FIC: Certain Necessary Qualities
Title: Certain Necessary Qualities
Author: MrsTater
Rating: PG
Pairing/Featured Characters: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks; Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt
Summary: Fourth in the Transfigured Hearts series: "What's the matter, Remus? Don't want anyone else to know what kind of necessary qualities you've got?"
This story has been revised from its original version. You can find the final version here.
Certain Necessary Qualities
Remus Lupin opened the front door of number twelve, Grimmauld Place and was greeted by a welcome gust of cool, fresh air. Tonks, her hair still waist-length and flame red, was sitting on the porch steps and turned to peer up at him.
"What was all that commotion upstairs?" she asked.
"Molly's got a nasty boggart." The door banged shut behind Remus, abruptly silencing the clamour of adult and teenaged voices within. From the Muggle house next door, rock and roll blared over a wireless. Though not normally to Remus' taste, the music seemed a reprieve from the chaotic sounds of the Black house.
Face etched with concern, Tonks was poised with her palms flat on the step, as if to push into a standing position. "She all right?"
Remus shrugged and seated himself beside the young Auror. It wasn't much of an answer, and Tonks kept her dark eyes trained on him, obviously expecting further explanation. He hoped she would not question him about the boggart. Not only did he feel as though he had committed a gross invasion of Molly's privacy by having seen it himself, he simply did not want to burden Tonks with those harrowing images, even if only in description.
His mind turned to tomorrow's mission to escort Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley children safely to King's Cross. Although it was not at all surprising that Arthur and Molly treated Harry as part of their family, Remus nonetheless admired them for doing so at the increased risk for their own children.
"Remus?" Tonks' voice and firm hand on his shoulder broke into his musing. "Are you all right?"
"Just thinking." He laid his other hand over hers in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "I can't imagine being a parent in times like these. It has to be terrifying for Arthur and Molly."
"According to my mum and dad, being a parent's frightening all the time."
In the midst of his melancholy, the Marauder in Remus rose up, recognizing the doorway Tonks had opened for teasing.
"I expect so," he said casually, "when one is the parent of a child who lacks the 'certain necessary qualities' for being a prefect."
Tonks' hand fell away from his shoulder as she gaped, but her eyes glinted with asmusement.
Streching his long legs more comfortably over the steps, Remus continued, "I imagine the dynamic between you and your mother was something like that between Molly and the twins."
"Y'know," said Tonks, flicking her hair so that it hit Remus in the face, "Fred and George say only prats are prefects."
"The secret's out. I'm a prat."
Tonks pursed her lips as though trying to maintain a serious mask, but the corners of her mouth twitched with the effort, and her dancing eyes also belied her. "I reckon that means I've always fancied prats." Twining her arm through his, she continued, "I must've had crushes on all of the prefects when I was at Hogwarts. Except the Slytherins, of course."
"Of course. Slytherin prefects truly are prats."
"Oh, they're much worse than prats. They're-"
"-certainly not worth your time," Remus said before she could access her more choice vocabulary. "Although," he added, "I doubt any of the boys were worth your time."
His charm was rewarded with a bright grin, and Tonks hugged his arm. "Maybe not, but it didn't stop me from wasting time trying to get them to notice me."
Tonks' laughter was inwardly directed as a reminiscent expression softened her features. For a moment, Remus saw the scene she must be remembering; it was quite easy to picture the first-year version of Tonks rapidly changing hair colours and tripping through the halls of Hogwarts, but Remus realised he could not put a face to the prefect she was trying to impress. He had forgotten, for a moment, that they had not attended school together. They shared experiences, but not memories.
"Thank your lucky stars you weren't at school with me, Remus." Tonks trailed her fingers up and down the inside of his arm, making goosebumps prickle up over his skin. "You'd have had a right stalker."
Remus saw the same younger Tonks, though not a Gryffindor, seated between him and Sirius in the Quidditch stands. "That would've been nice."
"If you like being hounded by girls who morph whenever you're around and trip in front of you so you have to catch them."
"I don't seem to mind it now, do I?"
"I ought to hex you for that," said Tonks, her grin incongruous with her threatening words, "except I think there was a compliment in there."
"Clumsily made, but yes."
Tonks regarded him with an expression he couldn't quite identify. She looked pleased, she was smiling, but it was different than her usual wide grin. It held a contemplative quality. And it made Remus' insides do the same gymnastics as before he'd been Sorted on his first day at Hogwarts.
