Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters, spells, owls, brooms, horcruxes, every flavor beans, and other magical things belong to JK Rowling, not me... but you knew that already.

Setting: Soon after Order of the Phoenix.

The Lone Wolf

By William Logan

Remus Lupin sighed, wiping sweat from his brow in his hot, cramped flat on the outskirts of London. The summer was starting to finally set in, and it was returning with a vengeance. He sipped lightly at a cup of tea and read the paper for what was perhaps the tenth time that day.

Sirius Black Killed In Struggle At the Ministry!

He read the headline again, his eyes rather dry, having cried more than enough tears for his dear friend... the last one he had from his school days. With grim amusement he noticed a much smaller headline in the corner of the page, which he suspected most people probably would have needed to put on glasses to even notice offhand, which read, "Black Cleared of All Charges by Minister." Of course, Remus thought, there must be a great deal of comfort in the wizarding community that one of its most notorious murderers is dead... we wouldn't want them to realize that he was, indeed, innocent and that the Ministry had been wrong all along anyway. Much better to emphasize that he had been slain. A small growl escaped his throat as he laid the Daily Prophet back down, smoothing it out and looking at Sirius's prison photo.

"Anyone looking at you here would have never realized just how photogenic you used to be," Lupin laughed derisively, not even considering the fact that he was talking to a photograph, "back at school you hardly needed any reminding of that fact." Lupin glanced out the window and noted that the sun was starting to set. He headed to one of his kitchen cabinets and rummaged through it for a moment before grimacing. His last dose of Wolfsbane potion was missing, and tonight was the full moon. He counted on his fingers quickly, trying to remember if he'd had enough for this month to begin with, and found himself coming up short with a soft groan. He muttered a soft curse and slammed the cabinet closed. He crossed the room to his bed and began to pack a few items he might need. He had to get away from the London area, away from any human contact at all. He sighed softly to himself. It had been a very lonely past sixteen years without his friends around to keep him company during his monthly transformations. It made him smile to think back on the old times at the Shrieking Shack, or the daring prowls around Hogsmeade with all of them in their animalistic states.

His reverie was broken by a series of rapid knocks on the door. Composing himself and brushing a few strands of his long, dull hair behind his ear he called softly, "Who is it?" He startled himself with how his voice trembled from a mixture of sadness and fear that he might not get away from people in time, especially with this interruption.

"It's Tonks, Remus... let me in," the young witch sounded rather urgent, so Lupin quickly obliged her and found the Auror on the other side, wearing a black t-shirt with what Lupin assumed was the name of a Wizarding rock band: "The Wingardium Leviosa Trio" spelled out accross it in deep red lettering. She ducked in, smiling warmly, her hair deep blue and flowing down to her mid-back today. "Wotcher, Remus." She produced a small bottle out of her pants pocket and handed it to him, swinging a small plastic bag onto Remus's table, knocking over his cup of tea and spilling it onto his newspaper. Her face turned a very deep red and she whimpered, "I'm so sorry..."

"It's all right," he sighed, crossing the tight room, pulling out his wand and muttering "evanesco," as he waved it over the tea, noting that Sirius looked like he was now drowning in his newspaper picture. "What's this?" He asked, tossing the bottle about in his hand.

"Wolfsbane potion... Dumbledore said he wasn't sure you had enough to last you through this month and he had Snape," he thought he heard her mutter something under her breath that included the phrase "bloody git" "brew you up a dose."

"Very lovely," Remus let out a small smile, relieved that he'd not have to make the journey out of town, after all. "And what's this?" He pointed at the plastic bag on the table, which appeared to be from a local muggle store.

"Oh," she laughed, and stuck her hand in the bag, procuring a small rubber toy bone and squeezing it so it produced an obnoxious squeaking sound, "I... ah... picked this up... you know... I suppose... as a joke?" She let out a nervous laugh.

"Oh, lord," Remus groaned, covering his eyes, but letting out a sincere laugh after a few moments, "there's no doubt whose cousin you are, that's for certain." Tonks's face lit up for a moment when he said this. He glanced out the window again, the moon was beginning to rise outside. Remus paled, turning to the blue-haired witch in front of him, "You must go," he said, popping the cork on the potion and downing it quickly, his face contorting in disgust at the taste.

