9
REMUS was staring to get perturbed, not to mention frustrated with the turn of events.
Halfway down the hall of the first corridor, he ran into several students, a few he recognized, who were wandering back to their dormitories after dinner in the Great Hall, some no doubt, heading towards the library to study, he supposed.
Nothing out of the ordinary, except the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, was not at all used to being so disgruntled and agitated over a witch, of all things, and as a consequence, his brows furrowed and the edges of his lips turned down into a sneer, the scars pulling his skin taut and tight, giving him a truly monstrous appearance, and he swore he felt the students' stares pierce the back of his skull as he stormed down the hallway, feeling his heart sink to his stomach.
Lupin had searched the entirety of the first floor of the school and found no sign of Tonks.
He had checked the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom first, perhaps thinking maybe the young witch would have gotten it into her mind to look for him there, and when she was not there, he resisted the urge to roar like an enraged dragon, feeling even more frustrated by the way that he was feeling.
Remus was having difficulty believing how he had managed to lose all semblance of control and fled from the young witch, not wanting to linger on the fear that he had seen within her pale gray orbs as Tonks had looked at him…
Professor Lupin ceased his movements for a moment and turned to look outside a nearby window.
The sun had fully set beyond the horizon now, and the sky outside was pitch black, and almost so dark it rendered him breathless.
The fear… He supposed he had deserved that, perhaps, given the nature of his condition and there was no changing his monstrous appearance, Remus thought, wincing.
Lupin had been waiting for Professor Dumbledore or even McGonagall to mention Tonks to him, now that he knew the woman's first name, but he quickly realized they would not interfere in the lives of a colleague.
For some strange reason, Remus felt an incredible urge not to tell anyone here at Hogwarts about what had happened little less than forty-five minutes ago.
He was certain that his reasonings had to do with the fact that he didn't want false rumors and slanderous gossip to spread about him and this young witch, this Auror, as enough rumors were already flitting through the castle walls about him.
Remus knew that if he wanted his new appointment as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor to be taken seriously, he had to stay away from potential scandalous situations, which, allowing himself to become entangled with this woman, as bewitching a hold as she seemed to have on him, was very much one.
He walked without really knowing where he was going, unaware his legs were no longer taking direction from his mind and leading him towards the library.
It had been where he had found the young woman, after all, maybe there was a chance she would have gone back to the library, to the Restricted Section…
Not that he felt as though he had an obligation to do so, but also considering the information he had learned from Professors Snape and Dumbledore as to the fact that she and Sirius Black were cousins by blood, he'd have to be very careful.
"Good evening, Professor Lupin," said one particularly short, a dark-haired fifth-year student that reminded him a little bit of Alice Longbottom, a girl named Emily Prewitt, who had stopped in the hallway, gathering her books under one arm to turn and incline her head respectfully towards him.
Remus was about to help her adjust the weight of the load of books she was carrying, as the topmost book on her stack looked as though it was about to fall off when he heard a loud shriek and it sounded as though something clattered loudly to the floor with a bang.
"What was that, sir?" gasped Emily, looking at Professor Lupin worriedly.
He froze as he heard the unmistakable screeching of Madame Pince's voice, his face draining of colors.
"Stay here," he muttered, ignoring the girl's question.
Lupin made his way swiftly up the stairs of the Grand Staircase, turning towards the corridor that led to the library, his wolfish hearing perking up as the shrieks continued, trying to ascertain where the ungodly noise had originated.
He paused to listen further and heard the distant sound of two women's voices, both of which sounded rather accusatory and argumentative.
Not wanting a brawl to break out in the Hogwarts library, he strode towards the library.
Though this gave him pause when he noticed the library doors were closed, though one had been left slightly ajar.
Remus was right to deduce the voices came from behind. He stilled his movements, willing his breaths to almost stop.
"How dare you treat this book in such a despicable way? Despoiled, fouled, it's ruined!" echoed Madame Pince's shrill voice from across the hallway. "Do you realize the amount of effort it's going to take to clean all of this up?" the Hogwarts librarian demanded, and though Lupin could not see it, he could imagine the older woman scrunching her nose and glowering in a look of disgust.
