h 6.00 a.m. – The Beginning

Remus walked out of his room in number twelve, Grimmauld Place, his hair still damp after a refreshing shower. On his way to the stairs, he crossed paths with none other than Tonks, wrapped up in her violet silk bathrobe (which, incidentally, left long, delicious inches of her tonic legs heavenly bare). Her hair, as well, now short again, was vaguely damp and lay lank above her shoulders.

"Wotcher." She saluted him, then yawned widely, her hand placed in front of her mouth.

"Good morning again, Nymphadora."

She shot him a fierce glare, following him down the stairs. By the noises and voices coming from the kitchen, Remus could tell at least Molly and Arthur were already up.

"Dare call me that again, and I'll neuter you." She threatened, but Remus grinned.

"And how will I manage to take advantage of your easiness in getting laid, if you do that?"

Tonks scrutinised him from a couple of steps above and smirked.

"You've got a point."

When they entered the kitchen they found, as Remus had expected, the Weasleys. Molly barely gave them the time to greet before offering them some coffee.

"That would be awesome, Molly, thanks." Remus said.

"Make mine a double, please." Tonks added.

Molly's look shifted back and forth from him to her for a short while, then, not saying a word, she turned to the cooker to make the coffee.

Arthur, sitting at the other side of the table, was quietly reading the Daily Prophet while nibbling at a toast. He rose his eyes from the newspaper only for one moment, to give them a polite hint of his head.

"Good morning, you both." He said. "You look quite tired, Remus." He added concernedly, and Tonks readily looked away, so that Arthur missed to notice she was at least as tired-looking as Remus himself.

"I had an odd dream: a mysterious witch sneaked up on me in a dark room and started nagging me about things of any sort… She kept me up all night." Remus quipped viciously. By his side, Tonks planted her hands on her hips.

"I think it's a bit subjective to determine who kept up who, given the circumstances."

Remus simply gave her a smile.

In that moment Sirius walked in, stretching out his arms with a theatrical yawn.

"'Morning, Sirius." Remus and Tonks said together.

"'Morning."

Sirius was almost going to pass them by and ignore them, when, all of a sudden, he came to a halt and turned behind to scrutinise them suspiciously for long instants. Tonks' broad smile faltered slightly.

"You two," He approached them, pointing a finger, and addressed them a wide, snide chuckle. "Had sex."

The crashing of the tray full of cups Molly was carrying to the table merged with Arthur's convulsive attack of coughing as he patted vigorously the middle of his chest, vaguely cyanotic in the face.

"We did nothing like that, Sirius." Remus muttered through his clenched teeth, trying to stifle back the redness he felt burning all over his face, but Sirius's chuckle became even more wicked.

"Yeah, as if." He glanced sideways at Tonks and studied her rigid pose, then returned to look at Remus. "You both look wasted, and have dark shades under your eyes… And your downright blissful expressions speak volumes, guys."

"Sirius," Tonks soothed, stepping ahead with a forced smile. "We didn't have sex or anything of that kind."

She exchanged a quick, unsure look with Remus, and he knew Sirius would know just perfectly how to interpret it.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Sirius sniggered. "And I am a Pigmy Puff."

"For Merlin's beard, Sirius!" Molly scolded him, very red in her cheeks, as she blindly cast a cleaning spell on the shattered cups on the floor. "The children may come in any moment! Besides," she paused briefly, seemingly embarrassed. "They didn't – didn't do that."

She gazed at Remus and Tonks, not looking very trusty herself. Remus saw Tonks' features mutate into a guilty face. He couldn't blame her; he knew his own face didn't look very different.

"This is none of our business, anyway." Molly continued dismissively, evidently eager to put an end to the whole debate.

"You're not going to get away with this." Sirius muttered to them. "My best friend and my little coz… Who would've imagined?"

"Oh, please…"

Remus shouldered Sirius aside and, grabbing Tonks' hand, hastily led her to the table, leaving his friend frozen in the middle of the kitchen.

"Since when he's been so intuitive?" whispered Tonks, helping herself with pancakes and putting some into Remus' plate.

"Are you kidding me?" Remus squeezed chocolate syrup on top of his pile of pancakes. "The day I got my first kiss he nearly found out before me."

Tonks choked laughing on her orange juice. In the same moment Sirius slumped down in his chair.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no evil," he anticipated defensively, intercepting Remus' warning eye. He studied the two of them, this time looking serious. "So, you… Didn't have sex."

"For the last time," Remus sighed impatiently. "No, we didn't."

"Have mercy, Sirius," Tonks moaned, rubbing her eyes. "I haven't slept a wink tonight."

Sirius' brows furrowed at once.

"If I may ask –"

"No, you can't." Remus cut him in, but Sirius did as if nothing had happened.

"Why do you both look all sleepy and content if there was no darn sex?"

Remus knew Sirius well enough to predict the upcoming conversation, and it was anything but a promising prediction. Sirius insistent curiosity, however, was very hard to stand, and in the end Tonks gave up.

"We've been talking."

Sirius regarded her in utter disbelief.

"Please, say it aint's so." Not receiving a reply from her, he turned to Remus, almost pleading him with his eyes. "Moony?"

In a barely audible whisper, Remus sighed and confirmed what had already been stated.

"We talked."

"Talked!" Sirius cried, slamming a hand over his face, almost aggrieved. "You talked!"

Remus and Tonks blinked uncomfortably at each other.