"Incidentally," Remus said quickly in the attempt to quell the feeling, "did you ever hex a prefect?"
"That was one of my behavioural issues."
"I see. What was your preferred hex?"
"My bat-bogey's better than Ginny's. Care for a stroll?"
Tonks leapt to her feet, and Remus accepted the hand she extended to him. Their fingers laced together as they descended the steps. When they reached the pavement, Remus steered them toward number eleven, away from the pounding Muggle music; now that Tonks had distracted him from the situation with Molly, Remus found it repetitive and grating.
No longer under the shelter of the covered porch, the chilly autumn breeze was more noticeable. Tonks shivered and drew closer to Remus. They had left their cloaks inside, so he slipped his arm around her, letting his fingers slide briefly through her silky red tresses. When his hand settled on her shoulder, Tonks sighed. Remus was unable to stop a Cheshire cat's grin from spreading across his face, and he stopped abruptly, under the artificial light of a street lamp, and dropped an impulsive kiss on Tonks' lips.
"Mm," she murmured, looking up at him with glowing eyes. "You'd have been so good for me, y'know it?"
Remus arched his brows questioningly.
"I would've tried to keep out of detention," Tonks said, "so I'd have more time to snog you in broom cupboards."
"A detention-worthy offence in itself."
They kissed again.
"But you wouldn't have given one."
"No," said Remus with a sheepish chuckle. "I was being honest when I said I wasn't a very good prefect. More often than not, James and Sirius talked me into going along with their schemes, instead of me talking them out of them."
"I'll bet they didn't have to twist your arm." She absently fingered the chipped buttons of his cardigan. "You've a devilish streak of your own."
"Yes," Remus conceded, "but I can't deny I've a tendency not to judge people who don't judge me." A handful of memories involving Sirius hexing Snape leapt to the front of his mind. "I can't tell you how many times I sat by watching what I should have rebuked. I think you probably have more of the 'necessary qualities' than I, despite your penchant for mischief."
"Why d'you think that? Because I'm mental enough to rib Mad-Eye?"
"You don't seem to require other people's approval." Remus stroked the long strand of hair that fell over her shoulder, letting it curl over the backs of his fingers.
Tonks regarded him with discerning eyes. "It's perfectly understandable that you valued being liked when you were a teenager."
"I still do."
"Who doesn't? And don't you think Dumbledore was aware of that when he chose you for prefect?"
"I suppose, but-"
"But nothing." Tonks poked his chest with her index finger. "You stand up to Sirius all the time - and Molly. There are worse character flaws than liking approval, y'know?"
"It's not my worst."
A frown tugged at her features, and Remus half-expected her to lecture him about self-deprecation. Instead, she moved closer to him and cupped his face, eyes twinkling again. "I'm glad you're flawed that way."
Remus' hands settled on her waist as his gaze darting from her eyes to her mouth. "Are you?"
"Mm. I feel bad behaviour coming on."
"What sort?"
"The sort where I drag you to that telephone box on the corner, transfigure it into a broom cupboard, and snog you senseless."
Tonks waggled her brows, as though expecting him to be scandalized. Clearly she had forgotten about the devilish streak they'd just established Remus had. Her slightly defiant expression appealed to the Marauder.
Remus' hands slid around to rest on the small of her back, and he pressed her tightly against him. "I think we should stay right where we are."
For a moment Tonks' eyes widened in surprise, but then they crinkled with laughter. "I didn't think you were the sort to snog in the common room."
"Obviously I'm not, or we'd be in a bit more public place."
"But this could be public," Tonks said breathily. "At any moment someone could walk out of one of these houses…"
She tilted her face upward at the same moment he bent down to her. Their lips met gently at first, then moulded together. Remus had a fleeting impression, as he did every time they kissed, that Tonks must have metamorphosed. Their mouths and bodies fit so perfectly together; she melted and opened him.
Before the world could fade away, Remus and Tonks simultaneously flew apart at the unmistakable sound of Mad-Eye Moody's uneven, thumping gait and Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep voice. The two wizards had just exited twelve Grimmauld, and the expressions they wore clearly indicated they had witnessed the romantic interlude: Kinglsey was smirking, and the magical eye bored into Remus.
"At any moment someone could walk out," Remus muttered, and Tonks snorted with laughter.
"Constant vigilance," said Mad-Eye in gravely tones, pointing his walking stick at the couple.
