Of Nymphs and Werewolves

Just a little something I had an idea for. Mostly fluff. Tell me what you think. R/R!

Chapter 1

It was morning when Remus awoke, his head pounding, from the bright sunlight filtering through the curtains in ward fifty-six. He blinked, frowning slightly at his throbbing temples, before remembering he was in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He felt his headache intensify when he recalled why he was there.

Remus sat up in an armchair he didn't remember falling asleep in, and turned his head to look at the bed by his side. There, lying on her back, with a face as white as the sheet on top of her, lay Nymphadora Tonks, sweat dripping down her forehead. Her eyes were closed in uneasy sleep and she had a large bruise on the side of her head, it's dark purple shape looking sinister against the pallor of her skin.

For one agonizing moment, Lupin thought she was dead, but sighed with relief when he saw her heavily-bandaged chest rise and fall in a feverish sigh.

"Awake already, Remus?" came a voice from behind. Remus gave a start and stood up. In the doorway stood a tall, balding man, and anxious smile playing about his lips.

"How did you sleep?"

Lupin made no answer, but merely shrugged in return and sat back down. He reached out and took one of Tonks' limp hands. The smile from Mr Weasley's face vanished. Cautiously, he walked up and stood at the foot of the bed.

"Still no change?" he asked, his eyes full of pity at the painful expression on her face.

Lupin shook his head and squeezed her hand.

Silence fell over the two men as both watched the small figure turn over to her side.

Arthur stole a glance at Lupin. His unkempt hair was in bad need of a wash, his eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his lips were cracked and bloody from where he had spent hours biting them. Add that to the amount of wait he'd lost in the past few days, the untidiness of his clothes and the greenish tinge of his face, and there was no mistaking that the man was seriously ill.

"Thought you would of slept longer, the dose we gave you…"

Lupin looked up, puzzled. Arthur blushed slightly.

"We…uh… tampered a bit with your coffee last night…" he said quietly. "Decided you needed a bit of rest, after all the…er…excitement."

Lupin stared at him for a moment, before saying hoarsely:

"You put something in my drink?"

"Well…um… not me… One of the Healers, you know… Nice chap, actually… Very calm…" Arthur trailed off uncomfortably.

Lupin closed his eyes as the migraine peaked. "You all think I've gone mad, haven't you?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"No! No, of course not," replied Mr Weasley hastily. "Just…"

"Going ."

Alastor Moody had limped into the ward, his magic eye spinning madly as he inspected the small room.

"Good morning Remus," he said in what he probably considered was a friendly voice.

"How are you?"

"Fine," replied Remus, without looking at him. His gaze was fixed on Tonks, who was murmuring something.

Moody raised a questioning eyebrow at Arthur, who shook his head grimly.

"Fraderlick said last night that if there was no change in twenty-four hours time, there wouldn't be much they could do…" he whispered to Mad-Eye. "Eight jinxes, Alastor… And most of them Dark Magic…"

Moody nodded, and jerked his head in the direction of the door.

"I think we'd better leave him, Arthur…" he growled. "He needs to be alone… I'll make the Death Eaters who did this pay the maximum price, you mark my words, Arthur, I'll…"

"We'll come and see you again soon, Remus," said Arthur, drowning out Moody's animated whispers. "Take care."

"Yeah, look after yourself."

Moody patted him awkwardly on the back and they left, shutting the door as quietly as possible, leaving Lupin alone once more.

He sat, motionless, absentmindedly stroking her hand as he gazed into the face he loved so much. What the Healers told him last night had devastated him. He didn't blame them drugging his drink - his reaction was nothing short of a nervous breakdown. Now, when he was so emotionally drained, all he felt was this hollow emptiness. It was worse then shouting and sobbing, like he did the night before. The helplessness of the situation was driving him insane.

"If she dies, I'm going with her," he thought. "The war is over… I've got nothing else to live for…"

he thought.

The war had indeed ended several hours after Tonks was rushed into hospital. Now, it had been three days that she had lain in unconsciousness upon the same bed, with no signs of awakening.

Tonks stirred slightly and he tensed, his hand gripping hers, but, after a while, she went still again.

"No, she's not going to die," he told himself. "She can't… I won't let her…"

he told himself.

It seemed unreal. Tonks, who had always been so full of life…

Lupin remembered when they first met. The first thing that struck him was how alive she was. He had lead quite a depressing life, and she had brought a breath of fresh air into it.

He could remember it as though it was yesterday: it was had been two days since the Triwizard tournament, and he and Sirius had just moved into Grimmauld Place, waiting for news from Dumbledore…

He was battling some Doxys that had ambushed him in the morning when he'd tried to draw the curtains in the kitchen. They seemed quite insistent about keeping the old lace as a home, and it took a while for him to get them under control.

"Need a hand?" came a voice. Sirius was grinning in the doorway. "Fast little buggers, aren't they?"

Remus swiped at one that was tugging on his ear. "I'll be fine, there's just a lot of them. Haven't you got anything to do?"

"Yep," replied Sirius, not moving from where he stood.

Lupin Stunned six that had been gnawing at his bootlaces. "Well…"

"I'm waiting for someone…" replied Sirius, his voice full of suppressed excitement. "She'll be here any moment."

