Tonks took a deep steadying breath before knocking on the front door to the Burrow. She knew she owed Molly an apology for snapping at her at the Order meeting, she also knew from Molly's letter that the Weasley matriarch was growing increasingly concerned about her.

"Oh Tonks! I'm so glad you came!" Molly exclaimed as she threw the door open and enveloped her in a motherly embrace, completely forgetting her security question.

"Of course I did... I keep to my word." Tonks muttered. "How are you doing Molly?"

"Oh I'm fine darling" Molly ushered her in, "I've just been making a big chicken stew, have you eaten? There's plenty"

"Oh no... that's alright, I... already ate" Tonks lied.

"Are you sure?" Molly's concern seemed to increase tenfold at this. "It's not like you to refuse dinner."

"Yeah really" Tonks insisted. "I'm... not hungry"

"If you're sure..." Molly conceded. "Tea?"

Tonks's stomach turned, she didn't even like drinking tea anymore since it made her think of him, and really anything that went in her stomach just made her feel like it would empty itself. But she nodded, at least it would give her something to do with her hands.

She sat in silence as Molly brewed the tea. She had to admit that the Burrow had a warm and homely feel to it. It was perverse therefore that she wished she was back in Grimauld Place. But she knew it was nothing to do with the house. She had Remus and Sirius then. Now she just felt alone.

Molly sat down with the tea and looked across at Tonks expectantly. Now Tonks was wishing she hadn't come, what was she supposed to say?

"Still having trouble morphing?" Molly asked although the answer was obvious from Tonks's drab appearance.

Tonks pursed her lips, it was bad enough feeling this low without it being blindingly obvious to everyone.

"Has this ever happened before?" Molly asked.

Tonks shook her head.

"Oh well I'm sure you'll get it back soon, you've been through a lot..." Molly trailed off. Tonks knew they were tip toeing around the subject of Tonks's outburst the last time she'd been sat at this table. She also knew that if Molly was anything like her own mother, her sixth sense would have figured out the truth already but would be waiting for her to share what was on her mind in her own time.

Tonks sighed, "Molly I feel like I need to apologise for the way I spoke to you... all of you... at the last meeting."

"I wouldn't call it speaking so much..." Molly raised her eyebrows.

Tonks grimaced, "yeah I know, sorry, I don't know what came over me..."

"You don't?" Molly looked at her knowingly.

Tonks grimaced again, "it's just that... Remus... well me and Remus..." she played with a loose thread on her sleeve as she wondered why it was so difficult to come right out and say it.

"You're close?" Molly finished for her.

Tonks squeezed her eyes shut as a lump started to form in her throat, "we were close" she clarified.

And before she knew it, she was spilling her guts in some sort of garbled mish mash of how perfect everything had been, how when he'd first ended it she thought he was just freaking out but would change his mind, how much she worried about him, how she felt overcome with guilt that it was her fault he'd gone to that place because he'd done it to get away from her, how stupid she felt wondering whether he'd ever really felt the same way she did.

Tonks sniffed and removed her hand from Molly's sympathetic grip to rub the tears from her eyes. As much as she hated crying in front of anyone, she had to admit it felt good to get it off her chest. She excused herself to the bathroom to sort herself out. As she reached the first floor bathroom she felt a strange sensation on her upper thigh, right where her wand holster sat. She instinctively moved her hand to rub it, it was a weird combination of burning and tingling but it wasn't unpleasant. For some reason she didn't know, she walked right past the first floor bathroom and up to the top floor where Bill and Charlie's old bedrooms were.

Charlie's door was ajar and as she passed she caught a glimpse of a shabby trunk that she recognised all too well. Unable to help herself, she stepped into Charlie's room, closing the door behind her. Remus didn't have many belongings, she'd wager that 80% of his worldly possessions were in this room right now. She knew that as Order headquarters, the Burrow was Remus's designated refuge spot if anything went wrong so she supposed it made sense for him to keep his things here.

