Disclaimer: JK Rowling and Co owns the Harry Potter universe, including all the beloved characters and places. I’m just trying to entertain us while we wait for Book 7.

 

Summary: Missing scene: Set during OOTP right after Ron and Hermione’s Prefect Party and Molly’s Boggart scenes.  A series of flashbacks as Lupin, Tonks, and Sirius discuss their Hogwarts days and being (or not being) Prefects.

 

Author’s Notes: If you read my other fics, you’ll see why I chose the natural hair colour that I do for Tonks (oohh…shameless self-promotion!). I threw in the beginning bit of R/T romance in at the end for good measure.

 

For Starsea- she knows why. She also encouraged me to write this. Thanks for the title as well.

Thanks to Whimsy, my beta. I’m working really hard on my PoV problem for him.

 

            Lupin caught a plate that slipped out of Tonks’ hands as she was putting it away after Ron and Hermione’s Prefect Party. The evening had gone well until Harry had stumbled upon Molly in the drawing room sobbing over her Boggart. After that, Arthur had taken her to bed and Harry had gone to his bedroom. Lupin had returned to the kitchen and quietly explained what had happened to the others. The festive atmosphere had dissipated instantly. Silently, each of them lost in their own thoughts, he, Tonks, and Sirius had begun to clean up the kitchen after the others had quickly gone home.

            Lupin smiled at the memory that assailed him as he removed the banner that read: ‘Congratulations Ron and Hermione- New Perfects’.  Both he and his parents had been shocked when his badge had arrived with his fifth year book list.

            He was snapped back into the present by the tinkling sound of breaking glass. He immediately looked at Tonks, who held up her hands, silently saying that it wasn’t her. He smiled at her and felt his stomach drop as she warmly smiled back. He dragged his gaze away and looked over at Sirius, who shrugged.

            “Tonks must be rubbing off on me,” he said teasingly.

            “Hey!” Tonks yelped. “That’s not nice! Remus, make him be nice!”

            Before Sirius could respond, Lupin cut him off. “Let’s leave the rest of this for tomorrow.” He went over to the pantry and took out three Butterbeers that Sirius had just put away. He handed one to Sirius and then the other to Tonks.  “This reminds me of when I got my Prefect letter,” he said as a way of opening the conversation. “I know Sirius was never a Prefect-“

            “With all the detentions and duels? Ha, never!” Sirius let out his signature bark of laughter.

            “Now, Nymphadora, you said earlier that McGonagall didn’t make you Prefect since you couldn’t behave. Well, since you are half Black, I believe that-“

            “Hey!” Sirius interjected. “I am offended by that remark, however true it may be.” He grinned and Lupin knew that he was joking.

             Lupin continued, “What could you have done to make Minerva disqualify you as a Prefect candidate? I thought by the time that Sirius, James, and I left school, she would have seen it all.”

            He and Sirius were both amused to see Tonks blush. “Now what could you have done to make you blush like that, Tonks?” Sirius asked, leaning in for the answer. “Remember, this is just between friends, er…well, what ever you two are, okay?”

            Lupin barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Tonks shot Sirius a dark look then said, “Er, it could have been that at the end of fourth year I sort of, er, well…I morphed into her to get Charlie Weasley out of a spot of trouble with Filch.”

“You didn’t…did you?” Sirius exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. The teacher and Prefect in Lupin were properly horrified but the Marauder in him was impressed.

            “Er, yeah, I did,” Tonks admitted, grinning sheepishly at the memory. “We would have gotten away with it if McGonagall herself hadn’t turned the corner as I was escorting Charlie ‘to my office’. The look on her face…” She trailed off as she began to laugh.

            Lupin was glad he managed to swallow his gulp of Butterbeer before Tonks explained. Sirius wasn’t so lucky. He choked, and then proceeded to spray beer over the table. This caused Tonks to laugh harder. She managed to slip off her seat and onto the floor, where she doubled over laughing.  Lupin began to laugh at Sirius, who was covered in Butterbeer and shaking with hysterical laughter, and at Tonks, who was rolling around on the floor.   “What did she do?” he managed to ask between gasps.

            Tonks stood up, still giggling. She sat back down, and then said, “She took one look at Charlie and me and knew immediately what was going on. In that ‘You know you are in trouble’ tone of voice, she said, ‘Miss Tonks, I suggest you morph immediately back to your natural state’- which I did, blonde and all- ‘Now you both will follow me.’ She took us to Dumbledore’s office.”

            “Remember the password?” Sirius asked. “I can remember quite a few from some memorable moments.”

            Tonks paused, thinking, and then said, “Sugar Quill.” She grinned. “So up we went to the Headmaster’s office. She left us outside then called us in a few minutes later. Now, this was not my first time in Dumbledore’s office. Trouble must run in the family; I get stories from you two next. Anyway, I remember it clear as day. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk with his phoenix behind him. The phoenix turned towards us as well, while Dumbledore looked over the rim of his glasses at us and said, ‘Miss Tonks, there is no need to explain what happened. Professor McGonagall already has. Now, while I appreciate your rare gift, you must practise more self-control over it. Please, no more morphing into your Head of House, or any other professor or staff member here at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall will set your detentions. Now off to bed, please, it’s already past curfew.'”

            “That’s it?” Sirius asked, shocked.

            “Yeah, I don’t think he could have kept a straight face for any longer. His eyes were already twinkling with laughter,” Tonks told him, her own dark eyes glittering with amusement. 

            Lupin and Sirius exchanged glances then burst out laughing. “And McGonagall’s reaction to this?” Lupin asked.

            “You know how thin her lips get when she’s upset or angry?”

            Lupin nodded, “Yes.”

