Disclaimer: Sighs I wish I owned Remus but alas, that lovely privledge belongs to J.K. Rowling, one of my heroes.
A/N:Ok, here it is, Chapter 5. Hope you all like. Thanks for all your reviews, you guys. I mean it, thank you from the bottom of my shallow heart. I luv you all!And don't worry Loonie Potter, everyone makes mistakes when writing lyrics, lol. I always thought of Tonks when I listened to that song. She is a rebel, she is the salt of the earth and she is dangerous, lol. Ok, on with the story.
A couple of days after the full moon, Remus was back to normal health. His cuts still needed some healing to do but other than that, he felt fine.
"Fred! George! How many times do I have to tell you? Just because you can use magic outside school, doesn't mean you should!" Molly yelled at the twins as they apparated into the kitchen.
"Aw, come on mum, if we had walked it would've taken us an extra 10 seconds to get down here." One of them said.
"Yea, and you're always saying to be on time." The other agreed.
Molly rolled her eyes and sighed and turned back to themeal she was preparing to serve. The twins took a seat across from Remus at the kitchen table. It was dinner and everyone was there. Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat on the left side of Remus while Arthur sat across from him; next to his twins while Sirius sat on the other side of them. Moody was supposed to show up for dinner tonight too but he wasn't here yet.
"Ginny and Hermione will you help me with these?" Molly asked.
The two girls nodded and got up and helped Molly bring the dishes to the table. Just as they were all about to dig in to the small feast Molly had cooked, Tonks emerged through the door with shoulder-length dark brown hair with sky-blue highlightsand bright blue eyes.
"Oh, sorry everyone. I didn't mean to intrude." She said, looking at everyone.
"That's quite alright dear. Won't you join us?" Molly asked.
"Oh, I don't want to be rude." Tonks said.
"Don't worry, you already are." Sirius said teasingly.
"Ha ha." She retorted sarcastically.
"Come, sit down Tonks." Remus offered.
She smiled at him. "Ok."
"Oh, she'll come if Remus invites her." Sirius said tauntingly. The twins and Ron sniggered.
Molly nudged him hard. "Ouch!"
Remus blushed as Tonks took the only vacant seat that was next to him.
"Oh please Sirius. A guy and a girl can be just friends you know." She said as Molly put an empty plate in front of her.
Suddenly Remus felt somewhat sad at Tonks addressing them 'just as friends'.
"They can." Sirius nodded. "But friends don't spend hours and hours alone until wee hours of the night."
It was true that Remus and Tonks were often found talking to each other until very late, but that was only friends chatting, getting to know one another. Nothing more.
The twins and Ron laughed again and even Hermione and Ginny let slip a giggle but they stifled it quickly after eyeing the look on Molly's face.
"Let's eat then shall we?" Arthur said before Tonks could retort.
Everyone agreed and soon the discussion was dropped and forgotten about completely. They had only been eating a few minutes when Dumbledore appeared in the kitchen.
"Albus!" Arthur said surprised.
"Arthur." Dumlbedore bowed. "I'm sorry to intrude on your meal everyone but I'm afraid we've got a bit of a situation." He said.
"What? What sort of a situation?" Remus asked concernedly.
"Harry is in a bit of trouble." He replied. "But not to worry." He added hastily as Sirius got up so quickly, he was a blur. "Two Dementors tried to attack Harry and his cousin just a few minutes ago. He's fine. But I'm afraid the Ministry has, of course, found out."
"What! What's going to happen to him?" Sirius asked, still standing.
"I'm not sure but I'm going there to sort it out with them right now. Arthur I need you to send word to Harry to NOT leave his aunt and uncle's house no matter what." He told him.
"Of course." Arthur said, nodding.
"Knew I could count on you." He said. "Don't worry everyone. Harry will be fine." He reassured the worried faces that were shared by everyone, especially Sirius.
Dumbledore then apparated without another word while Arthur rushed upstairs to write the letter.
"Don't worry! Don't worry! He comes in here and says Harry's just been attacked by Dementors and he tells me not to worry!" Sirius said, pacing back and forth.
"Now Sirius, if Harry was in any immediate danger Dumbledore would-" Molly started to say but Sirius cut her off.
