Chapter 84: Tonks Interlude K
At long last, the boat came into view through Tonks' enchanted spyglass. She could make out Proudfoot and Armstrong with ease, but for a heart-stopping moment she thought that they were alone. Remus, she finally realized, was slumped low in the boat.
She remembered how straight he'd sat when they'd brought him to Azkaban, how politely he'd spoken to her and to Kingsley. It had been the day after a full moon— just as today was, of course— but he had hidden the extent of his exhaustion. Today he couldn't pretend to be anything but weak and sick and…
Tonks hated Dolores Umbridge. Simply despised her.
She faded into the background as the boat drew nearer. Sooner rather than later she would have to tell everyone in the Auror office about her marital plans. The gossip would spread like wildfire through the whole of the Ministry. She wouldn't mind; she would even enjoy it. But she was going to make her announcement on her own terms (well, she supposed she would allow Remus a certain amount of input). She wasn't going to have Proudfoot and Armstrong go scurrying to Scrimgeour with the news that she had greeted the most famous werewolf in Britain with sobs and a hug and a kiss.
Not that she didn't trust Proudfoot and Armstrong in general. They were decent, competent Aurors. They wouldn't give all Aurors a bad name the way Robards and Gordon had done when they'd arrested Remus.
Proudfoot pointed his wand in her direction when she tripped over some rocks at the edge of the cliff, not far up the narrow spit of land from the invisible dock where the Aurors kept their magically concealed boats.
She still hadn't worked exactly out how Remus had seen the boat when she and Kingsley had accompanied him to Azkaban in the first place. She didn't think he'd cast a spell, wandless as he'd been; he had some sort of experience that had let him know precisely where and how to look. She wondered if he would tell her if she asked.
She stayed still. She let her skin and her hair take on the color of the rocks which surrounded her. Her clothing already blended in perfectly. Proudfoot lowered his wand, muttering that he must have seen a bird.
Armstrong hauled Remus to his feet, but Remus stepped shakily out of the boat without additional help. He had lost weight and his hair looked more grey than it it had three months before. His left arm was wrapped in a crude sling, but she could see that it was bent in a way that an arm was not meant to bend.
"We're not permitted to take you anywhere but St. Mungo's," said Armstrong. "Are you certain that you don't want to go?"
"Quite certain, thank you," said Remus courteously. Tonks understood that. She didn't like St. Mungo's, either.
"Is there anyone you want us to notify that you're here?" asked Proudfoot.
"No. I'm fine on my own." His voice, always slightly hoarse, was now so rough that it seemed as if it should belong to someone else entirely.
Proudfoot and Armstrong glanced at each other, and Tonks was glad that they had the grace to worry about leaving a sick man on his own by the edge of the North Sea. The walk due north to the nearest town was a pleasant challenge for a healthy person on a good day. It wasn't remotely pleasant for someone in Remus' fragile condition.
She was slightly annoyed that Remus hadn't accepted their offer of help. If he didn't want to ask for her by name out of a misguided need to protect her, she would have begrudgingly understood his reasoning. But he might at least have asked for Sirius.
He didn't. He thanked Proudfoot and Armstrong and watched as they took their Portkey back to the Auror office.
She stepped away from the edge of the cliff and a smile lit his grey, pain-lined face. "Hello, Dora."
She wondered how he had recognized her. She had made herself smaller and slighter, the better to hide in a crevice and not draw attention to herself. Her clothing was nothing she would have worn except while undercover. She supposed that her skin and hair matching her surroundings so conveniently might have been a giveaway.
Or perhaps he had just looked into her eyes and truly seen her, no matter what she'd done with her physical body. She liked that explanation better. It was more romantic.
She concentrated and grew a few inches while broadening her shoulders and letting her skin return to its natural pale complexion. Finally, she snapped her hair into her favorite shade of bubblegum pink.
"Hello, Remus."
He took one long step toward her. "You're all right?"
Her throat tightened and her eyes burned. He was asking her whether she was all right? No one had sent her to Azkaban for three months and refused to provide her with medical treatment. "Of course I'm all right."
