The spreading purple with yellow blotches near her left eye was only the surface wound. For what we love, we protect, right? The real one though was in her heart, feeling Lupin's betrayal of her love yet again. He'd left her yet again, shortly after Christmas, claiming he was too dangerous, and that she would be much better off far away from him. Tonks had responded in kind with a well-aimed Bat Bogey Hex.
The young Auror knew in the moment, he had been simply reacting, locked down in his brain, to his limited viewpoint of how he believed the world to view a man afflicted with his lycanthropy, a condition which was not nearly as bad as he made it out to be. Every month without fail, she made him the Wolfsbane Potion, and she would continue to make it. Tonks hoped that the day would come when Remus would come back to his senses, able to use his higher thoughts, to see that he was the one she loved, more than anyone else in the world. Even more than herself.
The witch let out a heavy sigh, sharply turning her gaze away from the mirror, anything to avoid looking in the mirror at her reflection a second longer than she had to. Tonks wondered if once the bruises healed, if she should seek safety with a man who had never caused her such pain, a person she could wholly love and be loved by, sharing a bright future. Tonks scoffed as she glanced towards Lupin, knowing that such a thought was foolish, and if she was truly being honest with herself, the only one for her was sitting right next to her, actively averting her heartbroken eyes. She should have known it would be too good to be true. Though she and Remus had rekindled their relationship following Christmas, he'd fled almost immediately afterward for retreating underground, to try what he could for Dumbledore to infiltrate Greyback's encampments. Though she knew the truth. He volunteered to stay away from her, claiming he was, once again, too old, too poor, and too dangerous for her.
"Bullshit," she muttered darkly, pure venom in her tone. Lupin shot her a dark look though he did not offer a retort, scolding her for her language, for once in his life since the two of them had known each other.
Tonks thought this war had grudged on for far too long now. Her sanity felt on the verge of extinction. Perhaps that was a good thing. At the very least, she'd be allowed to leave this nightmarish dystopia. As she glanced around the grounds of Hogwarts, all she could see was injured people and dead creatures—once fine, promising students, now no longer recognizable. But especially poor Bill Weasley, who currently lay mangled, no longer recognizable as a human. She was trying so incredibly hard not to stare at his face, but she kept finding her eyes had diverted toward it.
One moment they were obediently fixated on the spot on the wall behind him in the Hospital Wing and the next they were rested on the bloody mess that had been a perfectly ordinary face only hours before, so ordinary in fact, that Tonks could not quite recall what he looked like.
A deep wound was practically sliced in the flesh of his face, beginning diagonally near the eldest Weasley twin's right brow bone, snaking its way down towards the curve of his lip. Permanent. No amount of salve or potions that Madame Pomfrey could apply would fix what happened.
The injuries were heavily oozing out blood and there was a bluish-purple bruise forming around it. His fiancé, Fleur, lightly pressed her index finger against the center of the cut and sucked in a sharp breath.
Thank Merlin Bill was currently unconscious. The pain he must be feeling in the moment, Tonks didn't even like to think it. She'd noted several times over the course of the evening since they'd converged following the ambush's end, Remus's gaze flicker towards hers several times, though for the moment, Tonks actively avoided his piercing gaze.
Fleur and Mrs. Weasley, as usual, were arguing. Tonks let out a heavy sigh and returned her attention towards the two women. It was only when Mrs. Weasley burst into tears and enveloped the beautiful Veela into a hug that Tonks finally realized what the two had been discussing all along.
"You see!" she cried, her gaze settling and locking onto Lupin. She furrowed her brow into a frown and narrowed her eyes. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten. She doesn't care, and neither do I? You blind, bloody fool, why can you not accept that I love you, Rem?"
Lupin's face drained of color, and his posture became rigid in his seat as he unburied his face from his hands, still struggling to process the fact that Dumbledore was well and truly gone. "It's different," Remus said, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense, refusing to meet her gaze. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely diff—"
Tonks balled her hands into fists, bolting so fast from her chair beside Bill's bedside that she almost overturned it. There was a scream from deep within that forced its way from her mouth, as if her frustrated soul had unleashed a demon. All she felt towards Remus was anger, that she did not want to be friends or lovers with anyone at all, because then she wouldn't have to trust anyone and continue to get her heart ripped out.
