Author's Note: These are my 50 prompts for Gamma Orionis's OTP Boot Camp Challenge. My pairing is Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, and chapter one is the word: Acrid.
Also, for this story of drabbles based off the prompts, Remus and Tonks are alive after the war with Teddy. The chapters will vary at all different times of their relationship, but just to avoid confusion, chapters such as these are written because they did survive for this.
Acrid: Sharp or biting to the taste or smell; bitterly pungent.
Remus heaved his tired body down the stairs to the medicine cabinet in their small home. They owned a rather run-down cabin, in the middle of the woods. The smell of pine enveloped their home in a rather welcoming hug, and the trees around them shaded them from the morning sun, and protected them from the horrors of the night. Since the woods and forest held no separation, Remus usually transformed in a cellar below their small home. The latches weren't very sturdy, and the cellar was dark and dusty, but Remus made it work. With the Wolfsbane and Tonks's support, they always managed. He supposed Molly Weasley had taught his young wife that: the fact that when you love someone, you just manage.
Remus reached to the top shelf and pulled down a small glass bottle filled to the brim with a shimmering black liquid. Remus made sure to practice 'mind over matter' as he held his nose and drank it the juice that reminded him so much of the tar covering the side roads in appearance and thickness. He gasped when he had chugged the whole thing, hoping that this would give him relief of the cold he had been battling for over a week now. The taste of the potion was quite acrid, and it smelled even worse, if that was possible. It had to be done, though. Full moon was at its peak tomorrow night, and Remus knew if he was ill on top of the transformation, he would be twice as week. He had to care for Teddy with Tonks being at work so often lately, and he couldn't do it with no strength. Sighing and all but dragging himself back up the stairs to bed, he smiled as he thought of his son. Even if the potion didn't help, he would do his best to care for Teddy.
He would have to manage.
Author's Note: I made a comment that full moon would be at its peak the next night. I say this because the moon is full for three days, and in my own opinion, (and for the sake of this story), Remus would transform on the middle night. Though it would explain why he is so tired and haggard if he transformed for three nights in a row, for the sake of this story it is only one. Please review!