Part IV: In which Mr. Moony and Mr. Padfoot present…

The three separated for the evening to avoid suspicion from Molly. Tonks suspected everyone else had an idea what had gone on though. Ginny had given her a high-five for no apparent reason. Harry smirked whenever he passed any of them. Ron didn't beat Remus quite as badly at chess, and Hermione wore the slightly amused yet slightly reproachful look that she usually reserved for Ron and Harry.

Tonks enjoyed her victory over a cup of cocoa in the study. She picked through some ludicrously old books until Remus knocked on the door frame several hours later.

"Sirius is requesting a meeting in the kitchen," he said.

She slipped her book back on to the shelf. "Another war council?" she asked with a stretch and a yawn.

Remus shook his head, "The twins just rang out their last mop and headed off to bed with the others. Sirius wants to celebrate, and for once I quite agree with him."

Who was she to argue with that? She followed him out into the parlor, but he stopped short.

"Close your eyes," he instructed.

"Pardon?"

"Close your eyes," he repeated. "It's – erm- a bit of a surprise."

"Should I be concerned? Not sure how crazy I am about a surprise from you lot."

"It's safe," he said, then held up his right hand. "Marauder's honor."

She rolled her eyes, but did as she was instructed.

She felt a slight breeze as Remus waved his hand in front of her face to make sure she wasn't looking. She gulped in a breath of air as he took her hand to guide her into the kitchen.

Sooner or later the two of them were going to need to discuss whatever was going on between them. Sooner or later she wasn't going to be able to handle turning into a puddle of mush around him. Sooner or later Sirius was going to harass her about it. Sooner or later.

"This is important business," Remus informed her. A sly hint in his voice suggested otherwise. "Ok sit," he told her, guiding her to a chair.

"Open 'em," she heard Sirius say.

She was met with by the sight of bed sheet that had been charmed into a makeshift banner blinking "Congratulations" in different colors.

Sirius was in a well pressed scarlet smoking jacket and had folded an old copy of the Daily Prophet into a rather interesting hat, which he wore proudly. She watched as he wrestled Remus into another hat and then produced a third one. He stood importantly in front of her and cleared his throat.

"After today's success, it has been decided that you, Auror Nymphadora Tonks have achieved the highest level of prankdom," he spoke as if addressing an entire audience instead of just she and Remus. "To mark this occasion, but mostly to make sure you can't get sick of us and bugger off, it is our pleasure to award you with an honorary Maraudership," he said. He held the funny paper hat above her head with both hands. He moved to place it on her head, "I dub thee Tonks..." he paused leaving the hat centimeters above her."I hope you understand this is a great award," he interrupted himself. "There's only ever been one honorary Marauder before."

"And she had to marry into it," Remus chimed in.

Sirius went to continue the crowning, and stopped again. "We are very exclusive," he elaborated, "You are the first non-Gryffindor inductee."

"Yes, with a convict and a werewolf as the only members, you can see how bad Hufflepuff looks on your resume," Remus deadpanned.

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs, "Oi! I'm trying to conduct a ceremony here."

Remus rubbed his side, "Right then. Carry on."

"Very well. Tonks, do you accept this honor being bestowed upon you and promise to uphold the oath of being up to no good?"

Tonks feigned being choked up and fanned herself dramatically with a cloth napkin. "It's a dream come true."

"I'll take that as a yes," Sirius nodded in approval, "by the power invested in me, by...well...me, I dub thee Nymphadora Tonks, a Maraudette." He placed the paper hat on her head with a flourish and prompted Remus to clap with him.

Sirius then promised to begin marauder 'handshake' training in the morning slipped her a piece of paper to read.

Messers Moony and Padfoot remind you…

#1 Stand by your fellow marauder no matter what.

#2 Invigorate. Dominate. Retaliate.

#3 Know your target.

#4 Never prank a professor without at least two weeks preparation.

#5 Those who create mischief must always be prepared to be on the receiving end.

#6 Anyone made privy to these rules without consent of all current marauder's must be fed to the giant squid.

It wasn't until sometime later, as they sat around the table, enjoying each other's company and still adorned with their silly hats, that Tonks realized that these two men had become her best friends.

She contemplated this as Remus excused himself to put a kettle on. Sirius turned to her.

"Don't worry your pink pixie head cousin," he whispered. "Ol' Moony will see what's in front of him if I have to hold him there and shake him. Personally, I don't think I'll even have to try that hard."

Epiphany or not, Tonks was not ready to have this discussion. 'Sooner or later' definitely meant later in her book. "I haven't the foggiest what you're talking about Sirius." Maybe Celestina needed a good song about denial.

"I'm sure you don't," he scoffed. "But remember, I get to be godfather to the first born."

"You Sirius Black are an insufferable dung-beetle," she huffed.

Remus heard the last statement as he sat back down. "Well, that sounds familiar," he sniggered.

"What does?"

"That was Lily's basic description of Sirius for quite some time growing up. James was an arrogant toe rag, and Sirius was an insufferable dung-beetle."

"What were you?"

"The poor innocent bookworm they corrupted with their degenerate ways."

"I'll show you degenerate," Sirius chimed in throwing up a rude gesture.

Remus ignored him as usual. "Lily and James would have loved you," he said to Tonks.

"Too true," Sirius agreed, looking quite genuine as he said it. "No doubt it would have taken you and Lily about thirty seconds to become sisters in arms. Remus, couldn't you have just imagined the two of them giggling and plotting in a corner?"

"We would have been in serious trouble," Remus said.

"Well, I'm always in Sirius trouble."

Remus groaned loudly.

"Oh come on. You set that one up with a neon blinking gateway around it. Honestly, what did you expect me to do?"

The two of them once more descended into playful bickering. Tonks didn't pay much attention. She tried delicately to process everything. The comments were made in passing, but she was overwhelmed with the thought that Remus and Sirius had shared this part of themselves with her. She wasn't sure when or how it happened, but there was little doubt in her mind that these two were now the most important people in her life.

There had always been a degree of mythology to their friendship with Lily and James that seemed impossible to measure up to. For that reason alone, her honorary maraudership already meant more to her than she could have expressed to them. The complications between her and Remus not withstanding the three of them had managed to find something special in a terrifying time.

Moony, Padfoot, and Tonks. She thought it had a nice ring to it. She took the rules out of her pocket and glimpsed at number one again.

Stand by your fellow Marauder no matter what.

Staring at it, it finally dawned on her what Sirius and Remus may have promised all those years ago.

She looked back at her arguing friends accepting that it was the only rule a marauder could never break.

End

A/N: Hope you guys like it. Leave a comment if you did. I'm considering a sequel focusing on Sirius' plot to get the couple together. We'll see.