It would be safer, easier to choose not to stay. And she knew she was hiding a truth from herself, of how much of this shit really had to do with sadness and the scars inflicted upon both her and Lupin's hearts, wounds that just would not heal. Her teeth locked up and ground once the sound was out, and she moved so fast and pushed Lupin up against the wall near the door, seizing the front of his robes and shaking them, one hand pinned to his shoulder to prevent his escape. What was once peaceful became polluted with rage. Everyone in the room tensed, although a quick glance over towards Harry's way told Tonks his mind was working on overdrive to put the pieces together, and that he'd had some kind of revelation by the way his eyes lit up behind his glasses. Whenever Tonks got going, there was no escaping it, leaving only made her ire even worse.
"I've told you a million times I don't care either, I don't!" she bellowed. "You—you insufferable idiot, Remus John Lupin, I swear!"
She clenched her jaw shut, her gray eyes narrowed to slits, her frustration and tension in her shoulders mounting as Remus refused to meet her gaze, instead staring at the floor. "And I've told you a million times," retorted Lupin calmly, though just underneath the surface, his tone was hard and clipped. Tonks recognized he was losing his patience. "That I am too old for you, too poor…too dangerous. It's—it's not safe, Dora."
Tonks was a hair's trigger away from reaching for her wand in its holster she wore strapped to her thighs, her black skinny jeans ripped and torn, results of the battle, but nothing a quick charm later wouldn't fix.
Thankfully, Molly spoke up, sparing the Auror from jinxing the man.
"I've said all along you're taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus," piped up Mrs. Weasley over Fleur Delacour's shoulder as she gingerly patted her on the back, still looking quite taken aback of the turn of events. She fixed Remus with her trademark cold stare and waited.
"I—I am not being ridiculous," Lupin began steadily. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole," he replied, glancing towards the Weasley's, gingerly prying Tonks' hands off his robes, stepping away from her.
Mr. Weasley gave a light shake of his head in disbelief. "But she wants you," he replied, with a small, sad smile, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Can't you see? After all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so," he answered, gesturing to his son behind them.
"I…this is not the moment to discuss it," Lupin snapped, avoiding everyone's eyes as he looked around the hospital room distractedly, absolutely refusing to meet the eyes of the woman he loved. "Dumbledore is dead…" A new voice spoke up from the hospital wing's doorway.
"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think there was a little more love in the world," said Professor McGonagall curtly, her arms folded across her chest as she fixed the young couple with a smile.
Remus froze, feeling as though he'd been doused in ice-cold water.
Dumbledore's words that day in the graveyard rang in his eardrums.
If you truly love her, don't let her go. All it takes is a tiny flicker of hope. Just a tiny flicker against the wind is more than enough. Love can conquer anything. There are more dreams to come for you and her. Sunshine on rainy days, laughter, and love. I wish you both happiness, joy, and love, something our world these days needs a little more of, I think.
With one look towards Tonks, Remus knew the verdict was told. She had been reflecting longer than usual, past the point at which she always came back with an apology. Remus's face fell as Tonks locked her eyes on his. They were the ones she reserved for the dark wizards she arrested, a hateful distain. But it was more than that. There was a tenseness she wasn't even trying to mask. He backed away, nothing about this was making sense, not her curling fists or the anger that radiated from her pale skin.
Tonks's face drained of color until it was practically chalk-white, not sticking around to see what others thought, perhaps realizing she'd made a grave mistake in her public declaration of her feelings for Remus. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the hospital wing without so much as sparing a second glance to Remus, or Bill, or Molly, or anyone else.
Remus knew those angry eyes were her pain untold, and he wished he would tell it. He wanted nothing more than to be hers in any storm, but there was one thing he wanted, only one thing he asked of her, to help him stay safe from them. He wanted Tonks to let him in all the way so that she always trusted him, and he would only ever see those kind, bewitching gray eyes of hers, the ones that were his home. Because he wanted to stay.
"You know what?" he growled, turning on his heel and following her, wondering which corridor she'd disappeared to. "The others were right," he grumbled, more to himself than to her. "I'm tired of this, Dora."
Remus found her at last, sitting on the bench of the courtyard, overlooking Hagrid's hut. If Tonks gave any indication at all that she heard him approach the bench where she sat from behind, she made no comment. She bit her tongue, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to leave her eyes. When Remus gingerly laid a hand on her shoulder, that's when she swung around and mentally broke, unable to hold back her tears. First, one small crystal bead escaped from her right eye. She could feel the warmth sliding down her cheek, rolling off her bruised chin.
