Chapter 3: Moonlight Secrets
Remus took a steadying breath and raised his fist, hoping he would knock before his nerves failed and he Disapparated on the spot. The only thing that kept him there was the same thing that had worried him for the past five days: Annabeth had seemed to recognise Tonks. When she had asked what he was doing, Remus had shown her the picture. Annabeth’s gaze had hardened and she had seemed angry.
Flooded with determination, he knocked on the door of Tonks’ London apartment. To his surprise, she answered the door, wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe over her pyjamas. Her mousy hair hung around her face in a way he had never seen it before, as though she no longer cared how it looked. Her eyes were puffy from exhaustion and she was thinner than Remus had ever seen her. He braced himself for her to slap him and staggered backward as she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him, instead. Not having been prepared for this reaction, he didn’t do the sensible thing, which, to him, would have been to push her away. Instead, he slipped his arms around her waist and tilted his head obligingly as she moved to kiss him. Her lips brushed gently, sweetly across his. After several seconds of pure bliss, Remus came back to his senses and pulled his head away from Tonks’. He glimpsed the hurt in her eyes and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder.
“D’you have any idea what time it is?” she whispered.
Remus looked over her shoulder out the window on the other side of the small living room of the apartment. A nearly full moon shone through, casting a pale light on the room. “Late?” he guessed.
He felt, rather than saw her nod. “Why are you here?” she asked.
Wordlessly, Remus reached into the pocket of his threadbare overcoat and removed a single rose; the one Molly Weasley had pushed into his hand as he had left her house, saying, “You’d better give this to Tonks. That poor girl’s been really down lately, and it’s all your fault. This is the least you can do to make it up to her.”
“Remus,” cried Tonks, “I can’t take that! I’ll cut myself!”
Remus smiled. “That’s why I cut the thorns off.”
She took the flower and put her arms back around his neck. “Thanks.”
“This is for you, too.” Remus gave her a small box of chocolates.
“You’re spoiling me,” she teased, a huge grin lighting up her heart-shaped face.
“I have something else for you, too,” Remus whispered into her ear.
“Is it shiny?” she asked. “Does it come from my big, strong, handsome werewolf on one knee?”
“No,” Remus stated firmly. “It’s something I have to tell you. A secret.”
“You’d better come in, then,” Tonks said glumly. She removed her arms from his neck as he released her and followed her into the apartment. Once both of them were inside, Tonks pushed the door shut; then locked it. Remus stood awkwardly a few metres away from her. She tucked a loose strand of mousy hair behind her ear and said, “You can sit down, you know.”
“Oh,” Remus replied. He stepped cautiously through the messy living room and sat on the plush couch. Tonks stepped less cautiously through the room, overturning several stacks of assorted objects that were merely silhouettes in the half-light of the moon filtering through the smudged glass of the window. She sat beside him and lit a candle with a flick of her wand. Now that he could see colors, Remus realised that Tonks looked like a valentine in her pink bathrobe, sitting on the red couch. His valentine, he wished. She tucked her legs beneath her hand looked at Remus, her sapphire eyes intense.
“What’s the secret?” she asked tiredly.
“D’you promise not to tell anyone; not even Molly Weasley?” Remus asked.
Tonks grinned mischievously. “So this is just between you and me?”
“Kind of.” Remus took a deep breath. “D’you know a lady named Annabeth?”
“Annabeth...who?” asked Tonks, her eyebrows knitting in confusion.
“Lee, I think,” Remus answered.
“What does she look like?” Tonks asked.
“She’s about your age; has thick red hair; brownish eyes; a small, pointy nose and a round face.”
“Annie!” cried Tonks, her face lighting up in recognition. “I haven’t seen her since fourth year! She left that summer and never returned!”
That made sense to Remus. She was, after all, a werewolf. “Did she hate you?” Remus asked.
“No,” Tonks said. “Not that I knew of unless”Bill!”
“Bill?” asked Remus.
“Bill Weasley,” Tonks explained. “Annie was in the year above me. She was in Hufflepuff, too. That girl’s heart beat only for Bill, I swear. Whenever she was around, it was Bill Weasley this and Bill Weasley that and ‘according to Bill Weasley’ all the time. She got so annoying about trying to impress him that one of my friends, to stop her, spread the rumor through the Hufflepuff common room that he had a girlfriend: me.”
Remus chuckled and Tonks cuffed him with one of the couch pillows. “What did you do that for?” he demanded.
“You laughed at me!” she cried in mock despair. “What about Annabeth?”
“She’s a werewolf, and she saw me holding your picture,” Remus admitted.
“So she knows that we’re friends?” Tonks gasped.
“I think so,” Remus agree grimly. “That’s the bad news. The good news is that Greyback trusts me.”
“Oh, Remus, that’s wonderful!” Tonks exclaimed.
“I’m friends with his daughter.”
“Greyback”the savage, killer werewolf who made your life a misery”has a daughter?”
“Yes, and you’ll never guess who she reminds me of.”
“My dear Auntie Bella?”
“No, Tonks, she reminds me of you. She’s always telling me not to be so sorry for myself and to just marry you already.”
“She’s right, you know,” chided Tonks, snuggling up to Remus, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I should go,” Remus said, shifting uncomfortably.
“Not just yet,” Tonks murmured.
“All right,” Remus relented.
“I love you, Remus,” she mumbled. “D’you love me?”
Long minutes passed before Remus, turning his head to face hers, which was still on his shoulder, her long eyelashes brushing against his cheek, answered, “Yes, I do. I love you, Tonks.”
But she was already asleep, slumped against him casually, like a friend: there were no innuendos in her contact. Merely a desire to be close to him, to be, at the very least, his friend. His best friend, which, he now realised, she was. He realised he had been lonely without her. Even with Sara, there had been an empty place in his heart. Tiredly, he leaned his head against Tonks’, and as he closed his eyes, he realised that his loneliness was gone. A warm glow settled over his chest and still-broken heart. I can’t live with her. I can’t live without her. What can I do? But, before he had a chance to decide, his mind grew fuzzy and he plunged into a deep and dreamless sleep.