The music was merry and loud, people were laughing, some chatting, some dancing, others were still trying to empty their plates. Next to him, in a spectacular emerald green dress, sat the most glowing Molly Weasley he'd ever seen, watching her own son as he glided on the dance floor with his soon-to-be wife in his arms.
There were sides of Fleur she didn't exactly fancy, but Remus knew that nothing in the world could make today anything less than a perfect day. Despite the constant menace of the war, today Bill and Fleur were celebrating their engagement, and it was a happy day for everyone.
Almost.
Remus' gaze wandered across the enthusiastic crowd, scanning and searching, even with that evil little voice in his head – impressively similar to Mrs Black's – that kept repeating him not to, because he would regret it.
He had already started thinking she'd left, when he finally spotted her.
In the most desert corner of the garden, Tonks was seated at an empty table, afar from all the others, looking absent and untouched by the all the joy round her. She had grown her hair to waist-length soft curls, that skimmed her bare back whenever her head moved to return someone's greetings or followed a dancing couple passing by.
'She's beautiful, isn't she?' said the evil voice in his head. 'Pink is really her colour… Too bad that gloomy shade of greyish brown in her hair doesn't really match the dress. And this all thanks to a certain, stubborn prick that-'
He silenced the voice and confined it again down in some deep recess of his mind. Nevertheless, his eyes wouldn't accept to look away from her. She, indeed, looked very beautiful.
He didn't think he would ever see her wearing a dress, especially a spaghetti one like that, and it had taken all Fleur's insufferable insistence to have Tonks wear it, but the result was impressive. Remus had to concede that dress suited her, and it was amazing how naturally it seemed to embrace her delicate curves in a way her usual clothes would never do. And even if it was something he surely hadn't missed to noticed before, even if he was far too aware that – contrarily to what he'd always tried to sell himself – she was not a child, today he couldn't help the thought that Nymphadora Tonks was a woman. Namely, a gorgeous woman whom he hadn't any right to fall for.
'It's a little too late, Moony, isn't it?' objected the voice. Wincing slightly, Remus quickly removed his look from Tonks and grabbed his goblet to sip some wine.
"She looks so happy, doesn't she?" Molly cooed in delight.
"Hmph?" Remus scowled; of all adjectives, happy was the last he would associate to her today. He rose his face and realised what Molly was talking about. She wasn't Tonks, but Fleur, who was wearing her brightest, blinding smile as Bill kissed her possessively.
"Yeah." He mumbled distractedly, and, again, his glance set on Tonks. Her inner darkness was in strong contrast with the shocking pink of her dress, and especially with the tiny heart-shaped diamond earrings glittering on her lobes.
'Guilt bites, eh, Moony?' the voice nagged again, and he found himself clutching nervously at his glass. He was doing what was best for her, even if she wasn't of the same opinion. He was protecting her, he was only sparing her a mediocre life she did not deserve.
'And yet, how could it be the best for her if it makes her so miserable?'
But playing dumb had become one of Remus' best skills, particularly when it came to Tonks. It wasn't much of a quality to show off as an Order member, but still it did help him live with his demons. Tonks would be glad, eventually, she hadn't ended up with a werewolf who would only deprive her of the chance to have a normal, happy life.
'It's all rubbish. A big, huge, immense bunch of rubbish, and you know.'
"I'm under the impression you're not enjoying yourself very much, Remus."
Molly's concerned – preachy? – gaze was settled upon him and his wistful expression.
"You see," he said quietly. "I had a late patrol last night, and-"
"With dear Tonks, I know." Molly cut him off dryly. "I was actually wondering if you know why she looks so… ah… demoralised?"
"It always falls upon me, it seems." He replied in a weak attempt of humour, smiling with a subtle shade of bitterness he wasn't sure Molly would catch.
"It would if she was happy and content, as well, Remus."
"We've gone through this talk many times, Molly." he sighed tiredly. He didn't want to ruin the atmosphere with another hassle about the already complicated situation between himself and Tonks. "It's not the moment to bring it up again."
Molly sent him a detached, cold glare, lips tightly pressed together, but said nothing, preferring to continue admiring her son and his fiancée dancing. He watched them, too.
'Beautiful girl and handsome boy… This is how it works, you see?' told him the mean, little voice. 'What a lucky, unique fortuity that little Nymphadora fell for you, of all people…'
"Mum, may I have this dance?"
Bill and Fleur had approached their table and he was now offering his mother his hand. Regaining her enthusiastic attitude, Molly jumped up at once and kissed him on both cheeks, leaving to the centre of the dance floor with him. Fleur took a graceful seat next to Remus, settling her perfect satin dress.
"Eet's a wonzerful partee, eezn't eet?" she said gingerly, thin silver bracelets tingling on her wrists as she threw her hair back with a calibrated gesture. "Bill eez an awful danzer, but I'm 'aving so much fun!"
A small, knowing smile barely curved Remus' lips.
"It's clear that the two of you are made for each other." He said. "It's quite rare to find happiness, nowadays."
