5. Be Patient, Ophelia. Love, Hamlet

-Hamlet

Tonks found Remus knocking on her door in the middle of the day. She opened it, smiling. He addressed her for a moment, then spoke.

"You didn't."

She decided to feign innocence. "Didn't what, sorry?"

He sighed. "Snape was furious."

"Snape?" she asked, smiling. "What about him? Aren't you supposed to be teaching a class right now, Remus?"

"Yeah, well, I wanted to see you."

She blushed. "That's really sweet, but I think you should've prioritized your class over me? I can wait, you know."

"Don't get all excited, Dora, you know what I'm here to talk about."

"Oh? Tell me, then. Come in, by the way."

He cautiously walked into her room and seated himself neatly on her sofa. "Today, during Professor Snape's Potions class, something happened, and the entire classroom exploded in sparkly, pink and purple glitter. Severus himself was drenched in the stuff, and it would not come off. Care to explain?"

She shrugged. "I don't know anything about this. Sure sounds funny, though. Snape in pink and purple glitter?"

He gave her a sideways smile. "Dora. I know it was you."

She smiled sweetly. "But I didn't do it."

"I know it was you, Dora. No point in pretending otherwise."

"Did you enjoy it, Remus?"

"What?"

"Did you enjoy watching Snape blow up in pink and purple glitter?"

"Should I tell you the truth?"

"Yes, please."

He sighed. "Yes. I loved it. It made my day. Even more so that, despite my warning, you decided to go ahead and get back on Severus. In one of the most ingenious, humorous ways I've ever seen."

She beamed at him. "Well, then, have fun staring at him while he makes an ultimate fool of himself in front of the entire school."

She knew that even though Remus might seem disapproving of her actions, it would give him something to smile at. And it was worth it.

"Remus?" she asked.

"Yes, Dora?"

"How did you manage to skip class? You're a teacher, not a student. Your absence is going to be noted. Not that I mind," she added quickly, "it's lovely that you came to see me, but…"

He smiled. "I have my ways. Suffice it to say that I've left the classroom unsupervised for a little while. They're practicing."

She stared at him. "They're practicing? Without supervision?"

"Yeah. It's a sixth-year class, don't worry. I think they can handle themselves for a few minutes."

"Which means now you have to leave."

"Yes, but I'm not leaving just yet. There's something else I want to talk to you about."

Her heart flipped, but she forced herself to remain calm. It wasn't like he reciprocated her feelings. He probably wanted to talk about something else.

"Yeah? Do you want some tea, by the way? Anything?"

"No, it's fine," he declined courteously. "Thank you, Dora."

"Sure."

He took a deep breath. "Look, we didn't get to properly talk about this yesterday. And I know this question is kind of strange, but how did you react when you found out?"

"Found out… Found out you have lycanthropy?"

He nodded anxiously.

She sighed. "If I tell you the entire story, do you promise to sit and listen to everything I have to say before jumping to any conclusions?"

"I promise."

"The other day," she began, "I smelled wolfsbane outside the dungeons, which meant that Snape was brewing Wolfsbane. I deduced that there must be a werewolf in the castle, though I didn't know who it was. I've been raised to be scared of werewolves. I've been trained to be scared of werewolves. But when you were absent at dinner on the day of the full moon, I realized. That night, I went back to my room and thought about it. A lot. And I've come to this conclusion. Everyone thinks about werewolves as these Dark, dangerous creatures that you come face-to-face with in a dark alley. We think of them as what they are during the full moon, in wolf form. Until that night, I had always thought the same way. But when I realized that you had lycanthropy, my perception began to change. Because there's no way I can imagine being scared of you down a dark alley. See, Remus, the wolf is basically just a fraction of the entire person. I would never have been able to recognize that you're a werewolf otherwise. When we think of werewolves, we think of the wolf. But the wolf is only a small portion of the man. And…" she hesitated, "the man in you is worth it."

He was silent for a moment. "Dora, do you mean it?"

"No, Remus, I was lying the entire time. Of course I mean it."

"And you still want to be friends with me?"

"Obviously."