"I thought—perhaps— that Bellatrix—"
So that was it. It wasn't an unreasonable fear. "Sirius took care of her about five minutes after she broke out. I don't mind telling you, I'm a little bit jealous." The joke fell flat. Duels to the death with murderous family members just weren't that funny.
"Good," said Remus. "I mean, good that Bellatrix is no longer a threat. Not good that you don't have everything you want at all times."
"The only thing I want is you." She grabbed him, hard, and only remembered why she hadn't done that in the first place when he gave a strangled gasp. She tried to pull away, but his arms were locked around her and he wouldn't let go. "This is hurting you," she whispered.
"It's worth it."
Her laugh was choked and waterlogged. "Is it all right for me to Apparate you?"
"Yes."
She pushed her feelings down and focused only on performing Apparition perfectly.
Once they were safely inside her flat, Tonks settled Remus onto her bed and looked as him as detachedly as she could. Compartmentalize, Mad-Eye had said roughly eleven hundred thousand times during her Auror training.
"The robes are beyond fixing," said Remus quietly. He was right; the robes were little better than rags.
"I'm not worried about the robes," said Tonks. "Robes can be replaced."
"Not if you're unemployable and have no way of buying more."
Tonks glared. "I happen to be very employable and more than willing to buy you anything you need. For now, you have other robes in your trunk." She pointed at the trunk and he turned his head to look. She heard his neck crack painfully as he did.
"Where did you get that?"
"Sirius liberated it from Hogwarts after they arrested you. He let me take it here so there wouldn't be any chance of the Weasley twins accidentally blowing it up while they're working on their products at his cottage. Honestly, it looks like a warehouse in there." She vanished his robes into nothingness and winced at the sight of the bruises on his ribs.
Bruises she could heal. Cuts she could treat with dittany. She could even mend cracked ribs with confidence. But his left arm, which lay at a nauseating angle, was something else entirely.
Remus followed her gaze. "Do you have Skele-Gro?"
"Always. Ever since the first time I tripped over my own boots and knocked out a tooth."
He looked amused. "Vanish the bones, what's left of them. They need to be regrown, not repaired."
"No," said Tonks firmly. Auror training required one to be adept at basic emergency healing. The fine detail work required in repairing shattered bones was beyond her ability and she knew it. "I'll rewrap your arm and we can go to St. Mungo's in a day or two when you've had a chance to rest."
"I don't think that's appropriate, Dora."
"I don't care." She opened his trunk and removed the softest, most comfortable clothing she could find. "Put these on. I'm going to get you a blood-replenishing potion. Anything special you want to eat or drink?"
"Pumpkin juice," he said. She was surprised that he had requested anything at all, and pleased that he requested something that was already in her flat. She brought the juice and the potion to him and then sat beside him on the bed. "Accio!" Three carefully preserved editions of the Daily Prophet flew into her hand.
"I have the highest respect and appreciation for your skill as a Healer, Dora, but I'm not certain I'm recovered enough to stomach Rita Skeeter's latest masterpiece."
She grinned wickedly. "Oh, you are." The paper was already folded open to the interview Sirius and her mother had given in the aftermath of Bellatrix's death. She began to read in her most dramatic voice.
"Sirius Black is at once everything you would expect, and nothing you would expect. Raised in the lap of luxury as a member of the influential and infamous Black family, his star fell as fast as it rose when he was wrongfully imprisoned for a mass murder…"
By the time she got to the part about Sirius' smile hinting equally of love and danger, Remus was laughing so hard that she was worried he would re-crack the ribs she had just mended.
"The letter from the students on page 11," he said when she had finished with a flourish and he had caught his breath.
"So glad you asked," she said, and she flipped the paper over. She held it up so that he could see the ninety-seven names which accompanied it. Again, she began to read aloud. This time, she did not use her most dramatic voice.
To the Editors of the Daily Prophet,
We are current students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We represent each of the four Houses and each of the seven years. Some of us are diligent students; some of us are not. Some of us are particularly interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts; some of us are not.
