Disclaimer-I do now own Harry potter

This is a little Remus/Tonks that takes place in Lockhart's hideous reign at Hogwarts

Review enough, and i'll write more, but now until then, becuase I have this horrid feeling people aren't going to like this.

Oh, and I'll give you a cookie if you Review! One with choclate chips with a little sprinkle of Avada Kedavra!

Remus J. Lupin was sitting on a park bench, wallowing in his depression. He glanced at his surroundings. This park was right outside the Leaky Cauldron, so a combination of Muggles and wizards came here. It was like him; in the wizarding world but never truly accepted.

He sighed. Today was worst than most. Last night had been a full moon, he hadn't had Wolfsbane Potion and therefore was injured in several places, he'd been evicted from his apartment that morning, he had a bad fever, and October was approaching. He hated October. It reminded him of them.

He was so consumed in his misery that he didn't even notice the sound of approaching footsteps. Not until the bottom of a cane obstructed his vision of his feet. Looking up, he saw the sneering face of…

"Lucius." He said, his voice hoarse from lack of use. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Remus." he replied. "Especially not in this…pitiful condition."

Lucius Malfoy knelt down to Remus's level on the bench. "Look at the celebrated war hero now. Filthy and on the streets, as opposed to me."

"It's the inside that counts."

"The Ministry doesn't see it that way, do they? Whoever has the most money wins. Which would be me, Death Eater or not." jeered Lucius. "And that would make you exactly what you are now; nothing."

Remus said nothing. He was tired and worn and all he wanted was some peace and quiet.

"What did you say, half-breed?"

"I didn't say anything, Lucius." said Remus tiredly.

Lucius chuckled. "That's right, you didn't, did you? I should inform the Ministry I saw you. They like to keep tabs on people like you, you know. Just so they can make sure you didn't maul anyone recently." With that, he turned to leave. "Oh, and one more thing."

He spat at Remus's feet, leaving Remus watching him leave and wishing him into the darkest deepest hole on Earth.

"Why'd you let him treat you like that!" came an angry, unfamiliar voice. Female, by the sound of it.

Into his line of vision marched a raven-haired girl with a pale, heart-shaped face and green eyes. She stopped right in front of him. "Did you hear me!"

Remus gave a half-smirk. "I think the whole park did."

The woman frowned at him. "I don't get it! Why'd you let him talk to you like that? And why didn't you even get mad when he spat at your feet!"

Remus shrugged. "A good bit of the wizarding world thinks that way about me. I don't let it bother me."

The woman stamped her foot. "You should!"

"Your opinion isn't going to change my opinion of myself."

"Which is?"

"You heard Malfoy, didn't you?"

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're going to let a sod like Malfoy define your view of yourself?" Sitting next to him on the bench, she said, "Hi, I'm Tonks." as she held out her hand.

"Lupin." he said, extending his own.

"Do you have a first name?"

"Do you?"

She scowled. "Nymphadora. My fool of a mother named me that."

"Mine's Remus. Nice to meet you, Nymphadora." he said.

"Don't call me that!" she yelled. "It's Tonks to you."

Remus chuckled. It'd been awhile since he'd had someone to actually talk to, albeit some girl barely out of Hogwarts.

"So why do you let Malfoy treat you like that?" she persisted.

"I thought we'd agreed not to discuss that." He expected Tonks to just get up and leave, but she didn't.

"Ok, then. There's something I wanted to ask you. I heard Malfoy call you…" Here it comes, he thought. "…a war hero. Where you in the war against You-Know-Who?"

Remus could tell Tonks had been dying to ask this question. "I suppose I was."

Tonks was sitting on the edge of the bench. "How was it? What was it like? How did you feel when he disappeared?"

"It was…scary. And sad."

"Sad?"

Not about the fact Lord Voldemort's gone, it's just… the Potters' and Peter were my best friends. …And so was Sirius."

