The First Date

Authors Notes: This story is the second in the "Grimmauld Place" series, which deals with the (rather humorous) beginnings of Remus and Tonks' relationship. Thanks go to everybody who reviewed "The Blind Date." You can read this story by itself, but I recommend reading "The Blind Date," to get the background to this story.

Takes place during OotP. Alternates between Remus's, Tonks', and Sirius's POV

*Remus*

I'm cold.

Hold on...why am I cold?

I open my eyes and look around in consternation.

The walls of Grimmauld Place comes into view, and I realise I'm sitting in one of the high-backed chairs in the sitting room. I turn my head and notice that the fire in the grate is burned almost down to nothing. Bright sunlight streams in through the high windows and I squint, looking around the room.

I spot Sirius in another chair, his head lolling to one side, his arm hanging off the arm, mouth wide open and snoring loudly.

I snort slightly and look down at myself. Then I do a double take.

I'm wet. And not just a little damp, either - I'm soaked. There's a little puddle of water around my chair, and everything, from my shirt, to my trousers, to my shoes and socks - are dripping.

I panic. What the hell happened last night?

I concentrate, and slowly the fog of sleep lifts from my brain, and a figure begins to form in my mind. Small, smiling, nice-smelling pink hair...

Tonks.

I sit up straight in my chair. Tonks.

I kissed Tonks last night.

I kissed Tonks last night!

The evening begins to become clearer. Tonks' blind date. Getting jealous. Running after Tonks and her very handsome date in the rain. Finding Tonks, and kissing her senseless. And then finding out her date was gay.

That was a twist.

Well, at least the events of last night would explain why I'm soaked.

Thank god.

I shake my head as I recall getting back to Grimmauld Place, Tonks in tow. We were met by Sirius at the door, who was thoroughly drunk, and who shouted, "Moooony! When should we expect the wedding?" and then, "god, Tonks, you're hot! I swear, if you weren't my cousin..."

We ended up just spending the whole night talking in this very room, Sirius passed out in the corner. And then I walked her home.

I kissed Tonks last night.

I can't seem to move past that fact.

I yawn and stretch, finally getting up from my chair. There's a big water stain on it.

Sirius is going to have to have that cleaned, or it'll stain. Or maybe not. The more damage people do to this place, the happier he seems. I make my way over to him, and nudge him with my toe.

"Sirius. Sirius."

He just snores on, his mouth wide open, and I notice he's still clutching his wine bottle.

Chuckling a little, a nudge him again, this time more forcefully.

"Sirius. Sirius!"

Nothing. Sighing, I pull out my wand. I haven't had to do this for a while.

"Aguamenti!"

The jet of water surges from the end of my wand and hits Sirius full in the face. His eyes open immediately and he begins to cough and splutter, his hands reaching out to bat the water away.

"Hey! Geroff!" Sirius yells, still trying to figure out what's happening.

I lower my wand and smile. "Good morning."

Sirius stares up at me blearily, still trying to wipe water from his eyes. "What the bloody hell are you doing!" he demands.

"Just trying to wake you up," I say innocently. "How are you feeling?"

Sirius just groans, his head cradled in his hands.

"That bad, huh?"

Sirius glares up at me through his fingers. "You just wait," he says resentfully. "I'm going to wait until you have a sodding great hangover and then mock you like this."

"Please. I never drink like that."

"You will." Sirius says this as if he's relishing the day I do.

"That's not a very nice thing to say."

I hear Sirius mumble something unintelligible and smile, heading for the door. "Coffee?"

Sirius gets up from his chair and stumbles along behind me as I make my way to the kitchen.

"People are going to start saying you're a drunk." I enter the kitchen and grab the kettle, tapping it with my wand. It begins to whistle.

"People already say I'm a drunk." Sirius mutters, throwing himself into a chair.

I pour the hot water into two mugs, being sure to add extra spoonfuls of coffee to Sirius's mug, and bring both cups to the table. He grunts and takes the cup, taking a long swallow.

"Feel better?" I ask, raising my eyebrow slightly and taking a more subdued sip from my own cup as I take a seat.

Sirius glares at me reproachfully. "I bet you wouldn't be so smug if Tonks were here...Tonks!" he suddenly cries, causing me to jump and slop coffee all over the table.

"What?" I exclaim back, looking around. "Where?" I smooth my hair subconsciously.

Sirius rolls his eyes. "She's not here, Remus."

"Oh." I pull out my wand and begin to siphon the coffee off of the table. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

Sirius is looking at me with a piercing stare reminiscent of the one Dumbledore gives people when he wants to find out the truth.

I deliberately avoid his eyes and take another sip from my cup.

"Well?" Sirius demands after a long silence.

I put down my cup. "Well - what?"

Sirius sighs. "Moony. Have you forgotten how well I know you?"

"Have I?"

"Yes," says Sirius severely. "You have."

I resist the urge to laugh. "All right."

"You're hiding something from me."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not," I insist with a touch of exasperation.

"Tell me," Sirius demands, putting down his cup.

"Tell you what?" I ask, taking another sip from my cup.

"You and Tonks!" Sirius finally exclaims. "What happened?"

"You know perfectly well what happened," I return. "I left the house last night to go after her, and when I returned...you'd been into the wine again."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sirius waves away this fact, frowning. "But what happened after that?"

"Well..." I pause thoughtfully. "Do you mean before or after you propositioned her?"

"Before I...bugger."

"Hmm, yes." I smirk into my cup.

"Oh well." Sirius shakes off what could prove to be a very disturbing thought in the future and fixes me with his stare once again. "So - did you?"

