Archive of Our Own

Rolling over onto her stomach, Tonks groaned, and rubbed the sore spot at the base of her spine. It wasn't the first time her coccyx had been bruised and it probably wouldn't be the last if Mad-Eye had anything to say on the matter. The whole picture would have been funny, her arse in the air and her cheek to the pavement, had it not been for the fact that moments before she had merely been standing in the entryway of 12 Grimmauld, scolding Sirius for wanting to leave.

Again.

He couldn't keep doing that! Cabin fever was not an excuse. Checking on Harry was not an excuse. Wanting to get groceries was not an excuse. It was too much of a risk.

Cursing seven ways to Sunday, Tonks pushed herself onto her knees, flicking the long shock of pink fringe out of her eyes with a shake of her head. Cousin or not, Sirius was going to get his own arse right and truly kicked for whatever hex he'd blasted to get her out of his way.

A few yards to her left, Tonks spotted the aforementioned cousin with whom her boot wished to become well acquainted. Unlike her, his arse was not in the air, but as she approached, she noticed a rather noticeable lump on his forehead where he'd hit Dumbledore's barrier, which was mostly meant to keep things out rather than keep things in, with a good bit of force. Perfect. Served him right. Less work for her boot.

"Come on," she grumbled and held out a hand. "I can go find you whatever pint you need, but you can't leave the house."

"I wasn't trying to leave the house," Sirius replied, ignoring her hand and pushing himself up. He pushed his fingers through dark hair and rubbed at the spot on his head, looking toward the house. "The house pushed me out... KREACHER!"

The sour little elf popped into view. He scowled, but stooped to bow. "Master called?"

"What the hell did you and the old bat cook up?" Sirius demanded, pointing back toward the house. Even from outside they could both hear old Mrs Black's portrait screeching its displeasure at the world. "I know you're the only one who enjoys her caterwauling. Why were we thrown out of the house?"

Kreacher pulled on his drooping ears. "Kreacher did nothing, Master. Kreacher only serves the noble house of Black." He peered up with beady eyes. "The house..." The words stopped as the elf stuffed a curled fist into his mouth, muffling his own speech.

Kicking out his foot, Sirius attempted to connect with the wretched elf's backside, but Tonks knocked the limb aside with a sharp noise. "Beating him up isn't going to help," she snapped before turning to Kreacher. "The house did what, Kreacher?"

When the elf wouldn't say anything, Sirius reached down and grabbed the ragged pillowcase tied across Kreacher's bony shoulder, giving the elf a shake. "Answer her. She's a Black too."

"Spawn of a blood traitor," Kreacher's mouth twisted. "Kreacher does not need to listen."

"Then answer me, you useless thing!" Sirius roared with absolutely no attempt to contain his frustration. He reached up a hand and rubbed at the swollen spot on his forehead, wincing. "Why did the house throw us out? Don't avoid the question or you'll be out on your ear, with clothes, so fast it will make your nasty little head spin."

The elf groaned and crouched down to stomp on his own fingers before giving Sirius a nasty look. "The house wants to be rid of the dead branch."

"The..." Sirius went silent, pressing his mouth together in a flat line and aiming his own nasty look at the house. He mumbled something under his breath about burning the place to the ground and finally ridding himself of it before scrubbing his hand across his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to face her. "I didn't think the house was still under my mother's control like this."

"Like what?" Tonks folded her arms and tucked her hands under her armpits.

"A member of the line of Black has to live in the house," he started.

"Which you do..."

"It sees me as a dead end. Not a potential continuation."

She stared at him for a long moment before the penny, so to speak, dropped. What followed was not concern for the situation. What followed was not a clever plan to fix the dilemma; she was no Ravenclaw and while she did know how to make plans, she didn't know how to make them that fast. What followed had intended to be a very brief sardonic chuckle, but what actually came out was a burst of laughter that soon had her clutching her sides and bent over in a sad attempt to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" she said between chuckles, flapping her hand. "But it's just so absurd. The house wants you to procreate?"

Sirius frowned and glanced at the house. "It's difficult to explain." He stalked up to the door and grasped the knob, wrenching on it first and then twisting and leaning in with his shoulder before wheeling about and pointing at Kreacher. "Get inside and tell the old bat that I will toss her in the fireplace if she doesn't explain to you exactly how we remove the lineage spell."

Kreacher disappeared and Tonks watched Sirius slide down to sit on the front step. She moved to take the spot beside him. "I can go to Dumbledore," she offered. "Surely it isn't anything he can't undo. He made the other wards around the house..."

"I don't want him involved in this," Sirius said, his tone sharp enough that if she'd been standing, she would have taken a step back.

Tonks scrubbed her hand across the back of her neck. September had turned cold as it prepared to welcome in October and a chilly gust of wind skipped across the pavement and ruffled the edges of her Auror's cloak. A change this early could only mean a colder than normal winter was in the cards. She closed her eyes and let her hair lengthen down over the turned-up collar before tucking it underneath to keep her neck warm. She glanced sideways at Sirius, noting his scowl. There was something more to this irritable response that involved the headmaster, but the set jaw and narrowed eyes told Tonks that Sirius was in no mood to explain himself.

Leaning back on the step, she propped herself up with her elbows.

"He'll find out eventually," she said. "I'm not going to tell him, but that doesn't mean that someone else won't say something. I'm not the only one who comes by the house to check on you. And if you're out here sleeping on the step, someone's going to suss out that there's a problem."

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the grumpy, old elf. Kreacher dipped his head and kept his backside as far from Sirius' boot as he could before settling into an almost mocking bow. Tonks could see Sirius' hackles rise and she reached over, placing a hand on his knee to give him a look. Snarling at Kreacher wasn't going to make the situation any better.

Breathing slowly out through his nose, Sirius paused for a moment before speaking. "What did my mother's painting say?"

The elf gave Tonks a look before pulling on his ears until they almost seemed to stretch down to his knees. She rolled her eyes and sighed, lifting her hands to her ears and covering them. Kreacher kicked at the dirt and she watched his mouth move in a mumble before Sirius' shout of 'WHAT?' came through the barrier of her palms. He turned to kick the door, his shoe making a small dent in the wood.

Her hands slid from her head. "How bad?"

"The legacy is supposed to be renewed twenty years after the heir's fifteenth birthday with a marriage and a new heir." He rubbed the back of his neck. "The magic was woven into the house's structure when it was built and can't be undone without destroying the building... And I'm nearly a year past due."

Stifling a giggle, because this was all so archaic and absurd, Tonks looked at him. "So.. could you just, dunno, take out an ad? Some kind of arrangement with someone to fulfil the terms until we're able to break the spell? I mean, if you just got temporarily hitched, it would give you at least another bunch of years to figure out how to break the spell."

Sirius held out his hand, scoping out a headline. "Wanted: Nice girl to fake marry escaped murderer for short period. Room and board provided."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, room and board is a strong incentive. Have you seen rents these days?" She nudged him. "And we all know you're not a murderer."

"It wouldn't work," Sirius said miserably, kicking at the door again. "Apparently my mother says it has to be a suitable match." He waved his hand. "Nothing less than half-blood. So unless you know a good pureblood or half-blood that is available to fake a marriage with a wanted criminal that won't put this safe-house in jeopardy or expose the Order to the Dark Lord, I'm not sure how we're going to get out of this." Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, a dry laugh catching in his throat. "My family is so beyond fucked up." He glanced over at her. "Present company excluded."

