Chapter 9 The Decision.
"Tigress!" Sirius yelled running into the boy's dormitory where Remus and I had been working on our Potions essay.
"Don't call me that!" I growled at him. I still hated the nickname and refused to let them call me by it. I had repeatedly asked Sirius to give me a different one but he refused. Sirius shrugged at me and continued to speak.
"You will never believe what happened! So James and I were pranking Snivellus right?"
"Sirius leave him, Severus, alone." Remus interrupted. I rolled my eyes and looked down at my essay before mumbling.
"Is this going somewhere, Sirius? I'm busy."
"WE TURNED HIM RED AND WE CAN'T TURN HIM BACK!"
"YOU WHAT?!" Remus and I yelled at the same time jumping off the bed.
"Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" I said. Sirius just stared at me.
"Did you not hear me? Snape is red!"
"Merlin, Sirius!" I yelled. Walking out of the room shaking my head. I couldn't believe him causing trouble the night of a full moon. Anybody that looked at Remus could tell that he wasn't well. Emmeline was definitely on to us and as much as Sirius and I wanted to tell her Remus said it wasn't a good idea. It wasn't our secret to tell so we continued with the stories we told to explain Remus' disappearances every month. I right walked into James breaking me from my thoughts.
"Are you ready Tonks?"
"Um, yeah." We walked to the shrieking shack in silence. As we reached the whomping willow we could hear screams coming from inside. James and I ran into the Shrieking Shack. James threw open the door and there stood Snape's wand pointed at Remus' heart.
"Snape, no!" I called jumping in between them. James pulled out his wand and pointed it at Snape.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with Snape, lower your wand and go," James demanded. Snape Sneered at him.
"I know exactly what he is. A werewolf! A dark creature! He is an abomination-"
"Enough!" I yelled cutting off his rant. "Snape we don't have time for this right now. You need to leave because once the moon goes up, so do the protection wards and you will be stuck here."
"She right Severus you need to leave," Remus said calmly. Snape flinched when Remus spoke.
"Don't you dare talk to me! Don't say another word you monster! Black said-"
"Black?" James questioned. "Sirius told you about this?"
"Of course he did! Did you really think that Black could keep a secret like this!"
"It doesn't matter right now! James get him out of here!" The moon was rising and we were running out of time. "Take him to Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore knows about this?" Snape roared. "That stup-"
"Get out of here now Severus!" I screamed as James grabbed Snape by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out kicking and screaming. When they were out of the room I turned to Remus. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine Dora, but you should go with them. You need to find Sirius and find out what happened."
"No, I'm not leaving you. The whole point of us becoming Animagi was so you didn't have to do this alone. James can handle this." Remus opened his mouth to argue but the moon had come up and with a scream, he began to turn. I took a few steps away from him before turning into my animagus form and settling in for the long night.
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When the sun started to come up I changed back into my human form and left the room to give Remus some privacy. After a few minutes, Remus came out of the room. He mostly looks fine other than a few cuts on his arms. "Come on, we have to go see Dumbledore," Remus said taking my hand and leading me back towards the school.
"Remus, everything will be fine. I promise." I said as we stopped at the headmaster's office doors. We didn't need to use a password because they opened just as we got there. Dumbledore was waiting for us, or Remus anyway. We could hear shouting as we climbed the stairs. I opened the door to see Sirius and Snape yelling at each other.
"YOU TRIED TO HAVE ME KILLED!" Snape accused. Sirius glared at him.
"I did nothing of the sort." Responded Sirius in a nonchalant tone. Dumbledore shut them up when he spotted Remus and I. I noticed that James was nowhere to be found.
"Miss Tonks if you could give me a moment to talk to these gentlemen." Dumbledore demanded.
"Of course Headmaster," I replied walking out of his office. I saw Lily, Emmeline, and James. "James, what did you do?" I asked referring to Emmeline and Lily who obviously knew what was going on.
"When I dragged Snape back here last night he was screaming about Remus' Furry Little Problem. They are fine Tonks." I sighed and sat on the steps that led up to Dumbledore's office. James came and sat next to me wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Is he hurt?" He asked.
