Stubborn Love by Maddyson Ruby
Pairing: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit from this. All characters you recognise belong to JK Rowling.
AN: This was written for the Canon Pairing's Challenge on the HPFC.
He sat slumped in the chair his blue eyes vacant and blank. A bottle was caught in his bony and scarred hand; he clutched at it like a lifeline with the last reserves of his strength. His unshaven face was sallow and gaunt, marred sporadically with scars. Breathes wheezed through his uncooperative lungs and anyone who knew the animated man he usually was wouldn't have recognised the shadow that remained behind.
On the chair opposite another man sat, staring sullenly into the fire. His black curls were lank and streaked with silver, his face stoic.
Tension lingered in the room, oppressive and heavy like viscous smog that suffocated any who dared breathe it in. It left a chill in the air, warding off any and all who might have thought to intrude on their sanctuary.
"Moony?"
A grunt came from the chair, followed by the splash of the liquid in the bottle being gulped down feverishly. "What?" he grumbled, relishing the alcohol burn.
"What happened?" was all the other man said.
Moony mumbled to himself, his voice gruff before he sighed, "It's Tonks."
"What about her?" Sirius asked, taking a swig from his own bottle, smacking his lips slightly as the amber liquid burned its way down.
"She begged me for another chance…" Remus whispered. He cleared his throat, swigging from the bottle, "I don't know if I can take her back, especially after what she did."
Sirius sat up in his chair further, looking at his friend with solemn eyes, "What happened exactly, you never did tell me." Of its own volition, he found himself gulping down more of the amber liquid, enjoying the numbing sensation that was beginning to set in.
Remus' voice was distant as he took in the filth of the library around him, "She cheated."
It was silent for a heartbeat, "With who?"
Remus fixed his blue eyed stare on his oldest living friend, "Charlie Weasley." He sucked in a ragged breath, as his eyes grew watery, "She didn't say much about it- not that I wanted her to but- She said it was just a onetime thing, that it wouldn't happen again… And, I believed her." Sirius was struck by how deeply his friend was hurt as tears fell from his soulful eyes, "She lied, Sirius, she lied. She went back to him, kept him on the side. I only found out today, I just can't believe it…"
Sirius swallowed thickly, his words of defence for his cousin died on his tongue as soon as he saw just how broken his friend was. "Look, mate… it can't be all bad." Even Sirius knew his defence was weak but that didn't stop him from trying anyway.
Remus fixed him with a look that could melt stone, "How is it not that bad, Padfoot? Pray tell me, how is it not that bad? Merlin, I just feel like such an idiot…" Remus rubbed his forehead tiredly, standing up to examine a bookcase on the opposite wall.
Sirius jumped to his feet, slinging an arm around his tired friend's shoulder, "Look, sleep on it. It'll all look better tomorrow, I can guarantee it."
Remus smirked weakly, "You mean my hangover will be so bad, anything else will pale in comparison."
"'Course, mate." Sirius smiled at his friend, "Give Tonks a chance, I mean, I'm not siding with her or anything but she's family to me and yes, it would mean a lot to me if you didn't fight like cat or dog or ignore each other, but it'd be special if I could claim you as family- even if it is only by marriage."
Remus chuckled, hugging Sirius to his side, "One step at a time, Pads, one step at a time."
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They watched him fall with horrified eyes. His face was still laughing as his eyes widened and the light left him before he arced through the air and into the mystical realm that was on the other side of the veil.
Remus hurried Harry to safety but all the while his mind was replaying the death of his best friend, his last real, physical link to times when the world didn't rest on his weary shoulders, when James was alive and Peter wasn't a traitor. Those were the days he longed to revisit, to recapture. But as his mind replayed the death of his oldest friend, he realised that those days was long gone – war was starting.
He appeared in her flat that night, in the wake of Sirius' death his face wet from year with red eyes. They stared at each other for a moment in suspended reality, the pressures melted away as they just watched each other with wide eyes before crashing together in a flurry of desperate passion; clothing flew from their bodies as they tore at each other hungrily. They tumbled into bed with hot kisses and even hotter touches. Cries of ecstasy and moans filled the air as they met in a heated embrace. The sun was barely rising when they finally separated, each absorbed in their own thoughts.
"He's really gone, isn't he?" she asked, her eyes never wavering from the ceiling of her bedroom.
"Yes," Remus whispered into the silence that followed her tearful question. "He's alive in our memories now."
"Yes," she whispered back, her shaking hand grasping at his, not wholly different to the way he remembered clutching at the bottle of amber liquid that had once been his lifeline. "I already miss him so much."
Remus lifted her hand to his lips, planting a lingering kiss there, "You're not alone in that, Dora. Don't worry." He took a deep breath, "Dora, let's face facts, I belong with you, you belong with me. Marry me."
Dora didn't think twice, "Of course, Remus."
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They married in a private ceremony in the Lake District. She had flowers in her hair and her blue eyed werewolf held her hand as they stumbled through their vows. They never looked back, they only looked the future. They only had the future.
Kay, the end is iffy and I know it but after re-writing it for the fifth time I settled on this version, what do you all think?