Chapters Fourteen: That Kind of Really, Really Big Pretend to Like Your Taste In Music, Let You Eat the Last Piece of Cheesecake, Hold a Radio Over My Head Outside Your Window, Unfortunate Way That Makes Me Hate You, Kind of Love.

A/N: Omygosh! I almost forgot! Many thanks to my wonderful reviewer, asli, who was first to review! You rule! Hehehe.

"Ouch." I winced, and drew my hand back slightly. Molly Weasley gave me a sympathetic look.

"Did I hurt you, dear?" She shook her head, and gently began to bandage my hand. "I'm sorry."

I lowered my eyes down to my raw and bloodied skin, and bit my lip. "No, I shouldn't be complaining."

"Complaining?" Molly chuckled, and softly tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "Darling, you have every right to complain. After all you've been through…well, you deserve to have a lot more than just the right to complain."

I shook my head, messing up my wild hair even more. Molly sighed. "No, no. I have no right to complain, or anything. Molly, I … look at me!" My face burning, I lifted up my sleeve and showed her the glowing Dark Mark, the serpent's eyes glaring up at us.

Molly gasped, and turned her head away, quickly rustling down my sleeve blindly. "Tonks … none of this was your fault," she said slowly, her light eyes now observing me with a sickening motherly expression. I turned my face down, ashamed. I didn't deserve to have her looking at me like that. I had screwed up my relationship with my own mother, and now it was too late to do anything about it. I didn't deserve another one. "You were beaten, emotionally and physically, by people that outnumbered you by –"

"But, no, Molly, it wasn't like that!" I stood up, and wrenched my hand away from hers. She started to protest but I cut her off. "It was just Wormtail, Molly! He … he was the one who lured me into the cave, he was the one who over powered me and he was the one who told me I had to kill him!" The lack of sleep and food finally caught up to me, and I collapsed back onto the chair, breathing heavily. "It was just him, Molly," I croaked, ashamed to have tears blurring my vision.

"Oh, dear," Molly smiled softly, and leaned forward, trapping me in a warm embrace. As she held me, I couldn't stop the tears from pouring out. Before I knew it, I was full-out bawling, my shoulders shaking and hiccoughs escaping my mouth.

"Why?" I whispered, my words muffled into her patched robes. "I was so stupid, Molly, I put so many people in danger…"

"Dear…" Molly pulled back, and I noticed her eyes were watery as well. "No, look at me." As a tear dropped off the tip of my nose, she placed her hand on my chin, tilting my face upwards so I was forced to look at her eye to eye. "There, darling," she whispered, her still cloudy eyes smiling along with the rest of her features. "Now, listen to me. What happened was not your fault. You could have never prepared for it. Even if you did this all over again, the same thing would have eventually happened. Wormtail, the rat, would have found another way to lure all of you into the cave, whether it be using you in particular as bait, or not. None of this had anything to do with your abilities or intelligence. Had it been Mad-eye, say, he would have made the same choices you made." Molly smiled. I drew in sharp breath. She looked so sure. I wanted to look away but somehow, I couldn't. "You did the right thing, Tonks. And, in the end, it saved us all."

"I didn't save anyone!" I protested, hiccoughing. "The rest of the Order did, and Lupin, too, he knew just when to break the bond…"

Molly titled her head the side, as though in gentle disagreement. "But dear, none of that would have mattered if it hadn't been for you! You were strong, when you could have just given up. You sacrificed your own sanity by agreeing to kill someone you loved, just so they could have a more dignified, rightful death. And above all, you were the only one who could have produced that bond that saved both your lives," Molly's eyes twinkled, "and you did. You are more a hero than any of us."

I stared blankly at the older witch before me, unsure whether to believe her words or not. Not awaiting an answer, however, Molly smiled and continued wrapping my hand up neatly.

"There!" she announced, shortly after. "I'm finished. Good as new." She smiled, and I quickly returned it, mine, however, lacking the warmth and happiness of hers. "Now, I believe you have someone you need to see."

Puzzled, I looked at her. "I do?"

Molly inclined her head slightly towards me. "I believe you owe Remus a visit."

"Lupin won't want to see me," I said shortly, not even allowing myself to think over the matter.

"Remus would love to see you," Molly smirked. "Don't you think now is a better time than ever to reconcile your friendship?"

I sighed. "There are more important things to reconcile right now. Specifically my relationship with the rest of the Order. I doubt they all feel the same as you, Molly."

Molly brushed a hand through her hair tiredly. "Of course they all feel the same, Tonks." She smiled, but sat down wearily on the chair. Yawning, she looked back up at me. "My, if I'm tired, you must be exhausted. If you chose not to talk to Remus, I suggest you rest."

Struggling to regain a yawn myself, I nodded and turned to leave. But just as my fingertips grazed the door handle, I looked back, quickly meeting Molly's smiling eyes.

"Thank you," I said quickly, biting my lip hard. "Thanks for…everything."

"You're more than welcome, dear." Molly nodded knowingly.

My guilt suddenly lightened, I stepped out the door. Looking around the windy halls of the Burrow, I couldn't help but feel a little dizzy. I could hardly where my room was.

Leaning against the wall slightly for support, I began to climb the stairs, slowly, one by one. It proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Every stair took all I could give. My breathing heavy, I finally collapsed, embarrassed, on the last step the top. Merlin, this was difficult…

"Are you all right?" I felt a pair of long hands on my shoulders and I quickly turned around. Lupin was looking down on me, his eyes worried.

