I first met him at the wedding party of one of the Order members when I just joined the Order. Instantly, I knew there was something about him. Something more to him than what people saw. Something that made him special despite his shabby appearance and his being a werewolf.

I'd known he was a werewolf since before I met him. But that did nothing except made me even more curious about him. Those kind of creatures fascinate me – yes, I used to think of him as a 'creature', though now when I think back again, I think it's completely ridiculous as he is so much more human than a lot of people I know.

That day, my father was out in the garden, admiring a bush of bright pink roses. He was about to pick one for me – he knew how I loved roses; especially they're in my favorite color – when he heard a voice approach. "You wouldn't want to touch those." My father spun around and stared in shock, and there he stood, wearing a patched-up dress robe, Remus Lupin.

My father quickly composed himself and wondered, "And why is that?"

Remus Lupin stepped forward, "Because, as attractive as it looks, it is very poisonous."

At that moment, I'd come bounding up to my father and told him that Mum was looking for him. Once I've conveyed that message, I turned my attention to the eye-catching bush to my right.

"Hey, I've never seen these kinds of flowers before," I murmured curiously while reaching out to touch them.

I may be quick, but Remus Lupin was definitely quicker. He snatched my arm, avoiding it from having contact with those roses. I looked up at him amazedly, and tilted my head to the side, "What did you do hat for?"

He let go of my arm and answered, "You wouldn't want your skin to have contact with a Rosa caroseus. You'd suffer from a nasty rash for weeks."

I raised my eyebrows, "Well in that case, thanks. It's too bad, though. They're so pretty," I stared longingly.

Remus Lupin let out a short laugh. "Looks can fool," he said with a small smile. He was so right.

I held out my hand to him, "Nymphadora Tonks. But I'd prefer it if you called me Tonks."

He took my outstretched hand and shook it, "Remus Lupin. Call me Remus for short."

"Remus," I smiled and nodded.

At that moment, I came to full realization for the first time as to whom I was interacting with. A werewolf. One that I was so curious and fascinated about, too. I thought werewolves lacked self-control, but this one looked pretty decent to me. I quickly engaged him in a conversation. I found out that he was changed as a little child, and has been deeply sorrowful about his condition ever since. Soon enough, I found myself consoling him. Though I barely knew him, it seemed the natural thing to do.

Since that first encounter, we became good friends. He was nice to be around, so knowledgeable, caring, generous, and gentleman-like. He accepted my weird, clumsy, bubbly self without trying to change me one bit and I appreciated him very much for that.

We spent lots of time together before and after Order meetings, chatting away about nothing and everything. Sometimes – most of the time – he'd let me do most of the talking. He wouldn't interrupt; he'd just sit there and listen attentively.

One winter, we were assigned on an Order mission together. We were trusted with field surveillance and we had to camp out in the woods for several nights.

Inconveniently, something we didn't count on happened and we had to stay at the site a few weeks longer. I watched Remus get more and more restless each day. I thought he was frustrated because of our drawn-out mission. I was wrong.

Not only did he grow restless, he also became temperamental. One night after an argument, he stormed away from me and deeper into the forest. Of course I followed him. I guess I'd been experiencing so much normality with him and I've been focusing so much on the mission that I'd forgotten who – what – he was. So I was very taken aback when I nearly marched straight into a transforming werewolf.

I took a step backward in horror and noticed that tonight was a full moon. Suddenly, the beast before me spun around and faced me. There was nothing I recognized in its features. Not a sign of the Remus I knew. It bared its teeth at me, looking ready to devour me. I raised my wand and cried 'Protego!' just in time as it launched itself at me. It staggered back slightly.

I panicked. I kept casting Shield Charms while stumbling backwards as the werewolf constantly sprang attacks on me, searching for a loophole in my defense. It's not that I didn't know how to handle these situations; it's just that it was Remus! I was worried about it succeeding to attack me, but I was even more worried about hurting it!

Finally I managed to think straight and instantly knew the right thing to do. "Petrificus Totalus!" And there it lay on the forest floor, unmoving.

I cautiously approached it and crouched beside its still body.

Suddenly I heard muffled voices. They were coming in our direction. I stood up, whirled around, and there they were, five cloaked men, facing me.

I was torn with indecision. What was I supposed to do about Remus? Leave him petrified and a vulnerable target? But then would I be able to face them quickly enough before they got to Remus?

Or should I put the counter-curse on Remus, so he has a chance to escape, no matter the risk of him attacking me as well as them?

I made the decision. I quickly pointed my wand at the unmoving form of the beast, muttered the counter-curse, and turned my back to it, wishing with all my heart that it'd just get up and run away that instant. But to no one's surprise, it didn't.

I heard the beast growl as it got back up on its feet. Then I could feel it slinking in my direction. I braced myself, very doubtful that I could fight against six big, strong opponents at once.

The cloaked men took advantage of my moment of hesitance and pulled out their wands, ready to send curses flying at me.

Suddenly the beast behind me launched himself into their midst, knocking down two of those men. It landed on top of one of them and pierced its sharp teeth through the man's neck, practically ripping his skin apart and causing a generous amount of his blood to come flowing out. This caused a disruption amongst the cloaked figures and I took advantage of that to send an attack in their direction.

"Stupefy!" I yelled. I dodged a green jet of light and pointed my wand at them again, "Stupefy! Stupefy!" And the three men no longer remained standing.

Once they've fallen to the ground, the beast took care of them. I didn't intend to kill those cloaked men, but apparently the werewolf had other plans. He ripped them apart until they laid unconscious on the ground.

