kept him cooped up in her own apartment all that time. At least then he could’ve talked to the spiders in her cupboard and eaten stale biscuits, chatted with her in the evenings and not made poor Harry go through all that alone. Poor blokes, both of them.

She jumped a bit at the kettle, her hair going white for a moment. It slowly shifted to a mousy brown hanging limp just past her chin. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, but her tone was uncertain and it was quite obvious she was lying.

She didn’t want to bring Vincent into this, of all things. Remus was his one positive male werewolf role model. To get them on negative terms would only make all of this worse.

After a moment, Tonks took a deep breath and admitted, ”Maybe I did. He got into a little trouble in Hogsmeade and I fished him out. We chatted for a bit and I sent him along on his merry little way.” Yes, that was truth. Very truthful right there, no exact words just that they talked and then he left.

”He’s a good kid,” she said. ”Not that he’s that much of a kid, anyway. Sixteen, seventeen?” Tonks looked at Remus, pleading, ”I’m changing the subject, I’m sorry . . but don’t bring him into this, Remus.” They would’ve gotten to this point with or without Vincent. Perhaps it would’ve taken a lot more strength (and boldness) on Dora’s part, but it would’ve happened eventually.

Tonks wasn’t even sure what this was even about. If he did feel something for her, there must’ve been a reason for not wanting to let her know. Age? Remus not wanting to rob the cradle? Oh that was a trip. Her granddad on her father’s side had been almost twelve years older than her grandmum and they got together just fine. Or maybe he just didn’t like her? Yes, that was it. No need to make herself go through all of this if-

No. She was going with her gut here, no matter how much she had to tear at it, to scorch herself. Nothing would ever get done if she leaned back and let her fear and hurt win. No, that never worked. ”He didn’t say anything . . Not really. Just that you spoke of me more than average, among other things.”

[remus john lupin]

"Yes, he is," Remus said, rather distractedly. He wished that Dumbledore would have at least trusted him with the secret that Sirius was actually alive. But then again, it also made sense to him, since he had to appear sad because of the loss of his last best friend. "It's why he's always so happy at Order meetings, except when Severus confronts him about something, of course," he said, shaking his head. He thought that both of them acting rather immaturely around each other. Was it so hard for them to at least be civil to each other? Remus knew that Severus wasn't exactly civil to him when they crossed paths, but he was just such a passive person that he didn't do anything about it.

Remus sighed when Tonks began to lie about meeting Vincent and he frowned when he saw the mousy brown color of her hair. He knew what that meant.. "Trouble? What trouble?" he asked, being distracted from the subject at hand. He wasn't happy to hear that Vincent had gotten in trouble and he hadn't told him. Vincent was (what he thought) would be like the only son figure he would ever have.

Remus couldn't help but smile slightly when he heard Tonks go on about Vincent. "He certainly is a good kid," he said, putting his left hand in his left pants pocket,"He's much cheerier than I was at his age." Honestly, he didn't know how Vincent could be so positive. Sure, there were the few times when Vincent hit rock bottom when it came to his future as a werewolf, but he was overall a very happy person.

Remus lifted his tea cup, after it had been steeping for a few minutes and took a sip, to buy himself a little time before he had to reply to what she said. "I'm sure he just misunderstood what I told him," he said, resting his tea back into the saucer, which was resting on the counter.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

Tonks chuckled to herself, half-hearted and barely audible. ”I’d like to think he’s happier after Snape says something snappy to him. Gives him a chance to snap back.” Tonks liked Professor Snape about as much as anyone did – that is to say, not at all – but all she got from him was verbal jabs at her obvious infatuation with Remus or, occasionally, something dredged up from the pits of disdain. The two of them didn’t spar half as much as he and her cousin, no comparison there.