She plopped herself down cross legged on the floor and at first just reached out and lay a hand on the winter cloak folded neatly on top of his trunk. There was something comforting about just being among his things but soon the mere contact of her hand on his cloak wasn't enough, so she gathered it into her arms and hugged it tightly, breathing in the scent. She barely registered the re-emergence of that strange sensation where her wand holster rested against her thigh before she was pulling herself over to the trunk and undoing the fastenings. She almost laughed when she saw the contents, what appeared to be hundreds of books, all shrunk down to size to fit in the case. She picked up the first that was lying on top and with a flick of her wand, restored it to it's normal size. It was an old muggle book with a faded blue cover, Tonks assumed it had belonged to Remus's mother since Remus himself wasn't overly keen on fiction.

Tonks flipped through the book, Great Expectations, she herself would never have the patience to read this. Remus's mother had clearly loved it though as there were markings and annotations now so faded they were barely legible. She stopped when she reached a passage underlined in black ink that was clearly more recent than the other annotations, presumably Remus's doing.

Her heart stopped as she read the passage that had been underlined, 'I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.'

Tonks read the line over and over again as tears fell and blurred the ink that underlined them. Remus had never said it out loud, but on more than one occasion she'd caught a look, or something behind his words and actions, that had her convinced he felt the same way she did. In their time apart she'd become more and more doubtful that her instincts had been correct. But sat here among his things reading the words he'd underlined; this was all the proof she needed.

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Remus walked back to the camp, his 3 rabbits dragging on the grass behind him. After his fishing net had eventually become such a big success at bringing in regular large quantities of fish, he had gained a lot more trust from many of the pack and after teaching a few of the more open-minded pack members how to work the net, he'd graduated on to making other sorts of traps. In many ways it was a good start, but he'd been here 2 months now and he'd still made no headway in what he actually came here to do. He'd watched from afar as the Alpha, Cyprian, and his Beta, Darius had visitors from other packs. He'd tried to get close to hear the words being exchanged but all he'd caught was small talk before they left for a quiet corner, surrounded by trees and well out of earshot from the rest of the pack. He knew he could stay for years and never make it to the inner circle who were privy to join such meetings. He had to start working on the other pack members, perhaps some of them may have gleaned some information and, more importantly, perhaps some of them may be open to hearing his own political views.

Until now he'd let most of his communication with his fellows centre around food whilst he'd watched and tried to ascertain who his potential allies could be. But he knew he had to start taking action now. Bill had been assigned as his Order correspondent whilst he was in here and he'd have his first meet up with him next month, he had to make sure he had some information to pass on.

He approached the fire where a few pack members were sat guffawing over something he was sure he didn't want to know about. Just off to the side was Cecily, she was 17 and spoke barely more than Remus himself did. He took a deep breath, if he wanted to make any headway with his mission he would have to start making 'friends' and, he thought, young minds tended to be more open to new and radical views than older ones.

He threw the rabbits down next to the fire, someone else would surely take pleasure from skinning them, a job that Remus thoroughly despised as it reminded him of the animal he really was. He took a seat next to the young girl. She looked up and a brief startled look crossed her face as she realised who had come to sit with her.

"What have you got there?" he asked, now he was close he saw she was hunched over something which she tried to hide with her arm when she realised she had company.

She gave him a searching look before reluctantly taking it in her hands and showing him the book she'd been so engrossed in.

"Any good?" he asked.

She stared at him blankly.

"How would I know?" she asked and Remus frowned in question, "I came here when I was 9..." she explained, "I can't..."

"No one taught you to read?" Remus asked.

She looked a little embarrassed as she shook her head. "Louise wanted to when she came. But they told her I didn't need to read to steal food."

Remus pursed his lips in contemplation as he tried to work out how to make this a way in. "Well..." he began, "I suppose that's true, although it might come in handy if you were able to read road signs, wouldn't it? At least then you'd know where you were headed to steal food"

She sighed, "I guess but I don't think anyone here would teach me" she nodded towards the group of guffawing werewolves.

"I could teach you" Remus said simply.

She stared at him, "really?!" she asked, not quite succeeding at keeping the excitement from her voice. But her face promptly fell as she told him, "Cyprian won't like it..."

Remus tried to give her a reassuring smile, "tell you what, if you can find some paper and ink next time you go to the village, let me deal with Cyprian."

