Author's Note: Based on the Pottermore canon! The key phrase of this fic originally came from Waitress' "You Will Still Be Mine" which is a cute song until it's sung by Earl in the context of the show—urgh—so I'm glad that Bruce was here to save me. Also I know this isn't how Bill and Fleur got Wizard-married, but don't fight me on this. Tonks and Remus' clothes here are also based on a picture of David Thewlis and Natalia Tena from the Grand Opening of the Harry Potter Exhibition. Anyways, enjoy this wave of Remus and Tonks spam, y'all!
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Warnings: NA
Stacked with: MC4A; Terms of Services; Shipping War
Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Golden Times; Seeds; Ways to the Heart; Old Shoes; Short Jog; True Colours; Not Just England; Rainbow Focus; Shipmas; Themes and Things A (Love)
Representation(s): Auror Tonks; Wedding; Bartender coming through
Bonus challenge(s): Middle Name; Second Verse (Not a Lamp); Chorus (Odd Feather); Demo (Odd Feather; White Dress; Creature Feature; Surprise!; In the Trench; Gingersnap; Tied and Died)
Word Count: 1312
Shipping Wars
Ship (Team): Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)
List (Prompt): Spring Big List (First Kiss)
Ties That Bind
You sit and wonder just who's gonna stop the rain
Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain
It's a long dark highway and a thin white line
Connecting baby, your heart to mine
We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time
To face the ties that bind
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
You can't forsake the ties that bind
-The Ties That Bind, Bruce Springsteen
They were both ravenous when they reached the pub they crashed in. Remus wasn't opposed to the cool drinks that Dora brought back to the table either.
She slumped down in the seat across from him and sighed.
"I don't like this," Remus said. "The Death Eaters seem to be able to track us."
"Which is why we have to stay here for a bit, but I promise we'll go home soon," Dora said. "We just have to make sure we lost them…"
Remus took a drink and felt himself melt into his seat. His brain lazily picked at the problem before them—how were these Death Eaters always finding them?—but he couldn't focus.
"How's your eye?" Dora asked, reaching across the table to tilt his face so that she could examine the cut at his temple.
"Fine," Remus said.
She clucked her tongue.
"That fighting style was too much like Malfoy not to be him," she said.
"I agree," he said. "But that doesn't matter for now. We got out."
Dora shook her head. "I don't like this. I don't like you being in danger like this."
He arched an eyebrow. "Then you know how I feel when you go to work every morning."
"That's different," she said.
"Is it?" Remus asked.
"Maybe not, but I want to be grumpy about this. Actually, no. It's quite serious," Dora said, frowning again.
He reached out across the table and took her hand.
"I'm okay," he said. "You're okay. We're both okay, you see?"
"Right," she sighed. "It might not always be like that, though. And I know there's very little either of us can do about it, and I know that we won't be turning our backs to this fight either, but I don't like it. It feels like there's too many ways for us to be ripped apart, and I don't want that to happen again."
"It won't," he said.
"Remus, this war is getting closer and darker," she said. "It feels as if no matter how hard we hold onto one another, all our bonds are so fragile that we can be taken away and that's…"
"I don't want to be without you," Remus said, squeezing her hand.
Dora shook her head no.
"Not again," she said quietly.
"Not again," he repeated. His thumb traced circled over the spot where her thumb met her hand.
Dora sighed after a while.
"I know we talked about this before, but it's on my mind a lot right now because my father's been talking about going underground again," she said. "I mean, so many Muggle-borns are. My mum understands, but it's breaking her heart. They worked to be together, you know? She thought that now that they were married… She thought they'd be safe. She wanted to be safe."
"I know," he nodded.
"I love you," she said. "So much. And I can't believe that's not enough, because I don't really have anything better."
He chewed his lip. "Would you consider getting married one day, Dora?"
She cocked her head to the side.
"We've talked about this before," she reminded him. "I said that I would, one day."
"I just wanted to ask, to see if anything had changed given… well, this."
He waved noncommittally at the world around them.
"I think that now's the best time to get married, to make the ties we have stronger," Tonks said. "I mean, for us. But also in the eye of the law, of the Ministry, which is doing its best to rip people apart."
Remus considered this for a moment.
"Now?" he asked.
"What do you mean 'now'?"
"I mean, Nymphadora Tonks, would you marry me now? In this Scottish pub whose name I, to be quite honest, do not remember, before something else has the chance to go wrong on us?"
She smiled. "Are you serious?"
"I think I am," Remus said. "You're right. There's enough uncertainty and danger, and I wouldn't want to risk you. This won't fix anything, but..."
"But it's an extra bond they'll have to break," Dora said. "And good luck to them."
His blood echoed in his ears and he smiled at her words.
"Oh. I suppose this is the part where I say yes," Dora said.
"Ideally."
Dora smiled, and then turned and looked over her shoulder and cried: "Can anybody here perform a matrimony spell?"
The bar quieted down somewhat as the request and its implications landed, spreading excitement. Eventually it was the barman himself who stepped up, claiming that it would only be right since this was his place. His name was Dave.
"Hold on," Dora said. With a wave of her wand, her clothes from the mission shimmered and transformed into a dark blue dress with a ruffled, tea-length skirt he'd seen her wear a handful of times before. With another wave of her wand, the colour changed to white except for the ribbon circling her waist. When she looked up to him, her hair had turned to the shade of lavender she saved for special occasions.
He waved his own wand and found himself in one of the simpler Muggle suits he owned, a scarf tied neatly around his neck. With another wand, he conjured a bouquet of daisies that he held out to her. She grinned.
Witnesses for the spell were pretty easy to find, given just how interested the people all around them were in this affair. And then there they were, standing in front of each other, listening to the barman go through the steps of the spell and have them chim in when they had to punctuate the spell with key words, key answers, anecdotes, stories…
Remus' heart was beating in his throat, but when Dora smiled at him he felt his mind slow and his shoulders relax. He squeezed her hand.
"Well then," the barman said. "By the power of magic and the ties that bind, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
He flicked his wand, and a stream of golden light spilled out and gently fluttered down, binding their wrists together. The light pulsed once, twice, three times—and then mellowed out and sunk into their hands. A feeling of warmth ran through Remus: up his arms, through his chest, and down to his feet. It lingered, as if he'd never be cold again, and when he looked to Dora he could tell she felt it too.
"You may now exchange your first kiss as a married couple," the barman said.
Dora gave him one of the biggest, widest, wickedest smiles he'd ever seen on her face. He put his hands on either side of her face and she bunched her hands in the front of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss.
The tavern behind them erupted in cheers and as soon as Remus pulled away, he felt her lips tug into a smile.
She took his hand and raised it up in the air, and people clapped louder. Remus laughed and wrapped his other arm around her waist. One of the other bartenders brought them each a drink, on the house, and they clinked their glasses together. Remus wasn't sure what to toast to, so he just returned Dora's smile and wished for whatever she wished for.
"Tab's on the house tonight!" the barman yelled.
The tavern cheered nearly as loud again, and the band started playing.