I am so so so so so sorry for the time it took to update this. Life just got very stressful with moving to study abroad. I'm settled in, but any thoughts and prayers for me would be appreciated! On that note, I am having so much fun! With all my required reading I won't have loads of free time, but hopefully I won't have any unannounced hiatuses. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you for sticking with me!
Also, thank you to anyone who has reviewed but not gotten a personal response from me. I am so hopelessly behind on answering them that I don't even know who I need to write to! I think I will just have to start fresh with any reviews that come in for this chapter. As always, I am eager to hear questions, comments, advice, or critiques on anything I write, so please review! I will answer this time!
I don't own Harry Potter. I also don't own Casual Vacancy that will come out on Thursday. I am, however, so excited to read it!
Tonks jogged up the flight of stairs to her flat and pounded on the front door. She was ready to be home with Remus and Keira and distance herself from the office. Moody's reality check had given her a new outlook. In her opinion, she did not need Mad-Eye showing her Frank and Alice to know that real life was not a fairy tale, but it did give her perspective. No day could be taken for granted, even if it was a "bad" day. She and Remus had more than their share of problems, but it could be much, much worse. At least they still had each other.
Remus opened the door with a tired smile. "Dora," he greeted, "You're home! Oh, um… security question. What morph do I prefer on you?"
"Trick question," she answered promptly, "You always say you don't have a favorite."
"That's because I don't," he said, leaning in to kiss her on the lips. She smiled brightly and moved closer to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away. Before she could protest, he interrupted, "You should probably know before we continue that our place has been nominated as the Order daycare until after Hogwarts resumes classes and that we have about ten observant children in our sitting room right now."
Tonks peeked past him into the sitting room. The floor was cluttered with books and toys. Tonks stumbled over them a few times on her way to the couch followed by Remus, who slouched into the cushions in exhaustion. The kids looked tired and pretty miserable, too. The upcoming full moon had them all feeling ill.
"Hello," Tonks greeted cheerily, "This is a lovely surprise! You lot look like you're ready for a nap."
"Kingsley and Hestia should be here before too long, so it is a bit late for a nap," Remus answered with a distinct tone of regret, "It is, however, just in time for Wolfsbane. Severus sent over enough for all of the kids so I could explain what the potion does and we could help them with the first dose."
"I'm glad they have you, Remus," Tonks said, "I'll go grab the potion while you tell them a bit about it. Where did Snape put it?"
"There is a box on the kitchen counter by the door. He said that is all that we need."
Tonks moved the box to the coffee table carefully so as not to drop it. She sorted the bottles into the groups of the three required doses. She counted the sets. Thirteen. She counted the gathering in the sitting room. Fourteen. Her heart stopped momentarily, but then her blood began to boil.
"Remus," she said tightly, "I would like to see you for a moment in the kitchen please."
He looked up at her with a bemused expression, but rose to see her anyway. "I don't suppose you called me over here to snog some more?"
Tonks shook her head, too angry to join in Remus' joke. "Severus shorted us on wolfsbane," she hissed.
Remus instantly paled. "I'll… I have to get away for the full moon. You and Keira won't be safe if I am out of control."
"No, you won't," she argued, "Because I am going to Hogwarts to shake the other dose out of that snake."
"Dora, be reasonable. There is no time for him to make a new dose. Either it is there or it isn't. I don't want you to go over there and fight or beg on my behalf."
"I won't be doing it just for you!" she cried in a hushed whisper, "Think about Keira; she needs you. She is scared enough as it is. Believe me, Remus, seeing you on a morning after is no pretty sight, definitely not one I want to expose I child to. Listen to me, I will do anything in my power to protect you and that little girl, even beg on my knees to Severus Snape."
"Dora…" he pleaded as she pulled on her cloak.
"I'll buy some off the black market if I have to."
"No, you won't!" he exclaimed, "What if you get caught?"
"You used to do it all the time," she argued.
"That's different. You could lose your job over this."
"There's nothing to else to be done. Any of the legal potioneers would have needed advance notice. I am going now; I will see you when I get home. Go ahead and give the kids their potion."
"Dora," he called, his voice louder and more demanding this time.
"I won't be long, Remus. See you in a bit." Before he could move to stop here, she was out the door and apparated away.
She did not walk so much as stormed down to the dungeon potions room. She could feel her hair glow a particularly dangerous shade of red. Tonks did not even pause to knock, but threw open the door with a bang that echoed through the dreary dungeon corridors.
"All grades are final. Tears do not move me to pity," Snape muttered curtly without even looking up from whatever he was brewing in a silver cauldron.
"But I'm sure you love to see them cry," Tonks replied dryly.
"Ah, Nymphadora," he said without the slightest hint of welcome, "What brings you here?"
"You know bloody well what brings me here."
"Sorry; I am afraid you will just have to tell me."
"You shorted us on wolfsbane! I know you and Remus had your differences in school, but this..." She trailed off, at a loss for words, "Even I expected better of you."
"So he sent his she-wolf to fight for him. He has always hidden in the shadow of his bolder companions..." Snape sneered coolly.
"Don't. You. Dare!" Tonks shouted, clenching her hands tightly on the desk before her. "He is twice the man you will ever be! You may risk your life for the Order, but you are no great man! You cannot even let go of a schoolboy grudge."