            “I don’t think she had any lip left as she escorted us to Gryffindor Tower.”

            Sirius grinned. “She was that angry?”

            “Yes. Charlie and I polished every trophy in the Trophy Room once a week for a month, the Muggle way.”

            “Wow,” Lupin said.  “I don’t think we ever got it that bad, did we, Sirius? I got lines most of the time. ‘I am a school Prefect. I am suppose to enforce the rules not break them.'”

            “Mine were along the line of ‘I shall not encourage the school Prefects to break the rules’ or something like that. Never really did sink in.” Sirius grinned as Tonks let out a shout of laughter.

            Lupin shook his head, amused at the memory. “You know what I was thinking as I took down Ron and Hermione’s banner? I remembered being shocked at receiving my Prefect badge along with my book list. Mum and Dad were pleased that I could go to Hogwarts but we were all shocked that I was made a Prefect. Because of the…”

            “Werewolf thing,” Tonks supplied.

            “Precisely,” Lupin said. He noted that they were starting to do that a lot more lately. From the grin on Sirius’ face, he must have noted it as well.

            “Was Harry’s dad your other Prefect?” she asked.

            “No, Lily, his mum, was.” Lupin smiled at another memory. “With my badge was a choicely worded note from McGonagall suggesting I tell Lily I was a werewolf. She pointed out that Lily would wind up on double duty a lot, so perhaps I should explain. I was shocked. I had never told anyone voluntarily of my condition. I was a little apprehensive.”

“A little?!” Sirius snorted. “We all got frantic letters from him asking for advice!”

Lupin ignored him. “You knew beforehand, Nymphadora, because my name was splashed all over The Daily Prophet when I resigned two years ago and again when Umbridge passed her laws, citing me as an example. However, back then the only people who knew were the staff, my parents, and me. James, Sirius, and…Peter,” he paused as Sirius growled. “They figured it out by second year. I should have known after living in a dormitory with them that they would figure it out soon enough.”

            “You must have been in a right state as September approached,” Tonks said to him.

            “For no reason, it turned out,” he told her. Sirius straightened up. Lupin realized that he must have remembered what happened. “I managed to avoid Lily on Platform 9 ¾ and during the Prefects meeting with the new Head Boy and Girl, she made it seem like she was leaving but then she slammed the door so it was just the two of us in the compartment. She turned to me and blatantly said, ‘I know, Remus.’ I just looked at her and said, ‘Know what?’ She started to say something else but Sirius and James knocked on the glass. I was never so happy to see them in my life.” Sirius laughed at the memory and Lupin smiled in reply before adding, “I excused myself and took off down the corridor.”

            “We knew something was wrong immediately, so we ran after him,” Sirius said, taking up the story. “We made it to the compartment where…Peter was. Remus looked as pale as death. James had barely closed the door when Remus blurted out, ‘She knows.’ We all knew what he meant. James and I exchanged glances then turned and left the compartment again. We found Lily and took her into the corridor. By this time, Remus and Peter had caught up with us.”

            Lupin picked the story back up. “Lily sighed at the four of us, hissed, ‘Follow me’, and headed back up the corridor to the still empty Prefects' compartment. After shooing us all inside, she said, ‘Listen, I know that you are Remus’ mates and I appreciate that but I know he’s a werewolf. I figured it out for myself, just as I’m sure you did.’ We were all at a loss for a moment. ’Are you going to say anything to anyone?’ James asked her bluntly. I was so impressed with him. He wasn’t even thinking of messing with his hair, or trying to impress her in any way.” He paused as Tonks leaned in to hear what Lily said. She was wearing a fierce expression, almost protective in its nature. “Lily looked at him, almost as if seeing him for the first time, James did really well with her that year until a little incident involving him, Sirius, and Snape after our Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL, and said, ‘Of course not!’ We all relaxed. Lily then looked at me and asked, ‘Do you think we can have that Prefects' meeting now, Remus. We have to formulate a plan to control these three this year.’”

        Tonks let out a shout of laughter. “She didn’t!” When Sirius made a face, she smirked. "That was great!"

            “What’s even better was my response of, ‘Absolutely, Miss Evans. Gentlemen, if you will excuse us.’ James and Sirius looked properly horrified. Peter let out a nervous little laugh.”

            “On that note,” Sirius said, pushing back his chair and standing up. “I’m going to bed. Good night.” Tonks and Lupin watched as he left the kitchen. She turned to him with a puzzled look on her face.

            “To this day he doesn’t know if Lily and I actually formulated a plan or not. He and James always asked us if we had or not and Lily and I agreed that it would be fun to annoy them, so we never told them. He’s probably given up asking by now because he knows I won’t tell him.”

            “Did you? Formulate a plan that is?” Tonks asked.

            “Now why would I tell you and not him?” Lupin asked her as he stood and collected the three empty bottles of Butterbeer and tossed them in the bin.

            “Because… I’m prettier than him?” Tonks grabbed a tea towel from the rack and began to wipe down the table.

            He let out a laugh. “Well, yes, you are, but give me a good reason why I should tell you.”

            “Come on, Remus! Tell me!” She slapped her hand down on the table and immediately yelped in pain. “Too hard,” she muttered.

            Lupin crossed the room and stood in front of her. He took her hand and examined it. “Are you okay, Nymphadora?” he asked anxiously.

            “I’m fine,” she told him. “It just smarts a bit. I’m used to it. Thank you for telling me your story, by the way.”

            “Thank you for sharing yours. It was quite amusing.” He looked down at her and he caught his breath.

            Before he could act, Tonks stood on tiptoe and brushed his lips with hers. When he didn’t protest, she brushed against them again.

            “Lily and I never formulated a plan,” he whispered against her lips.

 

FINIS