Chapter 10

An Awkward Encounter

He'd gotten Severus back to his makeshift bed in no time and Remus supposed it was exhaustion, but Severus fell asleep in his arms before he'd even gotten him into bed. Remus decided to go to the galley for breakfast and was surprised to see that all of the women were already awake.

"Good morning Remus," Molly hugged him but drew away quickly, "you have an odd odour about you." and she paused to consider what it might be. Remus flinched. Yee gods, he probably smelt like Severus' cologne. "You smell like fish." Whew!

"Well, I kind of slept on deck. Oh no! It's not what you think, I'm fine." He said hurriedly as Molly stepped forward to take his temperature with the back of her hand. "Seriously, I'm fine. Severus was the one that was ill, not me. Apparently that's why he got angry at being on the ship for two months. He gets seasick."

"Oh, the poor dear. How is he now?" Molly asked, concern written all over her face.

"Well, he's back in his own bed now, but he's still rather unwell. I don't think he's going to be joining us for breakfast."

Harry, Ron and Ginny, who had all been up early, silently rejoiced at his absentness, while Hermione scolded. Not that she cared all that much, Remus thought, she's only behaving like that because he's older and therefore deserves to be respected. She was just traditional that way.

"Well, I'll just have to go in and check on him later." Molly said with decided firmness.

"Molly, I'm not so sure-"Remus started but was cut off by a loud bang at the galley doorway. Looking around he saw that Tonks was awake and that she'd had her first klutz attack of the day. It was obvious by the way she was rubbing her head that shed hit it on the low doorway.

"You all right?" Remus asked as he walked towards the figure on the ground.

"Yeah, I just didn't realise that such a short person could hit their heads on the tippy top of the doorway." Tonks said as Remus gave her a hug and rubbed her head soothingly. "How stupid could I be?" She sighed sadly. "Not only am I a failure at being an auror but I also can't walk in a straight line or see one foot in front of my face, in broad daylight. I'm useless."

Lupin could see tears forming on the rims of her grey, almost purple, eyes and he immediately understood. This wasn't one of those times where they could laugh about it and move on; she was seriously upset with herself.

"Oh, sweetie. That's not how it is at all. Now, come on." Lupin gently held her head in his hands and wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs. "Sure, you might be more than a bit clumsy, but I wouldn't love you this much if you weren't. It makes you who you are and I love it." Lupin leaned forward on instinct and kissed her softly on the lips. No one knew that they were sort of together, but Remus didn't mind if they found out now. After all, no one in the room really seemed to mind that they kissed. All in all, they actually seemed quite happy for them.

"Oh, gods, sorry. I...I thought that –um...I can leave-"

"Severus, how are you?" Molly asked in her motherly tone.

Remus looked up to see one oddly flustered Snape standing there in the same robes he wore last night. He seemed shaky on his feet but otherwise he seemed to be managing.

Remus unconsciously took a step back from tonks, for some reason he didn't want Severus to think that they were together. He just felt uncomfortable.

"Could someone please get her off me." Severus cried hoarsely. Molly was attempting to check his pulse and was obviously invading into his personal bubble.

"C'mon Mrs. Weasley. Let's get a cup of tea together.' Tonks said grabbing Mrs. Weasley by the upper arm and dragging her toward the kettle, leaving Snape and lupin reluctantly alone by the door. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had gone off with one of the sailors to see if they could climb the tallest mast right up to the crows nest. Lupin knew he should alert molly as to what they were doing but he couldn't walk away from Severus. For some reason, Snape caught his attention in ways that other people didn't.

"So... you and Tonks. Are you a couple?" Severus asked nervously. Lupin looked up. Since when was Severus the nervous sort.