Prologue
“Tonks, I don’t want to hurt you!” he shouted.
“I know you don’t! But you won’t!” I shouted back.
“How do you know? How do you know that I won’t forget the potion one day and turn on you?”
“Because I know you, you don’t forget!”
“I forgot in Harry’s third year when we were with Sirius!”
“You had a lot on your mind then,” I muttered
“I have a lot on my mind now,” he countered.
“Remus, I love you,” I sighed.
He said nothing, turned and Apparated, leaving me behind, feeling rejected and depressed.
That day was the worst day of my life. I had told the man I loved my feelings for him, and he left me standing in the dust. That was the year all hell broke loose. Voldemort was rising in power, the Order was working harder than ever, and some of the Aurors, including myself, were called to guard Hogwarts.
The train pulled into Hogsmeade station, whistling and steaming. I watched all the students get off the train and into the carriages. I saw Hermione, Ron and Ginny, but never saw Harry get off. I figured he might be with Slughorn ” Molly said he always picked favorites and had meetings or what not with them and Harry was bound to be one of them ” but when I saw Slughorn get off, I began to worry. The Malfoy boy had come off long after all his friends, smirking, which was not a good sign. So, as soon as everyone was gone, I headed onto the train.
I came to a compartment with the blinds drawn down, which was odd. I opened the door, but nothing was there. Harry always had his Invisibility Cloak with him, so I guessed he was underneath it. I felt around the floor for a little while until I hit a body. The cloak came off and I muttered a spell to unbind his limbs.
“Wotcher, Harry,” I greeted.
Harry wiped the blood from his face and looked up at me.
“We’d better get out of here, quickly,” I said. The train was beginning to move again. “Come on, we’ll jump.”
I ran into the corridor, Harry following behind me, pulled open the train door and leapt onto the platform.
“Who did it?” I demanded.
“Draco Malfoy,” Harry replied coldly. “Thanks for... well...”
“No problem,” I replied. “I can fix your nose if you stand still.”
Harry stood still, and I said, “Episkey!”
“Thanks a lot!” Harry beamed at me.
“You’d better put that cloak back on, and we can walk up to the school,” I replied, unsmiling.
I waved my wand and my Patronus, a large misshapen dog, shot out of it, letting Hagrid know I had him.
“Was that a Patronus?” Harry asked.
“Yes, I’m sending work to the castle that I’ve got you, or they’ll worry. Come on, we’d better not dawdle.”
“How did you find me?”
“I noticed you hadn’t left the train, and I knew you had that cloak. I thought you might be hiding for some reason. When I saw the blinds drawn down on that compartment, I thought I’d check.”
“But what are you doing here, anyway?” Harry asked me.
“I’m stationed in Hogsmeade now, to give the school extra protection,” I replied.
“Is it just you who’s stationed up here, or-”
“No, Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish are here too.”
“Dawlish, that Auror Dumbledore attacked last year?”
“That’s right.”
We walked up the rest of the path in silence, following the tracks of the carriages. I could feel his eyes on me, he was wondering what happened to me. I could tell by the look he had given me back at the station. Of course, he hadn’t known that I was like this because of Remus, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.
We reached the gates, which were closed. Harry pulled out his wand and said, “Alohomora!”
“That won’t work on these,” I informed him. “Dumbledore bewitched them himself.”
“I could climb a wall.”
“No, you couldn’t. Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security’s been tightened a hundredfold this summer.”
“Well then,” Harry growled, “I suppose I’ll just have to sleep out here and wait for morning.”
“Someone’s coming down for you,” I pointed out. “Look.”
The figure came down, and soon I realized it was Snape coming. Ugh.
“Well, well, well,” Snape sneered. “Nice of you to turn up, Potter, although you have evidently decided that the wearing of the school robes would detract from your appearance.”
“I couldn’t change, I didn’t have my-”
“There is no need to wait, Nymphadora, Potter is quite- ah - safe in my hands,” Snape said.
I hated that guy. Couldn’t he just call me Tonks?
“I meant Hagrid to get the message,” I frowned.
“Hagrid was late for the start-of-term feast, just like Potter here, so I took it instead. And, incidently, I was interested to see your new Patronus. I think you were better off with the old one. The new on looks weak.”
Snape and Harry left for the feast and I went back to my job, ignoring Snape’s words.
The school term started, and before any of us knew it, it was close to the end of the year. But the final exams never came, due to Dumbledore’s death and Snape turning on us.
In the battle at the school, Bill had been hurt by Greyback and Fleur still wanted to marry him!
“You see!” I glared at Remus. “She still wants to marry him, even though he’s been bitten! She doesn’t care!”
“It’s different,” Remus muttered, “Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely-”
“But I don’t care either, I don’t care!” I yelled, grabbing Remus by the collar of his robes and shaking him. “I’ve told you a million times...”
“And I’ve told you a million times,” Remus avoided my eyes, “that I am too old for you, too poor... too dangerous...”
“I’ve said all along, you’re taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus,” Molly told him.
“I am not being ridiculous,” Remus replied. “Tonks deserves somebody young and whole.”
“But she wants you,” Arthur countered, “And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so.”
After Dumbledore’s funeral, Remus came and found me. I was a complete and total wreck, as was expected. He apologized for being a prat, and asked if I would forgive him. I told him I would.
Bill recovered nicely, and he and Fleur married a week later.
The wedding was beautiful and everyone was there. Molly was in tears, because her son was getting married or because he was marrying Fleur, I was not sure. My hair was once again pink and I was in a much better mood.
I think my face turned the same color as my hair when Remus got down on his knee and asked me to marry him.
And that brings me to today, the day before my wedding day. Everyone was here for the rehearsal dinner. It was great fun. Mum and Dad started crying near the end, but we were able to cheer them up.
I think Remus has gotten over his fear of hurting me. At least I hope he has. Well, I’d better get to bed, big day tomorrow. I can’t wait!