Tonks took a deep breath. ”A few men giving him trouble. We caught the lackeys but they didn’t really know anything. Just the brawn.” She paused. ”I had to put it in the report that a student was attacked and supposedly, they’re going to add patrollers to Hogsmeade full time.” While she approved of student safety, she couldn’t help but think that this was the Ministry’s way of keeping the Auror department out of the Ministry, all the way out in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts where they couldn’t interfere too much in anything.

And from the look of her schedule, it didn’t look like she would need a place in London anytime soon. Stationed there for the next few months with one break during Winter Break for a few days and another in February, straight until the end of second term. Fair enough: it was nicer to be out and about than sitting on her rump doing reports, but the idea of being kept somewhere far enough that she couldn’t report back to the Order about the increasing corruption infuriated her. ”I didn’t think he would tell you. Not surprised.” Much less that he had even met her.

”And what, exactly, did you tell him?” she asked, face blank now that the subject had been changed. Why was he even talking about her at all? I’m sure he didn’t talk enough about Arthur or Moody that Vincent would’ve recognized her. Her mother would’ve told her that it was none of her damn business but Tonks wasn’t going to have mixed messages. No, she had enough of those in her head without having them with someone she had a fancy for. He did sound sure. So very sure. She could just imagine him as a professor, the calm and forever knowing fatherly figure to the students she saw running about during her rounds, talking to them in that same tone.

[remus john lupin]

Remus smiled ever so slightly at Tonks's reply. It was partially true, but he didn't completely agree with it. Severus certainly knew what to say to get to Sirius and he could remember several times Severus saying something that really shut Sirius up. Of course, it depended on what kind of mood that Sirius was in, but lately, he had been very depressed. For obvious reasons, he had to stay inside and he absolutely hated it. "Well...perhaps," he said, shortly.

This news that young Vincent had been attacked in Hogsmeade was very troubling to Remus. He was sure that Vincent hadn't clued Tonks in on what his family life was like and he was very worried that this attack had something to do with his father. Remus had never met him before, but because of what he's heard from Vincent, he had grown to hate him. He slowly wandered over to the table, obviously thinking very hard, and sat down with his tea. "I'll have to talk to him about this," he said, taking a sip of his tea.

This was probably why he had those bruises and scars around his neck at their last meeting. Vincent had assured him that it was just an accident that happened at the last full moon, but he was obviously lying. Remus had a feel this was so because to be frank, Vincent was terrible at lying. He worried so much about that boy. Once he really had a chance to think about it, he realized that Vincent almost had it harder than he did when he was at school. At least Remus had a loving home to go back to. That seemed to be something that Vincent was lacking.

Oh, how he wished that Tonks would just drop this whole thing! Remus confided in Vincent quite a lot and he told him many things, except for Order information. "I usually don't divulge what we talk about in our meetings, but I'll make an exception this time," he said, glancing up at her from his seat at the table. "We were exchanging stories of full moons and he brought up the subject of people insisting on being around at the time of the transformation," he said, looking down and taking a sip from his tea.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

So Vincent hadn’t told him. Tonks wished he would have. She had a feeling Remus knew enough to actually help in some way. Give him some suggestions. Something other than ‘Well, it’s alright. Don’t worry, the Ministry will handle it’ probably would’ve done much more for the young man than her reassurance. ”If you heard it from anyone, it was Kingsley,” Tonks said. ”Okay?” Vincent didn’t need to know that this conversation had taken place. She didn’t doubt that she would see Vincent again and it wouldn’t help his trust if he knew that she had told Remus, especially since it was obvious he hadn’t wanted him to know about it.

Tonks flinched. She couldn’t help it. ”He did?” He didn’t mention that. No, she was sure that if that had been the topic of conversation, Vincent would’ve had a totally different opinion of Tonks, possibly in the negative. But he hadn’t. This entire situation was confusing . . . and she wasn’t totally sure she could trust Remus to tell her the truth.