"I'm sorry, Madame Pince," replied a melodic voice quietly, which had a profound effect on Professor Lupin as the man was rendered immobile just outside the library doors.
The voice seeped gently into his eardrums, causing his wolfish hearing to become even more heightened as his ears perked up at the noise. It was her. Tonks. He had found her.
A tiny smile crept onto his features.
Though as quickly as the smile of his slight victory had snuck its way onto his face, it slid off like Stinksap the moment Madame Pince opened her mouth.
"This has just added to the already mountainous pile of work I have to get through tonight before the library closes! I swear, this day could not possibly get any worse. I knew I was wrong in allowing you access to the Restricted Section. Professor Dumbledore was mistaken in appointing you to capture Sirius Black!"
"I'm sorry—" Remus heard Tonks start to apologize once more, but Madame Pince interjected before the young Auror could finish her apology.
"Apologizing isn't going to fix this, Auror Tonks!" Madame Pince shrieked.
Intrigued, Lupin crept forward gingerly, leaning in closer towards the door, careful not to make any sudden sounds. It was barely open, the door to the library, but it was cracked open just enough for Remus to be able to peer through and see for himself what was going on.
He could just about make out the two women facing each other; Madame Pince's towering, lean figure kowtowing Tonks's petite, short stature.
She was positively red in the face as she fumed, clutching the book that Nymphadora Tonks had returned to the library close to her heart, as if in pain. Remus couldn't see much of what had happened, though he could tell by the way the younger witch's boots accidentally trailed mud onto the floors of the library, she must have taken a walk on the grounds and had gotten the book dirty.
The young witch's short, shaggy long pixie cut was disheveled and...wet? His eyes widened. It wasn't raining outside, so how...?
It was the only logical explanation, though why her hair was slightly wet remained a mystery to him.
Remus furrowed his brows in a quandary, mulling over her unusual appearance. It wasn't raining out, so why was her hair dripping?
Madame Pince stared down at the young witch, who was—
Lupin had to stop himself from muttering Tonks's name and giving away his position.
He drew in a sharp breath that pained his lungs as he heard her soft voice speak up, effectively the silencer to the undeniable tension between them.
"If you would allow me to repair the book and clean up the mess I made, Madame Pince, then you could continue with closing up the library for tonight."
Tonks's voice was polite, though it sounded strained, and if Remus closed his eyes, he could almost hear the edges of her sweet voice harden in utter anger.
Madame Pince's pallid features drained of colors as the older witch spluttered and stammered in shock, clearly outraged at the indignation of Tonks's suggestion.
"No, no, my dear, absolutely not! You've made enough of a mess in my library already! The mud you've trekked onto this priceless floor will just seep in further if I allow you to touch it with your clumsy hands, you mindless oaf!"
Remus was hardly aware that he had begun to grip onto the side of the cold stone wall for support, his nails scraping down the sides of the cold cobblestones as he continued to watch the scene unfold before him of the two witches arguing.
"I did not mean this to happen, Madame Pince," Tonks's sweet voice murmured, sounding thoroughly embarrassed. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?" she questioned, and Lupin swore he saw Pince roll her eyes in anger.
"Just get out of my library! Stand there and don't do anything! I'm sure that's what you're used to anyway back at the Ministry of Magic, isn't it? Why they chose to bring you on as an Auror is a mystery to us all, with your clumsiness!"
Remus narrowed his eyes and began to glare at the satisfied, sneering expression of the Hogwarts' librarian and felt a strangely hot, searing sensation spread to his chest from the pits of his churning and a slightly nauseated stomach.
It took the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor a moment to realize it was rage.
Lupin shook his head once or twice to clear it, peering at Tonks, who was standing in front of Madame Pince with her head bowed as a sign of shame, a shaggy lock of her long pixie cut falling in front of her face, shielding her expression from Remus.
He would store that information in his head for further inspection later, thinking this vivacious, bright young witch was not at all like any other woman he had ever met in his life, if the way she still continued to treat Madame Pince with respect, though in Remus's mind, the old librarian did not deserve it now.
Not with the harsh, cold way she was behaving towards his new partner.
Lupin leaned in a little bit closer so he could see the young Aurors' face clearly.