All of us have been taught by Professor R.J. Lupin during the past three years. Those of us who have been taught by other Defense professors can tell you, unequivocally, that he was the best of them. There was no real competition. He has helped us unravel the riddles of the sphinx. He has taught us how to protect ourselves from magical creatures ranging from grindylows to doxies. He has taught us about the Unforgivable Curses and how to avoid falling prey to them. He is willing not only to prepare us properly for our OWLS and NEWTS, but to teach us more advanced magic such as Patronus Charms. On the subject of charms, he always coordinates his lesson plans with our Charms instructor, Professor Flitwick, so that the classes complement one another.
When Cedric Diggory (one of the undersigned) was chosen as the Hogwarts Champion in the first Triwizard Tournament in over a century, he specifically asked for Professor Lupin's help in preparing. To the surprise of no one, this help was cheerfully offered. Professor Lupin is not a brilliant professor merely because his knowledge of his subject is encyclopedic (even though for some reason he often claims that it is not). He is also a brilliant teacher because he's funny and compassionate. He helps us be less afraid so we can focus on learning. He shows us that we are capable of more than we thought. He makes every lesson memorable in more ways than one.
Most importantly to those of us who will be third years next year, Boggart Day has become a treasured tradition and we do not want to miss our opportunity to take part in it. Everyone in the school knows that on the first day of the autumn term, third years are given the opportunity to face a Boggart while learning to cast Riddikulus. It is a collective experience that brings us closer together as a school while also helping us a learn an undeniably useful spell. In the hands of a less skilled teacher, this lesson could be humiliating or even dangerous. In the hands of Professor Lupin, it is a wonderful challenge.
When Professor Lupin was arrested, many of us walked out of our classes in protest. We returned to class the next day because we value our educations and we know that he does as well. However, we have not changed our opinion.
We do not support the Child Safety and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. We believe our safety has been compromised because we have been deprived of a professor who helped us learn to protect ourselves. We understand that he has the potential to be dangerous during the full moon, but our classes did not take place during the full moon.
While no business should be forced to hire someone who is not up to the job, Hogwarts should not be forbidden from hiring the best person for the job.
We hope that we will be able to welcome Professor Lupin back to Hogwarts next September in time for the new third years' Boggart Day.
Respectfully Submitted…
She held up the paper again so that Remus could review the list of names.
Remus was very, very still. He looked as if he might cry.
"I wish I'd had a Boggart Day when I was a third year," she said as lightly as she could. "Especially as that was the year someone opened a cursed vault in the restricted section of the library. There were hundreds of boggarts all over the school, and since it had only been a few years since You-Know-Who fell, half the school saw him in their boggarts and it was tricky to banish them. That was how I became friends with Tulip, you know. She taught herself Riddikulus from a book and then we broke into the vault in the restricted section…" She realized that she was rambling and stopped herself.
"Of course you did." His voice was still rough. She knew that she ought to find something to soothe his throat, but she felt as if someone had cast one of her Great Aunt Walburga's infamous permanent sticking charms on her. She didn't want to leave Remus' side.
"Madam Pince never forgave me. We didn't get detention, though, because she didn't want to admit that we'd managed it under her watch."
"Or she didn't think you ought to be punished for trying to help," Remus suggested.
Tonks shook her head. "None of this 'seeing the best in everyone.' Especially not in Madam Pince."
"She's passionate about her work."
"She loves books so much that she won't let anyone read them!"
"I highly doubt that she ever became angry with you for reading a book."
Tonks scowled. Remus might have been right— she might have once transfigured an entire row of books into crows just to watch Madam Pince's reaction— but she didn't want to argue about Madam Pince of all people.
"I'm sorry, Dora," said Remus. "You've been so kind to me—"
"No!" She didn't want to hear about kindness, as if it were unexpected, as if she were taking pity on him, as if they were mere acquaintances, as if he was not part of the life she had chosen. "I only brought up Madam Pince because I wanted you to stop thinking about how much your students love you and start thinking about how much I love you."