"I'm fine," I whispered, my breath still rapid and labored. Lupin narrowed his eyes.

"Come on," he said, bringing me up and carrying me into his room.

My face burned. "I'm fine," I squeaked, then immediately blushed even more by the weakness of my voice. I looked on one of the new scars on his neck and grimaced. "You were in much worse condition than me," I added quietly.

Ignoring me completely, he dropped me gently on his bed, quickly withdrawing his wand from his pocket. I couldn't help but feel slightly lonely without his arms wrapped around me. Annoyed, I shook the thoughts out of my head.

Lupin quickly began murmuring a few Healing spells, ones I had never even heard of. "You don't have to do this," I protested once more, finding it came quite easily to me. "I'm really…fine." I let out a breath of fresh air as he finished the spell. I felt as good as I ever could.

"I can't believe you weren't checked out by St. Mungo's," said Lupin, his voice trying to hide the worry. "Or at least Madame Pomfrey."

I shook my head, and began to sit up, but Lupin carefully pushed me back down with a single hand. I scowled. "You were in much worse shape than I was," I rasped stubbornly. "All I had was a few cuts and bruises here and there."

"Not to mention dehydration and starvation," said Lupin, almost smugly.

"You were beaten to a pulp!" I argued, influenced by Lupin's attitude.

"I'm used to it."

"Oh, so you're telling me I'm weak?"

"Not at all. You just haven't been a werewolf for nearly your whole life. And, I did not have to face the emotional issues that you did."

"You had to face that you were going to die!"

"I've been facing that fact my whole life."

I opened my mouth, but quickly stopped, Lupin's words sinking in. "What do you mean?" I said quietly, my voice faltering.

Lupin looked at me, his eyes were once again holding that sense that he could see something I couldn't. I broke eye contact, content with staring at my feet.

"I'm a werewolf, Tonks. A half-breed. If lycanthropy didn't kill me, a prejudiced and disgusted wizard would," he said, his voice as solid as a rock.

"But you're not dead, are you?" I shot back. "You have to have more faith in people…"

"Why?" Lupin's voice was sharp, and I was taken aback. Sighing, he shook his head, and softened his tone. "Every time I've allowed myself to have faith in someone, they've let me down. It's better to underestimate, then overestimate and end up getting hurt."

A cool shiver ran down my spine, followed by a sudden white-hot feeling of rage, one I wasn't sure I could control. "Is that what happened with me?" My words were slow and careful, but each one was drenched in fury.

Lupin blanched. "Of course not…" he began.

"Then what the hell did happen?" I snapped, sitting up and waving off his hands. "I could have taken care of myself, I could have handled Greyback and all those filthy werewolves myself! I am not a child, you need not have treated me like one!"

My sharp words rang out against the silent night. Seconds pounded by as Lupin stared at me, a mixture of embarrassment and shock in his eyes.

Seething, I pushed him away, and stormed out of the room, my temple pulsing with anger.

"Nymphadora!" his voice rang out from behind me.

Shocked, I stopped, my anger quickly dissipating. Nymphadora?

I turned, my eyes wide. "What did you just say?"

"Nymphadora." Lupin stated, his eyes looking over me with determination. My heart pounded fast and hard in my chest. Nymphadora? When had I suddenly stopped being Tonks, and starting being Nymphadora again? Blanked, I stared at Lupin, my mind racing as fast as my heart, but I couldn't think. I couldn't even tell if I was breathing. I didn't care.

"I didn't treat you like a child." My eyes snapped up to his. He was talking. He was explaining. I tried to calm my breathing, but I couldn't. I could only listen to Lupin. This time, it was my heart doing the thinking. "I treated you like the love of my life. He threatened you, told me he knew where you lived, what you did, who you were. He told me that I didn't need you. You were holding me back from being a true werewolf. He told me he'd kill you if I didn't break it off. He told me that…and he meant it." Lupin's eyes suddenly softened, filled with guilt and regret. "You may think it was patronizing and stupid of me, and that I didn't think that you can take care of yourself, but it wasn't that. I know you can. Merlin, and you can take care of everyone else while you're at it. But I couldn't bear to have that threat out there. Nymphadora…my life just isn't a life without you in it." Now he lowered his eyes, ashamed. "It was not a patronizing crime I committed. It was a selfish one. I needed you, and I couldn't stand being at fault for your death. So instead, I caused you all this pain. So much pain that you've lost your sense of being. I should be dead, now, Nymphadora." And now his tone lowered, strained. "But the worst part…the worst is that I'd do the exact same thing if it all happened again."

He raised his eyes, and held my glance for a moment. His brown eyes observed me, filled with guilt and sorrow. Time seemed to flash by. Before I knew it, he had turned to leave, he head hung.

My heart still in control over my brain, I panicked, my head spinning. Quickly, I rushed forward, grabbing Lupin by the back of the hand. He turned, and I took the other one, staring him hard in the eyes.

"Remus," I said, my tone firm and strong. Then, shutting my eyes tightly, I kissed him.

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A/N: Originally, I had planned to have this the last chapter before the epilogue…but…well, I ended it a little differently than planned. –blushes guiltily- Aw, come on, I couldn't help it! It was just so easy to add a bit of cheesiness there…-sigh- Fine, fine, I know, it was over-the-top. I'll try harder next time to cut down on the cheesy –crosses fingers- Also, the chapter title was from Grey's Anatomy. Please don't sue me. It's not mine. Anyways, so, thank you to all my lovely reviewers! Glad you enjoyed it! Now – review again! Pretty please?