Tonks shrugged. She didn't take offence to his words. It was no secret that the Black family had its many skeletons and that she was a part of it even though her mother had given up the name for the chance at real love. So while the Black family was part of her own history, Tonks didn't find herself all too concerned about her lack of connection to it.

She turned and looked up at the house, hands on her hips. It bothered her that Sirius didn't want Dumbledore to know or be involved. Of all the people that she knew, she figured the old Headmaster would at least have a suggestion of what to do. She didn't know who she could ask or if she should ask someone. Moody would probably suggest razing the house to the ground and starting new. She didn't expect that Sirius would be all too keen on that.

"How much time do we have?" she asked, puffing out her cheeks, shifting her hair from a dark pink to a soft bubblegum.

"Kreacher wasn't too clear. But my thirty-sixth birthday is in November..." He tried the doorknob once again and this time the house opened for him.

"Alright. So a month and a bit." She offered him a tight-lipped smile. "Stay here. I'm going to see if I can think of something for you. I'll be back tonight."

She didn't know where she was going to start, but she didn't give him a chance to ask and disappeared on the spot.

"Ouch!" Tonks fell back onto the lumpy sofa, rubbing her shin. She scowled at the offending piece of furniture, a low coffee table with sharp corners, for a moment before pushing herself up and stepping over it.

It was her own fault. She hadn't paused to truly picture the exact layout of the sitting room before she apparated. If she had taken the Tube and walked, she would have been fine, but in the time she'd been gone, the weather had turned sour and the last thing she wanted to do was shrink another set of Auror robes with an enthusiastic drying charm. Moody was always on her case about not focusing enough when she apparated. She could almost hear him grumbling and shouting in her ear about how she would always be caught off guard if she didn't slow down and pay attention. It was either that or she would leave a bit of her behind in a splinch and no self respecting Auror would do such a thing. There might have even been a CONSTANT VIGILANCE shouted in her head by the invisible Moody while she hurried through the halls and up the stairs.

"Alright," she said, throwing open the bedroom door and marching into the room. "You're not going to like this plan, but it's the only plan I can think of and since you don't want Dumbledore involved for reasons I still haven't figured out because I really think he'd be the one to talk to about all of this..." Tonks sucked in a breath and suddenly became aware of what she'd walked in on.

Or whom.

Well, she knew it was Sirius because, obviously, it was his house. But she hadn't expected him to be standing in front of her in nothing but a towel wrapped loosely around his hips. Another towel was raised and held to his head, just having finished scrubbing at his hair. Tonks blinked, her gaze pausing very briefly on his bare chest and the dark lines of tattoo ink that travelled over his skin. She'd only been to Azkaban once, just after she'd finished training. How the inmates managed to get as many tattoos as they did, she never did find out before all visits to the prison were closed down. Sirius' tattoos were scattered and less like art. Almost like spell wards.

Then she realised she was just standing there.

"Oh bloody hell," she spun on her heel and pressed her hands to her eyes. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting... Sirius, it's only half past seven. Why are you having a bath?"

"I was looking for anything that might help change the spells on the house. But the attic is a disaster and I came out of it with more layers of dust clinging to my skin than I care to think about."

She could hear cloth rustling about and after a few moments he cleared his throat. Tonks spread two of her fingers and turned her head to peak, relaxing at the tshirt and dark jeans he had slipped on. Tonks paused to read the words emblazoned across the shirt in letters that looked as if they'd been clipped from a newspaper or magazine, tilting her head as her train of thought was slightly derailed.

"What are ... sex pistols?"

Sirius looked down at himself and then gave her a withering look. "I'm going to ignore that you just said that." He pointed to the door. "Found a bottle of firewhisky that the elf hadn't squirrelled away. I think I'll need a drink before you start telling me about this plan that I'm not going to like."

Moments later they were both downstairs, Sirius leaning against the kitchen table and Tonks perched on the counter opposite. He finished off his glass of whisky and then reached for the bottle, pouring himself another with little regard to how full he was making the glass. Tonks bonked her stocking feet against the cupboard beneath the counter, her heavy boots already discarded and tossed over near the door to the pantry.

"It's not that bad of an idea," she said after he'd taken another long drink from his second glass.

Sirius raised both eyebrows. "It isn't a plan, Nympha--"

Quicker than a flash she was off the counter and her hand was pressed against his mouth. "Do not call me that."

Holding up his free hand in surrender, Sirius turned his face away from her hand and then looked back at her. "It isn't a plan, Tonks," he repeated. "You and I getting married is mad. We're cousins."

"Purebloods marry their cousins all the time," she pointed out, gesturing with a flap of her hand in a vague indication of the second floor of the house where they both knew the family tree was displayed. Returning to her spot on the counter, Tonks pulled her leg up and wrapped her arms around her shin.

"And it's turned out so well for the pretzel we like to call a family tree..."

Tonks shrugged. "I didn't think it was perfect. I just thought that of all the people who could marry you and be mostly approved by whatever magic is in this lineage spell, I fit the bill the most." She counted on her fingers. "I'm partly a Black. I'm not a muggleborn. I know who you are and have no problem with your legal status as a still-accused criminal."

"Fairly certain your mother would literally murder me and cancel out any lineage magic..." Sirius shook his head and reached for the bottle. "I'm not in the market to land myself in an early grave at the hands of Andromeda."

"So we don't tell anyone," Tonks said simply.

Sirius laughed. "Getting married requires a number of steps. Took Lily a whole year to plan out hers and James' affair. There's licences and halls to book and flowers and rings." He waved his hand, forgetting for a moment that he was holding a bottle and then cursing under his breath when the whiskey splashed out and onto the floor. "The deadline for the spell will be up before we even have a chance."

Tonks had balanced the half full glass of whisky she'd been sipping on her knee and lightly drew a fingertip around the rim. "We'd only have to be in Gibraltar for twenty-four hours. Even less time if we managed a longer distance portkey to Las Vegas. And I've heard they've even got places where someone named Elvis will be your officiant and it seemed pretty important because nearly every chapel had one. Plus I don't think you know me very well if you think that I need anything like flowers and rings and a reception hall."

"You looked this..." Sirius cradled his face in his hand. "What am I thinking? Of course you looked this up."

Tonks set aside her cup and hopped down from the counter, hands on her hips, irritation crackling just beneath her skin. She'd gone through a lot of trouble to get these answers and he was shooting down her entire idea. Sure, it wasn't the most ideal plan and she had no clue if it would actually work because she didn't know the first thing about lineage spells. The Ministry archive didn't have a lot to say on them other than they were darker magic that wasn't recommended because it could tie a family up into an agreement that could possibly result in them losing everything if the terms weren't satisfied.

"Fine," she said, tossing her hands in the air. "Just forget that I even tried to help. You can fix this on your own."

Instead of just disapparating, which she knew wouldn't give her the satisfaction, Tonks turned on her heel and stomped from the kitchen out to the front door, making sure to shut it hard enough that he could hear it from where she'd left him. Pointing her wand at the streetlamp, she flicked a spell and extinguished the light and then created a small bubble of silence around her before she let out a growl of frustration, stamping her feet and kicking at the cobblestones (which did nothing to dislodge them and only ended up making her feet hurt). Once that was out of her system, she lowered the spell and returned the streetlamp to how it had been before she'd come outside.

