Chapter Ten - In Which Tonks Wakes Up

Professor Lupin couldn't do it. He couldn't wake her. She looked too peaceful, she looked too happy, he knew that she would miss her morning defense against the dark class but he couldn't strengthen his resolve. So instead he let her sleep, he let her curl up on his couch and he left without so much as a click of his office door.

As 10:00 approached Tonks woke with a sense of calm pulsing through her body. She could smell a faint hint of chocolate and old parchment, and she was warm right down to her toes. As she rolled over she fell to the ground with a thud, confused she looked up and noticed that she wasn't in her usual four poster bed. She noticed that she was surrounded by books and seemed to be in some sort of office.

"Crap" swore Tonks allowed as she suddenly realized where she was. She rubbed her forehead with anxiety, she realized that she must have fallen asleep in his office last night. "Ugh…How embarrassing" muttered Tonks, quickly she reached for her watch. "Crap" she swore again as she saw the time, she was late for her defense against the dark arts class, with Professor Lupin; she groaned at this 'what must he think of me?' she asked herself, 'he must think I'm some kind of 2 year old who couldn't keep my eyes open for 5 seconds'.

Hesitantly, Tonks made her way into his bathroom. After cleaning herself up a bit and firmly restraining herself from looking into his medicine cabinet. She left for the third floor classroom 3C. By the time she reached the room she was already having second thoughts. She stopped at the door.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom. No cursing allowed."

She reached for the handle and then quickly retracted her hand. She could feel her hands trembling and her neck stiffen. What would she say? What was her excuse? She couldn't exactly burst in and say "sorry sir, I was a bit late you see, I feel asleep on your couch at midnight last night" it would just sound a bit sus. For the first time she wondered why he hadn't woken her up in the morning, or why in fact he hadn't woken her up last night when she fell asleep.

Despite this Tonks couldn't help but smile, the heating charm he had cast on her was very sweet; it had kept her warm all night. For a moment Tonks considered skipping the whole class, but she knew she couldn't avoid him forever so she took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Walking into the room she swallowed as she could feel every eye on her. Across the room she could see Olivia and Laura shooting her questioning glances. She could see Terence Higgs's death glare as she passed him and finally she took her seat toward the front of the room, the only seat left. As she sat down she could feel her face burning and could only imagine how red it was. The room remained silent.

"Sorry I'm late professor, I…. I… I…" she felt her world crashing down and felt as if she might burst out crying at any moment.

"That's okay Nymphadora" cut in Professor Lupin, "I am aware of your circumstances" he said sending Terence Higgs a death glare all the way at the front of the room.

Maybe it was the way he had said her name, maybe it was the way that the rest of the room just seemed to accept his word or maybe it was because he didn't seem angry at all, in fact Tonks swore she could hear a small trace of sympathy in his voice but Tonks became instantly calm, and she relaxed into her chair.

"Don't worry you haven't missed anything" he said still addressing her "I was just reading some theory about the patronus charm" and with this he continued to read.

"This ancient and mysterious charm conjures up a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. It's a difficult charm, and many great witches and wizards are unable to produce a full corporeal Patronus." He paused slightly and then continued "A corporeal patronus is a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom the caster shares the deepest affinity. In the case of animagi and other magical creatures" he smiled at this "You may suspect, but never truly know what form your patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring it. Only wizards who are "pure of heart" are able to cast patronusus. If the patronus charm is attempted to be cast by a dark or otherwise "not pure-hearted" wizard, who would otherwise be magically capable of casting one, rather than the intended effect of a spirit guardian bursting forth, a horde of maggots will be conjured from the caster's wand, which will attempt to consume the caster." He shot a fleeting smile towards Terence. "The first recoded instance of this happening is with the dark wizard Raczidian…" his voice trailed off as he closed the book.

"Alright everyone, that's enough theory, get up" he waved for them to rise before continuing his own explanation fully aware that no one seemed to have been listening.

"A Patronus is a kind of positive force, and for the wizard who can conjure one, it works something like a shield, with the Dementor feeding on it, rather than him or her. In order for it to work, you need to think of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerful memory… Allow it to fill you up... lose yourself in it... then speak the incantation "Expecto Patronum".

After about 20 minutes, not much progress had been made, only a thin haze of white smoke that filled the room. Tonks shut her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to recall her last happy memory "Expecto- Patronum" she said in her best clear and emotionless voice. Nothing happened; she couldn't seem to get rid of the anger and embarrassment bouncing around in her mind. She sighed and decided to join Laura and Olivia who had given up too.

Tonks risked a glance towards Terence at the back of the room, he didn't even seem to be trying and she knew why, surely he would be considered a "dark wizard". She froze as Terence caught her staring at him and sent her a wink. Professor Lupin seemed to have noticed this as well, as he turned a nasty shade of purple and stormed to the back of the room. Nobody else seemed to have noticed his odd behavior. He was practically fuming, as if throwing daggers with his eyes. "Terence" he said struggling to control his anger "I think it's time for you to leave" he pointed to the door.

Terence just smiled as he left the room and sent another wink to Tonks.

"Umm… Tonks?" asked Laura interrupting her focus, "what was that all about? And what did Professor Lupin mean when he said he understood your circumstances?"

"Later" hissed Tonks in reply, turning a deep shade of red and wishing she could hide her head under the desk.

