Faithful friend, tender lover, avid learner- the epitaph of our hero, Remus John Lupin. I was one of the fortunate people to know him in all three ways. I am sorry to say that I am also the reason he died. Maybe once I leave you my version of events, you'll spare me some pity or even forgive me for my heinous crime.

My relationship with Remus started in an unlikely place, in the middle of a revolution against Voldemort. I was brought into the Order of the Phoenix by Arthur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. I overheard Arthur telling a time for a meeting and asked them what they were plotting. They hesitated bringing me in, but Dumbledore trusted me and remembered me from my school years. He was confident that I would be a great addition to the Order. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise at the first meeting. I hadn't met such a strange group of people. There was Mundungus; a crook, the Weasleys; a large but happy family, Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall; both professors at Hogwarts, the former Auror Mad-Eye Moody, Sirius Black; a distant relative and fugitive, an assortment of witches and wizards; most of whom I hadn't met before, and at Sirius' left sat Remus.

Most women writing about a lover they recently lost would say something about "having that feeling" about him at their first meeting. I won't say that; it wasn't true.He looked nervous and somewhat awkward, not the usual winning characteristics I go for. I was eager to hear what was going on and it showed. I caught a bemused look on Remus' face. It was almost as if he hadn't seen a young woman in quite a while, and with the crowd he ran around with, I could see how that would happen.

That night they were planning a trip to Little Whinging to extract Harry Potter. Evidently he had preformed some illegal magic and was in danger of being expelled. "If he was attacked by dementors, they can't expel him, can they?" I chipped in.

Several members shot me impatient looks; it was Molly who answered. "We, well Dumbledore feels that the Ministry will try to say that there were not any dementors there that night. We have of course discussed all of the possibilities for the hearing; our main concern is getting Harry away from the Durselys before he does something rash. Again."

I smiled quickly and gave a quick nod. The group didn't seem too keen on giving people catch-up notes. I was intent on finding a remedy to my blunderous first statement. From what Minerva said about the family, they were horrible. They sounded greedy and arrogant; so when they needed a ploy to get them out of the house I had an idea. "I'll lure them out with a letter saying they've won a city-wide contest for best-kept lawns." I shot off inadvertently cutting off Remus.

The rest of the Order seemed mildly impressed with the lie I invented; there was a slight mummer around the circle. Remus coughed quietly. "Now that we have bait, we need a group to go to the house and guard Harry in his trip back to Grimmauld Place." Most of the group raised their hands, including me. I was eager to meet Harry and get my feet wet with the Order.

When the meeting adjourned for the evening, I lingered. Sirius invited me to stay for some drinks; I eagerly accepted. I wanted to probe him for some knowledge about the Order. Mad-Eye and Remus also hung back. I chatted with Mad-Eye for a while. I knew him by reputation and he wanted to hear how the Auror training was nowadays. After a short while Moody looked at his watch and got up to leave. "I have guard duty." He grunted and turned to go.

"Guard duty?" I asked. "What are you guarding?" Moody paused a moment, his back to me; probably glaring at me with is magical eye. "Potter" was all the answer I received before he left.

A few moments after Moody left the kitchen two boys, identical twins, meandered into the large room. They noticed me right away mainly because I was an unknown that and I changed my hair from pink to purple. I had been contemplating it for quite some time.

"Woah," Said one. "Wicked, said the other. Then they both asked, "Who are you?"

Remus answered for me. "This is Nymphadora Tonks, a new member of the Order." I gave Remus a contemptuous look.

"Call me Tonks," I said firmly. "I'm a metamorphmagus." I relished my ability to change shape and physical appearance. More than a great party trick, it helped tons with my Auror training.

"We're Fred and George Weasley." Said the one I figured to be Fred. I saw him tucking something flesh-like into his pocket. "I see we missed the meeting." He noted looking around the room.

Sirius answered this time; "Yes and your parents went upstairs. Apparate down, did you?"

The twins grinned. "We thought we'd pick up some information." George pulled a similar flesh-like string out of his pocket. "Extendable Ears. Fred and I invented them." I took it and put it up to my ear, the opposite end crept towards Remus and Sirius who were chuckling. "They will move towards the loudest sound in the vicinity." George lowered his voice and said "We've been learning about the Order all summer."

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks that indicated this wasn't entirely new information. A shrill voice rang across the room. "YOU'VE BEEN DOING WHAT ALL SUMMER?" Molly Weasley had her hands on her hips and look of utmost rage etched on her face. She stormed over to her twins. "Accio!" She yelled reaching out her hand, easily catching the Extendible Ears. Without another word, she stomped out of the kitchen. The twins had a look of terror on their faces. With two looks of painful concentration, they disapparated.

I gave Sirius a wry smile. "Things stay interesting around here I see. Her shouting makes your Mum sound like a soft whisper." I said smirking. I managed to set off the hideous painting of my Aunt Walburga on my way in that evening. It screamed and cursed at me for my mother's marriage to a Muggle-born wizard. I felt slightly bitter that her actions weighed so heavily on how 'family' treated me. Sirius seemed to be an exception. He and my mother apparently got along well when they were kids.

