Tonks awoke suddenly, breathing heavily and sweating. She looked around her room rapidly, not exactly sure what she was checking for. Her room was as ordinary as ever, the curtains on the window blocking out the light from the street lamp outside, her door shut tightly to block out any other sounds, and Remus was lying next to her, sleeping soundly and snoring as always. Tonks, attempting not to wake Remus, laid back down and shrugged under the covers, shutting her eyes. She opened them right away, though, when her dream came back to her. She sat up again and sat with her back against the wall, deliberating on whether she should wake Remus up or not. Tomorrow was the full moon and he needed his rest. For the rest of the night, she sat against the wall, not daring to fall asleep in hopes that her dream would leave her mind.
When Remus woke up that morning, he found Tonks sitting at the kitchen table, nodding off while holding her cup of pumpkin juice. Remus had almost expected something like this – it usually happened when Teddy left for school.
"Dora," he said quietly, rubbing her shoulder and taking the cup of pumpkin juice from her hand.
She jerked awake, looking around for Remus. When she saw him, she stood up quickly and fell into his arms. Remus didn't even need to ask what was wrong; he just held her, wishing she could make it better.
"You had the dream again," he said, stroking the back of her head, comforting her.
She nodded and a small sob escaped her. She clung tighter to Remus, who scooped her up and brought her to their room.
"You need sleep," he told her firmly.
But she shook her head, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. "If I go back to sleep, I'll see it again. Will you stay with me?"
"Of course, love," said Remus, and he took her into his arms, letting her sniffle into his shoulder.
Eventually, Tonks fell asleep in Remus's arms after having cried herself out. Remus had fallen asleep when he was sure Tonks was sleeping, his neck at an angle against the wall by the bed. As the morning turned into afternoon, and the afternoon into evening the sky darkened from a beautiful sunny day to a cloudy, overcast night. Had Remus been awake, he would have realized that tonight was the full moon.
Tonks woke up to the sound of screaming. She sat straight up, eyes wide, all grogginess forgotten. All that mattered was that someone was in pain. She reached for her wand on the bedside table and flicked the lights on. In the corner of the room was Remus. A slice of light from outside had infiltrated the curtains and it was on Remus. Why was he screaming? It was light outside, obviously, judging by the sliver of white on the floor.
Something clicked inside of Tonks's head. She looked at her watch. It was ten o'clock. At night. And tonight was the full moon. She sat there on the bed, opposite from Remus, frozen with shock. Remus's screams of pain drew her back to reality. She hurried over to him, holding him, trying to ease his pain.
"Away! Get – away!" he cried, trying to force Tonks away from him, but she was determined not to leave his side. When he realized that she wasn't moving, he remembered a crucial detail. "No – potion!" he screamed, hoping with every fiber of his being that Tonks would understand.
But it was too late. Understanding dawned on Tonks's face, realizing that Remus hadn't taken his potion before the full moon. He wouldn't be a docile, furry little thing, but a full-fledged werewolf in a mere thirty seconds.
As Tonks realized this, Remus began to change from human to wolf. He growled at her as she backed away from him. In his mind, all he saw was a human, and a human meant food. He lunged for her and everything went black.
