Not for the first time since Greyback had given him his new assignment, Remus felt guilt creep into his gaze as he shot a furtive glance at Sara, who was standing a few meters to his left, her pale skin contrasting starkly with her limp raven hair. She gave him a subtle smile and returned her gaze to the werewolves that were eating a rather subdued breakfast in the steadily falling rain. It felt strange to Remus to have been given the same assignment twice. When Dumbledore had told him to spy on these werewolves, it had been expected, but receiving the same order from Greyback had caught him of guard. At the very least, Remus thought wryly, I won’t get thrown out of here for it.
An owl hooted softly behind him and he turned. The bird had a letter tied to its foot and it looked extremely familiar.
“Errol,” he whispered.
“Who?” Sara asked.
“The owl,” Remus explained, carefully removing the letter from the owl’s foot. He carefully opened the envelope and removed the letter. Unfolding the parchment as silently as he could, he read the letter aloud in an undertone.
“Dear Remus,
“Arthur and I would like you to come to dinner at our house this Saturday. We are all very worried about you in the Order. Arthur and Dumbledore have tried to tell me enough to survive, but I’m worried about you, and not just because of those other werewolves. What I’m mostworried about is a certain young lady by the name of Nymphadora Tonks. She hasn’t been doing well lately and she’s having trouble morphing. Remus, this girl is in love with you and I know you love her, too. As you know, Tonks is like a daughter to me, and any man who hurts one of my little girls”whether it’s Ginny or Tonks”will have to answer to me.
“Love,
“Molly Weasley
“PS: Can you please just talk to Tonks? If you come to dinner this Saturday, I will give you her address so you can visit her. Take the poor girl some flowers and chocolates while you’re at it.”
When Remus looked up from the letter, he saw that Sara’s slender body was shaking from suppressed laughter.
“She’s lucky that it was just you and me around when this owl came,” Remus muttered darkly.
Sara said nothing, but grew more strained against the laughter she was holding back.
“What’s so funny?” Remus demanded.
“Just the thought of you answering to this Molly Weasley person and the thought of you taking Tonks flowers and chocolate,” Sara admitted breathlessly.
“Molly Weasley is very protective of her children and Tonks,” Remus stated. “She doesn’t like it when they are upset.”
The laughter on Sara’s face disappeared in an instant. For a moment, her composure slipped and Remus glimpsed in her eyes a profound sadness and loneliness that he himself knew all too well. He felt it every time he reminded himself that he could never be with Tonks. But the sadness in Sara’s eyes was fleeting, as she replaced it almost instantaneously with her usual guarded, indifferent expression. “What’s wrong, Sara?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she replied flatly. Remus shot her a pointed look. She sighed and admitted, “I’m a little jealous, that’s all. See, I never really knew my mother. She died when I was very young.”
“I’m sorry,” Remus apologized.
“Don’t be,” Sara whispered. “Perhaps it was better that way. She didn’t have to suffer as much.”
“What happened?” Remus asked her cautiously. When Sara said nothing, he added, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” Sara answered with a sad smile. “Just not today. I can’t just yet. Maybe another day.”
Remus understood, but he was unable to speak so he merely nodded. Sara, however, did not acknowledge his reverie, her emerald eyes had a somewhat glazed appearance and she absent-mindedly twisted a strand of dirty black hair around a long, thin finger. The two friends stood in silence for a few minutes until Sara abruptly broke it. “You should go.”
“Go where?” Remus asked, confused.
“Molly’s house, of course,” Sara explained. “And you should visit Tonks.”
“How can I?” Remus asked. “Won’t Greyback get suspicious?”
“Not if we ask very, very nicely,” Sara replied with a mischievous grin.
Remus grinned back. “I could just see you do that. ‘Hey, Dad, Remus has got to go to the home of the biggest family of Blood-traitors for dinner this Saturday; then he’s got to go give that girl from his photograph flowers. Can he have the weekend off?’”
“No offense, Remus, but you have an atrocious view of my character,” Sara complained. “I’m a professional liar.”
“What would you say, then?” Remus asked.
“I’d say, ‘Dad, Remus wants to scout around for other werewolves who want to turn their backs on the cruel, proud wizards of normal society this weekend. D’you mind if he does?’” Sara widened her eyes innocently.
Remus was startled. He had never thought of Sara as having the possibility of having been pretty, but with her eyes sparking mischievously, he realized that, given proper hygiene and nutrition, she would have been beautiful. Almost as beautiful as Tonks. “Will you talk to him about this?” he asked softly.
Sara nodded. “Right now,” she replied, then darted off through the trees and rain. Before she disappeared entirely, he heard her whisper, “Destroy the letter. If anyone finds it, both our necks are going to be on the chopping block.”
Remus held the letter in the rain until the ink bled off the parchment, trickling onto his fingers like black blood. The words faded and the parchment became soggy until there was nothing left of it but a dripping wad. He crammed it into his pocket and strode off through the driving rain toward camp, hoping Sara would be able to convince her father to let him go. As much as he dreaded having to face Tonks’ anger again, the thought of the Weasleys’ familiar faces cheered him up.
Remus stopped dead at the edge of the trees. Bending over slightly, to provent water from ruining it, he removed Tonks’ portrait from his pocket and gazed hungrily at her smiling face. I miss you, Tonks, he thought before lifting his head and noticing that he was fact to face with Annabeth.
"What are you doing, Remus?” she asked.