Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody and Charlie Weasley sat at the table in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Remus was reading the paper and sipping his tea, while Moody was nursing something slightly stronger after a tough day's work for the Order. It was Charlie's behaviour that was unusual. He was sitting with his hands in his lap, fiddling with the hem of his shirt, and looking uncharacteristically nervous.

After a few minutes, Remus looked up at the young man.

"She'll be down in a minute, Charlie. Just relax," he said, reaching for the plate of cookies Mrs. Weasley had sent over with her son. "Have a cookie."

"No thanks, Remus," Charlie mumbled. He was sure he'd hurl if he ate anything, despite his Weasley appetite and the fact that he was going to a restaurant later.

He heard the creak of hinges behind his but kept his gaze on the wall between the two other men in the room. Tonks was here.

Remus looked up as the door opened, blinked at the entering Tonks and commented. "New outfit."

Moody looked up a moment later. His magical eye twirled once. He murmured, "New knickers."

Charlie let out a choked noise and finally turned around. He gasped and realized that both Remus and Moody were probably right.

Tonks was standing in the doorway looking nervous and blushing furiously at Moody's comment. Her pink hair clashed horribly with her face but it went well with the dark blue dress she was wearing. To Charlie's delight, it bared her shoulders and ended halfway down her thigh, showing quite a bit of leg. Charlie's eyes were drawn to the plunging neckline where they remained until he realized he was staring. He also realized his mouth had been hanging open since he'd turned around.

He looked back at her face to find her eyes on him.

"You look really nice," he said. His voice sounded oddly strained and he was having trouble thinking straight.

"Thank you," Tonks said softly. "It's not too fancy for the restaurant, is it?"

Charlie shook his head vigorously. There was no way he wanted her to change. "No. It's perfect."

Tonks blushed again and took the arm Charlie held out. She tripped slightly, but he held her up. At least I know she's still Tonks, he thought, grinning at her. He led her out of the kitchen so they could get to a place they could apparate from.

As the door shut behind them, they heard Remus and Moody start talking again.

"I can't believe Tonks was wearing a dress," Remus said.

"I can't believe she was wearing those knickers. Weasley's going to enjoy taking those off later."

There was a sputtering noise that sounded like Remus spitting out tea, before the door shut completely.

A glance at Tonks told him she was blushing again.

As they walked down the hall to the front door, Charlie thought, What a strange way to start a first date.