"Not physically, but you know Remus he is going to take this hard." Emmeline came and sat next to me. She put her hand on mine and laid her head on my shoulder. Lily didn't move but continued to stare at me.
"Nymph, Em. I need to tell you guys something." James stood up pulling away from me. "You have to promise not to hate any of us." Em, and I stood up.
"James, what the hell is going on?" Emmeline asked. James looked right at me.
"We needed to get Snape's attention off of you guys. So Remus made up this plan to get you out of the spotlight. Remus was worried that he would try hurt you."
"Are you telling me that Remus purposely had Sirius expose his secret to keep us safe?" I asked. James just nodded.
"Sirius, just went along with this? All of you did?" Emmeline asked clearly just as surprised as I was. Before James could answer Remus and Sirius came down the stairs. Remus opened his mouth to say something but I stopped him.
"James already explained. Are you out of your minds? Remus your secret is-"
"Not as important as your life." Remus intervened cutting off my rant. "Your name puts a target on your back Nymph. Almost your entire family wants you dead and their students in the castle following you-
"So what? Is it my life over yours? Remus you spilling your secret puts a target on your back-"
"But the attention is off you-"
"AND ON YOU!" I screamed. Remus grabbed me and put his hands on either side of my face.
"I will always put your life before mine because you are my life. Without you what do I have to live for?" I shoved his hand off me and stormed away.
I was sitting alone in the girl's dormitory. I had been staying with Remus but I needed time to think. I shouldn't be angry with him but I was. He put himself in danger. My family was going to come after him now because he is a werewolf and his association with me. The door opened and Lily walked in. "God Lily, what do you want now?"
"I came to apologize for what I did with Severus. He's different than I thought he was. I heard him coming in here screaming about Remus and-"
"I don't want you to explain yourself, Lily." I stood up from my old bed. "I wanted you to believe me. You were my best friend. I didn't say that Snape was a horrible person. There is just something going on with him and it's not right. So you can come in here and apologize to me if it makes you feel better, but how can I trust you right now? I needed you to believe me, I needed my best friend and you took Snape's side." With that said I stormed out of the room. I didn't have anywhere else to hid and think. As if the universe didn't want me to be alone because I ran into Sirius.
"Stop avoiding us, Tonks." Sirius grabbed my arm and pulled me onto one of the couches.
"I'm not avoiding anyone Sirius, I just need to think," I explained.
"Think about what? Your boyfriend who risked everything to keep you safe even if it is for a few days."
"Sirius, I didn't want him to do that for me. You know just as much as I do how dangerous our family is. I watched them kill Rowan and Finn. I don't want that to happen to Remus. Do you? Remus was right we are targets for our family and so are the people we care about." I knew what I had to do. I wasn't going to like it and neither was Remus.
"What are saying, Dora?" Sirius asked.
"I'm taking Remus out of the equation."
I walked into the boy's dormitory to see Remus sitting there alone on his bed. "I was wondering when you were going to stop avoiding me."
"We need to talk," I stated sitting on the bed next to him on the bed.
"Look Nymph, I know that you are mad about this but-"
"Remus, I'm not mad at you. I'm scared for you Remus. I don't tell many people about what my family has done, but I told you. You know just how dangerous they are and you put yourself on their radar."
"I was trying to keep you safe Nymph." Remus took my hands in his.
"You put yourself in harm's way, Remus. I can't watch you get hurt by my family because you mean too much to me."
"Nymph, I know what you are trying to do here. Pushing me away isn't going to do that." I felt tears fill my eyes when Remus looked at me. His eyes were so full hurt. "Doing this will hurt me more than it will help me."
"At least you will be alive. We can't ensure that if you're with me. Your friends with Sirius who is black turned white. You seeing me, a taint in the family tree, puts you in even more danger. We can't do this Remus." I got up from the bed. Remus did the same and got in between me and the door.
"I know that you think you're keeping me safe but-"
"But nothing Remus. This is the only way. Hogwarts isn't as safe as everyone thinks it is. Some of the students are Death Eaters and Voldemort is getting stronger every day and he has my family at his side. I need to try and keep you safe from them."
"Nymph-"
"I'm sorry Remus." I ran from the room before he could say anything else.
