A Christmas Gift
By The Red Haired One
Authors Note: It's been a long time. I know. Miserably long time. But I have my excuses. Not enough time being one of them.
Dedication: To anyone suffering a break up this season.
Disclaimer: Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin don't belong to me. They are products of JK Rowling, a literary genius.
It was a cold day in London, one that made most people want to stay inside and drink hot coffee in front of the fire. But not one Nymphadora Tonks. She stood outside a run-down flat, holding her slightly tattered robes close to her.
In her hands she held a small package, nothing big, and it wasn't even that well wrapped. The green paper with Christmas trees that twinkled looked like it had been formerly used to wrap another gift, and perhaps it had. The ribbon that held it together was slightly bent, and the bow clashed horribly with the paper. Mauve really didn't look that good with that particular shade of green.
She sighed, and knocked on the door. Nymphadora highly doubted that he would even be home, he had no family, Harry was at Hogwarts, Sirius was…dead. What use did he have for sticking around this dreary part of London for Christmas, anyways? He was probably already in the Underground, he only came back for a few days to lick his wounds and eat some good food, he was most likely gone, and she wouldn't see him again until Spring-time, when he wouldn't even recognize her.
Right before she turned around to leave, the door opened. "Nymphadora?" The voice from inside the flat asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I have no idea." She replied. "I'm going home."
"No, no, come in, I just put on some tea." Nymphadora sighed, and stuffed the gift in her pocket, and entered his flat.
"Really Remus, you don't have to do all this. I was just passing by; I have no idea why I even bothered to stop by. I need to go; I have work in an hour…" She tried to come up with an excuse, but she was pretty sure he could see through every one of them. In all actuality, she had the week off work. And he knew that.
"Well, at least have some tea before you go to work. It's cold out, and unless you apperate, it's a long distance to the Ministry."
"Remus, you know I don't drink tea. And you know I don't have to go to work."
"I know. But you should have something to drink. You're turning blue." She sat down, and fiddled with the bow attached to the gift in her pocket. "So, if you don't like tea," he said, handing her a mug of coffee, "and you don't have to go to work in an hour, then why are you here?"
She set the mug down on a nearby table covered in books, careful not to spill the coffee or break the mug, and pulled out the gift. "I got you something for Christmas."
"I see." He said, sitting opposite her, on a pile of books. "Forgive the mess; I haven't had the time to get bookshelves." Or the funding to get them, she added in her head.
She searched for something to say as she pulled it out of her pocket, and held it in front of her. "It's nothing big, just something Molly had she thought I would like it, and I thought you might want it…" She played with the bow a little bit and handed it over to him. He held it gently in his hands, and started taking the paper off from where she had Spell-o-taped it together. He took the paper off, and in his hands, he held a simple gold frame; the frame held a picture of the two of them at Grummauld place, sitting on a couch in the Sitting Room talking about something, most likely guard duty.
"The frame is gold…I know that you can't touch silver, and my mum gave me the frame years ago, when I first left to go live by the Ministry when I was starting training so my commute wouldn't be that bad, and I never had a picture to put in it, and I thought you would like it, even though its spent forever in a box in my closet, underneath boxes of pots that I don't use, and I never used the frame, even though I—"
"Nymphadora, I love it. Thank you."
She promptly dropped the mug full of coffee. It shattered at her feet, sending coffee and shards of porcelain all over his floor. "Oh, Remus, I'm sorry! I should have been paying attention, I am such a nervous wreck, I should have never come by, and I should have owled it, that would be better and I wouldn't have endangered your mugs…"
"Why are you nervous?" Remus asked, repairing the broken mug with his wand, cautiously handing it back to Nymphadora.
"No reason, really."
"You're a horrible liar, Nymphadora."
"Would you stop calling me that? And really, I have no reason."
"Fine, you are a horrible liar, Tonks."
"Really? I thought I was getting better at it. You know, telling my mum that I clean my flat weekly, and I do my laundry regularly—"
"You're rambling."
"I—I love you."
Remus sighed. "Nymphadora—"
"No! I told you to call me Tonks!"
"Really, I'm too old."
"I don't care about that."
"And I have no money."
"So, I could be poor and be happy!"
"Nymphadora, I am too dangerous. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I have hurt you. I just couldn't."
"But I don't care Remus! You're missing the point! I don't care!"
"You cannot care, but I do. I care about you, and I can't let you get hurt!"
"But Remus!"
"No! I should have stayed in the Underground this week."
Nymphadora sighed. "Fine, I'll go." She put the now repaired mug in the sink, and left his flat. "But I still love you."
Remus watched her go, and moved a couple books out of the way. He set the picture on his coffee table, and watched happy they looked in the picture, talking in one of the most miserable houses in all of England.
"I love you too," he whispered, "I love you too."