"Dumbledore would do what Molly?" Sirius shouted.
Molly looked taken aback. "That's enough Sirius." Remus said firmly. Sirius immediately stopped pacing and turned to look at him. "I know how you feel but we just have-" again Sirius cut in.
"No, you don't know how I feel Remus! You don't have a godson to worry about! You're not cooped up in here not being able to do nothing! You have NO idea how I feel, not that I'd expect you to."
"That's quite enough Sirius!" Tonks shouted, standing up.
Remus had been stung by Sirius' harsh words. True he didn't know exactly how Sirius felt but Harry was important to him too. And even though he wasn't cooped up in Grimmauld Place, he knew how itwas to feel helpless. He glanced around and saw that Hermione and Ginny looked utterly frightened, Ron's eyes were wide as saucers and the twins were asstill as stone.
"We all know that you're worried about Harry but shouting your head off and insulting your friends isn't going to do any good!" Tonks yelled at him. As she was yelling, her hair had turned a very bright,neonshade of red, as had her cheeks.
There was so much yelling, Remus was surprised that the portrait of Mrs. Black had not been awaken. He also felt a great rush of affection towards Tonks and was very grateful that she had decided to stay. Tonks' words seem to have hit Sirius hard. He gave his cousin an awful look and with a tiny "pop" vanished.
Tonks sighed. "Sometimes I don't know about him." She shook her red head, hands on her hips. "I'm terribly sorry about that." She turned towards the others with a sincere look on her face.
"Don't worry about it dear." Molly said softly. Apparently, Sirius' harsh words still hit her hard.
"Just go back to your dinner." Tonks said comfortingly. "I'm going to apparate to the Ministry and see if I can't find out what's going on." She said.
Remus didn't want Tonks to leave. He couldn't explain it but he never wanted her to leave him again.
"A-Are you sure you don't want to at least finish your dinner before you go?" Molly asked.
Tonks shook her head. "No, I don't have much of an appetite now. Again, I'm sorry everyone." She bowed and left the kitchen.
Everyone was deathly silent after Tonks had left.
"Well…eat your dinner before it gets cold." Molly ordered gently.
The children all looked down at their food, no one seemed to want to eat.
"May I please be excused?" Ginny asked, looking down at her plate.
"Yes dear, of course." Molly said, sounding surprised.
"Me too?" Hermione asked also.
Molly turned to look at her. "Don't any of you want to finish your dinner?" Molly asked, she sounded hurt and insulted that nobody wanted to finish her meal.
The children all shook their heads silently.
Molly sighed, "Alright." She said.
The children all got up and headed out of the kitchen without another word. Now all who was left was Remus and Molly. Suddenly, she burst into tears and buried her hands in her face. Remus quickly swept over and put a comforting arm around her. Molly was known as the mother while Remus was the one everyone turned to for consoling.
"I'm s-sorry f-for s-s-sobbing l-like like this." She said through choked tears.
"It's alright, Molly. It's ok, I understand." Remus said comfortingly.
"Oh R-Remus, I'm so-so w-worried. About eve-every o-one." She cried a little more.
Remus conjured a handkerchief and offered it to Molly, who took it gratefully and dapped itat her damp eyes.
"Thank you Remus." She said, the tears now subsiding, leaving Molly with red eyes and amatching nose.
Remus smiled kindly. "Anytime Molly. And don't worry about anyone. We're all going to be all right. Trust me." He said smiling.
Molly looked at him with a soft smile. "Oh Remus, thank you…for everything."
"Anytime." Remus replied.
"You know, you deserve a nice girl; one that could take care of you." She said, beginning to sound more like her motherly self.
Remus blushed lightly. "I'm content by myself. Besides, I don't have much to offer to any woman." He said. It was true. He was old, poor and a werewolf. Who would want him anyway? He suddenly conjured up a picture of Tonks in his mind.
Molly smiled mischievously. "Oh, I beg to differ. What about Tonks? She seems very interesting, not to mention she's very pretty." She said casually.
