Title: Obsessions With Werewolves
Author: LupinLovesTonks
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and It's Characters are all a trademark for J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. This is a non-profit work of fiction based upon the characters created by the lovely J.K..

Story Summary: Nymphadora Tonks never had it easy... Her name alone gauranteed that. Not to mention she had a keen fixation with werewolves... And meeting Remus Lupin was simply the icing on her cake.

Pairing: Remus/Tonks

Chapter Two
Chapter Summary: Tonks and Remus start having someone "meddling" and "plotting" to get them together.
Tonks stretched and yawned as she sat up in her bed. She looked over and smiled when she saw Remus had once again spent the night in what they had dubbed "the chair of death." Though yes, she did feel guilty about it when Remus slept in the chair during her visits, it wasn't like she never offered to let him sleep on the other side of the bed... In fact, every night she stayed they went through the same discussion about why he wouldn't...

In all honesty, Tonks had a suspicion that he was afraid of her and was just using the "it wouldn't be proper" speech just to get her to be quiet and go to sleep. Though, considering the worst she would do to him was- Now that Tonks thought about it, he had a very good reason to not want to sleep on the other side of the bed. Especially considering Remus was a bit of an old-fashioned type gentleman.

Tonks sighed with contentment and sat there a moment watching Remus sleeping in the chair. How he managed to do it, she's not sure becuase it definately looked very uncomfortable.

She jumped slightly when her doorknob turned and the door slowly creaked open a little. She had been expecting something fearsome and ugly to walk in... or maybe even the house elf... instead, a black snout poked in followed by a shaggy black fur covered head... A huge black dog walked into the room slowly, it's head down so that the leash it carried in it's mouth dragged along the floor as it walked toward her.

Tonks patted the bed. "Come here boy..." amost instantly the dog took on a more excited persona and it ran across the room and leapt onto the bed, wagging it's tail excitablly. "Where did you come from? I didn't know Sirius had a house pet..." The dog dropped the leash and crouched down in front of her and gave a small yap before rolling onto it's back and putting it's head in her lap. "How did such a dark wizarding family manage to get such a sweet pet?"

She scratched the dog's belly and it started scratching at her with it's hind leg. It gave a slight groan of sorts before it's tongue just hung out of his mouth with contentment while still scratching at her hand. "Remus! Wake up!" she called.

"Hmm?" Remus hummed as he lifted his head. His eyes fell to the dog and he frowned. "What do you want this early?"

The dog bound off the bed and retrieved the leash and toted it over to Remus, hopping excitablly in front of him. "I think he wants to go for a walk..." Tonks supplied. "What do you say we take him for one in the park? Let the poor thing get out some..."

The dog sat down in front of Remus and grew very still. It was giving Remus the biggest case of "puppy dog" eyes she'd ever seen and giving a small whimper for effect. "No," Remus said firmly. "He's not allowed out of the house because he can't behave..."

"I don't always behave when taken on walks either but you see they let me out rather often..." Tonks said sweetly. "It could be fun... besides keeping a poor puppy like him locked up inside all the time will just make him wanna be badder..." She whistled slightly and the big black dog bounced over to her. "It'n that right little fella..." She looked at Remus, he had the look of someone that was caught between a rock and a hard place. "Come on Remus... We all deserve a little break from being cooped up..."

Remus sighed with defeat when the dog turned back to face him. "Alright... alright... We'll take him for a walk and then we come right back... he doesn't get off the leash for any reason..."

Tonks squealed with delight and wrestled the leash from the big dog. She fastened the collar around his neck and took the end of the leash. "Hold on to this while I change right quickly..."

"Word of advice..." Remus intoned. "You might not wanna change clothes in front of this dog..." He glared down at the dog which was watching her intently with his tongue hanging out as it panted heavily. "And... something perhaps a little subtle so we don't attract too much attention... We'll be getting enough attention with the size of... Snuffles here."

"No need to worry... I'll just get changed with the bed drapes closed..." Tonks stood up on the bed and pulled the drapes closed on one side before bouncing to the other to dig through her over-night bag. "Something subtle... Hmm... Subtle... Subtle... subtle... Remus... what if I don't have anything subtle?" she asked, pulling her night shirt off and tossing it into the floor.

"What do you have?" Remus called.

"Baggy pants and..." she picked up the two shirts she had and bounced over to the drape and thrust it open. "This lime green short shirt and a hot pink weird sisters shirt..."

