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so this is my first story, and well, yay!

we now present you with THE STORY: Miss Too Good by Bunny

A crack echoed throughout the garden as two figures emerged from the hazy June twilight. The pressure of traveling through a small black tube was released as Harry Potter struggled to regain his footing. At the end of summer, once his trace had left him, Harry would be able to apparate and perform magic legally, which was something he was looking forward to. Harry finally managed to stand up with the help of Remus Lupin and they began to stride towards the twinkling lights of the Burrow, where they had been invited to eat dinner on the last evening of school. They were nearly halfway there when the door was thrust open, spraying the two with light, and Ron, Ginny, and Molly Weasley, and Hermione Granger rushed to greet them. Ron and Hermione quietly began discussing the latest events at Hogwarts with Harry after giving him welcoming hugs. Mrs. Weasley ran over to greet Lupin after squeezing the lights out of Harry, and Ginny slid in between the babbling Ron and Hermione. As she came forward, Harry only had eyes for her beautiful hair and glowing face. He smiled gleefully as Ginny threw her arms around him. She then released him and to his surprise and delight, gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ron immediately stopped talking and looked from Ginny to Harry, confused. Hermione continued to talk, attempting to let the moment, which Ron wanted to grasp, slide by. When Ginny had sauntered away Ron turned to glare at Harry, but Harry was not paying attention. He was watching Ginny glide back to the door way, radiating light as she slowly walked. Harry's gaze followed her, his eyes moving up and down her backside. She was so…

"Harry?" Harry snapped back to attention to find Hermione waving a hand in front of his face.

"Are you with us, mate?" Ron asked, suspiciously following Harry's gaze to the door of the Burrow. Fortunately, Ginny had already disappeared inside and all looked normal.

"Yeah, course… just, uh, getting… a bit chilly." Harry completed his sentence satisfied. Before Hermione and Ron could take Harry inside, another crack issued throughout the yard as Nymphadora Tonks apparated to the Burrow. Ginny reemerged, smiling slyly as she hurried to greet Tonks. Mrs. Weasley's conversation with Lupin immediately ceased and after everyone greeted Tonks, Mrs. Weasley herded them inside.

Lupin hadn't seen Tonks since the most recent Order meeting two months earlier and his small smile disappeared with her appearance. Her mousy hair was untidy and her mouth was set in a line. She looked, as Lupin did, as if she had aged quickly in the past year.

"Tonks," he said nodding his hello to her, Tonks looked Lupin in the eye, a look of longing in hers, a longing to touch him, to be with him, but Lupin turned away. When he glanced back at her out of the corner of his eye he saw her purse her lips and that her eyes had taken on a blank, faraway look.

"Tonks I didn't ask for it to be like this…" Lupin trailed off as he realized that Tonks had walked past him as if he hadn't spoken. He sighed and frowned recalling that all of the changes about her seemed to have been caused by him. Lupin followed her to the door of the Burrow and sadly caught up to her unusually slow pace. Side by side they walked, Lupin occasionally stealing glances at her, scolding himself each time he did so. At one point their hands brushed sending chills down Lupin's spine.

Once they were inside the two found Mrs. Weasley busily conducting an array of knives chopping vegetables and meat for dinner.

"Remus, you said you needed your wand polished?" Mrs. Weasley asked not taking her eyes of the sharp utensils. Lupin stopped, letting Tonks pass, and reached into his robes pulling out a mahogany wand.

"Yes, I nicked a bit off yesterday and it would be nice if you could add some polish or muggle wood stain to it. I think I heard Arthur saying he had something of the sort." He handed his wand over to Mrs. Weasley who inspected the small gash near the tip of it while glancing warily at the food.

"Oh, yes. Very fixable, but I can't do it at the moment," she gestured towards the working knives, "dinner." Lupin thanked her and continued on after Tonks to the dining room where the others, accompanied now by Fred and George, were lounging in chairs around the table.

"Remus! Tonks!" Fred and George exclaimed getting up to shake hands with them as soon as they walked through the doorway of the dining room.

"How was the action outside, eh?" Fred asked while nudging Lupin. Lupin raised his brow, shook his head sternly, and continued into the small library where, in his haste, he began reading the book nearest to him. Tonks stayed with Fred and George to ask about their shop and gossip about the Daily Prophet with Hermione and Ginny.

