Chapter 4: A Wedding and an Uninvited Guest

When Severus arrived at Diagon Alley on Tuesday for the wedding, he was surprised by the uproar the event seemed to be causing. With many witch and wizards scurrying around the street donned dress robes the mood was hurried but light.

i A wedding changes nothing but for the bride and groom, /i he thought cynically as he watched a pair of witches rushing through the door of the Leaky Cauldron. He didn't know who they were, but it was obvious they were one of the hundreds of guests that were attending the wedding.

"Do you want a drink, Snape?" Tom the bartender asked in a voice full of dislike.

Flashing a dark look in his direction, he shook his head. "No."

"If you're not buying something, leave." Tom never asked patrons to leave his establishment, so the occasion was for Severus and Severus alone.

i At least I don't have to wonder what I did to deserve such reverence, /i Severus thought bitterly as he left the pub and walked out onto Diagon Alley to wait for Tonks.

The wedding was obviously a public affair. He couldn't see a witch or wizard who wasn't dressed in dress robes besides the occasional storekeeper. He shook his head. The man was a werewolf, yet he seemed to be respected in society more than many other people who were not received.

"Wotcher, Severus!" He was shocked to realize that her voice was familiar to him. In the middle of the racket of the street, he could hear her upbeat greeting and without turning, knew exactly who it was. Though he knew it could be because she was the only one talking to him in the public.

Without turning to look at her, he said, "Hello, Nymphadora. Shall we go into the garden then?"

Tonks didn't hide the distain from her voice. "We have half an hour, do we have to go to the garden right now?"

"Are you avoiding it?"

"No. I just don't want to be there longer than I have to – don't you feel the same way?" Her question was honest, as well as the annoyance in her voice.

"Yes. Would you like to get a drink?" Severus looked over at her for a brief moment to see her reaction.

She grinned. "Sure. The Leaky Cauldron?"

He couldn't help but smirk. "I don't think Tom wants me in there."

"Oh?" They strolled down the street for a moment before she continued. "Just as well. There's a small restaurant near the end up there, where it turns into Knockturn Alley. How about there?"

He nodded. "Alright."

They walked in silence the way down the restaurant. He hadn't been there before; it had opened after Voldemort's fall and he didn't come to Diagon Alley often now. He wondered vaguely who owned it.

The restaurant was small and intimate. The moment he entered, Severus felt uncomfortable. In the middle of each table there was a candle and a vase of flowers, varying from roses to lilies. Soft, classical music played in the background to aide in the romantic atmosphere.

"Here?" he blurted out with dislike.

Tonks laughed lightly beside him. "Their butterbeer is as good as the ones at the Three Broomsticks."

He sighed heavily, but followed her to a nearby table reluctantly. A young woman came over immediately. She was pretty with blond hair flowing down her back and a nice smile. "What can I get you two?"

With a quick glance at Severus, who nodded swiftly, Tonks ordered two butterbeers. The overflowing mugs came to the table within a minute and the pair was left in silence. The air of romance made it hard for him to think of something to say to her in his uneasiness, and she just stared into her butterbeer like she, too, was having trouble with a subject of discussion.

The minutes ticked by in a slow agonizing pace. Couples went in and out of the restaurant, most like the rest of the street dressed in dress robes.

"I think the whole wizarding society is going to attend the wedding," Tonks blurted out into the painful silence.

The pair looked at each other for a moment in silence. "I agree," Severus responded with displeasure evident in his voice.

"It's rubbish, you know. It's just a wedding. It should be an intimate affair and instead it's completely public." She shook her head in annoyance. He noticed, for the first time since they met about half an hour earlier that her hair was still brown. He wondered if her hair was affected so blatantly by her mood and what she was feeling.

He smiled bitterly. "I would agree if I felt marriage was even something that should be done."

She raised her eyebrows with interest. "Oh? You don't believe in marriage?"

"I don't think marriage is something that can be believed in or not, but no, I don't agree with marriage." He kept his voice even.

"Well, I do. Think that marriage is good," she added her explanation. "I think marriage can be a great thing as long as the two people truly love each other."

"It's a woman's ideal. I wouldn't say expect anything else," he told her.

She snorted. "A woman's ideal? Please."

"What? You don't think a woman is the one wants marriage in the first place?"

