A Smile in the Dark.
Chapter One.
The next morning dawned with cold brightness, a chink of light slipping between the curtains of Remus's room. He awoke with a shiver and realised that he had at some point during the night kicked a few of the comforters adorning his bed onto the floor. He blamed himself entirely for choosing to bury himself in such a mountain of blankets. A moment's hunting was afforded to locate his glasses before he realised they were on the bedside table. He let out a quiet snort at his own silliness and slipped them on, sleep-blurred eyes clearing to greet a fair morning. He gave a slight pinch to the bridge of his nose as he thought briefly of his tasks for the day. This done, he slipped from the bed, doing his best to be quiet as he knew the other occupants of the house still slept peacefully. Or so he presumed.
Though most of the Order or those related to them lay fast asleep, there was one other person awake besides Remus. Tonks rolled over lazily in bed, contemplating getting up but deciding since she hadn't slept that well it could wait a few more minutes. Her fingers ran up to finger the hair that had morphed from a short, bright violet style to long and red in her sleep. She decided that she rather liked it and would keep it…well, at least for today. Moments later she got tired of laying still and let herself drop ungracefully out of the blankets, managing to trip over the edge of one that was hanging on the floor and bury herself in them. The new formation was the Tonks bundle. A disgruntled huff was heard, and a tousled head stuck itself out of the blankets before Tonks managed to disentangle herself from the odd hybrid she and the fleeced culprits had presented.
Once this daunting task was accomplished, she picked up the blankets and tossed them on the bed, beginning to straighten out the blankets until she heard a soft step down the hall. Sharp hearing served her well in this case, not to mention an impeccable sense of timing with regards to when she woke up—it looked like she was going to be able to catch Remus before he left for Moscow.
Remus gathered his blankets up into a bundle and spread them back out over his bed in a way that would pass as relatively neat until his return. He then dressed quickly and picked up his already prepared suitcase, ready to leave without further preamble. His stroll down the hall however was interrupted by a rumpled red head and twinkling dark eyes poking around a door. Though her hair was long and flamed, he recognised Tonks immediately as she whispered "morning…Russia calling so early?" His response was a quiet smile, not forgetting her approach to him the night before. "I'm afraid so. Why are you awake this early yourself? You should be resting."
"I had trouble sleeping and always wake up early anyway. I just don't usually function correctly until the essential caffeine injection has been administered into my bloodstream." A wry grin flickered across Tonks' face at this, but she still remembered to keep her voice at a whisper. "How long are you off to Russia for then, Mr. Lupin?" Though her question was light, the worry that she had displayed for his well-being the night before returned at least two fold as she took in how tired he still seemed.
"As long as it takes, I shall be there indefinitely for the time being." Though Remus's reply was short, it did nothing to reassure Tonks, who reached for a strand of red hair and began to pull absently at it. "Well, do take care, won't you?" Remus nodded, "I can hardly be anything else. This mission is important." A final soft smile was given to Tonks, though on impulse, his hand tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before his words were left to float in the hall. "I'll be careful, promise. Look out for the letters, they'll tell you of my doings should you wish to know."
As this sentence echoed slightly, quietly as Remus had spoken, he gave a respectful nod that might have been interpreted as curt by some, but not by Tonks. She nodded back with a small smile, and then disappeared back into her room as Remus walked down the stairs and out the door of Grimmauld Place, ready to begin one of many long journeys soon to be made.
Tonks had previously had it in mind to make another attempt at sleep, but now it eluded her entirely in the presence of her worry for Remus. She didn't know when it had become so important to her that he would be all right…she guessed it was because she had formed a bond of sorts with members of the Order of the Phoenix, and didn't wish to lose any member of their side. They were fighting for a better future, and to Tonks, that future wouldn't be complete without the Order members there to see it together. She knew full well that they wouldn't all survive, had known that there was a possibility that she herself would die. She wasn't worried or afraid for herself – it was for the others.
A few hours later, she still lay awake wondering about this, her own tiredness not coming into the equation in the slightest. She then realised that it was almost time to get up, and it would be better to be out of bed a little earlier than usual anyway if she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.
With this, she rolled from bed, trying to ignore the fact that half of the reason she was failing to fall back to sleep was the fact that she kept replaying Remus's touch to her hair over and over again in her mind. Whilst she was changing into her customary jeans and t-shirt, pulling her robes over the top for neatness, brushing her hair, it looped around her mind yet again.
His fingers had been gentle and they had brushed her skin for such precious seconds, caught on the side of her face ever so slightly. The smallest moment, but it was enough.
Indefinitely, he had said. Indefinitely. No real outline for his stay in Russia.
How was it that indefinitely sounded like far too long a time to Tonks?
Indefinitely. No specific beginning or end.
She was starting to think the word oddly appropriate, suited to the situation. She brushed these thoughts away with a sigh as Kingsley banged on her door. "TONKS! UP!" A scowl crossed her features at this, and she reached for the nearest shoe and threw it out the gap, managing to hit Kingsley on the head with it.
"TONKS!"
A grin spread over her face as she stuck her head around the door to face a bristling Kingsley, who was massaging his head looking rather injured. "I warned you not to wake me up. You're just lucky that I've been up a few hours anyway or you would have gotten much worse. Now, go away, please and thank-you!" And with that, she shut the door in his face and resumed getting ready, pushing worry for one Remus Lupin from her mind so that she could concentrate on her tasks for the day.
Author's note: I know I haven't been very dedicated about updating, but I've been writing Tonks in two RPGs and it's been difficult to keep up as well as moderating one of those two RPGs. Please forgive me and be patient, I will have chapters forthcoming for stories soon.