Okay so a cute Jessica/Remus one-shot dedicated to my little sister ShamelessTonks on Twitter! I hope you all enjoy it! J

And as usual, yadayada I own only Jessica, the rest belongs to the Queen Rowling, yadayada! On with the story!

~ Jess

The halls of St. Mungos for the Sick and Infirm were quiet; it was the early hours of the morning when few were actually moving about. Nurses were making their rounds checking on slumbering patients; Healers were coming or going and families were either thanking the Heavens. Or preparing to say goodbye for the last time.

Save for two nearly identical cousins rushing through the halls of the Wizards Hospital, feeling a similar dread running through their veins, already chilling them to the bone.

The young of the two slammed into the blue and white reception desk of the Dark Creatures floor seconds before her cousin slamming her palm on the small bell rapidly; desperate for someone to appear instantly.

Jessica Dumbledore and Nymphadora Tonks, both of the Noble House of Black watched with identical desperation as the young woman in-front of them slowly lifted her head, her brown eyes staring at them as if they were un-amusing clowns.

"Can I help you?" The young receptionist raised an eyebrow at the witches as if daring them to ask her to move from her seat.

"We need Remus Lupin's room, we were told to come up here" Tonks cried her voice dripping with fear, her eyes widening when the woman merely shrugged and glanced at the paper beside her.

"Oh that disgusting werewolf, he was moved. Wouldn't stop screaming when they cleaned his wounds"

Tonk's let out a shrill cry, her hair quickly turning to a flame red, but it quickly faded when her younger cousin reached over the counter grabbing the now stunned woman by her shirt and dragging her onto the surface.

"You listen here you vile, disgusting bottle-blonde ingrate you tell me where he was moved. . . Now!" Jessica screeched shaking the woman roughly, her onyx eyes flashing dangerously. The receptionist stumbled over her words but in a matter of seconds both Jessica and Tonks were flying down the right corridor relieved to see several Order members crowded outside a door.

Albus Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley among them.

"What happened!"

All the wizards and witches in alike, even in their shock were surprised to see the two cousins, together, and not fighting. None of them could speak; it was as if the very words were blocking the sound in the throat. Making it impossible to swallow even their saliva.

"What happened!"

It was Jessica repeated the question as she took a step closer to her adopted father, her words coming out shaken, barely about a whisper.

Albus didn't know what to say, didn't know how to explain to his only daughter that the man she loved, stood on the edge of death. With not a hope in sight; least not one that any of them would see. He merely pulled back the curtain covering the window pane, hiding what was left of Remus Lupin from the world.

Jessica couldn't remember who screamed first, her or Tonks but they were both pressed against the glass, Tonks kept repeating herself and all Jessica could do was cry, the young Slytherin felt an arm come around her shoulder before her cousin's soothing words reached her ears.

Remus looked horrible, there was deep gashes on his face and neck, his entire body was trembling despite his unconscious state. There was a mask over his nose supplying him oxygen and his right leg was elevated, his knee wrapped in a cast. His arms and most of his torso were covered in bandages that seemed to be seeping with blood.

He looked as if he was two breaths from death.

"Oh God Dora! He's gonna die, look at him!"
"He won't Jessie I swear! I. . .I know it looks bad but Remus is strong, he'll fight this!"

Molly Weasley couldn't help but begin to cry also, Sirius, Kingsley, and Bill even Mad-Eye himself felt their eyes mist over as the raven-haired eighteen year old begged and pleaded with whatever Fates were out there to give her back the only thing she had ever asked for.

"Jess, you have to get some sleep at some point. Sitting here staring at him won't cause him to wake up"

Tonks let out a desperate sigh when the young woman merely shook her head and clung tighter to the werewolf's hand, it had been nearly seventy two hours since Jessica had arrived at the hospital and she refused to leave; everyone in the Order took turns sitting with her but she wanted no company.

So far only Severus and Tonks herself were able to coax a response out of the witch. She wanted no part of anything anyone else had to say to her. Her main focus was the unconscious man laying in-front of her.

"At least he's breathing on his own right?"
"That doesn't mean he'll wake up Dora, you know that"

The Auror merely nodded as she sank into the chair beside her cousin, she did know that. Apparently after the Full Moon had risen a few drunk Death Eaters had followed Remus to his safe house, they had easily over-powered him; even with his right mind Remus wouldn't fight in wolf form. After bounding and gagging him they had tortured him without a shred of mercy.

He had a broken arm, a broken leg, and a fractured hand when they had carted him in; and he had to transform back into a human with all that pain, Jessica had nearly fainted when she read the report, as had Tonks. It wasn't right! And it certainly hadn't done a damn thing to quell her cousin's desire to see every Death Eater loyal to Voldemort tortured in the worst way possible.

"The Ministry has called off the search for the Death Eater's who did this" Tonks didn't bother to sigh as Jessica snorted loudly, rolling her eyes almost violently.

"I am not all surprised, who would waste time trying to get justice for a lowly werewolf. It doesn't matter; I recognized their faces from the memory; this is a family matter now"
"Jessica you can't!"
"Any why the hell not Nymphadora? Are you planning to turn me in?"

Jessica turned her head giving her cousin a long glance merely turning back to Remus when the pink-haired metamorphous gave her a frown but said nothing on the matter. Doing the only thing she felt like the young Auror let out a small whimper and leaned to the side her head coming to rest on the other girl's shoulder.

"He's gonna wake up, right Jessie?"

"I have no idea Dora . . . I have no idea"

The first thing Jessica or Tonks heard were the alarms going off before both women were thrust awake and into a corner of the hospital room. It took both of them a few seconds to realize what was going on Remus' good arm, the one that wasn't broken, was tugging desperately at the tube in his mouth his body had relied on for oxygen.