"They looked pretty vigilant to me," boomed Kingsley.
"D'you expect anything less from an Auror?" Tonks's hands-on-hips stance was less than imposing, as her laughter made her shoulders shake.
With a hmph, Made-Eye clunked down the steps and onto the pavement. Remus swallowed hard. Tonks might think this was funny, but she wasn't the one Mad-Eye was sizing up. All Remus' Marauder bravado fled under the creepily penetrating gaze of the magical eye.
"Early morning, Tonks," said Mad-Eye, still looking at Remus, "getting the kids off to King's Cross."
"Right, Dad." Tonks' voice was bored, and she twirled her hair around her finger in imitation of an annoyed teenager. "I'll be home by eleven, I promise."
Kingsley's rich chuckle rang out as he joined the group under the street lamp, which Mad-Eye had just extinguished.
To Remus' relief, Mad-Eye turned his scowl upon Tonks. "We'll need you undercover. You decided how you're going?"
"Yeah - as your mum." Even as Tonks spoke, her skin took on a prune-like texture, and her red hair coiled tightly against her head and faded to grey.
"Not here!" Mad-Eye hissed, both eyes darting around in all directions. "The Muggles!"
"It's dark." Tonks shifted back to her prior form, "and we haven't seen a Muggle all night."
Remus thought he heard Mad-Eye mutter something about Tonks' looking nothing like his mum. He couldn't be sure, because Kingsley elbowed him in the ribs and said, "Try not to picture the old lady morph when you two get back to being vigilant."
Though Remus wasn't thrilled his display of affection had turned public, Kingsley's approving attitude combined with Tonks' antics to relieve some of his tension. "She did Dolores Umbridge once while I was kissing her."
Kingsley looked disturbed. "That's just sick, Tonks."
Mad-Eye, still slightly frantic, addressed the witch, "If you're not alert enough to Apparate, I'll see you home."
With a hand on the older Auror's shoulder, Kingsley said, "I'm sure Tonks is alert enough, and if she's not, Remus will look after her."
Once again, Mad-Eye looked Remus over with unmasked scepticism. Kingsley nudged him away from the couple, but Mad-Eye threw back over his shoulder, "Just remember-"
"Constant vigilance," Tonks finished for him. "Right, Mad-Eye. We'll snog with our eyes open."
Remus wanted to laugh along with Kingsley, but he choked it back. Once-monthly wolf transformations because of a curse were one thing; he didn't need to be transfigured into a ferret simply because he couldn't stifle amusement. When Mad-Eye and Kingsley had rounded the corner of the house and Disapparated, Remus gave in to his mirth.
"If the way you speak to Mad-Eye is any indication of how you spoke to your professors, I see yet another reason you didn't make prefect."
"Mad-Eye likes it."
"He didn't seem too keen on me kissing you."
"That's because he really thinks we might be caught unawares." Tonks twined her arms around Remus' neck and said coyly, "Now, where were we?"
She rose up on her toes to kiss him, but Remus pulled away. "Mad-Eye's right. This really isn't the best place…"
"Aha! I knew you weren't really a common room snogger after all. What's the matter, Remus? Don't want anyone else to know what kind of necessary qualities you've got?"
"I don't particularly want the children to know." Remus coloured at the thought.
"Well, my phone box idea still stands," said Tonks, gesturing to the end of Grimmauld Place. "Or we could go inside, to the real broom cupboard."
Remus had a fleeting vision of Molly launching into a tirade - the sort Fred and George were accustomed to receiving - about setting a poor example for the impressionable adolescents residing in the Black house. A glare from Moody's weird magical eye seemed pleasant like a friendly smile in comparison.
"Considering what we've found in the dark corners of the Noble and Ancient House of Black," Remus said, "I'd rather take my chances out here."
Tonks' head fell back as she laughed, and the sheer happiness lighting her features made Remus' heart leap. He cupped her heart-shaped face and brushed his lips across her forehead.
"You're really beautiful when you laugh," he murmured. "Do you know it?"
The expression he had seen earlier - the one he hadn't been able to identify beyond its ability to make his stomach flip-flop - returned.
"I mean…" he stammered. "You're always…"
"I know what you mean," Tonks said, covering his hands with her smaller ones. "That's lovely, Remus."
Dreamy. She looked dreamy, and he had made her look that way. He kissed her tenderly.
"I really was an awful prefect," said Remus.
