I don't own anything pertaining to Harry Potter and isn't that just a bit sad?

This is my first attempt at Remus/Tonks. Be gentle.

Grimmauld Place at midnight was a terrifying place to be, Nymphadora Tonks decided as she loitered at the front step. She had only been there once or twice as a child, and, frankly, that was enough. She wouldn't have been there at all if not for Moody insisting on her presence. To meet her cousin, he had said, as though she had never laid eyes on Sirius Black in her life. She had definitely had encounters with Sirius. He wasn't exactly someone she'd forget.

And he hadn't even been to Azkaban yet.

Removing her wand from her jacket, Tonks hesitated as she aimed for the door, startled by the faint chattering noise that seemed to be coming from inside the house. Were there that many people there? To visit Sirius? Her wand arm automatically lowered. A crowd of people at Grimmauld Place in the middle of the night with Sirius Black in the middle of it?

No, thank you.

Tonks turned on her heel, intent on making her merry way back to her own flat, and spun right into the broad chest of Alastor Moody.

"Going somewhere?" Moody teased, pushing Tonks out of his personal space.

"No. Of course not." Lying wasn't exactly Tonks' forte, and she could feel the blush heating her cheeks, clashing horribly with her bubblegum pink hair. "Constant vigilance. I heard someone coming and..."

"And I could have killed you a dozen times over while you were contemplating the bloody door," Moody growled. "You were chickening out on me. And here I thought I trained an auror. What are you, scared of your own kin?"

"Sirius Black is no one to be scared of. But don't tell him I said that."

Tonks startled, her wand at the ready in an instant, aiming at the man standing in the open doorway of Grimmauld Place.

"Nymphadora Tonks, holding me at wand point. Sirius is going to love this," the man grinned good-naturedly, seemingly unperturbed by the silent threat to his life.

"Easy, Girl." Tonks felt Moody inching closer, and wondered, briefly, if he would actually try to take her wand. He stopped just short. "Nymphadora Tonks, this is Remus Lupin."

Remus Lupin. She'd heard that name before. More than that. She'd met him before. Though the quiet young man she remembered seemed leaps and bounds away from man currently blocking her way into the house. In fact, he was rather shabby in his worn shoes and faded jumper. And the scars that marred his -admittedly handsome- face were new. No, not new. They were just...more. Though how he had gotten unlucky enough to end up with great big slashes across his face more than once Tonks surely didn't know. His eyes though... his eyes were the same. Green and sparkling and teasing and Tonks felt herself tug at her hair self-consciously.

Remus looked like a professor. And Tonks was never anybody's favorite student.

"Nobody calls me Nymphadora. It's a rubbish name."

"It's a lovely name, but alright." Remus took a tentative step forward as Tonks' wand arm lowered. "What would you like to be called?"

"Everyone calls me Tonks." Tonks reached out to take his hand as he extended it for a quick shake. "Infinitely better than Nymphadora."

"And now that we've all been properly introduced can we stop dilly-dallying on the stoop and get inside?" Moody scoffed, pushing past Tonks and Remus to enter the house. "We're holding up important business."

"The business of talking to Sirius?" Tonks arched her brow in blatant suspicion and smirked victoriously when Moody paused in the front hall. "What are we doing here, Mad-Eye? You've not been straight with me all week, which, frankly, hurts my feelings a bit; and I'm not stepping foot into this hell house until you tell me what's going on."

Remus and Moody exchanged a look, prompting the ends of Tonks' hair to take on a red hue. What was she, untrustworthy?

"Fine. If the two of you are going to treat me like a child..."

Tonks' second attempt at ditching the strange proceedings was thwarted by a firm hand on her elbow.

"We're not, Nymphadora. I swear." Remus released her arm, perhaps mindful of her willingness to use her wand. "There is a lot more to tonight than you've been told, and I apologize for the secrecy."

Tonks ignored Moody's exaggerated "hmmph".

"But we really need to discuss this inside. We've been standing out here for far too long already."

"Quite right. Enough of this." Tonks felt herself being yanked through the door and into the dimly lit front hall of Grimmauld Place. Moody obviously couldn't give a shit about where she waved her wand.

The smell hit her before anything else. Grimmauld Place had always had a certain musk -decaying house elves will do that to a place, no many how many anti-odor spells were cast- and years of absolutely no up-keep had only made it worse. Tonks didn't even realized she was holding her hand to her nose until she heard Remus chuckle.

"It smells better than it did a few weeks ago. I assure you, Molly's throwing everything she's got into de-lousing this place."

Tonks cringed. "Molly? As in Molly Weasley?"

"I do. And you don't look too happy about that." Remus' hands went into his trouser pockets and Tonks was once again reminded of just how much he reminded her of a Hogwart's professor. He practically reeked of disapproval.

"No... I mean... I love Molly. Who doesn't? It's just that..."

"It's just that Nymphadora can't keep her hands off the Weasley boys!"

Tonks fumed as Moody made his way away from her and clumped down the long hall to the safety of what she remembered as the kitchen.

"Miserable old gossip," she grumbled, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach as the voices in the house grew a little louder. Moody's presence was obviously welcome. "I dated Charlie, yes. And I might have had something of a fling with Bill, sure. But that was ages ago, and Molly just can't let it go!"

Remus chuckled. "Thought she'd finally nabbed herself a daughter-in-law, did she? You can't blame her for wanting to keep you. Females are hard to come by in that family."

Tonks grinned, pleasantly surprised to find that the Professor had a sense of humor. "I ran as soon as I got the first hand-knitted jumper. Poor Ginny. The Burrow must be hell for her with all those boys."

"Ginevra does alright. She can take any of those boys in a duel, and has done." Remus smiled and Tonks smiled back, gratified that he didn't hold her total lack of desire to be a Weasley against her.

"Tonks!" Tonks jumped as Moody yelled her name down the hall. "You're holding up the meeting! Get your arse in here! Now!"

"Meeting?" Tonks frowned at Remus and was met with an eye-roll.

"Come on, Miss Tonks. Let's get this over with."

With a gentle hand at her back, Remus steered her confidently towards the kitchen...and right into the outstretched foot of a horrendous-looking umbrella stand, prompting her to fall right onto her arse. She glared at Remus as he tried to help her to her feet. She could be clumsy right on her own without any assistance from him.

"Wow. This really brings back memories."

Tonks turned from Remus to find Sirius Black standing in the doorway of the kitchen, eyeing her more fondly than he had any right to.

"I've missed you, Little Cousin."