Well. That had come out wrong.
But Remus was staring at her, wide-eyed. It was as good an opportunity as any. She slid from the bed and knelt in front of Remus.
It wasn't quite romantic enough, so she gave a wave of her wand to make the ceiling sparkle, then conjured and lit a dozen candles on the windowsill. She stowed her wand and took Remus' hand in hers.
His hand was dry and rough. His nails were cracked where she hadn't been able to mend them. She could see dried blood where her cleaning spell hadn't worked quite as well as Muggle plumbing would have.
She never wanted anyone to hurt this man again.
"Three months ago, I asked you to run away with me. You told me you loved me. You told me that if I still loved you after three months… well, you didn't tell me what was going to happen after three months because we were too busy kissing. And that was a very good use of our time. So I've decided that what we should do is get married."
He looked far too serious and not nearly elated enough. "Dora…"
She rushed on, wanting to stave off the moment he said no because he felt awful and didn't believe she knew her own mind. "Before you even think of saying no, you should be aware that I've already told my parents and Mad-Eye and Sirius and Harry that I'm asking, so you'll have to be the one to explain to them if you turn me down."
Now he looked amused again. "That is a powerful disincentive." He paused. "Do you mean to tell me that all of those people approve? Your parents?"
"Dad was a little surprised. I don't think Mum was. But they want me to be happy, Remus, and you make me happy. I know that in your mind I've been your wife all along. But I'd like to have a ceremony so that you can be my husband in my mind, too, as well as on the Ministry scrolls. Will you marry me?"
"You know I will," he said softly.
She grinned so hard that it hurt her face. "Accio, ring!" An apple ring from Honeydukes flew into her hand. "You may now place the engagement ring on my finger."
He laughed, as she'd hoped he would. "I can offer you my mother's ring, which is somewhat less likely to dissolve into a pile of sugar."
She knew how little he had of his mother, and how he had revered her. Not for the first time, she wished that she could have met Hope Lupin. "I would be honored."
"It's more traditional than your usual style. If you can't see yourself wearing it—"
"I can see myself wearing it."
"You haven't seen it."
"I don't need to."
He almost rolled his eyes. "Have it your way."
"I almost always do." She stood up and climbed back onto the bed, catching his lips with hers as she did.
(She was almost graceful in that moment. She decided that the universe owed her this unusual experience after the way it had treated her when she and Remus had first shared this very bed. As she recalled, she had accidentally kicked him before they'd even gotten started. Then she'd tripped over nothing and knocked a painting off the wall. But the rest of the night had gone well. It had gone very well indeed.)
Their kisses and caresses multiplied and she was just beginning to lose herself in the sensations when Remus yawned widely.
Right. It was the night after a full moon.
"That was not a comment on your—" Remus yawned again.
"I know," she said. "Go to sleep." And she lay down beside her fiancé.
Eventually, Tonks detached herself from Remus and made her way to her small fireplace. She tossed a pinch of Floo powder into the flames and called out to Sirius.
He dropped to his knees by his hearth almost immediately. "Tonks? What is it? Is it about Remus."
"Yes. He's here. He's all right."
Sirius' concern turned to anger. "You knew he was being released today and you didn't tell me?"
"I'm not allowed to repeat things I only know because I'm an Auror." It was true. It was also true that the Auror regulations about confidentiality had been more than a little convenient. She'd wanted Remus to herself for a moment. She'd wanted to discuss their marriage right away, and if Sirius had been there…
Well, Sirius hadn't been there. And he couldn't argue that there weren't any regulations binding her, because there were. He could only mutter something unflattering about rule-abiding Ministry employees.
"Do you want to come over?" she asked, proud of how well she was ignoring his glower.
Sirius nodded. "Step back."
He clambered through the Floo and into her flat. The small fireplace was a rather tight fit for him, and he tumbled awkwardly into her kitchen. "Even your flat is clumsy?" he demanded as he regained his balance. "Was it always like this or did it just happen after you moved in?"