Tonks wasn't bowing her head and looking down at the floor beneath her boots anymore.
She was now facing away from Madame Pince, her arms folded neatly at her sides, though she remained unflinching and confident in her resolve.
The witch had spirit, that much Remus could adequately say of his new partner, and clearly, she talked back not only to him but to everyone else as well, it seemed, for which he felt a strange sense of pride beginning to well in his chest.
She had dared to speak back to a superior, though she was not technically employed by Professor Dumbledore as a member of the Hogwarts staff, it could be argued that Madame Irma Pince was still very much Tonks's superior here.
Lupin shook his head to clear it, feeling the worst of his anger towards Pince dissipate, replaced by something that he could only describe as a growing affection.
He lifted his eyebrows as he witnessed Tonks shift at the waist slightly.
She was heading straight for the doors and he winced, stepping back away from the doors, not wanting her to have discovered him spying on them like this.
It wouldn't bode well into what was technically the first day of their new alliance and considering they had already gotten off to a rocky beginning in the first place, Remus did not want to make things worse for himself.
He was just pondering what to do about the nature of his little problem when a voice cut through the air, effectively pulling the young professor out of his thoughts of her.
"Professor Lupin? Whatever on earth are you staring at, dear?" said Sprout.
Remus flinched at the sound of a female voice whispering from behind him and turned around rapidly on the heel of his shoes to see none other than Professors McGonagall and Sprout eyeing him with quizzical, concerned looks.
Both women were leaning up against the cold stone wall with arms folded, seeming to shrink into their set of thick robes for warmth as much as possible.
"What's going on, Professor? Is there a problem? Why are you lingering outside of the library? Are you…ill?" came Professor Sprout's blunt and curt tone.
Remus inwardly groaned and resisted the urge to squeeze his eyes shut and turn his head away, nestling his forehead in the palms of his hands in agitation.
This was perhaps the one time he did not need the comfort of a fellow Professor. In fact, he had a distinct feeling that the pair of women were going to scold him for the way he had acted towards the young woman; not that he didn't deserve it.
The women, Remus noticed, were also, rather regrettably, looking rather smug as Sprout and his old Head of House exchanged a knowing smirk.
"Nothing, nothing is wrong, Professor Sprout, but I thank you for your kind words of concern, Pomona," replied Lupin airily after a beat, right at the exact moment the wide oak double doors of the library swung open and there she stood in all her glory, looking thoroughly disgruntled and cross, huffing in frustration as she pointed her wand at her hair and a burst of warmth emanated from the tip, instantly drying her hair and sending the intoxicating smell of apples for some strange reason, to Lupin's nostrils.
Tonks seemed more than a little surprised to see the man here.
"Professor Lupin, sir," she murmured, a light pink blush speckling its way along her cheeks. Tonks's gaze flitted nervously towards Professors McGonagall and Sprout.
She bit the wall of her cheek and seemed to hesitate, wanting to linger though thought better of it, sensing Remus was in the company of Sprout and McGonagall, for which Lupin cursed the women for showing up when they had.
"I, ah, didn't know that you would be out here, Lupin," Tonks mumbled, the heat on her cheeks intensifying, quirking a delicately arched eyebrow Remus's way.
If she was suspicious as to why her partner was lurking outside the library doors, she hid her surprise well, for which he was grateful.
But Tonks did not offer Remus an opportunity to speak as she continued.
"I was hoping that you and I could talk, Professor? Alone?" Tonks asked, fixing Remus with a rather pointed stare that he wasn't all too sure what to make of.
He blinked, surprised, not anticipating that was the reaction she would have had, though he was the first to recover, though he could tell by the strange look dawning in the witch's pale gray eyes that she had already seen it for herself.
"I—yes, of course. I can, ah, meet you in my office in a few minutes?" he murmured, trying to ignore the knowing grin Sprout and McGonagall shot in the background.
He blushed, trying to put them out of his mind, and failing.
Tonks offered up no verbal response in return, merely proceeding to nod her head instead and shot him a shy, hesitant smile and turned her back on Remus.
It didn't escape his attention that Tonks still held the now-repaired book of Madame Pince's clutched tightly to her chest as she walked away, an odd little half-smile on his face that made him feel warm, from his chest down to his toes.