”He didn’t mention that little detail,” she muttered. Tonks wanted nothing more at that moment than for Sirius to come in and be happy to see her but because she suspected he wasn’t going to anytime soon, she went to the stove and began to boil water. The instant coffee was at her apartment, wasn’t it? Or had someone stocked the place to actually include the quick stuff? She checked. A small, familiar looking jar with just enough for a few cups at the bottom. Good. Wouldn’t have to exhaust the tea supply.

She hadn’t wanted anything to drink and still didn’t, but she did want something to do. Something to hold in her hands other than the box.

Tonks watched the water boil, setting the biscuits down and instead focusing on an old cup, gripping it tightly. ”I guess that settles it, then,” she said, turning and taking a short step. ”I sup-“ The cup slipped from her hands, clashing to the floor and shattering. She cursed under her breath, bending down to pick up the pieces. If she tried to clean it up with magic, she might’ve given Remus a faceful of glass, and that wasn’t what she wanted to accomplish.

[remus john lupin]

"Yes, don't worry, Tonks. I won't mention your name," said Remus with a wave of his hand. This sounded horrible, but he really hoped that this group was just an anti-werewolf gang and nothing worse. He knew that Vincent could take care of himself. The boy was an ace at Defense Against the Dark Arts. Remus remembered that from when he taught at Hogwarts. "He most likely just didn't tell me because he didn't want me to worry," he said, with a slight smile on his face before taking a sip of his Earl Gray tea.

"Yes, he did," he said, resting his tea cup back into its saucer. It was obvious that Remus was still rather annoyed that Tonks had forced herself into the room that night. "It's happened to the poor boy many more times than it has happened to me," he said, with a sympathetic sigh.

"Yes, well, you must know that it's not something that most werewolves like to discuss with other people," he said, speaking carefully. At least, that was how Remus felt and he assumed that was how Vincent felt. He didn't like discussing his lycanthropy with any non-lycanthropes, really. It made him feel too much like some odd creature.

The two of them fell silent as Tonks walked over to the stove to boil water. Remus frowned down at his tea cup when he heard what she said, next, but his head popped up when he heard the shattering of the cup. He stood up and pulled his wand out of his sleeve. "Reparo," he said, pointing his wand at the shattered cup. He then walked over to the tea cup and handed it to her. "There we are," he said, kindly,"No harm done."

Walking away from her a little bit, her leaned on the counter, wondering if he should tell her of the job that Dumbledore had given him only a few days ago. May as well...it was Order business after all. "I probably won't be around for awhile. Dumbledore is sending me off on Order business," he said, carefully.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

”Thank you,” she said. ”Much appreciated.” Of course Vincent didn’t want Remus to worry. She didn’t want him to either . . But she felt like keeping his secret endangered him somehow, now that she looked back on it. No, Tonks wouldn’t have told but . . Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that Remus knew some version of the truth. It was for the best, in the long run.

She avoided the topic altogether, allowing herself to list off the names of people she met and knew, their faces, as if it would truly distract her from the conversation. He was still annoyed with her. Couldn’t blame him: it had been utterly foolish. Preparation did not mean holing yourself with a werewolf overnight just to see if you were still fond of him afterwards. No. not worth it to check when nothing was reciprocated. She had let her encounter with Vincent set expectations, start some sort of fantasy that if she just came back and talked to him it would turn out to be a ruse. That he was fond of her too. That-

She held the cup, reformed in her hands. ”Thanks,” she said again, feeling silly for being so frazzled that she couldn’t even fix a bloody cup. “Sending you off?” she said, taking care to not sound like this bothered her. No, it shouldn’t. It was on Order business and Dumbledore knew what he was doing. It was for the good of the wizarding world and Remus – brilliant Remus Lupin who had never once been dull – was making himself useful, just like she was. ”Where to?” She shouldn’t have asked. She didn’t want to know. If Dumbledore felt the need to send Remus instead of Moody or Kinglsey, it was probably werewolf related. Or worse: deep enough in the dark arts that sending Emmeline or someone else simmering in inactivity wouldn’t work.

