Author's Note: I've been sitting on this idea for some time now, and am definitely inspired to write since I'm at my parent's house and this old, bigass Build-A-Bear Rabbit was sitting on my bed waiting for me. Also a good time now to apologize for 's weird gobbling-up of line breaks in my last few stories posted. Oof.

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Warnings: NA

Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping War

Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Shipmas; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Themes and Things A (Love); Themes and Things B (Innocence); True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog

Word Count: 1195

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)

List (Prompt): Summer Micro 2 (Stuffed animal/soft toy)

The Grand Adventures of Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus

Remus was lurking at the doorway when she caught his eye.

"Hey," she said. "I saw that you around earlier…"

"I was," he said. "But I saw that your parents were here and I didn't want to interrupt."

"You wouldn't have interrupted," she said. She sat up in bed slowly but surely, trying not to disrupt the ribs that the Healers had fixed just an hour ago. If she popped them again, they'd be mad.

When she looked up to Remus again his big brown eyes were full of concern. So concerned, it even overshadowed how tired he looked.

"I promise I'm okay," she said. "How are you..?"

"Fine," Remus said—which sounded like a lie, but the man had just watched his best friend die and so Dora wasn't going to push him. He was holding a bag over his shoulder and he fiddled with it nervously. "I was just worried about you, I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, I got wrapped up in a lot of things…"

"Don't worry," she said. Guilt bubbled in her throat. "I understand. Sirius..?"

"Harry's okay," Remus said quietly. "Dumbledore, Mad-Eye and I managed to schedule a meeting with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement this afternoon to discuss a pardon. We're hoping to get something printed in tomorrow's Prophet, but I'm not holding my breath."

"I'll speak in his name," Tonks said.

"Don't worry about it," Remus said. "It's more important that you heal, now. Also I stopped by your place and brought you some things to help…"

"Kingsley brought me my emergency bag from the Auror Department," Tonks said. "But thank you."

"I figured there would be things missing," Remus said. Rummaging through the bag, he sat at the corner of the bed and took out a pair of yellow socks her Muggle grandmother had made for her.

"Your sick socks were in your drawer, I thought you'd need them," Remus said, passing them over.

"Thanks," she said.

"There's the graphic novel you were reading. I know this writer's prone to cliffhangers, so I thought you'd want to pick it back up sooner rather than later," Remus said. "And I brought the mug that makes tea taste terbet, because I'm going to go ahead and guess that even here hospital food isn't quite the greatest. And I have him."

And from the bag emerged the last thing Tonks would have expected; a stuffed creature so mismatched, asymmetrical, and Frankensteined that 'creature' truly was the best word to describe it. Each limb was a different size, colour, and pattern. Its eyes were stitched on and a little pink tongue hung out of its mouth. Its floppy ears were vaguely canine, with soft insides. It had buttons on each paw, and a striped tail.

"How do you know about..?"

"I've seen him on your shelf," Remus said. He lowered his voice. "Sometimes it's a little creepy because it looks like he's watching us. But I figured that he was here for a good reason."

Tonks didn't answer.

"I… umm…"

Remus cracked a smile.

"I mean, I can bring him back..."

"No, he can stay since you brought him," she said, clearing her throat.

Remus grinned.

"So it is a him?"

"Maybe."

"Do I get to know his name since I brought him to you?" Remus asked.

She chewed her lip, and took the stuffed toy as Remus handed him over. She hugged it to her chest.

"Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus," she admitted quietly.

"Is that a family name?"

"Don't laugh," Tonks said. "Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus has seen things."

"I'm not," Remus promised. "I'm just asking."

"Well," she said clearing her throat. "I got him when I was three and named him that because I didn't really understand how names worked and thought you just had to put all kinds of smaller words together. Like 'Nymphadora,' you see."

"Of course," Remus nodded. "Do we know what kind of creature it is?"

"No," Tonks said.

"We maybe shouldn't even try labeling Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus," Remus said.

Tonks smiled. "That's been the consensus."

She buried her nose in the stuffed toy.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," Remus said. "We all deserve the comfort we can find."

Tonks nodded. Then she reached over and took his hand and squeezed.

He took a deep breath and brought her hand to his lips.

Remus came around slowly but surely on the day after the full moon, and when his eyes refocused on the world around him they closed in on the red, blue, striped, neon green, and yellow form of Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus who sat on the bedside table. He reached out gingerly for the note propped against the small creature:

Got called into work, probably until 7:00. Will come home right after, possibly with soup. Drink lots of water even if you don't want to. In the meantime, he's here for company.

-Dora

"Don't worry," he said squeezing her hand. "Things break all the time during moves. He just have gotten caught on the corner of the book, or been poked by a quill or something. Don't worry, we'll sew him up."

"It's stupid to cry over a stuffed toy," she said, rubbing at her eyes. "I think I'm crying about Mad-Eye and conveniently pretending that I'm not."

"That sounds okay too," Remus said, kissing her forehead and pressing the stuffed toy against her chest.

He spent as much time cradling her and wishing away the nausea for as long as he could before he really did have to get up and go to work. The graveyard shift was unkind, but it was better than no work at all.

He got up and got dressed, making as little noise as possible and operating in the quasi-dark. Before he left, he stopped by the chest of drawers by the door and plucked Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus off of his perch. He tucked the stuffed toy under her arm and kissed her hair before creeping out. It was stupid; but he felt somewhat more safe in leaving her alone for the night after that.

He found her standing in the middle of the nursery, looking around at the nursery around her and chewing her lip.

"Hey," he said. "Did you want to come to bed?"

"I feel like there's something missing," Dora said, looking around. "I know I've been nesting like crazy, but I just feel like we're missing something."

Remus nodded, even if the to-do list on the refrigerator had been checked off ages ago.

"Anything I can do to help?" he asked.

She chewed her lip and shook her head, resting a hand on the baby bump.

Remus slipped out of the room and popped back into their bedroom for a second.

He returned with Dr Snap-pepper-uffagus in hand, and passed him to her.

She laughed and ran her fingertips along his floppy, scrappy ears before placing the stuffed toy on a shelf above the crib that was already lined with a stuffed menagerie of gifts they'd received.

"Better," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist as they looked around.

"Better," she said. "It only makes sense that he stick around for our next adventure."