"How's your hand, Sirius?" Remus asked, breaking my out of my reverie. I glanced over and saw Sirius dipping a cloth in a bowl of dark yellow liquid.

"Better than it was. I can't say I blame Harry; I knew something like this would happen." Sirius said sagely.

"What happened to your hand?" I asked my nose crinkling a little. "And what is that you're using for it?"

"It's Essence of Murtlap, it helps for cuts and bruises." Remus answered. I gave him a slightly puzzled look. He answered for Sirius and visa versa as if they were a couple married some 30 years. I thought they were a couple. "Harry sent his owl after the Dementor attack and he wanted answers. She attacked Sirius, Ron and Hermione." Remus continued, interpreting my look of confusion to be about the cuts, not his behavior.

Three more kids came into the room then. Two of them wearing bandages on their hands. "So, you're Ron and Hermione?" I asked smiling.

"Who the ruddy hell are you?" Ron asked pulling out a chair and plopping down. Hermione shot him an impatient look.

"It's a little obvious, Ron. Fred said there was a new member down here." Hermione said huffily.

I wondered if she was always so imperious with him. "I'm Tonks. As you've heard, I'm new." I smiled and thinking it'd be fun, changed my nose to be the same as Ron's nose, long and heavily freckled.

The other girl giggled. "I'm Ginny." She said grinning still. "How did you do that?"

"She's a metamorphmagus!" Hermione blurted out excitedly. "Professor McGonagall has mentioned them in class before."

Ron, who was still scowling about being reprimanded earlier said "…so, you can change your appearance?" I nodded laughing lightly. I glanced over to Remus and Sirius; they were both smirking a little. "Do another nose." Ron asked eagerly.

I thought about it and made my nose into a wide and ugly nose, then, I did Dumbledore. Sirius interrupted my show with a question. "What's your mum doing upstairs?" He glanced up to the ceiling, which was lightly showering everyone with dust from the movement and other commotion.

" I think she's gathering up Fred and George's snack boxes and, uh other things." Ginny grinned at Ron. They soon heard Mrs. Weasley stomping down the stairs followed closely by her two shouting sons.

"IT'S OUR STUFF, WE INVENTED THEM!" One of them shouted looking as if he'd like to jinx his mother.

Molly threw the box into the fire and the Extendible Ears wiggles and writhed like worms trying to avoid a certain death. "Bed. All of you." She said in a voice of force calm. Fred and George looked as if they had something to say, it sounded like "of age" but I couldn't quite tell. "I don't care if you are of age; get yourself up to your room!" They stormed up the stairs followed meekly be Hermione, Ginny, and Ron.

Molly sat down tiredly; I knew I wouldn't want her lot. "Cup of tea, Molly?" I asked. She nodded. I looked around and found the stove. There was a kettle on it. I bit my lip and tried to remember the incantation. I was horrible at domestic spells. I muttered what sounded like the right spell and the kettle shot off the stove. Remus got up to help me.

"Don't do much cooking?" He asked quietly a slight smile playing on his face. Before I could answer, he tapped the kettle with his wand and the kettle whistled. Apparently, he had mastered householdish spells. I took the kettle and said a quiet "thanks" while pouring Molly a hot cup of tea.

Molly took it with a weary look but said thanks nonetheless. "Where's Arthur at?" I asked just noticing his absence. Molly sipped her tea for a moment debating on what to say.

"He's on guard duty." She said quietly. Then she got up as if an idea had just occurred to her and pointed her want to the door and muttered an incantation. "Now they won't be able to listen." She saw my look of slight confusion and said, "I put an Imperturbable Charm on the door. I don't think those ear things could make it through." I was surprised by her cunning; she was made of tougher stuff than she appeared. "Yes, Arthur is on guard duty, at the Ministry."

"Is Harry at the Ministry?" I asked. It seemed a bit daft to have two accomplished wizards guarding the same boy.

"There are two guards." Sirius said gruffly. "They are not guarding the same thing." I raised an eyebrow and looked towards the other two for more explanation.

Remus leaned forward slightly and said "It's in the Department of Mysteries. We're not quite sure what it is, but Dumbledore said that if Voldemort" I flinched slightly "gets it we'll be done in."

Molly went to bed soon after that and I stayed around for a bit talking with Remus and Sirius. It was after midnight when I said I should go home, I did have to work in the morning and get a letter off to the Dursleys. Remus offered to walk me to the door. He said he didn't want me to run into Kreacher, the basket-case of a house elf that lived there. I managed to trip over an umbrella stand, for the first of many times, but Remus caught me before I fell. I looked up into his face giving him a dopey smile. He helped me up and stunned the portrait. If it hadn't been for the screaming issuing from the portrait, it would have been a nice moment to kiss. Sirius came bolting out of the kitchen. Looked around and shot Remus a quizzical look. Remus let go of me as if he were embarrassed to be holding my waist.

I smiled at the both of them and left before I could set anything else off. I spent a good deal of the night awake in bed thinking of that night's events. It was a lot of information to take in and there were a lot of new people to get to know. I have to admit that Remus didn't strike me as a very intriguing person; though, our moment by the portrait did make its way into my thoughts that night before I dozed off.