Remus knew where this was going and he was going to stop it before it progressed any further. "Now Molly, I know you like to play match-maker but-"
"Now Remus! I'm not playing anything, I'm just merely pointing out that Tonks fancies you and-"
Remus held up his hand and shook his head. "Now Molly, like I said before-wait a minute, how do you know Tonks fancies me?" He found himself very curious as to know if Tonks had, indeed, said anything to Molly about him.
Molly smiled more widely. "Well…she didn't say it exactly but I'm a woman and I know when another woman fancies someone." She said matter-of-factly.
Remus felt his heart drop into his stomach. So Molly thought Tonks had liked him, she didn't know. But even if Tonks ever did like him, they could never be together. He was much too old, nearly twice her age, not to mention he barely had a Galleon to his name and the main reason Remus could never be with anyone: he was a werewolf. It had condemned him to a life of misery and sadness and Remus didn't think it fair he make anyone else share that burden with him. No, Tonks would be much better off with somebody her own age, like Bill or Kingsley or someone like that. Remus felt himself feel a slight twinge of jealousy and sadness at the thought of Tonks laughing and being happy with someone else. Remus, so caught up in his thoughts, didn't realize Molly had been staring at him. He snapped out of his daze and turned to her.
"What?" He asked.
She shook her head, smiling. "Nothing." She started to clear the table. "Are you still going to eat Remus?" She asked.
Remus shook his head. "No thanks Molly. I've got guard duty in a couple of hours and suddenly I'm not that hungry." He tried to hide the sadness in his voice.
"Ok." She said and Remus felt her eyes follow him out of the kitchen.
Remus sighed and walked slowly up the stairs to his room. He got to his room and grabbed his torn and frayed cloak. Suddenly, he was very disgusted with all his clothes and robes, all of which were patched, frayed, and very worn out. He checked his watch and saw that he still had a couple of hours until it was his watch. He sat down on his bed and opened a book, To Kill A Mockingbird, anddecided to catch up on some reading before it was time to go. He needed something else for his mind to concentrate on, which was buzzing with all sorts of worries about Harry, about Sirius, and Tonks. He felt a smile creep up on his lips as he saw her face swimming among all his other thoughts. But he snapped himself out of that daze and returned to his book, determined not to think of her again.
A couple of hours later, Remus apparated and was soon in the lobby of the Ministry. It was deathly still; no one was here, not even the guard who was supposed to always be on duty. Remus figured he must've been on a break or something. He walked past the fountain, which depicted a wizard, witch, centaur, goblin and house-elf;all of which werehaving a stream of water emitting from them. He pushed a button for the lifts and entered once it got there. He pushed the last button on the diagram and sat through the cool female voice that described what floor it landed on.
"Department of Mysteries." It said as Remus exited the lift.
He walked down some stairs and walked down a stone passageway that was only lit by torches that were set in brackets. Several minutes later, he arrived at a locked door and took a seat right outside it. He reached inside of his shabby robes and pulled out the book he had been reading earlier. He needed something to do while protecting the prophecies all night. He sighed lightly and continued his book. But he found it hard to concentrate on Atticus and Boo Radley and instead found his mind wandering off to Tonks. He shook his head, as if trying to shake the image of her out of his head.
This was utterly ridiculous. Remus had been around women before, but none of them made quite the impression that Tonks had. She was so funny, optimistic and a great pleasure to be around. Not to mention she was strikingly beautiful.
"No!" Remus told himself forcefully.
He couldn't go and get all worked up over anyone, especially Tonks. She was so young, she had her whole life ahead of her and Remus wasn't going to screw that up for her. She had a wonderful career going as an Auror and she bound to meet someone her own age who could take care of her, shower her with affection and gifts and take her on moonlit walks. Remus closed his eyes at this last thought and was suddenly very embarrassed. His cheeks blushed and now, more than he ever had before in his life, truly hated himself and for what he was. Remus felt some tears threaten to emerge so he quickly went back to his book and soon had tricked his mind on concentrating on it rather than Tonks.
A/N: Just so you all know, I won't be adding another chapter until at least Monday. I'm going to Disneyland with my best friend on Saturday (and we get to go in for free yay! dances). Have a great weekend everyone and I'll be back Monday (hopefully) with another chapter in my wee little tale here. Rock on! And please please please review so I have some motivation when I get back. gives puppy dogs again