Chapter Three: Kiss Away All of Your Tears
Numbly, as I got up, it registered to me what day it was. Friday. The day I got to set off on the mission I had been just dying to embark on.
Still tired from the late night of half-hearted partying with Jonathan, I exhaustedly made my way around the kitchen. In the end, I successfully made myself a bowl of cereal. Well, in a matter of speaking.
As I tried to shovel Cheerios into my mouth with a fork, an owl swooped through my open window and landed on the table beside me.
"Hello," I said softly, petting its beautiful snowy feathers.
It gave a loud hoot in reply, and stuck out its ankle irritably.
I quickly untied the letter and opened it.
Nymphadora,
You, Hestia, Remus and I will meet at Grimmauld Place at no later than 11:30 this morning.
Minerva McGonagall
I rubbed my eyes sleepily and dropped the parchment on the table. I turned to the owl, finally beginning to wake up. "Tell her I said 'Fine'," I told it, ignoring the blunt fact that owls can't speak, nor can they understand humans much.
The owl shrilly hooted, flung itself into the air and elegantly swooped out of my window.
----
I arrived at Grimmauld Place not a second after eleven thirty that morning. Before I could even open the door, however, McGonagall swung it open from the other side, her worn face strained into a scowl.
"About time you showed up, Nymphadora," she said quietly, looking down at the tiny suitcase I was carrying. "The other's are waiting inside."
Without a word escaping my mouth, I followed Minerva into the kitchen, hauling my shockingly heavy luggage along behind me.
Everyone looked almost as exhausted as I felt. Hestia was yawning every few minutes, and Lupin looked about ready to fall asleep. Vaguely, I wondered when the next full moon was.
"Hey, Tonks," greeted Hestia, smiling slightly.
"Hi," I replied quietly, and took my seat beside her, which happened to be right across from Lupin. Stiffly, I turned to McGonagall, shadowing him from my eyesight.
Minerva primly went on to explain minor details about the mission, barely anything different than what I had already learned from our first encounter and the meeting.
"So, do you all understand the main purpose of this mission?" She ended, really not seeming to care if we did get the main purpose or not.
"Yes," chirped Hestia lonely voice. "I think we get it."
"Good. I except you'll be leaving any minute now. I'll leave you to organize the finer details." True to her word, a second later, McGonagall turned on her heel and left the room.
Hestia furrowed her brow, then and turned to Remus. "I don't think we need to organize anything more. Why don't we just leave now?"
Remus was quiet for a moment before I heard his hoarse voice say, "All right. You're right, there isn't much else we need to do."
I heard the screeches of their chairs pulling away, and I sighed. Time to go.
----
It took almost no time to Apparate to Calais. Within the hour, we were standing talking to an Auror who lived there, and had volunteered to show us around and to better describe the Dementors attacks.
"Luckily," the plump, red-faced wizard said gruffly. "No one has been – er – no one's soul has been taken yet. Just three, very close, encounters."
"I see," said Lupin, raking a long hand through his hair, like he always did he was bored.
"Have the attacks been violent?" I asked dully, when my companions failed to speak up.
The overweight Auror scratched the top of his balding head thoughtfully. "Yes, I'd say so. All the attacks have been on young children, and two of them are have been taken to St. Mungo's in critical condition."
"Yes, I would probably describe that as 'violent'," I said flatly. From beside me, Lupin gave a muffled cough. I absently glanced at him from the corner of my eye. Was he laughing?
Shaking my head, I turned back to the Auror, whose face had gone noticeably redder. "Er – yes. So, anyways, do you – do you have a place to stay? My wife has offered our home for a while, if you're interested."
I fought back a shudder at the thought of staying for a week at the balding Aurors.
Lupin cleared his throat and spoke up. "Er – no, that's all right. We've…found somewhere already, but thank you."
Silently, I fought back the urge to thank Lupin for saving my life.
"We have?" Hestia whispered harshly to us as we walked away.
"No," I explained quietly, with a sigh. "That was an excuse."
Hestia seemed confused. I shook my head and tried to explain further. "Did you really want to spend a week at that sweaty Aurors?"
Again, Lupin let out a muffled cough. As I kept on walking, feeling slightly annoyed, Hestia turned to him.
"Are you all right? I have a cough drop if you need it," she said, trying to be helpful.
"I'm fine, thanks," Remus said, and I could feel his eyes on my back.
Leave me alone, I thought irritably. Find another girl's heart to break.
"So, where are we going?" inquired Hestia, being cheerful for no reason. What in this mangy little town was there to be cheerful about?
"I thought we could walk around for a bit and scout out an inn," Lupin filled in, being as professoryish as possible.
"Great!" exclaimed Hestia, with bubbly excitement.
For a moment, she reminded me of someone I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then, after a minute or two or thought, I got it.
