Title: Wotcher, Werewolf
Author: snarkysweetness
Characters/Pairings: Nymphadora Tonks/Remus Lupin with an appearance by Sirius, because really, what Remus/Tonks love story can be told without Sirius interfering?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Tonks' Mouth
When: Right after GoF
Summary: As the Order is reinstated, Tonks is faced with new dangers and meeting her family, but instead of encountering Sirius as she plans, she meets Remus for the first time instead. And so begins the OTP.
Disclaimer: Jo owns.I play.
Author's Note: This is just cuteness, pure cuteness. Be warned!

Tonks stared up at the gloomy, uninviting home of her relatives, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Hidden magically between numbers eleven and thirteen and the new headquarters for the reformed Order of the Phoenix. Hands in her back pockets, she shifted on her heels, as if deciding on how to approach the home, but really, she was working up the nerve.

Not only would entering mean officially deciding to join the Order and put her life into more danger, but it also meant facing Sirius Black. His arrest had broken Andromeda's heart and she believed Dumbledore when he'd sat her down and told her of her cousin' innocence, but it would still be odd. The laughing jokester she remembered from her childhood memories would be replaced with a man broken by years of being wrongfully imprisoned in Azkaban. She didn't know if she was ready to see him yet. She knew that she would have to, but the small, childish part of her wanted to turn and run.

Sighing, she decided to put her best foot forward and she did-before tripping over it. "Motherfucker," she cursed under her breath. She'd learned to keep her outbursts to herself. One couldn't very well go around screaming with Death Eaters around, they'd be caught and killed.

Steadying herself, she placed her hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The sight that met her was a dreary one. The house was cold, dark, and dusty. And then the screaming began. Stubbing her toe as she tripped over the threshold in surprise, she slammed the door and pressed her back against the wood, horrified as she tried to discern where the noise was coming from and from whom.

"FILTHY BLOODTRAITORS!"

Ugh. Auntie someone, she was sure.

"Oh shove off!" She muttered, shaking her head and letting out a sigh. Well, here she was. And she was sure to have alerted anyone in the house to her presence, in true Tonks style.

A girl needed to arrive with a bang, right?

Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Tonks looked up as a man came running down towards her, but the face she saw was not the one she'd been expecting, the one she'd seen in the papers. No, this face was kind, albeit a bit haggard, but handsome nonetheless.

He began fighting with a curtain that covered a painting, Tonks noted, that the screeching seemed to be coming from. Regaining her senses, Tonks rushed over to help. After a few minutes, between the two of them, they managed to get the curtain closed and the screaming to stop.

Finally, she thought. That had been annoying.

"Thank you," the man said, relieved. "She's bloody annoying."

Tonks smiled, shrugging. "Well, I got her riled up, it was the least I could do. I'm Tonks, by the way," she introduced, finding herself a bit besotted with the older man. So much so that she actually reached her hand out to shake his.

"Tonks?" He asked, as if he knew her by reputation. Of course he would. She was notorious for being a clumsy mess, she was sure he'd been warned about her.

"Remus, did you get her-Nymphadora? Good lord, you look just like…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but she knew what he'd meant to say; Narcissa. She almost gagged, realizing that she was au natural. Smiling, she changed her hair to a less offensive color than blond; pink.

"Sirius Black. You look like shite."

He chuckled and before she knew it, her cousin was hugging her and tussling her hair in an annoying manner, almost as if it hadn't been fifteen years since he'd taken her trick or treating and then disappeared from her life forever.

Remus had slipped off while she'd been greeting Sirius, to give them privacy she supposed. Pity, she thought.

A huge grin covered Sirius' face as he watched her before letting out a howl. "Oh, this is a good one."

"What?"

"You've got a thing for ol' Moony, don't you? I can see it all over your face. I don't blame you; he always was popular with the ladies, even if he didn't want to be. Poor devil, he could…" And then it seemed like Sirius was up to something and Tonks had a bad, bad feeling.

"Why do you call him-oh." The werewolf. She remembered now, from when she was a child and Dumbledore had made mention to something…poor bloke. Had he been alone all of these years? She found her heart breaking for the man she barely knew and who had most likely baby sat for her as a child. It was unconventional, but Tonks wanted to see him happy and to be the reason for that happiness. It was silly, but in those few moments, she'd felt something. Fate, maybe.

But she wouldn't speak of it. Especially not to Sirius Black. She could see the old twinkle returning to his eyes and she knew that she and Remus were both in danger of being annoyed to death.

Shaking her head, she shrugged. "So, what of it? Can't I find a man attractive without you butting in? I don't know if you've noticed, but I've become a woman since you've been off with the Dementors."

"Oh yes, a right good vacation it was. And I have no problem, in fact, Remus could use a good shag, even it is with my baby cousin. What do you say, Tonks, take one for the team? Heal a poor old wolf's heart?"

Rolling her eyes, she walked away from him, before glancing over her shoulder. "Perhaps…but if I do, it won't be for you." And then she left him, in search of Remus.

Sirius found himself chuckling after her and she could hear him all the way into the kitchen.

"They ever hear of lights?" She asked, bumping into the table. Damn it!

"Careful, you might kill yourself," Remus teased, taking her hand to help her.

And then time stopped. His hand was softer than any she could remember ever feeling and she found herself looking up into his eyes, like in one of those old movies. He had beautiful eyes. Sad and lonely, just like she'd thought.

Remus Lupin, Sadly Beautiful.

And Tonks was in trouble.

Blushing, she looked away, the magic of the moment gone. Something in her knew that she would do her best to get to know him and perhaps…

Well, she wasn't sure what, yet. But she'd start now.

"So, seen any good full moons lately?" She asked, earning a laugh from him.

And in that afternoon, Tonks learned more about Remus Lupin than any woman had in nearly sixteen years. And the greatest love story that either of them would ever know in their lifetime began, yet only one of them realized it.