Disclaimer: Ahem. Only the idea is mine. All characters, names, places, etc., that are known are property of JK Rowlng. I am not JK Rowling, if I were, I'd be going to my editor for this, not to )

A/N: The plot bunny for this one came to me in a dream. I've expanded it, and well, I think it's coming a long nicely )

In the dark of the Witching Hour, Remus pulled Tonks closer to him. Even though she was in a deep sleep, he knew that she smiled because he could feel it in her face against his shirtless chest. He sighed, having not been so content in a very long time.

Indeed, having a woman at his side was a comfort he had long since forgotten, but only now, with Tonks, did he realize what he had missed those many long years.

Sadly though, just as the Witching Hour would shortly pass, giving way to the golden dawn, he knew that he and Tonks would not always be together, because he knew eventually she'd make the request that he had long since promised himself he would never fill, no matter how much he loved the one who brought the subject into light.

What they had, he accepted, was not normal. Her as a metamorph was enough to be considered strange, but he as a werewolf made the combination all the more, for lack of a better work, ridiculous.

Though he knew that Tonks cared now, and nor did he, or any of those who knew them best, the members of the Order. Alas, he knew also that eventually the taunting from everyone else would prove too much for Tonks and she would leave him.

Or, in an attempt to save her from having to bear witness to his transformations, he'd end up hurting her and she'd leave him.

Whatever the cause, Remus knew that their relationship would not survive, but he was more than willing to bet that it would be because she'd ask for something he could not, and would never do again.

As though she knew he was thinking of her, she stirred in his arms, and within several minutes was awake, blinking slowly. She sat up and looked around, "It's a but dark…" She mumbled, fumbling about for her wand.

"Here," Remus muttered guiltily, and he rose off the couch and felt his way along the nearest wall until he found a light switch, which, upon switching, the light burst on and then with a soft noise, burnt out.

"Oh, yes, Muggle inventions…" She trailed off and looked around. "Do you think they're back yet?"

Remus shook his head.

"And Harry?"

"Still asleep upstairs. I expect he'll want to leave in the morning. Or…" He looked at the great Grandfather clock on the wall, which then read 2:10, "later on this morning…" He reached across to the nearest chair and plucked up his shirt, pulling it on over his head. When he surfaced again, Tonks was just unscrunching her face, her hair now mousy brown, where are seconds before it had been bubble gum pink.

Remus raised his eyebrows in question, and she simply replied, "I don't reckon the Dursley's would have liked it that other way."

"And I don't reckon that they, being the decent people that they are, will come home at two in the morning," he teased.

She merely shrugged, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Oh, I see," said Remus, "you're just showing off again."

"Maybe… But what reason have I got to do that?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she jumped up off the couch and began wondering around the neatly kept, but hardly used, second living room of the Dursley's.

"It's a bit odd how clean they keep it here. It scares me just a bit…"

Remus watched her as she picked her way around the room, in an obvious effort to not beak anything in the dark. She glanced out the window as she walked past, pulling open the curtain as she went, allowing a flood of moonlight to come streaming in, and then turned heel so quickly to go back that she ended up tripping over a poofy footstool and knocking a vase full of flowers to the rug.

It landed with a loud crash, shattered glass flying across the room, leaving Tonks standing in a puddle of water (which, unlike water in most flower vases was sparkling clean, suggesting that Petunia changed it daily) and thorny roses.

Remus, startled by the noise, rushed forward to fix the vase, as if by doing so he'd ensure that Harry remained sleeping, but also because he had this nagging feel that Petunia, halfway across England at the time, would know that her vase had broken and would come crashing through the front door any moment, banishing them from her house forever. Not that Remus (or Tonks, for that matter) would ever want to set foot in the Dursley's house ever again once Harry had left, but still the idea of being made to leave over such a thing as a broken vase on their last night wasn't an idea that Remus fancied.

Especially after how they had been treated during their stay. Which is not to say they had expected to be treated decently in anyway, but they thought they might have been permitted to use the guestroom, at the very least.

For, ever since his return to his aunt and uncle's house a week ago, Remus and Tonks had escorted Harry. Vernon had tried to throw them both from the house, but Harry was able to convince him that they would stay no more than a week, and as he'd be of age shortly, there was no reason for him to ever come back. Finally, Petunia had given in and gave them leave to sleep on the fold out couch in the less used, less visible living room in the back of the house.

However, that was as far as the hospitality of the Dursley's extended. They didn't talk to Remus or Tonks (or, as Remus noticed, Harry either), nor did they cook for them, or allow them to use any other room but the bathroom, but lay down a quick law that they were only to shower once in the week they were to be there.

But Remus didn't care all too much. He was with Tonks and Harry, the two people he cared the most about in the world.

Tonks gasped as Remus rushed up to her, but pulled the wand from his hand and looped her fingers through his. "Look at it out, Remus, it's beautiful." She swooned.

Remus, torn between wanting to fix the vase and wanting to remain this close to her, finally gave in to her allure and looked out the window.

Everything was illuminated by the moon (which, Remus noted with a pang, was waxing and by the end of the week he'd have to be taking his potion), and everything seemed to be glowing silver blue. The sky was cloudless, and the stars were just beginning to fade. The moonlight cast tall shadows behind every house, and every blade of grass.

Tonks sighed, "What is it about this time of night that makes me feel so… peaceful?"

"You mean the Witching Hour?"

"…The what?"

Remus squinted his face with concentration, "The Witching Hour."

"Why, Rem, I didn't know you were into such child-like notions." She giggled.

"I'm not. It's what my mom called it, and it kind of stuck with me, I guess…"

Tonks smiled, "And it's reasons like that, that I love you, you know."

Then, quite suddenly she dropped his hands and wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him into a warm, lasting kiss. The two of them stood by the window, perfectly silhouetted by the moon's light, and to Remus, all was right in the world, and all thoughts of fixing the vase were quite forgotten.

Do hope you enjoyed our first chapter!
Comments are very welcome )