"Look, this is insane!" said Sirius feverishly. "I expected this from him, but you!" he moved his attention on Tonks. "You are a hot, active chick… I am so disappointed!"

"Here is the coffee." Molly intervened, her voice volume unnaturally raised. She placed three steamy cups in front of the three of them, and a wonderful aroma wafted to Remus' nostrils.

Once she was back to the sink, Sirius continued his lecture.

"No bloody sex."

Tonks grunted.

"Nope."

"Nor preliminaries."

"Nope."

"You didn't even shag a little bit?"

Remus shook his head.

"Snog?"

"No."

"Smooch?"

This time neither spoke. Remus ducked his head in his cup, and Tonks cut a big piece from her pancakes, quickly stuffing it into her mouth.

Sirius leant forward across the table, intrigued.

"Ah!" He put on an inquisitive sneer. "So you did have some fun, after all."

On the opposite side of the table, Arthur gave a discreet cough. Molly was serving him some bacon. Sirius lowered his voice.

"C'mon," His eyes glistened. "Out with it, right now!"

Remus lifted a brow in Tonks's direction. He had enjoyed the white night spent with her, nad he was sure she had, too, but there were a few details Sirius could live without.

"I don't think we'll be telling you, Padfoot." He took the cup to his mouth and smiled softly. "Right, Tonks?"

"Right, Remus." She grinned meanly at her cousin. "In fact, Sirius, your fervid fantasy will certainly give a number of suggestions to contemplate, so… Have fun, coz."

She stood on her feet, pancake plate and orange juice in her hands, and headed out of the room.

"What are you doing?" Sirius stared blankly as Remus and grabbed his stuff and stood up. "What did I say?"

"Some people like privacy, Sirius." He said in his kindest tone, then winked and followed Tonks.

He found her sitting on the lowest step of the stairs, chewing her pancakes in all tranquillity, bathed by the dusty light coming through the hall.

As soon as she sensed his presence, she looked up at him and smiled widely, her cheeks full. The butterflies in Remus' stomach were back, more effervescent and pleasurable than ever.

"He can be such a snoop, sometimes."

"Black genes." She said, shifting on the step to make some room for him. "My Mum is exactly like him."

Remus was more than happy to join her. He sat down; the step was barely large enough to host the two of them and their elbows kept touching whenever one or both of them cut down a piece of pancake.

"You seem to have inherited something from the Blacks, all in all." He observed.

"Are you accusing me of being an insufferable snoop?"

"I would rather say a nice, curious girl."

Tonks stopped eating and tilted her head to eye him lopsidedly.

"Are you hitting on me, Professor?"

He took his time to chew and gulp his bit.

Was he hitting on her? No, of course not.

He wasn't hitting on her, and Sirius was definitely a Pigmy Puff.

"Do I look like somebody who goes around dispensing compliments to every girl I meet?"

At this, Tonks' cheery mood faded visibly.

"You don't do that, do you?"

Remus laughed low in his chest, feeling he loved her in every single bit, in every note of her silky voice, in every shade of her hair, in every cute sparkle in her eyes. He loved her in every way she could fall and stand up again with a sheepish and embarassed grin.

Above all, he loved her for the mere reason she was simply too easy to love.

He locked his eyes in hers and shook his head no.

"No, I don't." he reassured her, then lowered his voice and added, "It's only with you."

Tonks beamed, as though he'd just given her the present she'd most wished all her life long, and went back to her breakfast. Her hair, Remus noticed, shone in a lightly brighter pink.

They were very at ease, maybe too much, considered what had happened not long before. Remus wondered if that half unconscious kiss had marked her as deeply as it had him.

"How the heck are we going to stay awake during the patrol?" she asked, yawning.

He didn't answer at once. He emptied his coffee and wiped his mouth with a towel, then finally conceded her a simper.

"Why, I think we can arrange something… We still have to go through WCNS the Second."

"Weird Conversation Number Seven?" she asked, scowling disorientated.

"Yes." Remus nodded. "The whipped cream snogging thing aroused my interest."

Tonks pinned her last bite of pancake with her fork and ate it.

"I was so right." she gurgled, her mouth full.

"About what?"

"About you, my dear." She smirked. "You're truly a naughty git."

Remus cut half of his last pancake and put in into her empty plate.

"Not evil and bloody?"

She observed the two halves of the pancake for a while, not opening her mouth. Remus realised he had done something way more significant than split the last bit of his breakfast and share it with her, and she seemed to know.

"No, not bloody, nor evil." She said sweetly. She hesitated one moment, then lifted her face on him with a chuckle. "But definitely naughty."

"Said the witch who attempted to seduce the poor, guiltless wizard."

Tonks giggled.

"Did it work?"

Remus' eyebrows arched questioningly.

"What?"

"The work of seduction."

"Oh." Remus was enjoying himself pretty much, and the merit was all hers. "I'll tell you when we try the whipped cream."

Tonks let out a graceful laugh and jokingly poked him in his ribs.

Without another word, they looked down at their two slices, turned to each other and silently decided they wouldn't touch them.

They just looked nice, lying on a juicy bed of dark chocolate; two perfectly complementary parts that, even separated, inevitably belonged to each other.

THE END

A/N: So here we are, the end (wipes tear). I hope you enjoyed this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm also thinking about writing a sequel to this, not sure yet, but we'll see...

I want to thank you awseome folks for reading this and leaving all those awesome reviews... Keep 'em coming! ; )