Disclaimer: I still own nothing; Rowling didn't want to trade (sniff)…

Hunted

Chapter 2: Conversing and convincing

After Tonks had spied on Eely Al and his companions in the Hog's Head, she had quickly returned home, packed a few things together and quickly warned Kinglsey of what she had witnessed. The next day, she found herself again near Grawps cave, ready to enter the vast forest again, in search of the little hut in which Remus Lupin was currently living.

Tonks had opted against apparating directly to the hut, since Remus would surely be awake right now, unlike the six last times she had seen him. He wouldn't expect her there and she figured he wouldn't appreciate it if she came barging in like that.

Come to think of, I wouldn't be surprised if he won't appreciate me appearing here at all, no matter what way.

And I'm not really sure I want to face him myself.

The last time they had spoken with each other could easily be called a disaster.

And that's the exact reason I prefer to come here when he's unconscious. But he has to be conscious for what I have to say to him and I'd rather face a few awkward moments with him than see him captured by those werewolf-hunters. Tonks suppressed a shudder, forced her mind momentarily away from Vastatore and his gang, and walked into the forest.

Walking there gives me another advantage, I have the time to prepare for the confrontation and figure out how exactly I'm going to explain this to him.

000

In a dark room, in an equally dark inn, somewhere near the same dark forest Tonks had entered earlier that day, Michael Vastatore received his two followers who had travelled to Britain with a very important task. With a furious expression on his face, he listened at their explanations how it happened they had failed their mission.

"She must have gotten wind of what we were up to, when our contact went to her office, she appeared to have left very suddenly." Al Summers, to most known as Eely Al, declared.

"That means you haven't been careful enough, I expected better from you," retorted Vastatore. "She might have warned the werewolf by now, we have to act quickly if we still want to find them, but first…" He sent a signal to his two younger brothers, who were standing near the opposite wall of the room, the both of them took a few steps forwards and came to stand next to Eely Al and Jack Didit, wands out. "Of course I can't leave you unpunished."

Two voices spoke in unison the one word 'crucio', it was followed by the anguished screams of two other voices.

000

Remus Lupin had been out most of the day. It was winter and the thin walls of his hut didn't really protect him from the cold, a fire was burning almost night and day, but of course he needed to have enough wood to keep it going. Therefore he needed to replenish his supplies of firewood almost daily and that was what he had been doing today. With all the snow that had accumulated under the trees for months, it wasn't easy to find suitable firewood, and it took most of the day to find enough to last at least through the next forty eight hours. By the time Remus could return to his hut, he was completely soaked.

The first thing I'll do when I'm back inside is making some very hot tea, or that will be the second thing, after I'll have dried my clothes.

Soon, Remus had reached his little hut, but as he approached the door, he realised something was different from when he had left it. Through the creaks in the door, a warm glow could be seen, as if there was a fire burning inside, which was impossible, since there had been no fire when he left this morning. There's someone inside.

Remus approached the door more carefully, silently pushing it open a little when he had reached it and peaking through. His heart skipped a beat as he saw who was standing by the fire, warming her hands above the dancing flames. Tonks, what is she doing here?

He watched her for a moment, debating with himself if he should go in or not. Don't be stupid, of course I have to go in, I can't very well keep standing here and freeze to death. I'll have to face her sooner or later anyway. With that, he opened the door further and walked in, as Tonks turned and faced him.

"Wotcher Remus, I was looking for you, but you weren't here. You don't mind I made a fire, do you? I don't really fancy frostbite."

Remus went to drop his fresh firewood in one corner of the hut, where a small pile of twigs and branches, which made his entire stock of firewood, was situated. After piling up the stack carefully, he turned to the fire, making sure to stand on the opposite site from Tonks.

"Tonks, what brings you here? Surely you're not here to enjoy the snow and cold."

Tonks rolled her eyes. Trust Remus to joke about something that is causing him problems. Let's go straight to business then.

"No, I'm here to warn you."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "About what?"

Tonks took a deep breath, steeling herself to tell him the things she didn't want to say. "When I came here for the first time, I didn't tell you everything that happened to me while searching for you." She paused, but Remus merely raised one eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"Not far from here, I bumped into the Vastatore-gang, this area seems to be their territory or something, they took me prisoner, but I managed to escape."

Remus' eyes widened, he stared across the fire at the metamorphmagus for a few moments before whispering, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tonks stared into the flames, not wanting to meet Remus' gaze. "It didn't seem to matter that much at the time."

"Didn't seem to matter? Tonks, do you know who the Vastatore's are?" Tonks nodded, but Remus ignored it and continued. "They hunt werewolves. They know no mercy and will do everything to reach their goal: to rid the world from as much werewolves as possible. They take pleasure in killing their victims as slowly and painfully as is possible. I've seen some of the things they did, investigated some cases during the first war. I can take much and I'm not easily scared and trust me, I've been through a lot, but I don't want to fall in their hands."