He felt his mouth go dry and his stomach churn as he watched her silhouette fade away as Auror Nymphadora Tonks rounded the corner and disappeared down the Grand Staircase, with the intent of heading to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to wait for the man in his office.
He stifled a growl of frustration as Remus rounded on the two professors who had inevitably ruined the moment.
Professor McGonagall was the first to speak upon noticing Remus begin to walk down the corridor towards the Grand Staircase, intent on following Tonks.
"You know, you might fool everyone else, Mr. Lupin, but you cannot fool me," continued his old Head of House, eyeing one of her best former students knowingly, peering at her former student through the lenses of her spectacles.
Lupin merely proceeded to shoot Professor McGonagall a withering glower as he clenched his jaw, before turning away and cast his eyes down toward the floor.
"Fool you about what?" he muttered darkly under his breath in agitation.
Now it was Professor Sprout's turn to scoff and look towards her colleague for confirmation. Minerva's lips were pursed into such a thin, rigid line that the Head of Hufflepuff House was surprised that they did not disappear altogether.
"Miss Tonks, dear," murmured Professor Sprouts, a look of exasperation on her face. "You and she are partners, are you not? You like this woman, yes?"
Professor Sprout, try as hard as she might, was unable to keep the interest out of her matronly voice as she tottered alongside down the Grand Staircase, dong her best to keep up with Minerva and Remus, which was admittedly something of a difficult feat for her, considering how shorter and stouter she was.
She had never seen Remus John Lupin this flustered over a young witch before. No, scratch that, Ponoma Sprout thought, furrowing her brows.
Come to think of it, she had never seen Remus this flustered over a woman at all. Period.
Lupin gritted his teeth in annoyance. "She is none of your concern," he growled, his tone coming out perhaps harsher than he meant it to, for he flinched.
Just great, he thought bitterly to himself. As if the castle staff had nothing else to gossip about, the other professors will surely have a field day with this one.
Professor McGonagall's voice from beside him as the trio of professors paused on the third-floor staircase's landing resonated clearly and rather sternly.
"Well, you certainly seem concerned about her, Professor," retorted Professor McGonagall quickly as she looked towards their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, who was starting to look a lot less composed than before the closer the trio got to the first floor, heading towards Professor Lupin's office.
Towards her, Minerva thought, though she dared not speak that thought aloud. Perhaps Albus was right. Perhaps Miss Tonks will do him a world of good.
She noticed with some small hint of affection that Remus shot her a withering look before replying to her comment.
It was small and so subtle, that had Minerva not already been hanging onto the young man's every word and his movements, she'd have missed it entirely.
"Miss Tonks is currently of interest, but not for the reasons you think, Professor," he began hesitantly, his tone polite but underneath something dark lingered.
Minerva sensed it as the kind man's patience was beginning to be tested.
"Merlin pray to tell us, then, the real reason behind your…interest," Professor Sprout piped up in a jovial tone that Remus found rather disconcerting.
Professor McGonagall was quick to nod her head in agreement. "The poor dear did seem rather…distraught, earlier when Pomona and I spotted her coming up here to the library. We followed her to ensure that she was all right, but we can see now,"
Here, she paused and exchanged an odd glance with her colleague, which Remus found suspicious.
As though the pair of older witches and seasoned Hogwarts professors knew something that he did not, "she already has you looking out for her, Mr. Lupin," Minerva murmured, tapping her chin.
At his former Head of House's last remark, Remus could not help but feel another pang of guilt and worry as the troublesome emotions wormed its way into the pit of his churning stomach and caused his heartstrings to give a lurch.
Tonks had not openly lied to him by failing to disclose to him the nature of her relationship with Sirius Black, but she was trying to avoid expressing something to him, a thing which was troubling her greatly, and he could tell.
Behind the masked smile Tonks had worn on her face just now, there was a sense of sadness and shock. He did not need to rely on his wolfish characteristics, those heightened senses, to tell it for himself.
Tonks had looked anxiously to her left and right, seemingly embarrassed and unwilling to hold his gaze for too long.
He supposed he couldn't blame her for being unreasonably afraid.
