Humor Me

Disclaimer: I do not Own Harry Potter. Anything unrecognizable and the plot of this drabble is a figment of my imagination.

Written for Dark Side-Competetion3 on HPFC

Number: 1

Prompt: Nobody's a picture perfect

Pairing: Tonks/Lupin

Rated: T

Tonks watched Remus miserably during the meeting and he was very obviously avoiding eye contact with her. This was how it had been for quite a while. They would both attend the Order's meet up at random places since Grimmauld Palace had been compromised due to Sirius's death and the possibility of Bellatrix Lestrange owning it. Though Remus didn't attend every meeting as he had started to live underground with the rest of the werewolves trying to earn their trust back; Tonks savored each time she saw him. It hurt that he tried to ignore her but it didn't matter.

He looked worse every time! Weak, thinner and just exhausted. She felt sad for him and wished that she could help. Whenever Remus' presence was in attendance Tonks waited until the end of the meeting to talk to him but so far had failed. He had a knack to disappear successfully. But this time she was determined! She was going to make him see and talk to her.

As soon as Dumbledore concluded the meeting she quickly got up to her feet and hurried toward the door where Remus had just gone out through. The long road was empty. Hoping desperately that he hadn't disapparated she looked around for him.

"Remus!" she called, walking through the dark.

Her lower lip trembled and tears threatened to fall. He was gone. Again.

Sniffing she leaned against the entrance of a dark alley hugging herself as an unnaturally cold wind breezed by. She had forgotten to take her coat but didn't feel like going back in and taking it.

"You shouldn't be standing here alone," came a tired voice through the shadows of the alley.

Her eyes widened in surprise; she wiped the tears from her cheeks and lit her wand. It was him of course; he stood in front of her with pity in his eyes. Tonks stared at him for a long while as if she couldn't believe that it was really him.

"Why are you doing this?" she finally spoke.

"I'm not doing anything." Remus said flatly. No emotion highlighting his tone.

"Remus…please," she begged, tears falling freely down her face. "Just give it a chance!"

He watched her and an agonized expression hit his face. "You know I can't."

"Yes, you can! You're just not letting yourself!" she cried.

"Tonks don't be stupid," he replied bitterly.

"You are being stupid!" she retorted feeling angry at him.

"No…I'm being reasonable," he simply said.

"No, you're being stupid." She repeated stubbornly.

"Grow up Tonks," he said, his voice reflected his exhausted stance.

"Why?" she asked not referring to his previous comment.

"I can't…" his voice was more than just a whisper.

"I love you…" she said softly and moved forward trying to hold his hand.

Remus jerked when her skin touched his. "You're not thinking straight." He told her not meeting her eyes.

She waited for him to talk…waited for him to agree…waited for him to explain. He finally looked at her, and his eyes softened at he took her expression in. he hated himself to hurt her like this…but he knew that she would thank him later.

Swallowing, he spoke with a determined expression. "I'm not right for you. I have never been and I never will be! You are young and beautiful. Where as I'm old, shabby and a freaking werewolf! You don't deserve some one like me. I don't deserve you. You need someone who's perfect. You need someone who's human. I'm just an animal Tonks…people look down on me! I'm a disease. When they come to know of my nature they cringe away…I don't want you to be socially rejected because of it. Because that's just me. I'm inflicted with something that people fear and I have no right to spread it any way. I deserve this. Just let go…you'll find someone who'll love you. You'll learn to love him too…just let go Tonks…please…"

Tonks stared at him in shock; she hadn't expected this from him. He gently removed her arm from his and looked at her with a sad smile on his exhausted face. She continued to stare.

"Goodbye." He whispered and turned away. After walking a little distance, he disapparated without another look at her.

Another cold wind blew, and Tonks hardly registered it. For she was frozen already. Numb.

A/N: Hello! I hope you liked this one-shot.

Tonks and Lupin are one of my favorite couples! It just amazing how she loves him overlooking certain things. Well…that's love I guess.

I didn't want to make it a sad ending but that's the first thing that popped in my head when I read the prompt. Of course nobody is perfect!

Well…just hoping you enjoyed it.

Please leave me your thoughts, it makes my day to hear reviews. =)

PS: If you didn't recognize it, the prompt was a phrase from Kelly Clarkson's Dark Side. It is one of my favorite present songs…the lyrics are simply beautiful!