Landing His Heart

Jerk.

Bloody jerk.

Nymphadora Tonks crossed her arms and leaned up against one of the cool stone walls. She closed her eyes and tried to prevent the tears from escaping their eyes. It didn't exactly work. The tears ran down her face. And she couldn't help but feel guilty. She was crying for the wrong reason, and she knew it. Dumbledore was dead. She should crying because the greatest wizard that had ever lived had departed the Earth last night. But no. She was crying about Remus.

Bloody jerk.

It was not as if she had expected him to change his mind after he had put a stop to her flirtations at the end of last year. Or was it the beginning of this one? She sighed and ran her hand through her mousey brown hair. She opened her eyes and glared at a strand. Her appearance was his fault.

Bloody jerk.

Not that it was his fault, exactly, but he had caused her to feel this way. To feel like she needed to be more for him. To feel that no matter what, he'd reject her. To slip into a minor depression that she knew to be from sheer disappointment of his rejection. She closed her eyes again.

Thinking about him was so painful.

Then she did something that she hadn't done in a long time. Standing there, leaning against the wall, she did something that she hadn't done all year.

Nymphadora Tonks thought about Remus. Before his rejection.

He smiled serenely from behind his coffee cup when she entered the room.

He let her rumple his soft hair everyday, the sides of his mouth twitching as he watched her from under his eyes.

He caught her as she tripped out of the door to Grimmauld Place.

He stared politely at her as she talked. And talked. And talked.

And again, she found herself doing something that she had not done in a very long time.

She smiled.

And a large weight of anxiety left her in an instant.

– – – – – – – –

Remus sat down on a cold wooden bench. His shoulders slumped and he stared determinedly at the floor.

What was he supposed to do now?

He had not rejected Tonks because he didn't love her. Far from it. His heart had ached for her, especially after he rejected her on that faithful night. He slammed his fist down on the cold, wooden bench. He wanted her terribly. But he had to reject her. He forced himself to reject her.

He rejected her because he couldn't love her.

But Nymphadora didn't seem to get it. Everything he said just sailed over her head. "I don't care," she would say, "I still love you," she would protest. If only she understood.

"Remus?" He looked up sharply. Thankfully, it wasn't Nymphadora standing at the end of the corridor. It was Molly. She walked over and sat on the bench, stumbling slightly. She smiled weakly. "Remus?"

"Yes," he said. "Sorry, Molly."

"That's all right, dear." He voice cracked at the end of the sentence and she broke into a series of furious coughs. "Sorry," she choked out in a voice very unlike her own.

Remus shrugged. "Now we're even." Molly smiled again.

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"You really like her, don't you?"

Remus coughed uncomfortably. "You know I do, Molly," he said in an undertone, slightly embarrassed. "I love everything about her." Mrs. Weasley's eyes welled up with tears.

"You do?"

"You know I do," he said, still in a low voice. "But..." he ran his fingers through his hair. "You know why I...can't."

"Remus..."

"You used to be with me! You agreed! I'm a bloody werewolf and Tonks is too young!"

"Remus!" she laughed slightly, "I know. I know. But with the scene I just saw..."

"You're not turning against me too, are you?"

"No! Just...tell me. Why do you love her?" Her voice had cracked again on 'love' and she cleared her throat unsurely. Remus didn't answer. "Remus...?"

"I heard you."

"Then..."

"I can't really explain it," he finally said. "It's just...something about her." His tongue got caught up in his mouth and he fumbled over a word. Eventually he continued. "It's just..." he paused. Nothing was actually 'just' anything with her. Things were so complicated when it came to Nymphadora Tonks. "She's just so...her. She's herself and she's not afraid to laugh at herself and she has this way of..." He trailed off.

"Me too."

"What?"

"Oh," Molly gave her head a shake. "Nothing." She paused. "What do you...not like about her?"

Remus looked at her incredulously. Then, blushing, he said the only thing he could thing of. "Nothing." Mrs. Weasley's face brightened.

"Well," but before she could say anything else she cleared her throat and coughed a few times. "I–" she coughed. "You—" another series of hacking coughs. "Us—me—" Eventually her coughing stopped and she cleared her throat again. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and ran her hand through her hair.

"Are you..." But what she was, exactly, was cut off. Because she had kissed him. And it wasn't a friendly kiss.

Well, it was a very friendly kiss, if you wanted to think of it that way.

What. The. Hell.

His shoved her off as forcefully as he could.

"You're bloody f––-" he closed his eyes and swallowed all the rude words he had been ready to spit at her. Keeping his eyes shut tight to keep any of the foul words rushing back at the sight of her, he spoke with a forced calm. "Are you insane?"

"No." Remus snorted angrily at her reply.

"You're married."

"No I'm not."

What. The. Hell.

He didn't reply as he felt her lips on his again. He angrily snapped his eyes open and pushed her away. Then he realized who it was. It took one glance to realize who it was.

"I hate you," he told Tonks, who was standing in front of him, complete with pink hair and an awkward smile on her face.

"Not from what you told..." she trailed off and smiled devilishly. "Molly." Remus paled.

Jerk.

Bloody jerk.

But that was what he loved about her. He couldn't help it. And if she wanted an old, dangerous, poor monster so bad as to impersonate a married friend and kiss him– then so be it. It wasn't like he didn't love her back.

"So...Molly..." he said, standing up slowly. He fingered her hair lightly and Tonks smiled at the look on his face. "Since when have you been a metamorphamagus?" Tonks smiled and threw her arms around him. She tried to think of a witty retort. She couldn't. She was melting looking into his chocolate eyes

She was saved the trouble of answering when she felt pleasantly warm lips touch hers.

The End

– – – – – – – –

Woot. Another oneshot that I thought of while taking my Science Quarterly exam. And I typed it up while I was supposed to be studying for my Math exam. But you now what? NO. IF I FEEL LIE WRITING FANFIC, THEN I WILL WRITE MY FANFIC.

But I better get back to studying.

If anyone's wondering about the title, I hate it too, but I wrote this while listening to "Landing in London" by 3 Doors Down (over and over and over again) and I thought Landing His Heart would be semi-kind of appropriate. If anyone has a better title, please let me know.

Reviews are amazing. I THOROUGHLY ENJOY them. They make me feel loved.

And Many Thanks to my Spanish teacher because he told me how to say "I just ate a hamburger with your face on it" in Spanish.(Long story)