Discovery
May 1998
"Dora?"
Tonks, cuddling with Teddy in her father's favorite armchair, looked up and saw that Remus had his boots on and his cloak thrown over his shoulders.
"I thought I'd go for a walk, just for a few minutes."
She wanted to ask if he really felt up to it, but she swallowed the words—and then his little smile told her he'd seen them anyway.
"I'll be all right," he assured her. "It's only that I haven't been out of doors at all, since."
Since the battle, that might be. Since both of them had very nearly died. Or, since the full moon that had come a week or so later, setting back his recovery by days.
He was still a bit pale, but he was steady on his feet today. Besides, after telling him a million times all that long Hogsmeade year that she needed him to trust her to know her own mind, it was only fair to extend the same respect to him.
And so she found a grin, and nodded. "Have a nice walk."
Remus brushed his lips across her temple, kissed Teddy on the top of his head, and went out.
o—o—o
Tonks must have fallen asleep, after that, because the next thing she knew was the sound of the front door opening again.
"Look," said Remus. "Oh, Dora, look."
The wonder in his voice would have caught her attention even if his words had not. She rubbed her eyes and opened them to see her husband with his hands full of lilies of the valley.
He came to her and filled her lap with the delicate, fragrant flowers.
"It's spring," he said. "Really spring. Things are starting again."
He was breathing a little too hard after his walk, and his face was still pinched with exhaustion. But the hope that burned in his eyes was dearer than a thousand spring flowers.
o— fin —o
Author's note: This story was originally posted at the day_by_drabble "April Showers" event on LiveJournal. Many thanks to mods MrsTater and Godricgal.