He had decided to breathe on his own, the nurses were attempting to calm him down but even half-shattered, fighting death Remus Lupin was stubborn and non-confrontational at the same time. He was refusing to try and hurt the nurses but was also refusing the cuff that would keep his arm pinned to the bed.

"Leave it to Remus to cause a scene"

Tonks snickered loudly despite the glare Jessica cut her way before the raven-haired woman rushed to the bedside, tangling her fingers into the panicking werewolf's hair, desperate to register who was hovering him, Jessica watched as his eyes shot upward, his amber eyes locked with her onyx ones and the Nurses along with the Healers were amazed as his entire body tensed for a few seconds before he fell limp onto the bed.

"Stop struggling Remus, they are going to take the tube out. But they need you to behave so they don't knick anything during the process"

Tonks watched as Jessica's mere presence gave the Healer's the time they needed to get the tube out with no more than a small choking noise from their patient, he was too busy staring at the witch hovering over him; as if he stared just long enough she would remain even if the rest of them all melted away.

Tonks wasn't entirely sure Remus saw a single one of them as the Healer stepped to the side allowing Jessica to move away from the head of the bed allowing him to grasp her hand as tight as he could muster. Her tears falling freely, Remus seemed to know he couldn't speak but Tonks could see the emotion swimming through his eyes, the raw, exposed nerve that was Remus Lupin at the current moment.

"I'm going to sound the alarm, now don't you two love birds do anything inappropriate while I'm gone"

The Auror waggled a finger at the couple slightly offended when they didn't even acknowledge her joke. Okay so she wasn't exactly the funniest person around but she could have a least been spared a glare from her cousin. Smiling to herself the pink-haired witch silently slipped from the room intent on going to alert from the Order.

Remus was awake, and that was the most important thing at the moment. He was on the mend.

The next week had been a whirlwind, after two days of being awake Remus had begun to whisper, you had to lean in so close to hear him that he began to panic from anyone being that close. Anyone except Jessica that is, so what that meant was if Jessica wasn't around Remus had to manage to muster enough magical strength to write what he wanted.

Which exhausted him to no end.

But nine-times out of ten Jessica was curled in the chair by his bed, reading aloud, sleeping, or eating, sometimes a combination of the three things. One thing remained the same, the minute she walked in the room if she left again Remus became dour and downright impossible to deal with, and only Severus could handle the mood swing in stride.

At the moment Jessica was reading to herself, Remus had fallen asleep after his lunch consisting of broth only; that she had been forced to feed him. That had been about two hours and while Jessica knew she should have tried to sleep the chair was just too uncomfortable unless she was exhausted. And then she didn't care where she slept.

Yawning softly the young Slytherin managed to stretch even with Remus' hand trapping her left one under his, he refused to let go of her hand. Even in his sleep he clung tightly, waking if she tried to pull away, tossing her book onto the floor atop her bag Jessica let out a content sigh as her shoulders slumped forward.

Despite spending close to nine days straight in a hospital room she was relaxed, but at the same time she wasn't. Remus wasn't completely out of the woods yet, the Healers were still skeptical that he would recover enough to experience a full transformation in less than two and half weeks. Severus without being asked; began brewing the potion that would halt the transformation for a few days but it couldn't be held off forever.

"Je. . Je. ."

Jessica's head whipped rapidly in to the head of the bed smiling as she got to her feet, that same fear was present in his eyes as had been the day he woke up. Jessica didn't flinch as he tightened his grip while she brushed the hair out his eyes. He didn't seem to mind when she leaned in pressing her lips against his but then he never did; in all honestly Jessica and Tonks could both swear he seemed disappointed every time she pulled away.

"I'm here; don't worry I didn't leave you for too long but I needed a nap. Sirius was with you the whole time"
"S. . ."

Jessica nodded as he tapered off. "Yes I'm staying tonight." Leaning in she kissed his forehead gently before pulling back once more. "Do you need the Healer?"

"You"

Jessica resisted the urge to sigh as she lowered herself into her chair, it was the only thing he would say, was You, that and her. If she was in the room he said you, if she wasn't anyone who spoke to him received a pathetic her for a response.

"I will still be here, you have me Remus but the doctors need to look at you. I want you speak before we take you home"

Remus tried to shake his head but his face twisted with pain and Jessica quickly soothed him with a promise that no one would come. He didn't trust anyone around her, only Severus. He strained himself into exhaustion the third day making Severus swear to protect her. Remus was sure who ever had done this would come back to finish the job. And why wouldn't he be scared, he had nearly died and would have had Arthur Weasley not come to check on him and chased the Death Eaters away.

Jessica could understand his paranoia and so she coddled him, as did the rest of the Order. Remus was important to them all, and not because he was a comrade but because he was a friend; and more importantly to Jessica, he was the only thing that kept her going against all the darkness trying to swallow her.

Leaning forward Jessica folded her own arms around Remus' flashing him a smile, pleased when he tried to grin back at her.

"So, shall I tell you about the latest meeting, Severus and Sirius had a fantastic row last night"

Jessica couldn't help but giggle at the look she received, that mirth that seemed to light up his face while he waited for her to continue, and that was how Sirius and Severus discovered them, Jessica talking about their fight and Remus staring at her. As if there was no place in the world he'd rather be.

Okay. Done. WHEW! A nice romantic one shot, it's kinda sad but there will be a second chapter where Remus is back at Grimlaude Place and Jessica is fretting over him!

Love,

Jessica- Leslie Lupin