Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Hogwarts: Assignment #5, Magical Law and Government, Task #4 Write a police!au

Warnings: NA

This week's AU: Detective!AU

Sharing the Madness

When she didn't respond to the cup being put down on her desk, he gently inched it closer to her until it had made its way on the case files she was reviewing.

She looked up, about to say something nasty, but he was looking at her with that strict look of his that always made her want to tell Remus that he should have been a teacher—though it did make him quite efficient in the interrogation room.

He reached into his pocket and retrieved a white paper bag, which he also deposited on her paperwork.

"Eat, you'll feel better," he said.

"I'll feel better when we solve this," Tonks said. Still, he wasn't wrong. It was nearing twilight and she was hungry, after a night of... well, calling it "work" didn't feel right since she hadn't gotten a whole lot done, other than crossing off dead ends.

She grabbed the paper bag and reached in to find the double-baked croissant he'd picked up for her.

"You know how much time closing a case can take," Remus said, sitting back down at his own desk across from hers. He popped off the lid of his cup to cool down the Earl Grey tea—it was the only thing he drank, no matter the hour or how long their shifts were or how long they'd been beating themselves over the heads at the station. Out of all the things that made her partner an 87 year old man at heart, this was definitely the most flagrant.

At least he fed her caffeine addiction consistently, quietly, and without judgement. Also, he accepted how messy their patrol car always ended up being. He didn't question her colour-coding system for casework either. And he could read her awful penmanship. Plus whenever she'd re-dye her hair a new and outrageous colour, he'd colour-coordinate his shirt the next day so they would both be outlandishly fuschia or whatnot. Alright, Remus was overall about as perfect of a partner as she could have been paired up with, even in moments when she didn't understand him—like now.

"I'm surprised you aren't going mad about this," Tonks said.

"You've got enough madness for the both of us, I think," Remus said. He jiggled the mouse of his ancient computer to bring his dinosaur back to life. The monitor began shining dimly against his face.

"Because we had him and he just slipped through our fingers," she huffed. "I'd be bothered enough by any suspect getting away, let alone one that attacked you!"

"I am fine," Remus repeated. "I was cleared by medical right away, as you might recall."

"You keep saying that, but I keep not believing you," she said. She took a bite of her pastry. "Even aside from you, the man's a menace. We need to find him again."

"We've been removed from the case, Dora," he reminded her. He was the only one in the force who could get away with calling her that.

"You don't have to be here, then," she reminded him. She looked at her watch briefly and sighed. "Technically, our shift only starts at 7:00. You could go home and grab another hour, at least—or crash in the on-call room..."

He ignored her.

"Unless you're still not sleeping properly," she pointed out.

"If you're going to be working, I want to be around to stop you from doing anything too crazy," Remus said. "That's all."

"Liar," she said. There was worry etched in his face and weariness in his eyes and tension in his shoulders that she'd known him long enough to spot. She didn't care if he'd been jumped by the perp they'd been pursuing nearly a month ago; she also didn't care that he'd been cleared to return to work since. She could tell something was wrong.

"As you wish," Remus said, directing his attention back again to his computer screen. Dora sighed and refocused on the old case files she was reviewing again, looking for hints of their suspect in past cases that had never been closed. She brought her coffee to her lips and took a sip—if her idiot was going to be an idiot, then at least he was an idiot who knew where all the best shops were.

Remus was uncharastically restless at his desk. She was always tapping her feet and fidgeting with pens or reading under her breath, but Remus seemed to struggle to find a comfortable way to sit. He hadn't touched his tea.

"You alright?" Tonks asked.

"I am," he said. She wasn't convinced—actually, looking at him worried her more, if anything. He was breathing through his mouth, as if they'd just gone on one of their runs, and she saw sweat beading on his forehead. He'd rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, as if he was overheating.

"Remus?"

"I'm fine," he cut. She arched an eyebrow. "Sorry. I… I'm just trying to read through this."

Tonks turned back to her work but within five minutes, Remus pushed back from his desk. She saw him pause for a moment before getting up and walking away.

"Remus?"

"I'm fine," he said. She watched him leave the room and turn right as if going for the bathrooms. She hesitated a moment before getting up and following him.