"How could you possibly think that way?" he asked softly. "Nobody has ever wanted to pursue a relationship with me once they've figured out what I am, not since…"

His voice broke off, and he took a deep, shaky breath. "Not since… Not since I went to Hogwarts."

"Anyone who gets to know you well enough should know that the man in you is worth the wolf any day. I choose to be your friend, even if the wolf is a part of you, because the man means that much to me. And the wolf is probably cute, too," she added as an afterthought.

"You honestly believe that?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yes, Remus, I do," she answered patiently. "I believe that the man is worth the wolf."

He shook his head disbelievingly. "I… Thank you, Dora. You have no idea how much it means for me to hear you say that."

"And you're not mad at me?"

"What for?"

She smirked. "The glitter."

He laughed. "Of course not. But I really don't want you to be involved in all of this. Severus and I haven't gotten along since our Hogwarts years."

"Please don't worry about it," she told him, smiling at how his face lit up when he laughed. She could see the youth still in him, the youth that had never left him. It was just hidden by the scars on his face, and the tired expression he often wore. When he laughed, however, he looked so many years younger, and happier, and full of energy and love.

"Dora? You okay?"

She snapped out of her thoughts quickly. Dang. Hopefully he hadn't noticed her watching him. That would be embarrassing.

"Yeah," she replied quickly. "I'm fine." She gave him a sheepish smile. "Just… thinking."

"Sickle for your thoughts?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know."

He smirked. "That bad?"

"No. Just something- concerning you- that you don't want to know."

He seemed at a loss for words. "In a… good way, I hope?"

She laughed dryly. "Definitely."

There was a twinkle in his eyes as he said, "Well, Auror Tonks, I'll leave you to your thoughts, then. I need to head back to check on my sixth-years."

Tonks really didn't want him to leave. But it was more than what she could've asked for that Remus had deliberately left in the middle of a lesson to come talk to her. She wrapped her arms around him, inhaling his warm scent. His hands found her back, and she nestled her chin onto his shoulder.

"You never need to feel alone," she whispered. "Or scared, or upset, or any negative feelings at all towards your lycanthropy. Just come to me. I'll do every possible thing I can to make things easier for you."

"No, Dora," he whispered back. "I don't want to become a burden on you. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

"No," she insisted. "You aren't going to burden me, Remus, what on earth are friends for otherwise?"

He swallowed. "Friends. Yes. But, Dora, I have plenty of other friends, and none of them do anything."

"Well, then, maybe you need to rethink your choice of friends," she said softly. "Remus, look, you have Wolfsbane. I hate him, but I know Snape's excellent at Potions. He'll have done it properly, and you'll be able to transform in your office. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

He pulled away so he could look in her eyes. "Oh, Dora."

Was it just her, or was he leaning in too? She tilted her chin up so that their faces were mere centimeters apart. They were so, so close…

A bang from outside caused both of them to jump apart. Several shrieks of laughter closely followed, as well as the distorted shouts of a very unamused Filch. Tonks closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her thoughts, which were now bounding around her mind happily. She was just a clumsy, overenthusiastic goof. He couldn't like her, not in that sense.

But Remus had been leaning in too, had he not? Or was that just wishful thinking on her part? Either way, this was about to get complicated.

Very complicated.

Oh, Merlin.

"I really should," he began feebly, gesturing to the doorway, "go…"

"Yeah," she muttered, avoiding his gaze. "Yeah, th-they'll be wondering where you went."

He looked straight at her, though she refused to meet his eyes. "Right. Er, I'll… see you later."

"You too," she said, her voice shaky. "Bye."

Tonks sunk to her knees as he left and took another deep breath. She had just messed everything up. Why had she even tried? She knew he didn't like her. He was thirty-something. How old exactly, she didn't know, but he was definitely older than her, old enough to have his own life. He… oh, Merlin, he was probably already married. Maybe he even had kids. He was probably already part of a happy family, and who was she to ruin that? Tears streamed down her face as she took a few more shaky, erratic breaths. Why, why did Dumbledore have to assign such an easy-to-love person as his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Why did it have to be this year, when she was stationed at Hogwarts? She had likely just messed up his life, added to his list of problems. If she, Nymphadora Tonks, someone who had never before fallen in love, could so easily be charmed by him, then no doubt there were countless other women who had liked him at some point. She had been selfish to assume that he wasn't in a relationship already. Selfish to assume that he would want someone like her.

