Chapter 5 – The Lake

'What have I done?' Thought Remus, as he climbed up the stairs slowly to get to his room. As he entered, he sat down on the bed, thinking to himself. 'It was for the best – right? I'm only going to hurt her... I'm too old and too poor...'

But even so – Tonks was the best think that ever happened to him. Did he really want to give that all up? Yes – he did. He really didn't want to hurt her. He wasn't doing this for him – it was for Tonks. He just knew it would end up hurting her.

But was it too late? Had he already hurt her? He sighed, as he lay down on the bed, thinking about Tonks, and how beautiful she was, and how happy she made him feel – even if they were just to be friends.

He really couldn't bare Tonks being angry at him.

SLAM. Remus awoke to a pissed off looking Mrs. Weasley that morning. "What did you do?" She barked, throwing the covers off of him.

"Aah... Molly!" Remus curled up into a ball on the bed. "You're lucky I don't sleep naked."

"Don't Aah Molly me!" she snarled, as if ready to claw him. "Tonks left this morning crying! You did something, didn't you?"

Remus shot up. "She left?"

"Yes, she left. Said she'd be back in five minutes. That was an hour ago!"

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

Remus dashed off the bed, collecting bits of clothes. "Molly, you go to the Burrow – I expect the kids will be arriving soon. I'm going to look for her."

Molly looked satisfied. "You'd better go look for her. I want you back later though, and for goodness sake, don't let anyone else know that Tonks is missing; Arthur and I are worried enough."

"Of course I won't, Molly. You go ahead – I'll probably be there by the time they arrive – will you take my case with you please?" He pointed to a tiny case which could only possibly fit two items of clothing in it.

"...yes, okay. We really need to take you shopping." She joked, lightening the mood a bit. "Just... make sure she gets back safely, okay?"

Remus nodded, and Molly exited the room to let him get dressed. Remus dashed about, pulling on odd socks, a really old and scabby pair of trousers, and a t-shirt that was far too big for him – this was no time to be picky. He practically dived into the wardrobe to find a pair of scruffy shoes which he only wore if he were to go jogging or something.

Pulling on his jacket, he ran out of the room and out the door, not stopping to say goodbye. It was only when he had ran a quarter of a mile away from number 12 Grimmauld Place that he'd realized he'd forgotten to change his underwear – not that he cared, of course, this was far too important.

He came to a sudden halt, realizing something – he had no idea where she'd be. Remus sighed. "Think, think, think!" he mumbled to himself, earning him many strange looks from the passers by – not that he wasn't getting any before, of course, considering his scabby mismatched clothes. Then it came to him – the lake

Flashback

"Are you sure?" Asked Remus, stroking her hair gently as they gazed in amazement at the beautiful sight before them.

"Of course I'm sure." Smiled Tonks. "I love you so much, Remus. I see no reason why we shouldn't be together – I don't care how old you are, and I don't care how much money you have, I just want to be with the man I love."

Remus pulled her to the ground playfully, and stroked her face. Tonks wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him deeply as they tore each other's clothes off.

Remus started running in the general direction of the lake, when he halted again. Nearly smacking himself on the face for forgetting he could apparate, he disappeared with a CRACK and re-appeared on the edge of the lake with a louder CRACK – and there she was - curled up at the edge of the water, crying softly to herself. She hadn't even jumped when he had appeared – in fact, she hardly showed signs of noticing apart from the stabbing glare she gave Remus, clearly warning him not to take a step towards her.

"Tonks – please come back. Everyone's worried sick." Pleaded Lupin, kneeling down beside her.

"Leave me alone" she sobbed. "I hate you."

"You know that's not true." He replied, putting an arm around her. "Look, I'm sorry. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Is this what you call not being hurt?" She sniffed, leaning against him. "I just want to be with the man I love."

Remus looked into her teary eyes, wiping them softly. "You know I love you… but you know how I become on a full moon. You could wind up getting critically injured - and I couldn't live with myself knowing that I'm the one who did it to you."

"Then I'll stay away on a full moon. I will!" She wailed, clinging onto him. "Please, Remus! Just give us a chance."

Kissing her forehead softly, he cupped her chin in his hands and looked into her eyes again. "Come on – let's go to the Burrow. We can talk about this later."

Tonks shook her head. "I don't want to go to the Burrow – please… you go. I'll stay at Grimmauld Place – just don't worry about me, okay? I promise not to do anything stupid."

"Okay." He sighed, kissing her softly.

"I love you." She smiled, squeezing his hand gently. "Please come back to me soon."

"I will, sweetie." He grinned, kissing her on the cheek. "Love you."

They both stood up and disappeared with a CRACK, and both arrived at different destinations. Remus didn't even have to knock on the door, because Molly had heard him apparate and opened the door to let him in.

"I found her – she's gone back to 12 Grimmauld Place and she promised not to run away." He panted.

Molly chortled and let him in. "I hope you sorted things out."

"Yes," smiled Lupin. "I believe we did."

A/N: Don't be fooled by the happy ending – my story's not nearly completed! D Thanks for the reviews, everyone – I'm glad people are reading my story. Now I'm going to shamelessly advertise my other one – can people please check out my fic "Stirred" (previously named "You Came Along" – don't be fooled into thinking it's a romance between Harry and the new girl – I have evil plans.

ANYWAY back to this fic. I want to thank SavvyRavenclaw20 for keeping me going – your reviews motivated me.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed too – I really do appreciate it.