Written for Hopscotch, over at Hogwarts, for the following prompts:

Remus/Tonks (pairing)

Angst (genre)

home (Word)

Words: 644

After You Left

(I didn't know what was left of me without you.)

Sirius was gone. The whole idea hit Remus with such a sense of finality, he wasn't sure he was able to go on. There were too many memories, too much pain, and he was certain love like that only came once in a lifetime.

But through his pain, she was there.

(She was the watcher in my dark.)

When he'd gone home alone that night, that night, she'd shown up at his front door. They hadn't said a word, but he'd let her in, and he'd held her close as they'd both cried. They'd both lost someone that would never be replaced; they both felt hollow. They needed someone.

(She was the rock in my storm.)

At the funeral, they'd sat side by side. There was no body to bury, but they'd held a service all the same. They needed a chance to say goodbye. When the sobs wracked his frame, when he felt unable to stand on that stage and make a speech, she'd slipped her hand into his and squeezed it tight.

(She was the silent witness to my suffering.)

They would sit alone together in Grimmauld Place, long after it was empty. When Remus complained the house was full of his family, still, and empty of him, she'd asked him where he remembered Sirius best. She'd taken him there.

(She knew just what to do to lessen the pain of losing you.)

At the park, they'd watched the children play, sharing a bottle of cheap whiskey while he talked. He talked of love, of laughter, of everything that had been wonderful about the man he had devoted his life to. He did not see the pain in her eyes as he spoke, only the smile as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and took a drink.

(She was everything I needed, exactly when I needed her to be.)

With pink hair and a bright smile, she'd convinced him to pick himself up again. She'd got him missions for the Order, and she accompanied him as he carried them out, knowing that what he needed was a purpose again. She'd made that purpose Harry: the last vestige of the legacy that was the Marauders left.

(She gave me my life back after it had been taken away.)

And then she was there when he laughed again; when he smiled. She was there with him through the suffering and the pain, and she watched as he came out the other side. She always seemed to smile around him, and that, in turn, made him smile. He began to crave her company, because he knew that she knew him, like no one else would again, now. Everyone who had ever known him was gone, except for her.

(I never thought I would love again.)

His heartstrings began to tug once more, and he did not protest. If he was to fall in love again, he would pick her a thousand times over. She had been patient; she had been kind; and she had been there. She was home. He didn't understand why, but he realised he didn't need to. It only mattered that it was a fact, not that there was reason behind it. He couldn't thank her enough.

(If my heart was meant for you, why does it stutter at the sound of her voice?)

But he was a werewolf. He was dangerous. He had said it enough times to Sirius, and he knew how the story went. Love was blind, blind to the monster he became. That was why he had chosen Sirius, and that side of his sexuality. He couldn't have children. He couldn't risk that.

(She is my rock just as you were my fire, but I have to let you both go.

I was always meant to end up alone.)