Remus looked up, prepared to answer however, his eyes widened and his mouth just opened and closed as if he were trying to find the right words to say. "I think it would have been wise to... to... not remove your night shirt before... busting out like that..." He quickly turned his head and closed his eyes. "Sorry... sorry..."

Tonks sighed heavily. "Honestly Remus you act like you've never seen a girl without a shirt on before... Which shirt?"

"Greenone'llbefine," he said quickly.

"Thanks," Tonks chimed and yanked the curtain back closed again. "The curtain is closed... It's safe again."

"In all honesty..." Remus said. "I... haven't for a very long time..."

"Haven't what? See a girl without a shirt on?" Tonks laughed slightly then stopped. "Are you serious?" She quickly changed out of her night pants and into her jeans then pulled on the lime green shirt. She walked around the end of the bed and slipped on her shoes. "You are not joking... Oh God... I'm sorry... If I had known I would have stayed there longer..." She studied him for a long moment. "You know... Remus... You need to loosen up a little... How about you go change into something a little less subtle... Or perhaps we can stop and get you a little something..."

"I'm quite fine thank you," Remus said, still keeping from looking at her. "Let's go."

"No, you're not fine Remus... You're still wearing your wizards robes... you have to look like a Muggle to take a dog for a walk..." She took the leash from his hand and put her hands on his shoulders. "So march your butt across the hallway and get changed into some muggle clothes." She led him across the hallway to his room and lightly patted his rear. "I'll be waiting in the study."

888

Tonks looked over at Remus and quickly hid the grin that was threatening to break across her face. He looked down at her questioningly and she looked away quickly. Instead, she just watched Snuffles walking along side of her wagging his tail happily.

"I don't know what you find so amusing about my appearance but you should perhaps let me know so that I can make a future note not to do it..." Remus said slowly.

"It's nothing," Tonks replied, just as she could hold in the laugh no longer. "It's just... I've never seen you in Muggle clothing before... It's... interesting... very... vintage."

"Vintage? Vintage?" Remus said with a slight pitch to his voice. He cleared his throat. "I'll have you know that managed this just before going to teach at Hogwarts... The saleswoman said it suited me..."

Tonks stopped and turned to face Remus and turned him so that he was squarely facing her. She carefully straighten Remus' coat and tucked the end of his tie into his undervest. "I wasn't saying it was a bad thing... It does suit you, it's just... I never would have thought you'd be the type that always wanted to look older and-" she added a sassy, posh tone "-distinguished..."

"Well, bare in mind I am older than you..."

"What about distinguished?" Tonks teased, poking at his chest. "You didn't say you were distinguished... What about distinguished Mr. Lupin?"

"Well... I'm civilized and... well, I don't run out in front of people lacking clothing as some people we both know..." Remus managed a somewhat cocky smile and turned back toward the walking direction. "I just prefer to look and act like the gentleman I was raised to be..."

Tonks yelped when Snuffles bound forward to catch up with Remus, dragging her along. "Remus! Mad dog!"

Remus turned just as Snuffles decided to run around in front of him and loop back around, sending Tonks crashing into him. The leash wrapped around their knees, trapping them thoroughly. Remus quickly grabbed hold of a stair railing to keep them from falling completely over, holding Tonks firmly against him with his other arm. Snuffles gave a small yap and sat beside where they dangled precariously from the guardrail.

"Bad dog," Remus said through gritted teeth, eyeing the dog with an almost murderous glare.

Snuffles simply yapped again and wagged his tail with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. Tonks managed a slight laugh as she looked at Remus. "He's just a dog Remus... One that's very fond of you... My fault for dragging behind..."

"Snuffles is meddling in places he shouldn't," Remus said, still glaring at Snuffles.

"Pshhh..." Tonks snickered. "You're acting like he's a human or something... He's just a dog Remus... He just wanted to be with his favourite person and I was too far away for his tastes..." She slowly grinned. "Actually... This is kinda romantic... Either that or blood is rushing from my head... Because I am getting light headed."

Remus pulled himself back to a standing position, bringing Tonks along with him. The two of them fought out of the tangle of Snuffles' leash and recomposed themselves. Remus looked at her and down at the ground a few times before taking the leash and burying his hands in his pockets. Tonks frowned, this wasn't going anything like she's had planned it in her head while waiting for Remus in the study...