"My flat is perfect, just like me," she said smugly. Then she held up her left hand so that Sirius could see her candy apple engagement ring. "Remus seems to like both of us just fine."
"So he agreed to marry you," said Sirius flatly.
"How do you know he wasn't the one who asked me?"
"He would have proposed with an actual ring. Do you suppose he really wants to marry you, or do you suppose he just wanted you to shut up so he could get some sleep?"
She'd been prepared for Sirius to be irritated because she hadn't told him that Remus' release had gone through the minute she'd known. She hadn't been prepared for Sirius to be this mean. "Why don't you just pull out your wand and hex me?" she challenged. "If you think you can."
Sirius looked like he might be considering it, but ultimately he stowed his wand and stalked out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. She chased him.
They found Remus sitting up on the bed, looking like he could have used another ten hours of sleep.
"You woke him," Tonks accused Sirius.
"He needs to be awake to eat," said Sirius with the distinct air of a practiced know-it-all. "He can go to sleep until tomorrow morning after that." Sirius glanced at the bandages on Remus' left arm. "Bad enough that Tonks couldn't heal it?"
"I broke it in February," said Remus. His voice was still too hoarse to Tonks' ears, but Sirius seemed unconcerned. "I couldn't mend it, so I broke it in a few more places in March and I shattered it last night. The bones need to be vanished and regrown."
Sirius nodded as if this was a perfectly reasonable solution to the situation. "Do you want me to do it?"
"Please," said Remus.
"You're not a qualified Healer!" Tonks objected as Remus removed the binding on his arm.
"No," agreed Sirius. "But I'm good enough to do this."
Remus braced himself against the wall and Sirius waved his wand. He didn't even have the courtesy to say the vanishing spell aloud. Remus's arm slowly deflated into a floppy, shapeless tube of flesh. It was disgusting, and Tonks wasn't easy to disgust.
Remus smiled. "That's the first time it hasn't hurt in two months," he said.
"Do you want to leave it like that?" Sirius teased. He was already summoning Tonks' Skele-Gro.
Remus pretended to consider. "I don't think so."
Sirius conjured a beaker and filled it to the brim with Skele-Gro.
"He won't be able to eat or sleep. It'll be too painful," said Tonks. She sounded like a petulant child. She didn't like sounding like a petulant child in her own flat.
Remus downed what Tonks knew to be a particularly disgusting potion without coughing or sputtering.
"He'll be fine," said Sirius. "Welcome to the world of werewolf pain tolerance."
"I will be fine, Dora," said Remus with an indulgent smile. "This isn't the first time." He glanced back and forth between Sirius and Tonks. "Will you leave me alone with Sirius for a moment?"
She managed to stop herself from screaming that no, she would not leave them alone, and that she did not appreciate Remus and Sirius taking sides against her when it came to something as dangerous as doing high-level healing outside of St. Mungo's.
"It's all right, Dora," Remus soothed.
She didn't want to be soothed. "Is this about the thing with Harry on Easter?" she asked.
Sirius and Remus looked at each other as if she weren't in the room.
"It is," she decided. "If it is, why can't you trust me?"
Remus reached for her with his good arm and twined his fingers through hers. "We can, of course. Tell me what happened on Easter, Sirius."
To his credit, Sirius made no objection. Instead, he sank heavily to the edge of the bed and buried his head in his hands for a moment. "He did it, Moony. Harry went to Albania to face Voldemort."
Tonks gasped even though it wasn't entirely a surprise. Sirius gave her a wry smile, and suddenly she didn't feel as cross with him anymore. "Voldemort was… back?" she asked.
"Dumbledore had him resurrected so he could be killed properly," Sirius explained. "Because of some magic that happened the last time Voldemort tried to kill Harry, Harry had to be there so Voldemort could curse him again."
"He had to stand there and let Voldemort try to kill him?" Tonks was too caught up by the horrifying image to remember that she'd ever been irritated.
"He did." Sirius nodded curtly. "He managed it. We have a body. Voldemort's gone for good."