"But... I thought... maybe you'd like some company," she said, a sad look crossing her face as she idly brushed her finger along Sirius's name on the newspaper, "I mean... Sirius used to..."

"We were young and stupid at the time. It was extremely dangerous what we used to do," Remus replied, "even with the wolfsbane potion, I can't let you stay."

"I'm a big girl," she protested, "I can handle myself just fine... you just..." she looked at Sirius's picture again, "You just seem so sad... now that... you know..."

"I'm the last Marauder," he said grimly. The term seemed a bit lost on Tonks, but she assumed that it was the term that Potter, Lupin, Black, and Pettigrew used for themselves in school, "Two of the others dead, the other turned traitor..."

"You don't have to be alone, Remus," she said, placing her hand on his face gently. Lupin could feel that she was trembling slightly when she did such. He looked into her eyes and saw hope mixed with fear, "I... I don't want you to be alone Remus."

"I can't ask you to stay with me through this," Remus said, "this is my curse... no one else's. I am meant to be alone." Tonks had closed the distance between the two of them, so her nose was almost touching his.

"No one is meant to be alone," she said softly, and he withdrew slightly from her.

"Nymphadora..."

"Don't call me that," she growled softly.

"Tonks... this isn't right... you are much younger than I... and you don't need to endure an old man's curse."

"But I want to," she whispered. Lupin looked as though he was about to protest, but his body convulsed. His eyes changed to a feral yellow as he looked at her, a human intelligence still existing behind the wolf eyes.

"Please... leave..." he groaned, now obviously in great physical pain. She wrapped her arms around him, her dark eyes pooling up with tears.

"I am not leaving... I'm not leaving you," she said, trying to keep herself from crying as she felt his body begin to tremble and contort. He let out a yelp of pain, and Tonks could feel his hands clench tighter onto her back as they became claws. His clothes began to rip and tear, his body changing, and quite soon, he appeared almost like a very large wolf, sitting at her feet, the only difference being the very human pupils, a slightly shorter snout, and a tufted tail. Lupin gave a growl of displeasure at Tonks, who knelt down, though she found that he was now taller than her in that position, and softly stroked his face.

"You poor thing... I'm not leaving you..." She whispered, tears streaking her cheeks, "I... I had no idea how terrible it was for you... you shouldn't have to be alone like this..." He replied by letting out a soft whine and nudging at her shoulder with his nose, directing her towards the door. "I told you I'm not going anywhere, and I meant it, you stubborn man," she laughed softly. Tonks could see Lupin resign himself to this and padded off towards the corner, curling up to lay down, his tufted grey tail sweeping back and forth along the cracked wooden floor. She picked up the rubber bone and sat down beside him, squeaking it with a tearful smile. Lupin looked up at her with what could have been described as a pitying look at someone who was being ridiculous. He simply replied by lightly licking her hand and laying his head back down again, shuddering under his silver-grey coat. Tonks leaned against his large body, gently stroking his fur, silently hoping that treating him like the animal he appeared to be was in no way condescending to him, but she simply didn't know what else to do to comfort him. They had both been through so much lately, and the petting was soothing her as much, if not more, as she figured it helped him.

After a few hours of this, the moon shining through the windows revealed two silvery figures curled in the corner, Tonks affectionately cuddled up beside the giant wolf that Lupin had become, her long blue hair falling all around, and Lupin snoring softly, his leg occasionally twitching in his sleep as he dreamed of chasing a certain rat around the Shrieking Shack.

The next morning, Lupin awoke, sighing at his shredded robes. He looked down to see Tonks's head resting comfortably on his chest. Remus smiled slightly and slowly removed the young witch from him, softly murmuring, "Thank you," as he kissed her forehead. He knew, however, that this could not continue next month... she was still young and fairly innocent. He was old and had seen much of the world and suffered much... he would only bring her down, he realized. No... for the rest of his life, as he had always realized, he would forever be a lone wolf.