In her head, he was already trying to pull her in an alley because he'd decided, in spite of the fact he was over twenty years older than she, that he had somehow managed to fall in love with her in the moments that they spent talking in the study when she was visiting... Then they were planning their wedding and her mom was so happy because she had managed to find happiness with a guy that was older and kind and generous... even though he wasn't a werewolf. But then he would get bitten by one the night before their wedding and so... then she would have her dream guy in every aspect.

Tonks sighed wistfully as she walked along beside Remus. What she had planned for a fun day at the park, and trying to make it a little too obvious that she was attracted to Remus, was quickly starting to look like a quiet day walking to the park and just sitting there in silence and watching Snuffles run around. Not exactly her idea of fun at any level...

Remus grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way of running over some potted plants at the base of someone's stairs. "You should really watch where you're going Tonks... Or invest in glasses..." He looked down at her and gave a fleeting smile but then looked straight ahead again.

"Thanks," Tonks said quietly. "I have good eyesight... I just don't have a quick reaction to inanimate objects... You see, they just sit there but I don't move out of the way in time and so I fall over them... It's a perfectly acceptable inability..."

Remus gave a slight smile. "We're here... There's a nice tree the three of us can sit under..."

Tonks reached over and unhooked the leash from Snuffles' collar. Almost instantly the dog took off running and rolling around in the grass. Remus looked torn between wanting to yell at her and wanting to hold his tongue. Finally he just calmly said, "You shouldn't have done that... What if someone sees him?"

"He's a dog Remus... let him enjoy the day out... You wouldn't like if I took you somewhere other people ran around having fun but kept you on a leash would you?" Tonks rebutted.

"Touche," Remus grinned, bowing to her.

He took her hand and led her over to a big shade tree. Once there, he removed his coat and set it on the ground. He took her hand again and guided her to sitting on the coat. Tonks could feel her cheeks getting warm. Yes, he was definately the kind of guy she wished was a werewolf so he could be her dream guy...

Remus plopped down beside her and leaned back against the tree, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. And for the first time since she had met him, he looked young... almost mischieveous. He folded his hands behind his head and sighed with contentment. His lips were mutely saying something, all she could make out was "Lupin". He looked at her and shook his head.

"Nymphadora Tonks," he started, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "How come anytime I sit down with you I want to start telling you everything about myself yet you seem to just let me talk and tell me nothing of yourself... All I really know about you is that you're afraid of the dark and that you like werewolves... I want to know why... and I want to know about who you are..."

Tonks shrugged. "There's not much to me really Remus Lupin... I'm just a humble witch with the dream to meet a handsome older man... to marry him... have kids and live in a cottage in the woods..." She shrugged slightly. "I used to hope the guy would be a werewolf but... for some reason lately I've been wondering if that's what fate had in store for me..." She glanced at him and then looked back out into the commons that Snuffles was chasing a butterfly in. "Though... It wouldn't hurt if the one that seems to be changing my mind about the hard core concept of marrying a werewolf ended up getting bitten... It's not exactly a requirement for me now..."

Remus snorted slightly as he laughed. "You mean you wasn't kidding when your boss took the list... about finding your soulmate on the registery?"

Tonks shook her head without looking at him. He was probably thinking she was mad for actually wanting to marry a werewolf... Hell, all of her family did so why wouldn't he? But, he'd wanted a secret about her and that wasn't exactly something he knew about her... At least, he hadn't known the depth of her werewolf obsession reached into her desired traits of the perfect husband. If it didn't freak him out she knew he was a keeper... especially when and if he ever found out that he was the reason she had decided to change that idea...

"Why a werewolf?" he asked quietly. "Let me guess... You've heard they are rather... shall we say... vigorous lovers?"

She looked at him and shook her head again. "Why not? Wolves and werewolves alike are solitary creatures... The Don Quiote of a party life could get bitten and the next day he suddenly wants to be alone... except for one thing... He adimately seeks his mate... And they don't want anyone except for that one that they feel would be good for them and the family they desire... That one person - or fellow wolf - that the pull between them is so strong that it transends space and time and all they want to do is spend the rest of their life with them... They're mate is for life... their children and friends are their 'pack'... Both of which they will fiercly defend if it's ever threatened, whether they're transformed or in their original mortal state... To have the heart of a werewolf is to hold the key to eternal loyalty and love."