"Mm, I believe it. But you're a really wonderful kisser."
Author: MrsTater
Rating: PG
Pairing/Featured Characters: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks; Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt
Summary: Fourth in the Transfigured Hearts series: "What's the matter, Remus? Don't want anyone else to know what kind of necessary qualities you've got?"
This story has been revised from its original version. You can find the final version here.
Certain Necessary Qualities
Remus Lupin opened the front door of number twelve, Grimmauld Place and was greeted by a welcome gust of cool, fresh air. Tonks, her hair still waist-length and flame red, was sitting on the porch steps and turned to peer up at him.
"What was all that commotion upstairs?" she asked.
"Molly's got a nasty boggart." The door banged shut behind Remus, abruptly silencing the clamour of adult and teenaged voices within. From the Muggle house next door, rock and roll blared over a wireless. Though not normally to Remus' taste, the music seemed a reprieve from the chaotic sounds of the Black house.
Face etched with concern, Tonks was poised with her palms flat on the step, as if to push into a standing position. "She all right?"
Remus shrugged and seated himself beside the young Auror. It wasn't much of an answer, and Tonks kept her dark eyes trained on him, obviously expecting further explanation. He hoped she would not question him about the boggart. Not only did he feel as though he had committed a gross invasion of Molly's privacy by having seen it himself, he simply did not want to burden Tonks with those harrowing images, even if only in description.
His mind turned to tomorrow's mission to escort Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley children safely to King's Cross. Although it was not at all surprising that Arthur and Molly treated Harry as part of their family, Remus nonetheless admired them for doing so at the increased risk for their own children.
"Remus?" Tonks' voice and firm hand on his shoulder broke into his musing. "Are you all right?"
"Just thinking." He laid his other hand over hers in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "I can't imagine being a parent in times like these. It has to be terrifying for Arthur and Molly."
"According to my mum and dad, being a parent's frightening all the time."
In the midst of his melancholy, the Marauder in Remus rose up, recognizing the doorway Tonks had opened for teasing.
"I expect so," he said casually, "when one is the parent of a child who lacks the 'certain necessary qualities' for being a prefect."
Tonks' hand fell away from his shoulder as she gaped, but her eyes glinted with asmusement.
Streching his long legs more comfortably over the steps, Remus continued, "I imagine the dynamic between you and your mother was something like that between Molly and the twins."
"Y'know," said Tonks, flicking her hair so that it hit Remus in the face, "Fred and George say only prats are prefects."
"The secret's out. I'm a prat."
Tonks pursed her lips as though trying to maintain a serious mask, but the corners of her mouth twitched with the effort, and her dancing eyes also belied her. "I reckon that means I've always fancied prats." Twining her arm through his, she continued, "I must've had crushes on all of the prefects when I was at Hogwarts. Except the Slytherins, of course."
"Of course. Slytherin prefects truly are prats."
"Oh, they're much worse than prats. They're-"
"-certainly not worth your time," Remus said before she could access her more choice vocabulary. "Although," he added, "I doubt any of the boys were worth your time."
His charm was rewarded with a bright grin, and Tonks hugged his arm. "Maybe not, but it didn't stop me from wasting time trying to get them to notice me."
Tonks' laughter was inwardly directed as a reminiscent expression softened her features. For a moment, Remus saw the scene she must be remembering; it was quite easy to picture the first-year version of Tonks rapidly changing hair colours and tripping through the halls of Hogwarts, but Remus realised he could not put a face to the prefect she was trying to impress. He had forgotten, for a moment, that they had not attended school together. They shared experiences, but not memories.
"Thank your lucky stars you weren't at school with me, Remus." Tonks trailed her fingers up and down the inside of his arm, making goosebumps prickle up over his skin. "You'd have had a right stalker."
Remus saw the same younger Tonks, though not a Gryffindor, seated between him and Sirius in the Quidditch stands. "That would've been nice."
"If you like being hounded by girls who morph whenever you're around and trip in front of you so you have to catch them."
"I don't seem to mind it now, do I?"
"I ought to hex you for that," said Tonks, her grin incongruous with her threatening words, "except I think there was a compliment in there."
"Clumsily made, but yes."
Tonks regarded him with an expression he couldn't quite identify. She looked pleased, she was smiling, but it was different than her usual wide grin. It held a contemplative quality. And it made Remus' insides do the same gymnastics as before he'd been Sorted on his first day at Hogwarts.