Remus slumped hard against the wall, his fingers slackening in Tonks' grip.
"This is good news, though, isn't it?" Tonks asked.
"It's good news," Sirius and Remus said in unison.
"It's a little overwhelming," added Remus.
"Nothing that can't be fixed with dinner," Sirius continued, his voice slightly strained. "What do you want on your first day out of Azkaban, Moony? We can get almost anything by owl-order around here. The Potted Pig will send us cawl, I believe."
Remus' tired face lit up. "Yes, please. Owl the Potted Pig."
Tonks made a conscious effort not to be jealous that Sirius knew exactly what Remus would want without asking. It was easier not to be jealous once the food arrived.
The cawl was delicious— a stew made of lamb, cabbage, and leeks— and accompanied by bread and cheese.
"Is this what your mother made for you the day after full moons?" asked Tonks. She knew that cawl was a traditional Welsh dish, but she had never given it any particular consideration before.
Remus confirmed that it was. Tonks mentally vowed that it would always, always be available in their home.
Pudding was the Potted Pig's speciality of dark chocolate delice, baked white chocolate, and chocolate ice cream. Tonks supposed that it would be effective against any remnants of Dementors, and indeed Remus seemed more and more cheerful as the evening went on.
Sirius departed as soon as they had finished eating, just as Remus' eyelids began to droop. "Back to bed," Tonks told him, and he let her escort him without complaint.
The next morning, Tonks awoke to see that Remus' left arm looked like an arm again. It seemed that Sirius had known what he was doing.
She reached out and brushed the locks of hair that had fallen across Remus' eyes in his sleep. As gentle as her touch had been, Remus awoke. "Good morning," he said.
"An excellent morning," she agreed. "My first morning as an engaged woman."
"No remorse in the cold light of dawn?" he asked.
"None. I don't know why I ever doubted you. It was— it was a great shock when you first told me what you'd done, and I was silly."
"Not silly at all."
"Very silly. But I'm over it now. Now every time I think of you, and Teddy, and the family that we're going to be, it seems more real. I'm more sure that this is life I choose. You. Teddy." She smiled happily. "Every time I say his name, he seems more real. I can't wait to meet him. He'll be wonderful, won't he?"
"He was wonderful," said Remus. "His hair started changing colors as soon as he was born."
"So did mine. It'll be wonderful to have another Metamorphmagus in the word. But I do hope he looks like you when he isn't morphing."
"You thought he did," said Remus. "I thought he looked like you. I thought— he was an infant— but I was sure that he had your spirit, and your kindness, and your open mind."
"And your intelligence, and your humor, and your ability to walk across a room without tripping over something. He'll be a Hufflepuff, though."
"He'll be a Gryffindor," Remus argued without any real bite.
"He'll be perfect," said Tonks. "We'll be perfect."
Remus gazed at her in a way that she had never really expected a man to gaze at her. "I love you."
"And I love you."
She kissed him again, feeling immeasurably happier than she had felt one short day before.
To be continued.
Auxiliary Disclaimer: No offense intended to the real Potted Pig. It was the first thing that came up when I searched for "Welsh restaurants" and the name was so delightful I couldn't stand to change it.
Author's Note: Sorry I missed a few weeks. Not liking this living in a pandemic thing although I know I'm luckier than many. I don't think I answered the reviews this time around, but thank you for the comments, typo catches, and fic recommendations. They were appreciated. As for the length of this fic, I'm guessing in the neighborhood of ten more chapters. But this story has done what it damn pleases from the beginning, so who knows how accurate my estimate is?
Recommendation: By a Thread by shimotsuki11. It is story number 4021099 on this site.
Summary: After the final battle, Remus Lupin has a choice to make - with a little help from some old friends. Remus/Tonks, Lily/James, Sirius, Andromeda, Poppy Pomfrey, Dumbledore. DH spoilers; AU.
The first in a series of interlocking Remus/Tonks short stories, if that's your thing. And hey, I think that "Remus after the final battle" happens to be a fine place to start a story.