Summary: Remus Lupin is a man haunted by loss and self-hatred. Nymphadora Tonks is a burst of energy but also a young woman looking for more out of life. The story of how they met and fell in love.
Categories: Remus/Tonks Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 1
Completed: No
Word count: 1941
Read: 2354
Published: 03/26/13
Updated: 03/31/13
1. Chapter 1 by HPAlison
Bang!
A loud thumping noise came from the hallway. I groaned, rolled over, and threw the pillow over my head. My neighbor was a clumsy drunk, regularly falling into walls as he stumbled back into his flat at night. If he was really soused, he might be trying to lure me into the hallway so he could taunt me again for wearing –dresses.†I suppose it was my own fault for not changing into Muggle clothes for the short walk from the alley where I usually Apparated into my flat. I would probably tolerate his insults better if he at least had the intelligence to make them original.
Bang!
Listening more carefully to the noise this time, it did sound as though someone was banging on my door. Wonderful. Just when I was starting to drift off. Sleep was almost impossible when I went more than a day without food. Ironic considering that sleep was the only way to get relief from the growling, grumbling, achy emptiness in my stomach.
Bang!
–Go away!†I bellowed. Of course now all I’d done was let him know that I was at home.
Bark!
Immediately, I leapt up. I grabbed my dressing gown from the floor and shrugged it on as I ran to the front door. I flung the door open. A large black dog ran inside. His teeth were bared and all his fur was standing straight up. Instinctively, I backed away.
–What are you doing here?†I said in a harsh whisper. –What happened?â€
Sirius switched back to his human form. His robes were torn and tattered. He was rail thin with long, tangled black hair. His eyes were wide and his hands were shaking, with fear or fury, I couldn’t tell.
–He’s back, Remus,†Sirius said, gasping for breath. –Voldemort.â€
My knees had gone weak. I backed into the wall and leaned against it.
–Wh - When?†I stuttered. –How do you know?â€
–Harry. He used Harry. At the Triwizard Tournament tonight.â€
My stomach lurched. –Harry? Is he all right?â€
Sirius nodded hesitantly. –He’s fine, mostly. In shock. The other Hogwarts boy...Diggory? He’s dead.â€
–Dead? Cedric?†My legs really did give away now. I slid down against the wall and put my head between my knees. Cedric had been one of my favorites. Polite, funny, well-liked, a diligent student. I couldn’t imagine any need to kill him. Then again, what need had Voldemort ever had to kill anyone?
Looking up again at Sirius, I took a deep breath. –Tell me everything.†Sirius relayed all the information Harry had told him, stopping only when he got to Peter’s role. My stomach twisted into knots. We had the chance to kill him last year. If we’d ignored Harry’s request, none of this would have happened. Or if I hadn’t forgotten to take the Wolfsbane potion. If I hadn’t been so careless. Harry would be safe. Cedric would still be alive. Voldemort would still be in hiding.
–What do we do now?†I asked, with a croaking, hollow voice.
–Put the Order of the Phoenix back together. Dumbledore told me to alert Arabella, ‘Dung, Dedalus, everyone we can think of.†Sirius looked calmer now, focused on Dumbledore’s task. –Get dressed. Let’s go.â€
I shook my head and tried to gather my thoughts. –Wait. Wait.†I held up my hands. –It’s two in the morning Sirius. We can’t go knocking at people’s doors in the middle of the night.â€
–Why not? You answered, didn’t you?â€
–I nearly didn’t! And how are we going to explain you?â€
Sirius paced impatiently near the door with his arms folded. I couldn’t tell if he was listening to me.
–Look,†I said. –Let’s figure out a plan so both of us don’t end up getting arrested or killed. So they’ll actually believe us. We can leave in a few hours. Just before dawn so we still have the cover of darkness.â€
Sirius reluctantly sat down and agreed to organize a plan of attack. Initially, I suggested it would be easier if Sirius remained in my flat and let me contact the former Order members. He vehemently disagreed, arguing that if the Order members refused to believe his story then they couldn’t be trusted to believe Harry’s story, and in his frustration rather tactlessly pointed out that several of the Order members didn’t much like me either.
We agreed to contact Arabella Figg first. If she refused to believe us, there wasn’t much she could do, at least not immediately. I hated exploiting her Squib status, but her powerlessness offered a safe test of whether people would be willing to listen to us. When we finished planning, we sat mostly in silence. I hadn’t seen Sirius in months. I wanted to catch up with him, but both of us were too haunted by the events of the night and nervous about the future to do much other than stare at random spots on the wall.
At one point, Sirius asked, –Do you have any food around here, Remus? I’m starving.â€
–Join the club,†I said bitterly. –I stole a hard boiled egg out of somebody’s lunch sack yesterday morning. I haven’t eaten anything since then. I was hoping you might have something.†I refused to resort to stealing unless I was absolutely desperate. Unfortunately, I reached my desperation point two weeks earlier when I spent my last galleons on my rent and the Wolfsbane potion. My hunger had reached the point where I was stealing food almost without hesitation.