"Incidentally," Remus said quickly in the attempt to quell the feeling, "did you ever hex a prefect?"
"That was one of my behavioural issues."
"I see. What was your preferred hex?"
"My bat-bogey's better than Ginny's. Care for a stroll?"
Tonks leapt to her feet, and Remus accepted the hand she extended to him. Their fingers laced together as they descended the steps. When they reached the pavement, Remus steered them toward number eleven, away from the pounding Muggle music; now that Tonks had distracted him from the situation with Molly, Remus found it repetitive and grating.
No longer under the shelter of the covered porch, the chilly autumn breeze was more noticeable. Tonks shivered and drew closer to Remus. They had left their cloaks inside, so he slipped his arm around her, letting his fingers slide briefly through her silky red tresses. When his hand settled on her shoulder, Tonks sighed. Remus was unable to stop a Cheshire cat's grin from spreading across his face, and he stopped abruptly, under the artificial light of a street lamp, and dropped an impulsive kiss on Tonks' lips.
"Mm," she murmured, looking up at him with glowing eyes. "You'd have been so good for me, y'know it?"
Remus arched his brows questioningly.
"I would've tried to keep out of detention," Tonks said, "so I'd have more time to snog you in broom cupboards."
"A detention-worthy offence in itself."
They kissed again.
"But you wouldn't have given one."
"No," said Remus with a sheepish chuckle. "I was being honest when I said I wasn't a very good prefect. More often than not, James and Sirius talked me into going along with their schemes, instead of me talking them out of them."
"I'll bet they didn't have to twist your arm." She absently fingered the chipped buttons of his cardigan. "You've a devilish streak of your own."
"Yes," Remus conceded, "but I can't deny I've a tendency not to judge people who don't judge me." A handful of memories involving Sirius hexing Snape leapt to the front of his mind. "I can't tell you how many times I sat by watching what I should have rebuked. I think you probably have more of the 'necessary qualities' than I, despite your penchant for mischief."
"Why d'you think that? Because I'm mental enough to rib Mad-Eye?"
"You don't seem to require other people's approval." Remus stroked the long strand of hair that fell over her shoulder, letting it curl over the backs of his fingers.
Tonks regarded him with discerning eyes. "It's perfectly understandable that you valued being liked when you were a teenager."
"I still do."
"Who doesn't? And don't you think Dumbledore was aware of that when he chose you for prefect?"
"I suppose, but-"
"But nothing." Tonks poked his chest with her index finger. "You stand up to Sirius all the time - and Molly. There are worse character flaws than liking approval, y'know?"
"It's not my worst."
A frown tugged at her features, and Remus half-expected her to lecture him about self-deprecation. Instead, she moved closer to him and cupped his face, eyes twinkling again. "I'm glad you're flawed that way."
Remus' hands settled on her waist as his gaze darting from her eyes to her mouth. "Are you?"
"Mm. I feel bad behaviour coming on."
"What sort?"
"The sort where I drag you to that telephone box on the corner, transfigure it into a broom cupboard, and snog you senseless."
Tonks waggled her brows, as though expecting him to be scandalized. Clearly she had forgotten about the devilish streak they'd just established Remus had. Her slightly defiant expression appealed to the Marauder.
Remus' hands slid around to rest on the small of her back, and he pressed her tightly against him. "I think we should stay right where we are."
For a moment Tonks' eyes widened in surprise, but then they crinkled with laughter. "I didn't think you were the sort to snog in the common room."
"Obviously I'm not, or we'd be in a bit more public place."
"But this could be public," Tonks said breathily. "At any moment someone could walk out of one of these houses…"
She tilted her face upward at the same moment he bent down to her. Their lips met gently at first, then moulded together. Remus had a fleeting impression, as he did every time they kissed, that Tonks must have metamorphosed. Their mouths and bodies fit so perfectly together; she melted and opened him.
Before the world could fade away, Remus and Tonks simultaneously flew apart at the unmistakable sound of Mad-Eye Moody's uneven, thumping gait and Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep voice. The two wizards had just exited twelve Grimmauld, and the expressions they wore clearly indicated they had witnessed the romantic interlude: Kinglsey was smirking, and the magical eye bored into Remus.
"At any moment someone could walk out," Remus muttered, and Tonks snorted with laughter.
"Constant vigilance," said Mad-Eye in gravely tones, pointing his walking stick at the couple.
"They looked pretty vigilant to me," boomed Kingsley.