"Well men are the ones that propose. So men have to want marriage. At least most men – normal men," she added giving him a look that told him he didn't fall into that category.

He shrugged. "I guess I'm not normal then."

"You don't need me to tell you that," she retorted acidly.

He smirked bitterly. "That's true."

"Come on, we should go to the garden now," Tonks said standing up.

Severus followed her out of the restaurant in silence, completely aware of the other customers watching them leave. The walk to the garden was short, and neither talked along the way. The silence was melancholy, but not uncomfortable. It was relaxed. He was surprised that she was still comfortable with him enough for the quiet.

The wedding was a public affair. The garden was decorated lavishly with pink and white flowers for the ceremony with the white chairs. Severus found the white overdone and very nearly blinding. He and Tonks, in their black dress robes stood out. He smiled at the idea that the werewolf would not miss him crashing the wedding nor could the werewolf be mistaken at the color of Tonks' robes' sentiment. He felt a sick pleasure knowing the werewolf would know as well.

Tonks whispered rude comments during the entire ceremony to Severus as if trying to muddle through without showing her broken feelings by mocking the other guests. She threw in a comment about the bride or groom on occasion, but the ones toward the werewolf were not as vicious as the ones toward the witch or the other guests.

"I guess they couldn't get married at night in fear of it being a full moon," he whispered purposely to her near the end. He watched her out of the corner of his eye more than he watched the display at the front of the garden.

She frowned, unhappy by his comment. "He knows when it's going to be a full moon and when it's not. And anyway, you know full well about the Wolfsbane Potion."

He repressed his smile at her reaction. She was clearly still in love with the werewolf, or at least friends with him, despite her desire to make her opinion known to be otherwise by wearing black as well as inviting him to be her guest.

"The Wolfsbane Potion won't stop him from turning; it just allows him to keep his sanity."

She didn't respond. She stared straight ahead, though her eyes not focusing on the scene before her.

The ceremony ended, and the wedding guests migrated to the Leaky Cauldron for the reception. Severus felt a strange sense of pleasure knowing that Tom wouldn't throw him out of his pub now that he was part of the wedding party.

Tonks insisted on dancing with him twice before she left him alone to mingle with the other guests. For the short moments that he held her in his arms, he felt strange. He couldn't say he hated the feel of her small, curvy frame in his arms or her womanly scent that he couldn't ignore when they were so close. He wished he could say honestly that he was repulsed by the experience, but he wasn't.

She fluttered around the bar talking to almost everyone. Her smile was light and authentic and her occasional laughter filled the room. He watched her from afar, not wanting to interfere her socializing but not having much else to do.

He was surprised when the groom pulled her in the hallway outside the main dining room. Tonks didn't resist, but she didn't look happy to go either. Deftly, Severus followed the pair.

"Thanks for coming," Remus said. He was smiling at Tonks, but Severus couldn't see her facial expression. She was angled away from him and Remus was just in his line of vision but Severus was out of his.

"I was invited, it would have been rude of me not to show," her voice said pleasantly. There was a distinct edge to it, though, hinting at her not wanting to actually attend.

"I suppose so. You brought Snape though," he said the name with loathing.

i At least the feeling is mutual, /i Severus thought with hatred.

"I did. The invitation said I could bring a guest…"

"Well, it said you could bring a date."

"A date, a guest – what's the difference?"

"A date normally means the relationship goes beyond friendship."

"Good thing he's only my guest then, isn't it?" The tone of her voice made Severus think that she was baiting him rather than trying to carry on a friendly conversation.

"Are you sure he thinks he's only a guest and not your date?" Remus's eyes narrowed as he questioned Severus's intentions or her intentions by being here with Snape.

She shrugged. "Yes. He knows he's only a guest to me. Would it bother you if he was my date?" The question seemed innocent enough, but Severus could tell she was trying to get a certain reaction out of him.

Remus seemed surprised by the question, though it seemed like an obvious question to Severus to come next. "No. No! Of course not. I couldn't care less about who you date."

"That's good to hear…" She sounded disappointed.

"I'm sure it is…"

It seemed the pair had reached a stalemate. The silence was echoing to Severus from his standpoint a few feet away.

"Why did you want to talk to me?" Tonks' voice sounded impatient and annoyed suddenly as she broke the impasse.

