Named after the song Crawling In The Dark by Hoobastank. I do not own Tonks, Lupin, The Hoobastank , a decent hair dryer or the ability to use punctuation.

Crawling In The Dark

Help me carry on, assure me its ok to use my heart and not my eyes, to navigate the darkness

Tonks was sitting in the living room of number 12 Grimmauld place, reflecting on the various events of the week. Sunday she had found out why Sirius called Lupin Moony all the time, and then ahead of schedule, the Weasleys had arrived. She knew Arthur quite well, as she saw him at work a lot and she often met with Molly. Having so many teenage boys around was definitely a change of scenery and their daughter, Ginny, was so sweet. She had heard their friend was coming as well but when she had no idea, she just hoped it was girl to increase the numbers.

She could feel herself dropping off to sleep in front of the fire so she prized herself of the stiff sofa and walked upstairs. It was late at night and Tonks suspected she was the last person to go to bed. As she walked up the tall staircase that led to her floor, the light from the few candles on the wall moved so it seemed like the darkness was gradually closing in on her. Nymphadora knew it was stupid to fear the dark, she would not have been afraid of this corridor in the light, so why in the dark?

She gave in when she reached her corridor and lit her wand, as Tonks did this she heard that sneering voice echoing in her head, saying,"It's stupid to have faith in light. It won't always be there to protect you." Snape had said that to her, when she was out on a mission for the order. She would never forget that, because she knew deep down that he was right.

Tonks became aware of how fast she was walking and slowed down as she did not want to make the floorboards creak as she walked down the hall. After all, she did not want to wake Remus.

Tonks shared a hall with Sirius and Lupin, Molly and Arthur's rooms were upstairs with Fred and Gorge and the rest of the children on the first floor. She stopped outside Remus' door and wished briefly that she had an eye like Moody's, so she could check on him. She quickly walked down the hall to her own room and silently entered. Sleepily Tonks took her robes off. She would have to sleep in the t-shirt and jeans she was wearing underneath them, as she didn't have any nightclothes. The robes were thrown on the floor with various other items of clothing she could not been bothered to hang up. Her wardrobe was wide open and clothes were overflowing onto the floor. She had brought more and more clothes with her since she had moved in and now her wardrobe was struggling to hold everything.

Tonks turned to look in her bedroom mirror on the opposite wall, but when she looked up she did not see just one reflection. Standing behind her was a very ill Lupin. Being an Auror normally meant that not many things could surprise Tonks, but she had assumed Remus was asleep.

She jumped round in fright, but quickly composed her self. "God Remus! You really freaked me out." She moved towards him trying to get a good look at his pale face in the dim light. "Remus? What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth as if he was going to choke but instead croaked out "I feel like Death."

He looked like it as well, his eyes seemed almost hollow.

"Come on, I'll go and get Arthur we'll take you to St. Mungo-" Remus grabbed her hand before she could get to the door.

"I don't need a healer," he said in that voice, in that tired almost sinister voice. "Only you." He kissed her. At first it was all right, very sudden and very unexpected, but all right. And then after only a few second she realized it wasn't. He was becoming more forceful, pulling his fingers through her hair, gripping her shoulders tightly. Then his teeth sank into her bottom lip. She didn't notice at first as she was too overwhelmed by what was happening, but then Tonks started to taste the blood in her mouth.

Tonks pushed him off, trying not to cry and told herself he was ill. Remus stumbled away from her and then started to stagger to the floor. "Help! Help me!" he said as if he were drowning. He was gasping for air. " Please, Tonks" His skin now look almost green in the dim room, which was only lit by a candle in the wall and a street lamp outside. Remus seemed to be fading into the dark.

He was transforming.

Tonks was going to see Remus Lupin, the kindest man she had ever known, suffer the pain and brutality of a transformation. And that's when her brain started working. The full moon was yesterday, and even though she had only got an A in her O.W.L, Tonks understood enough about astronomy to know this was impossible. Her eyes rested on the man stood in front of her and then looked past him to the open wardrobe.

Tonks's expression turned from horror to determination, she raised her wand and said, "Riddikulus" She pointed her wand at the boggart and as the spell made impact, the transformation sped up. In front of her stood a fully transformed, grey poodle.

"Riddikulus!" The dog turned into a feather duster of the same color. She had had enough now. "RIDDIKULUS!" The feather duster rose into the air and exploded. Tonks stood there, wand pointing where the boggart had been, grey feathers raining down on her. She heard hurried thumps. No doubt that Sirius had got up to see what all the noise was about.

She didn't know that in a couple of minutes she would break down in tears and tell Molly what had happened. But she swore to her self that neither Sirius nor Remus would ever know what really went on that night.

There is more to come………. R&R!

Many thanks to Phil for prying Remus out of the wardrobe…………