Even after they stopped twitching, the beast continued to rip them apart. I was forced to petrify him yet again. I knew Remus wouldn't have wanted to tear them up, no matter how bad they were. So with a heavy heart, I shot the curse at him, and again he fell onto the forest floor, unmoving.

I walked slowly towards his beastly figure, and sat beside him, hugging my knees. I watched him warily. His eyes looked wild and murderous, his body covered in rough fur, and his sharp teeth bared at me.

I felt a rush of sympathy and compassion towards the beast lying down before me. He had no control whatsoever over his mind and body, but I knew my Remus was in there. There was enough of him in there to not attack me and attack our foes instead.

I just then realized that he'd saved me. Saved me from a lot of trouble and probably saved my life as well. I ran my fingers along his hairy arm. "Thank you," I whispered. And then I just sat beside him, watching the snow swirl around us silently, till dawn broke and he transformed back to the man I knew.

Remus was very upset about the whole incident. He was so angry at himself for attacking me. I think he hasn't forgiven himself to this day, though I've insisted time and time again that he didn't cause me any harm at all, he even saved my life!

Since that incident, he kept avoiding me. If he thought that was enough to stop me, then he was wrong. He should've known better. He knew precisely how stubborn I was. What he didn't know was how captivated I was by him. Him and his charm.

I would've managed to have my own way if it weren't for my parents. They didn't approve of my being with Remus. They thought he was dangerous. I kept reassuring them that he wasn't like that, how he was actually very sweet and kind. And I also pointed out how he saved my life. But apparently everyone felt perfectly happy neglecting that fact.

At first I ignored their disapproval. But then they took extreme measures. They casted a spell so that my dad would be critically ill whenever I was too close to Remus. No matter how annoyed I was at him then, I didn't want to jeopardize my father's health. So I was forced to stay away from Remus.

That and the fact that Remus was assigned to live underground amongst other werewolves depressed me. I was so devastated about us not being together that I lost my Metamorphmagi skills, and my hair turned into its original mousy color. Another extreme change I underwent was with my Patronus. I was really surprised but not at all bothered when one day I found that my Patronus had changed. What else did it become if not Remus? Or at least a version of him.

My parents couldn't take this side of me any longer, so they loosened up a bit. Remus was also very concerned about me, despite his similar disapproval of us being together. He came up with a solution and handed me a mirror which I could use to communicate with him long-distance. That made me feel slightly better.

When Remus was finally relieved from his duty, I was so glad and relieved. It pleased me that the fist thing he did after he returned was seeing me. He told me we needed to talk. I was so nervous; I couldn't anticipate what was coming. Remus kept pushing me away; he says that I'm better off without him. I wish he'd see the light and know that that's not true.

I dropped by his house that evening. His house was dark and gloomy as always. But once I was inside it, I always feel a certain homey feeling. But again that might have something to do with Remus being in there with me.

I let myself in since the door was unlocked. I found Remus in the living room, facing the open window, his back towards me. He sensed my presence and called out to me gently, "Come here, Dora."

I took three strides to close our distance, and then I waited for him to turn around. As he did, I saw that he had a sort of glass globe in his hands. Inside the globe was a beautiful rose.

I gasped, "Remus! It's so beautiful… It's…"

"It's a Rosa caroseus," he finished for me with a half-smile. "I know how much you admire it, and I thought I'd give this for you as a gift."

I was flustered; I struggled for something to say. I took the globe from his hands and wondered, "On what occasion are you gifting me? Aren't I the one who's supposed to do that, since you're the one who just returned?"

Remus smiled again. "On this occasion," he said as he knelt down before me and pulled out a velvet box from his robe pocket. He opened the lid and asked, "Nymphadora Tonks, it took me quite a while to realize that I love you with all my heart and that I can't ever live without you. Will you marry me?"

I couldn't believe my eyes. Was this real? Then I realized that he was waiting for an answer. I jumped on him and circled my arms around him, "Of course! Of course I will, you don't even need to ask!" I was so happy; tears of joy were streaming down my face.

I let go of him so that we could both stand up and face each other. Remus was smiling, but his eyes were sad, "Dora, I know that you're glad and I'm also glad, but you should know that what I'm doing is very wrong!"

"Gibberish," I waved him off. "There's nothing wrong about love."

Remus laughed bitterly, "When it involves me and a normal human, yes there is."

"And I'm so normal? I'm a Metamorphmagus, I don't think that qualifies as normal," I retorted.

Remus rolled his eyes. I knew he thought being a Metamorphmagus was nothing abnormal compared to being a werewolf. "But seriously though, your parents don't approve! What are we going to do about that?" He looked concerened.

"I am going to talk to them. It's my marriage, after all," I said firmly.

"Please, Dora, I don't want you to get in a fight with them over me," he stared into my eyes intensely.

"I won't," I smiled at him reassuringly. "I'll make them see your true self, the one you showed me and the one I fell for."

"Thank you," Remus said sincerely.

"What are you thanking me for?" I asked.

"For saving me from myself. You pulled me out of self-pity and you made me feel more human than I've ever felt. You accepted me. And most of all, thank you for loving me," Remus said.

I blushed as we leaned in for a kiss.

As it turned out, my parents had no problem with our marriage. Sure, they found it a bit bothering, but they figured that as long as he made me happy, Remus deserves me.

Our wedding was a quiet event. We didn't want to make a big deal out of it since the wizarding community wasn't exactly sympathetic towards people like Remus.

I wore a bright yellow dress instead of the classic white – I thought the colour suited my personality better, white is kind of boring. My father lent his navy blue dress robe to Remus and it fitted him perfectly.

As we danced our wedding dance, I felt utterly blissful. I stared into the face of my husband and knew that this was my fairytale, my happy ever after. Our twisted version of Beauty and the Beast.