Then another. And another. Until her eyes flooded with them, coming like a downpour. She sniffed once, coughing, covering her mouth with the back of her hand to quell her tears, but they continued to fall, and she let them. "What do you want?" she demanded angrily. "I don't need this right now," she cried, angrily brushing away her tears with a flick of her wrist.
"I—I'm sorry, Dora," he apologized, sounding pained.
"No, you're not, Rem. You never think about anyone but yourself, so please, just for once, can you just let me be miserable and not make me feel any worse about myself?" Her face crumpled and she turned away.
"I don't…" Remus did not know what to say to her anymore.
"Just go away!" she bellowed, her outburst startling a few pigeons.
What he said next surprised even himself. "No." His voice was cold.
Angered, she jerked her head up so fast, he was surprised she hadn't given herself whiplash. She opened her mouth and prepared to scream at him, her fingers hovering over her wand, twitching slightly, prepared to draw if she needed to, but Lupin did not give her a chance to consider it.
"You—you insufferable idiot, do you have any idea at all what you do to me?" he growled, catching her head in his hands and kissing her. Startled and caught completely off guard, Tonks's eyes widened before she closed them and allowed herself to get lost in his succulent kiss. His kiss was not innocent, but hot, fiery, and possessive. Tonks wanted to pull away before she lost herself, but she couldn't seem to. In this moment, her senses had been seduced and she could no longer think straight. He pulled apart, both pads of this thumbs caressing either side of her face. "Dora," he whispered slowly, prolonging each letter as if to savor them.
Before her, he had never wanted any form of eternity until now. He never saw the point. But he wanted her to stay, to be in love with him.
For her to be brave enough to take his hand and never let him go.
"Dora, you're too naïve! Too sweet for your own good, even when you're angry and cuss up a storm, I—I can't get enough of it. It's—you're infectious, being around you is contagious. You see the best in everyone, even a monster like me that does not deserve your love or friendship! How would you know what it means to love?" he shouted, unable to stop his heartache from erupting. "I've been in love with you ever since you tripped over that damn umbrella stand in Grimmauld Place but I—I didn't know it then. But I know it now, and I'm not going to let you disappear on me again. I won't. How well you come to know the person, how easily you'd be able to hurt them by just a harsh word or the simple matter of not being in their lives anymore! How many times you did. Losing our son, that should not have happened. You left me with barely enough life in me for more stories! You and I, we're barely lovers! Admit it!" he shouted, not sure where his temper was coming from, but if he couldn't reign his emotions under control, he'd have a very serious problem.
The last thing I want is to fight with you, Dora. This isn't us.
"Dora—" he started to say, but she cut him off, ranting.
"No, Remus, you shut up and listen to me! This is the part where you apologize to me for what you just said to me, Remus. It's breaking my heart to see you this way. I can't stay here and watch you kill yourself like this! It breaks my heart to see you this way, Remus. I want you to be happy, Remus. I can be that for you, but only if you let me. The only person I care about in my goddamned life besides myself is standing right in front of me!" she wept, angrily brushing away her tears with a gentle finger. "But you've been too blind to see it for yourself," she spat, fuming now. "You've always been blind, Remus. Blind and stupid, you fool, but I love you for it just the same," she sniffed, coughing as she lost control of her emotions.
Remus fell silent, stunned. He hadn't known. "Dora…"
The Auror shook her head as she scoffed and turned away, not wanting to cry in front of her best friend. "You know what?" she growled darkly. "It's fine."
"No, it's not Dora. I—I can't do this anymore!" he shouted.
Confused, she turned. She quirked her brow at him. Were this any other situation, Remus would have laughed at his friend's nonplussed expression. "What do you mean?" she asked, frowning. "Remus…?"
"I won't make the same mistake with you that I did the last time," he found himself saying, his voice pained. A muscle in his jaw jumped as he moved closer to Dora and rested his hands in her lap, effectively pinning her to the bench. "I won't. I can't do that to you, and it isn't fair to me," he confessed. "I just…the one woman that showed me kindness, you brought me back from a place I never want to go back to again. The woman who showed me what it means to love again, is sitting right in front of me, and I'd be a fool to let her walk out of my life." Dora tilted her head as she watched him, surprise building in her eyes. He could see hope and love there. "I poured my heart out to you. Tell me what you think, Dora."
"Remus, what are you saying?" she asked, nervously laughing. "You—are you serious right now? You're not joking? Tell me the truth!"