Glancing over her shoulder, Tonks felt all the irritation slide out of her body. She didn't even know why she was so cross. It wasn't like she wanted to get married, least of all to Sirius Black and it didn't have to be a real marriage. Just something to trick the lineage spell long enough for them to find a loophole. With a grumble she flicked two fingers at the closed door and spun on her heel, marching off into the darkness.

"Dora, could you take this over to 12 Grimmauld?"

Tonks looked up from her endless incident report—you explode one storefront with an overzealous hex—and greeted Lupin with a thin-lipped smile. Her gaze dropped to the large paper bag that he held before glancing to the chair by the door. He followed her gaze and set the bag down before brushing his hands on the front of his patched jacket.

"Why me? Aren't you supposed to be living there?"

"Dumbledore has something for me to do." He glanced over his shoulder and then craned his neck to see if anyone else was in the open bullpen to overhear him speaking to her. "And Sirius is in a foul mood about something... but won't tell me what it is. I'm just going to deal with him when I get back and hope that he's in a better headspace. Maybe get him some news about Harry? That might keep him from crawling up the walls."

Tonks couldn't help but snort and mutter 'unlikely' under her breath. She waved off Lupin's questioning look. "I'll take it over tonight after I'm finished with my assigned patrol." She sucked in a breath and then gave Lupin a more sincere smile. "Be careful, alright?"

Lupin gave her a quick nod before disappearing. She didn't blame him for not wanting to stay in the ministry for very long. Most knew of his status thanks to Malfoy senior blabbing about the werewolf teaching his son at Hogwarts to anyone who would listen and that had resulted in him being deemed persona non grata. It wasn't fair, she thought. All Lupin had done was teach and from what Harry had said, had done it better than any of his prior teachers. At least Lupin hadn't actively tried to get Harry killed and from what she'd understood, the whole incident with him transforming and the dementors hadn't been his fault.

Turning her focus back to the paperwork, Tonks finished the last three pages, stamping with her Auror number before sending them off to the file clerk. She grabbed her cloak and headed out for her last patrol, careful not to damage any other buildings in the process. It was late, nearly ten, when she'd finished. The overnight team was already in the office and getting ready for their own patrols when she returned to her desk, grabbing the bag that Lupin had left behind from the spot she'd moved it to before leaving for her own rounds.

Rolling the top over to secure the contents, Tonks tucked the bag under her arm before apparating herself to the street adjacent to Grimmauld place. It had been nearly a week since she'd last set foot in the house and she thought it might behoove her to show a bit of courtesy and approach the door like any other visitor instead of just jumping inside as she pleased.

Plus it seemed like a good idea to survey the surrounding area for threats before approaching the house. Constant vigilance and all that.

As she approached the house, she noticed a shadow tucked up against the door. Taking out her wand, Tonks slowly put the rolled up bag beside one of the shrubberies that decorated the front path of number 11 Grimmauld. She kept her wand trained on the shape leaning up against number 12's door and approached. Once she was close enough, she cast a quick lumos, nearly dropping her wand in surprise when the front step was illuminated.

With his arms wrapped around his chest and hands tucked into his armpits, Sirius looked about as uncomfortable as could be. Lowering her wand, Tonks dashed back to retrieve the bag before returning to the front step. She removed her cloak and draped it over his shoulders. Whatever the house had done, it had decided that leaving him outside with no wand or jacket was the best way to keep the Black family line going. She wondered how long he'd been sitting out here.

"Why didn't you..." she waved her hand vaguely. "The dog thing."

He jerked a thumb at number 11. "Old bat who lives next door has called animal control three times on the 'dangerous stray' she keeps seeing wandering around the neighbourhood, so I decided it wasn't the best idea. I thought Remus would be by a lot sooner, though I don't know why I thought that; he's been avoiding me lately." The look he shot her said that he knew she had been doing the same.

Tonks scrunched up her nose and held out the paper sack. "He stopped by the department a few hours ago. Said Dumbledore was sending him off on a task of some sort. Wouldn't tell me what it was, but he sent this. Asked me to bring it by." She looked at the door and brought a hand to her mouth, biting the edge of her thumbnail.

"Gibraltar's closer," he said after a long moment of silence that had only been filled by the ruffling of her Auror's cloak by the chilly October wind. "And I have no interest in Elvis or casinos."

Tonks blinked in surprise and then turned to face him. "I beg your pardon?"

He gestured to the house. "I've been out here for five hours and I've tried everything to try to get back into the house. The elf isn't even listening to me. The Order needs a safe house and can't afford to try and find another when we don't even know who we can truly trust." He puffed out his cheeks, exhaling a deep breath. "So Gibraltar. How soon can we go?"

Beads of water traced lines down the window of the taxi as it rolled through the dark, wet streets of London. Each time the car passed under a streetlamp, the ring on her left hand glinted in the flashing light and the rivulets of water almost seemed to sparkle. She liked riding in taxicabs. Even though apparating was easier and took less time, there was the simplicity of just sitting there and letting yourself be taken to your destination.

The knight bus could have done the same, of course, but she liked a simple black cab.

And Tonks wanted just a little more time before she had to test whether or not the plan worked.

Spotting the familiar street sign as they turned onto Grimmauld place, Tonks was startled out of her thoughts when Sirius leaned forward and tapped on the glass between them and the driver. The middle-aged man reached behind him without taking his eyes off the road and slid open the window. The lively bhangra music that had been playing over the car's radio floated more clearly into their part of the cab. The driver quickly turned the dial and the music dimmed.

Sirius shifted around in his seat and pulled out a worn leather wallet, thumbing through the muggle money he'd had her convert from his vault at Gringotts.

"You can let us out here," he said.

"But the rain..." the driver said, slowing the car and pulling it toward the curb.

He leaned forward and passed a few pound notes through to the driver, offering a tight smile. "A little rain won't hurt us," he said, motioning to her to open the door.

As they watched the cab drive off, Tonks turned up the collar of her jacket. Sirius turned and started walking toward number twelve. Eleven and thirteen slid apart to reveal the old house behind the shimmering barrier that Dumbledore had put up around the property. The spell rippled when they stepped through, but that was the only resistance that she felt. A low candle flickered in the sooty lamp beside the door, brightening as they approached. She glanced at Sirius, but saw no reaction other than a slow breath that he pulled in before staring up at the house.

"Take my hand," he said, eyes still on the house. "With your left."

She looked down and saw that his hand was extended, palm toward the door and the back facing her. Turning slightly, she curled her hand around the back of his, the rings on their fingers touching briefly. He lifted the joined hands to the old knocker on the door and then with his right, he turned the doorknob. Tonks held her breath and for a very brief moment wondered if it had been all for nothing because the door didn't open right away.

They'd tried to get the door open before they had left with the hopes that they might just be able to avoid leaving for Gibraltar. She'd tried apparating inside the building with him, but that had ended with both of them sitting on the ground out behind the house. The magic wouldn't budge and in the end they had found themselves waiting out the twenty-four hour requirement in Gibraltar and then standing in front of an officiant before they signed legal papers that declared her Sirius' wife.

Opening her mouth to ask if they'd done something wrong, she felt an almost electric tickle of magic wrap its way up around her arm. All the hairs on her skin prickled and stood up as the door clicked open. A wave of relief washed over her and she gave him a smile, only to feel it disappear when she saw the frown on his face.