"Perhaps you should learn not to stun or attack people you may later need favors from. I do not need your approval, Nymphadora."
"What you need is a bit of humanity!" she cried, now afraid that Remus was going to suffer for her mistake, "Your actions don't just affect him and me, you know. They affect a little girl who has done nothing to you at all. She is afraid of her condition already; imagine how she will feel after she sees that Remus has ripped himself apart. Have you ever seen him first thing in the morning when he hasn't had wolfsbane? You don't care, but I am going to tell you anyway. Usually, he's unconscious. The first time I took care of him after a full moon, I made the mistake of waking him up. He was in such pain I had to put him out again. Sometimes the blood is unbelievable. Surely even you don't think a seven-year-old should witness that, do you? Don't do it for me or Remus, do it for her. You know I wouldn't come here and beg for myself and Remus wouldn't let me do it for him. But I will do it for her. Please, try for a bit of humanity."
"And are you begging?" he sneered, "It seems to me like you are just demanding."
"Please," she said in a gentle whisper, "Please, Severus, I am begging you for your help."
Snape did not say anything, but continued to pour whatever potion he was working on into glass bottles. He tightly stoppered them, and placed them in a box, which he dropped on the desk in front of Tonks.
"At his age, Lupin requires a stronger potion than I would give a child. This is his potion. Try not to drop it."
Tonks felt the color begin to rise to her cheeks and quickly morphed it away. "You could have told us, at the very least," she huffed. It was humiliating to be proved wrong by Snape of all people.
"I do not dedicate my life to the comfort of you and your husband. Be glad I had time to make the potion at all." She knew that was his intention all along. He wanted to give them this reminder that they depended on him. She did not appreciate his passive aggression. It wasn't her style.
She seized the bottles in her hand and turned on her heel out of the potions room with one last scathing look. Thankfully she did not trip or make any similarly graceful missteps.
Tonks returned home to find Remus propped up on the sofa dozing lightly. The kids had all been sent home and Keira tucked into bed. She set the three glass bottles before him and shook him awake, though he was already alert when she came in. "Snape just finished your potion because it is stronger than the rest."
"See… we shouldn't have assumed the worst," Remus answered with relief.
"Don't you see?! He wanted me to storm in there and look foolish. He wanted us to see us panic and grovel. He is a petty man."
"That he may be, but remember that brewing this potion is a large inconvenience for him. He could have said no when Dumbledore asked. He is doing us a favor by making an extra batch just for me."
"Stop making excuses for him! I'll not have him treat you this way!"
"Drop it, Dora!" he said sharply.
"No, I won't drop it!"
"You should! I don't care and neither should you. If I am not angry you sure as hell have no right to be!"
Tonks drew in a sharp breath. Remus never talked to her like that. He hardly ever talked to anyone like that. She knew it was just the full moon getting to him, but it still hurt.
"Yeah, well, I'm going to bed now… Goodnight." Remus did not even look up to acknowledge her. He now had his face buried in the heels of his hands and his elbows braced against the counter. An empty bottle of wolfsbane glittered under the florescent kitchen lights. She turned away and walked to their bedroom. She found Keira waiting for her by the door, clutching her teddy bear to her chest.
"What are you doing up, sweetheart?" Tonks asked in a falsely cheerful tone.
"I heard fighting," she whispered, "Why are you and Moony angry with each other?"
"Come here," Tonks beckoned. Keira fell into her outstretched arms, so Tonks pulled her into a tight hug and carried her to tuck her back into bed. "Moony and I aren't angry with each other," Tonks assured her.
"Then why were you fighting?"
"Because we care for each other."
"You fight because you care?" Keira asked skeptically.
"It sounds strange, doesn't it? I don't like to see Remus hurting, so sometimes I get hard-headed and try to help even when he tells me not to. He doesn't like to think he is troubling me with his problems, so it frustrates him. When the full moon is coming he gets cranky and sometimes he says things he doesn't mean. Believe me, Remus and I love each other very much. We would never purposely hurt the other, even just with words."
"So you aren't hurt because he said mean things to you?"
"I know he didn't mean them," Tonks answered, because it would be a lie to say her feelings were not hurt. The half-truth satisfied Keira, because she snuggled beneath the covers and closed her eyes.
"Goodnight, sweetheart," Tonks whispered and kissed her forehead before going to her bedroom to get to sleep herself.
Tonks was still awake when Remus crawled into bed next to her over an hour later. His arm reached around her to pull her close. "I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you earlier," he whispered in her ear.
She rolled over so that they were face-to-face. "It's alright," she said.
"No, it isn't. You have just as much right to be angry and upset about my condition as I do. It affects you too. I just don't want you to get into trouble, Dora. I know it isn't a good excuse, but the full moon makes me feel so…"
"Irrational?" Tonks guessed, "Don't forget I that I PMS. I am not the most pleasant person to live with during my time of the month, either."
Remus laughed, "You always seem pretty wonderful to me."
"Right," she said sarcastically, "Let's see what you say about that in a couple weeks."
She kissed him on the lips. "Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight, love."
I hope it was worth the wait! Please review and tell me what you think!