Remus was, after all, a monster, and she had been paired with him for the duration of a year, or at least, however long it took the two of them to capture his old friend, Sirius.
Lupin froze, squeezing his eyes shut a moment, not wanting to think of him, instead, wanting to linger on thoughts of Tonks. It was those eyes of hers…
Remus had seen it in her eyes. He had seen it just now when the two had locked gazes and their eyes had met, in those pale gray orbs, so eerily beautiful yet haunting, at the untold secrets of her life that brimmed within, how her brain had built some new walls with her so damned bloody lonely on the other side.
He knew that if Nymphadora would merely give him a chance as her partner and start to learn to trust her more, then the two of them could tear down that wall brick by brick and start to feel what it truly meant to be each other's partner.
Hypocrite, that snakelike voice at the back of his mind taunted him, that hissing sound that sounded entirely too much like Severus Snape for his comfort.
You can't even bring yourself to tell the witch about your furry little problem!
Damn, he thought bitterly, barely stifling his wolfish growl of frustration that served as the silencer to the dark voice of his conscience inside his troubled mind.
It was right, damn it. If he wanted the young witch to open up to him and confess what was on her mind, then she would undoubtedly expect the same of him, and for him to conceal the truth of the nature of his condition was unfounded.
Not when he was asking her, not in so many ways, to tell him of the nature of her relationship with his old friend.
He let out a sigh, carding his fingers through his hair, giving his head a curt shake to clear it, forcing his attentions back to Professors Sprout and McGonagall, both of whom stood in front of him, waiting like the polite older adults he knew the pair of them to be, for him to speak.
"This issue rests solely between her and me, Professor Sprout and McGonagall, but…"
He hesitated, biting down on his bottom lip in trepidation.
However, before he could elaborate further, Sprout let out a chuckle and lifted her hands in surrender.
Lupin tried to ignore the dirt from the greenhouses under the short, stout witch's fingernails but found it difficult not to focus on it.
"Do forgive us, Mr. Lupin. Call it an insatiable sense of curiosity, from one colleague to another. You just seem to be going about the matter of handling your newfound relationship with your new partner in a very strange way, not telling any of us what ails you. I would expect you'd have made more progress with the girl by this point in time," Sprout murmured with furrowed eyebrows.
Lupin opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted again by Minerva.
"Why have you waited three days to find the poor dear, Mr. Lupin? Why have you waited so long in order to get to know her better? What ails you?"
She smiled up kindly at the man, who was admittedly a good two or three heads taller than she was, and reached up a hand and patted her former student affectionately on the shoulder, attempting to her best to act comfortingly to him.
Remus grimaced, feeling utterly ashamed and dumbfounded at how he had treated Nymphadora. How could he possibly fix this when it was all his fault?
This was a matter of the trust that they, as partners, placed in one another.
Or if he were being more accurate and honest with himself, the lack of trust.
Was he going to question every semblance of their new relationship simply because Tonks felt she could not tell him one small minor aspect of her life?
An aspect that, again, if he was being honest with himself, did not matter in the slightest.
He didn't care that she and Sirius were related by blood. It changed nothing of how he thought of her.
Was he going to mistrust Tonks from now on because she felt as though she had to keep something from him? Could he even do that?
"I…" he began softly, pausing as he struggled to formulate his thoughts and find his words in a way that Professors McGonagall and Sprout could understand.
Finally, he found his voice, and it was soft and yet rough and coarse.
"I think that I hurt Nympha—I—I mean Tonks," he murmured. This statement shocked Sprout and McGonagall, who now looked at Remus with equally troubling locks of shock, horror, and disbelief, although McGonagall was looking strangely as though she were fighting against the urge to roll her eyes.
"Dear, that's quite preposterous. You haven't a violent bone in your body, Mr. Lupin, and you are perhaps one of the kindest souls I think I've ever met," Professor McGonagall retorted hotly, sounding on the verge of becoming annoyed with their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and she fixed Lupin with a pointed stare and ignored the man's blush at her compliments of his personality. Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and sighed. "Though, I confess myself intrigued," she admitted, lifting her silver spectacles to pinch at the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "What do you mean 'you hurt her?'"