"I guess that's it," he said, looking up at the house.

He didn't give her a chance to respond, gently shaking off her hand and walking into the house, leaving her standing on the doorstep.

Giving up her bedsit near Diagon had been an easy choice once. The rent was scheduled to increase and since she was technically now the lady of the house at 12 Grimmauld, she figured she ought to at least play the role. It was a free place to live after all.

It didn't take long to move all her things over to the old house. She found a free bedroom on the third floor and spent one of her afternoons off setting it up with no help from the elf. Kreacher spent his time avoiding her, but she could hear his grumbles from the corridor whenever he thought she wasn't listening. Or when he knew that she was. Tonks wasn't sure.

"I'm off," she said, dashing through the sitting room and grabbing up the cloak she'd left draped over one of the mouldy chairs. It had been raining throughout the month and she didn't like putting charms on the fabric, so she'd left it to dry since she'd gotten home.

"Another night shift?" Sirius looked up from his book, sideways in a lumpy armchair, his leg draped over the arm.

"Callahan asked to swap. It's his father's birthday and I didn't have anything happening so I volunteered."

He looked at her for a long moment before turning his focus back to the book. "I hope you're keeping track of all of these, Hufflepuff."

Tonks shook her head with a wry grin, pointing her wand at the laces on her boots once she'd tied them to keep the knots secure. A loose shoelace was a step toward disaster according to Moody and she wasn't about to get on his bad side by not following his shoelace protocols. She did up the front of her cloak and then felt all the pockets to make sure that she had all her supplies. A little emergency potion stash clinked in her left pocket and she suddenly remembered the ring on her hand. Carefully tugging it off, she placed it on the mantle above the fireplace.

"Be careful," he said as she headed for the door.

"Constant Vigilance," she replied, giving him a little salute as she stepped outside and apparated herself to the Ministry to get her assignment.

The skies were still plum dark with the threat of another rain shower even though one had just let up, when she returned back to 12 Grimmauld. Auror Harrison had tried to reason with her and tell her that he could accompany her back or take her to St Mungo's, but Tonks had refused both. Though in retrospect, she should have taken him up on the latter. She was pretty sure that one or two of her ribs were cracked, but she hadn't wanted to encourage him. She'd suspected that Harrison had developed an infatuation and she'd been doing her best to shut it down without requesting a transfer of partners. He was a good Auror and adapting to a new one was tedious.

Trying not to breathe deeply, Tonks pushed open the door and slipped into the dark hallway. The potion bottles that she'd carried with her had only dulled the pain enough so that she could function. There was a better supply in her room.

Tonks looked up the staircase and leaned on the wall for a moment, hand pressed to her side. It would have been easier to apparate herself and she considered it very briefly. The distance to her room wasn't far, but the only thing she could think of was the last time she'd tried apprating while injured. The twist and pull of the magic caused her thoughts to scatter and she still had the scar on her thigh where the magical reversal squad had to reattach her leg.

Kreacher was still ignoring her, so Tonks didn't even try calling for his help to get her upstairs. Instead she gripped the bannister and pulled herself up, step by step, hissing and wincing with each movement.

Once she'd finally reached the top and made it to her room, Tonks bypassed the bed and went straight to the adjoining bath. Potions lined the little window above the tub and she leaned over it, grabbing the large Skele-Gro bottle. She sank, fully clothed, into the tub and leaned against the back, her feet pressed to the end near the drain. Tipping her head back, she closed her eyes and drew in a couple of shallow breaths before thumbing off the cap of the Skele-Gro. Steeling herself, Tonks took a large mouthful, swallowing down the foul concoction. Why they couldn't make this taste remotely palatable, she didn't know, but she swallowed and set the bottle down on the floor just on the other side of the edge of the tub.

Then she closed her eyes and waited for the potion to do what it needed to do.

"Shit... Tonks..."

Sirius' concerned voice dragged her out of a tangled up nightmare involving some kind of strangling plant that was part devil's snare and part palm tree. The coconuts were especially brutal. She cracked her eyes open and looked up at the worried face peering down at her and for a very scant moment forgot where she was and why, throwing out her hand in defence. The movement made her still-mending ribs cry out in protest and although she'd done a very good job of keeping it all in, the moan of pain escaped nevertheless.

"It's fine. I'm fine. Just leave me," she said, wincing and trying to push herself up in a sitting position.

Had she been looking at him, she might have seen the roll of his eyes. She did, however, hear the disbelieving snort and before she could decline the help, his arms were scooping under her back and directing hers to loop around his neck. She felt herself lift from the tub to sit on the edge and then without speaking, he helped her over to the bed.

"Is the blood yours?" he asked, moving to the foot of the bed and attempting to undo the charmed laces of her boots. When it didn't come undone as well as he would have liked, she watched him pull out his wand and vanish the laces all together.

"I'm going to have to get new laces," she said grumpily, folding her arms as best she could across a chest that didn't like the movement in general.

"The blood, Tonks," Sirius repeated, gesturing to her forehead and the stain across the front of her robes as he tugged off her boots and dropped them on the floor one by one.

"It's not mine," she looked down at herself. "Well, some of it might be mine; I'm not sure. But most of it belongs to the goat."

"Goat?"

"Death Eaters and dark magic... apparently it needs a lot of blood involved and goat blood was as good as any." She sighed, winced, and then rubbed her stained hands against her legs. "I planned to wash it all off before you saw me."

"And the Skele-Gro?"

"I find ribs repair themselves a lot faster with it. Even if it tastes like licking the backside of a hippogriff." She forced out a smile and looked at him.

"You don't have to be funny about this," he said. "You didn't leave a note to explain. Kreacher was grumbling that you were getting blood all over the tub and he was not happy about cleaning it up. I thought you were..."

"It's just a couple of cracked ribs," she cut him off before he said the statement she didn't like to hear people say. She didn't want to put that sort of idea out into the universe. "I've done worse in training." Tonks shifted, gritting her teeth against the ache in her side and swung her legs off the bed. "You should have seen the state of my shoulder my first week on the job."

Glancing over, she met Sirius' gaze. There was something about the concerned way he was looking at her that made her stomach flop and she wasn't sure what to make of it. Reaching out a hand, she touched his fingers before slowly getting to her feet and inching her way back toward the bath. After a few struggling moments, she felt Sirius come up behind her and help her take off the cloak and undo the fastening of the harness where she kept her wand holstered during patrol.

"It's not the first time I've been injured on patrol and it won't be the last. I'll leave a note next time. And tell Kreacher, since he won't listen to me, that I'll clean the tub myself."

"Blasted elf can go lick the attic clean for all I care." Sirius folded the cloak over his arm and started to help with lifting her shirt.

"Sirius..." Tonks said carefully, flattening a hand against the fabric at her waist and holding it. "I can manage."

His hands went still and after a few moments he cleared his throat and turned away from her, leaving her alone in the bath. Tonks lowered herself to sit on the edge of the tub, reaching for the faucet and starting the water running. Spraying the stained sides with the shower head, she watched as salmon pink swirls made their way down the drain.

She'd never had someone around to help her clean up after a patrol went bad and part of her wanted to ask him to come back and help. But another part of her thought it probably wasn't appropriate. Sure he was her husband, but that was all for show. The house hadn't made any attempt at throwing them back out onto the streets since they'd returned from Gibraltar and that had to be a good sign.