Tonks made an angry noise. "Sirius Black, you mean?"

Oops. He shouldn't have said that. "Yea." he admitted.

"He's my cousin." muttered Tonks.

"I knew the name Tonks sounded familiar. You'd be Andromeda's daughter, correct?"

"That's my mum. The foolish one." Tonks looked at him. "Does my hair look ok?"

Huh? Why was she asking him this? And on the same subject, why was she talking to a wizard who so obviously didn't have a single penny? She continued on without waiting for an answer. "I don't think black is my color, do you?"

And without another word, Tonks screwed up her nose and her hair turned purple and shoulder-length. "That better?"

Laughing at Remus's surprised look, she said, "I'm a Metamorphagus."

"Ah. That explains it." he said lightly. "Now I have a question for you. Why are you so interested in the war?"

"I'm training to become an Auror." Tonks stated proudly.

"Training under Scrimgeour or Moody?"

She looked surprised, but answered anyway. "Moody. The paranoid old coot's a great mentor."

"I suppose you're ok if you're training under him."

"Wanna go out for a drink?" she asked suddenly.

He hesitated. He didn't have any money, he wasn't feeling his best, and he had a huge gash on both his arm and leg, making it hard to walk.

"Come on, I'll pay." she said, grabbing him to pull him up off the bench. This was a bad move, as he put his weight on his bad leg, and she reached under his robes to grab his arm, reopening the wound. As it turned out, Remus ended up in pain on the ground. By the time he got up again, Tonks was staring in horror at her hand.

"Oh Merlin, what happened to you?" she whispered.

"What's wrong?" he asked in-between coughs. She turned her hand toward him and he saw what she was talking about. Her hand was covered in blood. His blood.

Remus pulled up his sleeve and revealed a mess of blood and skin that looked considerably worse than that morning.

"I'd had no idea it'd gotten that bad."

"We have to get you to St. Mungo's!"

"I'm not going there." he said firmly. "I don't like St. Mungo's, and besides, I'm used to stuff like this."

"Used to this! How can you be used to this!" Tonks shrieked. Apparently she wasn't used to blood.

Time to go, he thought, and reached for his cane so he could limp out of there. Before he could move, Tonks blocked him. "Are you gonna heal yourself if I let you go?"

"Uhhh…" should he lie? "No. Magic can't heal these kind of wounds." he admitted.

"Then I'll take care of you."

"I thought you said you were an Auror, not a Healer!" he said.

"I am, but I can't let you stay in this park in this state." Tonks put her hand on his forehead.

"What're you doing that for? I'm injured, not sick!" he protested.

"No, you're injured and sick. You're temperature's skyrocketing! " she retorted. "Now do you want to go to my place or yours?"

Then she noticed the way he looked away, embarrassed. "Oh, we'll…um…go to, um, my place then, if, uh…that's ok with you." Tonks finished quickly.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No, you don't." said Tonks, gripping his arm tightly so that he felt the ever-so-pleasant sensation of being squeezed into a tube that usually meant Apparition. Next thing he knew he was standing in front of a shabby but well-kept apartment on the outskirts of town.

Tonks shrugged. "Welcome home." She pulled him inside. "Now let me see your injuries." she said, forcing him onto the couch.

Remus sighed. She'd never let him leave as long as he was still injured. He pulled off his robes, leaving nothing but pants behind. And fully revealing the mass of old and new scars on his chest and arms, barely covered with his new wounds.

Tonks gasped. "What happened to you!"

"Do you really want to know?"

Tonks shook her head and disappeared into the depths of her apartment. She returned with an armload of bandages and began wrapping his arms and chest. "You're leg's injured too, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yea." Remus didn't talk much. He could feel his fever getting to him. After he was bandaged, he stood up.

"Thank you very much for the medical attention, but now I must be going." he attempted to leave again, but she stood in front of him.

"Stop trying to escape! You're not leaving until you're healthy, or so help me I'll hex you into oblivion!"

