Written for the "I Dare You Challenge" on HPFC. I had to write a Remus/Tonks story with absolutely no Remus/Sirius. I'm quite impressed with myself actually XD

Moments

Remus Lupin hadn't exactly lived the easiest of lives—on the contrary, his life had been filled with more grief and pain than most people. Mostly, Remus's way of living was just getting by. Each day that passed was a milestone, because most days he felt as though he would rather be dead.

Being a werewolf had really taken its toll on Remus. The only time he had truly been happy was when he was at Hogwarts with his friends—James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. But after that dreaded Halloween, with the loss of the three people closest to him, Remus fell into a depression that consumed him for the following thirteen years.

Remus met Dora at an Order meeting, and he was instantly interested in the peculiar woman. She was a metamorphmagus, and she liked to abuse her abilities in the favour of making people laugh. The first time that Remus truly laughed since his Hogwarts years was when he was watching Dora make impressions of people they knew.

He was falling for her. He knew that he shouldn't be falling for her, but sometimes it was inevitable. She was far too young and far too fun, whilst he was far too old and he was a werewolf. He couldn't be with her.

When she finally convinced him that they should be together, Remus decided to let her in like he'd never let anyone in before. Within a year, they were married and they had a baby on the way. This terrified Remus—imagine if the child ended up like him? There was no way that he could live with himself if his child turned out to be a monster too.

But Dora was adamant that even if the baby turned out to be part-werewolf, that she would love the child and Remus with every ounce of her heart, as she already did. Her reassurances finally calmed Remus down, and soon enough he found himself getting excited about the birth of his child.

It was a Wednesday afternoon when Dora's patronus appeared in front of Remus.

"Remus Lupin," came an agitated voice, "get to the damned hospital right now, your baby is being born and he or she is already being feisty with me!"

Remus felt as though the Earth had stopped spinning. It took him a couple of seconds to compose himself before he finally managed to apparate to the hospital.

After ten minutes of frantically asking around for the maternity ward, and trying to locate his wife, he finally burst into the room.

Dora was lying on the hospital trolley clutching onto her heavily pregnant stomach breathing heavily. She glanced up at him, but didn't say a word—he could read her like a book.

He rushed over to her side, and held his hand out to her. "Hold my hand, love. Squeeze as tightly as you need to."

"Remus," Dora gasped, wincing as she went through another contraction. "It hurts."

"If anyone can do this it's you," Remus murmured, tracing circles on the back of her hand. He leaned forwards and planted a kiss on her sweaty forehead. "You're the strongest person I know."

"It's time!"

The declaration from the Healer was enough to make Dora start squeezing Remus's hand. He tried not to let his pain show—after all, Dora was going through much worse.

"You need to start pushing, Nymphadora."

"It's Tonks," she said through gritted teeth. "Ahhhhh, god!"

"Come on baby, you can do it," Remus said softly, running his other hand through her hair which had turned red.

Dora squeezed his hand harder than Remus thought possible, but he didn't make a sound. There was a feeling in his chest that made him smile. Even in this moment, Dora was the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on.

After a good while of screaming and squeezing of hands, the shrill cry of a new born baby filled the hospital room. The sound was enough to quieten Dora, and was enough for Remus to forget about the pain in his hand.

Both parents stared transfixed at the tiny baby that was being detached from Dora.

"It's a boy!" Dora squealed.

Remus grinned first at his wife and then at his son, and he realised in that moment that he was the happiest man in the world. His son had the tiniest tuft of hair, and it changed from brunette to blue in an instant, and Remus knew that his son was like Dora.

His son would be good. His son would be pure. His son would be happy.

xXx