But she wasn't a real wife and she shouldn't think of asking him to help her like he was her real husband.

"You can't come with me, Sirius," she said, standing in front of the door with her arms outstretched to block him

"No one will know. I'll be in my dog form," he said, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Moody will know!" She pointed at him. "One, he knows you're an animagus and two, his eye sees through enchantments. I can't just bring you along on my patrols. That's why I have a partner. Harrison is perfectly adequate."

"If he's so good at his job, then why does he let you come home injured all the time?"

Tonks threw up her hands in frustration. "Twice is not 'all the time' and you know it! And the last time was just a cut from a spell that ricocheted. It was my own fault for not ducking in time." She dropped her arms and put her hands on her hips. "You're not coming."

"I am."

"No," she said, drawing her wand. Ropes shot out of the tip and wrapped themselves around his legs and upper arms. Sirius glowered at her as she slid the wand back into the holster. "You're not."

She spun around and left, only vaguely hearing the hard thump as he lost his balance and hit the floor, shouting angrily for Kreacher to come and untie him. After that was silence as she vanished from the confines of the protective spells surrounding 12 Grimmaud. Tonks didn't enjoy the argument and, in part, she wished she could allow him to tag along with her. But he was still a wanted man and the last thing she needed was having to arrest him if he somehow managed to transform himself back because he thought she needed help.

"We're headed off to Dartmoor," Auror Wexley, held out the assignment upon her arrival.

Tonks hesitated before taking the slip with the patrol assignment. It wasn't like changes in partner assignments were a new thing; it happened often enough when one or the other was out of commission for injury. But she hadn't had a new partner for a few months now. Wexley was a good Auror, with a number of Minister commendations under belt. Tonks admired the woman and was glad to be paired up with someone new, but she still wondered about Harrison.

"Sick?" she asked, reading the slip and seeing his name hastily crossed off and replaced with Wexley's.

"Attack on his home village," the other woman said, twisting her coiled braids up into a tight bun. "He's with the relocation team to get his family into safe housing."

Tonks felt her heart squeeze. She knew exactly what that felt like, having worked with relocation to get her mum and dad in a safe place shortly before the whole arrangement with Sirius. Of course that meant moving them to an undisclosed and very remote location and under some heavy protective spells. She didn't visit and only managed to get an owl once a month through a third party. It hurt to not see them and she desperately wanted to do more than what had already been done to keep them safe. Because she knew, like everyone else, that the ministry relocation and protection was not perfect.

"So what's in Dartmoor?" she asked, casting weatherproofing spells on her boots.

"Probably nothing but sheep, ponies, and gorse," said Wexley. "But we got a report of a Dark Mark above a village on the border."

Tonks frowned and slid her hands into fingerless gloves. The attacks had been so random lately and she didn't like that it was pulling teams of Aurors in all different directions, keeping them focused on these little events. It felt like they were trying to turn their focus against something else but there hadn't been any other intel to indicate what that might be. She couldn't go to Moody with a gut feeling, though she had a suspicion that he would actually be the only one to believe her gut feeling. With a sigh, she cast protective spells at her torso and then looked to Wexley. The other woman gave her a nod and the two of them vanished from the office.

It was well past midnight when she finally returned to 12 Grimmauld, cold, muddy and wet. The rain had started the moment they'd arrived on the moor and seemed to have followed her back to London once they were done. Other than being chilled to the bone, warming charms having worn off ages ago, with her hair stuck to her neck, Tonks felt that it had been a relative success. Turned out the mark had been cast by some no name, low level peon and not a full fledged Death Eater. He hadn't even cast the spell correctly because it had only been a twisting snake in the sky without the skull. His capture had been the only challenging part of the night because he'd taken off into the moors on foot instead of using any sort of magic that could be traceable.

So they'd followed him, captured him, and had gotten themselves covered in muck in the process.

Holding her cloak up over her head, water dripping down the sodden fabric at her nape, Tonks squelched up to the house. When she was through the ripple of magic that surrounded the house, she gripped her wand and apparated to her bedroom, toeing off her boots and peeling off her wet cloak. The fabric made a less than satisfying plop on the floor as she tossed it toward the basket next to the door. Ignoring the steady drips from her elbows, she started on the buttons up the front of her shirt, sniffing a little at the bit of water hanging from the tip of her nose.

"You didn't leave a note," Sirius said from the door.

To her credit, Tonks didn't scream in surprise. She did however, whirl around, shirt unbuttoned, her wand balanced on her forearm for aim. Sirius slowly raised his hands to show that he was unarmed and not a threat, though it did look a little funny considering he was barefoot and holding a fluffy towel in one of the raised hands. With a shake of her head, she flicked the wet hair out of her eyes and lowered her wand.

"I didn't think I had to when I wasn't injured." She raised her eyebrows. "Why are you still awake?"

"Because you weren't home," he said with a shrug, dropping his arms and stepping into the room to drape the towel over the end of the bed next to where she stood.

There was something very focused in his gaze as his eyes went from her face and down her torso. Tonks followed his line of sight and realised that the rainwater that had soaked through her shirt, had done the same to her bra. The white fabric of her very simple undergarment, coupled with the chill of the room, left little to the imagination. Under normal conditions, this wouldn't bother her; she'd worn less to the beach in Blackpool and she wasn't ashamed of her body.

But these weren't normal conditions.

If these were normal conditions, Tonks suspected that the thrill that climbed up her spine would be perfectly appropriate. They were married. Married people looked at each other, didn't they? Except this wasn't a normal marriage. Sirius had been backed into a corner and forced into the whole arrangement. Neither one of them knew the true details of the lineage spell, but it was why they were married. Not only that, she distinctly remembered him saying that the spell was designed to encourage the family line to continue and she wondered if the house knew that they hadn't even made any sort of attempt. A flush rose on her cheeks as the idea settled in the darkest corner of her thoughts and a substantial puddle of warmth pooled in her abdomen. She'd never been under such a hungry look.

But was it real? Or was it because of the house?

She opened her mouth to thank him for the towel, even going so far as to take a step closer and reach for it. But before she even realised what was happening, Sirius had crossed the small space between the door and the bed and slid a hand to the back of her neck. He pulled her towards him and her chest hit his at the same moment that their mouths collided.

There was no logic or reason when it came to this kiss and she wouldn't have been surprised if her skin had begun to hiss and spit with the amount of heat it felt like she was now generating. His mouth wasn't warm and soft, but scalding and rough in a way that made every thrilling tingle coursing through her body collide between her legs.

The hand that wasn't at her neck had skirted along her waist, rising up her torso toward her breast and a keening sort of sound caught in the back of her throat because she didn't want his hand to go higher. She wanted it to go lower. She wanted him to undo the front of her trousers, slip his hand under her knickers, and... and...

"Sirius..." she whispered against his lips.

Maybe it was his name. Maybe it was the breathy way she'd said it. Maybe it was just his brain finally realising what they were doing. Tonks didn't know. One moment his tongue was tracing along her bottom lip and his thumb was moving to circle around an aching nipple. The next he had pulled back so quickly and so suddenly that she almost stumbled over her discarded cloak.

He looked at her, wide grey eyes and very rumpled hair from where her fingers had carded through the dark strands. He gave a little cough, looked frantically to the door and then left the room without so much as another word, or goodbye.