"Alright class" said Professor Lupin clapping his hands and getting the noise to die down, his face was still slightly purple "no need to stress, we will do some more practice of this next lesson, I wouldn't expect you all to be able to master this difficult magic in your first lesson. Class Dismissed" and with that Tonks joined in the great rush for the door, moving perhaps slightly faster than she normally would have…

By dinner Tonks had seemed to be in a better mood and as she arrived slightly earlier to prepare for the dueling club meeting. As she walked in she cringed slightly when she saw that Professor Lupin was already there waiting for her, she had forgotten that he promised to come and suddenly wished that he hadn't. 'What must he think of her? Falling asleep on his couch like that?'

"How are you?" he asked concerned, having been unable to speak to her alone all day. He reached over and brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"I'm fine" she replied with a nervous smile, as her hair instantly became a lighter shade of pink at his touch. Upon hearing the door squeak open she practically jumped out of her skin and took a few hurried steps away from Professor Lupin to distance herself from him as if she had a guilty conscious.

She instantly sighed in relief as she realized who it was, "Teddy" she smiled.

So in came Teddy with an irresistible smile, his curly hair bouncing around his head and a mischievous look in his eye.

"Knock, knock" he asked

"Who's there?" replied Tonks playing in with his games.

"You know"

"You know who?" she replied

"It's okay he's dead! You can say his name now silly!"

Suddenly the tension was gone, the three of them burst out in laughter at this. She knew she probably shouldn't laugh, she knew that people had died, lives had been lost, but she couldn't seem to help it. It was the way Teddy had said it, so innocently and naïvely, to him the war was something that had come and gone, there was no sadness or loss.

And that's what made her laugh, the realization that it was over, that there was nothing left to fear.

Within minutes the room was full, everyone had arrived and the dueling had begun. There were flashes of light in all directions and Tonks turned to look as she heard a little voice squeak out "Expelliarmus". For the first time that evening Professor Lupin felt his wand leaving his hand.

"Teddy!" exclaimed Tonks leaving behind her duel with Bill and running over to him, dodging a few duels as she ran. "You did it!" she practically screamed at him, pulling him into a hug and swinging him around in her arms. Before too long Professor Lupin rushed in to celebrate with them and grabbed them both in a big bear hug, smiling from ear to ear. Holding on to them slightly longer than he should have he pulled away with his face slightly flushed but still smiling.

Between them, Teddy stood smiling infectiously, surrounded by the two people that he loved most in the word; beside his parents. To Teddy Tonks was like an older sister that he never had, she was always constantly checking up on him and Oliver and always showering them with smiles, making the other first years jealous over cool he was.

Professor Lupin on the other hand was like his father-at-Hogwarts. On cold lonely days Teddy would often find himself in his warm book filled office and they would sit and drink tea together while he would ask for advice on magic and all things Quidditch. The truth was they made him feel like a second family, a home-away-from-home sort of family.

Professor Lupin couldn't help but think how strange a group they were; two students and a werewolf. Tonks couldn't help but think how strange a group they were; a student, a teacher and a metamorphosis and Teddy couldn't help but think how perfect they were together.

Before too long, the session was over and Tonks reluctantly dismissed them whishing them all a good weekend.

As always Professor Lupin waited until the end of class and stayed to help her pack up, so she was finished in half the time.

"Thanks Professor" she smiled as she waved him goodbye.

"You should really get some rest, you look tired" he commented looking worried.

Tonks blushed thinking of last night

There was a pause, in which Professor Lupin realized how stupid his comment was.

"Sir, about that I'm really sorry-"

"Don't worry about it Tonks, it was nothing. Sometimes I think you study to hard…Are you sure you're really okay?"

"I'm fine" she laughed over how many times, he had asked her today.

"Alright" he replied skeptically, well at least let me walk you home…home, to the Hufflepuff common room" he spluttered out looking slight dazed.

She hesitated, it really wasn't necessary. She felt his warm hand on her shoulder. "You really shouldn't be out alone, not after last night. I won't allow it" he finished holding the door open for Tonks.

Tonks gave in. As she walked down the grand staircase she silently cursed her choice in shoes. She could practically hear the noise of them echoing off the walls.

Click-Clack-Click-Clack

She could hear Professor Lupin scuffing his feet too, like an adorable shy boy.

They both walked in silence unsure of what to say.

"You must be proud of the progress Teddy made today" she said smiling up at him.

"Don't forget that you're his teacher too Nymphadora"

"Yes, but I wasn't helping him like you were"

"Don't underestimate your ability" was all he replied. Tonks sighed she knew she'd never win an argument with him.

Suddenly Tonks realized that they had arrived in the Hufflepuff basement. She paused awkwardly at the entrance and fought off her sudden urge to kiss him on the cheek, reminding herself that he was meant to be her teacher and not her boyfriend walking her home.

"Good night Professor" was all she managed to get out.

"Good night Nymphadora" was his reply, as he turned silently and cursed under his breath 'darn' he thought as he kicked a bit of imaginary dust on the floor 'she called me Professor again…'

Authors Note- Wow this chapter took a surprisingly long time to write, but hey! I'm proud of this chapter Hope you all had a great chocolate filled Easter!

I'm back at uni on Monday (sigh, why can't' I just write fanficion for the rest of my miserable life) so expect the update to be slightly less frequent.

Happy last few days of Holidays!

PrincessDreamGirl