She pushed the door to the men's restroom. Predictably, it was empty. One of the faucets was running. Only one stall was closed. When she stepped inside, the toe of her shoe lined up neatly with a button that had fallen to the ground.

She knelt down to pick it up.

"Remus?" she asked.

She just heard panting and laboured breathing.

"Remus, I don't care what you're saying anymore, I'm coming in," Tonks said. She heard him say her name faintly but she ignored it.

"I'm pushing through the door, so duck down," she said, even if she saw by peering under the stall door that he was sitting on the ground.

She pushed her shoulder into the door with a running start once, twice, and thrice until the cheap lock busted. The door swung open and she saw Remus sitting on the floor, his head leaning against the porcelain toilet seat. He'd just thrown up and he looked dizzy, sweaty, drained. He'd unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged off one of the sleeves as if he'd been overheating—and his arm…

"Remus," she exhaled. "Oh, Remus, what the fuck…"

"I…" he couldn't even answer the question. His eyes fluttered closed.

"Hey," she said, kneeling down in front of him. She ran to the sink to run her hands under the cool water and dampen a paper towel. She came back and pressed it to his forehead.

"Do you want food? Water?"

"No," he said. "I've been… getting sicker and sicker whenever I try to eat…"

"Okay," she said. She flushed the toilet and brought a new paper towel to run across his face. The arm, though… the arm she didn't know what to do with, she didn't know if she should touch it. The red marks were unevenly deep, an ugly red colour, some of them blackening and oozing…

"I thought you'd been cleared to come back to work," she said. "I thought… I thought they'd said you'd be fine."

"It didn't look like this at first," Remus said. "It got… it got worse."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tonks asked. She didn't wait for an answer; she got up and came back with a new paper towel that she gently pressed against the wound. Remus hissed and clenched his teeth.

"It sounds crazy," Remus said. "It… it has to be crazy, it can't be true."

"That an untreated wound got worse?" she asked. She pulled the wet paper towel again and exhaled.

"It… it looks like a bite," she said. "Didn't you say that… that you…"

"It was him," Remus said. "The man we were pursuing—he did this."

"This doesn't look like a human bite," Tonks said. "It looks, it looks…"

"Canine," Remus said. "Like a dog or something. I told you it was crazy."

"Remus, what happened to you that night?" Tonks asked, her heart beating in her throat.

"Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably." Remus said. "He was dangerous, he was… he would have hurt you if he'd..."

"Remus," she said. She cupped his cheek. "Remus, you have to tell me what's wrong so I can help. I'm in this with you and I've got your back, whatever it is, but you have to tell me."

"It's what I said happened," Remus said. "We were chasing him. You went to cut him off. I was alone with him. Out of nowhere he turned on me and attacked me."

"And bit you?" Tonks asked.

"It wasn't him Dora," Remus said. "It was a full moon, you know. My roommates pointed it out when I came home injured, we had a laugh about it, and it's a full moon tomorrow too."

"Remus, focus," she said.

"I am telling you," Remus insisted. "He bit me, but it wasn't him, it was… it was a creature that bit me and I've been sick ever since."

Tonks fell back from her kneeling position and sat on the floor. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to process Remus' words.

"That's mad," she said.

"I told you," Remus said. He took a deep, painful breath.

"Hey," Tonks said. She reached out and cupped Remus' cheek again. This time, she made him look at her.

"Something's wrong with me, Dora," he said meekly. "I don't want there to be something wrong with you too."

"Well, whatever crazy you have going on is my crazy too, okay?" she said. "That's just fact. We're partners, in everything and in this too—whatever it is. That's how we get through things and that's how we'll get through this."

Remus looked too tired to look convinced.

"Dora, this feels… different. This feels different and big and dangerous."

"Then it's lucky that there's two of us," she said.

Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts

Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; LEO MC (x2); Rian-Russo Inversion; Old Shoes; Short Jog

Word Count: 1677

Spring Bingo

Space (Prompt): 4C (Tea)

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks (Technicolour Moon)

List (Prompt): Spring Micro 2 (Detective!AU)