Cheeks aflame, Tonks hurried to the door and pushed it closed. She leaned on it, pressing her forehead against the rough wood and drew in a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart. Looking down at her feet, she watched his shadow move across the bottom of the door. He paused for a moment and she heard his hand touch the doorknob, but after a few beats, he let go and retreated down the corridor.

She turned and snatched up the towel and draped it over her head, pressing the fabric to her mouth and letting out an almost guttural scream of frustration.

Following the kiss, awkward days turned into awkward weeks. Tonks had shifted onto a day rotation and would leave before Sirius was up. She would return to find supper, and him, at the table. Sometimes he had a letter from Harry at school, which he would read to her but not discuss. She cringed at what Harry was going through. She'd only had minimal contact with Delores at the Ministry and none of the times had been good, so she could only imagine what was transpiring.

His birthday came and went with minimal celebration. She'd managed to convince Kreacher to make a cake, but the elf had not done his best and the whole thing was inedible, teaching her that she couldn't trust him to have any desire to follow her instructions, legal marriage or not. Remus returned from whatever assignment Dumbledore had sent him on and although he seemed confused by her presence at the house, he didn't ask why. Sirius' mood lifted with his best friend being around, but there was still this strange miasma of discomfort between them.

Because, of course, he wouldn't talk to her about what had happened.

Though she supposed she was just as much at fault because she didn't bring it up with him either.

November turned into December, but instead of a charming snowfall that blanketed everything in innocent white, London just grew more and more dreary with rain and drizzle and fog nearly every day.

Shortly before Christmas, the house was overrun with Weasley teenagers bringing both noise and worry to the quiet rooms. Arthur Weasley's attack and subsequent hospital stay had put everyone on edge. She and Moody had gone looking for the snake that Harry had described, but hadn't managed to find a lick of evidence to prove that it had been there. It was like the wretched thing had just vanished and that truly seemed impossible given the size that Harry had described.

No one seemed to pay her any mind and, like Remus, didn't seem terribly concerned about her living at the house. Twice she tried to get Sirius alone so they could agree on the explanation, but both times ended with one of the Weasleys or Harry entering the conversation before anything could really be settled. Not that she didn't like having them there. She was glad for it. Seeing Sirius' easy smiles and happy joking with his best friend's son warmed her heart.

A few days after their arrival, the Weasley clan received their Christmas present. Arthur was well enough to be released and was coming home for the holiday. Except 'home' meant 12 Grimmauld. If Tonks had thought that it had been noisy before, she was almost shocked at how much noisier it got after Arthur joined the house.

She didn't mind. It made it easy to forget what was going on between her and Sirius.

The mood in the house went from worry to joy and relief and pure unadulterated Christmas joy. Molly chased Kreacher off into the attic and took over the kitchen and Tonks had to admit that the meals improved exponentially. Not that Kreacher was a bad cook, but there was something different about meals cooked with love. And she couldn't remember the last time she'd had such a good Christmas luncheon.

Beyond that, Tonks kept her distance from the revelries not wanting to interrupt the fun that everyone was having with their various friends and families. She smiled at the little firebolt replica zooming around the room and then back into Harry's hand, glad to know he was enjoying the small gift she'd given him, but after everyone was happily overstuffed and lazy from all the Christmas cheer, she decided to slip out.

Leaving a small note stuck under Sirius' door explaining that she was going to spend a couple of days at the Leaky. She didn't say why. But she figured a few days would help her get her head back on straight.

She couldn't keep dwelling on a kiss that had to have just been a lapse in judgement.

It would only make things more complicated than they already were.

When the knock on her door came, startling her awake, she almost fell out of bed. The room was dark and the little window close to the ceiling let in such a scant amount of light, she had no idea what time it was. With a groan, she kicked back the covers and got to her feet.

"This better not be housekeeping," she said, gripping her wand and carefully unlatching the door.

A very familiar black dog pushed its way inside the room and by the time she'd shoved the door closed, bolting it, Sirius had returned to his human form. She kept her back turned for a long moment until she heard him clear his throat. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that he had her cloak wrapped around his shoulders.

"You shouldn't be here," she said. "Someone could have seen you."

"Everyone went to bed and I wanted to make sure you got this before Christmas was over," he said, holding out a small parcel wrapped in newspaper with a haphazardly cut out shape that she suspected was meant to be a bow. "No one saw me."

She looked at him and then looked at the gift before taking it from his outstretched hand. Tearing open the paper, she couldn't help but laugh. Three pairs of shoelaces in a very obnoxious, and non-regulation, lime green fell out of the small parcel.

"I did already replace the ones you vanished," she pointed out with a smile.

"These are for the next time I have to vanish them in order to pull off your boots."

"You anticipate removing my boots more than once?" she asked, setting the gift on the little table wedged up near the doorway. Without letting him answer, she took out her wand and extended her hand. "Come on. I'll take you back to the house. I assume you don't have your wand with you."

"Depends..." he gave her a sly sort of look.

Tonks felt her cheeks go hot. "That's not what I meant and you know it!"

He took hold of her proffered hand and stepped close enough for her to feel the heat that seemed to radiate off his body. "Do I?"

Shifting her hand in his, she peered up at him. "Have you been drinking?"

"I have not." He cupped a hand to his mouth and breathed against his palm, sniffing at it.

"Then why are you making this," she waved her free hand to gesture between the two of them, "complicated? You said at the start, we're cousins."

He took a step closer and she found herself backing up against the door, her shoulders hitting the rough wood. He had that look in his eyes. The same look that he'd had over a month ago when his eyes had raked over her, just before his mouth had crushed hers and she found herself imagining what it might feel like to have it happen again. Her skin crackled as if arcs of lightning were climbing over her torso and fluttering down to settle between her legs. It was just like before when he'd kissed her in her room.

"Have you been thinking about it, Tonks?" he asked, one hand still holding the cloak and the other lifting to lightly brush his knuckles over her chin.

"Thinking about what?" she responded, feigning ignorance despite the heat in her cheeks and the thump of her heart that belied her actual thoughts on the matter. "The kiss? That? It was nothing. Just the barest lapse..."

"Not the kiss, Nymphadora. More than just the kiss. Do you know how long I've been thinking about it?" His hand dropped from her chin and he ran a finger along her neck. "Since I found you in the tub. And it wouldn't be that difficult. We're married, after all."

She sucked in a breath. Instead of anger, there was something about the way her name rolled off his lips that now seemed to make her knees wobble. "Only because you were forced into it."

He ignored her statement and hunched over to dip his head and press a kiss to her neck. "Molly asked me if I wanted a family and that I should think about becoming a dad." He pressed another kiss, this time closer to her jaw. "I think she'd had a little too much sherry after supper. But maybe I do. Maybe I want a family. Maybe I want one with my wife."

Her pulse raced and his mouth moved to the spot just below her ear and she wanted to turn her head and just give in to the kiss that he'd been teasing her with. He was right. She'd been thinking about it. She'd been thinking about so much more and how easy it would be to just let it all happen. Would it be so bad? They wouldn't be the first of the pureblood families to keep things played so very close. So why not? Why not just give in? Why not them?

Except she wasn't pureblooded, was she?