Remus felt anger building up in him. "You don't want me around you! Not me! Find some Auror in your Department to take pity on, not some homeless monster! Haven't you considered there's a reason for me being on the streets! Maybe because everyone hates me! Maybe because I don't deserve to exist! Maybe because I'm a WEREWOLF!" he shouted, a shadow of the wolf on his face.

Tonks was standing there, strangely calm, albeit a little pale. "That explains the homelessness, the injuries, the way Malfoy treated you, the shabby robes, the bitterness, the complete lack of self-esteem, and the pain in your eyes whenever someone looks at you."

"Yea, I suppose it does explain that. Now can I leave?"

"No."

"What!" exclaimed Remus, surprised. "If you're planning on turning me into the Ministry or something, I can assure you it's not illegal for me to exist."

"No, you daft idiot, I'm not letting you leave because you're injured and sick! Who cares that you're a werewolf?"

"The whole wide world and then some." commented Remus dryly.

"Then I must be from Pluto, because I don't care." replied Tonks, and at that exact moment her fireplace burst into…well…flames. Green flames. Great. The last thing he wanted was to see anyone else.

Then he jumped back, for someone had just screamed "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" in his ear. Whirling around, he saw Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody glaring at Tonks. "You were supposed to be in my office three hours ago!"

"Maybe I had better things to do!" she shot back.

Remus slowly edged toward the door. Mad-Eye didn't seem to have noticed him yet, so maybe he could just slip out... Alas, it was not meant to be, for just as he reached for his suitcase, Mad-Eye yelled, "What better things!" and Tonks pulled him in front of her. "I had him to take care of!"

If Remus hadn't been so preoccupied with getting away, the look of shock on Mad-Eye's face would have been extremely funny. As it was, he could not fully appreciate this as he was longingly looking towards the door.

"Remus? No one has seen you in ten years!" growled Mad-Eye.

"Maybe because I don't want your pity." retorted Remus.

"You think I'm one to give pity?" Then Mad-Eye's eye took in his injuries. "I've seen better-kept bowtruckles than you, Remus."

"Same goes for you, Mad-Eye. And what's with the bowtruckle analogy?" replied Remus.

Tonks looked from one to the other. "You know each other?"

Mad-Eye shrugged. "We were in the Order of the Phoenix together."

Tonks looked at Remus with dawning wonder. "Oh." she said.

Mad-Eye smirked. "I have no idea where you found this lost relic of the past, Nymphadora, but you have permission to take leave off work for a day or two."

Tonks objected. "Stop calling me Nymphadora!"

Remus objected too. "Hey, I'm being held here against my will. Care to help me?"

Mad-Eye grinned. "Sorry. Trying to deter Nymphadora is like trying to stop a mean bowtruckle from attacking. Oh, and by the way, I'm reporting that I saw you to Dumbledore."

And before Tonks and Remus could shout, "Stop comparing us to bowtruckles!" Mad-Eye had disappeared into the depths of the fire.

Remus sank back onto the couch. "How about this? I'll stay one night and let my fever break, and then I can go, ok?"

"But then you'll be back to where you where before!" protested Tonks.

Remus snorted. "Now that Dumbledore's going to know that I'm still alive and relatively healthy, I doubt that I'll be left alone for more than thirty seconds."

Tonks sighed. It was a fair deal. "Fine."

The next morning a completely healthy Remus left her apartment the next morning, waving Tonks goodbye with a slightly sad smile. "It won't be sad when he finds the twenty-five Galleons I slipped inside his suitcase." she confided in herself.

Then her mirror said snidely, "Talking to yourself is never a good sign, dearie."

Tonks threw her shoe at it.

It was a good thing he met Tonks that day, mused Remus decidedly a year later. She gave him hope, and now here he was, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. He had been right in thinking Dumbledore wouldn't leave him alone, and he was glad.

The End