"Zat eez true," agreed Fleur, flashing him a brilliant grin. "But not everyone needs to cross ze sea to find true love."
He wasn't sure if she had intended to inject that hinting hue in her tone, but it was rather obvious she was referring to the very subject he had wanted to avoid with Molly. The little voice within his mind was cooing in wicked delight.
'You didn't think it was so evident, did you?'
"You see," Fleur continued, studying herself in the reflection on the bottle of wine next to her. "Poor Tonks eez looking so triste today… I 'ave to admit I am a little relieved about zeez."
Remus arched his brows questioningly and she let out a light, crystal laugh, a sparkle of mischief in her blue eyes.
"She eez very pretty, don't you theenk?" she noted with a quick glance at Tonks, who was still sitting alone in the opposite corner of the garden, her eyes transfixed into emptiness, her chin leant on her palm. She seemed extremely out of context, with that halo of sadness around her, but she was very pretty.
"Yes, she is."
Fleur nodded, shaking her silvery blond curls.
"Imagine how beautiful she would be if she was smiling."
A violent jump in his chest made Remus shift uncomfortably in his chair. He was staring to get her point, and it was fastidiously stinging his insides. He would have never expected such an acute observation from this apparently shallow French girl.
"Eet costs me to say zat she would be stealing attention from me, if she wasn't so lovelorn," She addressed him a sharp look. "Because of you."
Again, it was like a cannonball had just hit Remus straight in his stomach. Fleur's frankness was a little too direct, for his tastes, especially given the considerable lack of any conversation between them before this moment. It was lightly disorienting, but she seemed determined to keep it going.
"I admire you, Remus," she said after a brief pause, and Remus nearly choked on his wine. "You are a very brave man… But I 'onestly can't understand why you are keeping zeez safety distance between yourself and Nymphadora, if eet only 'urts you both."
Remus didn't expect her to understand. Nobody could understand.
"It's complicated, Fleur," he replied gently. "And, please, don't take it the wrong way, but you could never comprehend… You are too…"
"Young?" she offered, a brow lifted sceptically. "Inexpert?"
"Perfect." He completed in his best calmness.
"Excusez moi?"
Remus smiled sourly at her disconcert. Surely she couldn't imagine how hard a werewolf's life could be, nor how lucky she was to be what she was and have what she had.
"I am a dark creature," he explained patiently. "And Tonks is an Auror, and the last daughter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." A vague light of awareness started spreading over Fleur's fine face. "I am what she was trained to fight, her job… Is to eliminate people like me."
Fleur scrutinised him for long seconds, nibbling wistfully at her flashy lower lip. Remus had the dreary sensation he was waiting to be judged by the Supreme Court of Wizengamot.
"You must 'ave thought about zeez very long," she mused knowingly. "I assume you repeat to yourself every day how impossible eet eez… I overestimated your wisdom, I theenk."
Remus didn't know why he felt so hurt by the words of a twenty-year-old girl who knew absolutely nothing about him and his life.
'Because she's right, Moony, you know she is.' Intervened the perfidious voice smugly. 'She's half your age and isn't afraid to shove across your face a truth you refuse to see.'
"She needs you," Fleur added, as is she knew perfectly what she was talking about. "And she won't stop loving you just because you pretend you don't care about eet."
"It's because I care that I don't want to ruin her life." He retorted, wishing she would go back to Bill and leave him alone with his guilty feelings. Surprisingly enough, though, Fleur laughed.
"She doesn't look like somebody whose life eez not ruined."
Despite himself, Remus cast a glance at Tonks. Their gazes met for a split second, then she faced away, and he thought he'd caught a watery veil in her eyes.
"Making you both un'appy sounds very stupid to me, Remus," Fleur sat up as the music faded to silence and Bill left his mother to head back to her. "Especially eef so little would be enough to reverse ze situation completely."
And this said, she left, walking toward Bill without looking behind.
'You got your ass kicked by a girl who's barely a stranger to you? How pathetic… You could have just listened to yourself, and would have obtained the same result… But, no, of course you couldn't! You have to play the martyr, you have to sacrifice yourself, because it's safer without happiness…'
This time, Remus didn't care about the little, evil voice, nor about anything else. He stood on his feet and, determination glistering in his eyes, strode across the garden until he came to face Tonks.
She looked up, wide-eyed and mildly dismayed, and watched as he bowed slightly and offered her his hand.
It was only an innocent gesture, he just wanted Nymphadora to feel beautiful and admired as she deserved. At least for today, he wanted her to know he cared.
"Will you dance with me?"
A smile faltered on her lips and she conceded him her hand and let him pull her up. And now that she was smiling, there was another diamond shining at the party, and Fleur's light would be darkened by her.
'And maybe, after the feast, there will be some time to talk with her about this.' Suggested the voice, no more evil, but rather cheeky and sly.
Remus admired Nymphadora as he held her and danced with her among curious faces, her curls streaked in pink shades. Her smiling lips were the most delicious thing he'd ever seen.
'Or maybe not?'