Remus paused, taking a deep breath to steel his nerves. "I just…what I have to say isn't easy for me, I—I've struggled with it for months on end, the better part of a year, and I don't…I love you, and I hope that it's my job to protect your heart, always, Dora. I really hope that it is, love," he managed at last, tripping over his words. He cringed at the awkwardness of it all and fell silent, waiting and watching for the Auror to react to it all.
"What?" Her kind voice was barely a whisper, hardly daring to believe what he was saying. So long have I wanted this…
"I've been thinking about something, Dora," he said suddenly. "What's your favorite story? Favorite book?"
She stared at him quizzically. "Okay, if we're going here, I guess. One of your favorites. The Tale of Beedle the Bard."
"If it was great, you probably loaned it to someone, right?"
"Yes, I—I loaned to Ginny not long ago so she could read it, and Remus, where the hell are you going with this?"
"You probably said to yourself, I wish I was the person who hadn't read it in the first place, so I could experience it over again, right, Dora? Correct me if I'm wrong," he said excitedly.
"Yeah, I guess so," she admitted, surprised.
"Well that's how I think we should approach this."
"Ah, what?" she managed, shocked, her gray eyes wide. "I don't understand," she admitted, incredibly confused. "Remus?"
"I've spent my whole life running from love, afraid to take a chance on it again. On you, on us. I don't want to be alone the rest of my life, and I don't want to mess up what you and I have, not this time. Not with you. You…you've always been the one for me, sweetheart. Our future life together, how wonderful would it be to experience love all over again with the woman I love for the first time? Same for you too, I imagine. The dashing man of your dreams, and all," he teased, a playful smirk forming and a brilliant twinkling sheen in his light brown eyes, the inferno in his eyes burning bright, the hottest she'd seen.
Tonks smiled, a beaming, radiant smile on her lips.
"Like reading your favorite book all over again for the first time," she said excitedly, taking his hands in hers and giving them a tight squeeze. She fell silent, studying him carefully before breaking into a wide grin and laughing. "All right," she admitted at last. "You win. I'll give us a shot."
Remus looked into Dora's gray eyes and saw surprise mixed with adoration and the beginnings of a burning love, hotter than a thousand suns, and if he didn't look away, he was going to be burned, just as Icarus had when he flew too close to the sun. But if flying close to the sun meant he could be with Dora; he would burn every day for the rest of his natural life. "But Remus, what about…what about your work? Greyback's camps?" she asked, glancing back out towards Hagrid's hut, at the smoke plumes lazily coming from the chimney. The sight had somehow always managed to soothe her. "I know your life spent working for the Order hasn't been all for nothing, you can't just…throw all this away just for me, Remus!"
Remus laughed. "I just really desperately need to kiss you right now, Dora," he joked, leaning in for a quick kiss. "I tried to fight these feelings for the last several months. I've tried running from it, but I can't. And I'm tired of trying to be something that I'm not. I'm not a priest; I was foolish to think I could hide behind my lycanthropy forever. I…I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Dora, if you'll have me, love. You mean far too much to me to just let you walk out on me again. No. You're stuck with me, love," he teased playfully, reaching up a tender hand to cup her chin in his hand. To think I almost threw all of this away, he thought.
Tonks fell silent, just watching Remus. Her friend was looking at her with a baffled expression on his face, and for the first time, uncertainty at what he'd stumbled into, unprepared for the whirlwind of emotions running through his mind. His brown eyes were lost and confused, and…and…slightly aroused.
That's one thing about you I've always admired, Remus, she mused, quirking her brow at the handsome werewolf. You always know what you want, and when there's something you want, it's yours.
Still, she tried again. "But are you sure? I can't do that to you, Remus."
"Dora Tonks, you are insufferable, woman. You…you impossible idiot. Don't you know?" he growled darkly, catching her head in his hands and kissing her. Dora started laughing inexplicably, her laughter making stutters of her kisses as she kissed him back, feeling her cheeks flush hot as his kiss deepened. Was it all just a dream? No, it was really happening. When she kissed him, Remus's brain went numb and he could think of nothing else as his entire body lit on fire and warmth spread throughout. After that, he became addicted. Remus couldn't bear not to be with Dora, and he could hardly breathe when she was around. Her kisses were his salvation and his torment. He lived for them, always. His hands wrapped around Tonks's waist and hers locked around his neck, pulling him closer to her. When they broke apart for air, she rested her forehead against his and gathered much needed air. His smile told her everything and she returned the gesture, sinking into his hold.
