"You were expecting that to happen, weren't you?" asked Tonks in a low voice.
Remus shrugged. "That's the way it has been most of my life; there was little reason to hope..."
"Well, I wasn't expecting them to cave in easily either," said Tonks quickly. "I mean, I knew there would be some trouble getting it - but I didn't think they would..."
He smiled wryly at her. "Now do you see what it will be like?"
She looked back at him stubbornly. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," he said evenly. "This is only the beginning; I'll end up making life difficult for you -"
"I chose to be an Auror, Remus, d'you think I wanted an easy life?"
He ignored that and went on. "Thanks to the Ministry, you have time to reverse your decision about this, if you - want to, you know."
She stared at him. "Merlin, Remus, you're nearly as dense as those Ministry officials." She seized him suddenly above the elbows and seemed on the verge of shaking him. "When are you ever going to get it into that stubborn skull of yours that I don't care? I've been saying it for a year, don't you think I'd mean it by now?"
"Of course I think you mean it -" He seized her wrists and lowered them, his hands shaking slightly with suppressed emotion. "I know you do, it's just that..."
"Then let's discuss this rationally, shall we?" she said firmly, dragging him over to the couch. "And none of this garbage," she added sternly as they sat down, "about me changing my mind, because I haven't thought once about doing any such thing, and I'm not planning to in future."
He gave her a resigned half-smile. "As you wish, then."
"It doesn't really matter to me, you know," said Tonks after a few moments of silence. "What's in a little piece of parchment anyway?"
"No, it doesn't mean a whole lot to us," he said with a slight smile, "but it matters the way others see it."
She laughed. "Because it matters if others say we're living in sin?"
He laughed too, though more seriously. "It wouldn't matter so much to me - I have little by way of reputation to lose; but you -" he stroked the back of her hand gently with this thumb - "you have a family and a highly respectable job at the Ministry, you know."
"I know." She became serious too. "But as for my family - my mum got disowned when she ran off with a Muggleborn wizard; I don't know how she could say anything about reputation. As for the job...well, the Ministry..." she frowned and sighed. "I don't know."
"And it's not just about that," he added. "It's about the rights we can't get otherwise, joint property, things like that, if - something happened to one of us, which could very well happen right now -"
They were silent for a while. Finally Tonks said with a fleeting grin, "Fancy inventing ourselves as Muggles and getting a license in their world?"
He gave a weak chuckle. "That's an idea."
"Seriously, though," she added after a moment, "We could get people to appeal to the Ministry. A lot of them offered just now, you know - Arthur did, and Kingsley, and I think Minerva would -"
"I just don't want anyone losing their jobs for our sake."
"They won't - it's not as though a lot of people are approving of the Ministry's doings these days."
"That's certainly true." They were silent again; Remus watched her thoughtfully for a moment. "I'm marvelously lucky," he said finally, giving her a wan smile. "I can't believe how lucky I am to have you."
"Not as lucky as I am to have you," she retorted, kissing him.
"Don't be silly, Nymphadora."
"It's Tonks, you know."
"I know," he said, kissing her back.