A/N: This was written for the Canon Pairings Competition: Remus and Tonks. The prompt I used was filth.
Hope you enjoy!
Remus Lupin had become careless.
Ever since his marriage to Nymphadora Tonks, he had not been paying attention to the calendar. This time, it had been the worst.
Remus' chest had started to ache, so he and Tonks had been quietly relaxing in their bedroom when he changed.
Tonks screamed. "Remus!" she shouted out, surprised and trying to scramble out of his way, but she was not fast enough. Remus' werewolf claw raked her robe, tearing it in half and pulling her to the ground. Remus' claw broke the window as he ran out, trying desperately to get away from his wife, but his thoughts were already beginning to fade, and he had barely made it out the window before he didn't know who he was anymore.
Nymphadora had fallen, face first onto the floor. Cautiously, she stood up, careful to avoid the shattered glass of the window. Her robe had been torn in two, and breathing heavily, she picked her wand up from the dresser.
"Reparo," she said, watching the shattered glass piece itself back together. She looked around the room. Some of her belongings had also been broken in the chaos, a perfume bottle, a necklace, and a picture of her and Remus. Somewhere off in the distance she could hear a wolf howl. She knew it was Remus. It just wasn't truly him.
Covered in filth, Remus walked through the threshold of his house a few days later. He felt disgusting, worse than he looked. It was like all of him, inside and out had been covered in mud and dirt.
He couldn't believe what he had done.
He didn't think he would change that night.
But he should have guessed.
The pains in his chest wasn't the first sign of the full moon to him, there were others, too.
The constant coughing.
Aching legs.
The signs that he usually looked out for if he didn't have a calendar handy with him for a while.
But he had ignored them all, brushing them off as if they were normal to him.
Which, of course, may have just led him to hurting the girl he loved.
Tonks thought she heard a noise. Thought she heard the door open at three AM in the morning.
After being alone for three days, she needed to see him again.
She ran out into the entryway of their house, seeing Remus standing there, covered in filth, dirty as heck and looking like he was about to burst into tears. Nymphadora ran over to him and pulled him close to her. He did not return the affection.
"I'm a mess, Tonks. I should have been paying better attention to the calendar. I didn't mean to lash out like that. I'm sorry I tore your robe. I'm just so-"
She interrupted him mid-sentence with a kiss.
"Remus, nothing you could ever say or do could make me love you less. I hope you know that," she said to him once she had pulled away.
"And that's why I love you," he replied, kissing her once more.
"Now," Tonks said, "You're pretty filthy, I think you better go and clean up."