Remus looked perplexed. At some point while she had been talking, his hands had fallen from his knees and he was leaning toward her with keen interest. Now that she thought about it... the look on his face seemed actually more of one of awe.

"You surprise me Nymphadora... You know all these things about werewolves and yet you claim you do not know one..."

She shrugged. "I'm not all silliness you know..." she scoffed. "Most people don't realize it but I'm actually very studious when it's about something I like... My obsession with werewolves started when my muggle dad took me to a movie that had a werewolf in it... and I asked my mum if werewolves were real... and she said yes... As soon as I started Hogwarts I had access to everything about them so... I read every book the library and even the resticted section has on werewolves... I even read this one book written by an anonymus werewolf... It was that book that made me want to have a werewolf spouse..."

A slow smile was stretching across Remus' face, he looked down at the ground. "Tell me, Nymphadora..." he looked back up at her. "Would you even know a werewolf in human form if it was looking at you right in the eyes...?"

"Obviously not since I can't figure out which member of The Order is the werewolf Dumbledore was talking about..." Tonks scoffed. "But I'm guessing since he paired me and you as 'Order buddies', I suppose it doesn't really matter..." She cocked her head to the side and studied his face a moment. His eyes were dancing with laughter she could tell he was wanting to let out.

Snuffles bound up to the tree, chasing after a squirrel, he stood on his hind legs with his massive paws against the tree, barking up at it. Remus glanced over his shoulder at Snuffles and looked back at her grinning. "What are you observing Nymphadora?"

"Well... you said I surprise you so now it's my turn to say that you surprise me... One second I think you're almost fifty and then other times, like now, you still look young and vibrant..." Tonks tsked. "Me beginning to thinks I'm not the only metamorphagi..."

"Well... I'm not yet old enough to almost be fifty love but I am pushing my forties, sort of... Ironically, I was born on a beautiful full moon lit night in the fall of 1960... Don't looked so shocked... how old did you think I was?"

Tonks had quickly done the math in her head. He was in his mid-thirties! That had been some completely unexpected news. "I... I... I honestly thought you had to at least be in your early forties..." Remus gave her a flat look. "Not that it's a bad thing... I'm just... saying... you have a look of experience... about you... or something."

He looked down and shook his head with a slight laugh. He looked back up at her. "Nymphadora Tonks... Do you know why Dumbledore made us Order Partners? Do you even know why you were the one selected to be the one that works along beside me when it comes to Order business?"

Tonks glanced over Remus' shoulder. Snuffles had stopped barking and was now crouching down behind Remus wagging his tail up in the air with gusto. "No, why?"

"Because I- Ooph!"

Snuffles had dove onto Remus' back, knocking him over onto Tonks. Almost instantly the weight of the big dog lifted off of them and they both looked over to see Snuffles sitting there, wagging his tail playfully before jumping to his feet and bouncing off again. They looked at each other and gave hesitant, embarrassed laughs.

Tonks felt her face warm. But she didn't know if it was due to Remus' warm breath on her face or because she was blushing, or if it was mixture of both... No matter the reason, Tonks rather liked the tingling sensation she was getting from Remus laying practically on top of her. Either that or she was laying on a tree root and it was hiting all the right nerve endings...

"I'm starting to think maybe Snuffles is meddling..." Remus said with a slight laugh.

"He's a dog... dogs don't meddle on purpose..." Tonks pointed out.

"You don't know Snuffles the same way I do..." Remus replied somewhat flatly. "And knowing him the way I do he's probably thinking we have a bit of a fancy for each other and so he's trying to 'accidentally' get us in predicaments where people end up kiss- Why are you looking at me like that?"

Tonks let her little smile become a little bigger. If he did kiss her then it would be just like she had pictured it in her mind in the study. Though she had been scratching behind Snuffles' ear while going over her plan aloud in the study... She shook her head to clear it. What was she thinking? Snuffles was a dog... There was no possible way he could actively be plotting to get her and Remus together...

Remus lightly touched a finger to her bottom lip and gave a slight smile. "We need to get back to headquarters."

Tonks gasped slightly when Remus sat back up and whistled for Snuffles. She sat up and rubbed the small of her back. Yes, the tingling had definately been partly because of her falling onto an exposed root... But, why hadn't he kissed her? She could tell by the look he'd had that he wanted to or at least was considering the act of wanting to. It had almost been too perfect...