Minutes later, Lupin heard the shuffling of many feet and a couple of muffled "go on"s and "you can do it"s. The door to the library creaked open and a confused Tonks was shoved through the doorway. Tonks stood up and dusted herself off. She turned to face the library thus realizing that Lupin was in the room with her. Tonks immediately turned around to leave and found a solid wall instead of the door she came in through. Lupin stared at the wall bemused as Tonks shouted at the others. Much sniggering was heard as Fred, Ginny, George, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all tried to muffle their laughter. Behind their sniggering Mrs. Weasley whispered audibly, "If the result is bad, all of you will be punished."

Tonks banged on the newly formed wall and in her anger her hair turned a deep shade of red. Remus went back to reading his book as Tonks paced the room occasionally stopping to swear at the spot where the door should have been. Finally she sank into a nearby seat and placed her head in her hands.

Lupin, who had been leaning into the lamp for better lighting, looked up to find Tonks gazing intently at him. Her hair had returned to its grayish tint and her eyes seemed to be reaching out to him. He rubbed a large scar from a recent full moon nervously while attempting to focus on his literature. Tonks seemed to realize that her gaze was unsettling him and stood up, averting her gaze. Lupin smiled his thanks and returned to his enthralling story.

Tonks walked around the room and ran her fingers along the spines of some of the books with a glazed look, then settled on sitting on the couch next to Lupin. Lupin's head jerked up immediately and he clapped his book shut. Tonks had gotten over being upset with Lupin quickly, as she did often, and was ready for socialization.

Tonks scooted closer to Lupin and he sat there frozen, transfixed by her gaze that seemed to hold him down, and her tight lips that were so beautiful. She kept a straight face, yet seemed to be enjoying his reaction, and scooted closer to him still. Soon she was sitting right next to him, their shoulders brushing. Lupin's eyes widened as she grazed his hand, her fingers coming to a rest on his, and she slowly leaned towards him.

Lupin finally managed to regain his senses and he sprang off the couch, smacking Tonks in the face as he attempted to get away. Tonks grasped her jaw in pain and Lupin gaped from afar at the pain he had caused her to feel. Tears welled in her eyes but she stubbornly blinked them back and continued to gaze steadily up at him.

"Tonks," Lupin squeaked, "are you...? I'm so… Tonks?" He finished meekly. He returned to his spot on the couch and cradled her in his arms. She buried her injured face in his ragged robes and Lupin stroked her messy grey hair, dazed. She looked up at him and he carefully wiped the tears from her face with his thumb, his apology etched across his lined face.

"Why?" Tonks croaked. Lupin sighed and rubbed his temple in thought and distress. There was never a time when they were together that the question hadn't come up between them.

"Tonks, I…" Lupin paused to search for the nicest and easiest way to explain it. "You are so young and have much more life to live than I have left in me."

"You're not too old for me," she whispered. Lupin frowned at the expected answer and began to rub her back.

"I wouldn't be able to get us a well furnished house or a house at all. I can barely afford myself,"

"We could…" Tonks started quietly but was silenced by a wave of Lupin's hand.

"Tonks, I'm a werewolf!" Lupin howled angrily. He had stopped rubbing Tonks's back and got up to pace the room. "That's a large problem on its own! I couldn't," he corrected himself, "We couldn't have…there are complications!" he shouted. Tonks, who had been watching him solemnly, gasped as a bookshelf slid aside and Mr. Weasley walked in through a hidden doorway, whistling a happy tune and fumbling with the cuff of his sleeve. His whistling quickly died once he realized that his shortcut to dinner was through the midst of an arguing couple.

"I'll just leave you two to, um. Remus I have your …oh, never mind." Mr. Weasley backtracked out of the room, slamming the secret passageway shut behind him.

"Arthur!" they heard Mrs. Weasley scold. Lupin and Tonks turned back to face one another.

"Do you think, if any of this bugged me, that I would still be pining over you?" Tonks questioned, her voice rising. "Do you think for one second, that I have not gone over all over your little problems in my mind, trying to stop myself from falling for you, trying to forget?" Tonks had gotten up too now and was inches away from Lupin.