Lupin paused in his activities. "She?"

"Uh-huh."

"Are you going to tell me who she is?"

"My cousin."

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Lupin asked, puzzled. "If you're going to have a family get-together, maybe you should pick a better OUCH!"

One of the Doxys had sunk it's teeth into his finger. Lupin shook it off and Stunned it, watching in satisfaction as it fell to the ground. Sirius was laughing.

"No, Moony, she's been recruited for the Order… In fact, I've never met her before… She's Andromeda's daughter, remember Andromeda? My favourite cous…"

He was interrupted by the doorbell (A/N Dumbledore hadn't added all the security procedures yet. Ed) and shot out of the room, with Remus watching him. Suddenly, he felt something wriggle down his shirt. Swearing, he plunged a hand down after the culprit. It was very uncomfortable trying to reach it, and one or twice it bit him on the hand. After some time, it dawned on him to take his shirt off. It was only when he had the squirming thing between his fingers that a slight cough alerted him to another presence in the room.

A few feet away, looking scandalised, stood an elderly old lady with tight curls and pie-shaped hat. She wore an old, beige suit and brown skirt, and had small, watery eyes.

Lupin's mouth dropped.

He glanced at Sirius, who was standing behind her, shaking with silent laughter. For a few moments they stood in silence, until Sirius finally seemed to gain control of himself and stepped forward to make the introductions.

"Remus, this is Nymphadora," he said, gasping slightly. "Nymphadora, meet Remus."

"Charmed," replied the old woman.

"Nice to meet you," said Lupin, going very red. There was something very wrong about all this… Maybe he had misheard… Maybe this was Sirius's great-aunt or something…

The old lady shook his hand, and they looked at each other warily for a moment. Then, suddenly, she erupted with laughter. Lupin gaped, and turned to Sirius, but he was practically rolling around on the floor. Very confused, he realised that his shirt was still open and did it up hastily, but before he had finished the top button, stopped in bewilderment, staring at where the old woman had been.

Except that she was not there anymore.

In her place, tears of mirth streaming down her eyes, was a young woman with bright, bubblegum-pink hair. She was now sitting on the arm of the sofa, clutching her sides.

"Hahahahahahahah! Your… Face…Hehehehehe…Sirius… I'm… Dying…HAHAHAHAAHAHA!"

Sirius was frantically making apologetic gestures at Remus, unable to do anything with himself. It looked as though he had been hit with a dozen Cheering Charms. Then, the Doxy that Remus had been holding all this time let out a squeak and bit Remus's finger, who let go. The little imp flew and tried to bite Sirius on the nose. That brought him to his senses.

"Oi! Little bugger…Come 'ere." Sirius retrieved it and, opening the kitchen window, threw it out. The young woman sat up, wiping her eyes.

Sirius grinned at Remus, who was still looking bemused.

"Remus, this is Nymphadora…"

"Sirius…" growled the woman, narrowing her eyes.

"Er… this is Tonks, who doesn't like her first name…"

"Understatement of the century," muttered Tonks.

"And so prefers to be called by her surname only."

" Wotcher Remus. Having pest problems?" she said brightly, nodding at the Doxy-filled curtains.

"Tonks is a Metamorophmagus," grinned Sirius. "We decided to play a trick on you, and it turned out even better than we thought…"

It finally clicked. Remus felt himself blush to his roots.

"Sorry, about…um…", he murmured.

"Oh, no worries," replied Tonks and her dark eyes twinkled. "I've never had such a welcome…"

Sirius sniggered. "Sorry, mate, but you should have seen your face, you looked like Snape had just proposed to you."

" Very funny," scowled Remus. He turned to Tonks, who had her face screwed up, as though she was trying to remember something. The next thing, her hair had turned a dark purple. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"That would be lovely

"Pink was better," said Sirius, matter-of-factly.

"I know, but Doxys are attracted to bright colours," she replied with a grin. "And it looks like if we're going to have tea in peace, we're going to have to get rid of this lot first." With that she pulled out her wand and winked at Lupin. "I'll help you if it goes down any more of your clothing again."

she (A/N Dumbledore hadn't added all the security procedures yet. Ed)

Remus found himself brought back to Earth by a loud gasp. Startled, he looked down at Tonks, who lying awake, her eyes wide, her breaths quick and shallow.

"Remus…" she whispered.

Lupin jumped up and sprinted out of the ward. In the corridor, he bumped into Healer Faderlick, who was talking to one of the nurses.

"She's awake," was all Lupin could say. Fraderlick nodded, and, after telling the nurse to send him back up to ward fifty-six, followed Lupin.

Back in the ward, Tonks was sitting up, her face crumpled in pain.

"Right," said the Healer, opening a cabinet door and taking out some bottles. "It'll be best if you wait outside."

"NO!" shouted Lupin, standing beside the bed and holding her hand. "I won't…"

"There's no time to argue…" replied the Healer, pulling out his wand, as several matrons entered the room and started ushering Lupin out of the door. "Please, leave…"

The next thing he knew, Remus was standing outside, the door shut in his face.

How was that? More details about how she was injured will follow in later chapters.