"I wanted to ask why you were wearing black," Remus admitted. His voice was low, as if he was embarrassed by the admission.

"Why wouldn't I?" Severus could practically see the impish grin that was on her face.

Remus just stared at her in silence. "He's obviously not been good for you."

She snorted. "What?"

"Snape has obviously not been good for you," Remus repeated his mutter in a stronger voice.

"Right. Spending a few nights in his presence has ruined me! How could I have not realized it before?" Her sarcastic retort made Severus smirk.

"Tonks, I'm serious. You didn't used to be this way. Wearing black to a wedding? I can see it for him, but you? How could you let him influence you that way?"

She laughed. "Actually, wearing black was my idea."

"But why?"

"Why not? The poor witch is now saddled with you, and you are stuck with her. It's a sad situation."

Remus chuckled, but then his face straightened immediately in seriousness. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry for hurting you." He reached out and tried to take one of the woman's hands but she pulled it out of reach.

"Please, don't even start that. This is not about you. Well, not in that way. I'm a big girl, I can handle being dumped."

"Can you? This is how you handle it? Wearing black and hanging around with a murderer?"

"Newsflash, Remus, must of us are murderers now! What makes him different?" She seemed angry.

"Well, he killed the only person that believed in him and in cold blood."

"Oh come on! We all know Dumbledore told him to. Practically forced him to! He couldn't not murder him, and he mourned Dumbledore's death just as much as we did – probably more! Get over your grudge from your schooldays and act like an adult!"

"Why are you defending him? You don't even know him!" Remus yelled. As if realizing the raised voices might draw attention to the pair, he cleared his throat.

"I do know him," Tonks hissed. "You don't."

"The man barely lives in this world—"

"Only because the people who are close-minded like you and won't accept the truth!"

"Excuse me? What truth? He's a murderer. No matter what he does now, he can't change the fact he's a murderer."

"I am a murderer, Remus. You know that. The whole bloody Order are murderers! Including you."

"The murder that was committed in the name of war is different than the murder committed in the name of revenge."

"Oh he killed Dumbledore for revenge? That's funny. I thought he killed Dumbledore because of Dumbledore's refusal to remove the Unbreakable Vow. I guess I'm wrong… I mean you would know so much more than I! It's always been that way, hasn't it?" Sarcasm fell from her words.

"Tonks, you know that's not true. You're obviously blinded by his—his—Merlin, what do you see in him?" Remus seemed both angry and confused at the same time.

"What do I see in him? Well, for one thing, he's at least honest. With me, with himself. He doesn't act like he loves me – I know where he stands. And he's not running off with another witch after he tells me he loves me. Not to mention how interesting he is with his views of the world. He doesn't see the world in a rose color, and that's refreshing."

"Tonks," Remus said, his voice softer and his demeanor somewhat folded, "I'm sorry. I did love you, I swear, but after the war… everything just changed. Including my feelings for you and I'm sorry I hurt you. But that doesn't mean you can run around with a murderer! He's not good for you; he's not good enough for you."

Tonks shook her head and snorted. "Spare me. The war didn't change you enough that suddenly you wouldn't love me if you had loved me as you said you did. You never loved me. Don't insult me by trying to make me believe otherwise."

Severus watched as the werewolf reached for her again. She jerked out of his path, and Severus could just see the glare on her face. "Don't you touch me," she hissed in a volume that was almost inaudible.

"Tonks, I did love you. I just… don't anymore," he added sadly. Remus looked like his words were genuine and for some reason that angered Severus more than if he had just come out and say he had never loved the woman. At least then he would be giving Tonks what she seemed to be looking for.

Tonks began to turn to walk away when Remus reached out again. "I don't want to leave on bad terms."

She pulled her arm out from under his hand. "Don't touch me. And we already left on bad terms, so this doesn't change a thing. It's that simple. Now if you'll excuse me, you should be getting back to your wedding guests and new wife and I should be finding my date – I mean the guest that accompanied me. I really wouldn't want to monopolize your time."

"Tonks… wait…"

She didn't even turn as she walked away. Severus stepped farther into the shadows as she walked by. Her words in his defense echoed in his mind as he watched Remus gather himself and follow Tonks back into the dining area of the pub.