The marauders had always marvelled at Remus's apparent ability to talk his way out of anything. He'd rolled his eyes, insisting it was no special talent but they just didn't realise how far manners could get you. However, as Remus left Cyprian's tent he was forced to admit that perhaps he was particularly talented in the art of persuasion. Afterall, manners may get you far with Hogwarts professors, but they were certainly of no use when it came to bargaining with werewolves. And yet somehow Remus had convinced him. As Remus made his way over to his quiet corner, he gave a small nod to Cecily and the joy was apparent on her face, even if just for a moment.

The next day Remus was on his way out to check the rabbit traps when he heard a woman's voice calling out behind him. Louise was a tough woman who looked as though she was around 50 but merlin knew Lycanthropy had a way of prematurely aging one's features.

"What's all this about you teaching Cecily to read?" She drew herself up in a protective stance. Remus had heard from some of the others that Louise had lost her children when she'd been turned. As a result, she had taken it upon herself to mother the teenagers in the pack.

Remus shrugged, "she seemed eager to learn."

Louise narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "and what's in it for you?"

Remus frowned, after getting the go ahead from Cyprian, he hadn't expected to need to fight his case again.

"I'm serious Lupin, you can come in here with your fancy traps and fancy talk, but I been here a whole lot longer than you. I know what the male wolves see in a young thing like Cecily and I'm telling you now, you're not the first one whose tried."

Remus's eyes widened in horror at what she was insinuating. He knew of course of the barbarities that took place in camps like these, but he hadn't been prepared to be accused of something so heinous. "Louise, I assure you, I just enjoy teaching. That's all there is to it."

Louise still didn't seem convinced, "well in that case you won't mind if I sit in on your little lessons."

Remus attempted a friendly smile though he was sure it came out as more of a grimace after the shock of what she'd thought about him. "Of course not."

It turned out that teaching a 17-year-old to read was rather harder than anticipated. He was teaching something that was so second nature to most adults that it was difficult to not assume she had any understanding of letters and sounds and yet at the same time to not treat her like a child. It was made all the more difficult under the watchful eye of Louise who sat with her arms crossed eyeing him suspiciously.

Cecily was just copying out the vowels he'd written on an old envelope when Louise's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed all their work from that day. Remus looked up and followed Louise's eyeline to see three topless, wild looking men, taking their time strutting through the campsite as though they owned it. Remus noticed the whole pack had gone silent as they watched them pass. "Who are they?" Remus asked.

"Greyback's cronies" Louise informed him, barely keeping the tremor from her voice.

Remus watched as the long haired, bearded, heavily tattooed men all of whom were covered in scars which they seemed to wear with pride, made their way over to Cyprian and Darius and the 5 disappeared through the trees behind Cyprian's tent, the area that was strictly out of bounds to the rest of the pack.

"What do they talk about?" Remus asked, trying not to sound too eager as he realised this may be his chance to obtain some useful information.

Louise shrugged, "they didn't used to come round here all that often, but recently it's every month, sometimes more."

"A couple of times, Greyback's come with them." Cecily told him.

Remus's jaw clenched. He didn't really need to be in the inner circle to know what they were discussing. This as good as confirmed the Order's suspicions that Greyback was prepping his packs for war.

They wrapped up their lesson not long after that. Cecily went off to tidy up the rabbit carcases that had been left round the fire and Remus tidied away their reading exercises whilst Louise continued to watch him as though she was contemplating something. Eventually she spoke up. "What did you teach at Hogwarts?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts" Remus replied without looking at her. He didn't know whether he'd done enough yet to ease her suspicions about him.

Louise snorted, "ironic..."

Remus nodded but didn't speak until Louise questioned him again, "how did you fool the old man?"

"I didn't" Remus responded simply.

"What d'you mean?"

"He knew what I was." His heartrate picked up as her silence indicated a way in and he knew he couldn't just leave it there, "not all wizards would have us shunned"

Louise's scowl turned deadly and he swallowed, hoping he hadn't said too much.

"You be careful spouting stuff like that round here if you wanna survive." She spat at him before turning promptly on her heal and leaving him alone.

Remus looked after her, trying desperately to determine whether her words had been a threat or just a statement of fact. Over the days that followed he waited for Cyprian to drag him over to a secluded corner of the camp and beat him or banish him, but it never happened. Louise hadn't ratted him out. The anticipation began to brew inside him, did that mean she was a potential ally?