That hit her like an ice bucket to the face. She fought to get herself under control and clamped her mouth closed. She grabbed his hand again and reached for her wand. One moment they were in the Leaky and the next, they were back outside of 12 Grimmauld. She took a step back from him and held out her hands when he moved toward her, shaking her head back and forth. He would regret it. She knew he would. He would hate himself for taking advantage of her.

It wouldn't matter to him that she was willing.

Cold drops of winter rain started to fall, first light and then in a stormy downpour that seemed to drown out all her confused thoughts. Tonks pointed to the house, speaking above the noise of the rain. "I'll be home after the holidays. Our heads will be clearer then."

Then she spun on her heel and vanished.

Time would clear her head.

Except she wasn't so certain that it would.

"Auror Tonks!" A sharp clang of a boot against metal startled her awake and she sat up aiming her wand at Moody. He gave her an appreciative look at her preparedness. "You're not on night shift. Why are you sleeping in the overnight beds?"

Knowing she couldn't lie to Moody's face, she was utterly pants at it, Tonks chose not to respond and just swung her feet to the floor and grabbed the cloak that she'd been using as a blanket. She opted for a shrug and mumbled something about wanting to be on time for her shift in the morning. It wasn't exactly a lie. She always wanted to be on time for her shift. But she couldn't very well tell Moody that she was avoiding her own bed and the bed of someone else that lived under the same roof as her.

"I need you to take this to the house," he said, holding out a parcel that gave a distinct rattle of bottles clinking together.

He didn't have to mention which house because she knew. He didn't have to tell her what was in the parcel. She knew that as well. The full moon was upon them and the only way that Remus was going to acquire wolfsbane potion was if it was brought to him through one of Moody's underground potion contacts. Any official record of purchase couldn't be left behind or it would have people looking in places none of the Order wanted anyone to look.. She glanced up at Moody, wanting to ask why he couldn't just take it over to 12 Grimmauld, but he had already turned on his heavy wooden leg and stormed off.

"Don't just stand there gawping," he shouted without turning his head. "That parcel is time sensitive."

She looked down at the wrapped box in her hands and sighed, her shoulders dropping as if a heavy blanket had settled on them. It hadn't even been a fortnight and she really was hoping to have a little more time before she returned home, but Moody was right. Remus was going to need the potion to get him through the next few days.

So she gathered her things and left the ministry, hoping that with the lateness of the hour, everyone would be in bed and she wouldn't have to see anyone.

She was wrong.

"Has the lineage spell started acting up again?" She asked Sirius as she approached the step.

He looked up from where he'd been sitting, arms resting on his bent knees. At least he didn't look as chilled as he had the last time she'd approached the house to find him sitting on the step. It had only been a couple of months since that night and, still, it felt like ages ago. She held up the parcel of bottles that Moody had given her and he got to his feet, pushing open the door. Skirting around him, Tonks took the bottles to the room that Remus was using, leaving the box on the little table beside the door. She dug around in her many pockets and found a bit of paper and the nub of a pencil. She wrote a quick label for him and then left it tucked into one of the folds of paper that wrapped the box. When started to return downstairs, she was startled to see Sirius standing right behind her. He put a finger to his lips and gestured first to Remus' door and then to the second set of stairs that led to the third level.

"I want to apologise," he said the moment the door to her room was closed. "For Christmas. I went too far."

The wind changed directions and the rain, which had been light when she arrived, turned heavy and started hitting her window. She rubbed her arms and watched the trickles of water meander down the glass. Beyond the window, the skies were dark and light from the street barely touched the room. After a moment her attention returned to Sirius, who hadn't moved from his spot by the door. He looked miserable and she opened her mouth to offer some sort of comfort. That it wasn't his fault. That she didn't want him to feel bad. That she never should have put him in this situation. That she should have tried harder to find a way out of the lineage spell before suggesting something as wild as getting married.

But he spoke again before she could respond.

"I don't want you to think you can't come home to this house, Tonks," he said quietly. "By rights, it's your house too. Whatever I'm feeling, this ache that never seems to stop, shouldn't make you want to stay away. It's my problem, not yours and I shouldn't—"

She didn't let him finish, crossing the room and throwing her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss.

There was a brief moment where he froze, his lips not moving against hers and his arms held aloft, but it didn't last long. His arms came around her and he pulled her hard against his chest, kissing her desperately. It was a frantic clash of lips and teeth and tongues that made her head spin and she sagged against him, fingers burying in his hair and clenching at the silky strands. Oh how she loved that he kept it dusting his shoulders. Sliding her fingers through it was exquisite.

Sirius was the first to draw back, his chest rising and falling with heavy, strained breaths. He searched her eyes, concern etched across his. "If you don't tell me now, I'm not going to stop." His voice was barely audible against the heavy rain on the window and the roof above. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "Do you want me to stop, Nymphadora?"

She angled her face slightly so that their noses brushed and her lips swept across his as she spoke. "I should be asking you the same thing. I don't want to stop. Do you?"

His lips shifted against hers and she heard the smile in his voice. "Not bloody likely."

Their mouths met again and she felt him tug up the back of her t-shirt until there was enough space for his hand to slide beneath it, coasting along the curve of her spine. A shiver followed the touch and her hands frantically tried doing the same. He gently nudged them away and tore his mouth from hers, turning them both and dropping to his knees as her shoulder blades pressed against the door. She made a little frustrated noise at not being able to kiss him, but the sound died quickly when he pushed up the front of her shirt, pressing his mouth against her stomach.

This wasn't her first time. There'd been a few one offs, mostly with coworkers in other departments and that one time with a visiting wizard from Kenya during the World Cup, but she couldn't describe just how different this was. He hadn't even touched her where she wanted him to the most and still her skin was almost on fire.

She whimpered, actually whimpered as his tongue traced a line along that little bit of her stomach that curved out below her belly button. She'd maybe been a little self conscious of it, there was something about the way he almost hummed against it that made her knees turn to jelly.

Tipping her head back, Tonks felt him undo her trousers, but instead of stopping so she could strip completely, he merely pushed them down far enough to expose her knickers. A flush crept over her skin because they weren't exactly the sexiest pair of knickers that she owned and she did open her mouth to make some kind of comment in that regard. She squirmed, trying to wiggle her trousers down more, but he pressed his hand to her knee and looked up at her. The wicked look in his eyes made her breath hitch.

Then he buried his face in what little space there was between her thighs. If her knickers were still in the way, she didn't know. She also didn't actually care because his tongue still found her clit and the strangled noise that he managed to pull from her throat was something she was certain she had never made before. Her hand went to the back of his head just as his lips closed around it and there was such a delicious suction that she couldn't stop her fingers from curling into a fist and almost tugging at his hair.

It didn't take long for the orgasm to rock through her body. One moment she was groaning at the sensation, the next she had let go of his hair and pressed her fist to her open mouth, muffling the scream as her body shook.

He held her until she stopped shaking and then carefully swiped his thumb across his lip, grinning at her. "Never had it that easy before."

She swatted at him, gulping in a few breaths as he got to his feet. Her hands immediately went to his shirt, tugging it off and then to the belt around his waist. She undid it and yanked it almost frantically from the loops that she lost her balance and stumbled back toward the bed, landing with an awkward 'oof', her own trousers still around her knees. Sirius shook his head and stepped over his discarded shirt. She propped herself up on her elbows and kicked out her legs, wiggling her feet.

"If you laugh at me, I'll stop this right now and leave you with the bluest bollocks you have ever had," she said.