She almost asked How long? but that would’ve seemed too- ”How long?” Nosy. Desperate. What ever it sounded like, she wanted to know anyway. Had to know. If she knew now, she wouldn’t be asking Sirius every two weeks if he had heard anything from him. Would it be more than two weeks? The way he spoke, it sounded like it. A while. It implied weeks, months. . .

[remus john lupin]

"Mhm," said Remus shortly as he wandered back to the table and to his tea. He was very grateful to her for telling him about what happened to his student. It was something that Remus would have liked to hear straight from Vincent, but he knew him better than that. "I do appreciate you enlightening me on the trouble Vincent got himself into in Hogsmeade," he said, as he sat back down at the table. Vincent would have probably eventually told him what happened, but it would be past the time that Remus could do anything about it, or prepare him for it happening again...which he was afraid it would.

"You're welcome," he said to her before turning to his tea and taking a sip. Remus fell silent at all of her questions about his upcoming job. He wasn't sure how much he should tell her...or if he should have mentioned it at all. On the other hand it was Order business and she was a main part of the Order... Remus cleared his throat and turned to face her. He just hoped that she wasn't going to overreact. He hoped that she would accept it as Order business.

"Dumbledore wants me to attempt to integrate myself into the werewolf underground to recruit them to our cause," he said in a surprisingly calm voice. Fenrir Greyback was the head of the Underground, but Remus thought that he could just take a Polyjuice Potion and be incredibly careful about the way he acted. "I really don't know how long I'll be gone," he said, shaking his head,"Either until the job is done, or when it gets too dangerous for me to be there."

"Hopefully I'll come back successful," he said, still with the same calm voice, taking another sip of tea. Remus sounded very calm, but he was actually very nervous. If Fenrir somehow found him out, he would be in a lot of danger.

[NYMPHADORA AMARYLLIS TONKS]

Tonks put a small scoop of instant in and the boiling water came soon after. Remarkable thing, really, instant coffee. She left the steaming cup in her hand, not wanting it so much as just having something warm in her hands. She gripped it a little tighter, forcing herself to keep that somewhat blank look on her face. Werewolf business, integration. A full mission that would take time and he sounded so damned sound, calm, perfectly accepting. She wished she had half of his composure at times. Tonks couldn’t use an entire hand to count the amount of times she had seen him truly distressed.

She wasn’t outright anxious during a mission, but Tonks never sounded like she wasn’t about to do something dangerous. She always tried to take control of that sort of thing because she had a job to do. He had a job to do, sure, he couldn’t be this serene about it. No, that was insanity. She took a deep breath, glad for the fact that her hair was already a limp brown, her eyes their natural color. Nothing left to show when her emotions took a downturn. ”Hopefully,” she echoed, not entirely sure on what to say. There wasn’t much she could say in response to that. It was Order business, for the better good of the world. If he didn’t try to get the werewolves on their side, the Death Eaters would be more than happy to recruit. They had already begun, from what she had heard. Greyback – one of the biggest problems the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures’ WCU had ever had to manage – would be a major opposition, but hopefully Remus could get some positive influence in. For some reason, she doubted any sort of giant revolution where they would all decide to join the Order. Perhaps it was an uprising of pessimism. Perhaps it was the fact that she worked for the Ministry and knew exactly how they treated men and women like Remus and it was quite short of admirable.

But this was Remus: eloquent and a perfect example of an educated man, he had to represent something to them. If anyone in the Order had a chance, it was him, she supposed. Tonks finally took a sip of her coffee, bitter and not half as satisfying than if she had made tea, but then she would’ve looked odd for not just accepting Remus’s offer earlier. Not that she didn’t like Earl Gray, but she preferred Chai, for one and for two, she hadn’t been in the mood.

Tonks made a move towards the stairs. "I'm going upstairs to check up on Sirius," she said.Not that he needed to be checked up on. Bad choice of words. "Say hi. All the usual nonsensical pleasantries."