Professor Sprout quickly nodded her agreement with Minerva, an equally flustered and confused look on her slightly dirtied face, again courtesy of the plants she worked with in the greenhouses. "Yes, dear. Start making sense…"
Remus returned the nod and let out a sigh, carding his fingers through his thick tuft of short light brown hair.
After a few failed attempts, which were essentially strangled attempts at speech, the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor was able to convey to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Head of House everything thus far that had transpired between himself and Nymphadora Tonks.
The night on the train, in the Restricted Section with Draco Malfoy, of which both professors bristled silently with aghast looks of abject horror and utmost concern at the fact that the young Malfoy boy was meandering around the Restricted Section at so young an age without permission, but for the sake of wanting Remus to get to the point and quickly, the two teachers let it slide.
Personally, Lupin thought it amazing that Professor McGonagall hadn't offered one dry sardonic quip throughout the entire exchange.
He still remembered the day he had been summoned to McGonagall's office during their fifth year for career advice, with her practically yelling at him, demanding to know why he had not set up his appointment. When he had given her his reasonings, that no one would hire him due to the nature of his 'little condition,' McGonagall had scoffed at his reasoning, essentially told him to get a grip on himself, and had offered him a plate of biscuits while she presented him with an entire list of career options.
As he looked at McGonagall, he was half expecting the older witch to have a similar approach this time, and he could not stop the surge of warm affection that soared through his chest for his hold Head of House.
McGonagall, alongside Dumbledore and his friends, was one of few people in this world that genuinely believed in Remus's ability to have a normal life.
When the poor flustered man finally finished his explanation of events that had transpired to him thus far, a stingy three days into his brand new partnership with Tonks, he watched with minor bemusement as the two veteran Hogwarts professors put a hand to their chin and hummed thoughtfully, at once, in sync.
The sight would have been rather comical, if only the topic of their conversation did not make his heart feel rather heavy, like the damned stubborn, throbbed corded mass of muscle and tissue was now replaced by a heavy stone.
With the suspense of the ambiguity of not knowing what Sprout and McGonagall's answer would be, Lupin dug his nails into the skin of his palms so hard he swore he felt them bleed as he ground his teeth in nervous agitation.
It was nonsensical, how flustered over a witch he had allowed himself to become, and the fact that Professors Sprout and McGonagall did not immediately launch into a tirade about how well and truly he had made a mess of things, was telling, and he must have really gotten himself into a fix with what he had done.
Finally, it was Professor McGonagall who pierced the awkward silence.
"Listen to me carefully, Professor Lupin, and allow me, if you will, to make a few things quite plain." McGonagall peered at him over the rims of her thin-rimmed silver spectacles before pushing her glasses back up over the bridge of her nose and letting out a tired sigh.
She looked at him with such a somber seriousness, and yet, there was a hint, just a glimmer of something else in the Transfiguration Professor's expression that Remus could not quite identify.
"There are…going to be some things that Miss Tonks simply is not comfortable talking with you about, so new into a new relationship, whether that be strict as colleagues or…otherwise."
Here, she fixed Lupin with a kind smile that he did not return, thinking it was none of their business, his romantic life, or lack of.
"If you want my opinion, I do not believe Miss Tonks has confided in anyone else of whatever has her so reluctant to talk to you or we'd have known about it."
"How?" Lupin snapped, his words coming out harsher than he meant to.
Professor Sprout and McGonagall shared a knowing look before shooting Remus a rather disappointed look, as though the women had expected better.
"Dumbledore," the witches answered in unison, and Lupin felt his blood boil.
Was the Hogwarts Headmaster truly that much of a gossip hound? Really?
Apparently so if both Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall thought so. Remus resisted the urge to growl in frustration and pull on tufts of his light brown hair, and favoring silence as an apt response.
"Then why is Tonks acting this way?" Lupin pleaded, flinching as the note of desperation crept into his quiet and reserved tones. "I don't understand, Professor. I've known my new partner all of three days, and already, she is keeping…something from me," he grumbled darkly, noting all too well Sprout and Minerva's interested looks, though neither witch chose to comment on it.
For which he was grateful. He did not want to have to explain himself.