While talking, Remus had turned to staring into the fire, seeing horrible images only visible for his eyes, his voice becoming quieter as he spoke. Memories of the mutilated bodies of victims of the hunters were invading his mind and he couldn't stop himself from shuddering slightly.

Suddenly, warm arms wrapped comfortingly around him. Upon seeing the anguish on his face and hearing it in his voice, Tonks had walked around the fire and pulled him in a hug, trying to rid him from the images in his mind.

The sudden feeling of her arms around him, her body against his, effectively pulled him from the dark memories from long ago. He turned and wrapped his arms around Tonks in turn, returning her hug gratefully, allowing himself to enjoy their closeness, if only for a moment.

At last, he pulled away, suddenly remembering something. At the time…She said it didn't matter at the time, then why does it now, what changed?

"Why do you tell me this now, Tonks? Did something happen?"

Tonks eyed him for a moment, as if trying to figure out what she should tell him exactly.

"When they captured me, they stole my diary. I didn't give it much thought back then, I had more important things to think about." Like running for my life, taking care of you and saving Harry. "But, well, I had written quite a lot about you in it and, uhm, they may have deduced some important information out of it and…I'm blabbering like an idiot now. The point is, yesterday, I found out they know you're here somewhere and they're going after you."

A look of horror had appeared on Remus' face as he kept staring at Tonks disbelievingly for a long time. Suddenly, it seemed like his legs decided to give out, and he stumbled to his bed and slumped down on it, putting his face in his hands.

Tonks followed him to the bed and gingerly put a hand on his arm, not really knowing what to do. "I'm sorry, Remus."

He shook his head, without extracting it from his hands for even a second. "They've been after me before, I knew something like this could happen one day. But I'm not waiting for them to find me, I'd rather commit suicide first."

Tonks stiffened. "NO!" She couldn't help shouting. I'm not going to lose you now I've found you again, I'm not going to let them take you away from me again.

Remus was startled by her sudden outburst and stared at her. Tonks stared right back, glaring as if daring him to repeat himself. "No, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. It's my fault this happened, I got you into this, and I'm going to get you right out of it too."

Remus kept staring at her, feeling a little bit of hope returning to him, not simply by what Tonks had said, but mostly because it was her who said it. But then he realised who exactly they were talking about and he needed to remind her of that. "They stop for nothing, Tonks."

Tonks sat up straighter, lifting her chin defiantly. "But they don't really know me yet. I'll stop them, you'll see."

Remus smiled sadly. "Thank you, Nymphadora. But they really are dangerous, and I don't want anything to happen to you either."

Tonks frowned. "Don't call me that. And you don't have to remind me of how dangerous they are, trust me, I know, but I've been in dangerous situations before, don't worry about me. Now let's just pack your stuff and go home, all right?"

Remus returned to staring into the fire. "Go home? I was under the impression this was my home now."

Tonks snorted. "You call this a home? You know what I mean, Remus, come home with me. You're safer there."

But Remus shook his head. "I'm not sure I'm ready to return. Besides, I have nowhere to stay anyway."

"You can stay with me or with Harry or at the Burrow, wherever you want to, but I'm not letting you stay here on your own." Her voice had started to rise out of its own accord. "I'm not gonna lose you, Remus, I won't let it happen!"

She had stood from the bed and glared down at him and he could only stare back in amazement. He had never seen her act like this before and the meaning after this outburst made him feel warm inside. She really cares about me.

Remus finally gave a nod. "All right, I'll come with you." The next moment, he found himself enveloped in another hug, which he returned wholeheartedly.

Not long after that, they had packed all Remus' belongings, which wasn't very much, so it was fairly easy to do it quickly and efficiently. They had shrunken everything, divided it between the two of them and stored it in pockets in their robes and the backpack Tonks had brought with her (which Remus insisted on carrying for her).

After one final round of the hut, in which the fire was extinguished, they left the hut. Remus closed the door after him quietly and stared around him for a few moments.

Tonks came to stand next to him. "Are you going to miss it here?"

"I don't know. It's been a save haven for me for almost six years, although it never really felt like home. But I might miss the quiet sometimes. It will be quite an adjustment to be around people again."

"You'll manage. And whenever you want some quiet and peace, I'll make sure to stay out of your way." Tonks winked at him, Remus grinned. She's right, I'll manage. It might even be easier than I think to be with people again. I'm certainly happy I'm able to talk to her again.

Together, they turned away from the hut and entered the forest.

000

Please review…

A/N: This may seem like the end, but it's not, there definitely more to come…

Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter. Thanks Becca for correcting me, I hope I changed it now everywhere, I always forgot to change it before and that part of the chapter had already been written.

(I hope to recieve a little more reveiws for this one, since I used to get abit more for BoW andthe more reviews I get, the more and the better I write, without reviews I seem to get stuck in my stories.)