"D'you expect anything less from an Auror?" Tonks's hands-on-hips stance was less than imposing, as her laughter made her shoulders shake.
With a hmph, Made-Eye clunked down the steps and onto the pavement. Remus swallowed hard. Tonks might think this was funny, but she wasn't the one Mad-Eye was sizing up. All Remus' Marauder bravado fled under the creepily penetrating gaze of the magical eye.
"Early morning, Tonks," said Mad-Eye, still looking at Remus, "getting the kids off to King's Cross."
"Right, Dad." Tonks' voice was bored, and she twirled her hair around her finger in imitation of an annoyed teenager. "I'll be home by eleven, I promise."
Kingsley's rich chuckle rang out as he joined the group under the street lamp, which Mad-Eye had just extinguished.
To Remus' relief, Mad-Eye turned his scowl upon Tonks. "We'll need you undercover. You decided how you're going?"
"Yeah - as your mum." Even as Tonks spoke, her skin took on a prune-like texture, and her red hair coiled tightly against her head and faded to grey.
"Not here!" Mad-Eye hissed, both eyes darting around in all directions. "The Muggles!"
"It's dark." Tonks shifted back to her prior form, "and we haven't seen a Muggle all night."
Remus thought he heard Mad-Eye mutter something about Tonks' looking nothing like his mum. He couldn't be sure, because Kingsley elbowed him in the ribs and said, "Try not to picture the old lady morph when you two get back to being vigilant."
Though Remus wasn't thrilled his display of affection had turned public, Kingsley's approving attitude combined with Tonks' antics to relieve some of his tension. "She did Dolores Umbridge once while I was kissing her."
Kingsley looked disturbed. "That's just sick, Tonks."
Mad-Eye, still slightly frantic, addressed the witch, "If you're not alert enough to Apparate, I'll see you home."
With a hand on the older Auror's shoulder, Kingsley said, "I'm sure Tonks is alert enough, and if she's not, Remus will look after her."
Once again, Mad-Eye looked Remus over with unmasked scepticism. Kingsley nudged him away from the couple, but Mad-Eye threw back over his shoulder, "Just remember-"
"Constant vigilance," Tonks finished for him. "Right, Mad-Eye. We'll snog with our eyes open."
Remus wanted to laugh along with Kingsley, but he choked it back. Once-monthly wolf transformations because of a curse were one thing; he didn't need to be transfigured into a ferret simply because he couldn't stifle amusement. When Mad-Eye and Kingsley had rounded the corner of the house and Disapparated, Remus gave in to his mirth.
"If the way you speak to Mad-Eye is any indication of how you spoke to your professors, I see yet another reason you didn't make prefect."
"Mad-Eye likes it."
"He didn't seem too keen on me kissing you."
"That's because he really thinks we might be caught unawares." Tonks twined her arms around Remus' neck and said coyly, "Now, where were we?"
She rose up on her toes to kiss him, but Remus pulled away. "Mad-Eye's right. This really isn't the best place…"
"Aha! I knew you weren't really a common room snogger after all. What's the matter, Remus? Don't want anyone else to know what kind of necessary qualities you've got?"
"I don't particularly want the children to know." Remus coloured at the thought.
"Well, my phone box idea still stands," said Tonks, gesturing to the end of Grimmauld Place. "Or we could go inside, to the real broom cupboard."
Remus had a fleeting vision of Molly launching into a tirade - the sort Fred and George were accustomed to receiving - about setting a poor example for the impressionable adolescents residing in the Black house. A glare from Moody's weird magical eye seemed pleasant like a friendly smile in comparison.
"Considering what we've found in the dark corners of the Noble and Ancient House of Black," Remus said, "I'd rather take my chances out here."
Tonks' head fell back as she laughed, and the sheer happiness lighting her features made Remus' heart leap. He cupped her heart-shaped face and brushed his lips across her forehead.
"You're really beautiful when you laugh," he murmured. "Do you know it?"
The expression he had seen earlier - the one he hadn't been able to identify beyond its ability to make his stomach flip-flop - returned.
"I mean…" he stammered. "You're always…"
"I know what you mean," Tonks said, covering his hands with her smaller ones. "That's lovely, Remus."
Dreamy. She looked dreamy, and he had made her look that way. He kissed her tenderly.
"I really was an awful prefect," said Remus.
"Mm, I believe it. But you're a really wonderful kisser."