"I care about you!" she screeched "Is that not enough? Or do I have to go to the end of the world and back just to prove it? When two people love each other they put aside their differences! Remus, I love you!" Tonks shouted pleading resounding in her voice. "Please, Remus. Take me, I want you!"

Lupin stuttered, but then said sternly, "Nymphadora, I-"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Lupin! To your likes, I am Tonks!" Lupin sighed aggravated.

"Tonks, I can't pretend to be someone I'm not. I can't pretend to be younger than I am."

"I know you can't, but that doesn't matter to me! Do you think," Tonks was cut off.

"NYMPHADORA!" Lupin bellowed,

"LUPIN!" Tonks shrieked.

Their mouths were so close to one another's that Lupin could feel Tonks panting. Tonks' head was slightly tilted and her eyes sparkled as they used to before Lupin became a part of her life. She lunged forward, but Lupin leapt to the side. He turned around to find Tonks on the floor cringing in pain. Lupin rushed to her aid and brought her to a couch. He sat next to her, anticipating the next explosion.

It came full fury, "REMUS LUPIN, that is the second, SECOND time I've been injured because of you in the last hour! Both times you were trying to elude me as I tried to kiss you! If you really hate me that much than why don't you just," Tonks stopped and gasped for air. Lupin sat next to her, head bent and hands folded neatly in his lap. "Why don't you just put me out of my misery then? Kill me now so…so I don't have to feel the pain…" Lupin had looked up at the word kill and shook his head violently.

"Tonks, no, don't say it like that! I'm doing this for your own sake. One day you'll meet an amazing man that you will fall deeply in love with and, and he will sweep you off your feet with just the sound of his voice. Tonks, I don't want to prevent you from meeting that man." Lupin looked into her eyes, now he was the one pleading.

"I-I have already met that man," Tonks said quietly, her anger controlled, "and, and whenever I see him my heart leaps out of my chest and I feel like I need to touch him, to hold him, to make him smile." She continued to stare him straight in the eye, but a fire seemed to have burst behind her pupils. "But that one man, who I love with all my heart, who I would give my life for, seems to think that by saying no, by making excuses, that he is protecting me! He seems to think that if he distances himself from me that I will slowly start to hate him, but he is wrong! I will only love him more and my heart will be thrown harder across the room every time he says…every time he says n-n-no." Tonks voice wavered and her eyes were swimming with tears.

"Tonks, I don't want to hurt you, I don't…I just can't picture myself getting married, having kids. I don't want to ruin your life any more than I already have! Tonks I say it every time we're together and I'll say it again! I'm too old, too poor, and too, and too dangerous." Lupin concluded. "I just want you to be happy, to be free of the werewolf." He scowled and returned to gazing at the floor.

Slowly the tears fell from her face and slowly she got up. She nodded her head as if she understood. "I-I'll g-go get Arthur and, and t-t-tell him to perform the," Tonks swallowed, but continued on bravely, "Killing C-C-Curse on me…and then m-m-maybe, m-maybe none of us will have to, to s-s-suffer." Lupin looked as if he had just been slapped across the face.

"Tonks you wouldn't!" Lupin shouted getting up and grasping her wrist. "Tonks don't do this to yourself, you're, you're not thinking clearly! You've been confunded!" Lupin looked around the room in desperation for another reason why Tonks would be behaving as she was. Tonks released a dry laugh and yanked her hand away. Lupin, shocked as he was, managed to grab on to her shoulders and shake her roughly.

"Remus, STOP!" Tonks roared, and Lupin jumped away from her in surprise. "You don't get it do you! To me you're like water, something I need to live. By retracting yourself from me you are slowly killing me. Happy! Ha! Like I could be that without you." Tonks glowered at him. "You're just too blind to see it, but you love me too, don't you! You're just trying to cover it up with nonsense excuses! I can't believe I didn't understand it before, before you tore up my heart!" Tonks screamed loudly pulling slightly on her hair. "But now! After I've done all of this for you, all this to make you see…you s-s-still don't l-l-love…"

Tonks never got to finish her sentence for Lupin had given into the wolf inside him, and that wolf wanted a mate. He was on her like a hound, kissing her full on the lips. Then he kissed her on her forehead, then repetitively on her neck, and finally they ended up on the floor, Lupin on top kissing madly and passionately. He caressed her head in his hands while Tonks explored first his chest and then his back, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

Mid-kiss Lupin realized what he was doing, how this could only hurt her, and he grudgingly stopped kissing her. With a great effort he stood up, a suddenly pink-haired Tonks still attached to him, and stumbled to the couch. Tonks smiled at him, drunk on his kisses. Through the wall Lupin heard Hermione whisper, "What's happening? OW! Ron that was my foot! Move over! I don't hear anything!" He heard Ron mumble his apologies and he grimaced inwardly; he would be the one to break the silence. Slowly and painstakingly, he detached Tonks from himself and shook his head.