Tonks hesitantly looked up at Remus. The swirls of emotions in his blue eyes made her gasp. Lust, desire, and love. Before she could ponder it further, he yanked her forward and covered her mouth with his in a hungry, demanding kiss. As their lips met, it felt like she was walking on air, dancing among the clouds in the heavens. It's magic, she thought. My love for him is his new magic, his new story. He is my heaven and I can be his for all eternity. His mouth was so warm, the caress of his lips softer and gentler than she could have imagined, and Tonks opened her mouth slightly with a low moan, inviting him to continue.
For Remus, their kiss obliterated his every thought. For the first time in a long time, Remus's mind was locked into the present, not the past. The worries of his day evaporated, and his usual mode of hurrying from one thing to the next was suspended; he had no wish for this kiss to end. Drunk on endorphins, his only desire was to touch her, to move his hands under the fabric of her black sweater and feel her perfect softness. His smile faltered and the light in his eyes seemed to dim.
"I didn't mean to walk away from you. It was the last thing I ever wanted to do," he answered thickly, slightly angry. "I have no intention of letting that happen again, Nymphadora Tonks. You and I, we're meant to be together, and it's time we both stopped trying to deny and make excuses why we shouldn't be together. Life's too short for these mistakes, and Lord knows I've made enough of them in my lifetime,"
He hesitated, a pained look in his brown eyes as he looked at her.
"Remus?" she asked, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"My life is worth nothing to me if you're not by my side," he began. "I just…there's something I need to ask you, and I'm not entirely sure how you're going to react. And this time, I'm going to do it the right way. Dora, I know you face an uncertain future with me, but I want you to know there's one thing I want you to be certain of, and that's that I will always be by your side, and I will never give up on us. I hope that it will always be my job to protect your heart. I have a question I need to ask you, and I don't know what your answer will be, but if I don't ask it now, I never will…"I keep falling in love with you as the days pass, and each time is harder than the last. Every time, my love for you gets deeper, more complete, more bewitching. There isn't a thing I would do to keep you safe. Don't ever think you have to ask for my love and affection, because you don't. The more love I give you, the more I have. I've lived long enough to know that what you and I share, I can't replicate with another. This love, this feeling, is just you and me. I could travel the entire world, and I'd still have to come right back here to you if I wanted true love. You and I, we're the protectors of one another, confidants and best friends. The trust I give you, that you give me, is what keeps us safe in a world that's dark and cruel to us both."
He took a deep breath and stepped back, running a hand through his hair nervously. There's no going back after this, he thought, looking pained, as he looked at swallowed and continued. "Whether my heart beats for another day or another hundred years, it's yours." He stepped back away from Tonks and knelt on one knee and unclenched his fist. In his hand was a beautiful elegant moonstone ring, glittering and sparkling even in the night. "I don't want to lose you," he said carefully, studying her reaction and noticing her breath catch in her throat. "I almost lost you once, and I've no intention of letting that happen ever again. I love you, Dora. You, you bring light and happiness into my life when I thought I'd never find it again. I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose you. A life without you by my side is not a life worth living. Will you marry me?" he asked, his gaze meeting hers as he tried to determine her reaction. "Marry me, Dora," he said quietly. "You would be making me so happy by becoming my wife, sweetheart. Too long have I lived alone, and my life isn't worth living if I can't share it with you by my side, love."
She fell silent. "What?" she asked, stunned and at a loss.
"I know I'm risking so much by asking this of you," he said, his gaze never wavering from hers, a terrified look in his eyes. "What you and I would be risking taking a chance on love. But there's no one else I'd rather take that leap with than you. So, what do you say, Dora? Will you marry me, Nymphadora Tonks? Will you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife?"
Tonks was losing her sense of self in his eyes, drowning in the brilliant sea of brown. "Yes," she whispered, still in shock. Remus grinned, looking truly happy for the first time in a long time, not since Christmas. He gently placed the ring on her finger and stood, his mouth covering hers in a passionate kiss that neither of them wanted to end. Tonks broke apart and took a moment to admire the simplicity of the ring. "This was your mother's?" she asked, thinking she already knew.
He nodded. "Yes. Your father told me to take care of you. I aim to keep that promise the rest of my life, love," he promised.
