Tonks awoke the next morning with the distinct feeling that someone was watching her. She took a moment to place where she was and how she had gotten there. Upon sifting the memories from the haze of sleep, she smiled and opened one eye. "Wotcher, Moony!" She stretched, cat-like, in the sunbeam that cheerfully declared that this was the longest she had slept in, even on her day off, since she was probably fifteen – barring, of course, a few hospital visits. Remus was propped up on an elbow, pillow tucked under his chin, blinking at her as if he had found something pleasantly unexpected in his bed. "Good morning, Nymphadora."
She frowned for a moment, before giving him a merciless tickling in the ribs. As he objected vociferously and attempted to remove himself from her reach, she laughed, "Do I need to remind you, yet again, of my very serious aversion to my given name, Remus?"
"I was simply being sure that I was really awake, that's all! And being sure that it was really you, of course. Wouldn't want to do this to an impostor," he explained, as he kissed her hard on the lips. She returned his kiss in the most enthusiastic way she knew how.
When they finally gave into reality a few minutes later, realizing that it was already past 8 o'clock, Remus sheepishly admitted that there was very little in the way of food in the tumble-down cottage. He was really just squatting, hoping that whoever had once inhabited the building had long since given it up to the spiders and weeds. It certainly appeared that it had been vacant for some time. While he had brought in a bed, a couple of chairs, and a table, it could hardly be considered a comfortable residence. What little he had had in his pantry had been consumed by the numerous furry things living under the floorboards while he was with the werewolves. Werewolves . . . the mission. . . Dumbledore's death. He felt as if he had been kicked in the stomach, thinking about it all. He shuddered. "I'm still not entirely sure that this thing between us is advisable, Dora. . ."
"If Greyback knows about us, it's sure that the Death Eaters do, too. We're not revealing anything that would put me in more danger than I'm in now, so shut it. Not another word on the subject, do I make myself clear?" Tonks glared at him in such a possessive way that Remus felt sure that she might easily rival Molly's protectiveness. He could almost begin to imagine her as the mother of a large brood of happy, boisterous children. He caught himself in the thought and pushed it to the back of his mind. One hurdle at a time . . . they couldn't even expect to be married, given the current statutes on lycanthropy, much less start a family. "Now, we'd best get to the Burrow. They'll feed us there, but more importantly, we've got to get back to the Order and find out what we've missed. We've been gone a good 12 hours; not enough time for everyone's grief to be appreciated and dealt with, but Voldemort has a head start on us and Snape's probably outlining every last detail of the Order's business to him by now.
"I suppose that's a good place to start, and we've been missing for long enough at this point– it's more imperative than ever that the order close ranks. Obviously, Professor Dumbledore has left an enormous vacuum and I hate to think that we're dilly-dallying while the Death Eaters are moving in for the kill.
The awesome burden they faced tempered the exhilaration of their personal moment, but there would be time to enjoy each other when more important duties had been fulfilled. Like saving the world.