A gentle knock came from the door. She desperately wiped the tears out of her face, willing her eyes not to give way to the fresh tears that were pooling in them. Another series of soft knocks erupted from the door.

"Yeah, I'm coming," she called, her voice still shaky. She took a deep breath, walked towards the door, and opened it into Robards's concerned face.

"Tonks, are you okay?" he asked instantly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, not very confidently.

He definitely saw right through it. "No, you're not. What… What happened?"

"Come in," she replied dully. He stepped in and plopped down onto the sofa where Remus had been sitting only minutes ago.

"What happened?" he repeated, his voice laced with concern.

She took a deep breath. "I almost kissed Professor Lupin."

"What? You… you what?"

"I almost kissed him. And I think it would've happened, too, if there hadn't been some sort of explosion in the corridor."

He looked at a loss for words. "H-how?"

"I don't know how."

"Did he… did he take advantage of you, Tonks? Does this need to be reported?"

"No!" she assured him quickly. "No, he didn't take advantage. Nothing like that. He didn't do anything."

"Then… but.. do you like him?"

"For quite a while," she admitted, resting her head on her hands. "But what if… Gawain, what if he's married? What if he's seeing someone? I don't want him to think I just… got in the middle. How am I going to face him? What if he holds a grudge against me for the rest of the year? Why was I so stupid to think that he liked me? Just because I liked him?"

"Calm down, Tonks," he said quietly. "I don't think Professor Lupin is going to hold a grudge against you. He's really nice about that kind of stuff, and he likes you. It's obvious. He came rushing to me just yesterday, looking for you. Believe me, he looked distressed. Did you two have some row, or something?"

"Yes, but that got resolved. But this… This is such a big issue, Gawain! I won't be able to face him at all. He's obviously got to be in some sort of relationship! Maybe he has a girlfriend, maybe he's engaged, maybe he's married, maybe he's a father, I don't know! But there's no way on earth he's still single, he's too… too good for that. I don't know what I was thinking, that maybe I had a chance with him."

"Tonks, it's okay," he whispered. "He does like you. At least, he likes you enough to let you be his friend. I've seen you two talking in the hallways. He looks happy when he talks to you. And I'm sure that if you talk it out with him, everything will be resolved. He values your friendship. He values it enough to let this go. Just let go of this. I'm sure he will too."

"How am I supposed to do that?" she asked blandly. "Hi, Remus, I'm really sorry for almost kissing you. Won't happen again."

Robards nodded approvingly. "Exactly like that."

She frowned. "What? No! That was sarcasm."

"But Tonks, that's exactly what you should do."

"No, Gawain." She took a deep breath. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to even talk to him. Only Merlin knows what he must be going through. I feel so bad, Gawain."

He nodded, thoughtfully this time. "I know. Do you want me to say something to him?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm not ready to talk to him about it. Thank you, though."

"Yeah. Maybe he needs some time, too. To think over it."

"I've messed everything up," she moaned into her hands.

"No, you haven't," he assured her. "It's natural to like people, Tonks. You haven't done anything wrong."

"I need to get over him," she mumbled. "He's just like any of the others, right? I can get over him."

"You can," Robards encouraged. "Just spend some time clearing up your thoughts. Just avoid him for a bit. You'll get over it."

She managed a weak smile. "You're a lifesaver. Thank you."

He grinned. "You're welcome."

Tonks frowned. "Wait a minute. Why'd you come here in the first place?"

Robards had a sly expression on his face. "Well, there was an… incident in the Potions classroom, and Professor Snape is currently covered in shiny glitter. Do you have any idea how to get it off?"

"Oh, that," she remarked, smirking. "All I can tell you is that it's not coming off until tomorrow morning."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to all of my reviewers, readers, favoriters, followers, everyone! You guys are so amazing! :)