Written For:
Quidditch Fanfiction League Competition: Falcons - Round 4
Keeper - Use the quote as inspiration as well as dialogue: "Well as long as we're digging up the past, we may as well dig up your mother." Grimm
Hogwarts: Voo Doo Magic
Task 4 - Write about someone who loves more than one person
Hogwarts: 365 Prompts
Prompt - shadow
Hogwarts: Quarterly Event - Gym
Madam Pomfrey's Fun Fitness - Lat Pull Down Machine - Emotion: Betrayed
Betaed by my fabulous teammate Lisa.
He's Back!
Remus' breath caught. At first, he thought it was just a mere shadow. Maybe his imagination was conjuring up images. After all, it wasn't possible.
Then he smirked that familiar smirk, and Remus' heart jumped in his chest like it had so many times before. Right then he knew it was no illusion.
Sirius Black was back from beyond the veil.
X
It didn't take long for Sirius to realize that Remus wasn't single. Tonks wasn't that discrete with her feelings for Remus. At first, Sirius thought it was one-sided, but Remus would look at Sirius' cousin with a softness in his eyes. A softness that once been reserved for Sirius and Sirius only.
He tried to not feel betrayed. After all, he didn't want Remus to live the rest of his life alone. That would have been selfish. As far as Remus knew, there was no way to come back from the veil, so why shouldn't he move on?
But why did Remus have to move on with Sirius' own cousin? Couldn't he have picked anyone from outside of his family?
X
It wasn't even two weeks when Sirius confronted Remus. "So, you and Tonks, huh?"
Remus took a deep breath. He knew it was coming; it was only a matter of time. "Yeah."
"How did that happen?"
"Well, let's just say stubbornness runs in the Black family. She pursued me and eventually, I decided to give it a chance."
"Do you love her?"
Remus bit his bottom lip. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry if that hurts you."
"You said you'd always love me. I remember you saying you'd never be able to move on if something were to happen to me."
Remus frowned. His love for Tonks is different than what it had been for Sirius. She looks at him with sweetness, while Sirius had always stared lustfully. She never stops telling him how beautiful he is despite the scars, making him feel worthy of her love. Tonks makes him feel alive when he had felt dead inside for so long. Finally, he managed to find an answer for Sirius' sort of accusation. "Well as long as we're digging up the past, we may as well dig up your mother."
"We're not digging up the past. It just… You moved on. With Tonks of all people."
Remus stared at the ground, his hands curling into fists at his sides. "When I promised you that, we were idealistic sixteen-year-olds. The war was just beginning. We didn't realize what it would be like. You really can't hold me to that promise. It would be unfair."
Sirius gulped. "Do you still love me?"
Remus opened his mouth and then closed it. He didn't know how to answer that.
X
Tonks knew something was wrong. Ever since Sirius came back, things had been different.
At first, she had been ecstatic. Although she never knew Sirius that well, except for the couple of years after he escaped Azkaban and started working with the Order of the Phoenix, her mother had always talked fondly about him and never believed he had betrayed the Potters. And she was sure Remus would be thrilled to have the raven-haired daredevil back. One of his best friends was back from a place that everyone thought no one would be able to return from.
And although Remus seemed happy at first, Tonks noticed a weariness in his eyes. And a sort of longing she was afraid to put a name to.
She never dug that deeply into Remus' past. Her lover had always been secretive, and she was sure it was because of painful memories. Now she wished she had asked more questions. Because the way Remus looked at Sirius was the way one looked at a lover who had returned from a long journey.
And then he began to pull away from her, and that was like a dart to her heart.
Tonks stared at her parchment. Her quill was inked and poised to begin writing, but she hesitated. Maybe Remus and Sirius had been in a relationship during Hogwarts. That didn't really affect Remus and Tonks' current relationship, though.
Even if Remus and Sirius had been in a relationship after Hogwarts, before Sirius went to Azkaban, it was all in the past. It should have no bearing on what was going on in the present.
The real question was…
Did Remus still love Sirius?
A secondary question was…
Had Tonks only been a replacement? A consolation prize because his true love was gone?
She sighed and put the quill down. She couldn't ask these questions in a letter. She had to do it face-to-face.
X
"Do you still love him?" a feminine voice asked from behind him.
Remus didn't jump. He had sensed her presence before she spoke. Therefore he didn't bother playing dumb. "You're the second person to pose the question to me in the span of two days."
"How did you answer it the first time?"
Remus turned around and looked at her. He gazed at her beautiful face, her hair, a muted brown. Her almond-shaped eyes solemn as she waited for the answer that might possibly break her heart. "I actually didn't answer him. I didn't know how to answer him."
"Answer me then. Do you still love him? I deserve to know the truth."
Remus stared at his feet and thought about it. He thought about how he felt when he first saw Sirius. His heart had pounded quickly. He had felt light-headed. And... And he had been happy. Thrilled. His heart had been overcome with joy and love. But was it the love the had once felt? Or the love that was similar to what he felt for James and Lily? It didn't take much thinking because he knew he'd never love Sirius the way he loved James and Lily. So, he gave Tonks what she begged for—the truth. "Yes, I do."
"Do you love me at all? Or was I just a placeholder, someone to pass the time with because you couldn't have who you really wanted?" she asked, her voice so soft it was hard to hear.
Remus's eyes widened, shocked that she thought he'd be so callous with her feelings. "I love you. I love both of you. I never thought I'd fall in love again after Sirius, but I did, with you. And now that Sirius is back, I have two people who I love deeply and truly. And I don't know how to choose."
There was a sound to the right of them, and there was Sirius in all his glory, no longer disillusioned while he eavesdropped, and he didn't look ashamed at all. "You do still love me?"
"Of course," Remus said. "But that doesn't solve anything. I love two people. Second cousins at that. What do we do?"
The three of them stood in a triangle. They were at a stalemate. No matter what decision was made, someone would wind up with his or her heart broken.
XX
(word count: 1,172)