She reminded me of me – well, the old me, anyways.
----
After over two hours of walking around the small village, we finally found a low-cost, bug-infested hotel with vacancy.
"Uh," began Lupin, to the lady at the front desk. She turned, and gave him a bright smile.
"Hello, well – er – we'd like a room for three, please."
"Very well," she said, with a heavy French accent. "Would you like any double beds?"
Lupin tightened impulsively, and shook his head, a little too quickly. "Er – no. Just three 'single' beds, please."
The lady smiled and nodded, giving me a quick glance before she typed something down on the computer. Sighing, I turned away from everyone, looking soundlessly at the scenery.
"Room one-oh-six," she announced, holding out a key to Lupin. "Enjoy your stay."
Hestia and Lupin murmured quiet "thank-you"s and we all started down the hall, Lupin and I being severely careful to stay on opposite sides of the hall.
Our room was, incidentally, the first room on the left. Hestia smiled, practically grabbed the key from Lupin, and opened the door.
The room was an absolute disaster area. There were blankets and food spread out all over it, and the wallpaper was practically peeling off the walls. Obviously they didn't have room service. Or any human beings capable of operating a dustpan.
"It's…homey," said Hestia, her smile quickly fading.
"We can clean it up," suggested Remus, scanning the room carefully, counting all the flaws. "It could be worse," he added finally.
Without a word, I began to collect all the scattered pieces of food and linen. Slowly, the others followed me, Hestia with a look of disgust on her face.
It took about an hour to clear the whole room, and by that time, it was dark.
"We should get an early start tomorrow," said Hestia, sliding onto a bed. "I think we should all got to sleep now."
I looked over at the tiniest bed in the corner. It suit me perfectly; dull, small, and pathetic. I climbed in, and without another word, turned off my lamp, not wanting to live another moment of this day.
----
I could feel my eyes start to fill with tears as I watched the three men carefully put my mother's coffin into the empty grave. Not wanting to make a scene, I quietly walked off, wiping my eyes fervently.
I stopped only when I could no longer hear the undertakers depressing speech. I leaned weakly on a tree, my breath short and raspy.
How could this happen? Everything was going so well…the Healers said she would be fine…
Shaking my head fiercely, I felt a single tear slide down my cheek. What do Healers know anyway? They're just a bunch of quacks that think they can pull the wool over our eyes because they know a few fancy spells.
Feeling my legs start to give out from under me, I squatted down beside the tree, burying my face in its bark.
How could this happen? How…
"Nymphadora?" came a calm voice from behind me.
I turned and stood up, finding myself face-to-face with Remus.
I wiped my cheeks in agony. I didn't want my boyfriend to see me crying.
"Remus…I'm sorry I left like that…I just…I just had to get away," I tried to explain, a lump growing in my throat.
Remus' eyes softened, and he studied me lovingly. "I know," he said quietly, taking a step closer to me.
"Oh, Remus," I cried, tears now falling hard and fast down my face. I choked on my words, and rapped my arms tightly around him. He returned the hug, and kissed my hair softly, murmuring small words of comfort.
Twisting his now tear-soaked sweater with my hands, I let out a low wail. "Why did she die?" I thought aloud, drawing back from the embrace and looking at Remus with watery eyes. "Why is everyone around me dying? There was Sirius, Dumbledore and now…and now Mum." I hiccoughed, and buried my face in my hands. "Don't leave me, Remus," I said quietly, my voice muffled by my hands.
"Pardon?" Remus questioned calmly, his light eyes studying mine.
"Don't leave me," I repeated, my tone strong and sure. "Don't ever leave me. I wouldn't be able to take it, Remus. I love you…I love you so much."
Remus closed his eyes for a second, and then gently kissed me. "I love you too, Nymphadora," he assured me, his breath heavy.
"I'm sorry for crying," I said, my hysterics now stable.
Remus smiled. "It's fine. I can always kiss your tears away for you."
I let out what could only be described as a laugh. "I like the sound of that."
Remus stepped closer to me, so that there was absolutely no space between us. Then, with a smile, he demonstrated just what he meant on my tear-stained cheeks.
I woke up suddenly, my face in a panicky sweat. My heart was beating a mile an hour, and I was miserably reliving the dream I just had.
Looking wildly around the small hotel room, my watery eyes rested on Lupin, who was soundlessly sleeping in his bed.
Biting my lip in agony, I tried to wrench my eyes away from Lupin. His slender body looked much younger in slumber, and the scars on his face had almost disappeared. He looked so…peaceful.
I inhaled sharply, and forced my head back onto the pillow. As I blinked back tears, I wished painfully that someone could, just one more time, kiss away my tears.
A/N: Sorry I've taken so long to update … I've not only been sick for the past few days, but fan fiction dot net temporarily froze my account. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the update. All reviews appreciated! ; )