Remus was saved from responding further when Professor Sprout chimed in with her two cents, deciding to try her hand at her former student's strange behavior.
"I've known Nymphadora a while now, my dear, as she was my student," she muttered sadly. "I do think you could not have asked for a better partner by your side during this difficult time," Sprout sighed, ignoring the flinch Remus gave at the notion of Sirius she had not-so-subtly alluded to by also mentioning his cousin in the same breath, "If you ask me, she doesn't want to make you feel burdened by whatever is bothering her. She's quite a selfless young witch, you know, Mr. Lupin. Miss Tonks is only doing what any good partner would do and looking after you, my dear."
But Lupin was not so easily convinced. He let out a haggard sigh and shook his head in frustration. "But that does not make any sense, Professor Sprout. We barely know each other, I know that," he murmured, a pink blush speckling along his cheeks. "But what on earth could be so important that she thinks she has to keep it from me?"
But Merlin's Beard, he already had a feeling he knew what that 'thing' might be, and to lie to his teeth to not only his former Head of House but now Nymphadora's as well felt terribly, horribly wrong and awful.
It was Professor McGonagall who held the last word.
"It does not matter at this point in time, Professor Lupin. What matters the most is that whatever it happens to be, it is enough to make Miss Tonks extremely uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that she feels as though she cannot confide in you its nature. For the time being, until the two of you are more acquainted with one another in your efforts to bring Black to justice, I advise dropping it and leaving the matter alone and let the poor dear tell you in her own time when she's good and ready."
The Herbology Professor was quick to nod her agreement with her colleague's answer and couldn't resist chiming in with her two cents.
"Mr. Lupin, forcing her to speak of whatever is bothering her will only succeed in driving a wedge between the two of you. I know that this is a relatively new experience before, from what little we know of you now that you're a professor within these walls."
Lupin nodded, though he noticed out of the corner of his eyes how McGonagall's chest puffed up slightly with pride at one of her former best and brightest now returned to Hogwarts to teach, though Sprout continued speaking, causing him to pull his gaze from McGonagall and back towards Pomona Sprout.
"You must be patient on this one. Let the young lady come to you, Remus."
Remus let out a sigh and carded his fingers through his hair as the trio finally stepped off the bottommost step of the Grand Staircase at the first-floor hallway.
It was not the answer he particularly wanted to hear, but he knew that both veteran professors were right. McGonagall and Sprout were very rarely wrong.
"You're right, Professor. Both of you," he added, almost as an afterthought as his gaze flitted nervously from Sprout to McGonagall as he rubbed one of his arms nervously and tugged at his sweater slightly in order to straighten in.
His partner was behind the closed door of his Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and he really needed a moment to convince himself that he didn't look a mess, though he already knew this to be pointless and hopeless. He always was.
"Tonks will talk to me when she feels she is ready," he murmured, keeping his pointed gaze fixated on the closed door, wishing he possessed the ability to see through walls and behind closed doors, wanting to know what she was doing. "I already saw what happened when I pressed her for an explanation. I won't do that again, but I do owe it to her to try to make amends. If you will excuse me."
"Of course, dear, come to any one of us anytime you feel the need to talk, Remus," Professor McGonagall muttered courteously, inclining her head as a sign of respect, watching interestedly as Lupin took a moment to calm his nerves, steeling himself before outstretching his hand and turning the doorknob of the door that led to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and Lupin's office.
Lupin nodded, though he did not glance back over his shoulder as he wanted to speak to Tonks before he lost his resolve.
Talking with Sprout and McGonagall made him feel a little bit better than before, knowing the pair of them were right.
If the two of them, meaning he and Tonks, were going to make this partnership work between the two of them, he was going to have to trust her.
He did not think she was shutting him out to hurt him on purpose. There was a reason Tonks had walked away from him and taken the course of action that she had; Remus just needed to let Tonks come to him when she was ready.
And he would be there for her when she did. As her partner. And maybe, even sooner than that, as her friend.
I do love writing for Minerva. Much like Molly, McGonagall is another that I feel would succeed in giving our favorite werewolf good, solid advice. Coming up in Chapter 10, Tonks and Remus (finally) have that conversation and can hopefully make amends.