–I should have summoned something from the kitchens at Hogwarts,†Sirius grumbled.
At four in the morning, we finally left. We Apparated directly from my flat into Arabella’s back garden. A large cat stood in between us and the gate, crouched and hissing. Sirius laughed under his breath. –I forgot. Wasn’t Arabella that nutter cat lady?†He transformed into a dog and lunged at the cat. It yowled and ran up a nearby tree.
–Siri - Padfoot!†I whispered harshly. I grabbed the scruff of his neck and dragged him toward the back gate. –You have been a dog for too long, man.†A light switched on in the house and I could see Arabella shuffling down the hall through one of the windows. The back door slid open.
–Hello?†she called out groggily. A tabby cat was perched in her arms. –Who’s there?â€
–Hello, Arabella.†I walked up to the porch. –It’s me, Remus. I was just about to knock on your door.â€
–Now? It’s middle of the night. Let an old lady sleep and come back when the sun’s out.†She turned to walk back into the house, but I caught her arm.
–Arabella. Please. It’s important. We need to speak with you right now.â€
–We?â€
–Yes, me and my - er - dog,†I said, pointing at Sirius. He sat next to me and wagged his tail.
–All right,†Arabella grumbled. –You can come in. But the dog stays outside!â€
–What?! No, no, no. The dog has to come inside with me.â€
–Absolutely not,†Arabella said pointing at Sirius. –I only woke up because I heard Mr. Tibbles crying. Your dog chased him away didn’t he? He’ll scare the rest of my kittens to death.â€
–Arabella, please. Let me bring the dog inside. I swear to you he’ll leave your cats alone. He just had a moment of...temporary insanity.†I glared at Sirius, who put his tail between his legs. Arabella looked as though she was going to protest further but I held up my hand. I clenched and unclenched my other hand trying not to let my impatience sound through my voice. –Arabella. Let us in. Dumbledore asked us to speak with you. Me and the dog.â€
Arabella relented, looking confused. She took a slipper off her foot and swatted at Sirius’s head as he walked in. Served him right. I was tempted to kick him myself.
Sirius and I were hoping we could explain his innocence and Voldemort’s return without wasting time by telling every detail of our story. Arabella was the first test. I sat on her overstuffed, purple and white flowered sofa. Sirius sat by the doorway, directly across from the armchair where Arabella. I purposely placed myself next to the coffee table on which the telephone sat.
–Arabella,†I asked, looking at her intently. –Do you trust Dumbledore?†She nodded immediately. –And do you trust that Dumbledore would never send anyone to you unless he also trusted him?†Puzzled, she stared at me with her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows creased together. Slowly, she nodded again.
I tipped my head toward Sirius. –Go ahead,†I said to him. I gripped my wand tightly just in case. Sirius transformed. Arabella screamed, leapt out of her chair and started to run out of the room until she realized that Sirius was blocking her way. She screamed again and ran toward the telephone. This was not going as well as we hoped. I pointed my wand at the telephone and it disappeared. Perhaps this wasn’t the best plan.
I reached out to Arabella and grabbed her shoulders. –Arabella! Listen to me! Dumbledore sent Sirius here. He never betrayed James and Lily. It was Peter. We were all fooled!†Arabella was looking back and forth between me and Sirius wildly, panicked.
–Why are you telling me this? Why are you here?†she finally gasped. Her hand was clutched to her chest and she was shaking.
–Please, Arabella, sit down. Let us explain,†Sirius said gently. Arabella stepped away from him, closer to me. I suppressed a smile. Things had to be bad for someone to want to be closer to a werewolf. Even Arabella, who’d faced a lifetime of discrimination as a Squib and who had done me many favors over the years, was usually a little wary around me.
Once she caught her breath and reluctantly looked Sirius in the eyes, he said, –Voldemort has returned. He rose again last night. And Dumbledore needs your help to stop him.â€
Arabella gasped as soon as Sirius mentioned Voldemort’s name. Her hands grasped a locket around her neck. She snapped it open and stared at it, shaking her head slowly. I’d forgotten how Arabella had become a member of the Order last time. Her husband was a well-liked wizard. He was a regular columnist for The Daily Prophet and often criticized the wizarding community for its mistreatment of Squibs. Several Death Eaters burst into their home and killed him one night. Arabella survived only because she’d been visiting her sister for the week.
Calming herself, she asked him, –Are you sure? How do you know?â€
Just like that, Sirius was now the least of Arabella’s worries. We had her rapt attention. Arabella now believed our story without hesitation. We left her house an hour later with her full pledge of support. And best of all, Arabella noticed how the two of us demolished her bowl of Bertie Botts, happily swallowing even the iron and dust flavored beans and insisted on fixing us a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast and gave us a bag full of sandwiches on the way out..
–That went well,†Sirius quipped, much happier now, midway through our adventure and with a full stomach.
–If by well you mean lucky to be alive...â€
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