"Tonks, I'm so sorry. I gave in, I lost control. I shouldn't do this to you." Lupin straightened his robes and cleared his throat. Tonks reached over and grabbed his hand, shaking her head too.

"That was…I loved it." She murmured dreamily, drinking in his face.

"Nymphadora, NO!" Lupin shook her hand off and sadly watched her hair change from pink to grey again as her expression hardened, the lines in her face standing out.

"Tonks," Lupin began softly, "I don't want to hurt you. You know it rips me up inside as well every time I have to turn you down."

"I won't ever give up on you, Remus." Tonks stated defiantly. Lupin growled in frustration.

"Tonks! Why can't you understand? Look at what I'm wearing!" He lifted a sleeve of his tattered robe. "Have you seen where I live?" Tonks didn't respond so Lupin answered for her, "I live in the smallest flat possible with barely any furniture and rarely eat a full meal!" He hung his head, ashamed. "Tonks, I'm too poor."

"I don't care, Remus! We could, don't try to interrupt me! We could live at my parents' house until we can afford…"

"I have NEVER been able to afford anything! Tonks, I hate the way I have to live, it's a miserable lifestyle, and I don't want you to have to suffer as well."

"It wouldn't be suffering if I was with you! Anyways, my life is already miserable! Because you," she jabbed him in the chest with her finger, "you seem to find it, I don't know, maybe, amusing, to figuratively stab a knife through my heart." She pressed a finger to Lupin's open mouth. "Save your breath." she huffed. Lupin continued to open and close his mouth, but decided on listening to Tonks for once.

Tonks placed her hand on his lap and decided on a new tactic, "You are so modest," she ran her fingers along his cheek causing him to lean towards her. "Just forget all that for a bit and give in…" Realizing her intentions, Lupin pushed her hand away quickly and straightened back up.

"Tonks, you're making this harder for both of us,"

"I'M making it harder!" Tonks yelled.

"Yes, harder! I don't want to ruin your life!" Lupin lifted her chin up with his fingers, "You're too good for me, Tonks. Too beautiful, too happy, too young," Tonks swatted his arm.

"Well then, this is your lucky day! Miss Too Good wants you, only you, and won't give up until you're hers. Or do you not care about her?" Tonks inquired loftily.

"Of course I care about you Dora! I lo—" Tonks smiled shyly and her hair returned to its bright pink hue. She ran a hand through his peppered hair and leaned against his chest. Lupin put an arm around her, dazed, and murmured, "I love you, Dora." She looked up at his awed expression and rubbed his arm thoughtfully.

"You do?" She asked. Tonks knew she was treading on thin ice and that at any given moment, Lupin could think of some excuse to wiggle away from the truth, but she decided to give her luck a push.

"I-I do! Dora, I love you!" Lupin exclaimed blissfully. He looked down lovingly at her beautiful face and decided that her luscious lips looked too good to be without his.

An uprising cheer erupted from the other side of the wall as the counter-jinx was uttered, changing the wall back into a door, and everyone, including a kissing Bill and Fleur, toppled into the room. Lupin and Tonks ignored the others' cheers, shouts of joy, and clapping. They seemed to only have eyes for one another and lips for only each others. Lupin removed a hand from Tonks's neck and signaled to Mrs. Weasley that he wanted somewhere private for them.

"Second floor, third door to your right!" Mrs. Weasley yelled over the commotion in the room. She smiled knowingly as Remus scooped Tonks up into his arms and continued kissing her, occasionally bumping into a table or chair. They made it to the bedroom they were directed to and Remus threw Tonks on the bed and pounced. Tonks pulled out her wand and the door shut and locked.

"Muffliato," Tonks gasped in between kisses before any one could find out what they were doing, but with a double bed, one can only guess…