~Day One~
Tonks woke to her mother gently shaking her awake. "Dora honey, it's time to wake up."
Tonks sleepily rubbed her eyes and sat up. Andromenda gave her a smile, and said, "Now that you're awake, go wake up Remus, I have to finish making your breakfast."
"Mom you don't have to-"
"I don't have to, but I want to, now go wake up Remus."
She knew better than to complain to her mom. Andromenda was very enthusiastic about her daughter's love life, or lack thereof, as mothers generally are. So Tonks slowly shuffled down the hallway to the guest room and pushed open the door. To her surprise, Remus was already up and packing his bag. When he heard the door opening, he turned to her and smiled with much more enthusiasm that a person in their right mind should have at that hour.
"Good morning Nymphadora."
Tonks was suddenly very conscious of the fact that she was in fact wearing baggy pajama pants and a shirt that was at least three sizes too big. Her hair probably wasn't the best looking either. After taking note of this, she blushed and realized that Remus was looking at her expectantly.
"Yeah, yeah," she said, "My mom is making our breakfast and as soon as I get dressed, we should probably leave."
"Good plan," he smiled, "Now if you'll excuse me…"
"Oh, sorry," Tonks blushed again and hurriedly closed the door, sighing, she went back down the hall to her bedroom.
After realizing that sweaters do not in fact, go on your legs, she sat down and took a deep breath. She had to concentrate. Pushing all thoughts of a certain, unnamed lycanthrope out of her head, she pulled on a pair of jeans and put on a t-shirt under the sweater. Making sure she had all of the things she would need for the next week in her bag, she walked out into the kitchen, and found Remus and her mom laughing together.
After clearing her throat pointedly, Tonks announced, "We should really get going."
"But Dora, honey, you haven't had your breakfast yet."
Breakfast hadn't been the first thing on her mind, but now that she thought about it, Tonks was pretty hungry. "I can just take it with me mom, we really have to go."
Remus jumped to her defense, "Thank you for having me here, and if it weren't a mission, we might've been able to stay longer, but we really do have to get going."
Andromenda looked disappointed, but relented. "Okay, but do your best to stay safe!"
"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe," Remus said. Tonks looked up at him. It didn't seem like he was joking, so maybe he was a really good actor? That had to be it; there was no point in over thinking it.
They walked into the woods, Remus going first, offering Tonks the opportunity to stare at the back of his head for the indeterminate amount of time it would take them to get there. Tonks had no idea where they were going, so the only thing she could do was follow Remus and not distract him.
The back of his head was rather interesting. His auburn hair was silky looking, and Tonks wondered how soft it was. For the rest of the hike, she had to resist the urge to reach out and touch it. The entire thing went by rather quickly. Remus moved the underbrush for her, so there was no effort exerted. Just marching along for and indeterminate amount of time. Indeterminate amounts of time generally mean one hour, and this particular time was no exception.
Still transfixed by his hair, Tonks didn't notice when Remus stopped, and crashed into him, causing them both to fall over. Luckily for Tonks, she landed on something soft and warm. Opening her eyes, she realized this soft and warm thing happened to be Remus. She felt her cheeks heat up to what must be a brilliant red, but she didn't move. His eyes were even more gorgeous than his eyes. Not gorgeous, she corrected herself; he was not gorgeous despite having amazingly silver eyes, not unlike full moons, having a strong, scarred face, and having a build that suggested some muscle definition, but not too much.
"Nymphadora, as nice as the closeness is, we should probably set up camp," Remus said softly.
Snapping out of her reverie, Tonks turned even more red, and quickly stood up. "Sorry, I was just surprised." She offered her hand to Remus. He took it and stood. After standing next to her for a moment, he hesitantly brushed a strand of hair, today blonde and spiky, out of her eyes. A pained expression flitted across his face before he moved away and pulled his bag off his back and grabbed his wand. He pointed it into the pack and muttered Accio tent. The tent came flying out of the bag and with a flick of his wand, the tent was set up.
Tonks realized that she should probably do something to help, so she busied herself with setting the protective enchantments. Doing this, she noticed her surroundings. They were a few feet away from a rocky ledge, beyond the ledge, Tonks saw a small cabin. So this is what they were watching. It was very rundown, surely You-Know-Who himself wouldn't go there; he was probably getting cozy in the Malfoy Manor. Minions would probably be sent there to do his dirty work for him.
"Nymphadora! Let's have some lunch!" Remus called across the clearing. Tonks turned and walked back to the tent. Lunch turned out to be half of a turkey sandwich. Eating this in awkward silence was driving Tonks crazy.
"So what's the watch schedule?" she asked.
"I suppose I'll take the first watch, and you can rest after our walk. After an hour, you can take over. We can switch every hour. Sound good?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Tonks was grateful for the chance to rest. She was used to apparating everywhere, so the hike had been kind of hard. After walking into the tent, she noticed Remus' pack on the bottom bunk, so that must mean she got top bunk. After lying down, Tonks realized that she had brought nothing to do. Remus probably did, he always brought a book with him. Peering down at the bottom bunk, she spotted one. Success!
The cover read "How to Charm Witches: Part Two" in gold letters emblazoned on a dark purple cover. So he had someone he wanted to charm. Maybe it was her. Tonks didn't even try to squash the hope that rose in her chest. She was about to open it when she heard a twig snap. As quickly as was humanly possible, she set the book back onto the bed, and scurried up to her own just as Remus stepped into the tent. He saw the book on the opposite end of the bed than where he left it. Suspicious. He glanced at her with pink cheeks before quickly grabbing the book and heading out again. Tonks lay in bed and let all of the thoughts she had suppressed wash over her. The way he looked. The way he looked at her. His eyes. The way he said her name. The intense concentration he had when he read. An emotion welled up in her chest, making her feel lighter than air. Love, she mused. Was this it? She supposed it was, but the last time Tonks thought she had been in love, was when she was fifteen and that it had turned out to be nothing more than physical attraction. She couldn't act on this airy emotion until she was sure. The only way to do that was to… well Tonks wasn't sure what to do. Flirting, that was an option. She laughed at herself. Nymphadora Tonks, flirting? Preposterous.
By the time Remus came in, with his book tucked under his arm, Tonks had figured out no solutions. As she shuffled over to the ledge and cast homenum revelio, an idea struck her. A confession. As terrifying as the whole idea seemed, it was an idea. For the rest of the day she formulated a plan, and as she lay down to sleep, all that was left to do was to set it in motion.
Author's Note: Very sorry it took me so long to update, I had a little trouble with this chapter. But it's finally done! Yay! The next chapter might be a little while too, I haven't actually figured out the Tonks' love confession plan... oh well... Anyway, I do hope you'll review/favorite/follow, because I do my happy dance everytime you do! In the absence of this story, while I figure just exactly where the plot is going, I might be posting little one-shots that will probably be slash...