Sirius grabbed her foot and started to undo the laces on her boots. "I spent twelve years in Azkaban. Bollocks couldn't ever be bluer than that." His tone shifted from light to annoyed halfway through the sentence as the laces tangled, then without warning he dropped her foot and walked over to her cloak. He dug around until he found her wand and then before she could protest, he vanished the laces.

Dropping back on the bed, she toed off the now loosened boots. "I suppose that your version of unlacing my boots was bound to happen sooner or later."

He carefully tugged off her trousers, one leg at a time. "I knew it would."

His clothing joined her clothing on the floor. Shirt, shoes, bra, knickers, pants all in a tangled pile. He stretched out beside her and Tonks traced her fingers over the markings that scattered across his chest and shoulders. She thought back to the day she'd last seen them. It now seemed ages ago.

Before he could touch her, she leaned forward and kissed one particularly intricate mark on his collar bone. Then she nudged him onto his back and pressed another kiss to a second mark just below his sternum and then another to the spot on his bicep where the ink circled around his skin in a swirl that seemed almost beautiful if one didn't think of how it came to be there. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed just above one nipple, her fingertip tracing a little circle around it.

The sound that she managed to cause was an almost guttural sort of groan. She couldn't describe it exactly. But her eyes went to the one hand she could see, watching it flex in the blanket that covered her bed. She smiled and began kissing a slow line down the middle of his chest and then his abdomen until her lips brushed the line of hairs leading toward his hips.

If she was honest, sucking a bloke off had never been her favourite thing to do. They were always so insistent on guiding her and forcing themselves deeper and hoping that she would do something kinky with her metamorphmagus powers. But Sirius kept his hands away from her and seemed to give her all control.

So she did what she knew that she liked. Tracing with her tongue and scraping with her teeth. A little suction there, slowly taking him into her mouth and then pulling back to trace along the length of him. The hiss of pleasure let her know that she was on the right track.

"Tonks... I can't..." His hand came down, nudging her out of the way and wrapped around his cock. She watched him squeeze for a long moment before letting out a shaky breath. "That would... have ended things too soon."

She gave what she hoped was a grin to match the wicked one he'd given her earlier and kissed her way back up to his neck. "There are spells for that," she whispered in his ear.

Pushing her to her back and rolling over on top of her, Sirius looked down into her face. She looked up at him, surprised. Part of her had almost asked if he preferred another position, but she held it back because he didn't seem to want to move brushing her hair back and twisting the pink strands around his fingers, he pressed a kiss to her mouth.

"I'll save the magic for when I'm old and need potions to get going in the morning."

A laugh burst from her throat, but it didn't last long because he shifted enough to get a hand between their bodies. The first press of his fingertip against her clit caused a little jolt to travel up her spine. Her eyes pinched shut and she parted her legs more, wanting the touch to happen again.

And it did. This time, however, it was accompanied by the press of his cock against her and not needing any encouragement, she spread her thighs apart wider. Sirius met her gaze and she nodded before he could even ask. She wanted this. She wanted the feeling of him against her body. She wanted the sensation of him sliding into her. She gripped her fingers into the muscles of his back and wrapped her legs around his hips, rolling up against him.

She met him, thrust for thrust. Beneath them the bed scraped on the floor and somewhere in the deepest recesses of her mind there was a little thought spared to hoping that muffling charms had been placed on all the floors.

Each movement struck something and she could feel her whole body twisting and coiling as if like a spring getting ready to release. Somehow he seemed to notice it too and his mouth connected with hers just as his hand reached above her head to grip the headboard. Each new thrust seemed to go deeper and harder. He gripped her thigh and then pulled her knee higher to change the angle of her hips and she felt stars burst behind her eyes.

She tried to hold back the moan, tried to keep quiet.

"Come for me, Nymphadora..." he groaned.

She'd never liked anyone using that name, but there was something explosive about the way it sounded when Sirius said it. Almost possessive somehow and when he said it, she couldn't hold herself back anymore. Her whole body seemed to fall off the precipice and she let out something that was caught between a cry and a moan, her body spasming and clenching all around him.

It only took a few more deep thrusts and then his body went rigid. A flood of warmth filled her insides and when he sagged against her, every muscle seemed to let off a series of twitches as his weight pressed her into the mattress. After a moment, he rolled to the side, but kept his arms around her.

His fingers traced along her hairline and he gave the damp strands a curious look, his breathing still rapid as if he'd played the longest game of quidditch in his life.

A wry smile crossed her face. "Did you think they would go into some kind of Technicolor flashing rainbow when I came?"

"Did you briefly consider that I would prefer doing this from behind?" At what must have been a flush to her cheeks, he laughed and kissed her. "You did!"

"Well you're the one who turns into a dog when the mood suits."

His hand travelled down over her stomach, tracing little circles in the damp curls between her thighs. "I didn't take you for the bestiality sort, Nymphadora."

She smacked his chest, maybe a little harder than she ought to have because he playfully winced.

"I know. Don't use the name."

Shaking her head, she closed the space between them and pressed a kiss to his mouth. "You're the only one who can." Her teeth caught his lower lip and she gave him a playful bite. "And if you imply that I'm into any sort of zoophilia again, Sirius Black, I'll... Well I don't know. But you won't enjoy it."

He caught her hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing her wrist and scraping his teeth along the thin skin. "You'd be surprised what I enjoy," he teased.

Tonks stared down at the ring on her finger, hidden behind a fairly standard disillusionment charm. She ran her thumb over the thin band and then slowly pulled it off. It hadn't even been there long enough to leave any sort of mark behind. She reached over and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket that hung next to her bed as medical bubbles bounced around at her shoulder, blinking from red to blue to green.

Six months.

She touched her head and frowned at the amount of gauze that was wrapped around her skull. It seemed unnecessary; the fall hadn't been that bad.

Six months since that night.

At her side, Remus sat folded awkwardly into one of the terrible St Mungo's chairs. Even fast asleep, he looked hollow and defeated. She couldn't blame him for that. She wouldn't blame him for that. She supposed that she felt just as hollow. Or at least she thought perhaps she would once she actually started to feel something again.

Six amazing months.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. The order was supposed to protect people. The Aurors were supposed to protect people. But everyone had been scattered so thin over the country that word couldn't be sent out fast enough when alerts at the Department of Mysteries went off.

She'd always kept on a potion. Six months and they didn't want to risk it. Not yet. Not until the war was over. This was no place for a child.

Pressing a hand to her stomach, Tonks felt the ache start to rise and she sucked in a shuddering breath. She was a widow before anyone even knew she had been married and she could not let herself cry. She had no way of explaining it. Dumbledore had told her what had happened after her fall. He'd told her gently before leaving to deal with Fudge and what a mess everything had become. There was something in the way that he looked at her that seemed to say that he knew. That he'd always known about what Sirius and her had done.

"I loved you for more than those six months, you know," she whispered to the ring now tucked away in the pocket of her jacket.

But only the light hums and beeps within the hospital answered her back.

Pushing herself up in the bed, Tonks caught a glance of herself in the mirror by the window. Moving slowly so she wouldn't set off the little monitoring bubbles, she carefully unwound the gauze around her head, wincing as it pulled from the fresh injury in her scalp. She glanced again to the mirror, running her fingers through her hair.

And watched it change from pink to brown.