She grinned up at Remus and felt a huge weight lift from her heart. "Well?" she asked, holding out her left hand so they could both admire the ring, how the gold shone in the light. "How does it look?"
Dora grinned as Remus kissed her forehead. "You look good wearing my future," he said, and her heart melted. She took a seat on a stone bench and stared out at the starry night sky. The Auror suppressed a pleasant tremor as he reached up a gentle hand and absentmindedly played with a few strands of her now vibrant pink locks, her pixie returned to its usual pink hue. "You've bewitched me," he said, taking her hand in his, just content to sit with her in the silence.
"Do you remember the night we met?" she asked, a light igniting in her gray eyes. "I couldn't stop staring at you, all during the night. Your eyes," she said, her voice low and husky as she stared at him. "Your laugh," she teased, quirking her brow suggestively, her hand on his chin as she leaned in to kiss him. When they broke apart, there was a mischievous glint in his brown eyes that she hadn't seen in him since Christmas Eve night. "Come with me," he said, taking her hand, and Disapparating with her. "I've waited too long for this."
"Where are we going?" she called out, but he didn't answer. He didn't speak much on the walk back once they'd reached the front step of her apartment, drawing the curtain back to her bedroom that separated the rest of her—now their—bedroom from the rest of her flat. He grabbed her by the waist, pulling her up close against his chest, her hand splayed across his chest, the other lingering on his waist. His hand gently glided through her hair as he looked into her eyes. Dora's gray eyes were candles in the night, their light a spark of passion and desire. As a small but teasing smile crept onto her face, goose bumps lined her skin, not the kind that one gets in the cold or when afraid, but the kind one gets when nothing else matters except right here, right now. In the room that is twilight and shadow, Remus stood close enough for her to breathe in his scent. His arms wrapped around her back and in one gentle pull, their skin touched.
Tonks felt his hand in her hair, how he loved the softness, one hand pressing tightly against the back of her head, finding purchase in her hair as he kissed her passionately, and they started to move like partners in a dance. Their bodies fit together as if they were made for this, to fall into one another, to feel their natural rhythm. With a laugh, he lifted Tonks right off her feet, carrying her towards her bed, setting her gingerly on the mattress. They locked eyes for a moment, just enough for them to feel safe with one another. Remus took his time undoing her jeans, his hands wandering as he unzipped her jeans, shimmying them off.
When it was just the two of them, every pretense fell. The façade the two of them showed the world melted away and all they wanted was to love each other the only way they knew how. Every kiss had a raw intensity, breathing fast, their heart rates faster. The two of them moved together like the finest of silks beneath the sheets. Tonks felt his hand enter from below, moving fast, breaking away from her kiss, changing her breathing with every thrust, hearing her moans timed to his body.
Remus's fingers left a tingling frenzy of static in their wake. As his hands moved over her skin, her body had a temporary paralysis, her mind unable to process the pleasure so fast. His head moved around to her left ear, nipping it gently before whispering what's coming next, telling her she's going to have to beg for him to stop. She pulled back for a kiss that was both soft and hard. Both moved in sync, never making the same moves twice. They were in love, and so long had they waited for this, and now that it was happening, they didn't want the moment to end.
"Jesus, stop!" she pleaded desperately, collapsing back against the pillow, panting heavily. "Remus, stop, stop! I—I can't, Merlin's beard!" she cried. "Please." He stopped and waited, his dark hair damp and a sheen of sweat on his brow. "Just…give me a minute. Remus…"
"What, Dora?" he urged gently, his voice full of longing for his future wife, throwing her a suggestive wink. "What is it? Do you want me to stop, or should I continue?" he smirked. "It's your call, sweetheart."
"I just…wanted to tell you that I love you," she confessed, her eyes welling with tears of happiness. "I always have, and always will. I hope you never forget. If you do, well…"
"You'll have to remind me," he finished quietly, smiling. "I love you too, Dora. I always will. My love for you is completely different. You're my best friend and my soul mate in this life and the next. I won't live without you by my side. You're my light that guides me home to you, where I know my heart is safe with you. Now shut up and let me kiss you."
So, she did. Remus was handsome from the depth of his eyes to the gentle expressions of his voice. He was handsome from his generous opinions to the touch of his hand upon her own. Tonks loved the way his voice quickened when he sparkled with a new idea or was so enjoying one of hers that he lost himself for a moment and quite forgot the mask he wore for others.
She gave him her heart that night and kept his safe, that's the way it was.