"Did I what?"

Sirius groans. "Moony. I have a hangover. I'm in a house I despise and never wanted to see again in my life, and much of the time I only have a surly bloody house-elf for company. Don't mess with me. Now - " Sirius leans forward, " - are you and Tonks together?"

I can't help it. I smile broadly into my coffee cup. "Yes," I admit.

Sirius cheers. All right, Moony! You did it! I didn't think you would! So - how was it?" Sirius looks interested.

I groan. "Why am I beginning to think telling you was a bad idea?"

Sirius grins. "Can't take it back now, Moony. So - what happened?"

In the minutest detail I fill Sirius in on the details of last night. When I'm finished, he looks quite shell-shocked.

"So. Dumbledore managed to do it again."

I nod.

"That man is just plain freakish sometimes," Sirius mutters, shaking his head.

"We have pur first date tonight," I mutter mostly to myself - and mostly into my cup.

Unfortunately, Sirius has canine hearing, for obvious reasons. I can almost see his ears perk up.

"Really?" he says as if this piece of information is the most interesting thing he's heard all week.

Which it probably is.

He needs to get out more.

"Yes." I take another sip and Sirius stares at me, obviously waiting for more information. Which I am unhelpfully not going to provide.

"Well?" he finally demands, patience not being one of his strong suits. "Well?"

I resist the urge to say, "Well what?" and instead just smile into my teacup.

Sirius leans back and sighs in frustration. "Sometimes you're a mean man, Remus. Mean." He gives me another once-over. "So - you're going on a date, hey?"

I nod.

Sirius snorts, and I look over at him.

"What?"

Sirius smiles at me. "No offence, Moony, but you've never been one for the smooth date. In fact, if I recall correctly, the last date you had ended..."

"Horribly," I finish with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, recalling the last date I ever went on.

It was fifteen years ago, and Sirius and James had set me up with the nice, curvy bar assistant at the Three Broomsticks. In the brief date that ensued, I managed to spill my drink in her lap, insult her heritage, and drop my plate of spaghetti bolognese all over her new shoes. And, worst of all, when trying to perform a spell to correct all the damage, I somehow managed to turn her hair...

"Blue," Sirius chokes, chuckling as he remembers what happened.

I frown slightly. "I still don't know what happened. I was nervous."

"Nervous," Sirius retorts, taking another gulp of his coffee. "Just face it. You're rubbish at dating. You always have been."

I go to take another sip of my coffee, but a horrifying thought strikes me. "Oh, blimey," I say, "you're right!"

"What?" Sirius pauses with his cup halfway to his mouth.

"You're right," I repeat, slamming down my cup. "I suck at dating. I can't do it! I can't go through with it!"

"Can't go through with what?" Sirius asks cautiously.

"The date! I can't date Tonks! I can't! I'm rubbish at it! I'll bollocks it up!"

"Moony..." Sirius looks alarmed and puts down his cup as well, reaching for me. "I didn't say that..."

"Yes, you did!" I stand up. "And you're right. Oh, my god! And what about all the other stuff?"

Sirius is looking at me as if I've grown two heads. "What other stuff?" he demands.

"Well, let's start with the fact that I'm fifteen years older than her!" I'm pacing the kitchen.

"You are not fifteen years older than her," Sirius says firmly from his place at the table.

"I'm old enough to be her father!"

"Hardly," Sirius snaps. "Unless you're keeping a major secret from me..."

I stop and give him a withering look. "Very funny."

"Moony!" Sirius stands. "Get a grip! I was only kidding with you!"

I just shake my head. "And I'm a werewolf. What have I got to offer?" I stop pacing as another thought suddenly strikes me into stillness. "Oh, god. And what about if we get married? How am I supposed to support her and our children when I can't even hold down a steady job?"

"Marry? Children?" Sirius says incredulously. "You haven't even been on a date yet and already you're talking about marriage?" He moves around the table and grabs me by the shoulders, shaking me hard. "Snap out of it!"

I wrench my arm away from him and start to pace again. "I can't do this! I have to call off this date!"

"Moony..." Sirius starts, grabbing my arm again. Whatever he's about to say is interrupted, however, as the door to the kitchen is thrown open with a loud crash. Sirius and I freeze and turn towards the noise simultaneously, Sirius' hands still on my shoulders and a panicked look still on my face.

Charlie Weasley stands at the door, his red hair askew, his clothes torn, a dazed look on his face.

I immediately forget about my problems as Sirius and I start towards Charlie with some concern.

"What is it?" Sirius asks quickly, striding towards the younger man. "Have you been attacked? Is it Harry? Has something happened?"

Slowly, Charlie shakes his head. As I get closer, I wrinkle my nose. Charlie's been drinking. A lot.

"Charlie?" Sirius speaks very slowly. "You okay?"

Slowly, Charlie shakes his head again.

"Okay..." Sirius grabs Charlie's shoulder and gently steers him towards a kitchen chair. Charlie plops down onto it and cradles his head in his hands. He's making small noises, and it takes me a minute to realise that the noises are actually words.

"No, no, no, no, no," Charlie moans, his head still in his hands.

"Charlie," Sirius says sharply. "What's going on? You need to tell us."

Charlie slowly looks up, his face as white as a sheet. "I'm going to be a father," he whispers.

Authors Note: Well, what did you think? This fic isn't finished yet, but it almost is, so the next few chapters should be up soon. So, I'm going to ask you guys what I always ask - PLEASE REVIEW! Love it, hate it, whatever. Just - review!